With a long weekend, you'd think that I would find time to update before Monday afternoon, but apparently not. Anyway, I've got a three day weekend -- so my work week does not start until tomorrow! However, that means that I get to work both Friday and Saturday -- yay.

Anyway, it has been an exciting few days. I got taken out to lunch on Friday and had actual sushi! I also learned how to use chopsticks, which was surprisingly easy once it was pointed out that you should hold the immobile stick between your pinky and ring finger. And I even tried eel -- and it wasn't too bad.

Actually, Friday was a pretty busy day for me. I went to an Orioles game, where the O's lost. There were fireworks afterwards, and that was pretty fun. A bunch of library folks went and it was pretty fun to talk to them. The only problem with having thirteen people go to a ballgame, especially when not everybody knows one another, is that it's hard to talk to everyone. But I did have fun. And I got some very tasty pistachios and ice cream. No cotton candy this time!

Saturday I went and "cat-sat" for the Professor's cats. I never actually saw them on Saturday, so I was referring to them as "alleged cats" due to their non-existence. I actually ended up staying there for most of the morning doing my laundry. It's kind of weird to be in someone else's house, especially when they aren't there. So I watched an episode of The Family Guy -- he's trying to convince me that I need to watch them and I'm less than enthused. I mean, the show is funny-ish, but I'm not a huge fan. Eh. It was pretty fun though -- I usually call my mom on Saturday mornings, so I brought my cell phone along to call her. But I hadn't charged it for a looooong time. So I plugged it in and waited for it charge -- and once it was ready, I left it plugged in and called her. Of course, it can't charge and be talked on at the same time. (This makes no sense to me, but whatever.) So I ended up being cut off and having to recall the phone card 1-800 number that I used to use. So my mom ended up calling me back on the Professor's phone -- I wasn't about to use someone else's phone for a long distance call.

That evening I went with my roommate and NY Librarian to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which was a pretty good movie. For a chick flick geared towards teenagers. The book is quite entertaining -- I would recommend it! And yesterday I actually got to see the cats, so I can no longer call them "alleged cats" because I actually held onto one of them for like ten seconds before he ran away. It's funny, I thought my roommate's cat wasn't very friendly -- and then I go to see (or not see) these cats who are seriously terrified of anyone.

And today I haven't really done anything. I watched The Graduate on AMC. That's such a fantastic movie. I think it should be required viewing for college students, because it does speak to the whole college experience and the thoughts that just about everyone has about what to do after graduation. It's definitely a movie of its time, but I think that Benjamin's confusion can still speak to people today. Heck, I related to it and I'm pretty much set where I am.

As for new books, it's been a while since I last updated. I'm almost to 50 books! Huzzah. Number 43 - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I actually read this when I was in Pittsburgh and forgot to include it. It's a pretty good YA novel, but definitely for girls. It's the story of four teenage girls and magical pants that they find. The pants fit all four of the girls, so they decide to send them back and forth as they separate over the summer and documents the summer of the traveling pants. It's pretty good, and I bet most girls would relate to at least one of the characters. Number 44 - Adventures in a TV Nation. It's the story of the TV show that Michael Moore did during the mid-1990s called TV Nation. I remember watching it a couple of times -- it was a summer replacement series on Fox and NBC. And it was all about fighting corporate crime and all sorts of things that Michael Moore is somewhat famous for documenting. It's a pretty quick read and very entertaining, especially if you enjoy the liberal side of things.

And finally number 45 - Better Together: Restoring the American Community, the sequel to Bowling Alone. This one actually includes stories of how people are working together to create social capital and a sense of community. There was a chapter on the branch libraries of the Chicago Public Library, which I thought was pretty interesting. Plus there was a chapter about the Saddleback Church, which Rick Warren is the pastor of. In case you are unaware, Rick Warren is the author of The Purpose Driven Life. That church has a very different way of looking at creating community and as someone who has been brought up in a traditional church, it does always seem strange to think of church without the traditional rituals and hymns and things like that. I mean, I understand that it is hard for people who weren't brought up with the traditions to understand what to do -- it's almost as if there is a secret code that you have to learn in order to participate in a church service -- but...I just don't know about all of the contemporary worship aspects. Perhaps I'm too traditional. I guess it's not my place to judge.

Well, in exactly eight days I'll be back in Wisconsin. I am really looking forward to this vacation. It's not that I don't like work, but it will be very nice to have several days off in a row. Twelve to be exact!! There won't be any questions, stupid or not, and I won't have to do time sheets and look at my email... Well, let's put it this way: I won't be answering my email!