Penguin Sledding!

We went sledding at Bicentennial Park today and had a lot of fun! Santa (Ezra) got us some penguin sleds for Christmas. It just snowed, and there isn't much snow in the forecast right after Christmas so we got to open that present a little early. 

If you haven't seen the first episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender (the cartoon, not the horrific movie) the excitement of penguin sledding will probably be lost on you.

New job

Super sad that yesterday was my last day at the Provo City Library..... I have been there for nearly 4 years, and it will be weird to think that I won't be working there anymore.  Allison is still there, so I am married in at least.  After one of my classes ends at the end of October, I'll be volunteering at the library, (big smiley face) and hopefully in different departments than where I was able to work before.

I have now finished two whole weeks at my new job and am very excited to only be working one job and going to school.  Over the last two weeks I worked 66 hours at my new job and 52 hours at my old job... 118 hours in two weeks... Plus classes! I'm surprised I got as much done as I did in that time. Now I have a little more freedom and a bit more sleep too.

It has been fun taking the two classes that I have right now, Concept Design for Entertainment (i.e. Film, tv, animation...) and Storyboarding for animation.  They are a lot of fun and the type of stuff I have wanted to do since I was very little.  I was the weird kid that loved the same cartoons as you, but was almost more interested in how they were made and upset that we didn't get to see all the other art that was made. I found out at a very young age that when you watch a movie or a tv show, there is a lot that they don't get to show you.  I always felt ripped off that I couldn't see the rest of it and sad that I would probably never get to go to California to see it...

...fast forward to present day and the internet. I can see tons (literally) of production art that never makes it on the air. It is indeed a wonderful time that we live in.

On another note, our mouse is dead, he got into the poison our landlord put out before we moved in. We will be working on his funeral soon.

Groban, Vivint, Wedding

First, I can’t believe Ezra only devoted ONE SENTENCE to my exciting birthday news last week. We’re going to a Josh Groban concert!!! I can’t tell you how excited I am. In 2007 he was in Utah when I was in Oregon, and he was in Oregon when I was in Utah. I would have gone then but circumstances were not in my favor. When I heard he was coming to Salt Lake City again, and the same week as my birthday, I told Ezra I would love to go. I tried not to mention it much after that because I knew tickets weren’t cheap, but he did it! I’m so excited! I’ve already got work requested off and my boss told me to have fun (thanks Carla!), so now I’m just hoping Ezra will be able to get work off.

That’s the other exciting news. It’s somewhat bitter sweet. Ezra got a job at Vivint! It’s full time, better pay, and includes benefits. We’re super excited, but this means he will be leaving the Provo City Library. We met at the Library and it’s been wonderful being able to work together. When we talk about work, we each know what the other is talking about. I won’t be able to see him when I drop stuff off in tech services anymore, or go say hi when I’m on a break. It’s going to be sad, but we think this new job is just what our family needs right now. He will be working both jobs for the next two weeks, so things are going to be a little crazy for a while, but we’ll figure everything out. I’m so proud of him!


Apparently the weather in Provo yesterday (Saturday) was pretty crazy with lots of rain, wind, and flooding. We unfortunately missed it all (we love storms) because we were up in Logan. One of Ezra’s best friends, Ryan, got married to an amazing girl, Christina. We were so happy to be there and support them. The weather tried to get stormy during their reception (the sun was shining and the weather was great at the temple) but it sounds like they were spared the brunt of it, thank goodness. Well, nothing I can say tops the news and happiness that goes with a wedding, so I think that’s all I’ll say for today.

Congratulations Ryan and Christina!

School is starting this week

Well for me at least, Allison has already been taking classes for the past couple weeks now. I am excited, but still trying to figure out my classes while trying to get a full time job so that we can have health insurance. It is a very tricky time when it come to planning but, we are getting though it and having fun trying to make different plans.  I like plans and trying to figure stuff like this out.

We also had a little visitor this past week, here is a little picture I drew of him

We haven't seen him in the past few days or seen any real signs of him, so there is the chance that he is a vagabond and was just passing through.

Also of note I got Allison's birthday present a little early, I also told her about it.  We will be going to a Josh Groben concert in October, she is pretty excited.

Castle

School has begun again for me but Ezra is still enjoying some time off. Our neighbors went out of town recently and won’t be back till the end of the month. That’s totally fine, except when the internet died. We share, and they have the router so if something happens, they typically take care of it. Thankfully they were cool with our landlord letting us in to reset the router, and it’s all good now! Once the internet was back up I looked at my school stuff and freaked out thinking I had a paper due in two days. I absolutely panicked, thinking, how can I have a paper due on the fourth day of class?! Why is no one else flipping out about this? Then I realized the date was September 24th, not August 24th. Immensely relieved, my heart rate went back to normal and everything was cool the rest of the evening.

This past week Ezra and I have discovered a new TV show… Castle! Neither of us are really TV people. We don’t have any type of TV subscription, and we can’t even get over the air channels because our TV is too old. We DO however have an amazing blu-ray player that connects wirelessly to the internet, so when we “watch TV” it’s all through the internet on either our computer or the blu-ray player. Thus far we’ve made it through season 2, episode 8 of Castle, and we’ll probably watch some more tonight.

I recently was given the mystery collection at the Library to manage, so I’ve been trying to dig into that genre as much as I can. I’m in the midst of reading a couple mystery books, and watching Castle is a blast because it fits so well. I’ve read Frozen Heat and really enjoyed it, but didn’t realize that it was related to a TV show.

If you’re unaware, in the show, the main character is Richard Castle who is supposed to be a famous mystery writer. He follows around a New York detective for inspiration for a new series he’s writing. As a promotional tool, they’ve actually had “Richard Castle’s” books written. The real author is a complete secret, and everything is attributed to Richard Castle, who is just a fictional character. It’s really clever, and I love it!

That’s the main excitement for this week. Until next time!

Back to action

Now that classes are over, the wife and I are out of classes for a couple weeks we now have time to do some things that we haven't taken time to do.  We went up to Trafalga to play some put-put golf for a little date night followed by Malawi Pizza.

We were sad to not be able to go on vacation this summer, but this past week after I finished my final projects, we went out to eat pretty much each day this week. Saturday the 17th of August was the Indonesian Independence Day and we celebrated by making some Indo food and then on Sunday went to some friend's house for a party to eat and play games with others that served missions or were from Indonesia. It is interesting how much of a language that you haven't used in awhile comes back so easy.

School will come back too soon, actually Wednesday for Allison and two weeks from tomorrow for me.

Hopefully this fall we will have some more interesting adventures and be exciting.

Peace.

Picture Collage

Instead of doing homework this morning, I ordered some textbooks, did laundry, played a couple educational games on my phone (for speed reading and improving my Spanish), made a picture collage, and called all our primary kids to remind them that our class has sharing time assignments tomorrow. It’s been very productive. I think I like having my Saturdays free.

Mid way through Summer term and back to blogging

Sorry about the month plus absence from the blogging world, Allison and I both have been equal parts busy, forgetful, and lazy.... when it comes to our blog.  But this will be the restart and hopefully we can get some interesting things down and out to you, our loyal followers... or something.

The end of finals week was killer.  I was able to learn a lot in the class, but there is much that I still want to accomplish in the digital media.  I love digital illustration and being able to work on the computer creating art is a really interesting feeling. (I wrote this back at the end of June)

Now, I have just finished my mid-term for my new summer class, which I have been uploading my progress on my art blog more frequently.

4th of July happened and Allison and I ran a 5k, my first race and probably not my last.

Allison's parents came into town for a few days

and this is a start....

sorry we have just been really busy and not that interesting as of late

Finals and new classes

I am in the middle of finals and Allison has just started a new class. We've been busy this past couple weeks, but we have still found time to play and work extra hours.  Last week we had the amazing experience to be able to attend one of my good friend's marriage in the Provo Temple, we missed the reception for work, but had a great time and a huge breakfast before the marriage.  We also saw some old friends that we miss dearly. ...and pupusas, can't forget the pupusas.

My Digital Illustration class is having a small art show on the 5th floor of the HFAC on BYU campus.  It is all fairy tale based set to a modern or futuristic twist.  I chose Red Ridding Hood... what is the modern equivalent? Hoodies of course, and colorful skinny jeans.  Her Grandmother is sick in the hospital and she is visiting.

There are still a few things I would like to change to it, but we needed to get the show up... I'll post on my blog later this week the finished version.

As we have said before, on Sunday we teach Primary class at church to the 4 year olds.  I get to show off my chalk-art skills each week.  This is a horse... I drew it... 2 minutes, no reference.... 

Not bad for not having drawn a horse in awhile. 

Lovin' the Garden!

Look who was slow on getting the blog post up this week!

Last week was a nice and slow. On Memorial Day we went to the Rec Center and worked out for a while, went grocery shopping, and then came home.

We saw this when leaving the rec center. Made me happy.

Ezra worked on cleaning and selling some of his old toys on eBay, and I read. Later in the evening I ended up making a soufflé which turned out… okay. Clearly I need some practice. It tasted great! But it collapsed spectacularly. I’ll try again in the future. Really, I just wanted to call myself “soufflé girl.” (If you get that reference, you win.)

My Hot Chocolate Soufflés!

The rest of the week was pretty low key and nothing very exciting happened. We registered for the Freedom Run 5k on July 4th. As city employees, we got a pretty amazing discount that I couldn’t pass up. This will be my first race since my marathon a year ago and my second race ever. I’m excited and am easing back in to running pretty quickly.

My garden looks amazing! The peas are shooting up and blooming, my spinach is ready to eat, I just got a cherry tomato plant in the ground this week as well as 5 squash plants (my mom is probably amazed because she knows how much I love squash). Really, I just wanted a spaghetti squash plant but when I went to get one they were out, except for a variety pack. They ended up selling me the variety pack for the price the single spaghetti squash would have been. So now I have not only spaghetti squash, but also two pink banana squash, honey bear squash, and summer squash. I think I’m going to have to learn to cook squash in a way I like.

Pink Banana Squash! One on each end of the bench.

Honey Bear Squash

Summer Squash

Spaghetti Squash!

Some of my peas.

My lovely little cherry tomato plant.

Spinach!

That’s it for this week!

Food experiments and such

I made a random pizza crust out of chicken, flax and an egg, plus some spices for dinner last week and her is the recipe from http://yourlighterside.com/2012/02/easy-pizza-crust/

1 packed cup cooked, minced chicken breast

1 cup packed mozzarella, shredded (we used 1 egg and 1/4 cup flax seed meal instead)

1 Tbsp parsley, dried (I think it was too much, a tsp or 2 would probably be fine, depends on thickness of crust)

1tsp basil

1/2 tsp onion powder (we didn't have any, still turned out good)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

(Replace cheese with the flax and egg)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Process chicken and cheese together. Mixture will resemble a meal/thick, dense crumb consistency.
3. Press chicken/cheese mixture on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
4. Top with parsley, basil, onion and garlic powder.
5. Bake for 12 minutes.
6. Let cool for five minutes.
7. Top with sauce, cheese, and then toppings.
8. Bake for 6-8 minutes more, or until toppings are melted.
9. Let cool for five minutes.
10. Slice and serve.

Makes an entire 12-14″ pizza.

Allison then made a crust straight from chicken, she used a mallet to flatten it then cook it up.... She took out all her anger from me leaving the office messy while finding things to sell on eBay

Allison and I went to the Rec Center again, I kinda just rock climbed the whole time... and I got a flapper.  It's healed since, but secretly... I really like the look of my hands taped up after climbing, shhh don't tell

This past week I was also asked to do some drawings at the library for a display about the author Brandon Sanderson.  I'm a big fan and really like his writing style.  I don't read much fantasy or sci-fi (I don't READ that much when it come to novels, actually) but I do love sci-fi and fantasy.  I'm more of a visual guy and like my comics and graphic novels... and cartoons.... love me a good animation.

So, these pictures aren't the best to show off my drawings, but I like how the display turned out and even threw in a few original ideas based off the "chalklings" in his book illustrated by Ben McSweeny

I would love to have a shot at adapting one of his books into a comic...

Preferably The Alloy of Law, I love that one

He is coming to the Provo Library June 3rd at 7pm, free tickets may or may not still be available at the Library reference desk, and there is a standby line the night of, just sayin.

While out for a Sunday stroll, we came across this house with a vehicle with an attached snow-plow (not that unusual in Utah).... I started to point it out to Allison, and mid-sentence I stopped myself and changed topic to Ronald McDonald waving from behind the plow.... It was odd, but one of those things that make you happy that you saw it.

Not that much new has happened in the past week, but we have been busy.  Allison is racing through books like no other before she starts classes up again in a few weeks and I am mid-way through my Digital Illustration class.  We will be having a small art show in the HFAC on BYU campus sometime this summer... I think it will be my third that I have been in on campus. I'll keep you posted as it gets closer.

Great Time to Be in Provo

I’ve been in Provo, Utah off and on since August 2006, and I feel like with everything that’s going on this year, there has never been a better time to live in Provo. Google Fiber is coming, the new state of the art Recreation Center opened its doors last week, and new trails and park features are opening up as well! Provo is so amazing!

(Granted, I’m not a fan of the climate… but Provo has a lot of great things going for it.)

Google street view of our old place, with my car out front!

I’m so excited about the new Recreation Center (here's a KSL article about it with some pictures)! Way back when Ezra and I first heard about the new Recreation Center and where it was going to be located, we were stoked. We lived about two blocks away! Then we moved from our amazingly cheap and perfectly located 4-plex (with out of control mold and landlords who didn’t care about the property), to a little cottage on the outskirts of Provo (with absolutely lovely landlords who make sure everything is perfect and who give us free eggs). Nevertheless, we’re still in Provo and thus will reap the benefits of Google Fiber and easy access to the Recreation Center (which we would get regardless because we’re city employees, another reason I love Provo!).

A photo I took just now of our current place! Sooo much nicer.

On Monday while Ezra was at work, I took a walk down to the Recreation Center and registered my employee badge. I wasn’t dressed to work out so I wandered around and checked everything out. Best. Place. Ever! It’s huge, and gorgeous, with brand new state of the art equipment. I’m a fan of the Biggest Loser, and our new Recreation Center could seriously give the Biggest Loser gym a run for its money. It’s that awesome.

Thursday after work Ezra and I ran in and activated his card, and then I showed him around. Friday morning we actually went to work out. It was great. I had a lot of fun, and really feel like it lives up to all the hype. This morning I spent a few hours there while Ezra was working and just had a grand old time.

 Even if we didn’t get in for free (city employee perk), I honestly think it would be worth the membership. I try to be pretty frugal, but oh my goodness, that is the best work out facility I have ever seen. We will be there often!

Digital Woes or: How I learned to stop worrying and embrace first world problems

This is a semi conclusion to last weeks post from Allison.

This has been one of those weeks that as it is happening you feel frustrated, confused and all-together lost.... AS IT IS HAPPENING.... after the fact, it becomes ridiculous and silly and almost un-eventful.

Allison and I both had cell phone issues recently.  She mentioned her's last week and her new one came in sooner than expected, which rightfully distracted her from her papers for awhile. But she ultimately finished her papers and felt good about how they turned out.  She loves her freedom for the next couple of weeks but wasn't exactly knowing what to do with all her extra free time that suddenly appeared.  Luckily, being a librarian, she found books to read. Her phone on the other hand caused her to buy her first ever app so that she could easily transfer over data and such from her old phone.  Not having the soft keys respond to touch was causing her much misery. Everything in the end worked out fine, and she is happier now with her new phone.

We had a few good days with no real troubles, but then my phone had some issues on Sunday, the screen went pixelated and couldn't work properly.  Now, I enter into the land of the troubled phone.  I had to get a replacement phone and lost all my texts and a few other things, but it is kinda nice and refreshing to have a clean phone that runs smoother and has a battery that lasts longer. It is funny how much we rely on modern technology.  There are so many things that 5 years ago we didn't have to worry about and now for a fair number of us, say 55%, have a smartphone and somewhere around 87% of us have a cell phone in general.  These numbers keep growing and so does our dependence on technology.

Don't get me wrong, I love where we are heading in terms of technology and the future looks bright. If I was better at math I would have stayed an engineer instead of focusing on art, I still dabble in technology and making things though.  I just can't wait until we get hover boards and holograms. Simpler days weren't that long ago. Back when I had to worry about weather or not my mom made corn for dinner or if I was going to be able to earn enough money painting fences to buy a new video game and a new bunch of comic books. Ah, the good old days when I used to record tv shows with my vhs player... now we have the internet and channels broadcast their shows and save them online, and I have a job where I get regular money every two weeks, and a phone that is faster and more reliable than my computer was when I was in high school.

Last Saturday our car randomly shut off at a stop light on the way home.  It has never done that before, We had to push it into a parking lot and then called Allison's dad.  While talking to him we tried turning it back on and it did start up.  It hasn't done it again and we are hoping that it won't again.

Ah Technology

This past week was an interesting one. We got some new upstairs neighbors and they were able to get the internet figured out and back up and running on Monday. So we were without internet for about a week. Thankfully we had our smartphones which we were able to use instead.

Sort of.

My phone has decided it hates me (not really). For the past couple weeks I’d noticed it doing some weird things. For example, it would take screen shots in the middle of the night, I would wake up and see that it was searching for people, and this morning it turned my alarm off a split second after it started ringing, as it was flipping through different app panels. It’s possessed. Not cool. Thankfully it’s still under the one year warranty (barely) so I’ve got a new phone that should be shipped out today and arrive sometime around Friday.

Aside from being possessed, the phone isn’t dead, definitely still usable; the soft keys have just become really unresponsive, which makes navigating through my phone really difficult and aggravating. Oh well, I can survive a few more days.

On Friday we went to a coworker’s house and had dinner and played board games. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed getting to chat outside of work.

On Saturday after work we got together with our new upstairs neighbors and had dinner and played games also. It’s really nice having great neighbors, and they definitely fit the bill. They seem like really fun people to just hang out with, so there will probably be more of that in the future.

That’s all the news for this past week. Ezra’s started his spring class and this is the last week I have class until June. I’ve got two major papers to write, but I’ve got 100% in one class and 97-98% in the other class, so I’m not too worried. I just have to do it.

Later!

This week got forgotten about

I got super caught up in the week and forgot to post last Sunday. We also didn't have internet for a few days and that was tragic.  Allison and I started teaching Primary at church, CTR 4 class, cute little four-year-olds running around.  Last week was our 1st week and it was great once we started teaching, even though I was mostly the helper and just drew on the board most of the time. It was a great experience and we feel like we are starting to fit in now.

We have started hiking around the mountains out our back door.  It is really nice to be able to walk a few blocks and then start down a trail. On Friday the 26th, last week we ended up hiking over 6 miles and it was a blast.  I brought a sketchbook and drew as we went while listening to music and Allison listened to an audio book.

We also went to a co-worker's/friend's house for a BBQ.  It was fun visiting and seeing our friends outside of work. As well as seeing some of our old co-workers that don't currently work with us.

I'm tired and need to go to bed so, bye for now.  I'm sure Allison will post tomorrow a most excellent post as she usually does.

Exciting Week

Ezra finished classes this week and totally rocked his finals! On Friday (the first day of finals) he went to take his New Testament final. Our agreement was that if he got an A, we could rent a movie with one of our Red
Box promo codes. 95%!! Woohoo! So we got Life of Pi and watched that. It was one of the most visually beautiful movies I’ve ever seen. It’s definitely one that we’ll add to our collection when we get the chance.

I’ve still got classes until midway through May. Then I get a short break before I start my summer class. Final projects/research papers have started for me so I’ve been busy getting that done. I’ve randomly had a handful of people ask me this past week what I actually do/learn in library school. What’s the point? So this week you get a double blog post. For information about what I’m learning in library school, go to this post.

I finally got the first part of my garden planted this past Monday. It seems like every time I’ve planned on planting either it’s snowed or we’ve had to take a trip up to Salt Lake City. I planted something like eight pea seeds and ten spinach seeds. I’m hoping that as the peas come up they’ll shade the spinach since I got it planted so late. We’ll see how it goes.

Wednesday there was an “epic announcement” from Provo’s Mayor, John Curtis. Provo, Utah will be the third city nationwide to get Google Fiber! If you don’t know what that is, it’s super fast internet through fiber optic cables. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this! Basic broadband with 5mbs will be free for at least the first seven years with a onetime installation fee of $30 (I sound like an ad). They’re planning on starting to put it in homes before the end of the current year. I’m sooo happy we’re still living in Provo!

As Ezra mentioned last week, we’ve started using MyFitnessPal (I’m about to sound like an ad again). There is a phone app that we use, but it’s also available online. I hate calorie counting. I hate it hate it hate it, but this app makes it super easy. You give the app some information about yourself and your goals, and then it gives you a daily calorie budget. Food you eat takes calories out of the budget, and exercise is like a deposit, putting calories back into your budget. Yes, this is calorie counting, but the app makes it super easy. For packaged foods you just scan the barcode and tell the app how many servings you had, and then it adjusts your budget for you. For homemade foods you enter in the ingredients, tell the app how many servings are in the final product, and it does all of the math for you. Oh, did I mention that it also calculates nutritional information? Yeah, it’s a pretty awesome app and it’s made us a lot more aware of what we eat.

What my summary looked like at the end of the day on Thursday.

The only thing I've entered so far today is my breakfast.

My nutritional information summary at the end of the day Friday.

It’s also given us motivation to work out a bit more often. There is a trail right next to our house that we’ve been hiking on, and the other day we took a walk through our neighborhood, just so we could burn a few extra calories so that we could have a bit of extra chocolate.

We were excited to pass an intersection of streets with the names of our home states.

To end this past week, we finally got a calling in our new church ward! We will be Primary teachers, teaching the four-year-olds at church. In our church, Primary is where children go after Sacrament Meeting. They have gospel lessons and activities appropriate to their age group. I’ve never attended Primary because I joined the LDS church when I was eighteen, and Ezra’s family wasn’t very active in the church when he was younger, so Primary will be new to both of us. We’re really excited and have already started planning out how we will present next week’s lesson. It’s going to be great!

All about Library School

This past week I’ve had a few people ask me about library school. What do I do? What do I learn? What’s the point? Is it worth it?

Let’s start with, “what’s the point?” I want to be the best librarian I can, which means learning as much as I can. For example, in my Information Retrieval class I’ve learned a lot about databases, classification, controlled vocabularies, and how to make things findable. So the next time you search/browse for something (book, movie, journal article, online shopping, etc.) in ANY database or catalog, remember that an information scientist made it possible for you to find it. That’s what I’m learning to do.

In my Information and Society class we’ve talked about things like library ethics, patron privacy, copyright, and perceptions about libraries (which tend to be poor). There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes at libraries that most people don’t even realize. I didn’t realize it until I started working for the library. Since starting school I’ve learned even more and the “whys” behind things. When I know something, I can better assist patrons with their questions and concerns.

“Is it worth it?” To me it is, but it’s not for everyone. The skills I’m learning as a librarian will help me throughout my life, and it helps me assist patrons who are trying to better their own lives. Not to mention the fact that having an MLIS is a bump up on the pay scale and it will open up doors for me in the future. When I was deciding if an MLIS was something I wanted to pursue, I realized that getting the degree is something I would never regret, but I might regret not getting it. I don’t want to live with regret.

For the “What do I do/learn?” questions I’ve included my academic plan for grad school. These are the classes I plan on taking and the course descriptions for each class. The classes with an * are required.

• 2013 
• Spring 
• *200 – Information and Society Explores the complex and interrelated historical, social, economic, cultural, political, and technological influences that shape information and society. Emphasis is on the various roles and responsibilities of information organizations and the values and ethics of information professionals. 
• *202 – Information Retrieval Principles of information retrieval and their application to information systems and services. Emphasizing models of user information seeking behavior, human information processing and their relationship to retrieval models in information systems.
• *203 – Online Social Networking: Technology and Tools This course introduces students to a variety of new and emerging technologies used in today's online environment. It covers various social networking platforms, content and learning management tools, web conferencing, immersive environments, and other trends in social computing. 
• Summer
• *204 – Information Organizations and Management Identifying distinguishing characteristics, culture and relationships of information organizations. Emphasizes theories examining the interaction between human beings and the organizations in which they work. 
• Fall
• *285 – Research Methods in Library and Information Science Covers fundamental principles, processes, values and roles of research for professional application in information organizations. Students will become critical consumers of research products and learn the basic skills of evaluating, planning, designing, executing, and applying research. In addition to a general research methods class, which examines a variety of research methodologies, SLIS offers a number of applied or specialized sections of LIBR 285 for students to choose from.
• 266 – Collection Management Study of collection management in all types of libraries and information centers. Includes analysis of information needs, criteria for selection, collection use evaluation, and resources for collection development.
• 2014 
• Spring 
• 210 – Reference and Information Services A process-oriented examination of how information professionals answer reference questions. The interpersonal skills required for effective question negotiation and the sources with which questions are answered are stressed.
• 251 – Web Usability Through examination of theory, methodologies, and real-life cases, LIBR 251 offers a framework for developing user-friendly interfaces for use in information systems. Students will learn the principles of user-centric design and style for particular circumstances and populations. 
• Summer 
• 248 – Beginning Cataloging and Classification Theory and practice of bibliographic control including the study of representative cataloging using descriptive cataloging standards, machine-based representation using MARC format and other standards, subject analysis and classification using LCSH, Dewey, and LCC.
• Fall 
• 265 – Materials for Young Adults This course will allow students to take an in depth look at materials in a variety of formats for teens, including fiction, popular nonfiction, graphic novels, movies, computer games, websites, other media, and determine how they can meet developmental needs. 
• 261A – Programming and Services for Young Adults Administration and delivery of professional library and information services with multi-cultural young adult populations: features critical youth studies cultural/historical research, resources, policy, threats, tools, methods, service philosophies and management skills necessary for a comprehensive profile of YA library services. 
• 2015 
• Spring 
• 283 – Marketing of Information Products and Services Applications of marketing concepts to library and information services. Market analysis, use surveys, market targeting and introduction of services will be featured. 
• 232 – Issues in Public Libraries Investigation of current issues that impact the functioning of the public library. Topics covered include issues related to social and political environments, clientele, services, collections, physical settings, financing and staffing, and future trends in the public library sector. 
• Summer 
• 282 – Seminar in Library Management Application of management theory to specific problems. Readings and discussions of the development of effective strategies for planning and implementing organizational change. Specific content of the course changes each time it is offered. Examples of topics studied include: Advocacy, Conflict Management, Digital Assets Management, Financial Management, Human Resources Management, Leadership, Managing Information Technology, Grant Writing. 
• Fall 
• *289 – Advanced Topics in Library and Information Science Advanced independent creation of an electronic portfolio demonstrating mastery of all student learning outcomes (core competencies) for the MLIS degree. Must be completed in final or next-to-final semester.

Breathing Room?

Well, I am now done with my portfolio submission to Nickelodeon Animation Studios' Nick Artist Program.  It is a summer internship that I am excited about.  I don't think that I will get it this year, but I loved the challenge of getting a portfolio ready.  I also have entered finals and have been busy with those, but I am not stressing out about them this time around I just have one more on Friday.

We have been up to Salt Lake 3 weeks in a row now and may end up there sooner than later. The Grandparents came into town on a trip through Utah, sightseeing, and on through to California.  It was unexpected, but welcomed.  I enjoyed seeing them since I usually only see them on holidays maybe twice a year.

Allison is still doing amazing in her classes and we are both super excited about a new app we have started using, MyFitnessPal, you can enter in what you are eating and it shows how many calories you are eating, plus other nutritional facts as well as your workouts and how many (presumably) you are burning. We'll keep you posted on how well it works. 

We were sorry to hear about the tragedy that occurred at the Boston Marathon on Monday.  Our prayers go out to those effected in the aftermath of this sad event.  We have some friends that run marathons and they were our first thought, luckily they are training for another event that they are going to next week in Virginia.  Hopefully they will figure out the exact reason and who did this soon.

Conference Weekend

It’s been a pretty great week! Why? General Conference!

For those who don’t know what General Conference is (if you do, you can skip this paragraph), it’s something that happens in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints twice a year, the first full weekend in April, and the first full weekend in October. It’s a conference where church leaders provide inspiring words, guidance, and counsel to everyone in the church. You’ll often find LDS families watching General Conference (which is broadcast worldwide) in their homes, or in their local church building. General Conference is broadcast from the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, which happens to be totally within driving distance of us.

I love going up to Salt Lake for Conference, even if we’re not in the Conference Center. So on Sunday, since the Provo Library is closed, Ezra and I drove up to Salt Lake and hung out on Temple Square. We watched the Sunday morning session of Conference in one of the Visitor Centers, and then went to Ezra’s Mom’s place for lunch. She had some pretty great pizza, and we decided we didn’t want to face the traffic for the second session at 2pm, so we just stayed put and watched it on TV.

Had to visit the Christus.

Too shy to ask a stranger to take our picture, so we did it ourselves. Not the best lighting, but we were happy to be there!

I love daffodils.

And Ezra decided to take a picture of me taking a picture of the daffodils.

After Conference was over we watched a new show BYU TV is producing called Granite Flats. The show was filmed entirely in Utah, and in some locations around Salt Lake. We drove around for a while with Ezra’s sister and her family trying to find some of the filming locations.

In one of the school sets we thought we saw that the name of the school was Granger. So we went to Granger Elementary School. This was definitely NOT the school it was filmed at.

While on the road I was researching it on my phone and saw that they were trying to purchase Granite High School for filming (the article was a little aged). So we went to Granite High School... which was completely closed off and had asbestos signs in all the windows and doors. Definitely not filmed there. We found out later that the school was about a ten minute drive from their house, so perhaps another day we will find the filming location.

After that we wanted some fresh air and stopped by Liberty Park and peeked in at the Tracy Aviary. We had a lot of fun getting out and sharing stories. It was a great conference weekend.

Some of the birds. Just chilling.

No major plans for this coming week. Ezra is getting his portfolio together for the Nick Artist Program so he’s been busy being artsy. We’re not really getting our hopes up about it. He said he wants to apply so he can frame Nickelodeon’s rejection letter. I think it’s brave to try something when you’re 95% sure you’re going to be rejected. So no matter what happens, I’m proud of him for applying.

Easter

This past week has kept us busy.

School and work were as usual, Allison and I both continued to get good grades on our class assignments.  I also am still pressing forward on my portfolio to apply to the Nickelodeon Artist Program that is due the 15th of April.  2 weeks, I can do it.

Thursday we also had a bit of a scare with a visitor to our office.  A Scutigera coleoptrata, a house centipede. It is this freaky 30 legged spider-mutant.  obviously not a spider, but before we knew what it was it was just creepy. I intentionally kept this picture smaller in case you get freaked out, if you are intrigued, you may search for it on your own.

Friday we went and donated blood, Allison was very happy that her iron was high enough to donate this time. 

Saturday night after work we watched the Doctor Who premiere at a friends house. It looks like these episodes will be a nice finish to the season and a great build-up to the 50th anniversary.

We had Easter yesterday on Sunday at my moms house and were able to visit with a few of my family members there.  Afterwards we went to the park and tossed bread to the ducks.  we also found out that it is entertaining to throw a whole roll out to the seagulls and they all flock to it.

late late incredibly late

Sorry about that...

It has been a busy week (or two) with much drawing taken place.

I am posting for both weeks as penance for not having posted on time last week.

We went to the final taping of the second season of Studio C at BYU's TV studio on campus, hilarious by the way.

 Here is a picture of the line waiting to get in, we get there over 2 hours before it starts to be able to get good seats.  And yes, the line does indeed go up the stairs and twisting all over the place. Each time we go we arrive earlier and earlier and yet we are almost always in the same spot in line.

We received this cheesecake key lime pie for Pi Day/St. Patrick's Day from Bob and Cindy Anne, it was delicious!!  It was so good that we ate it rather quickly, but we enjoyed in immensely.

 Allison and I both have been doing great in our classes by getting As.  It will be nice when summer comes and I can focus more on my art.  I still feel like I need to improve so much, but at the same time I feel like I am learning twice as much as the previous day, everyday.

Even though spring is here, we still get snow... but it was mostly gone by the end of the day even though it was still snowing into the afternoon.  That is Utah weather for you, we will probably still be getting snow here and there until May. 

A lot seems to happen each day, but everything is so minor that it isn't that memorable, to put in a weekly blog, but on campus a couple days ago I did overhear a girl talking on the phone and she said "...and... is it still looking like it's edible"  I can only imagine the other side of the conversation.  For things like that I miss being on campus more often.

Dark Days

As I put off homework, I thought it would be a good use of my time to write this week’s blog post.

There really isn’t a lot to say about this past week. The library had an author event (Pitch Black: Dark Days Tour) on Wednesday that I helped with. I was Kiersten White’s signing assistant and got to know her a little. We both graduated from BYU with a BA in English, so that gave us something in common to talk about.

The authors answering questions during the Dark Days Tour in the Provo Library ballroom.

Library staff at the event with our awesome Dark Days t-shirts.  I'm second from the left, not counting the guy walking in the door.

I also signed us up to attend the last taping of Studio C, which is this coming Wednesday. I’m excited to say that we’ve made it to exactly one half of all the season 2 tapings. We’ve gone to every single 9:30pm show. So, if you watch Studio C, odds are that every other sketch you see will have Ezra and me laughing in the background.

The last bit of interesting fluff from this week is that we had a staff book club meeting on Saturday. We read The Round House by Louise Erdrich. As of Friday morning we only had 47% of the book read according to my Kindle. By 10pm we had finished. I read the whole book out loud to Ezra, which was a little odd at times. There was a lot of editing on my part. It was fun though. The next book we’re reading is Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. I’m pretty excited about it and can hardly wait to get started.

Until next week!

Birthday Week

I just had my 26th birthday on Friday.  It was a big one, full of... stuff, and things....

Free food is always good and a couple years ago I signed up for birthday clubs with a ton of restaurants and now each year I get freebies.  We had a few meals out and went up to Salt Lake to visit family.  2005 was the last time my mom saw me on my birthday.  We also went and visited with one of my mission companions and good friends. His daughter just had a birthday, and it was fun picking out princess toys and accessories for her.

I got Doctor Who Yahtzee from my mom, Allison and I have played that quite a few times now. And she gave me a coupon book...  Hehe, best present ever...ish... and we're not talking last minute, quickly hand written coupon book because you forgot.  This was done on the computer with pictures and well thought out gifts... she also used the sewing machine to make the pages perforated for easy tearing and redeemability.

The car was also finally fixed, again.  The parking break has had issues and once it was "fixed" it didn't actually hold us if we were on a hill. Now it is all good and our car likes us again for taking care of it.

We again went to Studio C on Saturday night.  It is a lot of fun to go to a live taping of a TV show. The atmosphere is great and you get to see them set up the sets and what goes on between shooting the scenes.  Over all fun experience and a perk for still living in Utah.

Healty and back to busy.

We’re both feeling a lot better this week. Woohoo! Good thing too because it’s been a busy week, though not overwhelming.

On Monday we had our All-Staff Training at the library. In other words, the library was closed to patrons but we still had to come in. We really enjoyed it though, especially since Café Rio catered our lunch. We learned some great things, heard from Provo’s mayor, and had a police presentation about active shooters in the workplace. We watched this video which was pretty powerful. This was the second time I’ve seen it and I got pretty emotional both times. It’s not gory or anything, but it’s powerful in such a way that reminds you this could happen anywhere. It’s scary to think that you could go to work one day and because of one person you might not make it home to your family, or your family might not make it home to you. That’s why I get emotional.

On Wednesday we went to another taping of Studio C. So far we’ve made it to every 9:30pm taping that they’ve had, and we’re signed up for another one this coming Saturday. I always get super excited; Studio C is such a blast! A recurring character they have this season is Ann the librarian… as a librarian I find it hilarious because no one at Provo Library is like Ann. Thank goodness otherwise we might scare all of our patrons away!

I took my car in to get fixed on Thursday. They installed the part and when I left it still didn’t feel quite right. I tested it using the ramps for the library’s underground parking and the break doesn’t hold, so I’m taking it in again tomorrow. He said he has another idea of why it might be having problems, so hopefully we’ll get it fixed and working this time.

Ezra had another quiz this week and got over 100% again. So proud! I had an article critique essay to write which I drug my feet about, but I got it done and turned in with time to spare. I was pretty happy with it so I hope my professor feels the same.

Where I usually sit and do homework at the library. It's pretty quiet first thing in the morning.

The week of continual sick, ugh

This week has been mostly about rest and relaxation.  We have remained sick and possibly got each other sick again. Allison is on the mend which hopefully means that I shortly will be too.

On the plus side Allison finished her first sewing project, an apron. Se is very excited about it and can't wait to use it.  I think she did a really great job on it. She is enjoying sewing, there were a few cases of frustration that arose but it was the sewing machines fault, mostly.

Ezra modeling the almost finished apron.

All done!

My mom spoke in Church today and that took us up to Salt Lake.  We had a great dinner and I got some of my birthday presents early since I might not see them again before my birthday. Doctor Who Yahtzee.  Hehe, the cup IS the TARDIS.  We have yet to play it, but I am sure we will enjoy it.

I'm also working on a personal project, An animation based on the Russian fairy tale the Snow Maiden. Not to be confused with Disney's upcoming adaptation of the Snow Queen, Frozen. I'll start posting images and progress on my art blog.

I'm still not very good at knowing what to say in these blog posts.

Studio C

This past week hasn’t been too terribly busy, but there were some definite highlights.

Wednesday evening we went to a taping of Studio C. It was a lot of fun. If you’re ever in Provo when they’re recording the episodes, try to get tickets (which are free). It’s an hour and a half of laughs, and you get to see the skits before they air on TV! Fun fact (aka what I think I remember from what they told us), apparently two years ago the biggest audience for any BYUtv show was for Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting, with 8,000 viewers. Today, it’s Studio C with 500,000 viewers! That’s so awesome! Ezra and I love being in the studio audience.

On Friday we went on a date to celebrate the two year anniversary of our first date. We wanted to go back to the hospital cafeteria but decided instead on Jason’s Deli in Orem. We had a gift card and only ended up paying $0.23 out of pocket. It was awesome! And there’s free ice cream! As we were sitting there eating our lunch the sky dumped snow. The flakes were huge and we could barely see University Mall just across the parking lot. Thankfully the roads weren’t too bad and by the time we had finished lunch it had stopped snowing.

While we were out and about in Orem we stopped at Jo-Ann Fabric to pick up some stuff that I needed for the apron I’m sewing. I had gotten the wrong stuff earlier, but now I’m all set! So last night instead of writing a blog post I was playing with my sewing machine. Here’s what my apron looks like at the moment. Some sewing… lots of pins.

My ladybug apron. It took forever for me to figure out the pockets on my own but I did it!

When I'm finished everything (except the ties) will be lined in black like the pockets. I wanted to go with something that was yellow and black because according to Pottermore I would be sorted into Hufflepuff.

Ezra keeping busy.

Ezra had a quiz and test this week, both of which he got As on! So proud of him! I haven’t had any assignments to turn in yet, the first one will be next week. So far my classes have consisted of reading documents, listening to lectures, and participating in weekly discussions on class discussion boards.

Oh! There is one thing that I learned that I’d like to share:

Apparently way back when (long before the printing press when books were crazy expensive), ancient monastery libraries were so protective of their books that if you didn’t return one you borrowed you could be excommunicated and cursed. Here is one such curse:

For him that stealeth, or borrow and returneth not this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, cry aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to his agony til he sing his dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of hell consume him forever.

A part of me wishes that we could hang a sign over the circulation counter with that curse on it… but I have a feeling the library director wouldn’t approve. Oh well.

Well, that’s all from this past week. There’s nothing exciting on the calendar for this coming week, so we’ll see what happens.