Waiting for Halloween

I'm very excited. A friend was traveling to Seattle and picked up some of those wonderful Illustrated Librarian tattoos for me. So I am already planning my Halloween costume. I think a biker look with Read or Die on my left arm and the flaming skull with an overdue book on my right. A little gel should turn my conservative hair style into a fright wig. Too bad I don't have any piercing so I could complete the look with safety pins. Who knows, the look might grow on me.

Summer Reading

Ah, to have the time for some discerning reading. This summer's bookshelf started off with "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway. This book moved me to tears and pricked my conscience. It's the kind of book that wrings you out but won't let you stop reading. For a review that says it better than I ever could check out Music for a Broken City.

The music refered to is Adagio in G Minor and it has a story all its own. You can hear a snippet of it on Last FM.

From there I moved on to some humorous fluff, Nora Ephron's "I Feel Bad About My Neck." I needed a laugh and found it here. If you're female and approaching middle age (whatever that constitutes these days) you will identify with it. For some time now I have been contemplating retirement and wondering what shape it will take. I'm not ready to give up the learning, just the job. Perhaps I will start an 'on the eve of retirement' blog.

Image used under Creative Commons Licence thanks to: bartimaeus from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamilsoni/96627234/

Taking a Break

I like to wean myself off slowly as the school year finishes. I find a good book, in this case The Cellist of Sarajevo, and vow to check my RSS feeds and email not more than twice a day. It's been difficult. The book is riveting but there are all the wonderful posts and resources surfacing in the wake of NECC and they are calling to me.

It's wonderful to get a small taste of the excitement and AHA moments as conference goers discover new tools, new ways of reaching students and share all that is good in the world of teaching and technology. I'm checking del.icio.us and diigo for necc08 tags and watching ustreamed presentations.

It's amazing how many people I recognize now in the video clips and photos but have never met in person. At the first NECC I attended in Philadelphia in 2005 I remember being ecstatic when I stopped someone in the hall to ask directions and read Kathy Schrock on her name tag.

So I'm taking a little break from blogging, catching up with family and friends. I fear that some of my newly acquired technology skills will atrophy over the summer so I know I will be back from time to time. Especially if the monsoon-like weather we've been having stays around.

Photo: My daughter at her summer job feeding Moose in the wild Canadian north.