Rock Band did this to me

Bought a bass guitar. Cheap, of course, as much as they can be cheap in a music store when they are a chinese Replica... $400 after haggling. There were cheaper instruments, but they were heavier and the one I bought at least seems to be well built. Okay enough to learn on it without disgusting myself.

This being said, My Made in China Typhoon -- a Jackson C-20 Concert Bass replica -- actually works. A 10 watt amp actually provides enough power to give a quite powerful sound, to my surprise, especially in a small house. And there I was thinking that the hard part was to hit the right note and I could start playing. Wrong. Oh so wrong. You need to keep 1 string ringing, and 3 strings silent. When you play you have to touch all 4 strings at all time, 3 of them to mute them off. If you dont, all strings vibrate and you get a muddy sound. If you want to play bass, the only sounds that should come out of your instruments are the one you want to get out. No string slipping, no string plucked with fingernails by accident, just one clear note. And I tought 4 strings would be easier to learn than 6 strings... Ah well, at least I have figured my C major scale. Should now buy a metronome to force me to keep a steady rhythm.

Now, to practice everyday...

The Joy of the Weed

To Weed is good. Collections look better, Browsing is easier, books look fresher, they are not as crowded, and turnover rates improve. It also allows for intimacy with the collection. Those books who stay have been litteraly touched by you. The subconscious mind remember they are there. When it comes to Readers' advisory, this comes in handy.

The catalog is a fantastic tool, but knowledge of the collection allows us sometimes to wring that little extra bit out of our holdings when helping patrons. To have a collection that is fresh, up to date, and doesn't list Brian Mulroney as the current prime minister of Canada is also a good thing :).

Oxygen

O Is a very strange thing, and its relationship to Life and Us and All things on Earth is quite amazing. Nick Lane almost manages to vulgarize this--I mean by this that I can understand about half the book. I am fascinated by what we are and how we came to be, a fascination that I think exists since we do exist. Mr. Lane makes a remarquable effort in trying to explain to us how much that one specific element has defined all life as we know it on earth. Still reading it, and I will read it to the end, even if it is a bit technical and tough to understand for a non-scientist like me!