Practising everyday

I am practising my bass guitar everyday. Can even even hold a rhytm as long as I don't fret too much. I can manage to hold at least 2 of my 4 strings silent most of the time. I can switch string when I pluck whithout looking (wow!). Mariève doesn't complain that much when I practice (which is 15 to 30 minutes per day, on average), but maybe she is just in love with me and doesn't want me to down my pityful efforts to pretend I can play a musical instrument.

Even my daughters don't complain THAT much.

Of course, some people can actually play bass guitar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVl39LBZGMw . A pity he passed away. I hear he never was one to boast.

Besides, spring is in full Bloom, the recession appears to have bottomed out (I do not say it appears to have recovered!), and perhaps the end of the world will be kind enough to postpone its visit if it had any planned in the near or mid term future...

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!

It's not all about games...

Obtuseness. A gentle reminder that when one has nothing positive to say, perhaps he should considering saying nothing. Ah well. Lack of vision is not a crime, and by some it's seen as a virtue. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Life/Library+games/1393761/story.html.

Perhaps if Mr. Taylor had bothered to look at OPL's mission statement, he would have seen that those activities DO fit in our mission statement, under "community building" and "connecting people with each other". It also is an inexpensive way to advertize library's services: Our Friday March 13's tournament was run by teen volunteers, all the library had to do was to provide registration and poster production and advertizing. I wasn't in the room but parents who were present in the room found the event well run and inclusive. And although the participants brought in snacks and drinks, the room and table were cleaner at the end than when they took possession of it to run their event.

Anyway, libraries are about information and people, not just books. Books are a tool. There are many other tools available. Our main purpose is to serve the community and help it becoming stronger. Video games are but another tool.

And since this is Saint Patrick's day... No, I don't have any Irish blood :). My co-workers were kind enough to tell me how to actually pronounce Leprechaun...

SLO

It's coming, but I guess that this year again, we (OPL) are not going. Le Salon du Livre de l'Outaouais will be held between March 26 and 29 at the Palais des Congrès in Hull. Here's the official website: http://www.slo.qc.ca/ . My friend Claude Bolduc http://claudebolduc.tripod.com/ goes in a frenzy about a month every year, at about this time of the year...

I must say I think it's a bit of a shame that the biggest bilingual library in North America can't go there considering that after all, Gatineau IS part of Greater Ottawa's "catchment area" and that there are a lot of potential paying users on the other side of the river. Although the Bibliothèque Municipale de Gatineau does a fantastic job with the miserable yearly budget they get, we can offer services beyond what they can offer, especially with our Databases and Overdrive products, among other things. Also, a lot of our francophone Ottawa Users cross the river to go see what's up in the Francophone Publishing world.

I sometimes come to think that the river that separates Ottawa from Gatineau is awfully wide for its size. And I don't claim it's all Ottawa's fault. Far from it.

Sushi

Miam.

Inaris, especially. I've developped a fondness for these.

Fried Tofu sheet filled with rice. A bit sweet. Fantastically tasty.