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May 29, 2008
Haiku for Today (Michigan Primary)
Michigan primary
Measured only one aspect
Name recognition
Please do not even get me started!
This entry was posted in the following categories: Completely Off Topic! , Haikus of the Day , Michigan's EconomyPosted by cseeman at 07:15 AM | Comments (0)
May 28, 2008
Haiku for Today (Art Van)
Furniture on sale
Best ever prices this weekend
Has to be Art Van
Art Van has sales that are totally amazing and never been beat...ALL THE TIME. But they are a Michigan company...
This entry was posted in the following categories: Completely Off Topic! , Haikus of the Day , Michigan's EconomyPosted by cseeman at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)
May 22, 2008
Haiku for Today (MeLCat)
Colder than normal
When no students are about
Better use MeLCat
Was going to walk to Borders to get a travel book to Michigan's Thumb (Lake Huron). But it was too cold, so I turned back and ordered it on MeLCat. In a few days...I should get the book!
This entry was posted in the following categories: Completely Off Topic! , Haikus of the Day , Integrated Library Systems , Other Library Work , The World of LibrariesPosted by cseeman at 02:20 PM | Comments (0)
May 21, 2008
Haiku for Today (Harbour Lights)
ebayed Harbour Lights
Suddenly within my reach
so very tempting
So Nancy Fleck (from Michigan State), started me on this horrible path. She gave me my first Harbour Lights collectible just this past month to thank me for my service as IUG Past Chair. It was the Old Presque Ilse Light in Michigan.
Since returning, I have purchased three more...ugh! I've fallen and I can't get up!
This entry was posted in the following categories: Completely Off Topic! , Haikus of the DayPosted by cseeman at 06:15 AM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2008
Haiku for Today (Hummingbird)
Forty two degrees
A hummingbird sitting still
Wings tucked on her side
Photos to follow from flickr. We have had hummingbirds at our feeder within two hours of putting it up! Need to make sure everything is tagged, but here are some of my photos of birds in our backyard.
This entry was posted in the following categories: Completely Off Topic! , Haikus of the DayPosted by cseeman at 07:36 AM | Comments (0)
May 13, 2008
Zingerman's - Just Amazing!
Great story from NPR's Weekend Edition.
Zingerman's: Not Your Grandfather's Deli
by Bonny Wolf
Weekend Edition Sunday, May 11, 2008 · In 1982, Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig opened Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Mich. After 26 years, they have built an empire called Zingerman's Community of Businesses that Inc. magazine called "The Coolest Small Company in America." On Friday, Oprah Winfrey rated a sandwich from Zingerman's an amazing 11 out of 5.
--end--
This is one of the best things to come out of Michigan! Definitely worth the trip.
Visit the NPR site for more pieces on food.
This entry was posted in the following categories: Completely Off Topic! , Michigan's Economy , Michigan's Food , University of Michigan TopicsPosted by cseeman at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2008
Explaining the Subprime/Credit Crisis
There was a great piece on NPR, co-produced by All Things Considered and This American Life. These pieces do a great job of explaining what happened, while providing the human face to the issue.
Global Pool of Money Got Too Hungry (May 9, 2008)
NPR's Adam Davidson and This American Life's Alex Blumberg jointly report on how rising defaults on subprime mortgages in the U.S. became a global financial crisis. This American Life host Ira Glass talks with Michele Noris about this first ever collaboration.
The Giant Pool of Money
A special program about the housing crisis. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the collapse of the investment bank Bear Stearns? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.
Posted by cseeman at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2008
On Airline Fees and the Like
Heard a great piece on NPR titled "How to Pack Everything You Own in One Bag"
Here is the start of the story:
All Things Considered, May 9, 2008 · With more and more airlines charging extra to check a second piece of baggage, packing light has become a necessity.
Next week, AirTran Airways and American Airlines will join Northwest, Delta, US Airways, United and Continental in requiring passengers to pay a fee if they can't cram all their clothes, shoes, books, and hairdryers into one bag to check.
--snip--
So I felt that I had to respond...
Thanks for your story about packing more effectively when traveling by air. Certainly, these are trying times for the airlines. But the model for solvency does not seem to make a great deal of sense. The airline I fly almost exclusively, Northwest, which I love, seems to have figured out that $25 is the minimum that they can charge to make it cost effective. It is $25 if I want to change a flight. It is $25 if I want to check a second bag. And it is $25 if my bag is over 50 lbs. And that is where I was, with a bag that weighed 54 pounds after a conference on my return to Detroit from Washington, D. C.
As I pulled out my credit card to pay for the “weight” surcharge on my bag, all I could think of what that my bag was nearly so heavy when I flew back from the same conference last year. But I was not. Sine last summer, I have lost 20 pounds (yeah, yeah, I am pretty happy and telling everyone - even those who could care less). So in many ways, my total weight impact on the flight was less this year, than last year. And while I did not feel that I could convince the gate agent to cut me some slack, I am wondering when the airlines are going to start weighing the passengers. Sure, you might not get a break if you are tiny, but they will sure tap a fee on those who are adding to the burden of the flight.
I can envision that you would be entitled to one 50 pound bag, one carry-on bag (assuming it does not have a snow globe or anything that has water in it), one computer bag or purse (but some of those laptops weight a ton), and up to 225 of personal weight. I still have a ways to go to hit that number, but I am getting there. It maybe a bit sensitive, but they can get the weight from the driver’s license when we check in. If we have moved dramatically in one direction or another, then I suppose they could take us to a back room where they have a scale (I wonder if they would make us remove our shoes for that). And maybe, just maybe, when we are not checking a bag, we can get bonus points for the next trip.
I still love to fly and I still love my local airline in Michigan, Northwest. But it is harder and harder to be enthusiastic about flying these days. Maybe this will change when the price of oil gets back to $50 a barrel. Ah…forget it…
--end--
Here is another nice piece called "Ode to the Second Checked Bag."
This entry was posted in the following categories: Completely Off Topic! , Management PhilosophyPosted by cseeman at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2008
Rules and Rules...but PLEASE USE YOUR BRAINS!
Saw this article from Reuters.
Woman fired for giving 16-cent treat to toddler
Fri May 9, 2008 7:42am EDT
TORONTO (Reuters) - An attendant at a Canadian restaurant who was sacked for giving a bite-sized doughnut, worth 16 cents, to an agitated toddler was given her job back on Thursday after the case received wide media attention.
Nicole Lilliman, a single mother, said she was dismissed from a London, Ontario, outlet of the Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut chain after video cameras captured the 27-year-old giving a Timbit to a toddler.
--see link for the rest of the article--
I am very glad that they have seen the error of their ways and reinstated her. I know the old adage that says 'take care of the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves.' But this sets up a relationship between the customer, the staff and the product that distances reason with reality.
I know that employee theft can be a big issue, but for any operation that provides a service (be it a restaurant or a library), the need to know when the rules should be applied and when the rules could be suspended. And we do not need to extrapolate to everyone in the store...did everyone need a free timbit that day?
I would like to think that we can do something different or special for someone, based on the conditions that they are under. How many times to we do something over and above what is 'normal' in the library, only to have people frown about needing to do that for everyone. I think we need to trust in ourselves to know when we can bend the rules. When do we need to give people a report instead of pointing them in the direction. When do we need to walk people to the stacks rather than pointing. When do we need to send people some articles rather than a search string. And when do we need to give someone a timbit...well, just because.
Service will be a defining element of librarianship from here on out. These are, indeed, exciting times.
Posted by cseeman at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2008
Report to the ProQuest Academic Advisory Board
Meeting with the ProQuest Academic Advisory Board today. As part of the meeting, each of the board members are supposed to come up with a 5-10 minute presentation on the state of affairs in the library world. I am hoping to expand on many of these themes, but here are the slides.
I will talk about this more later (once I am done with my performance evaluations...ugh). But I think it is critical that we do things that are amazing! I know budgets are tight, but this is a goal and a mission that is so critical for libraries to be a school's "competitive advantage."
I will write more later.
This entry was posted in the following categories: Business Librarianship , Conference Presentations , Management Philosophy , The World of Libraries , University of Michigan TopicsPosted by cseeman at 06:40 AM | Comments (0)