The Lone Star Football League

Yep. I'm in a fantasy football league. Go Heathens!!!

I'd like to think not as a token member. Given that I've been in this league since the 1900s, I believe my participation is somewhat legitimate. My lack of a championship would seriously indicate otherwise. I think there is a rule named after my team, though.

That's power, baby!

If memory serves, this will be season 20 of the LSFL. Crafty Andrea and I began our participation in the fall of 1993. Go Heathens, again! How excited were the boys that some girls wanted to play? Who can say? We managed to participate without humiliating ourselves or them, so the Heathens stuck around. The duration of our participation is math I can't even do. But, I can say this: Marriages don't last as long as this endeavor has. Nor should some of them. I think at least one marriage in the group didn't last.

Hmmm...let's not speak ill of the derelict. Although safe to say he didn't deserve that.

Am I the only one annoyed by these Joe Montana-Shape Ups commercials? Maybe I'm the only one still annoyed by Joe Montana.

I'm not going to be sentimental and say this association has been an emotional cornerstone. I can't say that setting a lineup every week has somehow helped me in my daily life. Pouring over esoteric statistics about bench riders has done nothing for me professionally. But, and I say this with just a touch of schmaltz, there is this sense of conviviality in our group. Members have come and gone with varying degrees of fanfare. Some we miss; some couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Not to say that there has been a lot of animosity. We're a pretty content, democratic, respectful group. We joke with each other. We joke about each other (some, more deservedly than others). We rage against each other. We stand up for each other. It's your typical dysfunctional family dynamic.

I'm sure someone smarter than I could sit down and observe our group and assign familial tags to each of our number. It's there. If I weren't constantly side-tracked by this special on the Knights Templar on History, I might even be able to dust off the English degree and give it a shot.

But, does it really matter? What matters is that this goofy group started at a Hardee's in Kilgore back in the day when someone had to compile statistics from AP reports cut out of actual newspapers (you remember those, right?) and carry them around in a huge 3-ring binder. The drafting of players used to take hours, and I mean that literally.

Heck, even figuring out the results of the games took hours. I don't know if I would have stuck with it this long if our league wasn't managed online.

Fantasy football has benefited greatly from the Internet. Truer words will never be spoken.

This year, the 20th of our humble existence, we will be taking the draft to Las Vegas. Vegas hosted the draft not long after we all graduated from college and we all had our first real jobs. Real jobs meant more disposable income. Disposable income meant we could take a trip or two!

Vegas is where we stuffed at least 7 people in a rental sedan. Good times, indeed.

Vegas is also where we uttered the now-famous Heathen phrase, "We left our draft strategy in the cab."

All efforts will be made to keep the draft strategy from falling into the hands of some drunk tourists similar to those who found that epic file folder and didn't have a clue how awesome John Elway was and how Heathen Greatness was on the horizon, baby!

As the years have passed, our obligations outside the league have limited the grandiose travel plans. Marriages, house payments, children, jobs without the benefit of paid vacation have all contributed to the LSFL keeping the draft in the Lone Star State. But, this 20th anniversary deserves some celebration and reflection.

In addition to the colorful group of owners, we have an awesome media guide. All of my scrap booking friends could learn a thing or two from that bad boy. It has inspired awe in those not fortunate enough to be in our league. It may even be responsible for landing a job for one of our number. It has certainly granted me the opportunity to write a "column" or two. How many other leagues have the design staff that we do? Not that dweeb I saw actually cutting and pasting his sad little media guide together at Kinko's a couple of years ago. How many other fantasy leagues have 20 years worth of history that need, nay, demand an actual media guide? No wonder the media guide has to be digital. How cool are we?!?!

Don't answer that.

Will we still be meeting during the nascent days of the football preseason to assemble a team in the hopes of glory that will only extend to our own group 20 years hence? I'm thinking yes. Whether it be in Las Vegas, or the pressbox at the Homer Dome in Nacogdoches, or the club house in the retirement community at Sun City Georgetown, the LSFL will still be alive and kicking. Somehow, this silly notion of fantasy football has kept us together.

I think after 20 years, we're stuck with each other. (Insert schmaltz here).

Oh yeah: Go Heathens!

I heart Chet the Dog

We had our book club meeting yesterday. Whoo-hoo!

A small showing, but a fun discussion. I must recommend to the 12 of you who are reading this little Dog On It by Spencer Quinn! Dog is told from the point of view of Chet the dog.

I'd include a pic of the cover, but I fear copyright violation issues.

It could have been told from the point of view of my dog Maverick, but if Chet is easily distracted, Mav is totally distracted. Chet is a police dog school drop out, but he's awesome. I hope this is the start of a series beyond the promised three novels.

So, what is Maverick thinking right now as he snuggles up to my sneakers? He's probably wondering why I was at work for so long today. I could explain to him about weeding the old, crappy, dusty VHS from the collection at school, but I don't think he cares. I think, at least I hope, he's just glad I'm home and periodically scratching his neck.

Is Maverick wondering: Why did I my human sit on the couch last night for two hours watching the finale America's Next Top Model knowing full well that the leathery, haggard-looking, annoying Krista was going to win when I could have been walking the dog?

This makes me wonder: Why do I watch America's Next Top Model? I have no real interest in "high fashion." I'm pretty sure Tyra Banks is just this side of crazy (but, taking crazy to the bank), and I never follow the winners. Let's not even start with how predetermined and flat-out rigged this and all "reality shows" are.

I often worry that my college degree will go up in flames when I watch these idiotic girls scream, yell, and"disrespect" each other.

Grow up, dingalings. You're in a modeling competition. Some of you guys aren't that far removed from rehab or a stripper pole.

Maybe for the same reason that I really enjoyed Dog On It. There is nothing wrong with being entertained.

All of that to say go read Dog On It, and its sequel. Chet the dog is hilarious! He is the smartest one in the room, and his dog's eye point of view is uber-endearing.

Plus, it's just funny! Read it!

Library 2.0 thoughts

Really? This profession needs to be told to become innovative and progressive? Really?

Are other professions like this? They have to be told to modernize? They have to be told there are benefits to adapting services?

That's sad.

I liked Anderson's comment: "[I]t no longer makes sense to collect information products as if they were hard to get. They aren't. In fact, it may no longer make sense to 'collect' in the traditional sense at all." Even more reason to weed all of these crappy old things cluttering up my nonfiction and reference sections. Information is out there. If we act like we're the only ones who know how to find things, we'll be the ones left in the dust.

Another one I liked, from Schultz: "What was the library of the past? A symbol of a society that cared about its attainments, that treasured ideas, that looked ahead multiple generations. Librarians were stewards, trainers, intimate with the knowledge base and the minds who produced it. Librarians today are not just inventory management biobots: they are people with a unique understanding of the documents they compile and catalog, and the relationships among those documents."

Great that we are "intimate with the knowledge base," but we need to keep in mind how that base is expanding and changing.

Did she read Steve Berry's The Alexandria Link before she wrote this article, or did Berry read her and decide on a secret society of librarians based on that quote? Just a thought.

Schlutz also mentions collaborating with Amazon. Does Amazon want to collaborate with libraries? Didn't they have a recent kerfluffle over publishing rights with the Kindle? Are they exercising control over the market, or are they bowing up for the inevitable showdown with Apple and the IPad? Just another thought.

Riemer likes his RSS feeds. Still make me feel like a slug.

So, I guess the point is the library has been able to be old school for quite a while. It's sort of a source of pride. But, it's time to step out into the 2.0!

One small however...

We should always be open to evolving and progressing, but it's hard to embrace big-time change when the threat of being downsized or eliminated because of funding looms.

Danny Boy

rolly-olly-olly o

I'm not very linear.

That has been my one frustration about HEB 23. Nothing to do with the project, really. Just how I work.

I've been piddling and playing with different pieces of this for a while. I've just now sat down to compile everything.

Did I go in order? No.

Did I complete one module before picking up another one? No.

Had I, would things have been easier? Probably.

This is part of the reason why it takes me so long to clean the house. I can't stay in one room and complete that room before being sidetracked and going into another room, leaving both half finished.

So, a mish-mash.

Did I mention that I crochet?

That's right. My hair is currently in something resembling a bun (they teach it in library school), my dog is snoozing at my feet, I can barely get up my stairs because of all of the piles of books, and I crochet.

There is a cliche in there. I'm sure of it.

http://rollyo.com/supercarrotrollyo/crochet_stuff/

And, Flickr.

I could waste so much time on Flickr. I already have. Most of what you'll find here are pictures from my trip to Scotland. I'm not totally obsessed with Scotland. It's just those are the majority of the pictures I've actually loaded on my computer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48811583@N02/

Rollyo would be cool to use for a research project with a class to help narrow things down and save time, which I can tell you is at a premium this time of year having just juggled the schedule so spectacularly in here it would make a clown weep. I know, data base purists. It's spoon-fed research, but for a beginning project or if you're crunched for time making a research roll could save time.

Again, I'm not sure if anything I Rollyo is that exciting. I know I'm supposed to be excited about

people being able to see my inner-most thoughts, but methinks people will be disappointed if

they look too closely. I wish Flickr worked a little better at the little red school house. I guess

they'd know we'd have too much fun!

Audiobooks, to me, are like books. There are awesome ones. There are skunky ones. My plan for world domination with my mp3 player is to devote it to books. I can't always "handle" listening to a book. Sometimes I'll be listening to one and if I'm not sitting still (such as driving), 45 minutes will have gone by and I can't really tell what has happened in the book.

I also can't listen to a book and do something like type. I somehow manage to start typing what I hear. It's the same reason why I could never listen to talk radio while working on the computer during graduate school. I'd manage to type what those clowns on The Ticket were saying in my history paper.

Or, I'd type a response like I was answering what I heard on the radio.

Music, I can handle. I'm not sure what the difference is between the spoken word and singing.

I think that dual process is why I might be the only person on the planet who truly can't drive and talk on the phone at the same time. Oprah's no phone zone has nothing on me

Anyway, I always hope audiobooks will be bigger than they seem to be at my school. Either that, or maybe I wish my English and reading teachers were reading more novels, thus leading to a need for new audiobooks. Hmmm...like I said, the good ones are great.

I have a series of Star Wars books that I've never read, just listened to. I do own the books. That would be because I'm a dork. However, I am so used to the reader's voice and so used to listening to that series in my car that I don't think I could read it or listen to anyone else perform it.

Plus, I'd never have time to read that series. That's sad considering I'm a huge (HUGE) Star Wars nerd. Audiobooks give me an opportunity to read just one more book. I totally count my listening in my book journal.

Am I the only one that thinks the IPad is cool, but am also worried that one entity is about to control music, video, and printed media? Just a thought.

My YouTube requires little commentary. Muppets are greatness, and these music videos that keep popping up are nothing short of genius. Who can argue with Beaker?

I enjoy listening to podcasts...have helped teachers on my campus compile them...found one on book clubs...oh look...Star Wars...but I don't want to listen to my own voice, and would hate to subject anyone else to it. Meh. If you make me post one, I'll do it, but I've never wanted to record myself and always cringed when I had to do it for classes. Yes, I see great classroom applications for podcasts, but please don't make me do it.

Oooooo...LibraryThing.com...it's like a combination of ravelry.com and shelfari.com! For someone who stumbled blindly through cataloging in library school (I'm still not sure what was going on in there), cataloging my books (and my yarn on ravelry) just shows you what kind of sick-o I am!

Again, the whole "social" aspect of it all escapes me. I have no idea why anyone would want to see what books I have or how much yarn is taking over upstairs, but I guess in those communities it would be interesting.

Zoho is interesting...I can understand your comment about it making things like Microsoft Office and that lot obsolete. I guess I got caught up in a training/upgrade/revamp video because I saw a lot of cheering and pom pon waving for the improvements? I agree with what some others have posted-it would make group work/collaboration easier so long as everyone had a computer and internet access.

Will people stop saving and backing their stuff up because everything is "out there" instead of on their individual machine? I see chaos down that road, and mostly because of something stupid I would do.

RSS feeds make me feel inferior

So does the social booking.

Not to whine, but they both make me think I should be reading more and exploring more. The RSS reminds me of the old list-serves we had to subscribe to in library school. I was able to keep up with those for about two days before I was overwhelmed.

Maybe overwhelmed is a bit of a stretch. Maybe just "whelmed."

Same with the bookmarking. I feel like I should be out there more...searching for useful sites to bookmark...

There is a bit of pressure in the aspect of social bookmarking to be social.

Do I really want my coworkers to know that my RSS and Delicious sites are dedicated to the Dallas Morning News and Golden Retriever Rescue of North Texas?

Not that there is anything wrong with these things. They just aren't that innovative or exciting.

Although I like the idea of my bookmarks being easy to get to and not being tied to a specific machine. That's festive. But again, I'm not doing anything that exciting.

Maybe my peeps do, and I can mooch sites to bookmark from them!

And, while we're talking about Wikis...

I trashed the Maverick Wiki.

I probably shouldn't admit this. Even to you kind souls reading my blog. But, I must face my humiliation.

Sigh.

And, I'm at school on a Saturday.

Ok, so I'm on the Maverick Committee. No, we do not sit around watching and analyzing Dallas Mavericks basketball games (although last night's would give us something to ramble about). No, it is not a think tank organized to discuss my dog, Maverick. It's the committee that reads a gazillion graphic novels and pears those down to a "best of" list each year. It's a fairly new invention, and I am dorking out at the prospect of participating for the next two years.

Rather than throwing e-mails around or running up phone and travel bills trying to meet, we have a wiki. Genius, I say! Pure genius!

The wiki has every flippin' post on it that has ever been posted in the history of posting EVER.

When I was trolling around on it, I immediately went into "online class" mode, coupled with the "maniacal spring cleaning" mode. In my online classes, you were able to manipulate your page. You could arrange however you chose to. You could change how things appeared. You could keep every single flippin' post that was ever posted in your class. You could trash them. You could organize them however you wanted to.

I went to town on the wiki. I don't need that stuff from 2009! Be gone, clutter!

Oops.

I'm surprised the group even claimed me last week when I went to the meeting.\

Sigh.

I hereby vow never to touch anything on the wiki again!

Let's explain the profile pic

Eyes to the left, people!

On my profile picture you will see a bunch of squares.

The explanation is two-fold.

1) I don't have many pictures of me. Why would I? I am faced (ahem) with that reality every day. I'm not going to waste film, digital or otherwise, on that.
2) The squares are actually part of a quilt. They provide a good deal of insight without subjecting the unsuspecting masses to my pasty white visage.

On to the quilt!

My best friend from college (Stephen F. Austin-Go Jacks!) is Andrea. Henceforth, known as Drea. She is uber-crafty. Like an ethnic Martha Stewart.

She recently took up quilting. I love how she can just decide to learn something crafty, then she has the time and talent to produce in whatever crafty medium catches her eye. She can just see these things and know how to create them. And, do them well.

I know how to read books. That's about it.

As Chandler Bing said, can I interest you in a sarcastic comment? There ends my expertise.

The trend lately has been for people to take old t-shirts or jerseys that are significant to the quilt owner and use them for the panels. It's a great idea for making the quilt much more personal to the quiltee. Sort of a scrapbook you can snuggle up with.

I had a ton of t-shirts left from my days in the Piney Woods. SFA was (and is) a fantastic place to go to college. I love, love, love it. Classes were small enough that you weren't swallowed up in a sea of wandering undergraduates. The university is large enough to have tons of activities and events to distract you from your classes. And, the city of Nacogdoches is very supportive of the school. They will bust out the purple bunting at the drop of a hat. People joke that it's a party school, but hey. It got me two advanced degrees. It can't be all beer bongs and jell-o slip-and-slide parties.

Anyhoo, Drea had become a quiltin' machine and told me of her project of turning t-shirts into quilt panels.

A deal was struck.

I went to Scotland a couple of summers ago. Long story for another blog. Drea wanted some yardage of her family tartan, no doubt to do something uber-crafty. There is a very cool wool mill at the foot of Edinburgh Castle (Best. Castle. Ever).

The wheels of a plan were in motion. I buy the yardage in Scotland. She makes a quilt out of my old funky t-shirts.

(Actually, she wanted a kilt. According to one of my guide books and a special on The Travel Channel, there was a cool kilt store right next door to a cool yarn store that I had planned to visit. I shook my fists and bellowed at the heavens when I bee-bopped to the kilt store only to find it was closed for remodeling. The wool mill was Plan B).

So, I bought wool for a kilt, and shipped it along with years and yards of cut up SFA shirts to Drea to wave her crafty wand and turn my memories into a quilt.

Included in the quilt are many a band t-shirt. Along with being a book nerd, I am in my heart forever a band geek. Most coveted of the bunch is the rugby shirt from my four years in the SFA basketball band-The Roarin' Buzzsaws. (I was also in the jazz band for a couple of semesters-The Swingin' Axes. Everything at SFA is tied to the Piney Woods, which makes for very charismatic nicknames). Each individual instrument/section in the marching band would get together and have shirts made touting the greatness of that particular section. I know we had some good ones, but I could only find one when I was gathering shirts.

Some old sorority shirts from Tau Beta Sigma are in the bunch. Most of those are from spring formals and whatnot. Don't even get me started on the Tau Turtle Debate.

Elvis was a big player at Student Publications, so he made an appearance on a t-shirt that I'm surprised didn't bring down the wrath of the copyright police on us. Also, you'll find an outstanding caricature of the yearbook staff. That still makes me laugh.

I also included my one SMU t-shirt that actually made the trip to Europe twice. I even bought a TWU t-shirt for the project. I must support equal representation of all higher learning institutions on my quilt. I wouldn't want anyone to feel left out.

So, that pile of dilapidated t-shirts is quite telling of my interests and inspirations. Much better than a goofy photograph of moi!

Kiera also wants me to add a picture

Why? Why? For the love of humanity, why?

Oh well. This is me at St. Andrew's in Scotland a couple of summers ago.

Do I know anything about golf? No. Do I care about golf? No.

However, I am smart enough to recognize an opportunity.

And, here we go!

Kiera made me blog. It's true.

But, don't let that statement fool you. My dream job would be to be a columnist somewhere. Not an entire novel, mind you. I doubt I could hold a train of thought that long. An occasional column in a huge newspaper somewhere would have been awesome. Who wouldn't want to read what I had to say about absolutely nothing of consequence?

The Dallas Stars' goalie situation? I've got an opinion. The state of public education? I can pontificate. Conan versus Leno? I'm all over it. Why I hate the Twilight books? I could go on for days.

However, I'm still not convinced I could turn my ramblings into opinions worth an editor's money.

Way back in my undergraduate days at Stephen F. Austin (Go Jacks! Whoo-hoo!), I was afforded the opportunity to "freelance." I co-wrote a few columns. I helped out with a few features. I did some highly suspect work on the yearbook. But, I never had an interest in journalism.

I did (and do) have a huge interest in books. For my degree, I had to major in two teaching fields. I ended up majoring in English and reading. (Yes, naysayers, you can major in reading. How do you think reading teachers learn how to teach reading?). So basically, books, books, writing, books, and some more books. It was through my reading classes I discovered Young Adult literature, henceforth called YA. Good times, fun, and yuks ensued.

So, armed with my certifications in English, reading, and later Spanish, I stumbled into junior high.

I meandered in the classroom for a couple of years before returning to school for a Master's in Liberal Arts degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Why not? All of my friends were in graduate school. I'm sure the alumni board has a more elegant explanation of the degree, but it was basically a "learning for the sake of learning" degree. Students are given a catalog of courses and given fairly free reign to pick and choose classes. Although not officially a "specialization," most of my classes were history classes.

My classes also allowed me to travel a bit as I was able to take a class in Spain and another class in England. Any excuse to bust out the passport!

All of the librarians I had worked with told me I would love to be a librarian. I already had an interest in reading and YA literature. I was perceived to be much smarter than I actually am, so they were convinced that graduate school wouldn't be difficult. However, it never occurred to me once I was in the program at SMU that I could obtain a second Master's degree.

After a particularly brutal day teaching 9th graders, and eighteen months prior to finishing at SMU, I decided as soon as I was done at SMU I would start library school at Texas Woman's University in Denton. My predecessors were correct. I could totally be a librarian.

As a librarian, I can finally spend time with the books that I enjoy so much. Yes, there are books in English classes. However, there is that pesky thing known as writing. As someone who never found writing difficult to do, I found it very difficult to teach. After teaching an elective I learned that while the scrutiny of a tested subject isn't involved, electives can become a dumping ground for reasons that could take up many a future blog.

Anyhoo, fate was kind, and I am now a librarian! I get to be a book geek for a living! And now, thanks to Kiera, I'm blogging a bit, too! We'll see how long it lasts.

Or if any editors call.