Wizard of Erf

I've moved my blog

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:05:00 +0000

Hey all, I've moved my blog to http://www.emeraldfusion.net/ . There's a new RSS feed available there as well, so change your bookmarks/RSS feeders/whatnot.

Thanks, and I'll see you there.

Happy new year!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:58:00 +0000

Just a quick note to wish all of you a happy new year!

Plans for next month

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:44:00 +0000

It seems I've gotten into the habit of only blogging one day a month here. I hope to change that next month - but probably not until after the 16th. I'll be away from work starting that day until Jan 12. I'm finally taking an extended vacation, surrounding the usual campus closure for the holiday/semester break. Being away from the office for about a month sounds like a good plan to me.

I plan to:

Clean out my home office's files and storage drawers
Get my "library blog" going, if I haven't already by then
Go through my closet and dresser and remove clothes I don't wear anymore
Finish up my obligation for the NLA web site
Instal Drupal on my website so I can start my next "secret project"

Of course - there will be plenty of video game playing, college football viewing, and sleeping as well!

As the leaves change, so does my life

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:03:00 +0000

For once we get to see the leaves change color here in Nebraska, instead of having them just fall off because of early snow or ice. Like the leaves changing, my life changed color over this past month, redefining my roles in my professional life. One change was quite unexpected as well.

As I mentioned back in June, I'm finishing up an 8 year run as the webmaster for the Nebraska Library Association. I took the position as I was still getting my Masters of Library Science, and before I got my first librarian's job. I "grew up" being the NLA's "web guy". Through that time I did three site-wide redesigns, switched webhosts once, and helped set up membership services through another vendor. I've been given the chance to present at conferences and do classes and such. I've also been able to travel the state and not just talk to people, but to talk with people about technology and libraries. I've worked with many people who are passionate about what they do and the communities they serve. Earlier this week, I met with the new webmaster and started the transition process. I'm not going very far, as I've been elected Vice-President / President-elect of the Association. New challenges ahead in this arena!

I also am passing on the web duties of the Ms. Wheelchair Nebraska program to someone else. I still need to give her the passwords, but first I need to find them. That's the problem with telling Dreamweaver to remember the passwords, I guess. I got involved in the MWNE program by being their webmaster. I'm now president of the board for a second year. I never thought I would be in this position when I started working with them a few years ago.

Another big change just happened this last week and was something I did not see coming. I'm changing jobs - sort of. I was hired as "Assistant Systems Librarian" and did mostly training and some troubleshooting. Recently I added "Digital Media team leader" to my duties; basically working with services surrounding a/v things like circulating cameras and video recorders, and supplying video & audio editing software for patrons to use in the Libraries. I'm now off the team and have new job duties. I am now the "Emerging Technologies Librarian" and will be responsible for finding out ways to use some of the new tech out there to provide services to our clientele. Blogs, wikis, & RSS feeds are (of course) a few of the things I'll be looking at, but I also want to spend a lot of time looking at other data mashup tools to make research easier, especially for the undergraduate population here. I'm still doing training and some tech support, so there's still a good chunk of my job that remains the same. I am a little sad about leaving the digital media team, as I feel like we were just beginning to click as a real team and not just a group of people thrown together.

All in all, a very eventful October. Some of the changes are bittersweet. I am a tad reluctant to let go of the past experiences and feel like there is much more I can still do in those areas, but I am also eager for some of these new challenges and opportunities to present themselves.

These things will certainly change the color of my life dramatically, as these roles played a large part in identifing my place in my workplace, my career, my field, and my community. Of course, we can not stop personal change, like we can not stop the leaves from falling from the trees, can we?

A single-track mind

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:13:00 +0000

I was thinking recently about my music listening behaviors after reading that some bands want to pull their songs from iTunes, as they claim they are losing money. They claim that iTunes & downloadable music stores like it are changing people's listening habits by emphasizing the single song instead of the full album.

To tell you the truth, I've been listening to music the same way since the early 90s, just the tech has changed to enable my habits, to let me purchase music in a way that matches the habits I already had.

First off, I was always more interested in the single track instead of the full album. I would constantly make myself mixtapes grabbing a track from this album, a track from that album, a track from the radio... I would hardly ever listen to music album by album (or in my case - cassette by cassette). My listening habits didn't change when iTunes came out, but it did let me purchase music in way that fits my preferred way of listening to music. I can purchase a single track much easier now than I could a few years ago. To those bands that would complain about me not buying the whole album, I would probably tell them I wouldn't have spent any money on their music if I couldn't get just that one track I wanted. Something is better than nothing, right?

Secondly a feature popped up on CD players that I just loved in the early 90s, the multi-CD shuffle. Oh my goodness, this really enabled my listening habits. I would load the 3-disc, 6-disc, whatever-disc player with a bunch of CDs and then hit shuffle. The player would pick random songs from any of those discs. Again, I emphasized the single by itself, not in some context with the other songs.

Did I miss some grand message that the artists wanted to make by not listening to an album from start to finish. Probably, but that wasn't what I wanted when I listend to music. I wanted the magic of discovering new themes through random plays. I wanted to extend emotional energy by having a 60-minute mix tape of handpicked songs instead of being directed by someone else's grand vision.

I'm still this way. I'd much rather load up the iPod with my choices in music for a long road trip. I'll still buy a full CD or album here and there, but I have to like the majority of tracks on that album to do so. I won't buy it just to get the one song I like. I doesn't make economic sense to me as a consumer to do otherwise.

All this talk about how people's music habits have changed make me chuckle a little, because my habits haven't changed dramatically for years, but the technology is finally enabling people like me to listen the way we want to. People like me; people with single-track minds.

The wife's wild week

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:52:00 +0000

Julie's Wreck 01,
originally uploaded by Scott Childers.

This past week was a wild one for my wife. Monday afternoon she was running some errands, getting ready for her upcoming foot surgery, when she was hit by a car that pulled out in front of her. She went the hospital in the ambulance and everything. She came out OK - all the tests showed she was clear to go home by mid-evening. She suffered a nasty friction burn on her neck and horrible "seatbelt trauma" aka bruising on her right side, but at least she's all in one piece!

The car didn't turn out so well. It got towed away and it was labeled by the investigating police officer as "totaled". We haven't heard back from the insurance yet though.

All week she was dealing with the insurance and accident stuff, and had no car to get around. I tried to come home early as much as I could so we could get stuff ready for after her surgery.

Friday morning, she went in to get her foot fixed and came out fine. She's starting to feel the pain of the surgery today - I guess all the anesthesia is out of her system now. She's getting around in crutches OK, but it will be a little bit before she feels ready to be left alone.

To Portland and Back Again

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:50:00 +0000

Last week I made a trip to Portland, OR to present a session on relevance ranking at the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting. It was a couple of long days for me, but good days.

First, my flight from Lincoln to Denver was delayed for 3 hours, because of problems with the aircraft. During the wait a bunch of of us commiserated and I found that I was in the company of a professional photographer from LA who does many shoots for magazines, like the cover of TV Guide and some Rolling Stones work, and one of the first female police officers from Arizona. (At least that's what they claimed to be). We finally get our flight out and land in Denver.

During this time, I wasn't sure I had a flight from Denver to Portland, so I'm hoping that I'm able to get one yet that night. I luckily catch a flight from Denver to Portland right as I landed, one of the last three seats on the plane. I finally get to the hotel around midnight and get a pleasant surprise - I get the best room in the place! Too bad I'm too tired to really enjoy it.

The next morning I get up, catch a quick breakfast, practice my presentation one last time, then hit the train to the convention center. I catch about half an hour of another session, mainly to scope out the room and the crowds as I've never presented for this group before.

Next up is my session. There was a decent turnout, about 165-175 people by my program sponsor's estimate. There were some good questions, and I got some very nice compliments after my presentation.

Right after I got done, I get onto the train to the airport. Me and my CPAP get through security, I grab some lunch and some wifi time. Things are rather uneventful as I get to Denver and have 3 hours to kill before the light to Lincoln. I spend some time in the New Holland Hub in the airport and was rather happy with the food and fine "adult beverages" they had. The flight from Denver to Lincoln is uneventful and I get to Lincoln around midnight.

Again, it was a long two days, but two very good days.

A Tale of two CPAPs

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:38:00 +0000

CPAP comparison,
originally uploaded by Scott Childers.

Long term readers of this blog probably remember that I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a while ago and use a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine when I sleep. This is a bit of an annoyance when I travel, as I have to carry it with me. Checking it with my luggage when I fly is not a smart move, as it could get damaged or lost, and then I'm stuck with no safe way to sleep until I get back to Lincoln. I've seen earlier versions, and the one I've been using for a while is a lot more portable than those, however; I still dislike going through airport security with my both my CPAP bag, and my laptop backpack. I want to travel light!

I'm currently trying out a replacement machine. It's about half the size, and I should be able to just tuck it into my backpack, along with my laptop and a day's worth of clothes! I'll be giving it the grand test on Sunday when I fly out to Portland, OR.

Wish me luck!

The changes are beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:00:00 +0000

I can now let this cat out of the bag, officially:

As some of you may already know, Scott Childers will be leaving the position of Internet Services Coordinator at the end of the year. Scott has been, and continues to be, a great asset to NLA.
I know we appreciate all he has done for both our organization and our members throughout his years of service.

This is a part-time position, but integral to the association. We hope to have the position filled by November, as Scott has volunteered to help with training the new ISC.

Below is the link which will take you directly to the job description on NLA�s website. If you are interested, please take a look. If you know of someone else who might be interested, please pass this information on to them. Thanks!

http://www.nebraskalibraries.org/isc.htm

One of the reasons I haven't posted here lately is that I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends before I leave the position of Nebraska Library Association's Internet Site Coordinator. I have been serving since 1999, before I even got my first professional librarian position. I've always been one to have many projects going at once, but I don't feel right handing over a bunch of partially finished things to the next person.

It is a bittersweet time for me. I'm looking forward to new challenges within the NLA and other organizations, but I see so many things I could be doing to make the NLA web presence a stronger one, a more collaborative one, even just a "better" one. I've had the chance to work with so many great people across the state as part of this experience, and it certainly opened the doors for me to become a voice for technological progress in libraries in this state.

I don't plan on sitting around. I'm running for NLA's Vice President/President Elect this year, so I hope I'm still serving the NLA - just in a different capacity. I had actually made the decision and let the NLA board know back in January and have told quite a few people, but I didn't feel right posting about it until the "job ad" had been posted.

Tweet, Tweet

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:32:00 +0000

I'm finally jumping on the twitter bandwagon. My twitter profile is available at http://twitter.com/scottchilders for those of ya that might want to see it.

Toast to Ms. Wheelchair Nebraska 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:36:00 +0000

Last night was the "Toast to Ms. Wheelchair Nebraska 2008" event. I must say that it was a blast! Everyone I talked to after the event said they had a good time and left with smiles on their faces. We also made a decent amount of money from the fundraising activities, so all in all I would say the night was a success.

On an interesting note, yesterday was also the birthday of our current titleholder's mother, and a bunch of her friends came to the event and turned it into a bit of surprise birthday party. I must say it was a fun-loving group and we were happy they came!

These Boots are Made for Walking

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:33:00 +0000

I passed a milestone today, literally. Shortly before my knee surgery, I could barely walk a couple blocks without having to stop because of the pain. Today I walked non-stop for half an hour outside, walking over 1.5 miles.

It felt great to be able to do it without massive amounts of pain. I did have some aching, but that was just some mild muscle pain from not walking that much for a long, long time.

Now, I'm not about to enter any marathons any time soon, but it was almost a year ago that I would have second thoughts about getting off the couch to walk to the kitchen. It isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes the small victories can be pretty sweet if they are a long time coming.

Returning to Action

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:37:00 +0000

Well, things are starting to become clearer in my life now. I got the official news of two of the things I was waiting on about a week ago. That clears the way for me to begin to move on some things, to make some more definite plans for my professional future and to begin some sideline projects I want to do. I've got some other things to wrap up before I really jump into some of those other projects I've got in mind, but things look good for me to start writing more beginning now.

I can let you all know that I really want to get a piece of my fiction writing sent off to a publisher sometime this year. I've got about 3 short stories half-finished and a novel started. It would be really nice when I get one of them finished. Why haven't I finished any of them yet? I'm glad you asked. I didn't finish them because I felt guilty about writing these pieces when I had so many other things that I needed to get done, things I was getting paid to do.

One of the changes I'm making in my life is to set aside some time to do writing everyday; along with setting time aside for exercise, chores, and of course work for the NLA and MWNE. I hate the idea of doing a lot of scheduling for my days, but I really need to if I want to accomplish the things I want to do. I also need to do it so I don't overload myself again. I'll admit I got myself in pretty deep with some commitments recently and I can't do that to myself again.

Things are still going to be a bit chaotic for me for a while, but at least I have my goals to work on and a direction to point my life toward instead of the constant waiting for other people's decisions like I've been doing the past 3 months. I guess it has been like waiting in line for a rollercoaster. You can see that there will loops, turns, and probably some screaming and stomach churning moments - but you can also see the beginning, the end, and track inbetween and you just want the waiting to be over, to get in the car, and head out on that ride.

My life as a NDA

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:46:00 +0000

Yeah, I haven't really posting anything of interest on my blog since December. That's because most of what is going on in my life right now I can't, shouldn't, or won't post on this very public medium and I'd rather not turn this blog into a daily listing of what I had for lunch. Having all of that stuff I can't blog about going on makes me not want to blog about what I could in fear I would let something slip. I hope you all understand.

Things that I expected to happen last month got delayed until next month, and now my life looks like some sort of crazy flow chart waiting for the first decision to be made. That should happen in the next couple of weeks and things should start rolling again, which mean I'll probably have a lot more blog fodder.

Going bland

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:16:00 +0000

You may have noticed that I've taken a bunch of stuff off my blog. I'm still playing around with some things, and messed up a bunch of stuff on my template. I'll probably leave it this way for a little while as I've got other priorities right now. I may be moving my blog completely - I haven't decided yet.

Silence is Golden

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:46:00 +0000

I think I'm back to posting. I haven't forgotten about my blog, its just that I was wondering what to do with it and the rest of my web space. I've got some ideas on what I would like to do, but the main question is if I have the time to do it. After this week, I'm off work for about three weeks so I'll be trying out some of these ideas. You may see them, you may not.

There's also been some things that I just couldn't comment on until now. Nothing major or earth shattering, just stuff that other people needed to be informed about personally before news broke on the blog, as a consideration.

I'll fill you all in later on my activities since I last posted, but right now I've gotta get back to work.

Feeling flat

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:06:00 +0000

I began my week full of presentations with a rough start today. I can't put my finger on it, but I just didn't come out at the end satisfied with what I did. Maybe it was the room, the time of day, the subject matter, what I had prepared, or maybe I just didn't have it in me today to give a good presentation.

I've had worse, but I've certainly had better. Whatever it was, I hope I find out what went wrong before I present again on Thursday.

Let's Get Busy!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:05:00 +0000

And so begins a few weeks of insanity for me starting tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I will be in Omaha as part of a book discussion for a reference class. From there I drive straight to Grand Island to be a part of the Ms. Wheelchair Nebraska annual meeting and pageant. Next week I'm planning on doing an afternoon of training on some of the newer features of the Nebraska Library Association webpage to some of the current board members in Seward. The following Tuesday I'm giving a brown bag talk at work about Relevance Ranking and how it applies to libraries to warm up for a future presentation. That Wednesday I go to the NLA/NEMA conference where I am part of three presentations, plus the the Thursday night activity. The week following that, I speak at the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries conference in Lincoln, presenting the relevance ranking session I talked about a little earlier.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Interesting dining experience

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 01:04:00 +0000

I got back from celebrating my grandfather's 80th birthday in Ericson. It was good to see everyone, but the highlight was the location. The Ranch Cafe is a traditional small town cafe. Decent food, friendly folks, you know the stereotype. It all fit this cafe. What was noteworthy to me was the fact that it was part of a sale barn.

If you don't know what a sale barn is, please let me enlighten you. A sale barn is a place where livestock auctions are held. There is usually an area that the livestock, like a horse or a cow, is brought into with risers all around. Think of it as a very small version of the Roman Coliseum. This allows many people to see the livestock at once. I believe this is mainly used for breeding stock, but I could very well be mistaken. There is also a place for the livestock to be held before the sale and the proper chutes and pens to hold them properly.

Now since it was part of a sale barn, standing in the parking lot outside the cafe you were greeted with the sounds and smells of the cattle waiting to be sold. Vegetarians would probably not feel very comfortable here. However; once inside the mooing was replaced by a dining room full of people, chatting away after the church service held just down the street, and the smell of fried chicken replaced any possibly offending bovine odor. I soon forgot I was even in the barn once the birthday party started up in the back room.

I can only imagine what someone not familiar with this way of life would react. To me, it seemed just a little quirky, but not completely crazy. I'd like to hear from you about your reactions to this - especially you "city slickers" out there.

How big a Nerd are you?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:25:00 +0000

I saw this in the Travelin' Librarian and just had to take it for myself. Yep - I'm a nerd..

A Case of the Mondays

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 12:49:00 +0000

Yesterday, I kept hearing the same phrase over and over. "It sure is a Monday, isn't it?"

Well, yeah it was a Monday, but I do believe it was the fact that it sure was a tough day to get through for many people full of little things that made you go "sheesh". I'll use myself as an example.

It started out OK, I was working on a project to get people subscribed to the new NLA email list. Well, one person had one of those "if you aren't a spammer, please reply" programs set on their email. The problem is that message went out to the whole list. That wasn't bad enough. Some of the people on the list started replying back. I know they were just being helpful, but the whole thing kind of snowballed throughout the day. More on this later.

Secondly, we decided to do something new for incoming students this year. The Libraries set up a table under the link between our two buildings to help answer questions for the students, such as where buildings are and the like. I got the first shift and it was going fine, but it was a little breezy so I had to keep weights on all the papers we had out there. I was helping a student get his wireless connection set up when the sign we had, which was made out of a light foam/cardboard type of stuff, flew off the easel and knocked the kid in the head. It didn't hurt, but is somewhat emabarrising.

Then we get to the afternoon. I'm already exhausted because I had done a lot more walking & standing than I have in the recent past, but I still need to go in and do my physical therapy. I actually had to ask Julie to drive me there and back because I didn't think I could handle it myself. I will admit, I was physcially drained by the end of it.

I get home and just sit on the couch for a while. Then I get the bright idea to check my email. That's when I find the snowball of emails I mentioned earlier in the post. I knew things were going to be a bit messy for a while dealing with that. Nothing Earth shattering, but a mess that I should have seen coming.

So yeah, it sure was a Monday, wasn't it?

Mac Mania

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:19:00 +0000

Is it wrong of me to be very interested in the iLife and iWork 08 products that were recently announced? Especially since I work in a PC environment. I really want a PC version of iPhoto and Keynote! Oh well... Maybe with the next Mac OS, I'll bite the bullet and go completely dual platform; PC for most of my work, Mac for the A/V stuff.

A declining amount of social skills

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:02:00 +0000

Things are pretty stressful for me right now, which is making me become more and more hermit like again. I've also noticed that I have little patience when talking to people on the phone and when people start to stray from the topic at hand, I get very agitated. Things will get better, I just have to keep reminding myself that I have to take that deep breath, smile, and try not to offend anybody.

If I have been rude to you, been stand-offish around you, or anything negative like that; I apologize and I will try to make amends when things clear up.

Moving on up.

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:21:00 +0000

I forgot to mention a couple weeks ago that I switched offices at work. I'm out of the basement and now on the second floor. I'm now sharing an office with our Digital Learning Librarians, which should be interesting. One is a comic book scholar, so his area is full of graphic novels, statuettes of comic book characters and lots of cool things. The other is a manga and anime fan, so there's similar things, along with the addition of stuffed "Peeps". My small collection of polar bears pales in comparision!

It is a little weird getting used to sharing an office after six years of having a solo office, but things should work out well. The really interesting part will to try to be a part of both worlds, my home department that I moved out of physically and this new group that I'm part of as a team leader for the program.

Discovering new places

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:29:00 +0000

Friday Julie & I went down to Brownville for the afternoon. Brownville is a small little community in Southeast Nebraska, right along the river and across the bridge to Missouri. This small community has a lot of neat little shops, and seems to growing as a cultural center. We spent some time just walking along the main street, just exploring at a nice easy going pace. At most places we chatted with the people in the stores, usually the owner of said store, and every body just seemed so nice and genuinely happy to be there.

We will probably be going back some time, especially to eat at the Lyceum, visit Novel Idea, Chapter 2, and grab a couple of bottles of wine from Whisky Run Creek winery. There's also a few places we didn't see, as my leg was beginning to act up, so there may be more discoveries to be found down there. I'm looking forward to a return trip.