Goodbye Ontario (for a while!)

A very busy week-and-a-half, getting ready for the move to Saskatchewan. I have once again been reminded of how many amazing people I have in my life. Sweet emails, phone calls, musical events, amazing gifts, lunches, suppers, and many good wishes have helped me stay calm in the midst of all this impending change. A special shout out to my mom, for the awesome cake you see above, created with the colours of Saskatchewan in mind!

Some of the things I am looking forward to:

1) having my own place again (not really Regina-specific, but you know what I mean!)

2) the Cathedral Area, which I keep hearing wonderful things about in terms of its fun restaurants, artsy stuff, and overall great vibe

3) Regina Folk Festival

4) Connecting with MLIS'ers who seem to be appearing in the west left and right!

5) Wascana Park, the biggest urban park in North America (can you tell I've been doing my online Regina research?!)

6) My job!

Things I will miss:

My lovable family, excellent friends, springtime in rural Ontario, new baby Kirkham and Hayden's 1st birthday party, buck n' does, and the Alex P. Keaton.

I've already located a history department event taking place at the University of Regina, so things are looking up all around!

Will let you all know when I arrive and how things progress on this new and exciting journey.

Tales of drama and intrigue!

With thanks to Roxanne for the lead on this new show on Australian television:

The humble suburban library takes on a whole new meaning in the ABC TV's new comedy-drama The Librarians...

The six-part series centres on the trials and tribulations of Frances O'Brien, a devout Catholic and head librarian. Her life unravels when she is forced to employ her ex-best friend, Christine Grimwood - now a drug dealer - as the children's librarian. Frances must do all she can to contain her menacing past and concentrate on the biggest event of the library calendar - Book Week.

"We are thrilled to be making The Librarians. With 25,000 books on set we have fabricated the perfect excuse to extend our summer reading, added to which, the children's library is very handy for cheap childcare, " said Robyn.

ABC TV's Executive Producer for Drama Miranda Dear added: "It's great to be working with such a dynamic comic team. With this series they bring their acute eye for social satire to bear on the world of the library in the most surprising ways. Borrowing a book may never seem as safe again."

Considering some of the crazy stuff seen at library school, I think a 6 part series could be highly entertaining.

Coupon clipping to a whole new level

Perhaps it's time to update my Amazon Wishlist!

Picked this tip up from the great Law Library Blog I subscribe to: http://law.wisc.edu/blogs/wisblawg

RSStalker.com provides RSS feeds to track price changes of Amazon.com products. Generate a feed for a single product or for an entire wishlist. Add it to your favorite aggregator and you will be automatically notified when the price changes. Simply unsubscribe to the feed when you are done...

Amazon.com doesn't advertise it, but they have a 30 day price drop policy. If you bought something from them and they lower the price within 30 days, just fill out a form and they'll refund you the difference. See the FAQ for details.

Boston In Review

Our Boston roadtrip, also known as "Freedom Tour '07" was a pretty amazing time. Elisha, Meg, and I left a week ago last Thursday at around 5pm, and rolled into Massachusetts around 2am, and Boston a few hours after that. Our room for the weekend was the Hampton Inn in Revere, MA, which I'd highly recommend to anyone planning on making a trip themselves. It had a shuttle to the subway stop (Boston's subway is likely the easiest system to navigate that I've encountered), a great continental breakfast, as well as an entertaining hotel bar. Which is always key for a snowy night, such as we faced on Friday.

We ventured out to the New England Aquarium on Friday, and saw lots of cool creatures. The aquarium is built around a 4-5 story high tank in the middle filled with all sorts of "aquatic life":) From the three fishes traveling in a school, to some sharks, as well as aquarium staff swimming through the tank in scuba diving gear.

Our trolley tour through the city was dampened by the freak snow/ice storm that rolled into town, but we persevered and saw all sorts of markers of Boston's history. This included the site of Paul Revere's famous ride, Boston Common (the first public park in the United States, of land donated by the Pilgrims), the Swan Boats, and of course, where the Boston Cream Pie was invented! We swung by Faneuil Hall, a classic tourist hot spot, and had a drink at the Cheers franchise set up there. Great accents abounded at every stop on our tour through "Bastan".

Saturday was a full day at the Museum of Science, an absolutely amazing spot set on a bridge between Boston and Cambridge. Still didn't make it to Harvard, but one day it will happen! After the MOS, we subwayed across town to the Fenway Park stop where we partook in an attraction called "Tomb". Kind of hard to describe, but basically it was a fake Egyptian Tomb and our group of 8 acted as archeologists in uncovering clues and solving mysteries in order that the tomb's "mummy" be placed in his rightful carcophygus.




Of course, Saturday was St. Patrick's Day, and the three of us took part with lots of enthusiasm! We hit a few spots: Boston Beer Works, Boston Billiards (both in the Fenway Area), and then finished off the night at The Cactus Club in the Back Bay Area, near Berklee School of Music. What a great bunch of people Bostonians are! So friendly, sweet, welcoming, etc. I could go on and on, but I won't go on and on!

My Internet connection here is just brutal, so apologies for the small number of photos. PS - Join facebook and add me as a friend if you'd like to see a few more!

Comments Issue

Hi all,

Apparently I disabled the comments function on my last post. Not sure how this happened, but I certainly did not mean to do this or practice any kind of censorship. I hope to have this resolved quickly. In the meantime, keep commenting elsewhere on the blog!

Susan

Got a job!

Lots has happened since my last update. I have been feeling pretty blue about not having a job, but today I had an interview and a job offer all in one day. I have accepted a position as a Librarian at a college called SIAST, in Regina, Saskatchewan. I'll start work on April 2. In the meantime, I need to get myself organized and figure out what to take to Regina with me. It is kind of overwhelming, but really exciting.

I went to Boston last weekend with Meghan and Elisha. It was an AMAZING time, and I'll post some photos up here shortly. I love that city, and I'm so glad I got to go there before I leave for out west.

International Women's Day

It's International Women's Day!

I really only learned about IWD of a few years ago, through my very inspiring and socially-aware boss at the Region of Waterloo Library. Now in it's 30th year, every March 8th, International Women's Day celebrates women around the world and their many accomplishments, while also bringing attention to the challenges that exist. Issues like poverty and violence against women need our attention!

Have a look at the above link for some examples of the kinds of events taking place today. Rallies and marches for IWD in places like India and Iran, as well as Canada-wide film screenings sponsored by the National Film Board.

Some facts:
- 80% of war refugees are women and children (UNHCR, 2001).
- World-wide, over half of new HIV infections are occurring among young people between the ages of 15 to 24, and over 60% of HIV-positive youth between the ages of 15-24 are women (UNAIDS, 2003).
- One in five women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime (WHO 1997).

In the last few months, Canada's Conservative government has cut funding to groups that work to ensure women of all backgrounds, ages, and circumstances have equal opportunities; whether it is in having affordable child care, access to health care, not fearing for their safety in a relationship, or holding the right to be paid fairly for their work. IWD has implications for us all, even right here at home.

If you want to do some more reading, WomenWatch is a website run by the United Nations. Updated frequently, it has some of the best resources available in one spot through which to both celebrate women, as well as motivate us to action.