Tag Archives: database diaries

I want my Barbie Dictionary!

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Does anybody use a dictionary anymore? I mean the book, where you have to open the pages and have some semblance of the alphabetical order and maybe a slight grasp of how to spell the word you are looking up. You can’t replace the good old ink-and-paper, handy dandy dictionary (some aren’t so handy dandy; Webster has gotten a little bloated). Sure, you can now use the internet to look up the word you want (try dictionary.com). Most computer programs, if not all, have spell check. Even Words with Friends tells you that mess of letters you tried to play is not an acceptable word. So, I guess the good old dictionary is being replaced. I mean, I don’t own one.

Upon further review, it seems as though the dictionary is branching out. Trying new things. Exploring new concepts. Gradually sneaking up on you until all of the sudden you notice it again. Like an old friend that never really left your side even though you made new friends like the computer or spell check. Lo and behold, It’s not just for words anymore…..

Star Wars has given the dictionary an all-new identity with their line of visual dictionaries found at the library. (I own all of these, of course)

There is also, the believe it or not, the Math dictionary (I’m not sure what that’s about, never read it, never will. I am assured it does exist).

Or  the Lover’s Dictionary (okay, I think this one is more a work of fiction rather than a dictionary).

Let’s not forget the Dictionary of Wholesome Foods (I have no idea what that means, but I did not see a Big Mac in there anywhere).

Even baseball has its own dictionary (apparently there are a lot of baseball-specific terms because it is a very thick book at almost 1000 pages).

And then, my (and I assume everybody’s) favorite dictionaries are The Curious George Dictionary and, of course, The Barbie Picture Dictionary.

Okay, so there are a lot of dictionaries out there. Plus, dictionaries are smart to diversify  from just defining words and whatever else they were doing (balancing tables). So, head on out to the library and check out latest fad…dictionaries. That’s right, it’s a thing now.

The Power of Observation

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Since the last lesson I took in my Private Investigator class was developing observation skills, I decided to put mine to use! I picked a busy public place that had a building and parking as my test area. I decided to sit in my car and pretend to read a book while wearing sunglasses.

For a while, I just watched people park their cars and walk to and from the building. To keep myself from sleeping, I tried to guess if the person would 1) quickly start the car 2) check their mobile device or c) put on lipstick. Most people checked their phones or fiddled with the radio. It is always interesting to watch people park their cars; some hastily turn into a spot while slowly pull in, then out, then in and still never seem to get parked between the two lines. Ah, better luck next time, right?!

Eventually one subject caught my eye because she exhibited fidgety behavior, pacing back and forth by the doors. Occasionally, she would stop to look at a flyer, but I could tell her attention and focus were elsewhere. While she never noticed me, I could not stop looking at her, trying to figure out what was making her jumpy. Others who passed her did not take a second glance.

Eventually, she connected with the people who must have been preoccupying her thoughts, their interaction was brief and then she walked to her truck and left the parking lot.

This exercise made me realize that I catch myself unnecessarily worrying about what others think as I’m piling items in my grocery cart or working out at the gym. Unless there is someone practicing their private investigation skills, no one is probably as concerned about me as I am myself.

As previously noted in my Universal Class course, being a private investigator requires patience and persistence. If I had to spend the afternoon sitting in my car, waiting to observe my subject, I might become the fidgety one. Upcoming lessons include Internet searching, public records and background checks, so if those topics pique your interest, you might look forward to my next couple of posts.

As always, you can choose from hundreds of classes offered by Universal Class. It is free and easy to sign up – simply search for Universal Class on our database page and follow the instructions. If you need help, call us or stop by the library for a visit.

Memphis, we have a problem (in which the pie crust comes roaring back and evens the score)…

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Paula: 1 – Big Bad Pie Crust: 1

So, let’s just say that I had my first official do-over or as I like to call, my ‘Mulligan’ pie.  My initial attempt at the Sweet Potato Pie yielded an important lesson: when cutting a pie crust recipe in half because you only need one 9-inch pie crust, don’t forget to also cut the amount of water you need in half…if not, you will have pizza dough, instead of pie crust.  Lesson learned.  Moving on.

Still slightly scarred by my pie crust failure, I decided to buy another ready-made pie crust and made a second attempt at the pie, using a different recipe. Not only was this pie a total success, but it was also quite tasty and calorie friendly thus proving that you can take this class without blowing your diet.  Check out the results below and if you are tempted to give it a try, here is the link to the recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/11/sweet-potato-pie.html

Feeling guilty that I didn’t make my own pie crust for my two previous assignments, I was determined to make the crust for my next pie…the Fruit Pie.  In my mind, there was only one choice for this assignment – the Apple Pie.  I don’t have much to say about the pie other than I did make my own pie crusts, correctly following the recipe.  I did discover while I don’t mind making my own pie crust, I don’t really like rolling out the dough.  Despite covering everything, including myself, in flour, the dough still sticks to my rolling pin and the counter.  I feel like I need to sprout a second set of hands to hold everything in place.  Here is my apple pie, overflowing with ‘appley’ goodness!  Paired with vanilla ice cream, it was divine.

Next up…the Holiday Pie.  According to the lesson, the holiday pies are delicious treats that increase the fun of holiday celebration.  Bring on the party in a pie crust!

It’s not Procrastination, I’m Just Too Tired to Lift My Arms

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You know the best thing about Universal Class? I mean other than the fact that it’s free or the ridiculously amazing number of courses you can take of course.

It’s the fact that you can work at your own speed. Say, for instance, you are part of the team that opens a shiny new library branch, right in the heart of Clermont County’s shopping hub. The sort of amazing new branch where you opened more than 1,000 new library cards for patrons in the month of February or where almost 75,000 items have circulated so far this year (And that was back at the beginning of March when I first wrote this!)

Yeah, you might be kind of busy in an branch like that. But unlike other learning institutions, Universal Class lets you work around your schedule.

I’m not going to lie, I haven’t had the energy to do much of anything since you last heard from me. I scrapped the 365 Photo Project and I stalled out on Lesson 2 roughly three days after my last post. But I logged into my Photography 101 class this morning and was able to pick up exactly where I left off in January.

Lesson 2 is all about learning how to actually use my camera. We learned about adjusting settings like the white balance, shutter speed, and ISO, as well as about ‘tools of the trade’ that we might need like tripods, extra batteries, flashes and lenses. This was the hard core camera info that I was looking to learn! Our homework assignment was great; we just had to play around with the various settings and see how they changed images. I submitted the picture above, a composite of the same photo taken over and over at different shutter speeds for my homework. (That’s Darcy the Donkey, Gaelic Storm’s mascot if anyone was wondering.)

So that’s my story. I promise to have taken at least a few more lessons before I talk to you again. That being said, I’ve now signed up for Time Management 101 in addition to Photography. I think they might have some advice I can sorely use!

PI Also Stands for Persistance and Intuition

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In my last post I speculated as to whether I would need a camera if I were to become a private investigator and lo and behold the next lesson about tools of the trade started with cameras. It appears I’ll need a camera, laptop, note-taking supplies, binoculars, a digital voice recorder and a mp3 player to keep my sanity. Sounds like I’m going to need to take Amy’s personal finance class and see if my budget can afford this occupation.

Recalculating. By the way, it makes no mention of a GPS or map. Look at me and my observations (toots own horn).

Moving on to personal qualities, a private investigator needs the skills of patience, persistence, observation, quick-thinking and intuition. Luckily, if I am lacking any of these qualities, there are exercises I can do to improve. I would say my intuition was correct in thinking I would need a camera, score one for me. Okay, maybe I need to dig a little deeper.

Since these lessons are short, I moved on to the next one and learned there are four major investigative skills one needs to develop or hone: gathering data, verifying facts, analysis and interviewing. Again, exercises are provided to help work on these skills. For example, if interviewing isn’t my strength, the lesson suggests talking to people I don’t know or if I don’t like talking on the phone, practice talking out loud. These skills tend to overlap with what I do as a librarian, so I gave myself a check plus in this area!

Despite scoring well on all my assignments and quizzes, I do not have plans to quit my day job. However, I am happy this Universal Class provides plenty of exercises and questions about the nature of the occupation and whether it would be a good fit. Do I have patience, persistence, intuition, do I observe and am I quick thinker? Find out in my post next month!

Sign up for your own class. Universal Class offers hundreds of classes on a wide variety of subjects – all for free! It’s easy to sign up – simply search for Universal Class on our database page & follow the instructions. As always, call us or stop by the library for a visit and we’ll be happy to help.

Score Card: Paula: 1 – Big Bad Pie Crust: 0

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Move over Marie Callendar, there’s a new Pot Pie Queen in town and her name is Paula…no not Deen.  However, with the two sticks of butter that went into my pie crust that might not be far from the truth!  I am happy to report that I successfully tackled my fear of the homemade pie crust, and I am quite certain that Martha Stewart heard her kitchen timer chime and knew that somewhere in the world another person had made their first pie crust.  I must confess that it was much easier than I had imagined – not as easy as opening a box of pre-made crusts, mind you, but still not the slavish task that I made it out to be in my head.

So, having added pie crust making to my wheelhouse, it was time to move on to Assignments 3/4 – the Main Dish Pie.  With options such as Beef Cottage Cheese Pie, Salmon Pie and Spinach Pie, the clear choice was the Chicken Pot Pie.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I must confess that I used a ready-made crust, instead of making my own, but the filling was all my doing.  Again, it would be so much easier to pull out a frozen pot pie and microwave that baby for dinner, but I must say that I derived a certain amount of pleasure from making my own from scratch.  It was a beauty and as an added bonus, it tasted great, too!

Next up…the Sweet Pie, which truth be told is the reason most people want to make a pie – for dessert!  I have my eye on the Sweet Potato Pie with a homemade shortening crust.  So stay tuned to see if this Northern girl can tackle this Southern staple…

Isn’t there an app for this?

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I’m gonna be honest. I have no interest (oh, look, a pun!) in learning about the world of finance. The words “stock” and “market” when used together cause my eyes to glaze over like a Christmas ham.

Discovering exactly what CDs and hedge funds are doesn’t do it for me, but using my amazing powers of “no duh” I’m guessing they have nothing to do with music and gardening, respectfully.

Unfortunately, I realize the saying, “A fool and his money are soon parted” is very much true. And if I’m ever called a “fool” I’d rather it be in reference to my mad dancing skills and not because I used my savings account to buy shoes I saw on an episode of “Sex and the City.” *

So here we are – me and Universal Class – learning the crazy world of personal finance. Over the past several weeks, I’ve learned the difference between gross earnings and net worth. Yeah, that was painful and depressing, but it’s a necessary pain – finding out where you stand financially is the first step to getting where you want to be in the future.

So let me break it down for you: your gross earnings are your income before taxes and deductions; your net worth is your financial value after adding all assets and subtracting all debt.

To figure your own net worth, add the value of the assets you own, including but not limited to cash, securities, personal property, real estate, and retirement accounts, and subtract your debt.

Hopefully, you come out with a positive number… But if your debt is more than your assets, you have a negative net worth. Wow, negative worth? That’s just harsh. But if you find yourself facing this situation there are countless books, courses and professionals that can help you set up a plan to turn your negative net worth into a positive. You can even sign up for the very class I’m writing about: personal finance 101.

Want to do more than read about our experiences with Universal Class? Sign up for your own class! Universal Class offers hundreds of classes on a wide variety of subjects – all for free! It’s easy to sign up – simply search for Universal Class on our database page & follow the instructions. As always, call us or stop by the library for a visit and we’ll be happy to help!

*Like I’m gonna tell you if that’s true or not.

Dear Fancy Camera…

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lesson 1

Dear Fancy Camera,

  • Fact: You are an amazing camera.
  • Fact: I occasionally take amazing pictures with you, my amazing camera.
  • Fact: I have no idea how this happens, I’m pretty sure it’s dumb luck.

When my family all pitched in and bought you a few years ago I had dreams of grandeur; all the amazing things we were going to do and see and record for the posterity of the world. Then, I got you out of the box, took a look at all the buttons, knobs and unintelligible abbreviation and promptly set you to ‘Auto: No Flash’. And, with few exceptions, that’s where you’ve stayed. I know you’re capable of so much more, but every time I try to learn I just get confused and bogged down with jargon I don’t understand.

When the opportunity to use you as part of a Universal Class project for the library came up, I was stoked. Every year we try to complete Project 365 together and ever year I fail horribly because you scare me just a little. I thought that, maybe, this was the year, maybe this is the kick in the pants I need to learn how to actual use you so that together we could be awesome! I signed us up for Digital Photography 101, and as you might have noticed, we’ve been awfully busy learning about photography and cameras.

lesson 1.2So far things have been going great. No prior photography experience was needed for the class so we started out in a place I was comfortable in (that’s code for I had no idea what was going on and they took care of me.) I learned all about digital camera history, metering and picking out a camera (that was easy, I picked you!) before completing our first assignment.

You clearly already knew about The Rule of Thirds because you come with that cool grid inside your viewfinder, but I was fascinated in how framing a shot can make such a difference. Basically, if I draw a great big Tic Tac Toe board across your screen and then focus the most interesting parts of the shot in the places where any of the lines cross, the shot will be more dynamic, interesting and generally awesome. I think the shots we turned in for our homework were a great example of how that works! We’ll start our second lesson this week, so make sure you clean out your filters and charge your battery because it’s going to be a pretty exciting adventure!

Love,

Laura

P.S. If you want to see the photos that we’ve taken so far check out our flickr collection here.

Private Eyes are Watching You

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My horoscope said it was the perfect time to sign up for an online class and we all know horoscopes are 100% accurate so I signed up for a course in Universal Class. Scanning the selections, I decided on How to be Your Own Private Investigator and immediately saw myself transported from the library, speeding down the road, dodging bullets going from adventure to adventure as the female Magnum P.I.

Shortly into my lessons I read I did not need a mustache to be a private investigator ala Magnum P.I. Excellent, I’m already off to a great start! Then, I was jolted into reality and learned that private investigation isn’t exactly what you see on television or read in the books. What?!

Private investigators work in the areas of work compensation fraud, piracy, accounting investigation, loss prevention and corporate espionage. The two main areas of the job are surveillance work and research. Sounds like I can parlay some of my librarian skills into the research side, but first I need to focus on the next few lessons about making observations.

Bookmark this blog and follow along on my journey into private investigation and whether surveillance involves sitting in a car eating donuts. Oh, that’s right, not every occupation lives up to its stereotypical movie counterpart. Be on the lookout for a Database Diaries post from Laura S. about photography! Hey, maybe we could be a team?!

Want to do more than read about our experiences with Universal Class? Sign up for your own class! Universal Class offers hundreds of classes on a wide variety of subjects – all for free! It’s easy to sign up – simply search for Universal Class on our database page & follow the instructions. As always, call us or stop by the library for a visit and we’ll be happy to help.

Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad…Crust?

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Well, apparently I am because the thought of making my own pie crust, from scratch, is synonymous with doing my taxes – necessary, but certainly not something I have ever looked forward to, especially when I can have someone else do it for me – like the Pillsbury dough boy.

So, maybe you are like me, you enjoy baking, have even made a pie or two, but have never ventured beyond buying a ready-made pie crust from the store.  Or maybe you just really like pie – it is after all one of America’s cultural icons, despite the fact that pie has been around long before Christopher Columbus even considered being an explorer when he grew up.

With the temperature outside dropping, this seemed like the perfect time to turn on the oven, sign up for Pie Baking 101 through Universal Class and tackle my fear of the big, bad crust.  I have made it through the first lesson – “History of Pie – An Introduction” – who knew that the first pies date back to 2000 B.C. and were a favorite food of the Ancient Egyptians?  Not me.  And now I am ready to tackle Lesson #2 – “Cooking Pie Crusts”.  As my instructor says, “Cooking good pie crust is the most important part of preparing a pie.”

Well, that is all for now – the next time you hear from me, I should have mastered the pie crust and moved on to Main Dish Pies.  Between you and me – I think I will skip the Beef Cottage Cheese Pie and the Salmon Pie, but I have high hopes for the Shepherd’s Pie and the Turkey Pot Pie!  My goal after I complete each lesson is to bring the results, which should hopefully be an edible pie, into work and let my co-workers be the guinea pigs…I mean, the judges of my pie-baking prowess.  I will share their feedback with you – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Bookmark this blog & follow along on my personal pie-baking journey, and in the upcoming weeks, be on the lookout for Database Diaries posts from Andrea and Laura who will take on private investigation and photography!

Want to do more than read about our experiences with Universal Class? Sign up for your own class! Universal Class offers hundreds of classes on a wide variety of subjects – all for free! It’s easy to sign up – simply search for Universal Class on our database page & follow the instructions. As always, call us or stop by the library for a visit and we’ll be happy to help!