Odds and Ends

Happy Friday, everybody. Today I'm dedicating myself to changing the forces of nature. I'm going to move more things out of my office than stream into my office. Will it work? I doubt it, but it is a worthy goal, nonetheless. Out, out damn books! Off you go. Thank you. But...wait...I should look at this one. I'm teaching this topic. Oh, that one looks interesting. As you can see, it's a problem. I have too many interests, and I'm a wee bit of a packrat. Thus, the state of my office. So, I'm looking for books which hold no interest for me. Researchers Guide to the bassoon? Off you go! Some book written in Russian Cyrillic? Can't read it, so see ya! Music of Lord Berners. Who dat? Buh-bye!

Speaking of books means speaking of libraries, which means speaking of librarians. Evidently librarians are the current political scourges of the Empire of the Shrub. I feel all dangerous now. Snort. Check it out here. And while you're at it, this week is also Banned Book Week. Do you own any? You should. Be a rebel and buy yourself a banned book today. Don't know which ones are the no-no's? Check out the 1990-2000 list. Woah. Where's Waldo??? What'd he ever do?

Changing topics. Hatteras continues to dig and rebuild from Hurricane Isabel. One of the more recent things I've read is their decision to close the inlet, which is much more difficult than you might think. Think back to your basic sand castle, and trying to fix a castle wall before the waves come back in again. It's much the same, except they are trying to dump enough sand in quickly enough to fill the hole, and then put extra on top so the road can be rebuilt. There is continual debate on whether they should rebuild the road, or build a bride and let the inlet remain. I'm glad I don't have to make these kinds of decisions. Two great links for Hatteras pictures are here and here. They include enough background that now I have a better sense of where they are in Hatteras Village. It looks as if Lee Robinson's General Store withstood the storm (huzzah!), as did The Hatterasman restaurant (heh). Hatterasman is the Buick of architecture. Even if you wanted to, you couldn't knock that sucker down for anything. The Buick? That's a story for another day.

I've been having fun reading some fellow Hamster Time blogs. In addition to Rappy's page, there is also a hysterical story offered up on Perpetual Blonde and a great ongoing narrative offered by Opheliagh. They're all great reads.

Speaking of great reads means speaking of books, which means back to work.