Holy Crap!

On my way back to school tonight (damn you contract renewal!) I saw a hit and run. A car without its lights on pulled a fast U turn and totally took out this dude on a cruiser. He then backed up and completed his turn as the guy ran after him swearing!

I totally saw the car. As I was passing, I note that the engine was running and the lights weren't on. Right when I got past, I noticed this biker coming in the opposite direction and heard the car start to pull out. As I was about to go into the left hand lane, I turned my head to see how fast the car was coming. I saw that he was pulling the U, saw that biker, and then BAM!

I talked with the biker for a bit. He was shaken, but ok. We think we got most of the plate number. He called 911. It was pretty appalling.

Vancouver highlights and the first day of school

Yes, it was a lovely time.

On the way up I actually got to attend a recruiting event for the ol' alma mater. It was nice looking at all those eager potential librarians. The pitch that gets offered up was pretty tight, so I didn't ask or offer to add much.

Our hosts for the evening made us a lovely Belgian beef stew. I believe it was called carbonnade. They are the proud new parents of a pair of dingos, so much of the evening involved cooing over the bouncing bundles of joy. I'm not saying this is a bad things: I love the dingos as much as the next guy. And I'll tell you that it did not diminish the quality of the discussion at all: our friends are still perfectly able to impress with their conversational skills.

Thursday morning we crossed the border--with only ONE CAR in front of us!!! I couldn't believe it. I've never experienced such a brief wait. Then it was a quick stop in a commercial district on 41st near West Boulevard. There was a camera store there that showed a lot of potential, though we didn't go in. Are all the used camera bodies making their way to Canada? Then it was off to the UBC Map Library. The librarian was a perfect host, although I was a little surprised to hear that he's not making any effort to collect data or offer GIS services. He did comment that the library there has always acted rather independently of the rest of campus--thus there wasn't any academic department or research area where he concentrated.

I nearly missed picking up my friend. For whatever reason, I didn't print the message that said where and when I'd meet him. I had it an hour off and the wrong building. Fortunately I left a note on his door about 30 seconds before he got back to his office--he raced after me and caught us outside. Then it was off for drinks, a lovely lebanese dinner, and a gelato (one scoop each of hazelnut and Baileys. L had poppyseed pineapple and pomegranite sorbetto). Friday was a casual day of art, shopping, the SeaBus, and a lovely kabob. Sushi for dinner, a party at an academic's house in the West End, and one beer too many at a neighborhood pub.

Saturday morning we slunk out of the house trying not to wake our hosts. We grabbed pannekoeken on our way to the Sequim fiasco I described below.

Today, a new era of insanity began in my job: being a student. Actually, it wasn't that bad, but I fear I'm not going to be able to keep up. I left my notes on campus: I had some sort of insightful and witty comments to make, but those will just have to wait.

Librarianin'

Haven't talked about work for a while, partially because I've been getting tons of shit done. Here's a rundown:

• With the help of lots of student labor, we went through at years worth of gifts from other libraries. As those were being piled up, we gathered up great big piles of superceded materials from around the library. We wound up giving away and recycling about half a ton of paper.



• It seems that there are no written policies about how to buy and process maps in my library. With no map librarian for 18 months (and 3 in the previous 4 years), what oral traditions there were seemed to fade away. Working with folks in the responsible departments, I've started writing default procedure.



• Speaking of default procedures, what sort of occult black hole did the Federal Depository Library Program and its bastard child, MARCIVE, crawl out of? We've had these items piling up with 'problem' records for more than a couple years. Again, working with other folks we're sorting out these problems. And I'm learning a lot more about how the catalog works. A coworker paid me a great compliment around the water cooler (ok, it was the 'near boiling water' tap with which I rinse out my coffee cup): "I think you really wound up in the right department." Well, I think that was a compliment.



• Had an intern start this week. I didn't exactly set him off on a totally direct path, but he seems to be totally getting it. The project is definitely worthwhile.



• The case of one of our more popular historic map series is giving up the ghost. It is no longer safe to open the bottom drawers, as the case has slowly been collapsing. I hurriedly put together a $21,000 furniture request in response.



• Speaking of historic maps: I discovered a couple empty folders that are supposed to have a couple hundred maps in them. We're not sure where they've wandered off to.