31 March 2008

Our house, with daffodils and forsythia in bloom.

29 March 2008

Don applied Rain-X to Eurovan's windows. Now, of course, there won't
be rain for weeks. Here's Eurovan's windshield after Don threw a cup
of water on it as a test.

28 March 2008

Don spent much of the morning rearranging parts of the collection at
his library. Here's the new, expanded science fiction section.

27 March 2008

Today was Tournament of Cards at Don's library. The crowd was smaller than usual, but trading and playing were as intense as ever.

Kids who collect and play Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon are like proto-sf-fans; Don is happy to be able to give them the opportunity to get together in safe and (relatively) comfortable space.

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26 March 2008

Information Superhighway Roadkill.

One of our staffers assists a middle-aged man in filing out an online
job application.

This poor fellow had never used a pc before (never needed to). The
keyboard was unfamiliar to him, the mouse a huge challenge, and he
never did get the concept behind a drop-down menu. Don and his
coworker basically held his hand and walked him through dozens of
screens of questions, checkboxes, and assorted microscopic type.

In the end, he spent a tortured hour and a half filling out two job
applications. He lost his job, and needs another - and if you want to
apply at McDonalds, you've got to do it online.

I understand McDonalds' position. They get millions of applicants,
they want to weed out those who don't have the skills to read and fill
out an online application. And they aren't in the business of teaching
folks basic computer skills.

But where can this man turn? Except for the public library and a few
equally poorly-funded government agencies, there's no one to help
people like our friend.

This morning it was slow, and two of us could spend the time helping
him. But what happens when we're busy? Or when 2 or 3 such patrons
need help simultaneously?

There aren't east answers. But we've got to come up with something
better....

22 March 2008

We saw "A Little Night Music" at Center Stage with our friends Leon &
Doug. Really good production of a really fun show.

20 March 2008

The meeting room at the North County library, where Don had a meeting
today. The artwork on the wall is from local elementary school art
classes.

19 March 2008

Today folks from Best Buy came to Don's library and brought video
games for kids to play for free, no obligation. Here, some kids are
enjoying Rock Band.

18 March 2008

Don was scanning more pictures. Here's our hamster Grundoon looking
out of his TIE fighter in 1997.

16 March 2008

Girl Scouts selling cookies outside Walmart. The Girl Scouts are on
the good side; they don't care if a girl is gay, or an atheist, or
anything...they'll welcome her.

Plus, they make great cookies. And now they even have sugar-free
cookies!

15 March 2008

Don digitized a bunch of old photos today. This is our Bottle City of
Kandor, from 1997.

14 March 2008

Another picture from our trip to the Smithsonian. That's Don in the
foreground, and the Capitol in the far background.

13 March 2008

We went to the Smithsonian today, visiting the Hope Diamond and other
goodies in the Natural History Museum. Among them was this ancient
Korean artifact of "unknown purpose."

Unknown? To us, it is obviously a primitive vidoe game controller....

12 March 2008

Koltar climbing on a big pile of pillows and blankets on the couch.

11 March 2008

Guess what we got today? Best Buy was almost sold out.

8 March 2008

Double rainbow seen from the windows of Don's library after a major
storm went through.

7 March 2008

Thomas and our friend Betsy at the historic Senator Theater in
Baltimore. We saw "10,000 BC" - fun movie!

6 March 2008

Here's Koltar climbing up the side of his pyramid to get a treat.

5 March 2008

Here's Don's library from the outside. It's a splendidly unique 1970s
building.

4 March 2008

Our house, with March clouds filling the sky.

3 March 2008

Here's Koltar in the popcorn bowl. This is one happy hamster!

2 March 2008

Another afternoon working at the West County branch library.

1 March 2008

Tonight we went to dinner with some of Don's high school friends. This
is the year all of us turn fifty, so there will be various
celebrations hither and yon.