Saw in a post from the UH Alumni site, that Mr. Kilgore, a great history teacher and one of my favorite teachers at UH, died Saturday. Here’s hoping he’s in a better place still telling bad jokes and coming up with plenty of new puns. 🙂
Definitely headed back to Knoxville
July was a quiet month in Library Monk blog land, but a busy one in real life. I’m officially out of MU’s SISLT Ph.D program and our house is for sale.
I’ve accepted a job at Hodges Library, IT Technologist III in Library Outreach. We move in to a leased townhouse on the 25th and I have orientation on the 28th.
Anybody want to help us pack? To any Knoxville folks you’re welcome to help us unpack.
Potentially headed back to Knoxville
I’ve applied for a job in Knoxville. No, I’m not going to tell you what it is, you think I want everybody applying for it? 🙂 It does tie in my web design skills and library background nicely and I hope I get the job.
I’ve tried the PhD thing twice now, once at UT and currently here at Missouri. It’s really not for me. But if nothing else comes along I’ll finish out my assistantship here and possibility even finish the PhD if I can keep myself motivated that long. But I’ve determined academic research isn’t for me, I’d rather be out there doing something.
Stephanie is applying for jobs both here in Missouri and at UT. So who gets a job where and when determines who moves back to Knoxville first. But we’ll both be in Knoxville eventually along with Lisa and all the critters.
Wish us luck. 🙂
Knoxville gets an Apple Store
Where do you think an Apple Store would you in Knoxville, Tennessee? Probably somewhere at in Farragut right? Maybe Turkey Creek, there’s lots of high end stores out there. Nope, Knoxville’s Apple store is in West Town Mall.
Cheers to Knoxville for getting an Apple Store. Wonder what the chances are of Johnson City getting one are? Something about a snowball’s chance comes to mind… 🙂
Ebay – Round Two
My second round of eBay auctions is up.
Star Wars Trilogy Remastered in THX
Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition VHS Gold Box
As you can see, I wasn’t content with just selling the LD player and Star Wars LDs. I’m selling all theStar Wars movies that I own. I don’t watch them anymore and I could use the cash. 🙂
My first round of eBay auctions went ok. I underestimated my shipping cost a bit, and the eBay fees took a huge chunk out of my earnings. Luckily I found I free service, Auctiva that really dropped my fees. Granted I got a few extra features the first time, like a bold listing and a subtitle, but my costs are down from 7 dollars to 40 cents.
Nothing has sold yet, but hopefully going the cheaper route will pay off.
10 year high school reunion
I didn’t make it to my 10 year high school reunion. But picutures from last weekend’s event are being posted. This set is from Julie. All I can say is my hair may br starting to go gray (actually it’s skipping directly to white) but at least I still have hair.
Update 6/23. More pictures, this time from John Stone.
Taking the plunge
Well my laserdisc player and Star Wars LDs are now for sale on eBay.
It’s my first time selling on eBay so I probably didn’t do things in the most efficent/best way. Selling on eBay is easy to do but hard to do right. I used to wonder how eBay made money but not anymore. They nickel and dime you for everything. An extra 50 cents here, 15 cents there, and the next thing you now you’ve spend 7 bucks to list your item.
The LD’s have already sold, guess my “Buy It Now” price was a little low. Live and learn I guess.
Star Wars on DVD
We all know the original trilogy is coming out this September on DVD.. However, there is a problem. You have to buy each movie seperately (at around $20 a piece). And each movie also comes with the 2004 special edition versions, which I already own. Am I still going to buy them? Yeah. 🙂
I’ll admit I’m a bit of a Star Wars fan. I used to own almost every Star Wars book written, but I sold them when we moved. I couldn’t let go of the movie collection though. I own 3 versions of the original trilogy on VHS; original, THX, and special editions. I also bought a laserdisc player just so I could watch the original versions of the trilogy in better than VHS quality.
I watched the movies once (laserdiscs are a bitch to deal with) and never used the laserdisc player again. It’s in my garage now. LD players are selling on eBay now for about 1/5 of what I paid for it when I got it off eBay. So I’ll probably just throw it away. I have the 1994 Definitive Collection LD Box Set which is also selling on eBay for much less then it was when I got it. So it might go in the trash too.
Why get rid of the laserdiscs? Because the DVDs coming out in September are just copies of the LDs. No updating, remastering, etc. Some people (Penny Arcade) think this is because George Lucas taped over the originals. In any cause these no need to keep a giant LD player and silver Frisbees around.
I always intended to copy the LDs to DVD myself. I have all the equipment, just never wanted to spend the time doing it. eBay solved that problem. I got DVD copies for about $30. Pretty good considering the hours of work that transfer probably took.
Solution to the gay marriage “question”
In a departure from my usual library related postings, I have a solution that few people seem to consider. Take government out the marriage license business. Just let people get married in whatever church or organization supports their way of life and be done with it. State marriage simply replaces a church’s authority with that of the state. This quote from the Ohio Bar Association (found via this post at Homeland Stupidity) spells it out pretty clearly:
“Marriage is a legal as well as a spiritual and personal relationship. When you repeat your marriage vows, you enter into a legal contract. There are three parties to that legal contract: 1) you; 2) your spouse; and 3) the state of Ohio. The state is a party to the contract because under its laws, you have certain obligations and responsibilities to each other, to any children you may have, and to Ohio.”
The first amendment of the Constitution states,”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This can be interpreted in many ways and Findlaw has some history and background. The phrase “separation of church and state” comes from a letter written in 1802 by then President Thomas Jefferson.
A prohibition against same sex marriage does not belong in the Constitution. It is an endorsement of one particular religious view, which seems if not directly in opposition to the First Amendment, at least in conflict with it.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has more commentary and a form where you can email your Representative and Senators.
The semester is now officially over
Actually the semester has been over for a while, but I got my grades today. Two As and an incomplete. Pretty good considering the wild semester I’ve had. I’ve got a meeting about finishing up the incomplete on Tuesday and the summer semester starts June 13th.