Against-the-Grain.com

Having been given the privilege to blog at the Against the Grain web site, I know I should do it more often and I regret not getting back to it as often as I should. Tonight I am offered all kinds of reasons to take advantage of this opportunity.
I have been thinking a [...]

I’ve been coming to the Charleston Conference since 1989. That first year, the only reason I was able to attend was because Katina waived my registration. Since I was moving from one institution to another that year, no one would fund me. This act of kindness and opportunity on Katina’s part is [...]

Apparently there is a major marketing scheme afoot to bring back the Beatles in a big way and 09/09/09 is the special day for that purpose. In yesterday’s Sunday newspaper advertisement inserts, all the big box stores were heralding a new video game, “The Beatles Rock Band.”

In no particular order:

I have a fantastic crop of basil here in Greenville. If I were in Boone now any basil I would have attempted to grow would be stunted and possibly mildewed. It has been a cool, wet summer in the mountains. Of course, on the days here when it’s been 103 I really [...]

My last blog entry was probably the craziest thing I ever posted online and after reading it to my best friend Marcie (who does not do computers, not to mention Facebook) she told me to pull it. I’m not deleting it but I did edit it. I don’t do that very often because it feels [...]

In the last month or so I have been quietly freaking out over the fact the vast population of Facebook has been joined by a number of significant ghosts from my past. I have bravely accepted the fact that pretty much everyone I have ever known is joining Facebook. For example – Much of my [...]

Tonight I looked over the last year’s worth of this blog, and I am pleased to report that I am still thrilled to be here. Tomorrow is the 1 year anniversary of my job at ECU. I still marvel at the fact that we packed it all up and moved over a weekend and I [...]

I went out and bought a ridiculously expensive office chair that I have been wanting for over a year. There are some libraries that provide these chairs (or similar) to their staff. Usually if they do, they are bought with non-state funds. Aeron chairs are usually not on state contract. They can cost anywhere from [...]

Joe and I went to the beach for the afternoon yesterday (Sunday), which seems completely surreal to me, that it’s possible to do this. We’re 90 minutes from Atlantic Beach and 2 hours from the Outer Banks. We took our youngest dog Zelda with us. She was very well behaved but acted like she wasn’t [...]

The State of N.C. budget gates came crashing down in mid-April, and it left us all somewhat stunned. We are actually sending books back to publishers and vendors, we’ve stopped the approval plan and only a very few invoices are getting paid. It’s like molasses. Most database renewals are being held and thankfully the vendors [...]

It’s been awhile (January) since I’ve contributed to this Blog, and Katina, my apologies for not keeping up with it. I have to admit that I’ve been blogging in my mind, but haven’t been putting my thoughts out there for others to see. I guess that is totally missing the point! Time flies when you’re [...]

Due to a surprise snow storm, ECU was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday Jan. 20-21 which meant I got to stay home on Tuesday. This gave me the chance to watch the Presidental inauguration festivities. Wow, it was really amazing. I participated in the CNN/Facebook connection during the parade. I sat on the couch in [...]

This holiday season has been so very different in so many ways. Besides being in a new town with a new job, there has been the back and forth to the house in Boone. Being a landlord is a totally new experience. It is also particularly weird considering the house we are renting is the [...]