I [heart] the University of Michigan

Guess who just got an email message that her diploma is in the mail? That's right!This girl!

I thought I would share the content of the email with you, since it kind of killed me:
First of all, I'm so impressed that UM sprung for 'First Class US Mail,' especially in these tough times. They couldn't even afford full quotation marks, but that diploma is coming first class, recession be darned! U-M Diploma Status would also like to inform me not to call the University of Michigan to ask when my diploma will arrive. I can just hear the harried bureaucrat on the other end of the line telling me, 'It'll get there when it gets there!' To tide me over (and prevent annoying phone calls), the folks over at U-M Diploma Status were kind enough to provide me with a link to a preview of my diploma -- WOW:

I am now, pretty much officially, a leader and best. Thanks for your message, U-M Diploma Status! I can stop fretting now -- my Master of Science in Information (Information) is in the mail.

Recent SI grads: did you get a diploma preview? If not, you may not have graduated! Just FYI (Information).

Life Plan B: World Peace

Bookmobiles bring books to people, meeting the people where they are. But what if the place where the people are doesn't have roads? Bookmobiles can't go there. Imagine yourself camping along the great coast of Northern Lake Michigan. You might be on Beaver Island. Imagine yourself running out of books to read. You are without roads. No bookmobile to save you. You are in danger of getting bored. Life Plan B is your saving grace.

Life Plan B is to commandeer a sail boat and turn it into a Book-mo-Boat. The Book-mo-Boat works like a bookmobile, except it specializes in locations only accessible by water. I'm creating a search committee for a qualified crew (p.s. I'm the Captian and Katie is the First Mate). Here are the main qualifications:

Applicants must:

• Put water safety first, understanding that if they do not know how to swim, they will be wearing a life preserver at all times.
• Have a sense of adventure, and dream of a life on the high seas of Lake Michigan.
• Like to read. There won't be anything else to do on the Book-mo-Boat.
• Be able to go for long periods of time without internet access.

Preferred qualifications:

• Not susceptible to sea sickness.
• Be a master at the art of the reference interview.
• Have experience in fending off Somali pirates.

The last preferred qualification brings me to my main worry about the Book-mo-Boat, and my suggestion for world peace. After our summer on Lake Michigan, the Book-mo-Boat will sail to the uncharted waters off the coast of Somalia. This is dangerous. About as dangerous as getting involved with un-chartered charter schools. But, we will be a brave crew. If the pirates want our Book-mo-Boat, they can have it. I imagine that the pirates will get so caught up in the wild adventures they find in books that they will abandon their wicked ways and civilize themselves. Andrew Carnegie would love this idea.

There are some Book-mo-Boats already in existence. We'll model our best practices on their experiences:

Norway has a book boat!

The book boat made the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Library and Information Science!

Sweden also has a book boat!

Lao Children's Library Boat (just photos)

Please just write a little sentence or two about why you want to sail on the Book-mo-Boat with me and First Mate Katie and leave it in the comments to this post. The Book-mo-Boat, should Life Plan A (full-time library employment) not come together, will leave port at dawn on July 1, 2009.

Plan C: Librations

I was recently browsing the encyclopedic section of The American Heritage New Illustrated History of the United States Volume 12 (published 1971) and I found this amazing picture of a bar that had been turned into a library during the Prohibition. This both made me infinitely glad that there is no Prohibition on, and got my wheels turning. Life Plan C is now to open a library that sells beer. We're calling it Librations. Emily and Katie: librarians by day, librarian/bartenders by night.

Any Happy Hour ideas?

Top 500 Reasons to Come to the Great Indoors

This little guy, plus 499 friends:

The Great Indoors: Sunday, August 31st from 4-6 pm @ Shapiro Library.

Collections for Personal Enrichment

I like to collect things. I have quite a few collections of things, most of which have no value to any museum, archive, or estate/ junk sale. When I write this three of my most worthless, yet highly cultivated, collections come to mind. My collection of tattoos I have seen (good and bad), boat names (good and bad), and t-shirt sayings (just bad).

On a recent sailing adventure I found a real treasure to add to the boat names collection. Sighberspace. What a terrible boat name. Imagine with me for a moment Sighberspace’s distress call; “Mayday mayday, this is Sighberspace.” It’s such a bad joke name for a boat, not to mention just a downright terrible computer joke that can only spark more terrible computer jokes. If I wanted to relax, you’d better believe I’d spend some time floating around in Sighberspace. Har har.