An idle mind*

Recently I’ve had a lot of time to catch up on my (mostly chick-lit) reading. This also means I’m putting all my library memberships to good use (all 4 of them) -
• The library for the city where we now live
• The library for the city where I now work
• The library system for the general area we used to live and work in
• The library system for the general area we now live in

(During one of my recent crazy “putting books on my hold list” sprees, I also signed up for a card at the library in the city where I volunteer a few hours a week. Luckily I later found the same book while browsing one of my “regular” libraries, so I didn’t bother picking up my library card from the other place.)

For a while I kept track of all my books and videos the usual way. They would stay in the backseat of my car till the library emailed me a courtesy notification a few days before they were due. And then, there would be a mad scramble to either read, renew or return whatever I could. Till one day, inspiration (or boredom) struck. Now I have my own tracking system in excel.

The Summary
This is where I get an overall picture of what I have checked out and when they’re due.
From here, I can also link to the library website to check my account. I can also click anywhere in the table showing the breakdown to get more details on those specific items.

The Details
This is a list of all the items I have checked out and when they’re due. The light blue shading is for books I’m done reading and the light yellow is for the ones I’m currently reading.
The purple shading in the “Due Date” column marks due dates that are in the next 3 days.
The pink in the last column tells me I need to read / renew / return those items – it’s a combination of items with a due date in the next 7 days and status of “Not yet started” or “Work in Progress”.
Needless to say, I'm very pleased with myself. I have also realized I might be spending more time "refining" my tracking sheet than I spend actually reading all those books I borrowed!


* is, in my case, apparently an excel workshop!

Imitation is the best form of flattery?!

Z: I need a tissue.
E: I need a tissue.
Z: My nose is dripping.
E: My nose is dripping.
Z: Please.
E: Please.
Me: Z, here you go. E, you do not need a tissue – your nose is fine*.
Z: Can I have some water? I’m thirjty.
E: Can I have some water. I’m thirty.
Me: (sigh)

A couple of days later, all the other kids are inside for story-time except E & R.
Me: E, what are you doing out here? The story’s about to start.
E: I have sand in my shoe.
R: I have sand in my shoe.
E: No, I have sand in my shoe.
R: No, I have sand in my shoe.
E: Why’re you copying me? I don’t understand why you constantly** keep copying me
Me: (sigh)

* - even though it was coloured black and had ‘whiskers’ drawn near it.
** - a little difficult to believe since it was R’s second day there and that was the first time I saw them both play together

Where I belong

For a while now I've been telling people I like my job and the company I work for. Today I found out why. And no it's not that they pay me $$$$$ (because they don't).

We were watching an important presentation by our company today. And all of us were engrossed. Even though most of the terms they were using didn't make sense to most of us.
But we still watched - I know some people who got up really early (it started at 8 am Eastern time), I know some people who missed lunch.

Some of us even had our fingers crossed when it was time for the vote. And after, everyone was excited as if they personally had won. It was as if all those fingers being crossed had really made a difference.

A few people started walking around, telling everyone they ran into "Hey, did you hear? We got the approval".

That word is what gets me. Everytime. We.