Just for Fun

Enjoy your Thanksgiving break!

/ dwakimoto

Hello, dear readers! I hope you are doing well and are easing into the Thanksgiving break if you are in the United States without too much stress. I just have a few things to share with you that you may like to take a look at while you are digesting your large meal tomorrow and don’t feel like moving too much.

First, go check out Lifehacker’s article on the top 10 gadgets for your go bag. There’s some great stuff there and some would make great holiday presents, just saying…

If you just want to stare at beautiful things while digesting your Thanksgiving feast, check out the latest post on I Love Typography. It is beautiful as usual. I really do love typography.

If you are are able to focus on something more serious for a moment over the long weekend, I highly suggest reading all about the SOPA bill that’s going to cripple your internet on Lifehacker. Then, go and actually make your voice heard so the SOPA bill gets stopped.

If you want more information about copyright, Protect IP, and SOPA, check out Hank’s video (he’s one half of the Vlogbrothers):

Also, if you have some energy and feel like being techie, check out Lifehacker’s top 10 ways to customize your technology. Customization is always fun. I actually need to re-customize some stuff that got stripped out a few weeks ago with the latest Chrome updates.

Oh, and because it is the holiday time of year, which to me means baking, I have to share that the Joy the Baker Cookbook is available for pre-order! I’m so excited, although we have to wait until February for the book, because I love her recipes!

Luckily, in time for even Thanksgiving, if you need a quick, not-too-sweet dessert or a nice breakfast bread, check out vegan pumpkin walnut bread from the aforementioned Joy the Baker. It is so good and makes two loaves! Even your non-vegan friends and family members will love it.

Take care, dear readers. Have a lovely Thanksgiving, for those of you in the states, and a lovely weekend for everyone else everywhere. Allons-y!

Happy Friday!

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday and Happy Veterans Day, dear readers! I know I’ve been away for a while after the crazy busyness of Internet Librarian, but now I’m back. And, I have a good excuse for being away for a bit: my sister got married last weekend! It was a lot of fun and if you want to see a beautiful photo of my sister and her husband by Ryan Greenleaf, check it out here. So now that I’m back in archives and library-land, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. So let’s get on to the good stuff!

When I saw this article from Lifehacker, how to make and sustain a good first impression every time, I had to post the link to it. It is a fantastic article and great to share with your students, friends, and family. Making a first impression is utterly important, so check out some tips that will help you make a better one.

For those of you doing usability testing, check out Smashing Magazine’s Comprehensive Review of Usability and User Experience Testing Tools. Super-helpful reviews. And, as Internet Librarian has taught us, usability testing is key for success.

And, because it makes me happy to see an article about an university’s archives and special collections (especially one that is so heavily used), I had to include this article on Iowa State University’s Parks Library. Archives and special collections (and libraries) are super-important and still relevant to researchers today.

Now to just for fun stuff. This photograph makes me smile (and makes me want to take a vacation to Ireland asap!), from Beautiful Portals Tumblr:

National Library of Ireland by faceted nerd

National Library of Ireland by faceted nerd

Have a lovely, fun-filled weekend! If you need some inspiration for weekend baking, check out Joy the Baker’s Pumpkin Millet Chocolate Muffins I’ll be back next week with more tips and tools. Allons-y!

Blog Action Day 2011

/ dwakimoto

Happy Sunday, dear readers! Today is both World Food Day and Blog Action Day. In honor of both, today’s post will be a special one dedicated to food.

I was excited when I heard about this year’s Blog Action Day theme because I love food. I love a good meal shared with friends and family and I am always happy when I’m baking or cooking. One of my favorite things about living in the Bay Area is that I have a wonderful group of friends, many of whom are librarians and archivists, who like to get together for potlucks. We always have too much food and lots of great conversations (some of which even are about topics other than libraries and archives!).

Since this blog is usually about libraries, archives, and technology, I thought I should bring World Food Day back into the library (even though LCSH no longer includes “cookery”). So I give you the League of Evil Baking Librarians. Please submit a photo and/or recipe to the league so the Tumblr doesn’t get lonely. It’s fun to share baking projects with each other.

In the last year, I’ve been cooking a lot more than I have in the past and because of this development I’ve become quite obsessed with recipes that are yummy, fairly quick to make and don’t cost a fortune in ingredients. So I just want to share with you a few of my favorite recipes from the wonderful Joy the Baker:

Chocolate Bundt Cake: This recipe is lovely. I substitute chocolate ganache for the glaze and it gets rave reviews at the library.

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread: I had an intern last year who was vegan, so I learned to make this bread. It is super-tasty and makes two loaves, perfect for sharing and perfect for autumn!

Baked Curry Sweet Potato Fries: Even a baker needs to eat something other than baked goods and these baked fries are delicious!

Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuits: These are amazing when made on a lazy Saturday morning and eaten with a fried egg. Super-simple and comforting on a cold morning.

Spicy Vegetarian Chili: This recipe makes so much chili that it is perfect for potlucks on chilly autumn days. Also, the Jalapeno Pepper Jack Scones are yummy, too. (I think of them more as biscuits than scones, but either way they are tasty).

Hopefully these recipes will inspire you to make something tasty in the coming week. I’d love to know your favorite recipes, too. Please share them in the comments.

This week I’m at Internet Librarian so be prepared for lots of posts on the techie sessions I attend. Hope you have a fantastic day and lovely week. Allons-y!

Video Break for Friday

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I could tell you about how October is American Archives month or how yesterday was Digital Archives Day, but it’s been a crazy, insane week. I can barely put together a coherent thought.

So, instead, dear readers, I just have the latest Simon’s Cat video to share with you. (Thanks to Paul for letting me know a new one was released.)

Have a great weekend. I’ll be back next week with a more coherent post, hopefully. Allons-y!

Upgrades and Friday Fun

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope that you are having a lovely day and have a relaxing weekend planned. I’m about ready to collapse in a heap at the end of the workday as it was the first week I taught my classes this quarter and it was a crazy-busy week. I love teaching, but it surely does take it out of me the first week. But enough about me, let’s get into today’s tips on upgrading and fun.

First, let’s talk about cats. I love cats and have a cat who has pretty much taken over my apartment. If you have cats or know people who have cats, you’ll want to direct them to Lifehacker’s article on the top 10 ways to upgrade your cat’s life. Then you’ll want to direct them to ThinkGeek’s cat toys.

But if you don’t have a cat or don’t need to upgrade your cat’s life, you’ll probably want to check out another Lifehacker article on how to
upgrade to a new Android phone and take everything with you. I was excited to see this post as I’ll be upgrading to a new Android phone fairly soon. If anyone has any suggestions on new Android phones that will be coming out in the next few months, I’d love to hear about them in comments.

Also, I feel that everyone should read this post by Seth Godin: Run Your Own Race. It’s a fantastic reminder to not judge ourselves against others and be ourself in our work and life.

Finally, for your lazy, relaxing weekend, check out Joy the Baker’s recipe for banana walnut waffles.

It definitely feels like autumn in the Bay Area, after a week or so of crazy warm weather, which makes me think of rain. So I leave you this week with another lovely photograph from Beautiful Portals.

Photo from Whimsical Raindrop Cottage

Photo from Whimsical Raindrop Cottage

Have a lovely weekend full of good food, good friends, and good reading. I’ll be back next week with some updates from the archives and some thoughts on the beginning of the quarter. Allons-y!

Friday Grab Bag

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers. I hope your week has gone well and that you have an enjoyable weekend planned. I have the usual assortment of goodies, tips, and tools for today’s post. So let’s get into how to shrink people who overtweet, recover some of our time, and of course watch a fun video.

I love Twitter. It’s one of the few social media tools that I find incredibly useful for my teaching, my personal life, and my professional life. However, if there’s one thing that I find annoying is the overtweeting by some people. Luckily there’s a tool to help you figure out who’s overtweeting and do something about it. If this is an annoyance to you, too, check out Lifehacker’s article on the tool, shuu.sh.

If you find, however, that you are spending too much time on Twitter or something else that is robbing you of your productive work time, you might want to check out Lifehacker’s article on Reclaim your time using RescueTime. I think it is rather telling that I had to bookmark this article to come back to read because I was too busy at the time to stop for 5 minutes and read it. Perhaps I need to rescue some of my time too.

As the school year has now started on most campuses and schools (and is in full swing on semester campuses), I thought this article from CNN is a valuable read: what teachers really want to tell parents. Teachers, at all levels, have incredibly difficult (but usually rewarding) work. We need to support our teachers so we can all learn and improve the system.

Speaking of improvement, or rather instructions for improvement, check out Life’s Instructions. I love lists and this is a great one. Read it and then give someone a hug. It will make you both feel better.

And for those of you who have time to spare, and/or are looking into getting into consulting, check out The Instant Consultant post over The Art of Non-Conformity blog. It’s a nice, simple overview of the process of becoming a consultant.

Finally, while you are being super-productive, don’t forget to take a break and stretch. Perhaps meditate on this lovely image from beautiful portals.

Whimsical Rain Drop Cottage

Whimsical Rain Drop Cottage

And when you need to smile and laugh, check out the wonderful Simon’s Cat video below:

Have a lovely rest of your day and a great weekend full of relaxation and rejuvenation. I’ll be back next week. Allons-y!

Happy Friday! Enjoy a Work Break!

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I’m so happy that we are going into a three-day weekend. So today’s post is super-short and filled with some stuff to amuse you during your work break(s) today. Look for a special post on The Waki Librarian tomorrow (or save it to enjoy when you get back to work on Tuesday).

First, isn’t this just one of the coolest photos you’ve ever seen? I love it.

Dispatchwork "small repairs with legos"

Dispatchwork "small repairs with legos"

You can see the rest of the photos over on the wonderful beautiful portals tumblr.

Also for your work break, Lifehacker’s article on the best places to take a fall vacation on the cheap. Because even if you can’t take a fall vacation, it sure is a nice thing to think about.

Now, to end and also shamelessly copy my wonderful friend Hanna who posted this a couple of weeks ago: sing along with Breaking Benjamin. You’ll feel better. Just better shut the door before belting out the chorus, if you are at the office, just saying.

Or, if you’re really not into singing and are more into bow ties, because bow ties are cool, check out this clip of the Doctor in action:

Have a fantastic weekend and I promise The Waki Librarian will be back soon with more tech, library, and archives news and notes. Allons-y!

Balancing on a Friday

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope your day is going well. Today I just want to talk a bit about balance and leave you with some fun for the weekend.

Now I’m probably not the person to talk to about finding balance in one’s work and personal life. I’m the first to admit that I often get too caught up in projects, research, and teaching and work some crazy hours. But I’m trying to be better and find some balance–even if that balance only shows up if you look at an entire month or year of my life and not on a daily or weekly basis.

Luckily there are others that have the balance thing down much better than I do. So if you need some help with balance, especially going into the weekend and end of the summer, check out Lifehacker’s great article, how to stop working and go home at night.

And for a librarian-focused article, check out Michael Stephens’ post, Finding Balance?. It’s a nice overview about the different facets of balance we should all try to achieve in our lives.

For me, one of the best ways to de-stress and find a bit of balance is in the kitchen so I love Joy the Baker’s post Summer 2011 as it goes for its great thoughts and recipes for summer. If you like cooking then you should check out this article from Lifehacker, eat like a foodie at home without breaking your budget. Getting good food while on a budget is great.

And we should end on something that will make you smile in an instant (instead of after an hour cooking in the kitchen), so watch and smile at this animated GIF from Beautiful Portals. I love it and it always makes me smile.

tumbling kitty

tumbling kitty

I hope you have a lovely weekend full of good reads, good food, and good friends. I’ll be back next week with more reflections on libraries, archives, tech, and life. Allons-y!

Friday Fun for a Rough Week

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I’m sorry I’ve been away from the blog for almost a fortnight. It’s been a crazy two weeks. Last week was fantastic as I was in San Jose for my yearly residency with my fellow doctoral cohortmates. It was a week of thought-provoking fun (but exhausting) work. This week, though, has been insane to put it mildly and that’s my excuse for not having been back to posting on Wednesday. Also, due to the insanity, I only have a few fun things to share with you to get you in a good mood for the weekend.

Because I always have to include something you can share with your patrons, family, and friends, check out Lifehacker’s Top 10 survival tricks for when the zombie apocalypse hits. It never hurts to be prepared.

Now, do something nice for yourself this weekend and make Joy the Baker’s Peach Cobbler for one (or two if you’re nice). Yummy peaches make summer wonderful.

And finally, take a break and watch this video. One of my lovely colleagues shared it with me and as multiple people have said (quite rightly) one cannot be in a bad mood when watching a baby laugh.

Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll be back next week (fingers crossed) with library, archives, and tech news. Allons-y!

Old and New in Technology

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope you have a lovely weekend planned. Before you head out of the office to start enjoying your weekend, I wanted to share some cool articles (and an infographic) about old and new technology with you. So let’s get into the tech tips and then get you ready to enjoy your weekend.

So, this 100 things your kids may never know about list got me thinking about technology obsolescence. Combined with this infographic: evolution of storage, all I could think about was how many different recording and storage technologies there have been over the centuries and how they are only obsolete for most people. If you are an archivist, historian, conservator, or any other professional who deals with the past, these technologies are sometimes headache-inducing, but they’re not obsolete in terms of being of use or value. However, it is becoming more and more difficult to retrieve the data from storage formats such as U-matic tapes, open reel films, and floppy disks.

Happily however, with technological obsolescence always comes shiny new toys to play with, or at least shiny ways of retrofitting old stuff to work in new ways. So if you need a project this weekend, check out Lifehacker’s article on how to turn an old computer into a networked backup, streaming, or torrenting machine with FreeNAS. You could also check out the article on how to run your home network like a coffee shop for easier guest access and family-friendly browsing. And finally, something to share with your family, friends, and library patrons who are confused about Wi-Fi routers: Lifehacker’s guide on which Wi-Fi router should I buy?.

So that’s our quick look at something old and something new in the world of technology this Friday. If all that technology talk makes you hungry, check out Joy the Baker’s lovely recipe for double chocolate indoor s’mores.

I hope you have a great rest of your day and a fantastic weekend. I’ll be away next week, but will be back the following week with more library, archives, and tech fun. Until then, be well, read fun books, and enjoy your summer. Allons-y!