Just for Fun

Paper, Books, and Other Fun for the End of the Quarter

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! It has been a busy week on campus, but it is finally winding down as final exams have wrapped up. I thought today I’d share some thoughts about paper, books, and some fun for the end of your week/beginning of your weekend mainly because these are the kind of things rattling around my head at the end of the quarter.

Yesterday I went to San Francisco Center for the Book to take the Introduction to Bookbinding class. It was a lot of fun (although I’m tired from the lateness of getting home after class via BART) and it was great to see such an interest in traditional arts. This was a great break from all the work I usually do on the computer and definitely rejuvenating after hearing all the time about the demise of print, especially print books, in my work as a librarian and archivist. If you live in the area, I highly recommend checking on SFCB as the instructors are really nice and knowledgeable and it is rewarding to make something tangible (and beautiful).

Speaking of books and ebooks, one of my colleagues sent around this article from Salon, Books aren’t dead yet. It is a nice read and confirms what I’ve seen that we have a thriving, 2 format ecosystem of books for readers at the moment. And considering we need to buy another bookshelf for the apartment, you can tell where I fall on the spectrum of buying print and ebooks (although I do really enjoy using my tablet, I still love the physicality of print).

This video is lovely, silly, and a great reminder, too, that paper isn’t outdated just quite yet. Unfortunately it won’t allow embedding, so head over to Vimeo to check out the video, Paper is not dead.

Finally, I leave you with a lovely photograph of a reading nook, hopefully to inspire you to curl up with a favorite book/ebook over the weekend for a bit of a break:

reading nook from Beautiful Portals Tumblr

reading nook from Beautiful Portals Tumblr

Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be back soon with more news and notes. Allons-y!

Life, Work, Change, and Art

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope your week has been lovely and you have a wonderful weekend planned. Today I just want to share some thoughts on various articles I’ve been reading, mostly having to do with work-life balance, in various forms.

I thought it was interesting that Lifehacker published these two articles very close together: why you should embrace work-life imbalance and don’t forget to live. I’d love to hear your thoughts on work-life (im)balance. I believe that we should all do work we love and have careers we enjoy because then the hours do go by more rapidly and are more fulfilling. However, I’m not for being a workaholic. I believe in working very intensely and with great focus in order to accomplish as much as possible, but not having career as the only facet of my life. Having time for friends and family, reading for pleasure (and not for research), baking, and simply being are important, too. Time might be wibbly, wobbly, but we have a finite amount and it seems like a shame not to enjoy life outside of our careers, however fulfilling and enjoyable we find them to be.

Also in the vein of work and life articles, Lifehacker published one on why you are afraid of change and what you can do about it. I think this is useful no matter where the change is occurring in your life. Life is change and it is nice to have some tips on making the most of it.

And since it’s that time of year when people in the United States are doing their taxes and cleaning up their records, I thought tips on what documents to shred and what to keep would be useful.

Finally, on to some beautiful fun. Check out the 2012 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge winners. Art in science is a truly wonderful thing to behold.

Also, I wanted to share the ongoing lettering versus calligraphy competition. Gorgeous, gorgeous lettering and calligraphy. Take a break and just enjoy how expressive lettering and writing can be.

I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend. I’ll be back soon with more. Allons-y!

Some Tips and Fun for Friday

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope that your day is going well and that you have a wonderful weekend planned. Apparently the Super Bowl is happening on Sunday, so if you are excited about that, I hope your favorite team wins. For myself, I’m looking forward to a sunny weekend of catching up on reading and having a potluck with friends. Before we get to the weekend, I want to share a few things that have come across my digital dashboard that I think might be of interest to you and your patrons.

This quarter has been absolutely crazy busy. Between teaching, committee work, interns, and reference hours, I barely have a minute to pause during the week. It has made for very long days and less reflection time than I would normally like, but hopefully I’ll make it through the quarter without anything falling through the cracks. Therefore it is unsurprising that I found this post by Lifehacker on why you need more margin in your life particularly timely. I really do need to create more margins in my life, and I suspect that you do too, dear reader.

For those looking for ways to get ahead in the career department, I suggest taking a look at Lifehacker’s futureproof your job with a career insurance policy. Just don’t forget about building in some margins as you are building up your career.

Also, an article that would be good to share with all your colleagues, friends, and patrons: top 10 good tech habits everyone should have. I plan on sharing this with my students when we talk more about technology, security, and privacy in class.

Now, on to some fun, this Gizmodo article on 19 adorable animals using technology adorably is sure to make you smile. But if it doesn’t, perhaps you’ll have to break out some chocolate and make Joy the Baker’s chocolate and peanut butter pudding.

Finally, I leave you with this lovely photograph from Beautiful Portals Tumblr, which reminds me that I should really go get a cup of tea (and perhaps you should, too).

Teapots by Gloomtreehouse via Beautiful Portals Tumblr

Teapots by Gloomtreehouse via Beautiful Portals Tumblr

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and a relaxing weekend, dear readers. I’ll be back soon with more musings and useful links. Allons-y!

Friday's Post of Tips

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers. I can’t believe how busy this quarter has been and we are only in the second week! Today’s post is the usual assortment of things I’ve read that I think are helpful as well as some fun stuff to get you ready for your weekend. So let’s get into it.

I have various friends and family members who are currently looking for work, so I thought this Lifehacker article on 10 tips for acing your next job interview was particularly timely and useful.

I am also a fan of this article on 9 strategies successful people use to overcome stress. Having a less stressful new year is something I think everyone can get behind as a resolution and I hope this article is useful for you, too.

Also, I know we are just past the holidays, but I love planning travel and thought you all might be interested in Lifehacker’s planning cheap travel guide, too. Let’s hear it for planning summer vacations!

This article was really interesting and I’m thinking of sharing it with my information literacy class: how websites vary prices based on your information and what you can do about it.

Finally, on to the fun. This video of 3D projections on a building is amazing. Watch this when you need a break and need to get inspired.

Also, in craft news, I love this One Ring Scarf over on the Make: Craft blog. It is awesome. So if you have friends that knit and love LOTR, do share this with them.

Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be back with more next week and perhaps even some thoughts on teaching this quarter. Allons-y!

Happy New Year (yes, I know I'm a few days late, please move along…)

/ dwakimoto

Hello, dear readers. I can hardly believe we are 8 days or so into the new year already. It is the first week of classes here at my campus so things are hopping. I just wanted to share a few fun links today and will hopefully be back later in the week with a longer post on some of the things that I’ve been thinking about over the holiday break.

First, I wanted to share this post via Stephen’s Lighthouse and BuzzFeed: 26 moments that restored our faith in humanity. Read it when you are feeling a bit down and want to feel a bit better about the world.

And, as always, I just love xkcd comics and had to share, especially after hearing on the radio how many new year’s resolutions have already been broken:

"resolution" by xkcd

“resolution” by xkcd

Also, Lifehacker has a nice roundup of their Most Popular Long Form Features of 2012. Star it and read when you have a chance.

From Gizmodo, check out a video of a person putting out a boat fire with “sheer awesomeness” (It made both me and my partner laugh when we watched it. It really is quite awesome).

I hope that your year is going well and that you have a lovely day. (Wish me luck for my first day of class today.) And I’ll be back soon with more on libraries, archives, and various other things. Allons-y!

And I'm Back from Australia!

/ dwakimoto

Hello, dear readers! I hope you are all well and are getting ready for the holidays. I apologize for the blog silence over the last few weeks, but I’ve been traveling in Australia and actually having a holiday. But now I’m back and want to share a bit of my trip with you.

The official reasons for going to Australia were to present at a conference and attend my graduation. Both of which were lovely experiences, but also wonderful excuses for taking a couple of weeks of much needed vacation as well. And, after flying 16 hours to Melbourne, I thought that taking a few weeks was the only way I’d ever want to get back on a plane! So first to the conference.

I have to give thanks and a shout out to the wonderful coordinators of the Buildings, Books, and Blackboards: Intersecting Narratives Conference in Melbourne. It was a great conference filled with interesting talks and friendly people. Part of Melbourne’s Knowledge Week, it was hosted by RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) in its newest building. My talk on part of my PhD research was well-received and I’m excited for the possibilities of extending my research into some of the areas talked about in the conference. (And wouldn’t it be great to have an excuse to do research in Australia?) It was a great experience and so nice to step out of being at a conference solely focused on archives and/or libraries into a conference about interdisciplinary work and with a focus on histories. And I have to say that everyone was super-friendly and nice, which is always wonderful at a conference far away from home (and completely jetlagged to boot!).

RMIT

RMIT

After the conference, I spent some time checking out the sights in Melbourne and touring the Great Ocean Road, before heading up north where I spent the majority of my time in Brisbane (home of my alma mater Queensland University of Technology). I happily got to meet with my supervisors from QUT while in town and even got to attend my graduation ceremony, which was quite fun. QUT was awesome and live streamed the ceremony so some of my family and friends back home got to watch me graduate, too. Technology is awesome sometimes. Don’t you just love the bonnet that is part of the regalia?

In my academic regalia

In my academic regalia

Brisbane is home to the very awesome State Library of Queensland, which has great indoor/outdoor facilities (and free wifi) and absolutely wonderful gardens (although the paths are filled with water dragons).

Colin Campbell Place at Roma Street Parklands

Colin Campbell Place at Roma Street Parklands

And, of course, if you go halfway ’round the world to Australia, it would be a shame not to cuddle a koala. So, obviously, my partner and I had to go out to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and cuddle koalas while we were in Australia.

Cuddling a koala

Cuddling a koala

Now I’m back and catching up with work before the holiday break and hopefully will be back to regular postings about libraries, archives, teaching, and technology soon. I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday break full of relaxation and joy. Allons-y!

Happy, Happy Day to Hanna and Anna!!!

/ dwakimoto

Hello, dear readers. I hope you are well. This is going to be a short post today as I’m still suffering from jet lag from my recent trip to Ireland, but I had to write to share the news that two of my dearest friends got married today! Happy Wedding Day to Hanna and Anna!

As you can see from today’s post on Anna’s blog, my two friends are now married! *happy dance* And because of my jet lag, I was actually awake when they got married in Brookline, Massachusetts this morning. I am so excited and happy for them. Also, isn’t Anna’s father ridiculously talented? He designed the Celtic knot that was used on their announcements and for their wedding tattoos.

So I’m just thrilled for my friends and had to give them a shout out on this blog. Also, I will leave you with a couple of photos from my trip that should put a smile on your face and will be back next week with our regularly scheduled library, archives, and technology programming.

Sally Gap

Sally Gap

From the Dingle Penisula Tour

From the Dingle Penisula Tour

Have a wonderful weekend, dear readers. Allons-y!

Photo Fun on Friday

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Happy Friday, dear readers! Can you believe it is Friday…again? The time is just flying by. This week I just wanted to share some fun in the form of photos because who doesn’t like looking at some lovely photos on Friday?

I’ve finally gotten time to travel after finishing up my schoolwork and I went to visit one of my dearest friends in Monterey. She happens to be an aviculturist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (because she is amazing) and so of course, we went to the aquarium.

Pacific Sea Nettles

Pacific Sea Nettles


It was awesome because I saw some of these sea nettles by the wharf when I went walking after visiting the aquarium.

I also finally made it out to Gilroy Gardens. It is an lovely theme park–very family friendly and much more relaxing than any other theme park I’ve ever visited. I loved the gardens, including these amazing circus trees.

Circus Tree

Circus Tree

Gilroy Gardens also did an amazing job with signage as can be seen from the sign at the entrance to the Monarch Garden. It reminded me of how important it is to have beautiful signage that conveys a clear message to the public. It’s a concept that libraries and archives that sometimes forget when putting up handmade signage. (And you thought it would just be about pretty photos.)

Monarch Garden Sign

Monarch Garden Sign

Also, I made it down to the Alameda County Fair, which was a lot of fun and the first fair that I’ve been to in quite some time. The highlight of the fair was definitely seeing all the cute bunnies.

Bunny Close Up

Bunny Close Up

And, for the PSA for the week: if you use Dropbox, you should turn on two-step verification. Let your friends and patrons know about this extra level of security for your account.

Have a wonderful, relaxing weekend, dear readers. I’ll be offline for the next week or so as I’m off traveling again, but then I’ll be back with more information to share. Allons-y!

Where do you get your inspiration?

/ dwakimoto

Hello, dear readers! I hope that your week is going well. I’ve found it a bit difficult to find motivation this week so I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about inspiration. Where do you find your inspiration? Since the only way to to get guaranteed results in anything is doing nothing, we probably all could do with a bit of inspiration now and then to actually get up and get things done. So without further ado, I’m going to share where I get some of my inspiration and hope you will do the same in comments.

Books
Unsurprisingly, I get a lot of inspiration from books I read. Whether it’s Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, or Neil Gaiman’s Instructions (preferably the Charles Vess Illustrated version), I find lots of inspiration and motivation through reading. Reading often motivates me to write, which also helps then inspire more research and discovery. Although, sometimes reading just inspires curling up for a nap, too, which I think is perfectly fine (especially on a lazy afternoon).

Beautiful Portals Tumblr
Without a doubt, one of my favorite places to go for beautiful images and scenes to inspire my creativity. With images like the one below, how could I not feel a sense of calm and desire to go create beautiful things?
photo of Petersen Wyoming reclaimed timber home foyer

Blog Posts
I don’t care what anyone says about blogs being passe or unimportant, I love blogs and get lots of inspiration from various posts about work stuff, designs, and projects. Lifehacker inspires me to be more efficient and learn new skills. Craft Blog inspires me to do creative projects and taught me about pie-in-a-jar which is truly one of the brilliant inventions of this age. More library blogs inspire me than I can possible mention here, along with the brilliant blog posts of my friends. And some blog posts make me angry, which then inspires action.

Walks and Yoga
I am a fan of walks and yoga because both can be done with minimal equipment, make me feel good, and aren’t competitive. I quite like those properties of walking and yoga. I also find them to be forms of moving meditation which is good for people like me who find it hard to sit still for long periods of time, but still crave clarity and need to get away from a computer screen sometimes.

So where do you get your inspiration from, dear readers? Do you find the need to recharge to find inspiration or does your daily living give you enough inspiration that you are filled to the brim?

I’ll be back soon with more thoughts on libraries, archives, technology, and connections. Until then, read, pause, and enjoy the summer. Allons-y!

Getting ready for summer improvement

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I know I’ve been away a bit, but I plead end of the quarter chaos, needing time with friends, and finally getting finished with various projects which I will describe in upcoming posts. But today, today I want to talk about summer. Because yay and *happy dance* it is now officially summer and it is time to seriously consider what you’re doing this summer and I hope it is a mixture of wonderful relaxation and improvement.

For the bakers out there, definitely get yourself over to Joy the Baker and check out the lovely summer recipes she’s been posting including: roasted strawberry buttermilk cake. Yay for summer produce!

And, if you are on a budget like me (and really, who isn’t on a budget?), check out Lifehacker’s helpful article on finding free/cheap things to do this summer. Then let me know your favorite things to do. This weekend I’m going to CuriOdyssey via using a Groupon. I’m excited and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Summertime to me always seems like a good time to stop and take stock of how’s it all going. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about conceptions of success and what it means to have a good life. Maybe I’ll have coherent thoughts to share soon. But until then, check out This is Indexed: is that a pulsing vein on your forehead? Truly doing well and being happy are the best revenge (but if you are doing well and are happy, you’re probably not thinking about revenge).

Also, on the happiness front. I really enjoyed this article: 15 things you should give up to be happy. It’s a good reminder to live the life that you want to live and stop worrying about what other people think about it and about you. And while giving up useless criticism is a good thing, sometimes you will still be called upon to give constructive criticism/critiques (especially if you are in a teaching profession), so check out how to give criticism without sounding like a jerk by Lifehacker. Great techniques for all of us.

And because, I can’t help but share cool, beautiful designs, check out how to: hide your ugly wi-fi router in a book cover.

Have a wonderful weekend full of laughter, love, relaxation, and creativity. I’ll be back soon with some thoughts about finishing up projects and moving on to the next projects. Allons-y!