shameful 1 year gap

A picture from a few weeks ago when we went to see the animals at Tilden park.
Hard to believe it has been a year since my last post. Lukas is now 17 months old, almost 18 months. Time just whizzes by when you've got a toddler.
Lukas is now saying "Thank You" and "Peese" (Please) and "I do'n know" (I don't know) appropriately.
We get a good bit of joy each day - what a blast!

July 3rd, 2008

Today I had a hellacious day at work - our reference librarian took a (well-deserved)
vacation day, and it seemed like everyone wanted something, super
rush. There were so many people coming to my door (unusual) that I
wasn't able to go and pump for my usual 1:00 pm session, and didn't
make it to pump until 4:00! I was pretty uncomfortable by
then, and will have to make a special effort to pump on schedule and
nurse often this long weekend so I can keep up my supply. Keeping up
with Lukas's need for 4 - 4oz bottles a day is a lot harder than I
hoped it would be. I'm finding I only can pump 3 - 4 oz bottles, so I
have to keep at it in the evenings.

Because my day was so busy, I asked my sister to go and pick up
Lukas. She picked him up and said he was sitting on a mattress
surrounded by little toddlers who were enjoying the Baby! Lukas
enjoys them as well, but evidently as soon as she picked him up, the
caregiver said to them, "OK, you can jump on the bed!" So while they were
enjoying Lukas, they were probably wishing he would leave so they
could JUMP ON THE BED!

I left work (finally) at 7:00 pm (still not completing an
unbelievable number of research requests) and my sister picked me up
at the Bart station. Lukas was very happy to see me, but had to tell
me how displeased he was that he had to stay in the car seat until we
could find a parking space. After nursing him in the front seat, he
played with the various front seat toys such as the air conditioning
vent, the blinker, the keys, and all the various dash gadgets. We let
him play a while then put him back in his car seat.

We decided on Pizza for dinner, and I've been wanting to
go to Zachary's so off we went. While we waiting for our table, we
went shopping at Trader Joe's next door. I had Lukas in my sling, and
I found a cart in the parking lot. Lukas was so excited about getting
in the shopping cart seat that he started lunging out of the sling to
get in. I had to tell him to wait until we got in the store. Once in
the seat, he was so happy that he babbled joyfully, bounced around,
waved, and swung his feet and body the entire time we were shopping.
He made many friends as people had to stop and chat. Trader Joe's had
set some lemon tart pieces out for sampling, so I got one for myself.
Lukas was so interested in it that he kept trying to lean up and grab
the plate out of my hands. I decided if he wanted it that bad, he
could have a taste. Sure enough, he loved it, and happily ate the
rest of the lemon curd filling from my tiny sample. I have discovered
that there are very few things for babies to eat at Trader Joes. We
found bananas and apple sauce, and that is what Lukas had for dinner
at the pizza place. (Well, that and the lemon curd appetizer.)

Tonight we spotted the other front tooth making its way to the
surface - so 2 teeth are erupting, right on schedule!!

Lukas fell asleep in the car, but woke up for another hour, and we
all watched swimming Olympic trials on TV. Lukas fell asleep on
my sisters lap and I put him to bed.

We are so unbelievably excited about the 3 day weekend!!! Tomorrow we
go to the Alameda 4th of July parade, then head to my brother's
to celebrate my niece's 6th birthday a day early. Lukas will be 6
months old tomorrow, so a day of sixes to celebrate!

Apricots are yummy

Tonight we gave Lukas a small piece of fresh apricot in a mesh baby
feeder. He got the hang of the device right away, sucking on it
like a champ. You can see apricot juice on his shirt - I hope it
comes out! We are so new to this, we forgot we should use a bib.
Still trying to hold out on major food items until 6 months, but
Lukas is very anxious to try food, he tries to grab at plates and
is very very interested in what we are eating. I hope a little here
and there once a week is okay for his tummy.
I had to make a phone call related to the Portland Law librarians
conference (we are going up to Portland for the weekend in mid-
July) this evening, so my sister took Lukas out on the porch to
hang out. We bought him his own special chair for porch sitting,
and he likes it very well.
We got blueberries in our organic food delivery box this evening,
so made blueberry pancakes for dinner. I made a quick apricot jam
with all the apricots my friend picked up for me at the
Alameda farmers market last Thursday. Super delicious!
If there are more apricots this Thursday, I'll buy a whole bunch
and make some jam and can it for the rest of the year. I love
apricot jam and store bought never even comes close to home made.
We didn't do much tonight, just came home, made dinner, cleaned,
watched a tiny bit of TV, played a little, then off to bed for Lukas.

How has having a baby changed me so far?

Hard to tell, I'm not sure exactly.
I'm not sure I want to continue with any past romantic attachments
that weren't ever going to go anywhere.
I don't know when or if I'll care about having a man in my life again.
I notice babies and mothers and fathers and people with their babies
everywhere.
I forget for a few seconds sometimes that I have a baby - and then am
shocked with my baby's presence.
I love nursing my baby. I think it is a miracle.
I find it hard to believe that I had my baby, but I did. It was a
surreal experience. Like some kind of trial by fire religious
ceremony done under the influence of some kind of forgetting drug. A
dreamland experience.
I love buying baby clothes. I am addicted to baby clothes. I am
mourning the sizes he is already out of.
I want to have another baby, and this one is still a baby.
I think about what he will be like when he is grown, and with a
family of his own, or a life of his own.
I hope he loves me when he is older.
I check to make sure he is breathing often when he is sleeping.
I worry about how I will feel when he has his first cold. Ditto for
stomach virus and flu.
I'm terrified that I won't find good childcare for him and when I go
back to work he will be miserable.
I know I will be miserable when I go back to work, and I wonder how I
am going to do it. I wonder why I thought it was going to be do-able,
back before I had a child.
I hate that I am constantly thinking and worrying about where I can
change him and nurse him when I am out shopping.
I'm a pretty relaxed mother, but then, I haven't had to leave him for
a full day yet.

Can you tell I'm obsessing about childcare? I have my first visit at
a daycare tomorrow, and I don't even have a clue how to prepare. I
can't imagine it will be workable.

ahead of the curve

So Lukas seems to be functioning like a 5 month old in many respects, standing strong, bouncing, walking, etc. on two legs (supported), starting to try to crawl, etc., and he's been doing the standing and bouncing since he was 2 1/2 months old or so, maybe sooner. Not sure if that means anything, but it is striking. He plays with toys now, can manipulate his hands pretty well, and now grabs onto things. (The hand manipulation is just in the last few days, but it is still pretty precocious.) I'm not sure that any of the developmental things will play out in any significant way, but perhaps he'll always be super well coordinated & have a strong body.
I have been blessed with a Happy, healthy joy of a boy, and I'm so lucky.
Today I spent the day calling around to daycares, and I am determined to find one that would suit him. Perhaps I'll chuck the daycare situations and look for a nanny share if one turns up. It is pretty scary, not sure what I'll find.
I'm pretty exhausted, stayed up way too late reading an Elisabeth Moon SciFi book last night. I wanted to finish it so I could focus on the day care search, but I was so tired today, I'm not sure it was worth it.

a day for sleeping (and a couch purchased)

Today Lukas slept and slept and slept. I guess to make up for the past few days when he was awake pretty much most of the day. I think he is going through a growing phase or perhaps fighting off something - he went to sleep at 11:30 tonight, which is turning into his standard bedtime.

We went to Ikea, where one of life's weird serendipities caught me by surprise. Steph and I sat next to a woman who was with her husband and daughter. We ate our Swedish meatballs and the woman next to us admired Lukas (who was his usual alert and charming self by this time.) At some point, she mentioned that she was a doula. Steph went off to change Lukas and the woman kept talking to me. Her family finished their lunch, and as she was leaving, I asked her what her name was. She said "Stacia" - I couldn't believe it, she was the doula whose name was sitting at my desk at work for weeks while I debated about calling her. My midwife friend gave me her name because she thought she would be a good match for my personality and make up for some of the deficits I was beginning to feel with my midwife.

I told Stacia that and how unbelievable it was to meet her. She asked me who I worked with for my birth and I hemmed and hawed a bit but finally told her. She said that she had worked with my midwife and thought perhaps she was deaf. I looked surprised and she said, "because I was really in sync with a woman [who had that midwife and was in labor] and the midwife would suggest something so out of tune, that I figured she was deaf or incredibly insensitive." It made me sad, because I know she is not deaf, it certainly seemed like insensitivity to me based on my experience with her. Life is strange. I wonder how things would have been with my birth if I had called her.

Ah well, sometime I will write my birth story here.


Lukas wanted very badly to do some typing:

f fb nmgybctf vbtb [

Genius!

After Ikea we went to the Lazy Boy store to look for a nursing chair because the one I have (which was given to me) digs in to my legs and hurts my tailbone. We found a great chair (that reclines, but doesn't rock - I hope that will be okay) and ordered a new sofa too! I sure hope we like it as much at home as we did in the store. It should be here in about 2 months - just about the time I go back to work from maternity leave.

This maternity leave time is flowing away, each day is unbelievably precious, and going fast. The days themselves have a long drawn out quality because of the nursing, watching tv, playing with Lukas, then changing diapers, then nursing again. Not very exciting, but I am treasuring each moment. I wish there were some way I could stay home with him until he turns one. I dread the day I have to go back to work - but I must get the benefits and pay the mortgage.

He's sound asleep beside me here on the bed, and I need to get off to sleep myself, or tomorrow won't be much fun.

Out and About

Today we met a friend at Bart and drove to Picante for brunch. Had the best breakfast, not sure what is was called, but it was fabulous - a bunch of chips dipped in a green sauce with a little fresh cheese, sour cream, and scrambled eggs. I added the ingredients from a small taco with chorizo and potatoes. Incredible. Of course this meal was eaten one-handed with Lukas in a sling. The meal was slightly cool because of the diaper disaster I discovered when we lifted him out of his car seat. Somehow in the excitement to get to Bart, we forgot to change his diaper before we left home. Whoops. The fuzzi bunz were not up to the challenge.

We all came home and sat around a talked, and then back to Bart to drop off K.

Steph, Lukas and I headed out to sushi for dinner tonight- pretty yummy day all in all.

Today Lukas kept heading towards the floor from my lap (I was holding him firmly) and once down on the ground, wanted to 'walk' to the edge of the table to study the wood grain. (He loves wood grain) He took a few steps, right foot forward then left foot, etc. while firmly held under the armpits. K. witnessed so I know I wasn't imagining the whole thing. We called in Steph and he recreated this feat. He is only 8 weeks old. We are not childproofed! Okay, so I know this is impossibly early, so it was probably just a fluke, right?

He's down early tonight - at 11:00 pm, not sure if he is down for the night, but I can't stay up too late in case this is my main chance to get some sleep.
Off to bed!

2 Months

Lukas is 2 months old!!
We are having a blast, he's the greatest baby ever.
Okay, I'll try to keep posting because this may be my only reliable archive, and this time is flying by - as I expected...

Lukas is now:

• Babbling, squealing, laughing, squeeking.
• Smiling at anyone who will smile at him.
• Sleeping in the sling like a pro.
• Nursing in the sling like a pro. (It was the nursing that won him over on the sling concept. When good things happen in a suspect place, it is probably OK.)
• Batting at things hanging above him.
• Enjoying his Bjorn bouncy chair - and sleeping in it!
• Taking milk from a bottle (thanks to Aunt Steph)
• Kicking his legs around - especially when someone is trying to put a diaper on.
• Cooperating when he is getting dressed, though brilliant baby that he is, he did that from the start.

Things I LOVE about this ride:

• The sound of Lukas telling me all about his trauma of having had to wait to nurse after he has settled in and started nursing.
• His smile and dimples.
• The fact that Lukas loves watching everything, and has since day one.
• Folding his clothes, and enjoying the adorableness of it all.
• His good humor at the diaper changing table.
• Waking up and having a baby beside me.
• Holding a warm bundle against me as he sleeps.
• Treasuring every moment, even the late night when is he ever going to sleep moments.
• Knowing that each day something new will happen.
• Talking with people about the baby - this will pass and he will become just another kid, but for now, he's popular!
• Sharing this miracle with friends and family
• Being a mom, though I still can't quite believe that I am a MOM.

Okay, baby is fussing, wants to be fed, signing off for now.....

It's a BOY in there and he's kicking

So I guess the news is out and the reason I haven't been blogging lately is because not writing about being preganant (because of work and getting through the anxious first months) on my blog felt dishonest, and writing about anything else was impossible!

So yes, I'm pregnant, due in mid December, having a boy if the genetic test is to be believed. I'm planning a home birth, have a midwife and so far, doing well healthwise.

Other than that news, life has gone on and things are normal. Though I'm not sure what can be normal after having this experience.

Trying to figure out logistics of December guests, birthing tub in a small house with small rooms. It will all work out though, I'm just enjoying have something so novel to think about.

More to come - this post was just to dip my toes back into blogging waters.

Cold Northern California Weather

It is hard to be in spring mode (having moved all my summer clothes out of storage boxes, to the laundry, and hanging in my closet) to switch back to winter clothing. However, it is COLD here in Alameda and San Francisco. Brrr. I love it, really, just need to practice the layering technique that is a particularly California look. I make it through the winter with my linens, but spring hits, and suddenly I'm shivering and looking for my sweaters.

Film Festival starts in a few weeks, and I'll be taking off about 6 days spread through 2 weeks. I'm sure it will seem like more than enough considering that our Summer Associates come on the heels of that. I've got to get my butt in gear - plan the program I'll be instituting new this year, of having them work through a real research project, hopefully will real learning applications. I talk things to death, think things to death, and dither around procrastinating, I guess I just love doing everything at the last minute - though I actually hate it, so at this late date I'm still trying to change. I've written out half of the first hour or so in a minute by minute plan - and that seems to be effective, so I'll probably continue that. Hardest part will be finding enough research projects to make this work.

Other than that, I've been reading a lot this week, watching a little TV, taking care of my health, and trying to get enough sleep.

Tomorrow is our National Library Week party at work - my colleague worked hard on posters of attorneys and now we are having a party to celebrate. We are giving away an Ipod shuffle, Staceys gift cards and lots of small gifts. However, we have only had 4 people turn in their quizzes. It will still be fun regardless.

Okay, enough non-news. bye for now.

Levenger mania

Got my lovely lovely leather binders from Levenger, with all the paper styles. I think I'm finding the 3 ring binder to be potentially more useful, the two sided pad of paper binders, less so. I thought the packaging was exquisite though, very special and luxurious with felted lining in a green box, with green elastic ribbon wrapped around the box. The paper with the note box on the left side already came in handy - I used it at a recent meeting and was able to resurrect the meeting via my notes much more easily.

I've coveted things from levenger for a long time, and when I got my gift certificate from my sister for my birthday - I went a little overboard - ordering 2 binders and an assortment of paper.

The SF Film Festival is coming up soon, and I plan to take a few days off to go to many many films. I'll try to post some things about the best films. I always get so saturated that it is hard for me to watch movies the rest of the year. Somehow the 2 weeks on non-stop films is about it for an entire year.

My work has been taking up huge amounts of time lately - so I haven't had much time to devote to home computing. Summer associates are coming soon, that will also be a HUGE time suck!

break in the action

I bet you are asking, what action?
lessee:

Working Way too late the last 2 weeks. Work has been crazy busy and going to our Palo Alto office 3 times in 2 weeks was a bit much.

Saw the Dixie Chicks documentary (thanks to my sister) and totally enjoyed it. Went out to Borders yesterday and spent too much money on books and CDs. Bought the latest Dixie Chicks album even though I am not a country fan.

I had a gorgeous breakfast on Saturday at Citron in Berkeley on College. I was the first one in at that time, and had "corned beef hash" - french style. Excellent coffee, great service, wonderful food. I was happy most of the day after that!

Put anti-flea stuff on all the cats tonight and they are resentful and miserable. Not our friends right now, at all. Cats do miserable well. They hunch down, ears splayed, mournful expressions, and they run from you whenever you get with 5 feet. Tomorrow things should be fine, but right now, they are not happy.

I think I have little to say lately because I am immersed in the US Attorneys scandal, and when not reading about that on Talking Points Memorandum, Daily Kos or Salon.com, I'm reading law review articles about teaching legal research to summer associates. I haven't done this much "scholarly" reading since I was at CSU Monterey Bay. The thing about reading articles about a topic that you care about is that after about article five - you start feeling like it has all been said, and maybe your ideas really weren't that amazing after all. I feel kind of humbled and a little bit like um, who am I to think I can do anything meaningful since all these other people have been at this for far longer than I have been?

In addition, I swear, there is a reason we have no need to publish in private law libraries, because there is ABSOLUTELY no time for this stuff! Have the firm pay for me to spend all this time to come up with some program I'm not even sure they realize they need?

I did have more time to do this sort of thing in Academic libraries - endless pots of time. Acres of time. Right now all this research and reading is squeezed in during my beloved and precious private time. As soon as I start getting resentful, I'm not going to do this anymore.

So, if you are interested in this sort of thing, (unless you are involved in some area of law, you will find this BORING) here are the articles I have read so far:

39 Akron L Rev 151 (Excellent, glad I read this one first. Exactly!)
Forty-two: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Teaching Legal Research to the Google Generation, Gallacher, Ian, 39 Akron Law Rev 151 , 2006

95 Law Libr. J. 7 (I skimmed this one, no comment yet.)
Beyond Training: Law Librarianships Quest for the Pedagogy of Legal Research Education, Callister, Paul Douglas, 95 Law Libr. J. 7, Winter 2003

97 Law Libr. J. 257 (Daunting list!)
Do We Still Need Books? A Selected Annotated Bibliography
Paul E. Howard, Renee Y. Rastorfer

97 Law Libr. J. 661 (Yes, this is a BIG problem, but nobody realizes it is a problem.)
The Death of the Digest and the Pitfalls of Electronic Research: What Is the Modern Legal Researcher to Do?

(Nice program, doing well.)
Rebooting Our Approach to Teaching Research: One Writing Program's Leap Into the Computer Age, Brooklyn Law Legal Studies Research Papers Working Paper Series Research Paper No. 62, October 2006. This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://ssrn.com/abstract=934688

(Interesting, but not exactly on point.)
Electronic copy of this paper is available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=969526
Unlocking the Secrets of Highly Successful Legal Writing Students, Anne M. Enquist © 2007.


55 Baylor L. Rev. 1 (Nice program. Nice overview, our problem is many don't have the experience of such a well-rounded program.)
Cordon, Matthew C., Beyond mere competency: advanced legal research in a practice-oriented curriculum., Baylor Law Review, 55, 1, 1-49, Baylor Law Review, WINTER, 2003.

62 Alb. L. Rev. 213 Boyle, Robin A. and Dunn, Ria, Teaching Law Students Through Individual Learning Styles., 1998.
(I just scanned this one. Interesting, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the time to develop differing learning situations. They only get 4 hours with me, and I'm lucky to have so much time with them.)

If you are still reading, you get major brownie points for the day. Cheers!

Bittersweet Themes

Theme song so far this week: Shadow Boxer by Fiona Apple.

Authors of the week: Sharon Lee and Steve Miller who are writing installments of a new in-progress serialized book called Fledgling. I adore the Liaden series and have read and re-read them all. Last weekend I read Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon for the 4th or 5th time each. This is my comfort series, and it was comforting.

Work theme of the week: Legal research and Summer Associates.

Life pattern of the week: Hearing from loved ones from my past.

Overall mood: Melancholy suffused with longing.

Overall lessons: Yes, life goes by in a flash, try to live well and love fully every day.

World political theme: Hubris, lying, evil, war.

Local weather: Spring verging on summer.

Challenge: Not becoming bitter.

Goal: Dance.

Food Happiness of the week: Chicken Paprikash with 5 kinds of brown rice and garlicky collard greens made in the brazilian style.

Proudest moment: Conversing honestly but with love.

Nicest smell: Lemons on the counter.

Debt of the week: Something nice for my sister who did my taxes again this year.

Song to end with: The Other Side by David Gray.

saturday - a most excellent breakfast

Today is Saturday. One day before the new time change (this bothers me in the way mindless irksome new laws that are justified to save money and do no such thing are irritating.) Though Jon Stewart had a hilarious sketch on the Daily Show about the impending Time Change Disaster which made me laugh. Since I am irritated by this new sped up change, I refuse to pay attention to it. In fact, I am going to ignore any devices that refuse to change and be like those irritating people who travel to different time zones and say "It's 3 am for me now! I should be tired!"

Do I sound grouchy? I must be.

However, I did have the best breakfast ever - this morning. I woke up at about 9:30 and longed for a diner-ish experience, preferably at the Rockridge Cafe. We went, and surprisingly there was no wait.
I like the Rockridge Cafe because it has REAL maple syrup, and real honest-to-god butter. I always get some form of pancake/waffle regardless of anything else I order, just because I want to support a restaurant that cares enough to serve REAL MAPLE SYRUP. Anyway, alongside my whole-wheat waffle (excellent) I ordered some concoction that was eggs scrambled with chorizo sausage, with cheese, stacked on some corn (tostadas? - they were hard) and then on top had a generous dollop of sour cream and lots of seasoned guacamole sauce. OMIGOD were they good. So good that I ate most of it. (Well, with a waffle and a meal, it was plenty.)Oh wait! I found the official description:

~ Tortillas Piladas con Guacamole y Huevos 9.25 ~

We scramble chorizo sausage in 2 eggs with green onions, Monterey Jack cheese, and Miguel’s homemade avocado tomatillo sauce. We cover a tostada tortilla with the scrambled egg mixture, and layer another tortilla and eggs atop. On the stacked tortillas we pour more of the sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and top with a dollop of sour cream. Served cut in wedges

However, mine was not cut in wedges. But still yummy as can be. Not to mention they brew a fine cup of coffee and serve it in a nice thick white diner kinda cup. However the white sugar on the table, is, frankly, not so good. Will have to bring some rapadura in to make it truly scrumptious and a little more healthy.

From there we went to the toy store on 4th street in Berkeley and bought a few of the Japanese "re-ment" miniature boxes of Japanese products. (Think doll-house tiny.) Cooking supplies, stationery supplies, Japanese food, all rendered in exquisite detail and unbelievable care for functionality. (The teeny tiney pencils don't write but they fit in the pencil case, and the notebooks all have real paper, sewn spines and the graphs and styling just like the originals.) They are from a company called re-ment and are very addictive to collect because you do not know which set of 10 different varieties you might get when you buy a box in that series. (The sushi series, the school supply series, etc.) I bought 6 boxes, and got a Japanese pencil case, pencils, ruler, erasers, pen, notebook and pencil sharpener in one box. It was perfect, because when I lived in Japan I used to collect pencil boxes and erasers. (Yes, I did.)

Here's the US Website for re-ment with scary hyper-blonds. And here is the Japanese Website. This new find is not my own however, I have to thank one of my staff - who gifted me with 2 boxes last week.

Now I am reading blogs, thinking thoughts about legal research, re-reading some of my favorite Liaden books for the 3rd or 4th time, and generally just relaxing the day away.

Hope your Saturday was as nice as mine was. I know your breakfast probably wasn't. If you come visit me, I'll take you to Rockridge Cafe and maybe the Tortillas Piladas con Guacamole y Huevos will be on the menu.

high-flying aristocratic me

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Marchioness Schelle the Arboreal of Frome Valley Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I think what would have been really cool about this is if you could post a few things about yourself, and somehow this would roll up nicely in your silly title. This one appealed because of the Arboreal (in a valley) quality.

Continuing on my Legal research brainstorming, today is all about legal research assignments for summers. Idea is this: take (real) sample assignment and let each of them brainstorm alone on paper for a little while on possible approaches. Discuss. Talk about why this or that strategy is good, or less good. Put them into 2 teams. Tell them they have 30 minutes to play out a team research strategy whichever way they like. Online, no online? Only using print? At the end of 30 minutes, must write quick memo. 2 paragraphs (consult with attorney on this point to see what type of legal memo would be ideal) Read/Share memo? and then discuss. Vote on best results? Prizes awarded.

Show them an ideal one? Librarian enhanced one? Hmmmm.

That sounds actually like a 2 hour project. A bit ambitious for one hour.

But interesting possibilities?

a little break for a cold

I've not been around blogging, but I've been enjoying a quiet house to myself for the last few weeks and I've been recovering from a cold, so that has kept me mellow.
I should have kept a daily log of the last few weeks to see what it is I do when I'm alone. Mostly I cleaned the house, watched a little TV, read a few books, surfed the Web, and I have been working late way too many nights. It's easy to stay late when you have no reason to be home at a specific time.

I have also been brainstorming about teaching legal research to associates. How to do it, how to make it relevant, how I am failing in some ways, succeeding in others, and what I can do to improve.

I probably need to find a powerful partner to be on my side. Am thinking of approaching someone if I can carve out a few minutes of his/her attention.

As for legal research writ large - I have had ideas, and am using my most wonderful VooDooPad to keep my thoughts organized. I should publish it all to the Web, but I want to wait until I have more things to say. I realized that if I want to have anything important to say, I have to see what else has been said and done and published. The only thing I know for sure is that most summer associates and 1st year associates are ill-prepared for legal research in a law firm, and it usually doesn't improve. Perhaps I'll have an article or two at the end of this. I don't care about publishing to get something "published" I'm not in Academia (thank God!) so I just want to help other law librarians with this if there is something worthy to share.

Here's one of my brainstorming sessions, only partially complete, and it surely needs to be edited, but just a taste, here it is for your reading delectation:

LEGAL RESEARCH - MAIN POINTS
• In a law firm, you should always start with a treatise or a practice guide. This will save you enormous amounts of time. Practice material will give you the bearings on where to begin with your research, tell you where an issue has been, where it is now, direction it is heading. Point you to all important statutes, regulations and cases.
• You should never be searching in cases until you have a firm understanding of your issue. Cases update the treatises, and other research, you should only need to search caselaw on Wexis to supplement and update what you have already found elsewhere.
• If your issue is a procedural question, you should be looking in procedural resources.
• Statutes are the law. Always go to the relevant statute and read it/them.
• Find out if there are regulations related to your statutes. Agencies are empowered by statutes to create rules to enforce the statutes. This is called rulemaking. Your Federal rulemaking sources are the CFR and the Federal Register.
• Know what the Federal Register is and when you need to use it.
• Know what a final rule is.
• Know why you might sometimes need to look at a proposed rule.
• Know what the CFR is.

(At this point I quit, and realized I should look back at the MacCrate report inspired Legal Research material posted at AALL.)

Here was a bit about librarians...

• Librarians are a resource.
• Librarians save time.
• Librarians should be able to help you find all of the available resources on a topic.
• Librarians should know or be able to find all the relevant treatises, databases, articles, etc., that cover your topic so that you don't miss anything.
• Librarians usually know the fastest way to find the answer to a discreet question.
• Librarians are experts at formulating complex search strategies.
• Librarians should help you think about an issue in a new way.
• Librarians do not judge. Okay, we only judge if we never see you. Then we judge that you are not using your resources wisely.
• Librarians do not judge you if you do not know the answer.
• Librarians do not judge you if you have made a mistake, they just want to help.
• Librarians are here to save you time and money.
• Librarians know that when you succeed, the client succeeds, and we succeed. We want to help you succeed - that is what makes our day. Every interaction with a librarian is based on the fact that a librarian wants to help you succeed.
• The more information you give a librarian about your issue, the better job the librarian will do and the better the results will be.

So, that is where my head has been. Lots of work to do. Have been perusing the literature. Continuing to brainstorm GAMES as a way to make this STICK.

El Corazon, or, shot through with an arrow

Happy Valentines day! Hope your day was sweet! Mine was, because Sees decided to open up a special Valentine's day stand in the building across the street from my office, precisely where I go to get coffee everyday. So this morning my resistance was low, and Peet's in hand, I bought some candy - one for work and one for my sister. Our library family enjoyed a sugar high today, and I will successfully resist the box of candy at home.

For some giddy humor to go with the day, you must visit Catherine Newman's blog.

I was up too late last night, so I will make an early night of it.

Sweet Dreams.

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Reading Roundup

Back at work. Worked hard all day. Listening to Carmina Burana right now. Not tired of it yet. Saw that it will be performed in Portland by the Oregon Symphony. I'm thinking about getting tickets and taking a trip up there to see it. But after checking the Website, looks like the tickets are only available to various subscriber packages. Maybe I'll have to give the box office a call to see if there are any exceptions.

Iran & Iraq

Build up to an Iran conflict Wes Clark Daily Kos: Is War with Iran Inevitable?

Powerful Women and how society deals with them....Or wait, how they deal with society....

What was so great about Catherine? By Laura Miller Feb. 13, 2007 Salon.com Books. This review makes me want to read the book, but I suspect the reviewer makes it more interesting than the book reads. I'll have to see. Nice bit on our (and all?) culture's perceptions and discomfort with successful, powerful women.

A ‘Rebellious Daughter’ to Lead Harvard

Eco-Madness

I clean green but the dishes don't gleam! I use nonpolluting products wherever I can -- but this brand-name commercial stuff really makes plates and glasses sparkle! By Cary Tennis Feb. 13, 2007 Salon.com Life. O God, this could be me. Hilarious. Cary made me laugh tonight. Oh we are silly, but I have to admit, I've noticed the same thing with my dishwashing eco-tablets. At some point I'll get to all the excellent (I'm sure) articles linked at the bottom of his column.

Science and Health

Surgeon Transplants Ovary Into Woman What a wonderful development!!! Maybe this will someday allow women who want to have a career to have children later in life - safely and with less infertility.

Male Sweat Can Boost Arousal in Women Well, this one is something I've known for years, and many other folks have suspected - probably since relations between men and women began. I guess if you needed the proof of science, well, here it is. I think the sweat aspect of it is just for kicks, the "substance" is more like the pheromones we all have and exude. (But then, does exude sound nastier than sweat?) Not sure on that one. (Oh, and when do they find the pheromones produced by women?)

A kind of modern day book-burning

EPA Libraries: Where Do They Stand Now? A fairly dispassionate overview of the EPA library situation, with lots of links. News of this has made me want to scream ever since the news first broke. This is similar to the sacking of the Iraq museums and libraries, only we did it here at home. What crimes this administration has committed via mis-management and waste is hard for me to fathom. This has set environmental researchers and litigators back years, but they don't know it yet - most have no clue what this means to them and don't really understand why they should care. Maybe not even when a case hinges on getting access to a document and they can't because the documents don't exist anymore. Much of the collection has already been destroyed and in some cases, the only existing copies have been lost. Heartbreaking. This is what happens when you put partisan hacks in charge of our historical and intellectual heritage.

And for a little light librarian humor

March of the Librarians

Of greening and general tidiness

So my weekend of no plans ended up as a (desperately needed) home weekend full of cleaning and gardening and chores. My sister and I carted out boxes of decorations from the holidays, re-arranged furniture, and generally tidied up. I laugh at the idea that what I do in the yard is called something as innocuous and pleasant sounding as "gardening." That sounds way too romantic and buccolic.

In our case, it should be called yard-blitzing or something, because what I did today was rip and cut (and cut and cut and cut) and cart and dig and yank and other violent activities. Frankly, after 4 hours of that, I'm afraid to report that it looks the same as it did before I started. I know I did the work though, so I'll just have to accept that I did accomplish something. (I'm pretty sore though, so there is that proof.) Our yard is so overgrown with GIANT plants that it really looks primieval. At one time the yard was probably suitably-sized, gorgeous and very disciplined. We've got various kinds of lavender, purple and pink flowering trees, beautiful roses, palms (?), and had raspberry bushes (which we may have killed with neglect, finally.) I think the people who owned the house before us kind of kept things somewhat in check, they actually kept a plot with potatoes and vegies and stuff. We've moved in and have let things really go wild with neglect. With our mild Alameda weather and lots of rain over the last few years, well, all the plants have done their thing and grown and grown and grown. We thought we really wanted a huge yard when we were looking at houses, and this one had a very long and satisfying backyard plot. The reality is that we are HORRID gardeners. We are trying to improve things by considering the gardening exercising and once we get out there we really enjoy it.

So, so far so good with that plan. 2 years ago I did try to plant some lettuce and other things in the back plot, but the racoons and other animals ate them all up immediately. That was so disheartening that I didn't try again. I guess I shouldn't be such a baby - I should try various nets and fences and things, but haven't summoned up the enthusiasm for that. There are probably vegies that are not palatable to our animal neighbors which I should try if I ever attempt vegetables again. We have planted a few fruit trees, some have died right away, but one is thriving and actually fruited some plums last summer, which I never got to taste because the squirrels were ALL-OVER them as soon as they ripened. I think we have to wait until there is significant quantity to outlast the birds and squirrels before we actually get to enjoy fruit from our own trees. A few years ago I planted a lemon tree in the sunniest part of the yard, but it is really struggling. I've got to cover it because some animal loves to nibble on the lemon leaves. They must be tasty.

Other than that, I've been trying to keep up on the news and all the blog feeds I read (lost cause) and here are a few things that caught my attention today and yesterday: Talking Points Memo is currently highlighting this editorial on Iraq and the current rhetoric to escalate the war into Iran (which is so horrific a thought I can't think it without experiencing internal shudders each time I read about it anywhere) by General William Odom in the Washington Post. Victory Is Not an Option The Mission Can't Be Accomplished -- It's Time for a New Strategy. Most of the military retired higher-ups (and most anyone who has served in a violent conflict) have no illusions about war, and the path our current direction in this war is leading. Usually those who have experienced war do not glorify it or want it unless it is the absolute last possible option to protect and defend those they love. I think the last few experiences of war for most Americans have been too sanitized and much like video games - divorced of consequence and reality. It is easier to remain untouched by the realities if all you see or hear about are "intelligent" bombs that look like fireworks filmed from far away. A complicit and lazy press who no longer knows how to go beyond the spoon-fed pap given to them by the administration facilitates this ignorance. We are all complicit if we do nothing, and so then, what is the average person like me to do? I'm still trying to figure that out, only feeling the need to DO something with greater and greater urgency.

On a similar note, there was also this yesterday from 'Just World News' by Helena Cobban Choice time: unravel Al-Qaeda or fight Iran?

And this which kind of turned my stomach: OH, ICKKKK!!!!! Over-the-Counter Weight-Loss Drug Is Approved The side effects are so lovely. My first thought in response to this article was: What about the fats your body needs to be healthy and feel full so that you aren't tempted to overeat? Why do I feel like this is all half-assed backwards as a "solution?"

Okay, enough writing, have a lovely week. I've got to get back to cleaning the house.

del.icio.us: gardening cleaning politics

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Degrees of serendipity

The Lessig blog has a post with a link to the Web2.0 video that is making the rounds on everyone's blog. It really IS awesome and worth a peek. Saw so many references to it, I decided it had to be watched, but then before I did that, I saw something in the comments section of this post about this wonderful article by Jonathan Lethem in Harpers, on the impossible to untangle goodness of where text and writing and thought come from, and is anything really original? Good god I love the random connectedness of the Web. (And yes, when you think about it, it does make perfect sense to have this article posted on this blog right there in those comments.)

It is the weekend, and I have plans to hang out with a friend tomorrow and then after that, really, actually, Do Nothing Much At All. Those are the plans.

As good as these 'do nothing' plans are, I have some "to-do" creep. I have to put away boxes of holiday decorations (shame!) and if I feel really responsible about my job, slog away at some things I can't seem to get done at work because I am too busy. Things are starting to fall through the cracks with greater regularity, which is appalling and unacceptable(!) So perhaps, maybe I do actually need to formally request another staff person (or two) - even though I have found this thought extremely hard to get my head around.

Oh, and one final musical tip: If you want to listen to wonderful music and support girlyman you can accomplish this by pre-ordering their upcoming CD!