Motorcycles, Scooters, and Dirt Bikes Oh My!

OK, So here I am a month after taking my motorcycle skills class and getting my motorcycle license, and I am an official Stella Scooter owner. And I am scraped and bruised up from wiping out on a dirt bike on the Ranch in Idaho. But I am doing a little better than poor Matty who has a broken ankle from laying down the Fat Cat. That bike was a behemoth. The tires were like giant pillows and the bike itself was huge. And let's face it. Matty and I are city kids. We just can't hang with the hillbillies.
Here's a picture of a Fat Cat: http://yamaha.itgo.com/frnt.JPG
Notice the guy in the photo is wearing quite a bit of protective gear? Probably a wise decision.
Idaho, however, was really fun, and really beautiful. It looks an awful lot like Colorado - arid mountains. But since the weekend before I got all banged up tubing down the Poudre River in Fort Collins, I would like to go for a while without getting any huge bruises and cuts. I just don't feel very professional. Not to mention my hubby hopping around on crutches. Poor guy!

Summer is here!

Well, it seems that summer has come over night. Who knows about our crazy weather here in Colorado, but I love that sunshine. I could never live somewhere that didn't have over 300 days of sunshine, and all four seasons. I love to watch the seasons change. Each Spring I think, wow, I love Spring! The green buds peeking out of the snow. The cold mornings and hot afternoons. Colorado has crazy Springs. Then Summer comes and I think, no, I love Summer. The hot days, planting flowers and eating vegetables from my garden. The kids playing outside and the old people sitting on their porches until dusk. I love Summer. I get to ride my bike everywhere. Then Autumn rolls around and you get caught in a breeze and leaves rain down on you, and you feel so peaceful. We rake up huge piles of leaves and the kids jump in them and scatter them about. Then we rake them up again, and they jump again, and again...The air gets brisk and we pull out sweaters, which is nice after a hot, hot summer. Picking apples and pumpkins. I love the Fall. Then the first snow comes and the kids scream like they never saw snow before. And holidays...getting together with family and playing games and the laughter. The holidays are so wonderful. Hiking in the woods for Christmas trees, Christmas morning after Santa has come - the children's eyes like saucers. More snow means sledding and building snowmen. I love winter, too.
Every season, I think, this is so wonderful! But now, I am loving the sun, the warmth. It is easy to love all the seasons when you live somewhere where the seasons are all so great. Even in winter, it is still sunny!
I so love Colorado! My mountains, my crazy weather!

4 a.m.

Ok, so it has become apparent that I am not going to complete the 23 things for work and win a laptop. I feel it is more important for me to do my work. So I was going to let my blog go. Then I read some of my friend's blogs, and I realized I can make this whatever I want.
So here goes.
This morning the fates and my emotions wreaked havoc on me and woke me up at four a.m. in a sad and melancholy mood. This week has been emotional - I am going to a wedding on Saturday that is stirring things up, I saw an old friend who I have missed dearly, and I am having to say good-bye to a new friend. I think saying good-bye to a new friend really sucks. I guess I just don't make friends easily, so when I 'click' with someone, it's really cool. So I guess I am mourning the loss of potential.
So laying in bed feeling sad at 4 a.m. is actually very peaceful and serene. I opened the curtains and looked out at the white white world. The trees covered in snow are so beautiful. I had a lot to think about. I even cried a little, which is so good to do sometimes.
Then the phone rang announcing snow delays and the lamp went on and the window turned black.
Wuh.

Being A Teen Services Librarian Sure is Fun

As I wrote that title I realized that many may think that it sounds sarcastic. It isn't. I love my job. Today marks two months of me doing this job, and maybe two months isn't much of a milestone, but I'm happy. And besides, I have seen dark side. Next month will mark five years for me at PPLD, and if you don't think that's a long time, well it is over 15% of my life.
And why is being a Teen Services Librarian so fun, you ask? Well, while all the rest of you were being "trained" at All Staff Training Day, I was teaching you all Wii. And now, while you all are sitting at your desks, I will be going out to schools and getting kids into reading by booktalking. It works, too. I booktalked for the first time yesterday, and the kids were into it. And every teen there found a book they were interested in.
Not to mention the teen team. They rauk my face off.

Check out my book montage:
http://www.deviousgelatin.com/montager/image.php?image=2315261199
23Things, remember?

23 Things

Perhaps you have heard of Thing #1 and Thing #2, but I think that 23 Things would have made even Dr. Suess cringe. Not me, though. I say, bring it on.

I like that PPLD is trying to make us all more tech savvy. Afterall, I could use more friends on Facebook - mainly so I can set them on fire with my Heros Ability and get to the next level, but whatever. Incidently, this is why I have this blog in the first place. It was only a matter of time, though.

So, today I am supposed to think about Wikis. I like Wikis. They are my friends. Friends that you can make say whatever I want. What's not to like? I am hoping that in the near future (like sometime in 2008) I will have the Teacher's Web on ppld.org (thanks to that lovely lady down in the basement whose husband's name is Dave and I will never forget that!) and it will be a Wiki.
So the 23 things? Blog? Check. Wikis? I'm all over them! Let's see what's next!

The teen books I read are too smutty

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
Despite every book I pick up having lengthy discussions about sex, masturbation, alcohol, or just lots of bad language (so I can't booktalk them!) - the books I have been reading lately have been excellent. I am enjoying Memoirs very much. The main character, Naomi, is so full of angst. I guess anyone would be angry about losing their memory, but she is really pissed off at the world. You gotta love her for that. I can't wait to see how she comes around. They always do. This is teen fiction after all.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is another one that I LOVE LOVE LOVE but cannot booktalk it. Here's a quote from the book: "Naked woman + right hand = happy happy joy joy". Funny, yes. Appropriate to booktalk to middle schoolers, no.
Oh, well. I think this book is one of the best I have read in a loooooooooooong time. As Neil Gaiman said, "I have no doubt that in a year or so it'll be both winning awards and being banned." You go Sherman Alexie.