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Yesterday we went to Chuck E Cheese for Zack's birthday. I think Chris, Bonnie and I had as much fun as the kids! Then last night Bonnie and I went to see "Four Christmases." It was pretty funny, but one of those movies where most of the funny parts have already been shown in the trailer. Still, I enjoyed it :)

Visiting with Bonnie just makes me so much more excited to go home for the holidays. I think I'm going to use my advent calendar to count down the days until we leave; I think the boys would really get into that. The next couple weeks are going to be pretty busy. I have a big searching project due in my, er, searching class and Petey's dental surgery has been moved to Dec. 10. I'm glad we'll be getting it taken care of sooner rather than later but it's a bit stressful to have it smack in the middle of the holiday season. Plus my paper is due on Dec. 10. But, I'll just finish it earlier and have that out of the way.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. I hope you all have had as much peace and joy this week as I have. *hugs*

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Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
In 9th grade I read "Great Expectations." From that experience, I decided I had no interest in Charles Dickens and, despite my love of reading, never gave any of his books a chance. What a mistake! I LOVE Oliver Twist and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I can't wait to read more of his works, and learn more about Dickens.


View all my reviews.

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I found this blog entry from the Feel-Good Librarian rather interesting.

The Midwest is not unlike other regions and has been affected by the current economic crisis. We lost a major manufacturer here due to a direct hit from a tornado, then two others closed up shop. Literally thousands of people are out of work in our tri-county area. The unemployment offices are swamped and people are being sent to the library with little or no guidance.

These former factory workers, some with limited English language skills, and very few computer skills, must use the internet to file for unemployment, get entered in our state’s required database and post a resume. I consider myself fairly computer savvy and this is a cranky, confusing and unfriendly interface.

Many of our patrons do not know how to type and do not understand why they need an email address, much less how to establish one. Taco Bell, McDonald’s and Wal-Mart, as well as the larger employers in our area, all require applications to be filled out online. People who can’t even speak English well are required to make resumes without knowing how to say the word (“my rezoom” is how one patron referred to it), much less fill in the form with properly capitalized names. One man did not know what a capital letter was.

They must locate employer websites, make a user name and password, find a job opening and find the application. They must fill it in, make an email address and resume, and learn to upload, attach or cut and paste it.

Our computer facilities are maxed out. Before this summer, a five or ten minute wait was the most patrons could expect. There are now often 25 people in line with a 30-40 minute wait.

Most of our patrons have no other resources and are rising to the occasion. There is some impatience, especially with children who play games and use MySpace and other social networking sites. So far, for us, a user is a user, and everyone is entitled to their first hour uninterrupted, and their second hour if they get back in the wait list.