(T minus 7)   |    12:08 am

My boss was out again today and has not yet responded to the e-mail I sent yesterday, so I'm still waiting to complete the process of giving notice. I'm sure this will all be sorted out by tomorrow or Friday. And the new job is closer to being finalized. I will be the library liaison to the university's biology and chemistry departments. There's a minor chance this job may also include geology and physics, but these two are smaller guy who was liaison to all four departments has been promoted and is interested in keeping them. And this is fine by me, because it will still leave me with two of the largest departments on campus.

(T minus 9)   |    6:11 p.m.

I gave my notice today at the library. It's the first time I have ever given formal, written notice since all my other jobs to date have been of the paid-by-the-hour variety.

(And speaking of, I have not given notice at Blockbuster. I'm operating on the illusion that I can somehow hold on to it for a while longer, which my mother was quick to point out will probably not be likely. My manager will take me off the schedule at the end of the month and we just see how things work out as I get settled at GSU. But the sad truth is that my dream of being a 30-year-old video store clerk may only last a scant 3 weeks.)

I went to my director's office to give her my resignation. She's out today, so I put it in an envelope and stuck it on her door. I sent her an e-mail this morning that essentially says the same thing, and still no answer. If there's nothing by the time I get home from inventory at the video store tonight, I'll probably go ahead and make some announcement for the benefit of the remaining 1/4 of the library staff that has not yet heard.

A job offer (T minus 13)   |    5:10 p.m.

Science Librarian, either Health Sciences or Biology-Chemistry. This hasn't been completely settled, but they have offered, and I have accepted. It will begin June 4, and they will match my combined salaries from Mercer and Blockbuster. I'll make it official on Monday, after I get through this crazy weekend.

• Closing at Blockbuster Friday, Saturday and Sunday
• Picking my Mom up at the airport tomorrow at 5 am
• Relocate all the current journals in our library to their new shelves, which unofficially marks the beginning of our massive rennovation project. Then make labels for more than 700 journals, including the 200+ titles that will be coming from the nursing college library that has merged with Mercer
• Try to maintain my sanity and sense of control

T minus 18   |    3:17 p.m.

Put my mother on a plane to Seattle for a week. Some CDC conference. In an alternate reality where I didn't work two jobs and time was limitless, I could swear to have the apartment cleaned up from top to bottom. All books, papers, arts and crafts, and kitchen supplies (including the blender she ordered on HSN that's still sitting on top of the entertainment system because I can't find a place for it in our too-tiny kitchen) put away. My retro Blue Heaven china out of the kitchen and packed in boxes for outside storage. Everything dusted and vacuumed. And it would make my mother so happy to come back to this...

But I do not have access to that alternate universe, or any of them for that matter since I'm not a 'Red Dwarf' character, so I'll be lucky to make it to the grocery store this week for milk and bread.

The First Blog   |    6:22 p.m.

I would certainly prefer that Shrub devote his time to updating this instead of doing other things. Those pesky, annoying, Presidential things.

Viva Las Vegas   |    8:12 p.m.

Cool Things About Last Week's Trip to Vegas:

• Going with my college roommate Tori, one of my dearest friends. And even though it was a 30th birthday present for both of us (last month for her, next month for me), the age thing didn't come up that much.
  
  
• That my sister and her fiance Steve were able to drive in from CA and spend some time with us. This is my year to fly out to Palmdale and spend Christmas with her, but it's not looking likely so I was glad to have the chance to see her now. Whether it's about the screwed-up sex lives of her friends and ex-boyfriends or her adventures in teaching elementary school, Lisa is the best storyteller I know.
  
  
• Getting within 60 feet of Brad Pitt and Steven Soderbergh (or "Soderheim" as someone next to us called him) as they were filming a scene for Ocean's 11 at the Bellagio.
  
  
• "The Rat Pack Is Back" at the Sahara. Frank, Joey, Dean and Sammy. Ultimate coolness.
  
  
• The Liberace Museum, which had been a favor to Tori but turned out to be very interesting.
  
  
• Taking advantage of the 8-hour difference in our respective flights home to indulge my inner geek at the Star Trek Experience at the Hilton. The ride was forgettable but the museum was amazing. Costumes and props from the 4 series and most of the movies. I spent almost 5 hours examining and re-examining everything, reading the timelines (where I did find typos, sadly) and wandering through the gift shops. Bought 2 tribbles that make noise when you squeeze them. That I did this after Tori had left for the airport so she wouldn't be subjected to this will no doubt make her list of the best things about the trip.
  
  
• The Elvis impersonator performing at the MGM Grand. Because while one Elvis sighting is perfectly acceptable, two or more Elvi would've been too much.
  
  
• The Paris-Las Vegas hotel, where we stayed, and the Bellagio, where I will stay someday if I can afford it.
  
  
• The surreal experience of eating dinner in one of the Paris-Las Vegas cafes at 2:30am, while the cafe and adjacent casino are as busy as a food court at lunchtime.
  
  
• The older, more intense gambling atmosphere of the downtown hotels, the light show over Fremont Street, and the Wonton soup at Lille Langtry's in the Golden Nugget.
  
  
• Free souvenirs: 27 casino cups.
  
  

Except for arriving at midnight and not getting into a room for 12 hours, and that I had a cold for most of the trip, I had a fantastic time.

November 19, 2043...   |    7:41 p.m.

...is the day I'm going to die.

I will most likely die from:
• Cancer (37%)
• Alien Abduction (14%)
• Heart Attack (10%)
• Horrible Accident (6%)
• Confusion (5%)
• Homicide (5%)

I also have a geek quotient of 116.1 (which puts me in the 88.60 percentile), my aura is violet, my flavor is mocha, and my TV family is The Simpsons.

I was catching up on reading blogs from the Collective (a group of primarily Due South fanfic writers), and came across these test links.

Oh, and my Oz Prison Bitch Name is Hot Hole.

Miscellaneous Movie News   |    7:42 p.m.

The Good News is...
Paul Gross starts shooting his curling movie 'Men With Brooms' in 2 weeks. Cast will include Molly Parker (one of my favorite actresses) and Leslie Nielsen.

The Bad News is...
Callum Keith Rennie (most recently of 'Memento') was not listed among the actors in the movie, even though PG said in an interview he'd written a role for Rennie.

The Good-But-Could-Be-Great News is...
Hard Core Logo is coming out on DVD in late June. This has been Teri's Official Favorite Film since October, so loved that I used the name of one of the songs in the movie for the title of this page as well as the for the domain of my new Web site. My dream is that it will be chock full of extras: deleted scenes like the one where HCL dressed up as the Beatles to be chased a la 'Hard Day's Night;' and audio commentary by (director) Bruce McDonald, (screenwriter) Noel Baker, and (actors) Rennie and Hugh Dillon. Unfortunately, there's a good chance there will be no extras on the DVD, but it will still be the first one I purchase when I get my DVD player later this year.

The Run-For-Your-Lives-Screaming-in-Terror News:
It looks like George Lucas is finally releasing one of his films on DVD. Will it be 'Star Wars' or 'Empire?' Nooooo, of course not. Why would he release one of the masterpieces when he can release 'The Phantom Menace' instead. With 20 more minutes. Just think: 20 more minutes of painful dialogue and lifeless direction, not to mention more Jar-Jar crap.

Video Store Adventures   |    7:22 p.m.

Last Friday night it finally happened. A customer at my register cut me off while I was trying to ask for his driver's license and verify his address and phone number, which is proper procedure for a customer who uses his care at our store for the first time (doesn't matter that I'm the only CSR in the entire city of Atlanta that does this religiously).

The reason for his silencing me. I was interrupting his cell phone conversation. That's right.

I only got his attention because I stepped back from the register and made no move to check out his movies. If someone else had been in line I would've just set his stuff aside and called the next person up to the counter next to him. He was so annoyed that I disturbed his "important" chit-chat, but finally gave me his attention so I could do my job. I smiled and wished him a good night, then commented the account about the cell phone so that he can't come back and say I didn't tell him when his movies are due, which I always do whether they hear me or not.

Interview Recap   |    6:46 p.m.

I feel really good about how I did during the interview. This doesn't mean they'll offer me one of the positions, but I enjoyed the experience anyway. They asked questions, I answered them and asked plenty of my own. I wish I could've relaxed more during the PowerPoint interview, but it went over well. The last part of the 7-hour interview was with the University Librarian. I figured my brain would be mush by then, but we would've continued talking if she didn't already have another meeting. They're interviewing more candidates so I don't expect to hear anything until the end of the month. So I can go to Las Vegas (or Lost Wages as Tori called it today) without worrying about them calling.

I was mixed about the jobs before going in this morning, but after talking with a number of the liaisons (and extensively with those who were on the search committee), I got to see just how challenging and rewarding this position could be. A liaison is a librarian with one or more subject specialities. They are responsible for collection development in those subjects, and provide specialized instruction to those departments' faculty and students. There's also time each week working the general reference desk, and a lot of time devoted to research, committee work and some publishing. They're filling 2 positions: one for biology (the largest single department on campus) and chemistry, the other for health sciences (nursing, PT, gerontology).

I will not get my hopes up. I will not get my hopes up. I. Will. Not. Get. My. Hopes. Up.

We'll see what happens. There's still the CDC library position, the one that reopened and closed in 4 days. But government is as slow as academia so I might not even hear from them until next month. No matter, however. Right now I'm just feeling good about how well this went. What an ego boost. What a rush.

bluetattoo.net and news on the job hunt   |    2:39 p.m.

Turns out that bluetattoo.com was taken. Funny, that didn't stop freeservers.com from taking my registration fee, then telling me afterward they can't register top-level domains. Anyway, I re-registered bluetattoo.net with register.com, changed the DNS info, signed up a second time with freeservers and told them I was transferring a domain, etc... It's been quite a learning experience. I'll have no problem if I move to a paid webhost in the future. It apparently can take up to 72 hours for the transfer, but it's been less than 24 hours since I did this and the page is up. Not that there's anything yet. After I get through the next few weeks of chaos I'll start transferring stuff from my other pages. I'm not sure what to do about the blog. If I use blogger.com, I can connect the blog to the new website (bluetattoo.net/blog), but I like the one I have here so I may just link them.

Nothing happens, then everything happens at once
One of the jobs (the government one) I'm applying for has been reopened after a temporary hiring freeze caused by the new administration. The job was open a month the first time around, this time it was announced on Friday and closes this Tuesday. They also modified the KSA's, so I have to re-write big sections of the application this afternoon so I can drop the whole thing off tomorrow morning. A KSA can be something like "Ability to communicate effectively in a library environment," then you write bulleted lists of everything you've done in your educational, professional and personal activities that shows how you have demonstrated this ability.

The reason for the time crunch is that beginning tomorrow morning, I need to start preparing for an interview I have on April 2 at State for two of their positions. 7 hours, 6 separate meetings/interviews, and a 15-20 minute PowerPoint presentation on building relationships with teaching faculty in the sciences and health sciences. I'm waffling between nervous, excited, and sick-to-my-stomach terrified.

bluetattoo.com   |    9:12 p.m.

The Tripod was allegedly a "glitch," a bot that was supposed to delete a few sites for TOS violations that somehow went amuck. Helluva glitch. Personally, I don't believe it.

I'm not sure how much longer I'll continue using Tripod. It is so much faster than Fortunecity, but what happened this weekend will eventually happen again. Particularly if this started because TPTB @ Tripod were going after fanfic sites.

I signed up for space on Freeservers.com, then registered the domain "bluetattoo.com." It will be good for my TV-related writing and (if I ever finish a story) fan fiction. And I have learned from the events of this weekend: make lots of backup copies and be prepared to pay the nominal fees to a webhost.

Very Disturbing News   |    4:18 p.m.

Based on e-mails I've seen this morning on my 'Due South' and 'Queer As Folk' lists, Tripod has been deleting fan fiction sites (based on "Terms of Service" violations). It started sometime yesterday, and with no notice given to those members. If this involved slash sites only, I think everyone would sort-of understand (though justifiably pissed because of the "no advance notice" thing). But from what I have read, Tripod may also be deleting non-slash fanfic sites as well.

If they're doing this because of potential copyright problems, does that mean any Tripod site with entertainment-based content--say, 'Sopranos' quotes--is at risk?

Good & Sad News   |    3:27 p.m.

Good:
Starting April 6, Red Dwarf will be back on the BBC America lineup. I discovered this hysterically funny show last fall on my PBS affiliate, so naturally it disappeared. Then BBCA began airing it, starting with 36-hour marathon the last weekend in December. They were showing the series in 5 or 6-episode blocks until the end of season 4, and it just vanished. But Red Dwarf will be back in April, and according to their schedule it will pick up right at season 5!

Sad:
According to my recent issue of EW, the actor who played Colonel Flagg on M*A*S*H died of Parkinson's disease on March 8. Edward Winter did a great job playing a character who was as stupid as he was paranoid. IMDB has a semi-complete list of Winter's credits here.

Links overhaul   |    5:06 p.m.

So much for updating this everyday. I've been keeping a running list of topics, but haven't managed to find the time to post anything.

But I did manage to update the links on the right, so I guess that's something

The Grad School Battle Is O-Vah!   |    9:39 p.m.

I think I can safely say at this point I'm done. Finished.

After several delays I finally received copies of my official transcript from my [insert negative expletive] graduate school Registrar's office. And to my surprise they didn't just say "Cleared for Graduation" as I'd been promised, but "Degree Awarded 15-Dec-00." Gee, thanks for telling me.

Since the school only has a May graduation ceremony I was concerned about potential trouble with perspective employers if all I could do was direct them to my program Dean for verification that I had completed my coursework in December. But "Degree Awarded" is official, final, and they can't take it back. It's mine, mine, all mine!!!! Several people have asked if I'm going to walk in the ceremony. At this point my answer is "Hell no." I still have too much hostility toward the school even to consider driving by the place, much less attend a graduation ceremony in 90-degree heat and knowing nobody. If my anger cools into ambivalence by May I might consider attending if they can hand me the offical diploma on the spot. I won't hold my breath.

To recap this last semester:
• My classes and registration were cancelled two weeks into the semester, with no explanation given. It took the Dean and Registrar's Office a week to fix it.
• In October I received several notices that my tuition bill was overdue, even though my loan had been sitting there since my lender disbursed the funds to the school at the end of August. My Dean had to go over to the Financial Aid office personally and tell them to release the money.
• In December my account was placed on hold because Student Accounts double-charged me for graduation fees so it looked like I had a balance.
• And in a final gesture of ill will, the Registrar's Office did not post the grades for one of our classes until January 4 (again it took the Dean's intervention to fix it).

All this because libraries will not consider experience as a substitute for an MLS when hiring librarians. I may go back to school someday to get a second Master's degree (not even a serious consideration until I've paid off what I owe for this one), but only if my future employer pays for it.

QAF Episode Guide   |    1:14 am

My episode guide for the US/Showtime version of Queer As Folk has been posted to epguides.com. I'm hoping to update it after each episode, but every two episodes is more realistic. My next contribution to epguides.com will be a shorter series that's not currently running so I can complete it and not have to worry about future updates. Twitch City, maybe?