Is it really Thursday already? I've worked and worked on Ticonderoga's holdings and have entered books and recorded books on 36 of the 75 pages (legal sized) that they've sent in to be entered. I'm a hell of a clerk, aren't I. Yesterday and today I checked new authorities for 2300 author and subject entries and 230 series. That means I looked them all over to see if the new entries in the data base were correct. What I found were things like this: people have made short records, using entries for Brando, Marlin (no, he was not a fish) and have put up to 3 authors in the author field (which is intended to be searched for a single entry--does this make sense only to a librarian?). I spent hours on this project, the whole time composing an email to all the online libraries that was both tactful yet firm about the quality of records in the data base. That is, if you MUST create short records, could you PLEASE give them at least a little bit of thought? And WHY are you creating short records in the first place? So far I haven't written the email. I'm getting less and less interested in it with each passing minute, but I really have to address the multiple authors in the author field issue. Morons.

Last night I went out for dinner. I used to look forward to nights like that with great anticipation. Not so much these days. I took Ken, we met Bill and Fred. It was nice, the food was good, conversation swell. I ate too much but had the fried ice cream with raspberry Grand Marnier sauce as before. It was delicious. Garlic mashed potatoes with gravy and delicious homemade real butternut squash to go with my steak and gorgonzola sauce. All quite good. And it was festive. And, better yet, I was home by 8:15. Cost me $50 but it was worth it. Ken liked it, the restaurant was quiet so we could all hear and participate in the conversation. He told me about the vice presidential debate, which I could not stand to watch. I think I can't stand Cheney more than I can't stand Bush. I think he's very dangerous.

Today is even more beautiful, sunny and warm than yesterday. And I'm inside, staring at a computer screen. This afternoon I have to go to a videoconference. It dawned on me this morning as I was dressing that a videoconference means that not only can I see them, but they can see me as well. Rats! Don't know how long it will last for, nor do I want to go in the first place. I'm dealing with someone who's head of one of the court systems in New York State, setting up legal resource centers in 4 of our member libraries. Again, not a project I'm keen on doing, but we can't say no to these things. I used to love doing these things but then I got old and my brother died.

I called the vet yesterday and talked about Jackson. He's a funny man, that David. He said I would need to bring both the dog and a urine sample in. I said I was hoping he would tell me I have to have the dog destroyed. He said with a laugh that I am a cold and heartless person. I said Jackson is peeing huge puddles on the floor every day and I don't know where the pee is coming from because I cut his water supply off in the morning. He said the pee is coming from his urinary tract. I said David is a very funny man and scheduled an appointment for Saturday morning. Jackson has a sixth sense and did not pee on the floor yesterday.

Last night all three dogs disappeared at midnight and didn't return until 3 a.m. Then Tess puked 5 times in the bedroom between 3 and 6:30. Apparently she ate a lot of dirt--the expensive dog food I feed her is not enough. It was really disgusting to clean up before I got ready for work, and grossed her out so much she lost her appetite for breakfast. Hope she's ok. I took Chances with us to dinner last night and while she waited in the car she ate my zinc lozenges (which are to prevent me from getting a cold). At least SHE won't be getting sick this week. So each dog has been up to something lately, no one has been excluded or ignored. What a troop.

Linda and Erdvilas arrive tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to seeing Linda (and I accept the fact that I'll see E. too), I miss her. This will be our final visit until May. They'll be here for nearly a week. The press release she's written for the EPA about gas mileage for the 2005 models is being released today so she had to stay in Ann Arbor for an extra day.

I listened to The Kingston Trio on the way to work this morning. There are very few people who can relate to this. Henry, Molly and I used to listen to them all the time in the early 60's. We'd sit by the primitive record player we had at Rome Avenue. Molly's favorite (as I recall) was Nick Shane, mine was Dave Guard. They were both pretty cute. They used to wear shirts with button-down collars and these tight pants and loafers. Anyway, some of these songs are really funny and some are just so much fun to listen to. There's one that always made me laugh about a toreador and his girlfriend--"she cries when the horns are too near." I mean really. But then they sang Where Have All the Flowers Gone and I listened to the lyrics--simple but at the time they seemed poignant. Were those simpler times or did we know we were we gearing up for something really complicated and awful in Vietnam? I can remember watching the news every night and seeing bodies, blood, shooting, jungles, and getting so used to it that it just seemed part of daily life. Never really dawned on me that those were people's sons, husbands, brothers, fathers, or that these people were being damaged by their experiences there. Ah, hindsight.

There are only 5 of us at work today, and it's 5 of the good ones. This makes it a festive atmosphere. Jocularity, as Father Mulcahey on M*A*S*H would say. We all feel cooperative and friendly toward each other. Plus we get paid today. Yahoo! I can pay some bills. My car insurance went up $200/year as a result of my accident. So, since they paid out $10,000, how long will it take me to "pay them back?" A formula I don't care enough to figure out.