New Music For The New Hockey

It's been a while, yes? Yes. So what prompts me to post? In a word, music. In two words, hockey music. In three words, new hockey music. More words than that and we'll all be bored. So, without further ado, the lineup:

1. Styx - Renegade
2. Powerman 5000 - Action
3. Metallica - Fuel
4. Limp Bizkit - Rollin (Urban Assault Remix)
5. Lunatic Calm - Leave You Far Behind
6. 10 Years - Actions & Motives
7. AC/DC - Back in Black
8. Chevelle - Don't Fake This
9. Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare
10. Caged Elephant - Ain't No Rest for the Wicked
11. Rob Zombie - Superbeast
12. Seether - Like Suicide
13. Skillet - Rebirthing
14. System of a Down - Aerials
15. Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
16. Breaking Benjamin - I Will Not Bow
17. Muse - Knights of Cydonia
18. No Doubt - Hella Good

All of these songs had to have the requirement of having good sound. For some of them, their sound is what puts them here (see No Doubt and Caged Elephant). For some, it's their action-oriented lyrics (see Powerman 5000 and Rob Zombie). Styx made the cut because of a rather memorable jumbotron video at the Igloo that celebrated the Steelers' Super Bowl victory while spurring on Pens fans to cheer on their team for what would end up a Stanley Cup victory. Prodigy made it because IMD, much like Limp Bizkit's Rollin remix, gets the blood pumping in anticipation.

As a basic way of summing up the new album, it's a much grittier and angrier sound. There are tracks you don't play around people with virgin ears (Rollin', Nightmare), and tracks you don't play around old people (Don't Fake This, Like Suicide, well, just about all of them).

Even though a turn-around in goaltending play requires my team to score more goals (something I can't quite help out with from the net), the music may help to get my mind into more of a focus for games. And if more focus helps with those strange odd-bounce goals, then so be it. Look out virgin ears, you're about to be violated.

Labor Day

More photos! Of what, you ask? Of donations, I say! Welcome to my increasingly besieged world of work. Besieged by none other than books, of course. Mustyd, dusty, and not-so-trusty books.

Let's have a little photographic tour!

1)This is what I see for over 7 hours of the work day. Every now and then, things conspire to get me out of my paper cage, but this is pretty much it.
2) When circ clerks or anyone else who is trying to get my attention from the doorway leading to the public area, this is what I see. Do you see that tiny dark sliver of color center and below the lights? Not the dark splotch sitting on the server cabinet, to the left of that. That's the top of the doorway. When I first started weeding through the donations, I tried to keep a clear sight-line so I could see people coming and going in case any of them needed to get my attention lickity split. With all the donations received since that time, a sight-line is no longer feasible.

3) Up next is what I would see if I was to look a little behind and to the right, which is where the book keeper is situated. See where the BWI tower is? On the other side is supposed to be an open space in the partition for her and I to converse through when money questions and issues are discussed. Usually.

4) This is looking from the kitchen to the staff entrance. Two boxes thick of donations. All slated for the book sale coming up next week. All keeping me isolated from the rest of the building. That little box sitting on the floor? Old ratty-tatty paperback donations that are now slated to be recycled. Hopefully into some product that doesn't encourage packrats to hoard them for 30 years before giving them to people who still don't know what to do with it.

5) This is looking from the direction of the circulation desk. See that bookshelf hiding behind it all, between the two windows? When I'm standing up, my head is as high as the binders sitting on top of the shelf. When I sit down: poof! Where'd I go?

6) This last photo is the back of the wall that makes the background to my monitor-viewing experience. In other words, instead of seeing a blank white surrounding, I see a multi-colored and multi-fonted wall of cardboard packaging. The door to the left is the fire exit from the staff area, and so I work harder to keep this path clear, which leads to build up on the length-wise portion.

So. About donations. I think it's nice that people would rather give their used property a chance to be useful again as opposed to just pitching them outright without a thought as to their condition. But there are always exceptions to the rule, so let's observe a few:

1) The donator who gives libraries everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! We've gotten old faded plastic toy sets in these boxes - stuff that probably sat on a toy store shelf no less than 30 years ago. And they are always missing pieces.

2) The donator who gives libraries nothing but old musty discolored books. Thanks patron. What we really need for our collection is to start a section of musty books. Maybe we'll shimmy in between the sections of mildewy books and smelly books.

3) The donator who gives libraries oodles and oodles of childrens books - all at least 15 years old and more than 'gently' used. I'm talking about sharp creases across the covers, a whole crayola box's worth of crayon drawings between the pages, and even portions of pages torn right out of the book.

I kind of want to create a whole new section of library books for these people, solely for their browsing pleasure. It will consist of a pile of wet books heaped in a corner of the bottom storage closet.

Random Thoughts Before Labor Day

It's been awhile since I've put up a post, so I thought I would ramble for a bit to keep the electronic cobwebs from building up a'la Indiana Jones fashion.

I don't really have any focal point for this post, but I do know the next post will be ruminating over the nature of donated books and what that means for me. There will be photos, so be anticipatory!

Other things on my mind? Hockey, of course. NHL season is upcoming - about another month for the regular season to start, and the Pens get to kick it off with their first game in the new building against the much hated Philthy Flyers. Not sure if I'll be going to it, but one can hope. My own personal hockey season at B'ville is still going rocky. I'm doing something wrong but can't figure it out. I mean, I know what I do wrong when I let up goals, but I can't seem to break a mental or physical block with regards to ammending my play. It's a bit frustrating at times, but at least during the last game, I was more patient with it as opposed to the previous game. Maybe not falling behind by 8 goals helped.

Also, a notion that I wasn't going to post until I got a bit further with the progress, I've taken to a peculiar delusion that I can try creating, or at least laying down a framework, for a role-playing game. Odd, you may think, and I really can't fault you for that. If I get more ideas on paper and details worked out, maybe I'll let y'all in on what it's about and what inspired me to go that route.

It sort of scares me, to be honest.

Next time: Super-Dimensional Defensive Donations!