Another use for all the schooling

All the way through Ireland, Paul and I entertained ourselves by anthropomorphizing the donkeys we saw all through the countryside. And if could have brought one home with me, I would have.
Imagine my delight when the link for a video about the Bibloburro came across my email today. There was also an article about the Biblioburro in the New York Times last fall. An elementary school teacher in Columbia operates a bookmobile with his donkeys and a bunch of books. This could totally be my next gig.

New and Improved now with more snuggle

Apparently, Jub has gotten over the moody teenager stage and has moved on to being a fairly pleasant beast to spend time with. We haven't been able to say this in a very long time but Jub is being nice. And friendly. And actually wanting to hang out with both of us. He's always tried to hop in Paul's lap any time Paul sits down but now Jub is just hanging out in the room with us, chatting a little, asking how our day went, spending a little quality time in the evenings. During Spring Break, when I was working on the computer while sitting at the dining room table, the cat would hop up on the chair and sit behind me. Just saying hey. The oddest thing he has done occurred one night at dinner when, as Paul and I were sitting next to each other at the table, the cat hopped up with his left paws on Paul's chair and his right paws on my chair and sat like that while we finished eating. He'll also sit in the chair across from us while we eat dinner so all we see is a little head popped up:

This morning, Paul sent me a picture of Jub lying on my slippers in our bathroom, taking advantage of the morning sun coming in the glass blocks in the bathroom. Apparently, he's done this several mornings in the past if my slippers happen to be there. The other morning, I got out of the shower and Jub was sitting on the vanity, waiting for me. He sat there while I toweled off and continued my morning routine.  And just, you know, hung out with me while I did my thing.
We are absolutely thrilled Jub stopped being completely territorial and yowling at our guests. Now, he's become a little welcome wagon of one, greeting guests and ushering them into our home. Paul's parents came over last Friday to help us with the new guest room futon. When Jub saw my mother-in-law standing in the hall, he let out a happy little meow and he did a happy little tail flick and came down to say hello. Some glimpses of the old Jub remain when our friends with a 4 year old and an almost-2 year old came over one Sunday afternoon--he was less than thrilled to be noticed by the two Pink People, as Paul called the girls who were dressed all in pink.  But he liked the parents and was content to chat with them for a bit.

But I have to admit that we're a bit confused as to what to do with a friendly cat. We've never had a cat like this--one you can pick up and hug on and love on--except perhaps when he was a wee kitten.  We've always referred to Jub as cantankerous and cranky and crabby because, well, he fit the definitions of all of those.  I guess until the pod is found and our lovable grump of a cat returns, I'll just take advantaged of being able to pick up the cat as often as I can without fear of being shredded.

Return to sender

I'm registering for summer and fall classes at UNT.  I'm taking 5 hours in the summer and 6 hours in the fall (2 classes each semester).  Hopefully by December, I'll have 18 hours completed which is halfway through the program.  I spoke with one of the advisors in SLIS yesterday and I'm not completely sure I'm on board with what she suggested.  I'd originally signed up to be in the General Practice program because I thought that would be the most useful if/when I decide to leave a public school library.  I have the education background and experience in the school library setting so I didn't think the School Certification route would be necessary.  Speaking with the advisor, she seemed to think otherwise.  During the course of the conversation, I agreed to have her change my focus.  I'm still not convinced that is what I want to do.  I still think General Practice is what I want to do.  I think I'm going to set up an appointment to speak with my actual advisor when he is in ABQ for the NMLA conference in April just to talk out my concerns and questions I have.  The end goal is the MLS and I'm not sure it will much what classes I've taken since I'm not looking at a highly specialized program of study.  But I don't want to be shooting myself in the foot either.

As I was registering, I clicked on the address information that is listed.  A mailing address is shown (our address here in ABQ) but there wasn't a home address.  I also wanted to see if there was a way to add my cell phone as a contact number.  I had to smile when I saw the permanent address listed--apparently, I'm still on the UNT records from my first go-around there 16 years ago.  But I'm afraid I won't be getting any mail sent to the Texline address.  No one by that name has been there since 1997.  I'm tempted to leave it just for sentimental purposes--I definitely smiled when I saw that post office box listed.  I've always loved to get the mail.  I still go to the mailbox every day, much to Paul's amusement (although, he's coming around to my mail-checking ways).   As soon as I could drive, I took it upon myself to be the one to go every day to pick up the mail.  And, frequently, to send a letter down to Lubbock.  It cost 25 cents to mail a letter way back then and a couple of times of week, I would take in a quarter or some assortment of nickels, dimes, and pennies to buy one stamp. I never bought a book of stamps. I'm not sure why it never crossed my mind to spend $5 to buy one.  The Texline postmaster knew exactly what I wanted every time I walked into that little foyer--she never asked if I wanted to buy a book of stamps either.  Perhaps she was enjoying seeing a little teenage love sent one stamp at a time.

I think sentimentality is going to win, at least for the time being. My current mailing address is correct and so is the phone number so I'm not missing anything important.  And it's nice to be reminded of a time when the most pressing bill I had was buying a 25 cent stamp.