and my semester will be done. Yay! I have two major assignments due, one of them being a finding aid. I decided to do it on the Nanking Massacre, something that I become interested in after discovering the writer Iris Chang. I did actually complete reading the book that I was reading about her, “Finding Iris Chang”, and actually purchased her book, “The Nanking Rape”, which I sort of started reading. I am also creating a SL exhibit to accompany my finding aid, and I hope to finish it at the same time I complete my assignment. I also am also working on a series of podcasts, where I talk to professors about their professional background, but mostly about the classes they will be teaching in the Fall at SJSU SLIS. I am really green in my interviewing skills, but thank got for my editing skills. Check them out here. More to come in the next several months. Anyways…

Spring break was mostly filled with play dates. It actually went by rather quickly. Yesterday was the last day of Brennan’s spring break. We spent most of the day at the dentist. Brennan did have a tumbling class, but lame me thought the class was at 11:30, when it really was at 11:00. On Sunday we discovered a absyss on top of one of Elden’s tooth. He had a pulpotomy done on that same tooth a few months ago. I was sure that we was not going to have to go this same route that we had to with Brennan, but I was most certainly wrong. So yesterday morning, we went in for an emergency check up, only to come later in the afternoon for an extraction of this upper right central incisor. I am so tired of having to deal with these teeth issues. I really am.

So I really don’t have anything else to say at the moment, but if you don’t see any writing here in a two weeks time, you know why.

This has become more of a weekend blog of our life, instead a daily update. I just don’t have the chance to spend much quality time with quinntillion during the week. In the mornings after I feed the kids and set them up with their favorite Nick Jr. shows, I am usually working on school and work assignments, although I rather play with clay and take cool macro shots with my lightbox.

The hubby was away for a one day conference on Saturday, which simply irks me. I can’t stand that he attends conferences on the weekends because it takes away from the family time that I look forward to all week. I know, I know that I shouldn’t complain because there are lot of spouses that are away much longer than that, such as spouses in the military, which I have so much respect for, btw. But back to my selfish self.

Lucky for me, the YMCA had their annual Healthy Kids Day, that I was able to take the kids to. There were different booths set up around the facilities, with various activities. With every activity completed, the kids would get this card stamped. They only had to get 10 stamps, although there were much more activities there. After they got their 10 stamps they got a t-shirt. That was about 3 hours of time, which if were were at home would have been wasted away to watching tv.

Afterwards, we went to my parent’s house. My bro was around so I got to escape from the kids for a little while. We ended up wandering around the mall and Frys, where I picked a up a couple of cheap lights to use for my photobox. Afterwards we hit the all you can eat Asian buffet, where I essentially stuffed myself to oblivion with sushi. It wasn’t very good sushi, but it was good enough for me. I was too tired to drive home after, that we ended up staying the night at my parent’s house.

Brennan will be on Spring break starting the end of next week until the following week. I don’t have anything planned, although I will have to come back to the inland area again to register for his school. I also want to check out the YMCA facilities out here, as well their preschool facilities for Elden.

Later when we get back home, I will upload some pictures from the Healthy Kids Day. Okay, I am going to try to work on my paper because I have been procrastinating for way too long. It is due on Wednesday. Ahhhhh!!!

My Reference professor Michelle Simmons shared this funny, light-hearted video created by the American Library Association (ALA), that highlights the wide range of questions that Reference librarians field on the reference desk.

Click here to watch the rest of the National Library Week videos.

It’s nice not to have any birthday parties to go to or any other engagements. This weekend has been a fairly low key one, thus far. We went swimming at the Y and then later my parents and bro came over. We had dinner at our favorite chinese restaurant. Again, I forgot to bring my camera to take a picture of the deep fried fish. This is the second time that we ordered it, and it really is a sight to see and eat. Sunday will be another mellow day.

I have been mostly working on school work, and trying to prepare for two interviews on Monday. One of my new projects is interviewing faculty about their new classes that they will teaching in the fall, in which we will be turning into a series of podcasts. Also, I have to start on my second observation. This time, I have to ask a reference type question to two online reference services and then write a comparison of the experiences. I decided to compare a reference desk in SL and another online service.

I have been trying every minute to finish reading “Finding Iris Chang”, so I can actually start reading one of her books. In my research of her, I found out that her birthday (March 28, 1968) was the same day as mine, except she was born a different year, and she was also born in Princeton, New Jersey, same as me. She actually lived in San Jose for some time, which I find interesting as well. Of course, she had accomplished way more in her short lifetime that I have and probably ever will. I truly feel inspired by her energy and impulsive drive that author Paula Kamen captured in her book.

I decided that I want to create some kind of memorial for her in Second Life. I have some land in the University campus that I have been sitting on, that I am supposed to do something with, but haven’t. I have been trying to get permission for images and other documentation that I can use. I am excited to see how it all pans out.

Brennan caught a cold, which so far Elden has not caught. I am hoping I don’t catch either, but I think I have. We found out that we will actually moving a month earlier than anticipated, making the move in the beginning of July. So now we have to get things rolling here. Also, Brennan will probably have to drop out of basketball, which I am bummed about. The program runs from the beginning of May, until the end of July. We have yet to tell him. I know he was so excited about it too. I did call his new school and will be registering in a week or so, when he has Spring break. It’s pretty wild that he will be starting Kindergarten in September.

This past week, I finally got my ass together and purchased 4 big rubbermaid containers and 2 medium sized one. Also, Den picked up about half a dozen of smaller containers from the 99cents store (our favorite store, btw!) Yes, I am proud to say that I am actually using them to load all five years or so of toys into them. I admit that I am terribly unorganized, and that for the most part, everything has been just shoved into various drawers and random containers. It is not an attribute of mine that I am proud of. It’s not really a part of Spring cleaning or anything, but just something that I needed to get done. So yay for me!

I really love my new toys!!! Well, mostly I love my new Sony Portable Reader System, PRS-505. My bro Mike paid for more than half of it as my birthday present from him. I really don’t do too much casual reading, although I am reading “Finding Iris Chang”, written by Paula Kamen. Mostly, I wanted this because I have to read like a ton of articles that are in .pdf format for my classes. I don’t have a laser printer to print out all my readings for the week, so I have been reading everything off the computer or the laptop. Sometimes I try to read when I am at the Y, like when I am waiting for Brennan during swim classes, or when I drop Elden off at daycare. There are other times that I would like to read, but it is too inconvenient to turn on my laptop. This is definitely a solution to my problems. The print is about 8pts, which I suppose is a bit small, but works for me. I tried to read articles on my Archos pvp player because it also has the capabilties to read .pdf files, but the text was more like 6 pts and much too difficult to read, since the screen size is much smaller. Besides being useful for my school readings, now I will actually be able to do some more casual readings as well, although I limited to the free ebooks. I don’t really want to pay full price for an ebook at this time, unless the book is so totally worth it. I was able to download a copy of Brokeback Mountain and there are a lot great free ebooks available for download.

Another toy that I got was a Bamboo Wacom tablet. I used to use a Wacom tablet when I worked in the graphic design/web/advertising industry and I did own one about 10 years ago, when I did more digital illustrations and more photo editing. I should try to dig up some of my old stuff, but I don’t know if I would be able to retrieve them off the old Jaz and zip discs. I don’t even have a working reader for them. But Elden had broke my mouse on the laptop a couple months ago, so I have been using the lame built in mouse. I have been wanting to do some more creative stuff in Second Life, as well as do some illustrations and photo editing, so I figured what the heck. I haven’t had the chance to do anything fun yet, although I briefly played with the copy of Coral Painter Essentials 3. Hopefully, after my Reference class finishes up later in May, I will have more time to devote to other fun creative stuff, beside getting ready for the big move.

One last lovely gift I got for my birthday was this fun and flirty Oilily bag. Oh how I love their stuff. I don’t really purchase their clothes, but I do like to indulge in their bags once in a while.

As far as other celebrations go, I just renewed quinntillion for it’s 8th year. In 2000, I believe was when I decided to create an online portfolio. I did more graphic design work and was getting into web design in 1998, but was doing more freelance work at the time. Then around 2003-2004 was when I started blogging. Every year that this time comes around, I ask myself if I should continue this site, but then for some reason, I decide to renew it. I guess I just can’t let go of it. It has really become a part of me. I don’t do it to try to gain a large audience, but I write in it for myself. I know I could easily just write offline. Okay, I suppose I do like having a small audience.

In the last few years, more people that I know in real life actually talk to me about reading my blog. It’s weird in some ways because I do reveal a part of me and tallk about my life here. I probably reveal more about myself then I should. But that’s okay. I am who I am. I don’t need to explain myself to anyone. Or do I?

Brennan ends his swimming session today and Elden’s his music class today. Classes don’t start until the end of this month, so we will have a little free time. I can’t wait for Brennan’s basketball to start. I think he will really enjoy being on a team sport. I just didn’t feel like at 4 he was quite ready, but now at 5 he is totally ready. Probably after our move, I will enroll him soccer and karate. Elden is of course too young for any of this, maybe swimming next year. I think if he can at least be in preschool a few days a week, that will be wonderful for him. And of course for me as well.

We don’t have any plans for the coming weekend, so I am looking forward to doing some casual reading my ereader. Not sure what I want to read though, although I do need to finish reading “Finding Iris Chang”, who I have been totally obsessed about. I have yet to read her books and actually I am sort of afraid to read them.

Well, I need to finish my Reference assignment now.