Happy New Year!

Here's to a healthy, prosperous New Year!

Palm Tree Christmas

We've spent the past two weekends decorating the exterior and interior of the house for Christmas.

In shorts and t-shirts.

How odd, huh?

It is very strange to sweat while wrapping colorful lights around the base of a palm tree. The typical M.O. of Florida yards is to put out every single light that can be obtained at Lowe's, add a dash of inflatable Snowman, and of course, dig out the plastic Santa. Our neighborhood yards look like Christmas threw up.

I think Floridians try to make up for the lack of snow with an abundance of decorations. And we are slowing getting sucked into that mentally... we found some spare lights today, so we hastily put them around the doorway, just in case our across-the-street neighbor wasn't impressed yet.
Seriously, it is such a great feeling to finally decorate for the season. For the past decade we've gone out of town, so it hasn't made sense to buy a tree and put up lights. This year, the Caulk household is Christmas Central. My folks are coming down from Arkie, my aunt from the middle of Illinois, and hopefully Jason's parents as well. My sister, her husband, three kids and dog may also make the trip from Ft. Lauderdale. It will be a completely full household, and I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas.

I'm sure we'll post pictures of the lighted masterpiece that is our house soon.

Love to ya'll,
Michelle

A Bunny that doesn't chew, poop or bite!

From Yahoo Tech:

Nabaztag is a Wi-Fi enabled bunny that can gather information from around the Internet, and reads it for you. If you want to know what's happening on your favorite blogs, you simply go to Nabaztag.com, add your favorite RSS feeds to your Nabcasts feeds, and it'll read the latest headlines every 20 minutes (you can change the frequency). The latest version has a microphone on its navel so you can talk to your rabbit. Anytime you press a button between its ears, and give him a command such as "weather", it's quick to respond. You can send voice messages to other Nabaztag owners by speaking into its navel, as well.

Since the bunny has speakers, you can easily stream music or play podcasts you find on the Web for an unlimited time. It also has an audio output on his back so you can connect headphones or speakers, depending on your situation. If you're at work, you might want to keep him plugged to your headphones, but if you keep it at home, you can set it anywhere in the house so it can keep you updated on incoming email, weather, stocks, or news headlines.

I am so adding to my Christmas list.

Surrounded by Books

I am in NY for a work meeting, and the hotel closest to the office is... the Library Hotel. (That's right, everybody scream in excitement!) For those of you who are not in the library loop (and if you aren't, why the heck not?), the Library Hotel names and decorates its rooms after the Dewey Decimal System. I just spent a half hour running around all 12 floors of the hotel, looking for my favorites. (Yes, literature IS on the 8th floor. I had to check.) My room is Native American Religions, and the bookshelves are full of well-loved books on pretty much everything Native American. I appreciate that they stocked the shelves with books more likely seen in a yard sale box then those fakey "leather"-bound buy-it-off-the-shelf libraries.

*Sigh* A haven for bibliophiles in a very busy city. I'd get out to adventure more tonight, but it's rainy and cold. At least I have about 10,000 books at my disposal right here in the hotel.

'Night,
M.

Save the Planet and Buy a Sportscar

Hello friends - well, I should have put a comma in between in the title, since these two aren't exactly related. Unless you consider the gas mileage and emissions of a Humvee...

My girlfriend Lisa told me about these fab little Envirosax that you can take with you to the grocery store. These fab little reusable, and fashionable, bags are my new way of helping reduce our footprint (in this case, not carbon but trashy!) on the world. Lisa will call herself "granola" for using these, but in reality, it's smart. Just imagine, your pantry will be clean of all those annoying little plastic bags that seem to reproduce overnight....

On to the sportscar reference: J & I have spent much of the last two weekends hunting down a new car. Since it is our mission in life to drive the most impractical cars out there, we are continuing the tradition by looking at a Nissan 350 Z, Mini Cooper S, Infiniti G35, and an Audi TT. I am leaning more towards the Mini (since it is an adorable, and fast, little convertible) and Jason likes the Audi and the Infiniti. Weigh in and let us know your preference. We sure aren't moving too fast on making a decision, but that could be partly because of the sentimental attachment to the Toyota MR2 that we currently have.

Otherwise, I'll be traveling up a storm this next week. I'm heading to Chi-town to give a training to new hires (ah, so impressionable), New York again for a strategy meeting, and to Monterey, CA for the Internet Librarian conference. I am ecstatic about the IL conference, since I see it as a time of professional development/spiritual & God realignment/relaxation. It's impossible to go to Monterey and not feel some reawakening of the soul, it's so beautiful.

Enough ramblings for the night. Hope all is well with you and be sure to shoot us an email or phone call soon.

xoxoxo,
Michelle

Welcome to fall

It's a chilly 75 degrees outside and the wind is whipping around like there's a hurricane on the horizon. None yet, thankfully.

Since Jason last posted sometime back in 1993, you are stuck with my one-sided account of how things are going. I will bug him to exercise his creative writing skills for the blog soon.

An update since the Labor Day/we-adopted-an-Aussie-momentarily post. First, I was offered the manager position at work and have decided to take it. What this basically means is that a) my boss was able to guilt me into acquiring a Blackberry; b) the Blackberry is turned off after 5 p.m. M-F and is quiet in my purse all weekend; c) I will get to do more project and people management and d) it's great fodder for the ol' resume.

On a personal note, I just returned from visiting Lisa, Jeff and Baby Jeli in California. They had the baby shower, and to my joy, I was able to spend the weekend with them. Email and IM are decent ways to keep up with long-distance friends, but there's nothing like seeing an old "flush buddy" in person. The time we spent together was such a blessing, and it's wonderful to see them anticipating the birth of their little girl with such happiness and gratitude to God.

Jennie and Eric (Jason's sister and brother-in-law) are coming to visit next weekend. We have a full agenda planned, topped by crablegs and the Museum of Science and Industry. I hope they remember their swimming suits...

Love to all,
M.

Hello Sabbatical

That's it, I'm taking a leave of absence and touring the most beautiful libraries of the world.

Look for a postcard from me.

Good for breakfast, lunch or dinner...

Jason usually makes both of us lunch on the weekends (well, he makes all of the meals on weekends when we don't go out). Those of you who are familiar with my eating habits know that I will blindly grab anything from the pantry that doesn't require slicing, dicing, julienneing, or for that matter, heating, and call it a meal. It is not unknown for Jason to go on a business trip and for me to consider a decent dinner a plateful of Triscuits, mini gerhkins, some cheese and a brownie.

But, hold on to your cookbooks. I have a suggestion for a quick, easy, and nutritious sandwich. I can't take credit for the creation, because a restaurant in Urbana, IL was the originator. Here you go:

Monkey Sandwich
2 slices whole-wheat bread
1 banana
1-2 tablespoons peanut butter (extra crunchy is the PB of Champions)
Some coconut flakes
Drizzle of honey
Sliced almonds (optional)

Take pieces of bread and put on a plate. Spread PB. Slice banana and squish gently into peanut butter. Sprinkle coconut flakes, then drizzle honey. Take second slice of bread and place onto masterpiece. Gently push almonds into top of bread slice. (Toasting of the bread is optional, but don't bet on keeping the almonds on top afterwards.)

Trust me, it's GOOD.

Loads o' updates

Hello from the Humid State!

Where do I begin? It's been a hectic month of August. I've been traveling like crazy - to New York (twice), Atlanta, Ft. Lauderdale, St. Charles/Chicago, Philadelphia and Orlando. Lots of training classes and website redesign meetings for work, but also fun trips to see friends in StC and Stacy in on the other side of FLO.

I hadn't been back to St. Charles in a full year - in fact, we moved the third week of August 2006. I admit that I cried when the plane touched down at Midway (and it wasn't from a fear of teetering off the runway, as some planes have done in the past at that crapshoot of an airport.) Got to spend tons of time with friends and library colleagues, as well as giving myself a tour of the outside of the old house on 6th St. Strangely enough, it hasn't been occupied for the past year, and looks almost exactly as it was when we left it. With the addition of several more weeds.

It was cold and rainy along the Fox River, so I actually bought a sweater for the first time in a year. (!) An excuse to stop by H&M, really....

A visit to Christ Community Church was also on the list. They're building a second addition to the Kids' World, and it looks amazing. Pastor Jim was still on summer sabbatical (bummer) but it was great to see old friends anyway.

Another major event in the Caulk household is that we were doggie parents of an Australian Shepherd for a few days. Our dog walker, Jim, noticed him on our portico when he came to walk Bandit. The Aussie followed him into the house like he owned the place, and proceeded to follow Jim and Bandit on their Wednesday walk. Not knowing what else to do, Jim put the new dog in the backyard. Jason found out from the vet that the Aussie (now dubbed Hobbes at this point) had a microchip and was registered, but the owner never called.

Unfortunately it was a no-go for Bandit, who wondered rather verbally who this interloper was. After a pretty intense session of growling and bared teeth, it was obvious that Mr. Spoiled wasn't going to allow another dog in the house. Understandable, considering that Bandit has spent the last nine years as Head Dog.

So, we were able to turn him over to the local Aussie rescue foster group, where he was adopted. Hobbes is enjoying his new life as one part of a pair, and loves his new family. So a good ending, although it was tough to let him go. (Check out the video to see why - dog eyebrows just kill me.)

Jas is transitioning to his new role as the director of product management for the interior door line. I have no doubt that he'll do a great job. Our jobs have really been stretching us like a bunch of Gumbys in terms of new experiences and challenges. I find out at the beginning of next month whether or not I will progress to the manager level. That is a positive step, as long as Blackberry ownership isn't required. :)

After a summer break, both of our Bible study groups start back up next week. Jason is doing one with a group of 20 & 30 somethings from our church, and I'm leading a women's group through Bible Study Fellowship. We're studying Matthew this semester, which I'm looking forward to.

Happy Labor Day! Hope you all are able to kick back and relax.

Love,
Michelle

Library Tribute from Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor writes a love letter to public libraries in "The Liberating Silence of the Library."

(If the article doesn't appear right away on the screen, go to the 90-day archive and click on 6/26/2007.)

"The library is the temple of freedom. Growing up, we kids were aware of how much of our lives was a performance for adults. In school, at church, in Scouts, adults were watching, cueing you, coaching, encouraging, commenting, but in the library, you didn't have to perform for the librarian. She simply presided over an orderly world in which you had the freedom of your own imagination. The silence was not repressive but liberating: to allow your imagination to play, uninhibited by others. "

Chopin, Mozart, and Caulk....

Hello all,

Enough fan mail has arrived calling for my return that I've decided to break Michelle's string of rants so as to share a post of my own.

Things here on the surface of the Sun are going well. I'm certain I'm the last one in the family to adjust to the Florida summer weather. Heck, Bandit stays outside longer than I do and he's got 3 inches of fur, black fur at that. Course, my devotion to keeping the albino complexion in vogue keeps me from bronzing up like Michelle does. I'm convinced that if I spent as much time in the sun as Michelle does I would simply catch on fire.

As a result of my desire to find productive things to do - indoors - we recently made the decision to acquire a new noise maker. After years of looking (and saving) I finally convinced myself to purchase a piano. A digital piano at that. Little did I realize that the next Yamaha I would buy would be one with keys and chords instead of wheels and a motor. As for any buyer's remorse, it's the furthest thing from my mind. I'm convinced the money was well spent and my free time from here on out will never be the same. The instrument is sophisticated enough to not only teach one how to play but can connect to the internet wirelessly and has a super cool karaoke function. You should hear Michelle belt out a tune or two... It's so rewarding to see her live her faith out loud by following God's command to make a joyful noise. Sadly the animals don't share my appreciation. Bandit does like to howl along though.

Hopefully you're all doing well too. Please know that you always have an open invite to visit. Just remember to bring a song on your next visit. Hope to see you soon...

Until next time.
Jas

'Twas the Night Before the Fourth....

...the neighbors were shooting off bottle rockets and the cat was snug under the bed, eyes as large as saucers...

Fireworks are legal in Florida (as well as concealed weapons, but that's another story) so no longer do we have to cross the border to MO or IN to procure a little pyrotechnics!

Update on assorted stuff:

For those of you who are curious how Bandit deals with the brutal heat and humidity, here's the answer: he blows his coat (sheds) and then regrows it twice as fluffy and soft. Yeah, we don't get it either. However, never fear, because the little guy wanders out to the pool deck and flops down in the direct sun for 20-minute naps. (The theory is, he's working on his tan, although we can't see it under the massive fur.)

Work is speeding right along. I'm still getting adjusted to the corporate life, although the transition has smoothed out somewhat. I have half-formed ideas bouncing around in my head regarding writing an article about making the career switch from public libraries to corporate. Just need a few isolated hours to get it onto the hard drive.

The new motorcycle has been an absolute blast for both Jason and me. I'm planning to get a "Ride 2 Live" tattoo this weekend to celebrate the new biker lifestyle. (Just kidding, Mom. Keep breathing.)

We've made some very good friends through work and church. That's the toughest part about moving and getting resettled. People always talk about chemistry in dating relationships, but it's also true for friendships. Some fizzle out pretty quickly, and some naturally click. We're getting to that clicking stage.

And finally, I'm back to volunteering. I lead a Month of Community Service event through work; the team of very dedicated volunteers performed assorted projects for the local homeless shelter/food bank, Metropolitan Ministries. We stuffed hundreds of pencil cases for a school supply drive, packed food boxes for families and helped out in the thrift store. And last Wednesday I went with church friends to the Hope Lodge, which provides housing for patients and families who are enduring cancer treatments. It was tough to see the difficulties the families were facing, but we all had a moment of joy with free hot dogs and sparklers. It really doesn't take much.

So, Happy 4th to you all! Enjoy your freedom and find a soldier to thank.

Love,

Michelle

The Total Weirdness that is Florida

A Florida man awoke with a severe headache and asked his wife to drive him to a hospital, where doctors found a bullet lodged behind his right ear, sheriff's deputies said. [Link to Full Story.]

Here's the thing about this article: it's not surprising. Odd stuff like this happens all the time in Florida.

The question that's been bugging me about this story - is the couple still together? Will the husband check his soup for poison every dinner? Does he sleep in the guest bedroom now?

A Loss and An Addition

The Florida Caulk contingent has experienced both a loss and an addition.

I'm sad to report that Mr. Fish passed away two weeks ago. He was quite the trooper, as far as goldfish go. Mr. Fish started life in a small bowl with a compatriot named Chekov. (Mr. Fish started life as "Tolstoy", but once Chekov passed, it didn't seem to make as much sense. He seemed content either way.) During our journey from St. Charles to Tampa, he sloshed around in a red thermos, which had its lid popped for air. There were several close calls, but a pinch of salt later, he made it safely to the new house and a deluxe tank. Unfortunately, the lifespan of the common household goldfish isn't very long, and he went to the great sea in the sky after 2 years. We were always glad to have him as a member of our animal menagerie.

The more uplifting news is that we took the plunge and bought a new motorcycle! It is a gorgeous 2006 Kawasaki Ninja 650, silver with red. I've been using it mainly for trips to the library and grocery store, although I plan to ride it to work as well. It has been over a year since I obtained my motorcycle license during a very soggy, cold April weekend.

Of course, the bike wouldn't be part of the family without a proper name. The new ride has been dubbed "Studs." Here's the story: Jason and I were walking Bandit one evening, and I casually mentioned that our five-year anniversary is approaching in November. I also casually mentioned that it would be great to be surprised with diamond earrings to celebrate the day. He stopped in the middle of the street, looked at me patiently, and said, "Babe, your diamond studs have an engine, two wheels and they're parked in the garage."

Oh. Okay then, let's ride!

(You can't wear earrings underneath a helmet, anyway.)

~M.

Life in the Normal Lane

...which in Tampa, is the far-right lane. A morning in traffic here gets the blood flowing, as there's a mix of caffiene-crazed, wild-eyed commuters, white-haired snowbirds going 30 miles under the speed limit, and those of us who just want to make it to work alive.

So what's new with us? Well, we found a church that we like quite a bit - Morningstar. It is 7 years old and meets in a local high school. It is quite a change from Christ Community, with its 3,000+ members - Morningstar has only 150 members. What stood out to us about Morningstar (after visiting at least six different churches) was the passion of the people and the solid teaching of the pastor. We're already seeking ways to get involved through a Bible study and serving opportunities. It's great to finally have a church home.

And while we're on the topic of churchy things, I was asked to be a group discussion leader in the Fall for the Bible Study Fellowship. BSF is an extremely intensive 7-year Bible study, with one book of the Bible covered per year. When we first moved here, I thought I'd take a break from leadership - goes to show how well my own plans stand up to God's. :)

We also resigned our rental agreement on the house - yay, no packing and no moving hassle! Although there are several other homes in our neighborhood for rent, I was stressing about where our roof would be come the end of August. Of course, with the hurricane season, our roof may literally end up down the block anyway.

Speaking of hurricane season (which begins June 1), we're all in the midst of preparing. Every time we go to the grocery store, we stock up on bottled water and things that require a can opener. If we are forced to evacuate, we also need to consider what to do with the zoo - Mr. Fish, Bandit and Ziggy. Thankfully, one of the local high schools will allow a limited number of crated animals. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Hope all is well with you.

Love,
M.

Travel Bug

I've been traveling quite a bit lately, mostly for work. In the fall, I had the opportunity visit Monterey for the Internet Librarian conference. Last Friday, I flew into Chicago to give a presentation for work on company search strategies. (That was a roundabout day - flew in at 10 a.m. to Midway and flew out six hours later from O'Hare.) Today I'm at the Computers in Libraries conference in Arlington, VA (land of large, tan-colored buildings.) Next weekend, Jason and I are heading to the live music capital of the United States - Austin, Texas. It will be great to have a little break, as we've both been working too much. J is averaging 60+ hours a week, and I'm hovering somewhere around 45 - 50. For the time being, this schedule is fine, but we agree that it shouldn't last forever. There are way too many dog parks to explore with Bandit, too many great books to spend time in, and too many days that go by outside of the confines of our office buildings. What do you think we should be when we grow up? What do you want to be? Let me know!

Peeps Special for Easter

Yeah, yeah, I know Easter isn't all about the candy and cute bunnies. But, can we take a moment and focus on those awful marshmalllowy confections called Peeps? No longer are they confined to just Easter - there are gingerbread Peeps, snowman Peeps, black cat Peeps... the list goes on and on. In honor of Peeps (although, as my family can tell you, I detest the little things), here are a few of the more creative ways people have used Peeps:

Peeps in a Microwave (we did this once to a gingerbread Peep over Thanksgiving. Healthy family fun!)
Lord of the Peeps - The Fellowship of the Peeps
Peeps Doing Research at Milikin University

You, too, can join the Peep fanclub.

Happy Peepin' Easter!

Signs It's Spring in Florida

1. Those oh-so-wintery brown and black flip-flops are rotated to the back of the closet in preference of the hot pink and bright orange ones.
2. Floridians stop shivering in their long-sleeve t-shirts and gleefully move on to tank tops.
3. It rained. For a day.
4. Convertible tops retreat after a month of being exposed.
5. Allergies resurface (after all, we do live in a moldy swamp.)

Happy Spring! I hope it isn't snowing where you are. If it is, remember that Casa Caulk is open year-round for visitors - we'll even feed you chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.

The Joy of Corporate-Speak

Every industry has a language of its own. Common language creates a sense of identity and belonging. Public libraries, for instance, are notorious for the TLAs, or Three Letter Acronyms. I have noticed the same dynamic in the corporate world, although the words themselves tend to change faster than hurricane season in Florida, sweeping through the executive peoples, then down to the minions.

Some examples, their definitions, and uses (or abuses):

Leverage: to utilize a skill, talent or experience. "We will leverage the tax team to create a brochure titled, Taxes and You: Without Both, There Would Be No Roads." I once counted the number of times a Head Cheese used "leverage" in his half-hour speech: 10 times. Please, for the love of all things linguistic, use a thesaurus.

Talk Offline (or Take It Offline): when it's in the best interest not to discuss an issue in a meeting or conference call. "That's really a topic that's of interest to no one here but you, Phil, so let's talk offline."

Bandwidth: the availability to take on a new project. "This project needs to be done by yesterday. Check Michelle's bandwidth and see if she can finish it."

Town Hall: a meeting between senior management and the little people. "We have to go to another Town Hall to hear about the company's strategy. If they make us drink the Kool-Aid this time, I'm so outta there."

Oligopoly: when two or three major companies dominate market share. Ok, so this isn't a corporate cliché; I just love the word. It sounds like one of the Muppets. "Big Bird and Mr. Oligopoly went on a field trip to the zoo, where they were shocked - just shocked - to see the bars on the cages."

Want more? Go to The Office Life.

Book on CD Overload

Since my commute is about 30 minutes each way, I've run rampant through the library's books on CD collection. Some of my latest picks:

The entire Sue Grafton Kinsey Millhone series (fabulous narrator)
Girl, 15, Charming But Insane (British YA humor from Sue Limb)
Fandom of the Operator by weirdo Robert Rankin (author of Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.)
Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak series (akin to Nevada Barr and her National Park mystery series, although Kate remains in one park in Alaska. Brrrr.)

I'm hooked on mysteries now. Someone please send me some suggestions, 'cause I'm nearly to the end of the library's smallish collection.

A Broken Door

It has taken me almost a month and a half to sort out and reassemble into thoughts a frightening intrusion that happened to Jason and me...here are the details:

I came home on Monday during the early evening to find a police officer and our neighbor Chris standing in our driveway. As if that wasn't alarming enough, the double front doors of the house were standing wide open. The police officer reported that someone had kicked in the front doors and taken several items from the office and our bedroom. I ran through each room, seeing drawers pulled open and papers thrown everywhere. Ziggy was hiding under the bed, eyes as wide as saucers. In my blind panic, I realized that Bandit had escaped.

Chris quickly informed me that our neighbors next door (bless them) had noticed a dog running around the neighborhood for about an hour before he planted himself in their front yard. They realized that the husky was ours and put him safely in their backyard. My theory is that Bandit had a blissful taste of freedom before becoming completely confused about where his new house was ... he tired out, ended up in the proximity and waited for further direction!

An inventory of the items missing reveled that the theives had taken our flat screen computer monitor, my MP3 player, a laptop, and unfortunately much of my jewelry. Most of the jewelry pieces were costume, with the exception of a necklace Jason had given me as a gift. Although they got into our small safe, no personal documents were taken. I do keep reasoning that it could have been much worse, which is certainly true.

Our beloved pets are safe and so are we. That's what counts. We have reassessed our personal safety measures within the house, and activated an alarm system. I slept with a baseball bat next to the bed for several weeks. The doors are fixed and reinforced. For the moment, that's all we can do to assure it won't happen again. The feeling of of being unsafe in the place that is supposed to provide solice and comfort - our home - is slowly easing over time.

For the friends and family who knew about it, thanks for your prayers and encouraging words. As I've talked to people about it, I've come to realize that this type of event is exceedingly common. It is difficult to understand why someone would believe breaking into a home is an acceptable behavior, but that's the way it is, simply put. It's not our place to feel bitter or angry over the long-term as a result of the crime, but to forgive and move on.

Love to all,
M.

Yum, Links!

I started a del.icio.us collection. Gee almighty, do I feel hip.

Enjoy.

...And Happy New Year, Too

We made it through airport security and back out again (Chapstick intact) during the Christmas vacation to St. Louis. I nearly cried when we landed in Missouri, homesickness hitting me in one big wave. Then we went outside in the 35-degree weather and I realized that I never want to live north of, say, Alabama, again. Funny how wimpy I've gotten in just four months.

That aside, it was wonderful to see family and friends. We spent a few laid-back days ripping into presents, eating cookies, chatting, eating more cookies... Then a road-trip up to Springfield, IL to visit the new Lincoln Library & Museum. The Museum was highly interactive and very well presented - it's worth the trip to Springfield just to spend a few hours discovering what made Lincoln's presidency so history-changing.

J and I were motivated by high holiday cookie consumption to jump back into the weight-lifting routine. The first day after was brutal - even lifting a can of Diet Coke was torture. However, we've recovered from sore muscles and are striving for three sessions a week. Bandit sits with us on the padded mat, acting as our personal trainer. (Actually, he mainly sleeps, which reminds us of what we'd rather be doing at the moment.)

So, has anyone made any resolutions? I heard somewhere that diet/exercise is the most popular resolution, followed by purchasing a motorcycle. Oh, wait, that's mine!

Happy New Year, all!

With love,
~M