Libraries in Colorado!

It's been a while since I've posted on here, but hey! I'm still here! Well, not at UP here, but I think you catch my drift.  Anyway, I hope summer has been treating everyone well! I know mine has had its ups and downs, but I've enjoyed it for the most part. You can find out more on my blog...

So library adventures in Colorado?
How does that happen, right?  I wasn't even planning on having library adventures as I headed to this Rocky Mountain state in July, but it happened.  

For starters, my hotel had a library in it!  I didn't get a chance to visit it because people were always in it when I passed by, but it was right next to the elevators so I saw it frequently.  It was just a small room filled with books and a few computers. I just didn't know that a library was an amenity at a hotel.  Different, eh?

The whole purpose for the trip to Colorado was to attend my cousin's wedding.  Best wishes to the bride and groom! While we were outside of the church to see the newlyweds drive off in a limo, I noticed the library across the street! haha I wasn't the only one that noticed either; my cousin's girlfriend asked if it was open. Classic!

Could you imagine having a wedding IN A LIBRARY?  The Today show was talking about unconventional ways to have a wedding, and people were getting married at stores, amusement parks, underwater, and dressed up as their favorite comic book or movie.  Crazy! Just makes me wonder if a library has ever been a place to hold a wedding ceremony...

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Before the close of our trip, we visited Manitou Springs, which is around the Colorado Springs area.  Checked out a couple points of interests, like Pike's Peak, Cliff Dwellings, and Cave of the Winds.  Driving through town, I found the public library of Manitou Springs.  Yes, again, I did not go inside.  We were sitting in traffic when I took this picture.

Looks so tranquil, hidden beneath green trees in the summer sunshine! Ah...! I wish I could have gone inside the libraries I saw on this trip.

It's cool that Rick and I are checking out or at least seeing different libraries around the country.  I definitely think this segment should continue.  It would be awesome if we even visited libraries around the world!

Madison and I were discussing how libraries are such a central place for knowledge with all the books.  It's truly fascinating, and I think that's what I really enjoy about libraries.  You can get lost in a book and uncovering a multitude of facts from cover to cover.  It's one of the best feelings to gain new interesting information. :)

Library Travels.

On July 10, 2010 a good friend of mine from 6th Grade, Kathryn Fisken, and I traveled down to Seattle. To be specific the University of Washington Campus. Like many of my friends who knew I went down to the UW Campus, I bet you're wondering why we went down there. Well you see, we went because of the following reasons:

1. I really wanted to visit the library that looks like the Great Hall from Harry Potter. (I'll elaborate on that more in the post)
2. I wanted to hang out with Kathryn because she honestly is one of the few friends I have left from that long ago. Also, we just wanted to hang out at UW seeing as she goes there for school.

Seeing as one of the reasons as to why I wanted to visit UW was because of their libraries, I found this an opportunity to add to the libraries I've visited. Seeing as Tarra wrote a blog on the different libraries she visited, I thought I'd add to it :). Maybe this could become like a little segment Tarra and I do throughout the year(s).

Anyways, there was one library in particular that I wanted to visit, and that was the Harry Potter library. It's pretty much the library that looks like the Great Hall from Harry Potter. Unfortunately, the timing Kathryn and I had wasn't the greatest because the library wasn't even open, but here's a picture for you to see what the library looks like, haha.



If you look carefully, you can see that there was a wedding going on at the time. In fact, there were three different weddings going on that day at the campus. For those that don't to UW, the Harry Potter library is actually named Suzzallo. Here's a different shot of the library from a different angle :)

Seeing as Kathryn and I couldn't get into that library, we had to settle for the other library that was open on the weekend during summer session. This library was named Odegaard. Right away I could see many differences from their library compared to ours at the University of Portland. Before any of you start to make comments, I'm aware that their library will be different from ours seeing as they have so many more students than us. I know we can't compare a campus that is about 45,000 students to our 3,000 students. But the differences made it really cool.

If there was something similar between their library and our library, it was that on the main floor there was a place to sit, and look at computers. [Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from our UP library. You'll just have to use your imagination to try picture something up!] This area though is kind of their lobby area, or in our case at UP it's the area that would be near the offices.

One of the other things that caught my attention was the stairs in this library. Obviously, since we have a small library we don't have that many staircases. In fact, we have maybe like one main staircase that takes us between all the three floors in our library. Thinking about it though, the staircase that does take us between all floors isn't placed in the best place within the library, ha. It's a good thing though that the library will be getting a serious makeover!




It was just really cool to see how intricate the stairs were also. I felt like I was in Hogwarts looking at the way the stairs were built, haha. (Me and my Harry Potter love!)

The one last thing I would like to touch base on about UW's library compared to ours was the computer lab. Again, we have a small campus, so there's no need to have more computers. Well, in my opinion I think our library could use some more computers in the computer areas. Yeah, people bring their laptops, but sometimes we need to print things. I might be counting wrong, but  the thing is, we have like 8 circular tables in the main part of the library that house 4 computers each. If you look at the photo [click to enlarge it] you can see that there are 8 circular tables with 4 computers each. What's around those tables is obviously more computers. The other thing you guys can't see is that this is only half the computers that they have on this floor. Yes, there's more computers on this floor and the floor above and below this one. CRAZY!!


Right away I kind of got jealous at UW's library, but you know what they need a library like this seeing as they are a larger school. It's a good thing to know though that the library at the University of Portland is getting remodeled. Unfortunately, it won't be during my time. (That just means that I'll have to maybe come visit the library once it's finished and running)

That's it for my library travels, I hope to have more this upcoming school year!

PS. This post is about a month overdue [library joke, haha]. Sorry about that though :)

P.S.

You've all just been punk'd! I didn't actually win. It was a tie. Either that or someone messed with the voting. So there, I admit it, since I'm sure someone messed with voting, Michael, your cookies were better. Congratulations. =)

Revelations/Morals/Lets learn something!

As I was taking a long walk during my dinner break, I was pondering what I would write in a post once I got back. Surely I would talk about the competition Michael and I had. However, when I had left, the results had been different.

When I went on my walk, I had been losing, BIG TIME. I had basically given, no thrown, no chucked, no HEAVED, in the towel because there was no chance I could possibly catch up. However, I can't seem to figure out how this is possible aside from one of those epic underdog stories in those movies that, although they say were inspired by a true story or based off a true story, really can't possibly be anything but false. BUT! It ended in a big win for Madison Blake! Yes Michael, I won! The Bake-Off: Round 2: Funfetti cookies ended with a win for me! SO TAKE THAT! You owe me Yo-cream.

I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I know it may be heartbreaking for you.

But back to what I was originally talking about, as I was walking around the UP neighborhood, I had accepted the fact that I had already lost, even thought the competition had yet to be completed. Lo and behold to find out that the underdog prevails! I guess the moral of the story is, don't give up. Life isn't for certain and who knows, Santa might throw an extra piece of chocolate in your stalking.

SPEAKING of Santa, as I was walking around, a Kris Kringle figure passed me on his old fashioned bike. He was wearing shorts, a top hat, and was carrying a 24 bottled case of diet coke on the back of the bike. I guess he is watching his weight. Or as Tarra put it,"Slimming it down in the summer and putting it all back in the winter." Good word choice Tarra. I always knew your communications degree would come in handy. =D

In all honesty though, a Thursday at the library is about as intriguing as watching an apple core rot. Most people are gone because there is no class tomorrow, so therefore, I Facebook. Yes, that is how I spend my valuable time that could be spent productively is on one of the biggest social networking sites of our generation doing absolutely nothing. And to top it off, Taio Cruz is stuck in my head. Lovely.

I hope everyone is having a glorious summer, a swell summer, a warm summer, because it is definitely not warm in Portland.

Signing off in...Madison's Corner!


Yep, still sounds cheesy. But its here to stay. =D

P.S.! And this is big. As I went to go type the word underdog earlier in this blog post, I look up, and this guy is walking out of the library, with the word UNDERDOG plastered on his shirt. I could have died on the spot, but that would have meant the library would have gone unsupervised, and we can't have that, now can we?

Its me!

Hey all! Its Madison!

I know, I know, Tarra posted a blog saying I would be updating more this summer, but I have been so busy with work and play, I haven't been as diligent as I should be. But I'm here now! Why today, you ask? What is so special about today?

Well....

Today I am the supervisor for today! And I am large and in charge! And to start the day off, Michael-Senior circulation worker- and I decided to have a bake-off to see whose brownies were better. We will find out at the end of the day! Next on the agenda, the circulation workers and I-might i just interject that this is kind of cool that you get to see into the life of a worker, as opposed to your original viewpoint of a library goer patron such as Tarra and Rick- is a little competition. A patron requested 8 books from our library, so I gave half to Angie and half to Michael to see who would retrieve them first.

And who won???

Michael! And Angie came in close second. I only deemed it necessary to give them paper clip gold medals (minus the yogurt cups like in the office) but instead used post it notes. I wonder what else I will think of on this glorious Saturday at the library....

I have a question for all of you. Is it nerdy that I and many of the circulation workers enjoy tattle-taping all of the DVDs-putting a magnetic tape on the DVDs? It is so much fun! You all know you are jealous.

I hope my post was all to your taste, and I hope to be posting more, as more interesting things happen in...Madison's Corner! That sounds like a cheesy PBS show or a column in a big time magazine. I'm keeping it.

Signing off!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:

CAITLIN CHU

Note to Tarra: I almost forgot that the three of us took a picture together at Relay for Life. Had I forgotten it would have been a picture of Kurt, Caitlin, and me. *phew*

How old is Caitlin now!? FINALLY 19!!

While we're not in the library to really celebrate her birthday, Tarra (mainly Tarra) and I thought that it was deserving to give Caitlin here a birthday blog. If I were you guys, just pretend that we're all in the library. Heck, pretend that you're in your library back at home :)

Seeing as Caitlin has just turned 19, this upcoming school year she'll be faced with her fellow classmates turning 20, haha. It's alright Caitlin, you aren't the youngest of our class, just pretty close to being there :P

For those that are new to the blog, you've got about 80+ some posts to catch up, but for the sake of catching you up, Caitlin is one of our many followers. She has been there since the beginning. When I say that though I don't mean she's been in the library since the beginning, but she has been following us since the very first post. I'm pretty sure she even commented on that post. Take a look for yourself. Besides gracing the blog with her comments, Caitlin also made a few appearances in the blog as well. Although, there might not be a lot of blogs tagged with Caitlin's name, Tarra and I both know that Caitlin went from following the blog from her room to eventually being in the action of the blog as she studied in the library. In fact, I remember when I posted up the final vlog Caitlin was on that watching it within the 10 minutes that they had been up. That's some loyalty there!

So Caitlin, from Tarra and me: We wish you a Happy 19th Birthday. May it be an awesome year. I know 19 was (and still is) a good year from me. Thank you so much for being a follower from day one. You've been here with this blog when it started out rough and you've still managed to follow this blog as it under goes some drastic changes. Thanks so much Caitlin!

P.S. To our readers/followers, expect more birthday blogs to grace the pages of The Adventures of Rick & Tarra.

Sno-Isle Public Library.

Since my days, as of right now, of being at University of Portland have taken a pause. I get the pleasure of going to my public library. As I said in my closing statement of the spring semester's blogs, it's definitely not the same. I knew right away walking in that I was, for the most part, the only student here who was going to a university rather than a community college, but hey, college is college.

So right now though, I'm sitting within the stacks only because almost every flippin seat seems to be taken. Also, it feels really weird being one of the few people with a laptop ...

As for my reasons coming to my library though, it's not just because I have this void in my heart that says "RICK GET TO THE LIBRARY!" I'm here because 1) I lost my library card from my junior year of high school, so obviously I had to get a new one. They look different, but 2) Like my friend Tarra, reading used to be something I enjoyed, but then I got to high school and then college rolled around. I don't think I've found the time to truly just sit down on my couch at home and read a good book for the hell of just reading it. Maybe even connecting with the characters. Finding all of those underlying messages that the author is trying to get the reader to understand. So I'm here to check out some books to read this summer.

Well, I'm off to go check out some of those books, especially Crime and Punishment!

To our followers: Are you guys reading anything this summer that isn't a text book? I'm not going to lie, I would love to know what you guys are reading, if you're reading anything at all. I'm pretty sure Tarra would enjoy knowing too :)

PS. As for the atmosphere here, people need to SHUT UP because they are talking so flippin loud. It definitely is weird being in a library with high school and even middle school students. eh.