We ain't got no room for boring

For boring we ain't got no room.

Told you I'd be back.

So, this weekend was Motorcar-ing with the Boyfriend in Iowa: Take Two.

I don't know what my boyfriend's fascination is with Muppets and Motorcar-ing but apparently it's a thing.

Remember last year when we went and he kept singing Mahna Mahna?

Like literally, we're riding and we've got headphones on and all the sudden "mahna mahna...doo doo, doo doo doo..."

So this year it was "We ain't got no room for boring, for boring we ain't got no room."

Over and over.

Which, if you watch any TV whatsoever, you have probably seen at least twice in the past month.

If not, watch this.



Congratulations, you are now cultured.

There are actually multiple, but that's the most recent.

It's catchy. So much so that it was repeated...over and over...all over Iowa.

But it's true. We ain't got no room for boring.

And it's ironic because after I showed the Old New Guy a picture of what we'd be riding on his exact words were, "well, you'll never be bored with him."

And I don't think I ever will.

That said, this weekend was awesome. We always have fun when we go anywhere together, but he gets especially excited if it has anything to do with riding rails - whether it be motorcars or roller coasters.

It was definitely worth the drive, though our first run didn't go as planned. About quarter down the track the battery died and we had to get towed 'til it was replaced. Luckily it was an easy fix and we were back on by the afternoon.

It was nice cause it was a shorter ride so we could jump back in. If it was a day trip we would have been screwed.

I was grateful cause Donny came with so I wasn't the only woman there. She's always fun to jam with and it's so funny because men think that women talk a lot but apparently they've never met railroad men - who talk far more than anyone else on the planet. While us two women were just ready to ride.

And of course the boyfriend is the young gun that everyone has to tease and all that. Yeah, I think the average age for riders was probably mid-60's. So that means I get teased. I got called the "mrs" a few times and just smiled.

Another conversation we've been having a lot lately. Which is his fault cause he brought up ring shopping.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Here are a few of my favorite moments and some pictures to go along with.

-Walmart, the other hotel in town
::Let's just say a certain rider decided that he and his girlfriend didn't need a hotel room to stay in the first night cause Walmart parking lots are free and comfortable. Grateful that man wasn't my boyfriend. But I guess it would be sort of an adventure. That's how his girlfriend took it....so understanding.

-Big Rocks
::What is it with Iowans and the big rocks in their front yards? And when I say big I mean big. Like look at this.

And it wasn't just the one house. They were everywhere.

Any ideas? I'm wondering if they're actually decorative or if it's more like a giant rock monster died in their front lawn and they were too lazy to move them, though it's been added that they're also a deterrent to zombies so perhaps that's part of it.

-Breakdown
::While the breakdown itself was not enjoyable, the conversation that followed was. He taught me all about motorcar engines and how they work. I feel highly educated and could maybe repeat like a third of it...cause it was all technical. But I'll look smart when I do it... if you know nothing about engines. At all.

-Where are the face trees? 
::Yes, that is the technical term. I tried to take different pictures than last year but it's hard cause it's the same track. I did, however, have to take more pictures of the face trees cause they are super cool.




-Crash Boom
::So the day was awesome and after everything was loaded into the backs of trailers and trucks everyone was just kind of standing around and talking when all the sudden, *squeal* *boom* *thunk, thunk* Some idiot driver hit a pole right next to the station. We're thinking drinking was involved. They tried to drive away but couldn't so they just sat there for a while before the cops showed up (whom we called btw). We drove by the next day to see the marks and there was a big dent in the pole and tire tracks all over the grass.

Smooth.

So, we went out with a bang.

Here are more fun pics:



the line up.



picture of a picture of a picture of a picture...



around the curve.



bridge 1.



bridge 2.



no idea what that means. any translators in the house?

If you want to see more pictures from the route see last year's post here. Or check Facebook.

And that was Iowa. After we came back we did even more train stuff when we toured the historic Amtrak train at the Haymarket. Then got some lunch and he crashed on my couch for a few hours before he had to head into work.

I went in today and got grilled. They're jealous.

Plus I got Fun Dip. So I'm at the desk and Superwoman is like, the AD wants to see you. So I go upstairs dragging my feet, thinking I'm gonna get yelled at and she hands me a box of Fun Dip and says "I hear you like these." "Yep." "Okay. That's all."

Thanks.

It reminded me of the home branch when Space Cadet came up to me all straight-faced and was like "I have a question for you."
"Okay."
"Do you like 7-up?"
I was all freaked I did something wrong. "You looked all serious!"
"I am serious, I gotta get rid of this 7-up!"

Also, remember how I was writing two different program proposals for work? I finally said "screw it" and combined them. Perhaps it'll actually get approved if I put forth all my effort on one project instead of worrying about dividing it up into two.

But baby steps. Gotta polish the proposal first. Then comes the approval process.

Alright, on to the music.

Tonight's rec is pretty recent.

Me and My Broken Heart - Rixton


Another British invasion. I think they're kind of One Direction wanna-bees, but it's a good song.

However, the first time I listened to it it drove me nuts cause it sounded exactly like something else. And it has for weeks so I finally gave up and googled it and came across these two.

What do you think?

Lonely No More - Rob Thomas



Unfaithful - Rihanna


Feels a bit like a mix of both.

Ah, apparently Rob Thomas helped write it.

Well that explains it. But not the Rihanna part.

Alright, I'm out.

Will hopefully be back at some point this week.

Let's go places.

Maybe I'll break hearts and be as fast as you.

I'm back.

So....Easter.

I was bit of a Debbie Downer.

Actually that's an understatement.

And over-used, let's try Pessimistic Patty.

Melancholy Melissa.

Somber Sandra.

Bereaved Brenda.

Dismal Denise.

I could do this all day.

Weepy Wendy. Oo, I like that.

I was a bit of a Weepy Wendy - scratch that - I was a lot of a Weepy Wendy.

Which, apparently, isn't very festive.

Especially when surrounded by family.

I've lost all self-confidence.

Usually I'm good with the fake it 'til you make it - especially at work, but I had no energy so it didn't work out so well.

I don't even know what happened, but for like the last few months I'm just not me.

No faith in my abilities whatsoever, gave up writing, stopped hanging out and corresponding with friends outside of the boyfriend and work - just not me.

Coincidentally the start of all that happened about the same time I gave up the blog.

Well, not gave up, but let go. I went from posting every day to posting twice a month and now look at me.

Must have some correlation so, as a step toward more self-confidence, the blog is back.

Probably not full-force posting every night, but every few nights would be good.

Though it also coincided with me giving up pop so perhaps that's a factor as well.

Eh, we'll go with the blog. I miss the blog.

It's a step.

That aside, Easter was excellent.

Church was good - I did actually break out into laughter in the middle of the sermon because I was all Weepy Wendy and I look down at the bulletin and right on the cover in big capital letters it says "WHY ARE YOU CRYING?"

Hmmm...it's like he knew.

Anyway, excellent food, fun with family, enjoyed the mad storm that took place the second my dad yelled "go!" so the kids could find the eggs.

It was ridiculous, we were playing baseball all afternoon and it was perfect out. Then we decide to the do the egg hunt and suddenly WOOSH major wind. And then the second they find all the eggs it starts to rain.

So I guess it could have been worse.

I got my token snickers bar.

King size.

And a cadbury.

So I was good.

That's part of hiding the eggs, you know where to find all the good stuff so you know exactly where to head when he yells go.

We used to hide all the good stuff in the mailbox but we were confined to the backyard while the frontyard was being hijacked by all the baseball.

But it worked. Same as every year by the end we were just walking and dropping eggs on the ground cause we ran out of spaces to put them.

That's the joy of my family - far too much candy. Didn't really matter though, with all that wind everything ended up on the ground anyway.

And speaking of the ground - I mowed the day before and you know how like, when you mow or you're driving or whatever you kind of zone out and go into your own world? I'm like jamming in my headphones, trying not to be Weepy Wendy and all the sudden the ground starts moving ahead of me and I look and there were like freakin' six snakes in front of me.

Needless to say I screamed a bit.

And then ran over them a few times just to make sure they were dead.

Second Sister said she would have paid to see that footage.

Thanks for the moral support.

But it worked, I didn't see any at all on Easter.

After all the family fun I stopped by to see the boyfriend who's prepping the motorcar for our trip.

Did I mention we're going motorcar-ing again?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about - which most of you won't and don't feel bad because 2 and a half years ago I would have been right there with you - go here: Nothing says romance quite like riding motorcars in Iowa.

Yes, we ride in them on the railroad tracks. No, we won't get run over by trains - they book the tracks ahead of time.

And it's like a big thing now. They're basically retro railroad inspection cars which the railroad crew would ride in when they needed to go and fix the trains. Now they've been replaced by those pickups with the rail wheels, but there are still plenty of these around hiding in garages and all that.

So much so in fact that railroads host these organized runs all over the place and people line up to ride theirs down the tracks.

My boyfriend being one of them.

Me, being the supportive girlfriend that I am, decided to go with him on one last year. And...it actually wasn't that bad.

Not something I'd do every weekend like he would if he got the chance, but every once in a while would be fun.

Hey, it's not like trains are an unfamiliar concept to me. Did you see the house I grew up in or the model train layouts that my dad used to drive everywhere?

Anyway, we're headed back to Iowa soon to the same tracks. I'll attempt to take new pictures.

What else?

Oh, we finally finished the Matrix Trilogy.



Scale of Awesome puts this one at around a 7/10. Good, but not as good as the first of the series. And the ending made me sad.

What else?

Well, there's today.

I decided that today was gonna be rockstar awesome and it actually turned out to be.

Started off with a call from the doc. I got my blood tested last week and passed with flying colors.

Apparently she's jealous of my cholesterol levels....which is something to cheer about I guess?

Also I talked to Superwoman today about something I had proposed in the past....and shot myself in the foot.

But in a good way. I think.

The Library Director - aka my boss's boss's boss - gave a presentation and she had these handouts that talked about branch statistics.

Apparently the average age of our branch is 26.

aka Me.

And I think it's weird that we don't offer any programming for anyone of that age demographic.

I mean, we do have adult programs but the attendance is usually of the much older variety.

I tied that statement in with the fact that a bunch of teens are about to age out of TAB and want me to lead some sort of college-aged advisory board (but you can't call it that because then you're leaving out a key demographic so we're still working on a name).

The only problem is that if we did something of that sort it would be aimed more at the 18-24 demographic.

So, Superwoman assigned me the joyful task of coming up with not one but two different program proposals.

One for 18-24, the other for 25-30.

But, I got to pick my team the first time I asked about the TAB extension and I asked if they would be interested in helping again and they were all for it. Plus I added a new member - KT.

The thing about writing proposals is you have to pace yourself because if you use all your good stuff up in the first one, you're screwed in the second one.

Which is why I'm grateful I have a team.

Sent draft proposals to them, hopefully they'll get a chance to look over them soon after which I'll forward them to Superwoman and then hopefully in the fall we can start.

But, nothings a done deal yet. However, I am passionate about both of these projects and I intend on following through.

And that was today.

Well, that and The Voice.

Tuesday = Elimination Night

Lost one of my top 20, but still looking strong.


Voice Top 20

Christina Grimmie - Adam

Bria Kelly - Usher

Sisaundra Lewis - Blake 

Dawn and Hawkes - Adam - eliminated in second battles

Brothers Walker - Usher - eliminated in battles

Cierra Mickens - Shakira - lost to Emily, stolen by Usher - eliminated in second battles
Clarissa Serna - Shakira - eliminated in second battles

Audra McLaughlin - Blake 

Cary Laine - Adam - eliminated in battles

TJ Wilkins - Usher - eliminated in live rounds

Alaska and Madi - Blake - eliminated in battles

Delvin Choice - Adam 

Ddendyl - Shakira - eliminated in second battles

Sam Behymer - Adam - eliminated in second battles

Paula Deanda - Blake - eliminated in battles

Kaleigh Glanton - Blake - eliminated in second battles

Jake Worthington - Blake

Madilyn Paige - Usher - eliminated in second battles

Emily B - Shakira - eliminated in second battles

Kat Perkins - Adam

Top three are still in it, but I'm secretly rooting for my number 20 - Kat Perkins.

Ultimate rock chick.

Reminds me so much of Jordis who was my pick for season two.

And follows me on Twitter.

Though so do Audra McLaughlin and Bria Kelly. Surprisingly nice people...

Anyway, check out this clip. Kat is mad wicked.

Magic Man


she's gonna go far.

Alright, time for songs of the day.

Sledgehammer - Team Adam


I love Team Adam this year. Christina's my number one and Kat's my underdog plus Delvin is excellent in his own right.

Plus huzzah! Peter Gabriel.

Aaaannnd another flashback - Song You Know But Forgot You Knew It

As Fast As You - Dwight Yoakam


i love this guy. he and george strait are the epitomy of classic country.

Alright, that's all I got. I'm gonna crash.


I'm back to Lie to Me. Only watched the episodes once the first time around and forgot who's guilty already so it works.

I need you darling, come on set the tone. If you feel you're falling won't you let me know.

Big day.

Slept in - excellence - then hit up the annual Volunteer Recognition Banquet.

As the volunteer supervisor I got to go set up tables, welcome the volunteers, eat fancy food, listen to speeches, then take down and get paid for it.

Our set up only took a record setting 30 minutes so we had time to take fun pictures.



Stealing that picture from one of our many fabulous Sarah's.

We have a lot of Sarah's. And Julie's. And Pat's.

Granted I can't talk, there are two of me too.

We're a goofy bunch, but lots of fun.

The food was good, my kids had fun, we took lots of pictures, I'm calling it a success.

After which I cleaned my apartment - kitchen and bathroom included.

Not sure what to do with myself now, it's almost too clean.

Don't worry, that won't last.

Along the way I bought a bunch of fun new music for my iPod (this after buying over 100 songs for Dad this past weekend. Did I mention how it's all fun and games for us kids to buy him an iPod but when you're the only one around to download them... now I come home and he has lists for me. It's wildly amusing. He even calls when it's been a while to see when I'm coming home. He used to have lists of reality TV episodes I needed to watch, now it's downloading music.)

Anyway, I went Pentatonix crazy - I love iTunes, they have everything - and then, for fun, searched the top lists and ran into this one.

This post is actually just an excuse to post this song as its my new obsession. If you haven't heard it already listen to it now, it's fantastic.

Sing - Ed Sheeran


It only took about 30 times of listening to it before I realized how much it reminds me of my favorite Rolling Stones song. One that I've posted multiple times but will post again.

Miss You - Rolling Stones


Compare and contrast, ready, go.

Didn't hear it the first time, now I can't not hear it.

Now I'm off to watch the second Hobbit. Or perhaps I should save that and watch it with the boyfriend. We skipped seeing it in theaters. Having it on DVD means I can fast forward through the boring stuff.

An option I wish I had when we saw the first one in theaters.

Is that sad?

I think it's just because I liked the trilogy so much that my expectations were high and it fell short.

I can only imagine how I'll feel after the upcoming Star Wars movie. My love for that series nearly quadruples my love for any other movie series.

Except the Mummy series that is (minus the third of course, god that was awful). And Charlie's Angels but there's only two of those. And Harry Potter. And the Hunger Games.

Maybe only triple of the Die Hard series. And the Marvel series. But other than that....

Did I mention I liked sequels?

That's all I got. Have a rockstar weekend.

Keep calm and flame on.

I know I said I was gonna post more last week but then I got sick so...that didn't happen.

101.6 fever, for real people.

Okay, so what did you miss?

Made more progress on the zombie apocalypse. (scroll down if you're lost)

Queen of the Known Universe has joined my army of misfit toys. She has volunteered to build a flamethrower.

Screw Amazon, we'll build our own using car mufflers and a welder.

Keep Calm and Flame On.

She's also graciously volunteered to be our fire department liaison. I know, such a sacrifice for someone doesn't like firefighters at all...that was sarcasm.

Have you seen her Firemen Fridays section of Facebook?

The Old New Guy said he'd man the tablesaw, and when I asked our newest staff addition - who tragically doesn't have a nickname, but I'm on it - what skills would make us want her on our team she replied she watches a lot of Survivor and she's good at assembling Ikea furniture.

So I'm putting her on the mechanical and logistics squads. She can help us plan and build an endgame.

Still gotta talk to the rest of our merry band at the work branch, I'll keep you posted.

I also continue to eat lunch with the Queen of the Known Universe in the basement facing the empty screen. It's basically like an white board but with our position it looks like we're at a theater or something.

Now we say "down in front" to anyone who walks past while we're eating. Even though there's nothing on the screen.

What else?

Life Size Game Day was a big hit. Had 10 of my TAB kids plus one of their friends come and play life size angry birds, candyland and scrabble, it was awesome.

Here are some pics of our epic layout.









Big thanks to the New Guy for his help. We got pretty into the design, as you can tell.

What else?

Went to Bubby's play. He was Moses. Got to rap, it was amusing.

They had a silent auction beforehand made up of random donations and then you bid and the profits go to the school.

Here was one of the items...



I was like, oh good god.

And then mom bid on it.

But only once and then she got beat out.

Although it would have made an interesting addition to dad's cabin decor.

I did finally see the boyfriend this weekend. That's how I got sick, cause he had it, well, has it. Interestingly enough our doctors diagnosed us with two different things. Granted mine was in a rush to get me out of there so his was probably right.

But when I saw him we watched the second Matrix...what is that one Reloaded? Right?



Scale of Awesome says 7/10. Was good but not as good as the first. Just the third one left.

And that's basically it.

I know.

But I was sick.

So I slept a lot, and then when I couldn't sleep I watched Iron Man, then Thor, then Captain America, then the Avengers.

Did I mention I was out for three days?

I skipped a few in the series (Hulk and Iron Man 2) but I really don't like the Hulk (except if they made one with Mark Ruffalo I'd probably watch it) and then I figured Iron Man 1 was good enough to get me started.

Which Hulk movie do they claim anyway? Cause there were two within a few years of each other. Edward Norton and Eric Bana.

Bana was 2003, Norton was I think 2008. Hmmm... will have to look into that.

Finally watching Anna Kendrick on SNL. Very amusing so far. I love how many of the sketches are put on in song. But it's Anna Kendrick so you have to make her sing.

And speaking of singing....on to the music.

What was that segment called? Songs You Should Know?

Or Why Don't People Know This Song?

Or something like that, you get my point.

Here are a few more of those. Give them a chance, they are wicked awesome.

16 Military Wives - Decemberists


cheer them on to their rivals...

Since You've Been Gone - Theory of a Deadman


this was my first ever music rec on this blog and it's still one of my favorite songs.

We Used To Be Friends - Dandy Warhols


*clap* *clap*

and that's all I got.

More to come later.

"The deaf guy's right, you are a nice lady."

Holy crap I hit the 100,000 view mark.

Should really start posting more, I don't feel like I've earned it.

But I'm on it!

Lots to post.

And more will follow, I promise.

No idea how I went from every day to like twice a month, that's madness, madness I tell you!

Let's start with the zombie apocalypse.

There's this new patron at work whom I have amusing conversations with when she comes in. She said she was thinking about the zombie apocalypse and who from her work she would choose to have on her team. She said probably no one would pick her to be on their team but it was her fantasy so she was automatically included.

It got me thinking about the zombie apocalypse and what would happen if I was stuck at the library when it began.

I think we'd have an awesome team. I mean, we're smart people.

And I don't say that to be an ass, most of us do have advanced degrees, granted none of them in killing zombies, but still, we have the smarts to learn how to.

And plenty of reading material on it - have you checked out the young adult area lately? Tons of books on surviving the zombie apocalypse.

And because we've got brains on our side we'll figure out how to set things like booby traps (you'd be surprised by what you'd find in our basement) and strategize for an endgame.

Because of our collection of books, DVDs, and CD's we have plenty of entertainment to last us years. Plus access to the internet and lots of comfortable seating areas.

But I ain't sleeping in the sick room bed. I'll sleep on the floor before I'll do that. And actually have, in the basement, in the periodical stacks. Set an alarm to wake myself 15 minutes later, huzzah for breaks.

Anyway, because of our location we have great proximity to both food and booze. And the Walgreens around the corner for extra supplies.

And we have a security guard with a carrying permit whose job it would be to not only guard the place, but take teams out to bring supplies back.

So we do have some muscle.

Plus it's a library so if we were open when it happened we'd be joined by people with a variety of different skills.

I'd want Wordie on my team. He's a badass.

The only problem with our locale is the glass windows. We'd have to do something about that. Board them up with old shelves I supposed. There's plenty of those in the basement.

Yes, these are the thoughts that we have at work. Anything to add comrades?

So there's that.

What else?

I've started eating lunch in the basement with the Queen of the Known Universe.

We find it amusing because we sit on the same side of the table and in front of us there's this big screen like we're waiting for a movie to start or something. Though she's usually reading or on her computer and I'm either playing hearts or sudoku on my ipod.

Oh, got a couple of Scale of Awesome's for you.

I finally saw The Matrix.



Well, I shouldn't say finally saw, I should say finally completed watching - I did see about 2 minutes of the beginning with my cousins before I fell asleep cause it was like 3AM when we started it back in the 90's.

I remembered none of it and asked the boyfriend a million questions as it went on.

Was totally grossed out by the pod scene, but the rest was pretty bitchin', giving this one a 9/10 on the Scale of Awesome.

We now have to watch the rest of the series. Luckily I gave him the trilogy on blu-ray for Christmas.

Also, on the opposite of the movie spectrum, though I guess not completely since this one did involve time travel so it was sort of sci-fi-ish but really not...you've got About Time.



Not as good, but really from the preview I wasn't expecting much. Scale of Awesome puts that one around 5/10. Had its moments, but they were few and far between.

Did I mention that Attachments by Rainbow Rowell is like an 11/10 on the Scale of Awesome? If you have no idea what I'm talking about scroll down, it's basically all I talked about in the last two entries. Did you hear her YA book Eleanor and Park is gonna be made into a movie?

I've started a new novel in an effort to give myself space from Beth, Jennifer and Lincoln, it's called The Martian by Andy Weir. About a man stranded on mars. It's funnier than it sounds. But I'm not far enough into it to give it a fair rating really so I'll skip that for now.

I'm also doing a ton of editing, which is always a 10/10, and why is it that whenever I watch something with an accent - even if it's just a clip - that for the next few hours I can only talk in that accent?

Like this entire post since that About Time clip has been written in a British accent.

I'm aware you don't see it that way, but perhaps now you'll read it that way.

Crimony. Moving on.

Life Size Game Day is coming up on Saturday so I finished my final preparations and actually went up to 4th to visualize it. I think I found a way for all three games to coexist. We're playing Candyland, Scrabble and Angry Birds. Gonna be an interesting afternoon. But only if people show up. Otherwise it'll be lame.

Apparently I have no life when the boyfriend gets sick because I went to bed at 9:30 last night. For serious, I woke up at 11:30 and went what the crap? It actually worked? And fell immediately back to sleep.

Oldest Sister would call me a panty-waste for going to bed that early so I'm pushing for at least 10 tonight.

Oh look, I've made it.

Thinking about turning on some Whose Line and crashing early again.

Last night it was the NC vs. Stanford game. Go trees. But UConn is gonna dominate.

Is that really their mascot, the tree? I guess I can't really talk cause I'm a Cornhusker fan.

To be fair we used to be the bug-eaters so it has slightly improved.



good change, a good...change.

Alright, and on to my new music segment called Why Don't People Know This?

or was it Songs You Should Know?

I can't remember.

Either way listen to these, they're fantastic.

Something Good Can Work - Two Door Cinema Club


yes i've posted that one before, just not recently.

You Are What You Love - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins


another one i've posted frequently, but it's just so good!

one more and i'm out.

This last one is one of my favorite songs of all time. Like if I ever get married it will be played at my reception.

Reflecting Light - Sam Phillips


and yes that is the most-posted video on this blog so I'll switch it up, here she is performing it live at Borders Books.



go with that one to spice it up. yes, she is highly amusing and entertaining.

and that's all i got.

i hope you all are having rockstar weeks.


oh and if you're wondering about the title of this post - one of our regular patrons is a deaf gentleman. one day he needed quarters. as i do not know how to sign we had a lovely conversation on a slip of paper at the end of which he told me i was a nice lady. i took the slip and put it in the back of my nametag. the zombie apocalypse lady asked about said slip and i explained. on the way out she said that over her shoulder.