Michael Buble's "Feelin' Good" As Never Done Before

If you are a baby boomer like me, senior living is quickly taking on a new meaning. But just because we're getting older doesn't mean we can't still have fun. Watch this video to see how a group of seniors at the Clark Retirement Center in Michigan prove they still know how to have FUN!

Consider This

It's easy to take life for granted. Here's a profound five-minute talk from someone who survived the Hudson River plane crash and no longer takes life for granted.

A New Fresh Franklin

Wow! Just had a sneak peek inside the soon-to-be completed remodel of the Franklin Avenue Library and it is quite impressive. There’s an expansive new walkway on the southeast corner of the building. Upon entering the building, my first impression was of how warm and inviting the colors are. Much of the shelving is in place already and some of the furniture has been delivered.

Almost double the size of the old building, it’s challenging to remember where things were before. The Circ Desk is roughly in the same place and there’s an expanded area for additional checkout stations. There’s a small conference room and study rooms! The meeting room is on the southwest corner and it’s beautiful, equipped with new AV and a colorful carpet.

There’s a whole new Teen area with spaces for homework and lots of plug-ins for laptops and Wi-Fi users. Adults are going to love the extra lounge seating and the fireplace near the north wall. The librarians are creating neighborhood collections of popular subjects like politics, green living, cooking for those patrons that love to browse the collection. The cherry wood furniture is sure to complement all the books. And the colorful lighting fixtures sprinkled throughout the building are just delightful. It’s like they have blended retro with futuristic.

But wait till you see the Kids area! Colors have blossomed across the walls, the floors, and along the counters. The circular story room, with its two-story windows, sky light, and bench seating is the perfect spot for parents to sit with youngsters just learning to read. There’s even a “chair and a half” designed for lap-reading. Toddlers can play peek-a-boo through the interior windows of the story room and there are kid-sized counters for craft activities.

The move begins next week. Staff members are excited to re-claim the building and fill it with more than 108,000 books and materials. The wait is almost over. (And I haven’t even mentioned all the green features. More on that in another blog.)

See you at the ribbon-cutting on Sunday, August 21 at 3:00 PM!

The Skype's the Limit

The DMPL is offering a free program about how to use Skype™ next Tuesday, July 26 at 6:30 PM at the Central Library. So this past weekend, I decided to get a little head start by downloading a Skype app onto my Galaxy Tablet™. And it was simple to do! I signed up for an account. And that was simple too!

Then I decided to test it out with my Oregonian daughter. I called her Skype number and she immediately answered, which was very cool! We could hear each other, but she couldn’t see me and I couldn’t see her. So I tried pushing buttons, and looking at the settings, and my daughter kept insisting that I should just click on the change settings button next to her picture.

She is a pretty typical twenty-something, sarcastically offering the suggestion to get her little sister to fix it for me! I felt like a Luddite—but after several attempts with increasingly exasperated comments from my daughter, I did a little research via Google and discovered—lo and behold--visual communication doesn’t work on the tablet__yet! (Wouldn’t it have been nice if they had mentioned that when I downloaded the app?)

So then I fired up our laptop computer and I wasn’t a Luddite after all! It worked like a charm and we had a delightful face-to-face conversation. It takes a little while to get used to keeping your face aligned with the computer’s camera but it is well worth the effort. I wish I would have tried it sooner. The best line of Sunday’s conversation was when I moved the laptop and my daughter remarked, “Gee Dad, you’ve lost a lot of weight—oh sorry, I guess I am looking at the lamp!”

We also discovered that it can drive your pets crazy to talk to them via Skype, especially when you have dogs on both ends barking and running around looking for the other pet at the other end of the line!

If you have family or friends across the country that you’d enjoy “seeing” while you talk with them, I’d like to encourage you to sign up for a free Skype account. If you’d like to learn more about Skyping, join us at a free workshop called The Skype’s the Limit on Tuesday, July 26 at 6:30 PM in the Central Library Meeting Room. Hope to see you there!

A Brave New World of Mobile Apps

If someone had told me ten years ago, that I would spend much of my day "chatting, skyping, posting, tweeting, and eBooking," I probably would have wondered what language they were speaking! But sure enough, here it is 2011 and indeed, I am spending a good portion of every day doing just that.

With each app that I add to my cell phone or tablet, I take another baby step forward in this brave new world of technology. We recently started adding QR codes to our posters! But then I learn about something called "augmented reality" and am told that "QR codes" may be short lived. I read about web sites that you can create with information to be used after you die! I still haven't quite figured out how to "skype" with my long-distance" kids but it's definitely on my to do list. And although I am not a "gamer," I can see where Fruit Ninja, could be addictive.

I think that one of the best uses of recent technology has to be free eBooks from the DMPL. They are relatively easy to download, don't cost a thing, and are a wonderfully handy way to always have a book at hand whenever you have a spare moment to read! (BTW, I discovered that my tablet equipped with an eBook offers a great way to survive a "middle of the night hot flash!" You don't have to turn on a light. Just open up your tablet, set on nighttime mode, toss off the blanket to cool off, read for a bit, and then close your tablet to snuggle back down once you've returned to a normal temp!)

Wondering what I'm reading? Enjoying tremendously Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys audio book read by an amazing actor named Lenny Henry. Also, 3/4 of the way through an interesting ARC called, The Submission, by Amy Waldman. It's a fascinating fictional account about a propsed 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero that supporters discover was designed by a Muslim. Interesting social dilemna.

However, my real reason for writing this blog was to highlight an upcoming program we will be offering at the Central Library on Tuesday evening at 6:30 PM, called Mobile Apps 4 Anyone. Hopefully, Shayne Huston, the presenter, will inspire me to take a few more "baby-steps" into the ever-expanding world of technology! Hope to see you there!

Don't Let the Rain Keep You Away from Rainbow!

It's raining and there's even a bit of snow in the forecast. How appropriate because we have a Rainbow coming on Monday! I know it's a corny opening for our next AViD author but hey, you have to admit, it fits.

Rainbow Rowell is headed our way next Monday, April 18 and she will be here at the Central Library for a little reception (at 5:00 PM) prior to her free program which begins at 7:00 PM. So far, I haven't been able to discover the story behind her name but hopefully she will share that and many other fun facts about herself and her writing. I do know, from her blogs, that she is a great writer, loves all things related to Glee, and has a quirky sense of humor.

Her book, Attachments, has been described as a "romantic comedy" and is a quick but delightful read with a fresh way of considering the consequences of social media within the work environment. Suffice to say, that this first novel, promises a great start for Rainbow in the world of fiction. I keep thinking that it would be a great movie, sort of a Harry Met Sally type of light-hearted comedy.

I like how Alice Meyer from Beaverdale Books described it in this week's issue of Cityview: "The characters are likeable, and we wish them well. Then there's the subtext of how we tend to email the person in the next cubicle rather than speak with them, and the fact that we give up all privacy when we login at the workplace." She continues, "Attachments will put a spring in your step!"

If you'd like a chance to spend some time with Rainbow at a reception prior to her talk, give a call to the DMPL Foundation at 248-6402. The $35 reception includes food, drink, a copy of Attachments, and a lovely AViD tote bag. I hope to see you there!

AViDly Enjoying April—my favorite time of year!

The sun is shining, the daffodils are in bloom, and AViD starts next week—with two delightful author events! Patrick Carr on April 11 (Central Library) and Anne Lamott on April 13 (Hoyt Sherman Place Theater).

Patrick Carr teaches sociology at Rutgers University and is an Associate Member of the MacArthur Foundation’s Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood. He and Maria Kefalas came to Iowa a while back to study the exodus of youth from rural communities. Their research led to their book titled, Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What it Means for America. Patrick is also the author of Clean Streets: Controlling Crime, Maintaining Order and Building Community Activism. He is co-editor along with Mary C. Waters, Jennifer Holdaway and Maria J. Kefalas of the forthcoming book Coming of Age in America, based on a comparative in-depth study of young adults funded by the Network on Transitions to Adulthood. His research has been featured in numerous media outlets, including on NPR.

Patrick will be joined by moderator Dr. Paul Lasley. He is a professor of sociology at Iowa State University whose work focuses on farm and rural issues at the state and national levels. Paul is widely known across Iowa and the author of over 100 professional journal articles. His research focuses on the changing structure of agriculture, rural development, and community, so it promises to be a wonderful evening filled with thoughtful discussion of issues facing local communities.

Wednesday night’s program featuring Anne Lamott promises to be great fun. In preparation for Anne’s visit, I’ve been reading lots of reviews of her work and I must say, she sounds like someone I would love to have as a girlfriend. She tackles really tough subjects, like teen drug abuse and alcoholism, but has this wonderful sense of humor that emanates throughout her writing. I just can’t wait to meet her!

Here’s more information about Anne directly from her publicist: “Ann writes about what most of us don’t like to think about. She wrote her first novel for her father, the writer Kenneth Lamott, when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. She has said that the book was ‘a present to someone I loved who was going to die.’ In all her novels, Anne Lamott writes about loss – loss of loved ones and loss of personal control. She doesn’t try to sugar-coat the sadness, frustration and disappointment, but tells her stories with honesty, compassion and a pureness of voice. She says, ‘I have a lot of hope and a lot of faith and I struggle to communicate that.’ Anne Lamott does communicate her faith; in her books and in person, she lifts, comforts, and inspires, all the while keeping us laughing.”

Anne Lamott is the author of six novels including, Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, All New People, and Crooked Little Heart (the sequel to Rosie), as well as four bestselling books of nonfiction, Operating Instructions, an account of life as a single mother during her son’s first year and Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, a guide to writing and the challenges of a writer’s life, Traveling Mercies, a collection of autobiographical essays on faith, and Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith.

We asked Dr. Christopher Rossi from Humanities Iowa to be the moderator for Anne, and I must say he seemed thrilled to be asked. Humanities Iowa has been a fantastic supporter of our AViD Author Series and we are pleased to have Chris be a part of this year’s event. In addition to being the executive director of Humanities Iowa, Chris teaches courses in public international law at the University of Iowa.

Next week, I will share information about our event on April 18 with writer Rainbow Rowell. Visit our web site for all the details. I hope to see you at several AViD events this year!