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Actually went shopping this afternoon, but didn't buy anything. Well, three birthday cards, and lunch, but that's all. My Christmas list is short, but I'm just not in the spirit yet I guess. (Or didn't see anything really brilliant...)
We also stopped in to see a fair sized hobby shop in Crystal Lake because I wanted to look at N scale equipment and get some comparison prices so I have an idea what I'm looking at online. That stuff is expensive, and I can see it's going to pay to shop carefully.
Only a half day's work, as usual for Thursday, but it was busy. Caught up all the interlibrary loan tasks, which is rather like the labors of Hercules (never ending, repeating, etc.) I'm sure new ones popped up the minute I left my desk. I also typed three catalog cards, manually. I'm pleased to report that I still remembered how to do that, though I haven't had to do it that way since the 70s some time. What cards we use are normally computer generated now. When a record is added to the catalog database, a card or cards can be printed automatically. But we hit a limit in the software that I didn't even know was there. Adding a large set of volumes (80+ volumes of military records from the Civil War) we managed to exceed the maximum number of continuation cards for one title. It appears that the maximum is 12 continuation cards. This title needed 15 in order to list all the volumes. I remembered that somewhere we should still have cardstock in 8.5x11 sheets with microperfs to tear it up into 3x5 catalog cards, and after a little digging found a small stash of these. Then I had to lay out a template in OpenOffice to type cards on so they would print properly. Got that to work, typed up the needed cards, printed and did the manual feed thing, and like magic, three more cards, completing the contents for the set.
Still telling us it should snow tonight, but nothing is in sight. Also predicting bitter cold in the teens (F) but at the moment it is 30F outside. Debating whether or not to start a fire in the woodstove...
We also stopped in to see a fair sized hobby shop in Crystal Lake because I wanted to look at N scale equipment and get some comparison prices so I have an idea what I'm looking at online. That stuff is expensive, and I can see it's going to pay to shop carefully.
Only a half day's work, as usual for Thursday, but it was busy. Caught up all the interlibrary loan tasks, which is rather like the labors of Hercules (never ending, repeating, etc.) I'm sure new ones popped up the minute I left my desk. I also typed three catalog cards, manually. I'm pleased to report that I still remembered how to do that, though I haven't had to do it that way since the 70s some time. What cards we use are normally computer generated now. When a record is added to the catalog database, a card or cards can be printed automatically. But we hit a limit in the software that I didn't even know was there. Adding a large set of volumes (80+ volumes of military records from the Civil War) we managed to exceed the maximum number of continuation cards for one title. It appears that the maximum is 12 continuation cards. This title needed 15 in order to list all the volumes. I remembered that somewhere we should still have cardstock in 8.5x11 sheets with microperfs to tear it up into 3x5 catalog cards, and after a little digging found a small stash of these. Then I had to lay out a template in OpenOffice to type cards on so they would print properly. Got that to work, typed up the needed cards, printed and did the manual feed thing, and like magic, three more cards, completing the contents for the set.
Still telling us it should snow tonight, but nothing is in sight. Also predicting bitter cold in the teens (F) but at the moment it is 30F outside. Debating whether or not to start a fire in the woodstove...
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Date: 2011-12-09 09:24 pm (UTC)Christmas... sigh. I was just commisserating with a co-worker about how I haven't really started shopping, and don't really know what to get for family members. I'm going to try to make some progress this weekend, in between other commitments.
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Date: 2011-12-09 09:37 pm (UTC)Gary's family is the main issue. They give me stuff, so I have to reciprocate, but none of them are easy to buy really appropriate gifts for. He's not much help either, since he never knows what to get for any of them either.
Model trains are, um, expensive. I guess they always have been, relative to the buying power of the dollar. I looked at an N scale steam locomotive yesterday with a list price of $219. Sure, the shop discounted it to $169, but that exceeds my budget. A complete set, with track, controls, and train such as you might get or give as a gift, can run as much as $700. Good grief. I'm going to be watching Ebay and scrounging train shows and such, I can see that.
I do still intend to make a "t-track" module for the furry conventions' "Rails & Tails" meets. All I have to buy for that is some track pieces, about $20, and the wooden base which can't be much more than $10 or so. The rest is just scenery and I can do that with ordinary art supplies on hand. I want to make a schoolyard next to the tracks and populate it with furries. ;p
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Date: 2011-12-09 11:18 pm (UTC)By the way, suddenly your last eight posts showed up in my LJ friends list within the last hour or so. It's magic! Magic of a delayed variety, that is.
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Date: 2011-12-12 06:34 pm (UTC)