Vacation

I won't be posting for about a month, which means I'll miss the first anniversary of this weblog. The dearth of postings lately has been an anomaly and not a trend -- I've actually really enjoyed this blog and am looking forward to continuing it.

In anticipation of Thanksgiving, here's this year's list of things I'm thankful for:
Family, especially Mom -- without her, you'd have to visit me in a little padded cell...
Friends -- I'm blessed with some real gems...
My cats -- furry, purry, and still such a joy...
My wonderful new house -- still a rental, but so much better than the last place...
Clear night skies
Puanani is moving to Hilo

And, as always:
Disney
Books, Music, Movies
Laughter
Chocolate
Christmas is coming...

Disaster Planning

I know it's silly, but I feel an odd twinge every time I think of the Manoa flood and the fact that, less than one week before, I gave a talk at the Hawaii Library Association Conference titled "Disaster Planning for Libraries." Now I know that the timing was just coincidental, but I still feel a little bit funny....

On a more positive note, one of the attendees has asked me to give my talk to his organization :)

UH Manoa Flood Information

The University of Hawaii at Manoa suffered unbelievable damage from flood waters on October 30th. Most of the damage was to the basement of the main library and to several research buildings (the world famous mouse cloning team had offices in one). Extremely fast moving water and mud reached 6 - 8 feet high in some places. Mom said she was having flashbacks to Corning in 1972...

General UH Flood Information

General Flood Relief Contributions

Library Specific Flood Relief Contributions

LIS Program Specific Flood Relief Contributions

Honolulu Advertiser stories: one -- Yes, those are cars that were pushed by water into the trees! -- and two.

Library Photos by Susan Murata: This is a slideshow that takes a moment to load, but I think it does the best job of showing the effects of the disaster that has destroyed one of my favorite places. Yes, those metal shelving units loaded with books were toppled by water.

The basement of Hamilton Library housed the Library School, Government Documents, Maps, Collections, Acquisitions, and the library computer servers. Basically, everything down there was completely and utterly destroyed. Unsalvageable. Lost. Talk about a heavy heart...