Oregonian profile

"Tim Burton, Matt Groening, Berke Breathed. Hockey pucks. Pedestrians and cell phones. American literature, Individual authors, 1961-2000. Taxes. Scanning." Must remember. Well, Dear Reader, I don't have to. It would be nice though. These are the scrawlings on the too-long-neglected 3 x 5 recycled shelflist card I use for jotting down possible topics to write about in this space. Notice I did not write "blog" about. There are two asterisks. One precedes "Tim," the other, "American." Must be a connection. Let's see. Oh yeah! Tim, Matt and Berke are authors, some of whose works are in my library. The American literature fragment is straight from the PS volume of the Library of Congress classification schedules. It is all clear now. Those three guys' works all entered my library with PZ call numbers. I just don't like that schedule, so I assigned PS author numbers to each of them, and shelflisted their works into my collection. "Hockey pucks" has got to be a reminder of my son and I scampering through the stands at ice hockey games chasing the hard rubber projectiles that fly over the glass. We were just practicing for foul balls when baseball season begins. I scored three in a losing effort. He grabbed five. They're great for holding down maps I'm cataloging. It has been a long time since I last posted. I must have scribbled the word "taxes" when I was preparing mine. My meager refund arrived the week before last. I have come to enjoy walking on a sidewalk, another pedestrian coming toward me, text messaging someone or playing Space Invaders, or doing whatever someone must do while out walking with a portable communication device. It's sort of like a game of chicken, except I am in complete control. I stay to the right, as all civilized people do, and watch as they get closer. A few steps from a collision, I shuffle a foot or clear my throat. Startled, they clumsily lurch out of the way. I'm not trying to be malicious, just making a statement. I'm not quite sure just what that statement is, or should be. But I'm making it. "Scanning." OK. That one is still fresh in my mind. I have been taking a few books, almost every day, into the library, scanning the covers, and uploading the images to my library catalog. Sometimes it is the works of a particular author. Sometimes a type of book. Maybe a set of books. They may be selected based upon the shelf on which they reside. Tomorrow I'll be scanning L'Avarre through The Time Machine, around The Octopus and back to Germinal. Now we're all caught up Dear Reader. And I can recycle this 3 x 5 card, and start another.