Monday afternoon: After the storm blew through . . .

1. Welcome to klsiegel, and welcome to the newly named motlei.

2. I am still a bit overwhelmed from Coronation. It was great, and I want to personally thank all the people who made it such a great day for my wife. Carolingia rocks!

3. I know a lot of people have talked to me about a lot of things over the last week or so. I am working on catching up, and I hope I will have responses for folks in a day or two.

4. You know how I love compliments. I get really amused when they are from people who know me only from Internet postings.

As I have mentioned, I post a lot to a site called Teachers.net.

One of the people who run the site got a request from a writer wanting to interview a couple of teachers about something.

She e-mailed me to ask if it was OK to pass my e-mail on. I said yes.

Her response to me was:

 You are an experienced and articulate educator . . . "

Her response to the writer was:

Bill Toscano is not currently teaching (having moved to a new state due to his wife's employment) but he has been an articulate voice of wisdom and experience on many topics on the forums at Teachers.Net.

5. They always do the good stuff on weeknights.

I got the following announcement today. It is about an event Wednesday at The Blind Tiger on Bleeker Street in New York City:

The Great Pumpkin Event is on...  This Wednesday Oct.1st at the Blind Tiger starting at 4:00PM...

The Pumpkin List:
Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale (brewed at New Belgium)
Elysian Dark O' the Moon Pumpkin Stout
Elysian Hansel & Gretel Pumpkin Pilsner
Elysian Pumpkinheart Strong Scottish Pumpkin Ale-with the skirl of oak
Elysian PK-47 Pumpkin Malt Liquor
Elysian The Great Pumpkin Ale
Dogfish Head Punkin
Southampton Pumpkin
Smuttynose Pumpkin
Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout (Gravity)
Allagash Pumpkin (never seen before)
Southern Tier Pump"king"
Brooklyn's Post Road Pumpkin

No way I can go. I want to cry.

6. I don't know much about economics, but it seemed to me that the bailout bill was derailed not because Congressmen thought it was a bad idea, but rather because of politics -- Nancy Pelosi's tone and the fear of no getting re-elected.

7. OK, it's time for playoff baseball. I need to start getting myself pumped up.

 

Monday night: Yes, I am a little behind . . .

1. The new blazon for the queen's favors is:

Azure. A stealth bomber, argent.

etherial just ain't gonna last the reign.

2. For the few of you who have been to our house, the abandoned grocery store next door as been reduced to rubble. The other bank in town is convinced it too needs a drive-though.

3. You just don't see cool job posting like this often enough:

Archival processing opportunity--New Bedford Whaling Museum,MA

 

Descriptions:
We have today acquired a collection of 1800+/- volumes constituting the bound manuscript records of the Merchants National Bank of New Bedford,1825-ca. 1921. These include Daily Balances, Cash Books, Depositors Balances, General Ledgers, Journals, Bills Receivable, New York Accounts, Check Lists, Letterbooks, etc.

They are sitting on six pallets in the warehouse of New England Demolition and Salvage in south New Bedford. It is a very secure facility and the owner, a very nice and generous man named Harry, is willing to work with us as far as processing the collection is concerned.

This is a prime opportunity for students studying to become archivists to see firsthand what such a collection actually looks like before it comes into an institution and how it needs to be processed. The owner of the warehouse is willing to allow students access to the books under the authority of someone from the museum, either me or my associate.

Duties:
The work involves

• brushing and vaccuming the grit from the books,
• making a determination as to whether there is any discernible order to them,
• packing those volumes into cardboard boxes that can fit (there are many elephant folio-sized ledgers that will not fit in boxes),
• identifying the boxes as to their contents,
• loading them in the museum van and unloading them in the library.

4. Time for the monthly reminder that I will be jumping into Lake George on Dec. 13 to raise money for Special Olympics New York.

To donate to me, go here.

To join Team Agni Dentati, go here.

5. After a week off from covering high school football -- there was this Coronation thing -- I get a game with an unbeaten team Friday night. If I want a game Saturday, it'll be in my back yard (almost literally), but I think the local team will get waxed.

6. From The Associated Press comes something I would expect to see as the plot of a miliary thriller:

US Navy watches seized ship with Sudan-bound tanks

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY – 1 hour ago

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.S. helicopters on Monday buzzed a hijacked Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 33 Soviet-designed tanks and other weapons that officials fear could end up in the hands of al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia if the pirates are allowed to escape.

Thursday's seizure of the MV Faina off Somalia, a failed state seen as a key battleground in the war on terrorism, could bring dangerous effects across the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Piracy has become a lucrative criminal racket in impoverished Somalia, bringing in millions of dollars in ransom.

The pirates aboard the blue-and-white Ukrainian-operated freighter are demanding $20 million to release the ship, its 21 crew members, one of whom has died of an apparent heart attack, and its cargo of T-72 tanks, rifles and ammunition.

The ship, now anchored off Somalia's coast near the central town of Hobyo, apparently was destined for Sudan when armed pirates overtook it, likely from a speedboat, and climbed up the side of the ship.

7. Interesting Christopher Paolini story from an Australian paper. A little overwrought, but I didn't know thew background.