I was sooooo excited to be watching 24 last night. I tend to get a little cranky when I don't get my weekly Jack fix. And the episode from last night had a little bit of everything to make me happy.

We had a little Sherry-David showdown action, which is always nice. Although I want to smack David. He's the one who brought Sherry in and told her he wanted to play dirty. I also liked that David-Wayne moment. I just loved Wayne telling David to grow up. Actually, now that I think about, is David the Kim of this season? He seems to be pretty useless.

The drama at Hotel California was good as well. Eerie moment of the night: I was doing a little play-by-play for Michelle on the phone (don't ask), when she made a comment about Gael showing symptoms of the virus. Just as she said that he started spouting blood from his nose. It was so creepy.

While I was incredibly happy to be watching a new episode of 24, it didn't occur to me until this morning that two amazing things happened. 1) I was able to get through the entire episode without being irritated by Kim and/or Chloe, and 2) I made it through an entire episode without spotting a Chase wants some of the Jack love moment. That's never happened before. Although next week's episode looks like it will make up for it with some good Chase-Jack moments.

And a quick reminder... Category suggestions for the LibraryDiva's First Annual 24 Awards are still being taken. I hope to announce the categories in May. Start suggesting people!

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I've always said that I thought playing with Barbies as a little girl prepared me for real life: The Evolution of Women's Roles, Chronicled in the Life of a Doll

Guess I wasn't wrong!

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Today as I was sitting in my office wondering if it was possible to sweat to death, I got a call from my favorite library patron. She was at the local Wal-Mart in their book section, and to her surprise (and mine) they had copies of her favorite author's new book that is not suppose to be out until April 6. Since I love this author too, I was majorly bitter that I was going to have to wait until I got off work at 9:00 p.m. before I could go and get my own copy.

And now the coolest thing just happened. My favorite patron picked me up a copy of the book and dropped it off on her way home. How nice of her was that? I think that is the nicest thing a patron has ever done for me.

Now I'm checking the clock every two minutes to see how long it is before I can go home.

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After last week's hiatus, Field Trip Friday is back! I can feel your excitement.

This week's field trip is to The Oracle of Bacon. I've been driving myself nuts the past couple of nights trying to get a Bacon number higher than 2.

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Today I saw that the third book in Ann Brashares' Summer of the Sisterhood books will be out on February 8, 2005:

Join Bridget, Carmen, Lena, and Tibby on their last trip together: a weekend at the ocean. Learn how they plan to deal with heading off in different directions for college and in life but still aim to retain their special friendship.

I loved, loved, LOVED the first two books, so I can't wait for the latest. In the meantime I'll have the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie to look forward to.

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I got tickets!!!! Busy doing the happy dance, can't blog.

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I'm a big believer in things happening for a reason. I haven't posted over the past couple of days because it has been a complete crapfest here in LibraryDivaland. First, my library is not the most fun place to work right now. Second, I had to wrap up not one but two classes that I am teaching. Finally, my mother arrived this weekend which always creates lots of "what the heck are we going to do this weekend" anxiety. (I took her to see Hidalgo and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. FYI, Patrick Swayze is not aging well.) Needless to say, the past couple of days have been a little tense.

Which leads me to why I believe that things happen for a reason. My life has sucked recently, so the universe owes me something good to make up for it. Today I read about Madonna visiting Israel during her next tour. I hadn't even realized that she had a tour this summer, that's how out of the loop I am on things right now. Anyhoodles, I visited her tour site and noticed that not only is she coming to Chicago (sometimes she doesn't), but that the pre-sale for Chicago tickets is today at noon (which I have access to). If I hadn't read that article this morning I would have had no idea that 1) Madonna was going on tour this summer or 2) that I needed to buy tickets today if I wanted to see her.

I can't wait to get my tickets. This is so going to make up for all the crap of the past week.

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I knew it was a possibility, but when I read that I was going to have to wait until January 2005 for a new season of 24 I was dumbstruck. This makes Tuesday's season finale that much more painful. I was already dreading a summer with no Jack Bauer. How will I make to through the rest of the year without him?

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It's official. Our referendum did not pass. It's a sad, sad day.

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I just suffered the most horrible indignity I could ever imagine. In order to vote for a particular candidate, I had to declare myself a Republican. I feel so dirty now. And not the Christina Aguilera fun kind of dirty. Dirty dirty.

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Today I was up at the butt-crack of dawn to be a poll watcher for my library's referendum. I've danced with poles, slid down poles, and even run into poles, but this was my first time as a pole watcher. I must say that it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. The majority of people who came to vote during my shift were not on my "Yes" list, which was a bit depressing. As it turns out, a good portion of the people not on my list (thus considered "No" voters) are what I would call heavy library users. Some of these people I see almost daily as I fax their resumes, place their book requests, etc. And yet they are voting "No" on our referendum. I don't know whether to be depressed or pissed.

To see if my library's referendum passes (resulting in much joy in LibraryDivaland) or if my library's referendum fails (resulting in the LibraryDiva being fired and having to move in with her friend J-Ho -- yikes!), visit the DuPage County Election Commission's website.

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I find it really interesting that Girl Scout cookies are such a hot item that they are now being traded on eBay. As I mentioned before, my mom would never let me be a Girl Scout because she thought it was big, cookie selling cult. And the New York Times agrees with her:
"As the thriving Internet trade in contraband cookies suggests, the cult of the cookies will not be easily uprooted."

Last year Sarai and I almost killed each other for the last lemon pastry creme we had in our office, and we couldn't wait for this year's box to arrive. Unfortunately, they weren't available from our local troop. Would I be cult member if I bought a box on eBay?

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I don't know why I find this site funny, but I do. Enjoy!

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Unbelievable. Harvard is now waiving tuition for low income students. If only I were young again.

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I finally finished listening to The Devil Wears Prada (yes, I'm counting it towards my 52 in 52 since it took me longer to listen to it than it would have taken if I had just sat down and read it), and I have a question for those of you who have read it. Did you have a hard time feeling sorry for the main character?

I didn't like the main character, Andrea, at all. In some ways, I think I liked Miranda much more than Andrea. I get that the book is suppose to be one of those "bosses from hell tales" (a la The Nanny Diaries), but I just couldn't work up much sympathy for Andrea. I do think that some of Miranda's requests were ridiculous, however, a lot of the tasks that Andrea spent such a large amount of time bitching about are things all assistants do for their boss. Why are you in a snit that you have to run out and get your boss coffee at Starbuck's? You are an assistant. It's your job, so shut up.

Am I alone on this?

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Today's field trip is to the website of one of my favorite TV shows, which is thankfully returning for another season. Project Greenlight is the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck screenwriting contest that turns the winning script into a full length motion picture. This reality series takes us behind the scenes of developing, filming, producing, and releasing a movie. That in itself is just fascinating to me. But what really makes this show rock the house can be summed up in two words: Chris Moore.

Chris Moore was by far the star of the second season of Project Greenlight. As the Executive Producer of Project Greenlight Chris was on hand to get things back on track whenever they veered off (which was frequently). Chris is never one to mince words, which always makes his appearances that much more enjoyable. To get an idea of the shenanigans that took place during the second season of Project Greenlight, visit the Blockbuster: Project Greenlight website.

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Looks like my mom isn't the only one who dislikes the Girl Scouts. Who knew they were endorsing "soft-core porn." I never really cared that my mom wouldn't let me be a Brownie (she thought that Girl Scouts was a big cookie selling cult), but now I think I might of missed out on some good times.

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A few weeks back Jennie talked about reality television. Tonight I stumbled across "The Evil Sista of Reality Television." It is a pretty interesting read.

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The following came through in my email this morning:

Nanny Diaries co-authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus's CITIZEN GIRL, originally under contract to Random House before the house rejected it, about "the employment odyssey of an ambitious woman confronting what it is to be young and female in the New Economy," sold to Brenda Copeland at Atria, for publication in fall 2004, in what others say is a very good deal, by Suzanne Gluck at William Morris (NA).

There has been a lot of press about the Nannies ever since Random House dropped them. It will be interesting to see if Citizen Girl as successful as The Nanny Diaries. If it does fail, it definitely won't be from lack of buzz!

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While Mitch Albom had Tuesdays with Morrie, I prefer to spend my Tuesdays with Jack. Jack Bauer, that is. However, for the next few weeks I will not be able to enjoy a thrilling hour with my future boyfriend. And that makes me extremely bitter.

It also leaves me at a loss as to what I should blog about late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Normally that is quality Jack blogging time for me, and I don't want it to stop even though I am denied my Jack time. So for the next few weeks I will still post about Jack and the gang at 24. However, instead of focusing on individual episodes I will celebrate all the things I love about the show. And to kick this off I am taking Mike's suggestion and hosting the LibraryDiva's First Annual 24 Awards. The Bauer (as I like to call it) will be awarded to the cast member/character who achieves the most in the category for which they are nominated. So far our categories are:

Best Jack Love Moment
Favorite Hour
Most Annoying Character
Character We Wish WOULD Die
Favorite New Character
Most Shocking Event
Best Line
Most Awkward Jack Love Moment

And so on. I have a couple of others in mind, but I'm still trying to find a polite way to phrase them. I am also looking for other categories in which to award Bauers, so any suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to email me or leave a comment!

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I so many books stacked up in my TBR pile it is sickening. I'm always a little behind on my reading, but teaching two classes this quarter has me really behind. Here's just a sampling of some of the goodies that are just waiting to be read:

Wild Rain by Christine Feehan
Indiscreet by Alison Kent
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg
Leap Day by Wendy Mass
The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
Losing It by Lindsay Faith Rech
The Solomon Sisters Wise Up by Melissa Senate

And that is just a portion of what I can remember seeing on my bedside table this morning. I have an entire canvas tote that is filled with books waiting to be read, not to mention what is in my office at work and what is casually strewn throughout my apartment. I can't wait for March 22 to come. That is the first day of Spring Break, and the day I can begin my week long readingpalooza. Oh it will be a happy time!

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