Thursday, February 28, 2008

54

Born in 1954, I am 54 today. It was not a Leap Year. I was told many times as a child that I was almost a Leap Baby, but I grew up to be a reference librarian. I look these things up.

When I was 42, I remember thinking about how my dad died at 63 and my grandfather at 84. I wondered whether I had reached the midpoint of my life or whether I was two-thirds done. Now, that I'm 54, I again hope I'm only at the half-way mark.

I was born at 6:00 a.m. and have been an early riser ever since. I was up before my birthday moment this morning as usual. Four years ago, I attended the Public Library Association Conference in Seattle. Even then I was up before 4:00 a.m. to greet the moment. I did not go back to sleep. It was exciting becoming 50.

I can say with authority that I am not obsolete. I can not even imagine retiring, as I am still trying new things:
  • I am writing a readers' advisory book, my first book.
  • I have recently learned a lot about coding webpages.
  • I will be blogging at PLA.
  • I want to learn to make various types of visual presentations to attach to websites.
In my family, you die with your boots on. Retiring is a silly idea.

Bonnie gave me my gifts this morning, including a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. The first bean out of the box was soap, which was not bad. I then visually identified vomit, dirt, and earthworm, but did not actually eat them. Then I found buttered popcorn, a good flavor to start my day.

Bonnie also made a carrot cake, my favorite, which I am taking to work. If you drop by early enough, you might get a piece. It'll be going fast.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

great post! have a great day, and watch out for things falling from the ceiling!

Meredith Farkas said...

Happy birthday, Rick! You are anything but obsolete and I hope the profession gets to keep you around for a very long time. Congrats on the book deal and good luck with the writing -- I can think of no one better suited to write a book on that topic.

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday! I always enjoy reading about the books you've discovered. Here's to many more!

mona said...

hi rick, i just wanted to take time today to say how much i enjoy reading your site, especially the thoughful reviews. you're one of my favorite librarian bloggers. happy birthday!

ActLikeOne said...

Happy Birthday Rick! I very much enjoy reading your reviews.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Rick!! And believe me, I was almost tempted to get in the car and road trip it to your library for some carrot cake! Yummy. Hope your day is great.

ricklibrarian said...

Thanks, everyone.

Cake was delicious, with just the right amount of icing. With the nuts, raisins, and shredded carrot, it was almost healthy, but it was still pretty rich. It was a big hit with staff.

Going Crunchy said...

Happy Birthday to you! I can't imagine you retiring. You're a pleasure to work with and may the boots stay on a long time. Shannon

laura said...

Happy (belated!) birthday! I expect you to be around and blogging (or doing whatever comes after blogging) for many years to come.