NGS

National Genealogical Society's Conference in the States is coming up next week in Nashville! The speakers are always great and so are the exhibits.

Alphabet Meme

This has been going around so I thought I'd try it. You are supposed to type each letter of the alphabet in your browser and list this first site that comes up.

A - Ancestry.com
B - Bloglines.com
C - Clarion Ledger
D - Daily Journal
E - Enterprise Journal
F - Frisco Papers
G - Gmail
H - Hotmail
I - Internet Movie Database
J - John Howell's Genealogue
K - Knoxpets.org
L - L. L. Bean
M - Mississippi History & Genealogy Notes
N - Natchez Democrat
O - Oxford Eagle
P - Press Register
Q - http://quake.ualr.edu/public/nmfz.htm
R - Roger Bennett's Midnight Meditations
S - State Department
T - Tunica Times
U - USGenWeb
V - Vicksburg Post
W - WTVA
X - no hits
Y - Yahoo!
Z - http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1377

KnitPro

No - I haven't taken up knitting, but KnitPro software does much more than knitting. Apparently you can take any photo and convert it to a knitting, crochet, needlepoint, or cross stitch photo. Thanks to Lifehacker for the tip.

Stitcher's Question of the Week

Via Stitched with Love and Cat Hair: Given the option, would you rather buy a chart and get the material and floss together yourself, or buy a pre-packed kit?

DEFINITELY buy my own floss. The stuff they put in the kits is trash! Besides I love to make substitutions (especially on kitties so that they look like my "owner").

Tenure

Inside Higher Education takes a look at the high level of stress created by the tenure process. It examines off-the-wall behavior exhibited by some who are denied tenure. I'm happy to report that I gained tenure this year (so I didn't have to resort to such drastic measures). I certainly made certain that I had my ducks in a row before I reached my tenure year. When I had submitted my letter and notebook with all my supporting materials, I knew that the process was out of my hands. As a Christian, I left it in God's hands. If it was His will, I knew it would happen. I also knew that if I was not granted tenure that there were other options available for pursuit. I think that's a healthy attitude toward the process.

VolPols

Bill Hobbs has set up VolPols.com to encourage Tennessee's legislators to blog. Thanks to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit for the hat tip.

Teachers Are Not Underpaid

Coyote Blog looks at the myth that teachers are underpaid and produces evidence that shows that teachers may actually be some of the more highly compensated professionals, especially when you take benefits and time off into consideration.

I know that I often hear colleagues of mine in the library profession complaining about our salaries. This study does show that teachers are compensated more than librarians; however, I suspect that the library compensation figures are significantly lowered because of small to medium-sized public libraries. I've actually seen some comments on listservs lately ridiculing low salaries offered for some positions. Some of the comments do have validity. For example, a position requiring a lot of education and experience which pays poorly is going to have a high rate of turnover. However, some of them fail to take other factors into consideration. I believe that most school librarians are compensated similarly to teachers. I believe some academic libraries may fail to compensate librarians for the difference in a 12-month vs. 9-month appointment which is typical for teaching faculty; however, there are some academic libraries which also have librarians on 9-month contracts with reasonably comparable pay scales.

Sure - we'd all like a little extra cash! Part of that is the consumer-based nature of our culture. Part of that is driven by rising prices of gasoline and other goods (which are transported by vehicles requiring gasoline). Most people who have not gotten themselves in debt up to their eyebrows can actually get by on a little less by making small adjustments which may actually increase the quality of their lives by allowing more time with families and friends. People can have fun without spending a lot of money. I know we did that when I was a kid. It could be done today as well.

Sympathy

I have great sympathy for Renee at "Stitched with Love and Cat Hair" who had to frog 2 hours of cross-stitching. I've had to do that before, and it is not one bit fun. By the way, don't you love the name of her blog? That would definitely be an appropriate phrase to use for my cross-stitch pieces as well.

Proffitts and McRaes Sold to Belk

I'm really very disappointed with the sell of Proffitt's and McRae's to Belk. We have both a Proffitt's and a Belk in the mall here. I can never find anything in Belk, but Proffitts often has clothes that are nice. McRae's is the big department store back in Mississippi where most of my family still lives. I could find clothes there as well. I have to say that I'm concerned that I won't be able to find things I'll wear with the new merger if they use the Belk buyers for all the stores. The only other department store chain in the area is Dillard's, and their merchandise has been less to my taste in recent months. I guess I'll be doing a lot of shopping online or on business trips and personal vacations if Belk doesn't improve their purchases. South Knox Bubba has a roundup of the news stories.