Turn Off the Lights Tonight!

Tonight at 8pm your local time there is a worldwide effort to save energy.

Earth Hour is on 29th March 2008, 8pm.

Join millions of others and turn your lights off for one hour to create awareness about energy consumption. The official Earth Hour website has confirmed that over 286,000 people and over 20,000 businesses, including Google [don't worry they are just using a black background, not canceling searches!] have signed up for the event

More info at Earthhour.

And if you live in a neon shrine like Vegas and simply cannot think of how you would survive in the dark for an hour...here are some suggestions of how to spend the time.

One Day at a Time

Nevada Test Site
Originally uploaded by doubleaphotoalbum

So, I have been really busy with work. Since I started last May I have been really working hard to learn everything I can so that I can try to do a good job in my first professional position as a capital "L" librarian. On average last year I was traveling every other month and I ended up completing five presentations at national conference and collaborating on a crazy but ultimately published book chapter. For reasons I won't go into here, my job has been quite the uphill struggle. It didn't help that the president of the university as well as state senator Harry Reid happened to be interested/involved in my first digital collection. These challenges at work in combination with adjusting to life in Las Vegas has made for a interesting past 2 years.

But, things are finally coming together. At the end of March we should have a project that I can honestly say that I worked on start to finish and that I am really proud of. The grant I helped write might actually get funded. I just got notified that the first real article I've worked on has been accepted for publication, and I even got a silly, minor, but appreciated award at work.

On the personal front, I feel cautiously optimistic. Las Vegas is never going to spontaneously combust and reincarnate as Portland. I am always going to be out of place here and I need to just accept it. But, I am starting to feel like maybe we have made a few friends that we actually trust and who somewhat share our values. I like my yoga teacher. There is a decent burrito place nearby. And I got a bike so I can get out of my car for a change.

If I can just hang in there and get this project at work finished I think that I will be able to take a deep breath and feel like the work has paid off. We booked a campsite for Memorial Day at Kodachrome Basin in Utah and we found a new hot springs to explore this summer. I hope to be able to hang out with my sis a little more often in California. Next year we are having our family get together in Sedona, which will be great fun. Mount Whitney will be awesome, if we get the permit. I just need to take it one day at time...and hang in there.