When asked this weekend what I do for a living, I gave the short not-so-self-promotional answer, “I am a Web developer in New York City.” “Well,” said the asker, a nurse about my age, “you must be getting some good experience.”

I was as pissed as I was delighted. Pissed that she mistook me for a 24 year old with an entry level job, and delighted that she mistook me for a 24 year old with an entry level job.

I don’t know if my ego can take the short answer again.

It is colder than Admiral Byrd’s ass. The chill seeps in through all the windows. In NYC it is hard to escape the forced heat. In Detroit it is hard to escape the cold.

When I was home last year, I moved my parents’ childhood photo albums from acidic albums to acid free ones. It was a huge project. Since then, I have been meaning to scan at least a few. Here is the first installment: my grandparents on their wedding day, my father as a tow headed toddler, and other shots from the early 1940’s.

The “On the Same Page” interview is now on the web. Thanks LK.

Just asked this of The NYPL email reference service. Will post the answer when it comes.

Is there a ship graveyard yard in New York harbor?

I rode the Staten Island Ferry yesterday, and half way into the trip, I saw a small craft sink. There were a few other boats in the same buoyed-off area sitting low in the water. It looked like these small boats were in an area designated for just sinking.

If you can confirm this or otherwise explain, I will be happy to know.

What leads people to believe what they read on the Web? The Stanford Web Credibility Project aims to find out (Source: Library Hotline).

The Grand Complication, a new novel by Allen Kurzweil, is set in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library of The NYPL. It is the building on 5th Ave., you know, the one with the lions. Kurzweil was a visiting scholar at the library at the same time I was a reference librarian there.

Now, off to Detroit.