Blogging Reference: Saturday, March 14.

9:43 After a week of warm weather, with azaleas and dogwoods in bloom, it's overcast and cool this a.m., with a 50% chance of rain tonight and tomorrow.

Policed the Park Avenue stairs, picked up empty Mott's Apple Sauce jar, dirty paper towel. About time for our lodger-on-the-landing to move in, now that winter is over.

Students still on Spring Break, so it may be quiet today.

5 public-access PC's out of action, 3 infected with "Antivirus 360". Has to be a record number.

Working with MF today.

10:00 Open.

W. brings me newspapers.

Phone: Can renew ILL, Sixties Songbook? Thinks due today, but system says 3/17. Is enough time, says she, never mind.

PC for James.

PC for Ben.

Tax people here?

Couple checking out evolution display for Origins '09, big, week-long, FSU Darwin-Palooza w E.O. Wilson headlining. Woman takes book.

"Where is your Bibles and cookbooks at?" Is staying at the Shelter. "Cain't half walk back there for lunch. Maht just stay here and read." (Is no lunch at shelter.)

Phone: Teacher asking about CD audio guide for Big Read book, Fahrenheit 451. Give contact info for DD, our Big Read coordinator.

Change for Copier? Takes dollars.

Mom w stroller: Are more Laura Childs "Scrapbooking" mysteries than she sees in hb fiction? Yes, early titles are pb's, check pb carousels. "They're really easy to read!"

10:32

Where is printer?

Help foreign man start PC session.

Where is printer?

"Paper jam" is just misfeed. Tray too full.

MF pulling pb "send items" for holds. Mark Rogers's The Expected One hasn't moved since '98. Surely missing.

Where to buy envelope? Gift shop.

Phone: CH says husband has note about Origins '09 display in today's column, wanted to give us heads-up. Thanks.

Where to buy stamp? Post Office is across park.

Man w daughter: Can borrow books? Show where to get card.

11:00

PC for Nehemiah.

"I have to wait 'til he get off the computer?" Yes, 15 min. Rasta-themed man. Tall & thin, like an ibis, very dark w gold wire-rimmed glasses. Short-billed soft white "dreadlock-sack" cap w royal Ethiopian flag, embroidered lions. Bob Marley picture-medallion. Long, white t-shirt and black calf-length baggy shorts with striped trim on cuffs repeating flag colors. Immaculate unlaced white patent leather sneakers. Stunning.

PC for Tamil. Give card spiel.

PC for Kelly. Homeless white guy.

PC for Noah. Another HWG.

Security alarm. Pass him through.

Phone: Number for Kas Enterprises in Saint Louis MO.

Mom w stroller: Where is tax help?

Man gives me a "hello" knock on counter as he walks past, heading for the stairs.

Stocky but trim, tattooed, tank-topped grandad-biker type w short beard, grey ponytail and bandanna headband uses self-check out. Freshly laundered blue jeans.

Black marker.

PC for Nathan.

Young mom says thank you, for using PC I guess. Little boy echoes, "Thank You!".

Eleven o'clock rush over. Half dozen PC's vacant.

"Where they doin' the taxes?"

"Can I sign up for the Internet?"

PC for Ashley.

12:00 Lunch.

Pepsi and John Lukacs's At the End of an Age on Park Avenue bench.

"Taking a break?", says tax help man.

Two women ask directions to the Governor's Club.

12:30 Back. MF goes to lunch.

PC for Ayu Wun Chen.

Books and articles on African Americans & the Civil Rights movement. Show databases, 323, 305, 973.

Tax help.

Do we have a notary? No, try a bank or yellow pages.

PC for William.

Phone: Circulation issue, transfer to Circ.

Woman picks up copy of The Leopard by Lampedusa.

Relieving JL in Tech/Media.

PC for Tracy.

Madison Avenue Shoot : a Murder, She Wrote mystery by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain. On order, take request.

PC for Lisa.

Man w cane and bandaged arm needs more time on PC.

Where is PC 10? His session expired. Give him another.

New trade paperbacks in donation bin. All girl-meets-boy potboilers, but Apart From the Crowd by Anna McPartlin looks like a keeper.

Card doesn't let him get PC. Is marked lost, send to circulation desk.

Can hear someone's ear buds from Gates Lab. Ask him to turn down.

Freckly white country girl unsure how to ask for PC. Accompanied by very young silent Marine all buttoned up in his dress uniform. Can't be over 18.

2:05 Back at refdesk. So quiet and serene up here after the crush downstairs.

PC for Shirley.

Problem with PC 64. LCD monitor has gone black and won't come on. Mark out-of-service and get him different PC.

Phone: Pop. of Tallahassee. Est 2007 176,429.

An American Tail. Place hold.

PC for Michael.

Where are V.C. Andrews books?

Shy pudgy boy wants dragon books. Find three good ones in 398.

Phone: Anthem by Ayn Rand. On shelf in YA fiction, transfer call.

Script for Broadway production of My Fair Lady. NOT screenplay, he emphasizes. Incredibly, is on shelf, but in 790's (?), two copies.

Phone: The John Couper Family at Cannon's Point by T. Reed Ferguson. Her mother saw it on back of Eugenia Price novel. Southern history from Mercer UP. ILL request.

Perry Branch had called over to reserve Twilight for girl, but Circulation can't find. JD has a copy in Childrens'.

Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria. Place hold. The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen. New, take request to purchase.

PC for Nate.

Where to get card.

PC for Danielle.

How to File for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. Needs now, but no circulating copy on shelf. Where is copier?

3:25 Pooped.

Can hold books for Bibles/cookbooks woman to read some more tomorrow? Yes. Where is Perry library? Where is Presbyterian Church? Heard they serve free meals on Sunday. Where is Baptist Church? "I started out as a Baptist." (Have to cut this short, people waiting.)

Copier questions.

Where is PC 51?

Returns bankruptcy book.

Where to check out?

Phone: Parkway branch with ILL renewal request, The Mating Game w Debbie Reynolds & Tony Randall.

Man says PC 45 has gotten very slow. Is going to get one downstairs.

Looking for her brother.

How many books can she check out? Do we have a basket?

Printer needs paper.

Phone: Drood by Dan Simmons, House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, The Lost City of Z by David Grann. Place holds, House on shelf, trap hold.

Fill 2 watering cans and water snapdragons on Park Ave. 1st floor landing.

PC for Lauri.

ESOL questions.

Almost 4:30, time for 1st closing announcement.

Put in call to MIS on PC 64.

MF counting drawer.

Too late to get on a computer?

Turn off Catalog PC's, pick up trash, push chairs in, put mags on rack.

At three minutes to closing, man asks MF about salaries of Florida legislators, which goes nowhere pretty quickly.

5:00 Closed.