Back home after four days in Rockford with the family. I’m sick, exhausted, and a bit out of sorts – but a long night’s sleep in my own bed will cure two of the three ills. I can’t decide if this sick is just The End Of Semester Sick Revisited – or if it’s my lungs starting to clear out all the junk I’ve put in them over the last few years. My last cigarette was December 14, and the last one before that was December 3, and I’m hoping to keep it that way.

Christmas was nice – good to be home, got to see people I haven’t seen in ages, spent lots of time with the family, saw Narnia, etc etc etc. I maxed out on family togetherness Sunday night so spent most of today just driving around listening to music and seeing familiar places – or places once familiar. I spent the whole weekend longing for the family I’ve made for myself in Champaign – it felt strange to be home but not home. I guess that’s part of growing up, right?

Copied almost verbatim from an email I received from my boss this morning. Thanks, Jill.

From: Jill
Subject: Public enemy number one?Ok, I don’t know how many of y’all heard about a recently released FBI email that complained the FBI hasn’t been allowed to search library records to nab terrorists. This is a dust-up over a section of the “Patriot Act” commonly known as the library provision which allows the FBI to search the records of any library patron and that librarians are not allowed to report when search warrants have been issued. Many librarians are opposed to this provision. The FBI claims they have never used said provision (although that’s open to dispute). However, here’s the section of the email that caught my attention:

“The inability of FBI investigators to use this seemingly effective tool has had a direct and clearly adverse impact on our terrorism cases. While radical militant librarians kick us around, true terrorists benefit from OIPR’s [Office of Intelligence Policy and Review] failure to let us use the tools given to us.” (click here for more
information).

Chew on that for just a minute.

If you’re one of the folks I’m emailing with a library science degree, you’re already either laughing or crying. There’s no hope
for you.

If you don’t have a background in library & info. science, take a moment to think about me. After all, you know me pretty well. Some of you are related to me. I have a degree in LIS and while I don’t work in a public library, I work in a library school helping to educate other librarians. And according to the FBI, I am kicking their butt and helping the terrorists win. I had no idea! Wow! I hope They don’t come for you guys in the middle of the night as a result of my nefarious activities…

So to help remind me of my new status, Garret created some t-shirts and other swag on Cafe Press. You don’t have to buy anything, but it might make you laugh to look and we’d appreciate it if you pass the link on to any other America-hating , terrorist-helping people you may know.

http://www.cafepress.com/1stfactory

The little cartoon guy may look bookish, but you can tell by that growl he’s radical! And militant!

Yours in fighting the man,

Jill”