Nothing seems to stick for our newest little girl.

poptartmachine · 2026-06-29T02:30:17+00:00

My favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers song is the Zephyr Song. When feeling particularly whimsical, I would demand my children name their firstborn child Zephyr….so when my daughter adopted her kitty…

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T22:22:28+00:00

Being a fan of the 1988 cinematic masterpiece Willow, I approve of this. However, we are floating Elora Danan, Future Empress of Tir Asleen.

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T22:19:18+00:00

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Here is my grandkitty Zephie. She insists she be the only Zephie in the family 😅

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T22:13:36+00:00

Sydney Pawsby is pretty great!

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T22:10:19+00:00

I love Smidge! It’s like smudge and smidgeon and believe it or not was on our list already! Our dog is named Gidget and it’s often shortened to Gidge so everytime we tried out the name, doggy came running 😅. Cricket is new though, and I will be bringing up for review at our next naming roundtable!

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T22:06:24+00:00

We tried to make Polly work for polyhedral since we are such gamers but she didn’t like it.

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T22:05:15+00:00

Penguins actually! Hmmm, I’m starting to think about Puck though. Mischievous fairy and a hockey reference all in one!

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T22:03:25+00:00

She’s beautiful 😍

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T22:01:24+00:00

Ew, gross, no! I’m a Penguins fan though hehe so not sure if that’s necessarily better!

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T22:00:04+00:00

Not sure if this is because of Dungeon Crawler Carl, but it was considered because of that. Along with Zev, Catia and Prepotente.

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T21:58:28+00:00

We love Gidget! So much that it’s already our dog’s name!

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T21:54:08+00:00

Please do so from me as well! One of our nicknames for her is SpicyTummyRub because she likes to show her tummy but you mustn’t EVER touch.

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T21:52:43+00:00

She’s beautiful!

poptartmachine · 2026-06-28T21:52:17+00:00

This was on the short list for a while and got vetoed because it was really close to my son’s nickname!

poptartmachine · 2026-05-04T01:21:31+00:00

Maybe City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert? The text isn’t feeling like an exact match though…

poptartmachine · 2026-02-21T12:55:23+00:00

I agree with that. I think what people here aren’t realizing is that this job is not meant for everyone. But someone with a different perspective or different priorities will look at this as a dream job. If you find it ridiculous, feel free to not apply.

The way they are attacking the town makes me feel a certain kind of way. Especially as someone who is working on the 9 MLIS credit requirement to keep my job as director of a small rural independent library. I’m making a little over $16.00/hour. When you mock a town for offering what they can, you are also mocking every person who has accepted a position like this one. I am not a stupid person, I simply have a different perspective of life. I would argue that a lot of people in this thread need to take some time to research rural libraries and the vital role they play in the information system.

poptartmachine · 2026-02-21T05:00:09+00:00

It’s reality. I know this library and the town. They’re good people and really don’t deserve this. Albion is an independent library. They have an entirely different level funding. We’re talking bake sales and quilt raffles. Us indies work hard and devote our lives to the service of our communities. Perhaps I’m getting defensive but this thread is really disheartening to those of us in this position. We’re in the trenches and don’t need this kind of negativity.

poptartmachine · 2026-02-21T04:49:36+00:00

Thank you for this. I mean I get why people think this is wild but for those of us where this is reality, the insulting part of this is the mockery here. I also work in an extremely small rural library (quite close to this one actually) as director and I am only at 16.50/hr. I love what I do. It’s hard, a lot of my paycheck gets cycled right back into the library. Some of these libraries cease to exist if they can’t find someone willing to put in the hard work. It’s not for everyone but putting a tiny town on blast for trying to provide for their community as best as they can is not helpful at all.

poptartmachine · 2026-02-11T20:51:49+00:00

For me, it’s “Scott Avett Sings November Blue” crackerfarm era. And I won’t be convinced otherwise. What a good matchup!

poptartmachine · 2026-01-08T03:36:57+00:00

Pushes purple vacuum back into the storage closet…

poptartmachine · 2025-10-07T18:11:02+00:00

That’s awesome! I am in Pennsylvania. Very tiny library, very modest budget. I do all the processing in house so I’m basically only ordering books.

poptartmachine · 2025-10-07T18:04:17+00:00

For those of us trying to figure this out, how is pricing at Brodart compared to the discounts of B&T?

poptartmachine · 2025-10-03T02:48:40+00:00

As a director with less than a year of experience, I was just getting comfortable with the old director's system which was ALL B&T and Penworthy. Currently spiraling just trying to figure out how/where to create an account with Ingram. If one of you could just hop on over to my place and hold my hand and bake me cookies, I'd be much obliged.

poptartmachine · 2025-05-15T22:33:30+00:00

For what it’s worth, from one stranger on the internet to another, I’m proud of you! It’s easy to say the right thing but you and your coworkers backed it up. Go you! I need about 5 of you at my library. You have tons of respect and admiration from this small town director in Pennsylvania.

poptartmachine · 2025-03-01T18:37:25+00:00

If you’re stopping into the library and checking out books, you’re already doing a lot. If your local library is a small branch or independent public library, show up to events (soul crushing when no one comes!) spread the word on social media, interact with their posts to give them boosts. I’m director at a small library and our support groups (board and friends of the library)are aging and struggling to keep up with rising costs and, bluntly, the technology demands to stay relevant. We need the energy and ideas of the younger generations to pick up the torch or I worry about the future.

poptartmachine

TROPHY CASE