Doing and loving

Whenever some idea crosses my path more than once in a short time, I stop and take notice. I'm not sure if something or someone is sending me a message, or if it's a lesson of the universe that I'm just now ready to learn.

At any rate, such is the case this week that I'm getting a message not from a deep philosophical or theological source, but from sports. Watching the high school hockey tournament tonight (doesn't everyone in Minnesota watch high school hockey in March?), a coach talked about recruiting players. He said he looks for kids who "love the game."

I've heard the same words a number of times the last couple of days, as sportscasters and the green and gold faithful eulogized the career of Packer quarterback Brett Favre*** following his retirement announcement. While he certainly broke almost all the records, and arguably may be the best quarterback ever, what everyone says most is that he had fun. And his fans had fun with him.

Many people have said (in various way) - "do what you love and love what you do." It certainly makes getting up in the morning a lot more fun, when I can't wait to get to work (well, at least most days, unless it's double digits below zero). I have way too many acquaintances and even friends who are on the retirement countdown. They have no joy or love for what they're spending the majority of their waking hours doing. How sad!

Thanks for the memories, Brett!

**By the way, thanks to my staff for the sympathy card -- it's been a rough time for us cheeseheads.

Why a baseball stadium needs a roof

We went on our regular family pilgrimage to a Milwaukee Brewers game on Saturday night (Brewers win 8-4). We planned it all summer, and cousins came from far and wide. We traveled through the beginning of the record-breaking rainfall across Minnesota and Wisconsin. And guess what! The game was not rained out - thanks to the Miller Park retractable roof. Yeah, I was disappointed that it wasn't a beautiful night out for baseball. But I'd have been more disappointed had our one shot to carry on a family tradition been rained out and our miles on the road been for naught.

I'm not terribly invested in the Twins stadium debates (being an immigrant from across the border), but it just seems so short-sighted to build a fair-weather stadium without a roof. Think of all the fun family outings that won't happen. Glad my family gathers at Miller Park.

OK - so what has this got to do with libraries? Well, at the appointed time, everyone with ATT phones sends text messages, and the messages come up on the scoreboard, and guess what - "Librarians are sexy" appears in lights (and no, it wasn't me, with my Alltel phone.)

Librarians are sexy - 3rd line down


The roof - dry as can be


Here we are