As a recent transplant from San Francisco -- a city which has no fewer than 35 words to describe the perpetual haze known as fog -- I am alternately puzzled and delighted by what the locals call "rain" and "seasons" here in the Pacific Northwest. Happily, libraries are pretty much the same anywhere (thank goodness for the Dewey Decimal System!), even if the patrons and scenery change (which is to say, no, you cannot check out reference books here, just as you cannot check out reference books there. Sorry!)

For fun and occasional profit, I like to work at the public library, where I am often found dreaming of one day partaking in the mud and mayhem that is Cyclocross, at which time I will most likely be racing in the senior division.