Two Libraries, Two Attitudes

Posted on By Tom 9 Comments on Two Libraries, Two Attitudes
EdTech, Internet

Greenville County Library

First, let me make something very clear. Both Greenville and Spartanburg Counties have outstanding library systems. The services both of these systems provide are vital to the education and health of our communities, and we would be much poorer without them. That being said, I have noticed some distinct differences in how each system addresses information in the digital age, and specifically social media applications.

Spartanburg County Library is embracing social media. From their main website one finds links to their YouTube channel, their Twitter stream, their Flickr account, and their Facebook group page. All of these accounts are very active, and appear to be updated regularly. I was most impressed with their YouTube channel, which features a video podcast twice a week. The one for this week is embedded below:

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A Tourist in Your Own Home Town

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on A Tourist in Your Own Home Town
Local

Lake Hartwell

In 1991-92 we moved to Tucson, AZ for a year. Laura was on sabbatical from Furman, doing research at the University of Arizona, and I spent the year wandering in the desert – quite literally. I would drop Laura off at the lab, then go find a canyon to climb or arroyo to explore. On the weekends we would pick some other location, trying to take advantage of all that the area had to offer.

We made many friends among the locals while we were there. Occasionally we’d talk about some of the places we had visited, and the response was often, “I’ve never been there” or “I didn’t know that was here.” In some cases it was ignorance, and in some cases they just hadn’t gotten around to it. We always said in reply that we knew we had a finite amount of time to see things – one year. Living in an area you tend to think you’ve got plenty of time to visit all of these places, which means that often you just don’t get around to it.

For that reason I’ve found that it’s not a bad idea to pretend you’re a tourist in your own home town. Check out what the local tourism board or other resources have to say about spots in your area, then actually VISIT those spots.

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Nation’s Bakery

Posted on By Tom 6 Comments on Nation’s Bakery
Restaurants

Nations Bakery

NOTE: This restaurant location has closed. The restaurant has moved to Inman, SC, and a Mexican restaurant has opened in this location.

It started with a box of cookies…

A new bakery opened just down the road in Lyman. Its signs touting “gourmet cuisine” have been taunting me for the past couple of months. I’ve even stopped by twice, only to be told that they were not yet ready to serve lunch, but soon… The smells of fresh-baked goods made it hard to walk out the door unsatisfied.

Then this morning one of my tech team brought a selection of cookies from Nations Bakery and told me that they were now open for lunch. The cookies were excellent, and I knew I had to give this place a try.

Background

Once upon a time this used to be a popular ice cream shop. Many years later it found new life as Don Pedro’s, a Mexican restaurant with fairly good food, but a scary interior. It didn’t fare so well, and the building has sat empty for the past couple of years.

As previously mentioned, work began remodeling the empty restaurant a couple of months ago. The bakery opened first, and the restaurant opened just after Christmas.

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Adventures in Customer Service

Posted on By Tom 5 Comments on Adventures in Customer Service
Rants

Two different stories of breakdowns in customer service.  One had a very simple solution, but one was most difficult to resolve.  Both resulted in ill-will on the part of the customer (us.)  Both of these prove the old saying my former boss used, “It takes ten ‘atta-boys’ to make up for one ‘Oh Sh*t!'”

The Lazy Goat

This was the simplest to resolve, but that didn’t happen.  The customer service faux pas could have been fixed with just one simple phrase, but the offending parties didn’t.

Laura and I celebrated our 21st anniversary last week.  However, we decided to wait until we got home from Florida to have a celebratory dinner at The Lazy Goat.  I made reservations, and specifically requested a table at the windows overlooking the Reedy River.  When we arrived, we were seated in the middle of the restaurant, our request notwithstanding.  The window tables had been taken.

Here’s where things broke down…

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2010 Calendar

Posted on By Tom 3 Comments on 2010 Calendar
Miscellaneous, Photography

hood ornament with texture

The past couple of years I haven’t been very successful with my photo calendars. In 2007 the company I used made misprints, and replaced all of the calendars I ordered. Some folks thought the calendars looked OK even with the faulty printing, and took them anyway. Last year I didn’t even get around to making a calendar. I couldn’t decide on which photos to use and the time slipped by. This year I had a theme, but once again time was a factor.

I order my calendars through Qoop.com from photos that I’ve posted to my Flickr account.  Since I’ve been doing so much with antiquing and adding texture, I thought it might be nice to create a collection of processed photographs.  Specifically, I was including old and vanishing structures and objects from the South.  I placed the order on December 6, which should have been plenty of time for the order to be processed.  However, the calendars didn’t arrive until after we had already left for Florida for Christmas – too late to be used as Christmas presents as intended.  I complained to Qoop, and they were gracious enough to refund my shipping fees and give me a coupon for future purchases, but this is two orders that they have messed up.

As for the calendars themselves, they were waiting when we got back home.  I may still use them as Epiphany presents, but the overall effect of the calendars wasn’t exactly what I expected.  They turned out a bit darker, and a bit more Gothic than I had thought.  Here’s a brief month-by-month rundown…

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