About Erica Firment

Erica Olsen Firment is an omnivorous mammal of the genus Ailurus, having an endothermic physiology and a long, furry tail. Erica's range extends to both deciduous and coniferous forests, and can often be found at Linden Lab, working on the user interface for Second Life.

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Librarian Rave Mix

on April 20th, 2012 in Avenging, Librarianship, Library school, Music, Nerdcore Rap by | 1 Comment

Librarians: You know how it goes. You are out partying with your librarian friends. Suddenly you realize that your gathering requires a suitable soundtrack. A library-themed soundtrack. Indeed, without the proper music, the event will be a disaster! It could happen. The worst case scenario is sobering: everyone ends up…

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The Librarian Avengers Film Rating System

on February 12th, 2012 in Avenging, Favorite Posts, Film by | 4 Comments

Dear Film industry: Your metadata is not granular enough. The MPIAA ratings G, PG, PG-13, and R do not fulfill my needs. I need information relevant to my particular disinterests. I need to know ahead of time if a movie contains elements that I consider unacceptable. I’m not talking about…

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How FreeFile Almost Cost Me Plenty

on February 8th, 2012 in Avenging, Favorite Posts, Interface design, User Interface Design by | No Comments

Let’s talk for a moment about why I misfiled my tax extension. Melty Jello brain aside, bad software design almost cost my little family $2,500. Background: When I’m not wrestling a one-year-old into tiny shoes, I’m a User Experience Designer. This means I work with software companies to create easy-to-understand…

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The IRS was kind to us

on February 7th, 2012 in Avenging, Family, Parenting by | 3 Comments

Yes, that was my letter from the IRS. I misfiled our tax extension. My husband, who is hilarious, wrote a letter to the IRS asking for clemency due to new-baby-induced Jello Brain. The IRS, who are apparently also hilarious, quoted him in their response. I scanned the letter and he…

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Kaiser Perminente’s website causes heartburn, sleeplessness

on January 13th, 2012 in Avenging, Interface design, User Interface Design by | 1 Comment

Yesterday I tweeted: The Kaiser Permanente site is pretty, but someone organized it using their butt. I had just spent an hour on their member website trying to set my daughter’s primary care doctor. The links I followed did not lead to useful content. I was frustrated. I wrote: I…

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South Detroit

on November 23rd, 2011 in Michigan, Music, Research Obsession, San Francisco by | 3 Comments

The 70′s band Journey is kind of a big deal out here. Apparently they are from the Bay area, and there is a San Francisco civic statute requiring all radio stations to play Journey songs every three hours. Or, so I gather. While doing a deep textual analysis of the…

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An Introvert’s Guide to Writing

on November 1st, 2011 in Favorite Posts, Library tourism, Life by | Comments Off

Introvert,  extrovert, or false dichotomy? I’ve been baring my soul and cockeyed schemes on the internet since 1997. I tell total strangers here on this site about my life, my thoughts on work, and the things that bring me joy. I’ve had two jobs where I acted professionally. I love…

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Tales from the Reference Desk

on October 26th, 2011 in Avenging, Librarianship by | 9 Comments

Hey gang, I’ve been funemployed for several weeks, and am rapidly losing my mind. I could use some perspective. The new crop of students must be coming into the library to do last-minute midterm research around now. Remind me what I’m missing by skipping out on my library career to…

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