I’ve been without a convenient library branch for a while. Prior to Hurricane Wilma, I used to go to the branch by Aventura Mall. Sure, I had the one downtown, but there’s not much for me to do downtown now that I’m no longer going to Miami-Dade College’s downtown campus. The only other county library branch accessible to me was the one by the mall.

Since the hurricane, the county had a bookmobile (basically, a small library on wheels) parked in front of the building. I actually never went in there because it looked way too cramped and consolidated. I was also told that it was basically to reserve books and to pick up those books once they came in. (Since I never went in there, I can’t say if this is true.)

A week or two ago, the branch was relocated to Aventura City Hall. (You can see the article here.) If you drive, this isn’t a big deal. However, I don’t drive. I had a sense of where the city hall is in relationship to the mall. All I had to do was figure out how to get there.

One day, while going to the mall with my mother, I saw that there was a road going under the causeway that separated the mall from the city hall. There was a sidewalk going under the bridge; the only question was whether or not it went by the city hall. Today, I found out.

The good news is that it does. The bad news is that I first have to check in to the city hall before I can get to the library. This meant giving a security guard my photo ID and waiting for him to take a picture of me so he could print out a pass. When I went up to the library, they only had 1,200 square feet available to them. The books were limited, but they did have available a larger than usual selection of DVDs. (I managed to walk past the CDs twice.)

I asked, and it turns out that the library will reopen in about two years. They have to tear down the existing structure (which hasn’t been done yet) so that they can build a new structure. It was about time to redo the library, anyway. I think the old building is older than I am. It’s been there for as long as I can remember.






In any event, I’ve got pictures of another glow-in-the-dark jellybean. This time, it’s not as transparent. Above are pictures of the bean, both on and off the mouse. Apparently, this isn’t something reserved for the lemon-lime flavor of the bean. I’m curious to see more. (I still haven’t gotten a mixed-flavor bag yet.)






I also decided to try something with some old boxes of Ice Breakers Ice Cubes gum. I call it “Gumhenge”. I’ve been thinking of things to do that look like Stonehenge. This is one of the things I’ve thought of. More ideas may be forthcoming as I both think of them and find the means by which to do and photograph them.