So there I was at the library, taking advantage of free Internet access on a “technical difficulty” day at the home office when I discovered that my library is like a party zone. Neighbors screamed to each other across the lobby about their recent cruises to Alaska. Kids talked in “outside voices” and ran around. And on either side of me, my fellow computer users had headphones blasting so loud that we might as well have cleared an area for a dance floor and stopped pretending this was supposed to be a LIBRARY.

And then I happened upon the Cholla Branch Library in the shadow of a mall in Phoenix, Arizona. “Small and quaint,” one reviewer says. “Everyone seems to respect each other’s privacy and the library rules,” says another. Ahhhhh, bliss. I found myself dewy-eyed about their Dewey Decimal location. But after a few more reviews of “small and quaint” I hit the shocking surprise: “This library is huge!” “Very large!” “Story time followed by a 20-minute play session!” “Loads of activities!” Are these people going to the same library? Or do we all see the world so dramatically different? Can the public library be everything to everyone? Or am I the only one who pines for a nice librarian to say “shhhhhh”?

It’s Friday, and you know what that means! Happy Hour! How about a Seabreeze? Mojito? Manhattan? Mai Tai? Mint julep? Daiquiri? Or that old favorite, Sex on the Beach? Oh, and we’re not talking cocktails here. We’re talking Cocktail Bouquets from The Flower Bar in Atlanta.

But, watch it. As one reviewer writes, you might end up needing FA (Flowers Anonymous) after getting addicted to this florist’s gorgeous arrangements.

Now we’re talkin’. All your debt problems can be over simply by READING BOOKS! Yessirree. A simple visit to the Deals tab on Kudzu.com revealed this exciting news to me. Queen “B” Buy Houses (that’s a company’s name!) has a coupon that says Get Paid to Read — and get 40-50% off the cost of books.

So forget consolidating debt. Forget renegotiating your credit card finance charges or mortgage rate. Forget controlling your spending impulses, using coupons, shopping sales and second-hand stores. Read, I tell ya’. That New York Times bestseller list? Bring it on. The Summer Reading List table full of classics at the local bookstore? Cancel all plans and curl up. Those popular trashy beach reads? Dive in. Stuck on what to choose next? How about something with Get Out of Debt in the title? Just a thought.

Things I need when I’m traveling: an alarm clock I trust (who can sleep wondering if the hotel wake-up call will come on time?), a juicy book (”Like Water for Chocolate,” anyone?), oh, and yeah, chocolate (don’t rely on that mini-bar for important things like this!)

Things I don’t need: webcam updates of my ferret. Fine, I don’t have a ferret, but if I did, do you honestly think I am so completely obsessed that I need to see what that furry, squirmy thing is doing 24/7? Don’t you think I’m happy just to be away from it for awhile? BUT, for those of you with much more co-dependent relationships with your pets, there are services such as The Ark Pet Sitting Company that offer constant visuals that answer the eternal question: “while the cat’s away, do the mice actually play?”

Let’s hope these pet sitting services do a better job than my mom, God bless her, when I was away at college and she was taking care of my parakeet, Vladimir. Apparently, little Vladdy took a turn for the worse and Mom didn’t know how to tell me. So she simply added on the end of a postcard, “Looking forward to seeing you soon! Love Mom, and Vladimir (R.I.P.)”

Glad she didn’t have a webcam. That’s one visual I didn’t need to see.

And you think your boss is a jerk:

“EAST POINT, Georgia (AP) — The owner of a car dealership has been accused of killing two employees because they kept asking for pay raises.” Full story >>

So, if your boss seems to be having a bad day, you may want to check here — or here — before asking for that raise…