The Loquacious Librarian

Library school didn't prepare me for questions like this...

2009-05-09T14:30:00.002-04:00

"What is... a-n-a-l cancer??"

That's one of the first reference calls I took this morning at the library. At first I thought maybe it was a prank call, someone trying to get a librarian to say "butt cancer." I very nearly accused them pulling my leg, but decided to err on the side of professionalism. The library already had a bunch of people there, and I didn't want to explain too loudly that it meant cancer in the opening of your butt, so I covered the mouthpiece of the phone and mumbled, "It's cancer of the butt." The person kept not understanding me so I had to say it about four times, at which point they go, "OH! You mean like rectal cancer?"

Umm... yeah, pretty much. I opted against prolonging the awkwardness by getting into the distinction between the rectum and the anus.

Then I remembered when I was working in the county fiscal affairs department and once received a call from someone who'd received a letter from "The Department of Fecal Affairs." It took every last ounce of self-discipline to not burst out laughing. (Not long after that, a coworker in charge of the county repository got a call inquiring about the "county suppository.")

Moral of the story: I don't like having to talk about butts and poop in a professional context, but it's given me some funny stories. And also, I could never be mature enough to be a proctologist.

P.S. Closed on the house about a month ago. Still no internet at the house, but I will eventually post before/during/after pictures once there is. And once we are out of the "during" phase, for that matter.

3 Weeks

2009-03-16T18:53:00.003-04:00

If all goes as planned, that is when my husband and I will close on our first house. Crazy. Absolutely crazy.

I'm still afraid to assume anything, even though I have no reason to assume the mortgage application won't be approved. The worst that can happen is a delay on the closing date, which would be a pain in the butt, but not a deal-breaker.

Of course, this is where it pays to know people with connections. It turns out our realtor used to be an appraiser for one of the banks our mortgage company works with, plus she's good friends with a branch manager at the bank we're going through for the mortgage application. Something tells me she may have exploited these connections to get everyone to move quickly. I would love to know if we're approved for sure by next week, but I'm not holding my breath, since it seems like every time I assume things will start to go smoothly something manages to go wrong!

At this point I don't know what else could possibly go wrong, unless the appraiser decides the property is worth less than what we're paying (unlikely, since homes in that neighborhood typically sell for $20k - $100k more than our purchase prices), or credit freezes up entirely (my income and credit score alone are both good enough to get approved as things stand now, or so says everyone I've dealt with so far).

So, barring any major issues, in three weeks this will be ours:
Certainly not extravagant, but pretty darn cute, and it'll be even better once we're through with it!

Welcome

2009-03-09T14:47:00.003-04:00

Things are looking good as far as the house situation goes.

Our offer was formally accepted by the seller's bank.

All the documentation we need to apply for a mortgage has been sent to our bank.

All that remains is to be approved for said mortgage. The lady at our bank said she'd be "shocked" if the application is not approved.

We have already chosen our doormat:

ThinkGeek is pretty much the best website ever.

Up Way Too Early

2009-03-04T05:42:00.003-05:00

I wouldn't feel like I was up too early if I'd been able to fall asleep earlier than midnight and actually stayed asleep. But as it turns out, I am wide awake after only 5 1/2 hours of very interrupted sleep.

Why?

Well, it's looking like the husband and I are finally going to be getting that house! (Yes, the one I was talking about MONTHS ago. Don't let the term "short sale" fool you. There is nothing short about it.)

We got word last Friday, after giving the seller's bank an ultimatum, that our offer had been accepted. After calling our lender and much distress over we would actually qualify for the loan, the woman at the bank said she would be shocked if the mortgage wasn't approved. Glen just started subbing (like, two weeks ago) and is hoping to get a full-time teaching job next year, and since he just started there was doubt over whether we could count his income since he hasn't been doing the subbing thing long at all and is no longer working at the restaurant. But when she ran the numbers, I was told that even if we just used my income, we should be approved. I nearly fell off my chair when she told me that.

So now it comes down to the inspection, which is scheduled for this afternoon. We know there are a couple of problems, most obviously a leak on the roof over the laundry room. Desperately hoping the solution will be a less-expensive patching of the direct location of the leak, but we are prepared to replace that section of roof. (The laundry room is this weird little addition in the back with an old roof, while the rest of the roof looks brand new and we were told it was replaced within the past few years. I have no idea why the laundry room was neglected.)

Everything else is relatively minor, like taking down wallpaper and painting, replacing cabinet hardware, putting in a couple of new windows, etc. We already have nearly all the furniture we need (and yes, most of it is crammed into our current one-bedroom apartment), so the need for new furniture is minimal (and there is a good chance that a lot of it will come from thrift stores!).

If it all works out, we will pretty much feel like we've died and gone to heaven. Two extra bedrooms, a big back yard where we can grow vegetables, a washer and dryer, a dishwasher, and room for most, if not all of, my books!! (Oh yes, and there is a giant shed in the back yard that has electricity, Glen refers to it as the "clubhouse.")

So hopefully nothing too bad will turn up at the inspection today, and hopefully the bank was right when they said there should be no problem getting approved for a mortgage, and hopefully interest rates will stay low for a bit, and... well, hopefully a lot of things.

But regardless, I consider myself lucky to be in a position to hope for these things.

Shopping in My Closet

2009-02-27T18:56:00.004-05:00

I've never really done this before. I've weeded through my closet and gotten rid of all the things I don't absolutely love. I'm not even sure I've used the old trick of creating new outfits from combining clothing in new ways. Instead, I skipped that step and went straight to re-purposing old clothing.

I was trying (and failing) to put together a cute, dressy (but not too dressy) outfit for going out to dinner with my husband, his friend, and his friend's new girlfriend tonight. I wanted to wear a dress, but most of my dresses are pretty summery and didn't look right with my tights. It's finally getting a bit warmer, but there was no way I was going to go out there with bare legs! Then I came across an old skirt that I don't really wear anymore because it hits right around the mid-calf area, which is kind of an awkward length for me, and, I imagine, for most people. I bought it mostly because I thought the pattern was gorgeous.

Tonight, inspiration struck and my awkward old skirt was reborn as an adorable new dress!

"I'm Sorry"

2009-02-17T18:22:00.005-05:00

Man, if I had a nickel for every time I heard those words from a library patron!

I don't know how much of this need to apologize results from a perception of librarians as strict, cranky old women with buns and how much of it comes from a lack of understanding of why librarians are there in the first place (namely, to help people find things!), but for some reason a lot of patrons seem to think they are imposing on us if they ask us for help finding something. Personally, I see it as job security! (There's also that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you find exactly what the patron is looking for and they're all impressed and grateful.)

Recently, there was an article in the American Libraries Digital Supplement called "The Bunheads Are Dead." The title is fairly self-explanatory, it's about how the stereotypical librarian is becoming a thing of the past. I think it's wonderful that people who pursue an MLIS have a huge variety of opportunities available to them, even if the title doesn't include the word "librarian." I love knowing that getting a degree in library science doesn't mean I've pigeonholed myself career-wise. But I still love being a "traditional" librarian in a public library.

No offense to any paraprofessionals out there, but I am concerned by the trend of filling school and public librarian positions with paraprofessionals, which was mentioned in the article. Being a good librarian is one heck of a lot more than knowing how to check out books and where to put them when they come back. It's about knowing have to navigate, evaluate and organize information in all its forms, and that does require some degree of training in order to do it well. (Although I suppose the argument could be made that most public librarians often find themselves playing the role of psychologist/social worker, and it's probably a safe bet that most of us don't have an MSW.)

I guess the point is, respect your librarians, because there's a lot more to the job than most people realize. But don't be afraid to ask us for help either. That's what we're here for, I promise!

On a completely unrelated note, my husband made my Valentine's Day by giving me a signed copy of "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" by Mo Willems. I absolutely LOVE the Pigeon books, even if they are intended for preschoolers.

Seriously, how adorable is the Pigeon??

A Bit of Library Advocacy

2009-02-13T12:24:00.004-05:00

If you are reading this, live in NJ, and support public libraries, please go here and contact your Assemblyman!

Earlier this week a bill was introduced to cut the funding for New Jersey's public libraries in half. Assemblyman Prieto's justification is that "many municipalities are collecting monies in excess of the needs of their public library systems."

I'm not saying there aren't any libraries in the entire state that receive more funding than they need, but more often than not one hears about libraries having to cut hours, programming, and/or staff because they can't afford to maintain the status quo. I work in a library in a relatively low-income area, and while I am not aware of all the details of the situation, I know that we are having enough funding issues as it is.

However, we also have a lot of very appreciative patrons who depend on us as their only source of internet access (and instruction in the use thereof), for help finding information for a job search or a school project, or even just for the entertainment of reading a novel or watching movie that they can't afford to buy or rent. They rely on us even more when the economy is awful, as it is now.

I know the government needs to cut costs, but public libraries provide people with the means to overcome economic hardship. While this may reduce the amount of money municipalities are required to invest in the community, it will also eliminate the returns their would have received on that investment.

In the Library

2009-02-02T12:08:00.002-05:00

Today I found out that there's a library-scented perfume! Who'd have thought?

According to the website, it smells like "Russian & Moroccan leather bindings, worn cloth and a hint of wood polish."

Awesome :-)

Feeling Guilty

2009-01-18T16:55:00.007-05:00

Is it weird that I feel incredibly guilty about not having found a full-time library job yet? Well, not even so much about not finding one, because I have limited control over that situation, especially given the current state of the economy... What I feel guilty about is that I'm not as upset about it as I think I should be. After all, I spent 2 1/2 years and nearly $20,000 getting my MLIS.

I suspect part of the reason I'm not so upset is that (a) I at least am working part time as a librarian, so at least I'm getting some sort of return on my investment, financially, professionally and psychologically and (b) I'm lucky to have any job in any field, let alone two jobs, both of which are actually related to my education.

Part of me is even afraid to switch full-time jobs even if something came up, particularly if it's something in a public library. The unfortunate thing about times like this is that, even though library use pretty much skyrockets, the budgets go down the tubes and I'd fear for my job security. I'd be much more inclined to accept a job in a school library, but I'd still be afraid of not being asked to return the next year. My job as a government auditor is pretty darn secure, and while it may not be my dream job I enjoy it most of the time. It just doesn't give me the same sense of purpose as working in a library. When I come home from the courthouse, I feel drained... when I come home from the library, I feel invigorated.

I don't want to be so risk-averse that I turn down a great job opportunity should it be offered... but at the same time, I am terrified of putting myself in a position where I don't have any (or very little) income. Especially if my husband and I do end up with a house.

Yes, that's right. Still no word on the house. The seller's bank wanted to do a second appraisal, because our offer was so far below the original purchase price. Very frustrating, because we do feel we're getting a very good deal and don't want to just walk away, but how long are they going to string us along? All we can do is keep our eyes open for a comparable home at a comparable price, and should we find it... well, too bad for the bank, we're going to withdraw our offer and good luck to them finding another buyer.

But in happier news, the past couple of weekends have been fun! Last Friday I went to New York for a friend's birthday, and we had a delicious dinner at L'Express. Went to New York yet AGAIN on Sunday to visit another friend. Got brunch at Tapeo 29... their brunch comes with your choice of Bloody Mary, mimosa, or screwdriver, with free refills. Seriously, who gives free refills on alcohol? Amazing. Last night my husband and I went back to the city AGAIN with one of his friends to see a midnight showing of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie at Sunshine Cinema. Good times, but finding parking was horrible, ugh.

Well, I'm off. The boy is working tonight, so I have the apartment to myself. Time to finish straightening things up, make some dinner, and love the fact that I have tomorrow off!

Still Alive

2009-01-01T20:32:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

I know, I'm terrible at this. It's funny, because I've been too busy to write anything but I haven't felt like I have anything terribly interesting about which to write!

Still no definite news on the house. SUPPOSEDLY we should hear something nexted week. But then again, we were originally supposed to hear something on December 15, so I don't know if I believe that. We're planning to look a few back-up houses on Sunday. We'd really like to know what's going on by the end of the month.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, socially speaking. On December 20, I got together with college friends for what was supposed to be our book club. But none of us finished the book in time. Oops? On Christmas Eve the husband and I invited our parents over for drinks and snacks, and the following day we made the rounds and had 2 Christmas dinners. The day after Christmas we braved the mall. Saturday the 27th was my annual Christmas dinner with my girlfriends from high school, and the next afternoon we had a get-together that included babies and husbands. I spent last night up at a cabin in the Poconos with my husband, one of my college roommates and a whole mess of other people, and now I'm going to be heading over to another friend's house. I feel like such a social butterfly! Pictures will hopefully be up on Picasa and/or Facebook tonight or tomorrow.

Also, in library-related news, we had an interesting incident when I was working at the library this past weekend. I was in the children's room and the incident happened in adult reference, but from what I understadn it involved a patron making a big scene over a teenager looking at "pornography" on the libraries computers (I put "pornography" in quotes because from what I heard it was a webpage that had a picture of a girl in a bikini, but was not in any way sexually explicit), loudly and rudely criticizing the parenting skills of the teenager's mother, informing the staff at the circulation desk that she was going to report us to the newspaper and storming out.

Gotta love when stuff like that happens. It keeps things interesting.

Right?

Okay, it's actually just really annoying.

I'm off. Hopefully there will be news on the house next week, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Guess who's freaking out right now?

2008-11-14T15:26:00.002-05:00

About a month or so ago I mentioned that my husband and I found a house we might be interested in buying. Well, we put an offer in on it, and the seller accepted! But of course, it couldn't be that simple. The property is a short sale, so the seller's bank has to approve our offer, which was originally submitted almost 4 weeks ago.

Nothing is definite yet, but things are moving along and it's looking good. Of course, there's still a chance that it won't work out, that either the bank won't approve our offer or a better offer will come in at the last second. Very frustrating.

So now I keep going back and forth between being really happy and optimistic, to being terrified that either someone will make a better offer or the bank will reject our offer or we won't get approved for a mortgage, to worrying about whether we'll have trouble keeping up with our expenses if we DO get the house. My thoughts alternate among these 3 scenerios about every 30 seconds. Right now all we can do is sit tight while we wait to hear something and hope for the best.

I usually read my horoscope each day, even though I don't really believe it most of the time. Once in awhile, however, it really hits the nail on the head. Yesterday I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by the house situation, as well as taking lots of extra hours at the library lately and trying to keep up with housework and getting ready for the holidays. Here's what my horoscope had to say:

"If you are feeling overwhelmed right now, you need to let some things go. These things could be hopes, work projects, relationships, or even goals. The fact is that you are only one person -- you can only do so much. So you cannot beat yourself up if things do not go according to your master plan or if you feel like it's your fault things aren't happening the way you think they should. Admitting you are powerless isn't always fun, but right now it may be necessary."

I hate being powerless!

"Mischievous Kitty"

2008-10-14T21:44:00.005-04:00

I can't believe I didn't think to do this sooner.

Tonight when I was at the library, a patron asked to see a bunch of old high school yearbooks, which we keep under lock and key in the periodical room. I got the yearbooks he was looking for, and after I brought them out into the reference area, I decided to find the yearbooks from my grandparents' (on my mother's side) senior years.

Here's my grandmother's picture:

How cute was she??

And beneath her photo was this:

That's right, my grandmother's nickname in high school was "Mischievous Kitty." Granted, the "Kitty" part is short for Catherine, which was her (and my!) middle name. But I find it most amusing, nonetheless.

And while I'm at it, here's my Pop-pop's yearbook photo:

Now it doesn't say it here, but I kid you not, his nickname was "Whitey." It's hard to tell from this picture (between being photocopied and scanned it got a lot darker), but people called him this because, despite being Sicilian, he had blond hair and fair skin.

That's all I have time for right now because I didn't eat much dinner and my stomach is grumbling at me quite angrily... but I think I may be taking advantage of the library's subscription to the genealogy database and learning more about my family, so expect more interesting stuff in the future. Maybe I can find some information about my dad's side of the family, including my [I forget how many "great"s go here ] Aunt Edna, who did a dancing horse act for Buffalo Bill's wild west show!

Neglect

2008-10-06T20:51:00.002-04:00

I haven't written anything in more than a month. Awesome.

Honestly though, I haven't had much free time, it's been an eventful month. I've been working extra hours at the library because one of my coworkers passed away very unexpectedly a few weeks ago and all of us part-timers have been filling in on the weekend and evening hours. It feels very strange to go in for my regular 5-9 weekend shift and not see Lorraine at the reference desk.

I've been busy just about every weekend with various social stuff whenever I'm not working... Gallivanting around NYC with the college roomies, going out with friends from home, and yesterday was my Uncle Joe's 90th birthday party (two weeks after he had major surgery, I swear that man is magical).

Also, I don't want to jinx anything, but Glen and I found a house that we're interested in... it needs a little work, but it looks like it would just be minor cosmetic stuff that we could do ourselves. It's a cute little 3 bedroom ranch with lots of neat architectural details, a decent size yard, a huge front porch, and a hot tub!! So we're keeping our fingers crossed that we get approved for a mortgage and that it passes inspection, and also that no one else swoops in there and makes an offer before we get a chance. At this point I'm thinking we'll either have to buy a place soon or accept the fact that we need to suck it up and get a bigger apartment to live in for awhile. We're going to take another look at the house with our parents in tow this weekend so we have a few sets of more experienced eyes looking for advantages/disadvantages... keep your fingers crossed for us!

I won the prize!

2008-09-03T23:03:00.004-04:00

One day last week, I (diligent employee that I am) checked Taylor Mali's blog during some downtime at work. He had a trivia question up there and offered a "silly prize" to the first person to answer it correctly I ventured a guess and I am now the proud owner of his CD, Icarus Airlines. Good stuff. :-)

I ought to get some sleep now. I work 12 hours today and another 12 hours tomorrow. Half day on Friday, then Glen and I are off to the Poconos for a wedding this weekend... Thank goodness for mini-vacations!

My New Buddy

2008-08-24T13:19:00.005-04:00

Yes, my new buddy is a bug. A praying mantis to be exact. I'm not sure what species it is, since the the only ones I've seen before were green, and I'm too darn lazy to either look it up (I started, but quickly learned there are more than 2,000 species!) or send the picture to whatsthatbug.com. But he's been hanging out in my garden the past few days. I hope he sticks around, he's way cooler than the cicadas that apparently love to molt on my petunias.

I'm a Miracle Worker!

2008-08-14T18:58:00.002-04:00

That's what one of my library patrons just told me after I helped her track down a fairly obscure news story with minimal information. I'm like a newspaper archive ninja. Seriously though, this is why I love this job. Helping people find stuff they're looking for makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. ;-)

It's been a pretty good night for getting substantial, challenging reference questions. Of course, now it's slow and I left the book I'm currently reading in my office at the courthouse. If it stays this quiet, I may need to take a walk over to the magazine section and see what I can find. I need something to help me stay alert when I work these long days.

In other news, my husband first asked me out 10 years ago today! It made me feel really old when I first realized that, but then it occurred to me that we were 15 when we first started dating (that was round one), so I guess I'm not really that old. :-P

Ok, I think the magazines are calling me now...

My Apartment Smells Like Curry

2008-07-29T19:11:00.006-04:00

Four days later, too. I made shrimp curry on Saturday night (it was a spectacular success, Glen had three helpings of it!) and delicious though it was, it's mildly disturbing that the smell is still so potent.

Oh well, guess I'll just have to find something else to make to replace the smell!

Shopping on Sunday was also a spectacular success. For not very much money I managed to add 8 shirts, a pair of shorts, gym pants, a nightgown, and a bunch of earrings to my wardrobe.

I've got a busy couple of weeks coming up, with family reunions, concerts (playing in and going to), and gatherings with friends from both undergrad and grad school. And hopefully a trip or two to Musikfest to drink beer, eat fried food, and watch the Cast in Bronze guy play the carillon.

Where to begin...

2008-07-26T09:47:00.001-04:00

I think I may have slacked off a bit too much here. It's been almost three weeks and I don't even know where I should start!

Hmmm... Most adorable news first: I finally got to spend some quality time with the first two JASSPAC babies, Ben and Sophia. That was a couple of weeks ago, and I still haven't put the pictures up on my Picasa site, but that's on the agenda for this afternoon. It's still completely weird to me that my friends have babies now, it makes me feel so old... but it was a fantastic afternoon.

I got an email about a job posting for a medical research library in Philly, so I applied for that this week. I don't have a clue how good my chances of getting it are, but it never hurts to apply, right? Plus, I just found out this morning that one of my favorite professors from grad school said he would be one of my references! Yay!

Finally got my hair cut. It was long enough to donate, so now it's chopped up to my chin and I have bangs again. I've been getting a lot of compliments on it, and so far it's been really easy to take care of (particularly in regard to the fact that I can now dry it without breaking a sweat and feeling like I have to take a shower again!), so I think I may have to keep it this way for awhile.

I've been getting more into cooking lately too. I took a Thai cooking class at the community college with Hannah, and I'm going to try a couple of the recipes we learned for dinner tonight. Glen and I are both going to be around this evening for a change, I think I might even get out the good china! I made black beans and rice for myself last night, and it came out really well. It's easy to make, I know, but it was a step up from boiling pasta and heating up the sauce and some canned veggies, so I felt rather accomplished.

Shopping at the Jackson Outlets tomorrow with the former college roomies, I think we'll be doing some damage. I've barely gone shopping in about 6 months, I feel like I'm going through withdrawal. Also in the plans is tracking down somewhere to eat a cheesecake in memory of Estelle Getty.

Well, this post has been all over the place, so I think I'll end it by continuing on that trend. I saw this video on YouTube the other day and really liked it. Even if I never end up working in a school library, I took away a lot of valuable things from my field experience in one, not the least of which is an appreciation for Taylor Mali.

Field Trip

2008-07-08T18:26:00.005-04:00

I haven't been to the Liberty Science Center since maybe 5th or 6th grade, and recently some of my college roommates and I decided it would be fun to go. We met up for brunch at a diner in Jersey City on Sunday first, and then after a few wrong turns managed to find out way into the Liberty Science Center parking lot.

Sadly, the Touch Tunnel is a thing of the past, but we still had a lot of fun.

Jency climbed in a tube...

We built a bacterium...

There were some semi-failed attempts at self-portraiture in the IMAX...

And we saw a crazy fish that scurried around the bottom of the fish tank with little legs.

It was definitely a good time, even without the Touch Tunnel.

Next time, we're planning on a considerably less nerdy afternoon of shopping at the outlets by Sara's boyfriend's house. Hopefully I won't come back from that one completely broke, but I haven't done any serious shopping in awhile, so no promises. ;-)

He's so romantic :-)

2008-06-21T20:37:00.003-04:00

When I came home from work one day last week, this is what I found on the bed:

It's a bunch of origami cranes arranged in a heart. It made me smile. :-)

The cranes themselves are nothing new, Glen's been folding them for me for a little over a year. Part of his gift to me on our anniversary was that he was going to fold 1000 paper cranes for me, about one a day. There's a Japanese legend that says if you fold 1000 paper cranes you'll be granted a wish. He said that he had already been given his wish, but he thought that he should earn it.

So for awhile I'd get one crane on my nightstand each morning. Then they sort of stopped for awhile, but I didn't really question it. When I came home on Christmas Eve our apartment was FILLED with paper cranes. On the coffee table, the TV, the kitchen counters, the bed, the desk, even all over the Christmas tree. He'd been hoarding them in the trunk of his car for months!

So basically the plan is that now, to keep things interesting, every once in awhile I get some sort of romantic surprise with origami cranes. My husband is pretty much the best.

And what are we going to do when there are finally 1000 paper cranes sitting in my closet almost two years from now?

Send them to Sadako Sasaki's monument in Hiroshima, of course.

A Moment of Extreme Nerdiness

2008-06-17T20:16:00.002-04:00

Remember the movie "Awakenings"? I remember watching part of it when I was really young, but it didn't make much of an impression on me, except that it involved Robin Williams with a beard.

Then my junior year of college, Oliver Sacks was the speaker at the convocation. I don't know that I'd have bothered to go, except I was in the choir and we sang a few songs at the event. Oliver Sacks is the neurologist who wrote the book Awakenings and the person on whom Robin Williams' character is based. And he was both adorable and fascinating.

I later read Awakenings (which he signed for me!) and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. I forgot to bring a book with me to the library tonight (which for the most part was not big loss because I was incredibly busy, and with some good reference questions, too!) so I found the library's copy of An Anthropologist on Mars. I haven't even finished the first of the seven stories, but one of the footnotes describes Anton's syndrome, in which individuals lose their sight but are completely unaware of the loss. It's as if they forget what vision even is. So weird.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, other than that Oliver Sacks has taught me that the brain is incredibly complex, confusing, and amazing. And if you're anywhere near as nerdy as I am, you should read his books.

As Promised:

2008-06-06T18:19:00.005-04:00

Here are some degu pictures! I can't take credit for them, my husband was the one who actually took the pictures back in April. So Eric, you can stop bugging me now. :-P

Ahh, Nostalgia :-)

2008-06-02T17:12:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I came across a music video on YouTube that features some of the stars from Nickelodeon's good ol' days... It made me smile, and it also made me wish they'd released "Salute Your Shorts" on DVD. ;-) Check it out:

P.S. Eric, I promise I will put up pictures of the degus soon!

More Procrastination

2008-05-01T12:55:00.005-04:00

Yup, definitely should be working on my final project for grad school during my lunch hour, but that's absolutely not going to happen. Instead, I think I'll spend my lunch hour extolling the virtues of my new job, which include but are not limited to:

Higher pay (duh)
My own office (nevermind that it's the smallest in the department!)
Windows (2 of them!)
A closet (which happened to come with 3 men's suit jackets)
Flex hours
I can play music in my office. As in my own music, not the crappy stuff on the radio station that gets played throughout the rest of the courthouse!
Mileage reimbursement
The opportunity to be promoted on my own merit, instead of waiting for vacancies in other departments.
A door to close when I don't feel like being bothered
Fantastic coworkers who actually get me (though I don't know exactly what that says about them!)

Yup, I think I'm going to like this job. Still going to keep my eyes open for full-time library jobs of course, but this is certainly not a bad place to be in the meantime!

And on a completely unrelated note, I was looking into getting new speakers for my computer at work since my current speakers are old and don't work very well. And I came across these:

Awesome, right? Probably not exactly high-quality though... Maybe I'll go for something a bit more practical. ;-)

One Month Left...

2008-04-17T20:10:00.002-04:00

Exactly four weeks from today, my final semester of grad school will be over! I am one revised PowerPoint and one three-year strategic plan away from being done. Oh yeah, and a whole bunch of reading and discussing of YA books, but that's the easy part. ;-)

Still confused about where I ultimately want to end up, although there are some potential opportunities in school libraries that I am considering pursuing. I start my new job as an auditor at the courthouse on Monday, and part of me is so tempted to just settle into that for awhile... but can I really pass up the chance to pick up where a really fantastic school media specialist left off? Granted, this is assuming I am even offered the position in the first place, and my lack of experience may be a bit of a detriment there... So perhaps I should wait to muse over this issue until I find out whether I even have a shot at that school job.

On a different note, I'm still trying to adjust to the concept of having free time. Part of me is really excited, but part of me is actually a little scared. I've always been depending on having to be at a certain place at a certain time and having deadlines. I feel like I need external motivators in order to get things done. Will I turn into a lazy bum when school is over? Have I maybe earned the right to be a lazy bum? What if I completely lose my momentum?

Although the hardest part, the degree-getting part, will be over. And even if I don't find my dream job right away, at least I can be assured that as of this Monday I will have a good job, instead of the mediocre stuff I've been dealing with until now (please note that the job at the public library is excluded from that statement, it is far from mediocre).

Seriously now, how sad is it that I feel the need to rationalize my right to take a little break this summer, to enjoy my semi-cushy job with my very own office (which, lets face it I probably won't have in most libraries), actually spend quality time with my husband, to have a nice garden instead of the half-assed one I've planted the past two years, to read my fill of recreational books (anxiously awaiting the publication of such non-fiction titles as American Nerd: The Story of My People and The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in Our Commercialized World, as well as the chance to read a plethora of shallow chick lit and at least one big, thick classic), to actually keep our apartment nice and clean and maybe even consider starting a real house hunt depending on where our lives take us this summer. What a concept.

The Loquacious... Auditor??

2008-03-31T16:48:00.003-04:00

That's right... I'm taking a small detour on the way to full-time librarianship.

Since I realized there's no guarantee I'll immediately get a full-time job as a librarian as soon as I graduate, I figured I may as well go for a promotion at work. I ranked first on the test, and they offered me the position. Since it comes with a hefty raise, my own office, and the opportunity to get promotions based on my own accomplishments (rather than waiting for the next job vacancy to be posted), I decided I'd be foolish not to take it!

Fortunately, I've still got my part-time public library job, so even while I'm waiting for the perfect opportunity to come along I've got that job to keep me from feeling like I'm wasting an MLS. Besides, I'm so unbelievably exhausted from these past few years that I'm not ready to launch into a full-fledged job search just yet. For once in my life, I'm taking a little time to just breathe and enjoy life.

What ever will I do without all that schoolwork hanging over my head?

Impromptu Storytimes

2008-03-25T19:56:00.002-04:00

Who says a librarian's job is boring?

Not me, that's for sure.

I had kind of a long day at the courthouse, and I still had a ton of schoolwork to do, but I also had to work at the library from 5 - 9. I was scheduled to be at the children's desk, which was kind of a relief because there are fewer interruptions (since we only have 2 public computers in the children's room, as opposed to the 13 or so in adult reference) and I'd probably have more time to catch up with schoolwork. Boy, was I mistaken!

I asked if there was anything going on tonight, and was told there wasn't. Things were reasonably busy, but nothing extraordinary. Until about 6:50, when some folks came in and asked where the storytime would be.

...What storytime? I checked the calendar, and sure enough, there it was: Storytime: 7 - 7:30.

Great. I'm only here one, sometimes two times, a week. So I started calling some of the other children's librarians to see if maybe someone was just running late, but no one picked up their phones. Even better.

So next thing I know it's 6:58 and I'm scrambling around the library trying to find spring-themed pictures books for the rather large crowd of preschoolers and their parents gathered at the back of the library. I eventually settled on When Will It Be Spring? by Catherine Walters and Wake Up, It's Spring! by Lisa Campbell Ernst, partly because they looked cute, but mostly because they were two of maybe four or five spring-themed books that weren't already checked out.

I didn't have the key to the storytime room and didn't want to waste anymore time looking for it, so we had to settle for pulling together a bunch of chairs in the back of the room. Amazingly enough, the storytime went really well, with kids commenting on the pictures and getting so close to the book that I actually had to ask them to back up. A much better problem to have than a lack of attention.

I didn't have enough time to plan any activities, but the stories took up most of the half hour, and the parents just seemed grateful that I was able to pull something together for them.

And to think, last summer I was absolutely terrified of doing a PLANNED storytime. My, how this librarian has grown. ;-)

Procrastination?

2008-03-20T20:30:00.000-04:00

There are so many things I should be doing right now.

Working on my journals for my field experience. Reading for YA Lit. Updating my resume. Posting in discussions for one of my three classes.

So I guess technically this is procrastination. But I've been talking about starting a blog for months now, so I suppose I could rationalize this and say I'm actually putting an end to my procrastination. Yeah, that's what I'll tell myself.

No guarantees that I'll keep this blog regularly updated, at least for now. For the next two months I'll be juggling a full-time job as an HR specialist (or maybe an auditor, depending on how things go this Wednesday!), a part-time job as an intern at a library, my last 9 credits toward my MLIS, field experience at a high school media center, and looking for a job as a real librarian!

But I feel like I need somewhere to put my thoughts, share my adventures, complain about how stressed out I am even though I'd be much less stressed if I was doing what I should be doing instead of writing blog posts...

Well, the library will be closing soon, so perhaps I should consider getting things straightened up and start kicking people out. ;-)