Retired

So far, it just feels as if I've had a day off. Still trying to wrap my brain around the concept of this not being a vacation. I'm really not going back to the library and the office I occupied for nearly 20 years.

My apartment is a mess right now. The den, which I use as an office of sorts, is particularly messy with all the junk I brought back from my work office. And that was only a portion of the junk I had there. I gave a lot of things, mostly office toys, to fellow staff, then tossed the stuff I didn't need (duplicates of what I have at home, mostly). One of my staff took so many things to remember me by that her cubicle resembled a shrine to me last I saw. That tickles me, that someone thought enough of me as a supervisor to want some of my things.

Looking back, I can honestly say I was a supervisor I would've wanted: someone who would be great to work for if you didn't give me any crap. Some people gave me crap -- whining about schedules, going over my head when they didn't like my answers, not being team players, always late, and so on -- and toward them, yes, I was not always the nicest person to work for. I wasn't a fair supervisor because I didn't treat people equally. I tried to be fair, really, but some people are a lot easier to treat fairly than others. I did the best I could and I never asked people to do things I wouldn't or couldn't do, and I tried to learn from my mistakes. I'm proud of what I did at that library and the branches I worked in previously, and I'm going to miss my colleagues and staff. I wish them all well.

I'm going to miss most of the public, too, especially the ones I've gotten to know while doing phone reference. That branch has a lot of regulars and I loved talking books with many of them. There are others I won't miss, especially the ones who insisted on talking over the phone with the TV or radio blasting in the background, or worse, people arguing in the background. Or the ones using cell phones that cut in and out, or picked up street noises as people walked and talked and then got annoyed when I couldn't hear everything they were saying and had to keep asking them to repeat what they'd said. I'm not going to miss the rude people or the ones who felt entitled to special service for whatever reason.

But I will miss my fellow science fiction fans and the man who also loves historical mysteries, especially set around World War II. Or the folks who loved talking to me, who said they were glad they got me because I always found the right books for them. I'll miss the ones who enjoy trying new things and were open to my suggestions, then were nice enough to let me know whether or not they enjoyed the books I recommended and didn't blame me if they didn't like them. I'll miss the feeling that I was making a difference in people's lives. That's the greatest kick of all.

But I sure don't miss getting up early, before the sun rises this time of year, and commuting on the subway during rush hour. Nope, I don't miss that at all.

Feeling: mellow

~~~o0o~~~

Evening of Mixed Emotions

These are my thoughts tonight...

I have to go back to work tomorrow.
But it's my last day!
But it'll be a stressful day because 2 people are on vacation.
But I won't have to go back the next day!
But I'll miss so many people.
But I'll be too busy for that to matter!

A friend and I saw "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows" today, which we quite enjoyed. I think that makes 3 films I've seen this year. Maybe 4. Next year? I'm aiming for a movie a month.

I've got lots of catching up to do.

Feeling: conflicted

~~~o0o~~~

Lots of Little Things Add Up to Not Much

It's been quite the week so far. Annoying tourist season has started in NYC, making my morning commute noisier than usual as hordes of tourists plus tour guides pack into the subway car I'm in.

Rude, don't watch where you're going season has been underway for a while now, so mix that with hordes of tourists roaming the city streets and I've got plenty to bitch about.

New phone system at work has been an interesting challenge. Our library branch is now a call center! And we've got new phones. The handset is too wide for my hand and I keep dropping it. My ears don't like headsets, so that's not an option. I get earaches. And the buttons on the new phone are different or the same in different places, so it's been almost a game of who will lose the most calls in a day while trying to transfer them. Plus, the phones have displays that show a lot of info that's hard to read. I painted the buttons with different Sharpie colors, so it looks very cool now, if nothing else.

On the entertainment front, summer shows are returning. Burn Notice is back, The Closer returns in July, and a week from Friday, we get Torchwood: Miracle Day on Starz! I'm psyched!

Oh, and the Mets have made baseball fun this week.

Guess that's it. I hear some chocolate calling my name. :)

Feeling: ready for a 3-day weekend!

~~~o0o~~~

Work Equals Stress

Work's been really dragging me down lately. Well, not the actual work. Just the job. The crap that comes with the job. Haven't felt much like posting this week so far. Maybe tomorrow.

Feeling: tired

~~~o0o~~~

Forgive Me, Blogosphere

It's been 5 days since my last post. Egads. I've been missing more days than not lately and I have no excuse. Not a good one, anyway. Call me lazy. Call me forgetful. But don't call me late for dinner. Okay, bad joke. Also, a very old joke. And I wish someone would call me for dinner because that would mean someone other than me would be making it.

Yes, I'm rambling. It's been one of "those" weeks. Anyone who has had "one of 'those' weeks" ever will know what I mean. This morning, for example, the library's public computer management system was under the mistaken impression it worked in a different branch. Rebooting fixed the problem, but I could empathize with it. Somedays, I wish I worked elsewhere. Still, I do love my work. It's the craziness that sometimes gets to me. Anyone who deals regularly with the public will know what I mean by "the craziness." I just got off the phone with someone who actually asked how she'd go about coming into the library. I suggested she just come in. Then she asked what she probably meant to ask from the start: What hours is the library open?

Nothing chocolicious to report. I have finished eating my pre-Passover Peeps. So far, I haven't met a marshmallow I didn't like.

I am also unexpectedly sad by ABC canceling All My Children and One Life to Live. I used to watch both shows, back in the '70s and '80s. I haven't seen them in decades now, but it's sad to know daytime soaps are nearly extinct. Truly the end of an era is upon us.

Feeling:  weary

~~~o0o~~~

Notes from the Short Work Week

I worked Thursday and today. Not much time and yet, nonsense happened.

First, I spent most of the time going through emails. And doing telephone reference. It's the latter that yielded the following bits of nonsense.

Thursday night, a patron calls and asks to register for the computer training program on Saturday. I've been away, so thought something new had been scheduled, but no, there's nothing. The rest is paraphrased and shortened from the original.
Me: Do you mean the one on Nov. 7? That was last Saturday.
She: Yes. The 7th. I'd like to register for it.
Me: It happened already.
She: So, can I register for it?
Me: We had it last week. It's over. We don't have another session scheduled, but we might in the future.
She: So I can't register for it?
Me: No.

(It's a longshot, but I've submitted the above to Not Always Right, one of my favorite blogs.)

And then, today, from one of our regulars, a pleasant woman who should've known better: "Don't mind me munching in your ear." Did she ask if I'd mind? No. She just said it. And did it. And I did mind. And it was hard to understand her over the munching. So. Very. Rude.

Feeling: in need of another vacation! :)

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: libraries

Sporadic Posting

I never thought I wouldn't be posting every day here, and yet, that's what's happened. I feel boring right now. And lazy. I could sort through the links posted on the link blogs and share the best here, but I'm too lazy to do that.

A few people are retiring at work and we had some snacks today as part of the farewell partying. The Whoopie Pies were yummy. So were the chips.



Feeling: okay

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work

Week Without End

I spent a lot of today thinking it was Wednesday. Was disappointed to realize I was wrong, and more disappointed to realize there was one more workday to go than I'd thought. Because it's been a long two days at the library and it looks like the rest of the week will be as interminable. I wish I could go to bed and not wake up til Saturday.

So, I've been relieving stress tonight by playing Pet Society on Facebook and watching the very entertaining new SciFi (now SyFy) series Warehouse 13. It's like X Files without the angst and it's not taking itself too seriously. And it has Saul Rubinek who is always a delight to watch.

Feeling: stressed

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work

A Busy Saturday at Work

For a rainy day, the library was very busy.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work

Topsy Turvey Day

Aside from thinking yesterday, a holiday from work, was Sunday, I spent a fair amount of today trying to convince myself it was Tuesday, not Monday. And I wasn't the only person a bit discombobulated. A couple of staff members got their schedules confused with other days.

The public elevator which went out of commission on Friday hasn't been repaired. Our work PCs now have yet another level of security to get through in order to log in. And yet, I'm sure someone will let a virus or worm in at some point, because really, the only people being stymied are the dedicated staffers trying to do their jobs, not the hackers.

My new PC has arrived. Depending on when hubby and I can unpack it and set it up and whether it and the cable modem can play nice, there might be some internet disruption at some point over the next few days/week.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work

Work Work Work

An actual, decent day at work. Granted, it was short because I left early to go to the gym, but still, a decent day is worth noting. And the library administration sent flowers in honor of National Library Week here in the US.

And I gained only a half pound over last week when I went to the ballgame instead of the gym, so that's not bad.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: libraries

TGSisO

Thank Goodness Saturday is Over. The working Saturday, that is. Now I can have my one-day weekend. It wasn't a bad workday, just a fairly dull, need to get through it, will it ever end? workday.

I posted this link over on The View from Here because they have widgets for blogs and sites, but I'll post it here, too. MadLibs is 50 years old and now has a website. You can play online. I grew up playing MadLibs, so this is very cool.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work

The Not-So-Much Joy of New Computers

New PC at work. Running XP. Security on the network was beefed up, so we can't change wallpapers. :(

I wasn't there yesterday when it was set up, so first thing today, I had to have the tech guys unlock my account. Then the beefed up security tells me the macros for our electronic timesheets won't work. Another call to the tech folks. The fix is pending.

They've also cluttered the desktop with close to 2 dozen icons, of which I regularly use 6 tops, and I can't delete them. The network security won't let me. The plain blue desktop is an ugly mess. I ended up locking all the programs I use to the Start menu and once I get into the first program, I plan to not have to look at the desktop for the rest of the day.

Grrrrrrrrr......

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work

The Days are Long

Or so it seems. In my two hours on the reference desk tonight, I fielded all of 3 phone calls. The first was an automated telemarketer: "Hello. We're contacting businesses in your area--" Click. The second was a hangup, didn't even give me the chance to click first. The third was a woman who calls every day asking about the same books on reserve. The excitement never ends.

I think I might have to try these Oreos Cakesters.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work

Good Things Come in Threes

Today, a few things came together, adding up to a most pleasant whole.

First, a colleague and I were able to get into the newly reopened 2nd Ave Deli (now on 33rd St by 3rd Ave). The deli had been forced to close 2 years ago when their previous landlord wanted a 6 times rent increase. We had the most amazing matzoh ball soup and corned beef sandwiches (pictured). Even the pickles were as good as we remembered. We have plans to return, many times, to work our way through the menu. Potato latkes. Kasha and varnishka. Kasha knishes. Two kinds of potato knishes. Brisket. I'm salivating just thinking of it.

Then, after being up for nearly 2 years, the scaffolding on our library building was finally removed. Daylight, even with today's clouds, filtered into the branch for the first time since March 2006.

And finally, the super comfortable blue Clarks shoes (in their new un-structured line) were waiting for me when I got home.

In other business, I think I've got about half the posts labeled here now.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: tagnamehere

Vacation Minus 55 Minutes

It's late in the day and my brain is fried. Nothing like a looming 9 workdays off to get me to clean my desk at work. And when I get back here in 2 weeks, there will be piles of crap and a gazillion emails to work through and it'll be like I never cleaned up.

This Quote of the Day really resonated.

"The more you find out about the world, the more opportunities there are to laugh at it."
- Bill Nye

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work

Day of the Mouse

A brown mouse was running around the library today, even making an appearance in the public area. I didn't get a photo because he was moving too fast. By the time I got to my camera, he'd taken off for parts unknown.

Here's a very small but tasty looking chocolate cowboy hat for sale on Amazon. Found on J-Walk Blog.

A Mr. Potatohead Gallery. Some of these are really cute. Found on The Presurfer.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work, links

Busy Busy Busy

Not enough hours in the day kind of day, too much to do kind of day, need to be 4 people kind of day. And now Blogger's giving me a hard time about a post on another of my blogs. feh. We need more staff.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work

Quizzed

You're a Window Shopper!

You know that shopping's a blast, but you prefer to save your money You hardly ever give into an impulse buy, unless it's a total steal You've always got the most money of your friends - and you never have to borrow And you've got a nice wardrobe too ... of classic pieces that last years!

Do You Shop More Than Most Women?

A very long, very annoying day. Just about no staff, spent most of the day on the reference desks after revising the July timesheets. I was glad to see the end of the day, that's for sure. Exhausting.

Came home, ate too much, read comics, and watched the Mets beat the Twins.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: quizzes

TGIF

TGIF because I'm not working this Saturday and I am so glad to see the end of the work week. It was one annoyance after another. The only real fun was discovering they're letting us have blogs at work (for blogging about work-related topics), in beta testing. So of course, I made a blog.

Meanwhile, here's a pic of the bacon waffles I had for lunch. Yum.


Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: work