work

Rob Brezny gets me

~ brixton ~ Leave a comment

I started my new job on Monday, and so far I feel really good about things! I already have responsibilities, meetings on the calendar, projects to work on – such a change from my last job, where I spent a year feeling totally stagnant. For maybe the first time since leaving Illinois, I feel like I really want to be here, and that’s a really good thing.

As a result, yesterday’s Free Will Astrology really rang true:

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In his parody music video, “Sickest Buddhist,” comedian Arj Barker invokes a hip hop sensibility as he brags about his spiritual prowess. Noting how skilled he is when it comes to mastering his teacher’s instructions, he says, “The instructor just told us to do a 45-minute meditation / but I nailed it in 10.” I expect you will have a similar facility in the coming week, Capricorn: Tasks that might be challenging for others may seem like child’s play to you. I bet you’ll be able to sort quickly through complications that might normally take days to untangle.

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Friday this and that

~ brixton ~ Leave a comment

Things I’m into right now:
1. Essential Mixes have been carrying me through long workdays of literature reviews and conference prep.
2. THREE DAYS left at my current job! I start here on 28 February.
3. I’m in desperate need of a pedicure. I might treat myself after tomorrow’s seven mile run. (OMG, running seven miles)

Things I do not like:
1. The weird faces in reddit rage comics.
2. Brak, at least in his appearances on Space Ghost thus far.

Things that do not exist as far as I know, but really should:
1. A website that shows you all of your available transit options between two locations, including schedules and pricing. One-click booking would be ideal. Use case: I want to travel from DC to NYC. My options include several bus lines, flights from three nearby airports, the Acela, car rental, etc.
2. A website that lets you input your price range, then shows you your flight (or, ideally, all transit) options. Example: I want to spend up to $300 on airfare for my upcoming vacation. Where can I go if I book my tickets today?
3. A coffeeshop along the lines of Aroma, Kopi, or Paradiso. Adequate coffee, free wireless, and affordable lunch options. As far as I’m concerned, these things are essential to grad school success, and are woefully absent in A2.
4. Even better, I would like the above in my neighborhood. Or any kind of cafe within a few blocks of my house.

Some Thoughts On Running Home From Work

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Things I Do Not Like About Running Home From Work

  1. The amount of crap I have to carry with me:
    • keys: even with removing the keys I don’t use on a daily basis, I still have 3 for the office and 1 for home.
    • wallet: even with removing the stuff I don’t use on a daily basis, I still have driver’s license, debit card, MCard, and cash.
    • phone
  2. The amount of crap I leave at the office which I then have to carry home on another day:
    • Work clothes
    • Lunch bag and coffee mug
    • Day planner
  3. The first mile is on campus and downtown, where I get stuck behind strollers and other slow-moving pedestrians. The last mile is all uphill.
  4. I arrive home to hungry and annoying cats who need attention immediately when I really just want to sit down and cool off for 15 minutes
  5. It’s hard to think about making dinner etc when I’m sweaty and tired and just want to put fuel in my body.
  6. I’m tired from being in the office for 8 hours, which doesn’t bode well for a quality run.

Things I Do Like About Running Home From Work

  1. It’s convenient, both in terms of time and distance.
  2. It’s faster than taking the bus or walking.
  3. I don’t have to get motivated to run later in the evening.

What have I been up to?

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In progress

Empty book trucks

After

When I got my job at Cooley, I said that I thought it would be neat to be on the ground floor of a new library – something that just doesn’t happen all that often these days. I didn’t realize that meant that I would be literally putting the books on the shelves. The books arrived on Tuesday, and I spent 14 hours between Thursday and Friday shelving. My hands are formed in leetle claws the shape of the ALR, though I’m sure my pain is nothing compared to my coworkers who were there all week.

On the bright side, I haven’t felt bad about not exercising because omg it hurts to move.  On the not-so-bright side, that means I’ve been too sore to run during the rare November weekend in the 60s.  Maybe today – if the Decennial Digests don’t beat me down.

IM transcript of the day

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(5:26:21 PM) gelmaninfo@meebo.org/Home: what is your topic?
(5:26:35 PM) Patron: cow sharing in Maryland

[snip]

(5:32:29 PM) gelmaninfo@meebo.org/Home: is there a synonym for ‘sharing’ that is used in the farm business?
(5:33:21 PM) Patron: i am not certain
(5:33:25 PM) Patron: its like buying cow stocks
(5:33:35 PM) Patron: not a stock but buying like the “shares” to a cow
(5:33:45 PM) gelmaninfo@meebo.org/Home: right.  I know they do that in PA with horses
(5:33:56 PM) Patron: really??
(5:34:01 PM) Patron: whats the purpose of that?
(5:34:21 PM) Patron: like the purpose of using cow shares is to get around the law that sales of raw milk are illegal.
(5:34:55 PM) gelmaninfo@meebo.org/Home: oh, my dentist just likes to ride a horse but can’t afford to own one alone… different!

Scenes from the Reference Desk

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The worst part of tonight: the patron who tried to bully me into making a webpage for him for $300.  Now, it’s not that I don’t want your $300, dude.  It’s that you’re trying to pressure me into doing something that I have no intention of doing just because I’m nice and it’s my job to help people.  I attempted to make it clear that while I would help him find information about web hosting and site design, I would absolutely not make the website for him.  This went on for about five minutes, until I finally said “Look, I’m not going to make your website” and convinced him to make flyers to hang up so that he could hire cheap (aka student) labor.  Just because you’re from Africa and are computer illiterate (both things he told me) doesn’t mean I’m going to be a sucker.

The best part of tonight: a patron IM’d looking for data on social networking site usage amongst Gen Y/millennials.  Not only was I able to immediately help him – I knew which Pew report would provide the exact information he needed.  It also gave me a really good excuse to publish the still incomplete LibGuide I created.  I’m usually able to help patrons to some extent, but it’s really rare that I get a question that I can totally nail while at the same time having the patron be excited about the information I found for them.  Yay!