June 2, 2018

This morning I woke up, got ready, and dropped the academic librarian off at her house on my way to work.

It was our summer reading kick-off day, so after counting money with the assistant, I went over to the children's area to set up a Makey Makey, potato piano. I like the whack-a-book game better but the theme for summer reading this year is music, so the piano made more sense. It was a little tricky figuring out which keys activated each piano key, we had to look at the code, but we got it sorted and as far as I know everything worked out pretty well.

I was on desk until 11:00PM and in that time I caught up on emails, helped patrons, and briefly talked to the academic librarian who stopped by to work on a presentation. I also talked to a guy I graduated from high school with and ran into several years ago at the grade school because he was an IT guy for the district. He apparently quit around the same time I did, went out to California for a year, and now he's back in town working for a software company and he's happier. Good for him.

Then I had a walkthrough and covered a break at the tech desk. I followed this by refilling audiobooks and DVDs, made a cheat sheet for summer reading prizes, and printed/folded fifty brochures.

I ate lunch in the third floor meeting room and I hooked my Chromebook up to the giant TV so I could watch YouTube videos. In the last fifteen minutes I was joined by one of the tech desk workers for her break and we watched the first video in a new Neebs Gaming series, where they play Far Cry 5 and film it as if it is a documentary. It's pretty funny, and the tech desk worker laughed a lot, so I think I've created a new fan.

I was on desk for two hours after lunch and spent the majority of that time starting a list of romance books for the romance display. I briefly thought I lost the list, because I was compiling it on our website while logged into my account and at one point my account timed out, but when I logged in later, the list was there, so it was only a minor scare.

After that I covered another break in the tech center. The academic librarian was teaching a class in the classroom, and when she was done, I went in and turned everything off and talked to her for a little bit. Then I ran upstairs to grab the personalized reading list notebook because it is summer and we have been getting a lot of requests recently. And then I helped a patron find a travel book. He said every year he goes on a roadtrip with his daughter and was looking for some non-touristy places to stop. After that, I requested a new book by John Atkinson, where he uses two comic panels to summarize classic books, and it looks really good.

A family member for one of my homebound patrons stopped by and said they were wanting to pause the service for awhile. This is the patron who gets sixteen large print nonfiction books each month, and we were getting really close to running out of books. The pause is not a surprise because she has been having some issues the past few months, but I'm hoping for the best.

Throughout the day I unintentionally updated my catalog tutorial because I kept finding previously unknown icons for the various materials in our collection. I added them to the slide I have all the other icons on. I also figured out a way to find all of the possible icons, by editing the web address for one icon with various other numbers, and pulled out all the icons. They aren't labeled with the material they represent, but I figure I'll be ready if I come across something else.

After work I picked up the academic librarian and we headed out of town to go to an outdoor concert. It was a nice drive. We laid a blanket out in the grass and ate a dinner which the academic librarian prepared. It included roasted vegetables with rosemary, and roasted green beans with lemon. They were all vegetables but two distinct dishes. Both were really good. Her friend was playing in the symphony and she stopped by to talk for a little bit before the concert. It turned out to be a really beautiful night and the music complemented it nicely. I never would have thought to drive out of town for a concert after work, but it was definitely worth it.

June 1, 2018

The academic librarian had to go to breakfast at 6:00AM this morning but she brought me back a veggie eggs benedict and it was really good. Then I dropped her off at the public library and headed home, because I had the day off.

My main focus for the day was catching up on this, my typed journal, because I have been falling behind due to my new relationship. I'm still keeping up with my daily notes in my notebook, however, which allows me to easily type this up, but I still have to find the time to do it. I'm getting it figured out.

I got sidetracked from my journal by trying to figure out why my refrigerator was making a bunch of noise. I tried to pull the front grill off the bottom but couldn't get it figured out. In the process I turned a thing that ended up not being something I should have turned, because it led to a minor flood. I don't know what I did, but I think it overflowed the drip pan, which then ran all over the floor. It was kind of a good thing because my floor needed a good cleaning, but it was still annoying. Also, I can see the water shut off between my counter and fridge but it's just far enough out of reach that I have to pull the whole refrigerator out in order to get behind it and reach the valve. While back there I took the cover off the bottom, and was able to use the shop vac to suck up all the excess water from the drip pan. I still don't know why the fridge is so loud all of a sudden.

Sometime after that the academic librarian biked to my house, which is impressive because it is all the way across town and there are hills. We watched the Laurel & Hardy short Me and My Pal, about a jigsaw puzzle, and then she took a nap while I continued typing my journal. Then I dropped her off at the park for a concert with her boss and came back home to eat dinner and watch the Doctor Who livestream on Twitch for awhile, before going back to pick up the academic librarian.

May 31, 2018

Last night I went to bed early and slept late. It was fantastic. Then I made eggs for breakfast and hung out with the academic and librarian until it was time to go to work at 1:00PM, an hour later than normal to make up for the weekend.

I was off desk when I got to work and spent it catching up on emails and talking to my coworker. During the next two hours I was on desk and caught up on the news, helped patrons, and worked on prize labels.

After dinner I was off desk for an hour. I made a new personalized reading list sign-up sheet and talked to my coworker about library things, mostly. Then I was on desk for an hour and decided on a new design for the summer reading prize labels. They looked much better than my original idea. I was able to finish making them and when I printed them out they were the perfect size, thanks to measuring the prize jugs first. When I got off desk I put out a new jigsaw puzzle, refilled audiobooks and DVDs, read articles, and printed out my DVD display sign so I will be ready to put it out on Saturday.

When I got home I played CoD: WW2 and in one of the games I got completely destroyed. It was due to a combination of factors but it was impressive. I'm glad that isn't how things usually turn out. After that I went and picked up the academic librarian and we went back to her house. She ate some sketchy looking homemade yoghurt and then started making some more. I will not be partaking.

May 30, 2018

I dropped the academic librarian off at her house before heading to work for our all-staff meeting. It lasted about a half an hour and it was mostly about the new name badges, with a brief bit about safety updates to the phone (the addition of a panic button and a PA button, so we don't have to type in a code to use the PA). The new badges will be active next Monday and will be used to let us in the building and on a few doors in the building. Should be safer and more convenient than keys.

I talked to my coworkers for a little bit until we opened, then I went down to our new work area in the tech center. I spent the rest of the morning coming up with a display idea for the DVD display next month and making several versions of a potential sign for the display. I didn't do anything crazy in the design, just looked through a bunch of stock images, but I like it. I also got a brief start on making labels for the prize containers for summer reading.

I talked to the academic librarian for a few minutes before heading to my Mom's house for lunch. I was on desk for two hours when I got back. I handled interlibrary loans and a phone call related to academic articles, once again thanks to the university library fire. I also responded to an email from my boss about the tour I gave to grad students last year (set up by the academic librarian), because they want to do it again but were interested in more academic resources, because of the university library fire. That damn fire. And I helped one of the other librarians set up the summer reading prize table by putting the plastic skirt on it, and suggesting putting the big signs on an easel.

I refilled audiobooks and bestsellers during my walkthrough and then taught another tech desk person how to reserve rooms. And then I was on desk for an hour. I made a sign, helped patrons, and read the news.

Picked up Chipotle after work and that took awhile because they were training a new guy who was super slow, hopefully because he was new. Then I headed to my Mom's house. We ate, watched videos (despite it taking forever to get the videos to work for some reason). After dinner I drilled holes outside and put in hooks so my Mom can hang some more stuff on the back porch. I also reset the router because my Mom has been hearing a lot of stuff about resetting the router to disrupt possible malware.

When I got home I was able to play a little CoD: WW2 for the first time in what feels like forever. Then I went and picked up the academic librarian and came back to my house.

May 29, 2018

This morning I got ready and dropped the academic librarian off at her house, then drove around a little bit before heading to work.

When I got there I found out the schedule had changed and I wasn't actually supposed to come in until 10:30AM (to make up for the coming weekend), not 9:00AM. Instead of leaving, I decided I would just take a two and a half hour lunch. But then later in the day my boss wanted me to train someone in the tech center how to reserve rooms, so that through a wrench in that plan.

Because I wasn't on the schedule, I went upstairs until eleven o'clock. I spent that time reading articles, catching up on the news, working on a personalized reading list, and listening to music. Then I had a walkthrough and taught the tech person how to reserve rooms. My boss thought it would take at least forty-five minutes, but it took maybe ten minutes, because it's actually a pretty simple process. It gets more complicated when creating events, but just reserving a room is straight forward.

I talked to my coworkers until my lunch break, which I got to add a half hour to, so I went home, because that extra time would cancel out the travel time, and I could actually enjoy a nice break at home. Twitch has started a marathon of the original Doctor Who series, so I started watching that. I don't know if I would have been a fan. The original Doctor had some annoying vocal ticks, like say “hmm” a lot.

When I got back to work I was on desk for two hours, which I spent catching up on the local news and working on the personalized reading list. Then I was off desk for an hour. I printed the signs I made for the summer reading prize table, and then finished the personalized reading list.

We had our monthly librarian meeting, which lasted about thirty minutes, and we mostly talked about summer reading. I spent the rest of the hour reading library magazines.

I met the academic librarian downstairs, because she was there working. We walked her bike to my car, set the rack up and loaded her bike, stopped at her house to get some stuff together for dinner, and then slowly got around to eating dinner at my house while watching another episode of Psych. Then I took down my projector so she could borrow it tomorrow for her presentation, in case the room she had didn't have access to a projector. And then we got sidetracked by talking, which is always fun.

May 28, 2018

Today I was off work for Memorial Day. I woke up early so I could take the academic librarian out to the airport (where she was going to rent a car). I got picked up by my brother, Dad, and sister back at my house around 8:00AM and we headed out of town.

Our first stop was the Beverly cemetery. There was a small ceremony for Memorial Day that involved a group of old veterans shooting their guns. Their guns were loud and it gave me chills, picturing these old men in their late teens, firing their guns for real, fighting for their lives. I can't even imagine. After the ceremony my grandma and aunt showed up. We put flowers on my grandma's parent's and brother's graves, and then walked around the cemetery while my grandma pointed out the graves of various family members and friends. The funniest one was a guy who used to be a plumber. She said he was the only plumber for miles around, but there wasn't really much need for a plumber back then.

We then drove several miles away to Hammer Cemetery, where we saw more past family member's graves. We wandered around a bit and then sat under a tree and talked for awhile. It was mostly my Dad, aunt, and grandma reminiscing about going to these cemeteries on Memorial Day when my Dad and aunt were younger.

On the way back we drove by the old farm that my grandma and grandpa used to own, and through the small nearby town, all led by my Dad who was working of his memory from when he was four years old. We didn't get lost, so it worked out pretty well.

We stopped at Spangles on the way home, and I always enjoy a change to eat at Spangles. I ate too much food, but it was worth it.

When I got home I took a nap. Then I talked to my friend out in California for a bit until his phone cut out. We've been playing phone tag, so it was good to talk to him at least a little bit.

After that I went to my Mom's house for dinner, which was good times as always. I went back home for a little bit after that before going grocery shopping with the academic librarian and then going back to my house.

May 27, 2018

Today was a nice lazy Sunday, especially compared to the active day yesterday. Slept in and then made a poor attempt to catch up on writing these entries while the academic librarian worked on her online music class. Then we ate lunch and started watching a Danish movie called Adam's Apples before taking a nap in her tent, which we set up in my living room.

Throughout the day I also did laundry, and washed a bunch of dishes, so that was productive. For dinner I made spaghetti and then we finished watching Adam's Apples. It was a good movie, but an incredibly dark comedy.

And that's all I have for today. After yesterday it was nice staying in and doing nothing, but it also doesn't leave much to write about.