Wednesday, April 25, 2018

April 25, 2018


Yesterday's entry was exactly 1000 words. That's the first time I ever remember that happening.

Last night I got nine hours of sleep. I wasn't planning on it but I allowed for it, so it worked out. Before going to work I tried reinstalling Blender, to see if I could get the book add-on working. But I couldn't get that far because my computer kept saying I didn't have the right privileges to install it. That was obviously incorrect but I wasn't going to waste anymore time with it. On the plus side, I was able to reinstall it when I got home tonight. On the downside, the add-on still doesn't work.

When I got to work I was off desk for an hour. Yesterday one of the other librarians brought in one of her husband's bottles of ink for me to try. Today I brought in my glass dip pen so I could make a sample swatch of it. I don't think it's something I would buy but it was a good color and I think it would look cool with a broad nib. I spent the rest of the hour catching up on emails.

I was on desk for an hour after that and other than helping the occasional patron spent the rest of the time watching usability videos. And then I was off desk again. I refilled my backup cart for the bestsellers display and then I went upstairs to the meeting room on the third floor because both computers at the desk were taken and there was someone in the cubicle. I spent that time looking at library magazines, with a break to go on a walkthrough, and then went back to look at magazines until our all-staff meeting.

The meeting only lasted about thirty minutes, and I was going to go on an early walkthrough because I hadn't been given a dinner break and I was going to go at five o'clock. Then I got roped into helping a patron trying to move all of the pictures on her phone onto a flash drive. She had about four thousand pictures and not a lot of experience with computers, so it was quite the process. I ended up getting out by five o'clock but she was still working on it when I got back and she came over to the desk multiple times for more help. She was an over-sharer, and a bit of a Debbie Downer, but she was also oddly optimistic and a pretty good sport about the whole tedious process, which made for an interesting combination.

I had a couple walkthroughs when I got back from dinner, and after catching up on the local paper, I spent the rest of the night finishing the usability videos and then editing screenshots to show possible improvements to our website. These edits were based on things I witness patrons doing, or trying to do, in the usability videos, and just my own two cents about the website. I'm putting them into an email to my boss, along with explanations for them, because she is on the web evaluation team, and she can take them to their next meeting. I am not on the team, even though I watch all the videos for them and create all of the tech class pages. Who knows.

Near the end of the night the librarian I presented at the conference with stopped by the desk, and we talked until almost close. She has become acquainted with one of our regulars, the one who lives across the street and kind of treats the library as an extension of her house, so we talked about her for awhile, because she's actually a really interesting person. She has traveled all over the world, speaks multiple languages, and is apparently really good at the piano. She has become a bit of a character but it would have been really interesting to meet her thirty or forty years ago. The librarian is also a really interesting person, and sometime I want to find out more about her life. I know at one point she was an EMT, and she has worked in a bike shop, and tonight I learned she once drove a cab in Tanzania, not for a job, but to prove that she actually knew how to drive. I feel like everyone has led a much more interesting life than mine.

When I got home I watched videos and wrote this. And now I have to go to bed because I have to open in the morning. Can't wait.

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