March 7, 2016

 I woke up wide awake at six o'clock this morning when my alarm went off but I knew that wasn't actually enough sleep so I laid in bed until seven o'clock. That left me feeling more tired but I think actually getting out of bed at six o'clock would have had the same effect eventually. At least I had the pleasure of not getting out of bed for that extra hour.

Work was very normal. When I didn't have classes in the lab I worked on editing baby pictures and made decent progress. I also read through my paper and made a couple edits. And I was able to write my reference section thanks to the internet. It was a little tricky on some of them because I only had the last name and date in my paper and had to get page numbers. I used a couple books that were edited with different authors for each chapter. I forgot about one of these so it was confusing trying to track down a book by an author that didn't exist. I eventually got it figured out and only had to edit the page numbers on one entry when I got home and had access to the books again.

The second grade Khan group was back in the lab today and the teacher sent me an email beforehand telling me she had talked to them about it being a privilege and all that. When they came in they all went to the back row and immediately started talking so before they sat down I had them separate themselves. Tow of them decided to stay at opposite ends of the back row, which only has four computer in it. I knew this wasn't going to work because it was the two boys I had to send back early last time for arguing with each other. They started in again so I made one move and the rest of their time in the lab went smoothly. Separation is key.

After work I went to the public library for my first day of volunteering. It was a bit touch and go for a bit because the PR lady wasn't in her office and no one could find her. They called and looked all over for her but nothing. After they kind of threw their hands up in the air I said I'd wait around for a little while longer just in case. And a few minutes later she showed up, so good call on my part.

We started with a tour of the library which was more in-depth than the one we got a few months ago on the library school trip. She also introduced me to everyone which was nice. I immediately forgot all of their names but whatever.

After the tour there wasn't that much time to actually work but I started with submitting library events to a local website. While working on that she asked if I liked the Alabama Shakes, which I do, so she started playing their music. Then we ended up talking about music for a bit and she showed me a video of a guy playing an acoustic version of the theme for Last of the Mohicans on three guitars. I think I had seen it before but it is still incredibly impressive. I think for now I'm going to stick to just one day a week but I might see if I can come in more next week because I'll be off work for Spring Break. And now that I have a badge I can go up to the third floor without being kicked out. I still have to knock to be let in up there but it is better than having to ask at the circulation desk and have them call up for her every time.

Tonight I had day two of my taco salad with cauliflower rice and I think it was even better the second day. So the third day should be equally good, if not better. After dinner I read through my technology paper again, made a couple edits, and submitted it. And I took the rest of the night off because I had a headache and I was tired.

Now I'm going to continue not doing anything for a little while longer before going to bed and hopefully getting a long, restful night of sleep. Hooray for possibilities.

March 6, 2016

 Good grief. It is almost one o'clock in the morning and I've gotta be up for work tomorrow. Yuck.

Once again the vast majority of my day was spent avoiding my paper. This morning I went through some of my old textbooks and found several that talked about databases. My searching of databases, looking for the history of databases, returned very few leads, so I decided to go with my textbooks, along with a book on the history of libraries that I have but haven't had a chance to read yet.

And then I went into full avoidance mode and didn't do anything for the rest of the day. I didn't actually start writing my paper until around ten o'clock. Now I've got about 1100 words and I think it is decent. Hopefully anyway. I haven't actually read through it yet. I'm afraid it will read like a bunch of disconnected thoughts strung together. I'll find out tomorrow at work if I have time to read through it. If not, there is tomorrow after dinner, when I will put together my title page and reference list and make any last edits before I submit it. And then I can turn my attention to the next assignment.

For dinner tonight I made taco salad with cauliflower rice, minus the lettuce because I didn't have any. It was a bit of a bitch shredding all of the cauliflower with a grater, taking around thirty minutes to get through the whole head, but I got there. And I think it all turned out pretty well. It tasted good and it is healthier than using white rice. My sister said next time I want to make it I can borrow her food processor, which would make the whole ordeal less of an ordeal.

And now I'm going to go to bed. I'm already dreading the sound of my alarm clock in the morning. Hopefully whatever song is on the radio at the time will not be too jarring.

March 5, 2016

 I woke up this morning, made a couple edits to the image database assignment, and posted it to the discussion thread before the class meeting. When it was finally time for the meeting it was only me in the chat room and then two of my other classmates, who happened to be in the same town today, which allowed them to be on a webcam and present their findings. It probably would have been way easier to present but I prefer writing. I can't remember the exact time but the meeting didn't last too long with only three people there, so I was good to go before lunch.

After lunch, and throughout the rest of the day, I did a good job of avoiding writing my paper for my other class. I thought about it a lot and did some research but didn't actually start writing. I will do that tomorrow. I'm going to try and pretend it is due tomorrow. It isn't due until Monday night but I need to pretty much have it done tomorrow because I start volunteering at the public library tomorrow so I won't be able to work on the paper until after dinner. The plan is to have it done tomorrow and then I can read through it Monday night and make whatever edits I need to before submitting it. It sounds like a pretty solid plan.

This afternoon I took a nap because I was tired and I was avoiding my paper. I haven't taken a legitimate nap in quite some time. I've taken some mico ones while sitting in my computer chair but I'm not counting those. I miss naps. It's a good time to lay there and think about all the random things and just drift in and out of sleep. It seems that when I try and think about random things at night my mind revs up and I can never fall asleep. That doesn't happen with naps for some reason.

Tonight I reconnected my Mom's TV to the cable. When she went into her room it said her TV wasn't connected and she went through all the setup stuff but nothing came of it. I investigated the main hub in the living room and eventually discovered that the wireless receiver had come unplugged. We have Dish and the wireless is plugged into the main DVR and that sends out the signal to the other receivers in the house. It took forever to get the one in my Mom's room to find the signal and connect but we got it working. Still not sure how the receiver became unplugged because it is plugged into a power strip on the floor behind the TV stand but whatever.

While not writing a paper today I looked at shoes. My regular shoes for quite awhile now have been Chucks but I think I should get something different for the ALA conference. I think there is a better option for being on my feet and walking around a giant convention center for several days. Considering the announcement was just made, the actual schedule of things and what will happen hasn't been announced, beyond the general description of the class they put out with the application. There are a couple required dinners and I'm not sure how formal those are going to be. I think that might impact my shoe decision. I also need to buy new Chucks for graduation in May so I might buy comfortable shoes for the convention, and pack my Chucks to wear at dinner if we have to wear nicer clothes. Chucks go with everything.

There's a lot I need to think about before the convention but that isn't until the end of June so I need to stop thinking about it for the time being so I can get through this semester. Next weekend is going to be another stressful one because I've got another discussion post for my technology class and I have to review a database license as if I were a library for my other class. Originally the due date for the license review was the twenty-first of March but it got bumped up to the thirteenth. It is worth the most points out of any this semester so no pressure.

Anyway, it's almost one o'clock in the morning and I'm tired. My lower back is also bothering me and sitting doesn't help, so I'm going to go to bed. Sleep sounds pretty good right now.

March 4, 2016

 This morning after getting to work and turning all the computers on I sat down to check my email. The first email I saw was from one of the professors in charge of the ALA conference trip this summer informing me that I had been selected to go on the trip. Holy crap. I honestly wasn't expecting that. I was hoping but never realistically thought I would be picked. I was happy with my application essay but I can only assume not a lot of people applied.

Immediately after reading the email, two or three times just to make sure I was reading it right, I went down to tell the school librarian. We talked about it for awhile and then I went down to tell my mom. Throughout the rest of the day I took random breaks just to check the email again and also look at information regarding the conference. I watched a video about the conference center where it is being held and it looks massive. Just like the videos I have seen of the gaming conventions YouTubers go to. There are also going to be over 400 different exhibitors there. Good grief. I'm really glad this opportunity through school is a guided access to the convention, so we aren't going to just be dropped off in the middle of it all and forced to fend for ourselves. It is an incredible opportunity. Also, free books.

While doing some research I realized The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is also in Orlando. Maybe at one point I knew this but I never thought I'd be going to Florida so I didn't commit it to memory. But now I am going to Florida and I think we have two free days to explore Orlando. I'm not sure but I think these are days after the conference, or maybe one before and one after, either way we don't have to worry about missing the conference. And I'll be with a bunch of book nerds so hopefully someone else has Harry Potter in mind and wouldn't mind me tagging along. I don't really want to go alone but I might have to get out of my comfort zone if it comes down to it.

When I wasn't looking up ALA convention stuff I did work things. I had classes in the lab, I made a worksheet for a teacher, and I edited baby pictures. I would write more about that stuff but it is all kind of a blur. I was a little distracted.

After work I didn't do much but after dinner I eventually worked on the image database assignment which is due tomorrow morning. I thought it would be another evening thing but when I checked again the class meeting is at eleven o'clock in the morning and I'm assuming we have to have stuff posted by then. Unless we want to present in the meeting itself, which I do not want to do and my partner won't be there. So I'll be posting it. My partner sent me his notes today and rather than organizing them based on the questions we had to answer he kind of did his own thing. So I re-wrote everything and combined our information into one coherent discussion post. It is a bit wordy because I'm a bit wordy in my writing so I also wrote a much shorter bit at the top that covers all the main points. I haven't heard back from the collection development librarian, which is a bit of a shame but I think it turned out alright. When I'm done with this I'm going to add in the reference list and then go to bed. I'll post it when I wake up in the morning after I have a chance to look over it again.

And now it is creeping up on 2:00AM and I have been tired for the last eight hours, so I'm going to bed. After I do the reference list.

March 3, 2016

 I'm now tired. And today was another day. What happened? Well, the same old thing really.

This morning I had classes in the lab and when I didn't I did other things. I emailed the PR lady at the public library because we agreed on me coming in on Mondays (if my background check cleared) and in my excitement about volunteering, and getting a new library card, I forgot that I get my hair cut every four weeks on a Monday. I suggested coming in on Tuesday or Thursday those weeks and she said Thursday would work. A little while later she emailed me and said my background check had cleared, asked for my emergency contacts, and said she would be speaking to the HR lady later in the day to hopefully finalize the paperwork. So it's looking like my volunteering adventures will start next Monday. I'm looking forward to it.

I also emailed the electronic resources librarian I interviewed earlier in the semester to ask her about some of the questions regarding image databases that my partner and I have to answer this week. While doing my own research I came up with a few questions of my own so I decided to go right to the source rather than trying to find an article about it. Turns out most of my questions were more related to collection development so she forwarded my questions to a collection development librarian. I haven't heard back yet but I'm hoping to get a response by tomorrow. We'll be good without it but it's really for my own curiosity.

This afternoon we had a third grade performance. It was filled with little kid choreography, which is my favorite thing, and it did not disappoint. One kid in the front row, who can be rather annoying because he's really smart and I think is bored most of the time (but also because he's kind of an asshole, which most kids are), never really stopped moving or dancing throughout the whole performance. And it was the most awkward looking dancing. Kind of like he had to pee. The main soloist in the performance was the Art teacher's daughter and she killed it. I was really surprised and I think a lot of people were. I was standing in the back with one of the first grade teachers and we just looked at each other and said “wow”.

In my free time today I edited pictures and I think made it through three or four. Not bad.

After work I headed over to my Dad's house because the low tire pressure light came on in my car yesterday or the day before. I went in and we talked for awhile before going out to fill up the tire. I thought maybe it was the front two but it was just one of the front ones. It is really hard to tell sometimes with low-profile tires. When we had finished that we went back in and talked some more until I had to leave to go eat dinner.

The rest of my night was spent reading an article and skimming another before composing an email to my partner. I updated him on what I had been doing and the gave brief responses to the questions we have to answer based on what I have learned so far. I pretty much wrote all of our last assignment so it would be cool if he would put this one together, mainly because I have yet to start on my database paper in my technology class. That one doesn't have a page limit or word count, which I guess is kind of good. I just need to focus on answering the questions. Which will be much easier once I figure out where to find a few sources.

Now I'm going to go to bed.   

March 2, 2016

 I forgot to mention that at my volunteer meeting yesterday at the library that the lady asked me if I was looking to stay in the area once I got my degree. She asked this because in the near future there will apparently be three openings in adult services. I'm leaning more toward reference, and in an academic library, not public, but I've got to start somewhere. She said they like to hire from within and being a volunteer would probably help my chances. Something to think about.

Today was picture day and I got there with plenty of time to spare this morning for the staff picture. I can't say that about everyone however. We got all lined up, took three pictures, and then someone else walked in. We took two more pictures and another person walked in. I think it happened three or four times but we eventually got the picture taken. Hope I didn't blink.

After my first two classes in the lab I went up to the third floor to set up their iPads for the state assessment. That turned into a big thing and I wasn't able to finish. The first two carts belong to the school but the one on the third floor belongs to Boys & Girls Club. This means it wasn't involved in the update when they put the software on all of the iPads. I thought I could do it by using the laptop in the cart but not so much. First I couldn't log into the laptop because I didn't have the password. The teacher whose room the cart is in had a bunch of different usernames and passwords but none of those worked. I eventually just signed in as a guest, which seemed to work, although getting onto the Wi-Fi was tricky. After some time I got it to connect and was able to sign into iTunes using one of the usernames and passwords I was given. Then I had to authenticate in order to get around the firewall so I could download the testing software. But it turns out the download process involved going to website that the parental controls were blocking and I had to provide an admin username and password to allow. I tried all the usernames and passwords the teacher had, and all the combinations of them, but nothing worked. I went down to talk to the librarian to see if she had one I hadn't tried yet so we went to the principal and she ended up emailing the girl who is now in charge of Boys & Girls Club at our school. Haven't heard back yet so we'll see. I may be able to manually install it on each iPad but that would be a pain and probably unnecessary. I think we'll be good with two carts ready to go.

This afternoon the second grade Khan group was not having a good day. I sent two of the boys back early because they were going back and forth with each other the whole time. It boiled over when one of them complained to me that the other one had called him dumb. The other boy clarified that the first boy had actually called him dumb and that he responded by saying that boy sucked. He pretty much announced this to the whole lab and it was met with oohs from the third grade class in the lab at the time. So I pulled the plug and sent them both back to the room.

This left one boy up front and two girls in the back row. Several minutes later the girls in the back row started giggling and messing around, not even pretending to look at their computers. I went back once and told them to stop and work on math. I hadn't been back in my seat for more than thirty seconds when they were back at it again. I looked over at the boy in the front row who was actually behaving and thanked him for actually doing his work and then I sent the girls back to the room. I had actually just finished writing an email to the teacher explaining why the first two boys were sent back so I added a line for why I had sent the girls back. She responded later saying that the first two boys would be writing apology letters and that she was going to have a talk with all of them, reiterating that going to the lab to work on Khan was a privilege. In the future if I have to send them back to the room they won't be able to come back for the rest of the week. We'll see how long the threat remains present in their minds.

When I wasn't engaged in other activities, I worked on editing baby pictures. I finally finished the one I've been working on for days now and was able to start another one. I nearly finished it and should be able to make more progress tomorrow. I've got several digital pictures so I might switch over to those just to take a break and gain a sense of accomplishment from actually finishing something.

After work I went to Chipotle and got a Powerball ticket before heading home. Tonight my sister's husband's mom joined us for dinner because she is in town for a few days. Dinner started late and I had to duck out early for a class meeting, so we didn't have a lot of interaction but she seemed like a nice lady.

The class meeting was a bit of a fail, to use the professor's own words. She wanted to show us some apps on her iPad but couldn't get the connection working so the meeting mostly consisted of people asking her about her London trip, which she recently returned from. I learned some interesting things about public libraries in England. They were apparently voted to be considered a right of the people but at the moment they are undergoing the budgetary issues all libraries are experiencing, which is cutting into the quality of the service and the collections. She said one library the students visited was in a state of disrepair and they were considering getting rid of all the staff due to lack of funds. So it would be a library without any librarians. That sounds like a horrible idea. The professor also said that you aren't allowed to donate money to the public libraries over there. The one library that they went to that was really nice was only like that because it was entirely funded by a grant or private fund. Most of the public libraries are reliant on funds from the government and can't take private donations, even though the government isn't able to support their current needs. Seems a bit ridiculous.

After the meeting I made a little progress on my group assignment for the week. I'm going to email the librarian I interviewed earlier in the semester and ask her a few questions. She might not be able to get back to me in time but it is mainly for my own curiosity. I want to know if kids are actually using image databases that libraries subscribe to or if they are relying mostly on Google and images found freely on the internet. I'm also interested to know if libraries actively seek out subscriptions to individual image databases or if they only have them because they are part of a package. I would like to be able to find this information online but it searching for information about image databases is kind of difficult. At least for me at the moment because I don't know exactly what I am searching for.

I also have my paper about databases due this weekend (or maybe on Monday) for my technology class. Again, it is kind of hard looking for information about databases in general because you get a bunch of information on specific databases. I'll get it figured out. That's a goal anyway.

Now I'm going to go to be because it is after eleven o'clock, I've got a headache, and I'm tired. All perfectly good reasons to stop typing and go to bed.

March 1, 2016

 I had one class first thing this morning and then the rest of the morning until noon was spent testing. It was a long morning. Sixth grade came in to finish and all but three did. Those three overlapped with third grade who came in for their Math test and one of them went until noon and didn't quite finish.

After lunch I made a short note for the librarian to send home for Read Across America. I also edited baby pictures until my mom popped her head in to ask if I was going to the assembly. The office lady who sends out the morning message wasn't here today and I had forgotten all about the assembly. Which means I set up for kindergarten coming to the lab for no reason. Thankfully I only had to log into a few computers because I had already done that earlier in the day for testing. I just lost time setting all the index cards out with their names and numbers. Not a big deal.

On the way to the gym I ran into the principal and asked if she had a chance to reactive the tickets for the kids who didn't finish testing in the morning. She hadn't but she decided to pull two of the sixth graders out of the assembly so they could finish. So I watched them test for the first part of the assembly, which was a joy.

The assembly was to bounce out bullying, with an obvious basketball theme. I think kindergarten and first grade ran basketball relays and second through sixth grade got to plays short games with the high school basketball players who came. There was only one casualty when one of the sixth graders sitting along the wall caught a ball with his forehead. He's a big kid but he immediately started crying, which I probably would have done, but he also started screaming a little bit, which seemed overkill. He came back a little while later with an ice pack and a few minutes after that he got up and joined the game. To go along with the theme, he bounced back quickly.

In the middle of the assembly a couple tech guys showed up so I went down with them and the librarian to look at the third grade projector. Turns out their was a little message talking about replacing the lamp, which I hadn't seen. The main issue appears to be that when I replaced the bulb last year I didn't reset the hours on the bulb. Which makes sense because at the movie theater we had to keep track of the hours on each projector bulb. That would explain the blinking indicator light and also the fact that the projector still worked fine. So the tech guys had us go into the menu and reset the lamp hours and all was good. The overhead projector still didn't work, and they mentioned all the troubleshooting they did, which was the same things I had done yesterday. Then the librarian had a thought and hit the reset button on the side of it. Voila. She had messed with it yesterday and hadn't thought about that button. I think at some point in the past few years I also knew about the reset button but had obviously forgotten all about it. The tech guys also didn't know about it so we all learned something today.

I ended the day editing pictures. After clocking out I stopped in the conference room because one of the SPED teachers had a bunch of canvases and paint set up. The goal was for all the teachers and staff (minus the paras) to add their thumb or finger prints to each canvas to create a dandelion. One for each para because next week is para appreciation week. They weren't turning out how the SPED teacher wanted and I think that was mainly because she was trying to scale them down from the original picture she saw. They were kind of looking like something a little kid would bring home from art class. But I guess that is kind of fitting considering we work at an elementary school.

When I had added my painted finger to the mix, I headed down to the public library. I was early so I finished the song I was listening to and then I went in and used the restroom. I didn't really have to use the restroom but I noticed while sitting in my car that I had somehow gotten paint on my other hand, which I had missed when cleaning the paint off my finger. So I went to the restroom to wash my hands.

That still left me about five minutes early which isn't too bad. I went to the checkout desk and told the girl I was there to meet so-and-so for a meeting and she called her up to let her know I was there. She was tall. I must have lived a very sheltered life before I started working at the school because I didn't realize how many tall women there are. There are a few tall teachers at school and then several girls in Boys & Girls Club who are tall, one or two several inches taller than me. I would say the lady at the library was at least an inch or two taller than me. It's interesting.

Anyway, we went upstairs to talk and I think when it came up that I have lived here forever she mentioned that her husband was from here, which was the perfect opportunity to ask who her husband was because I recognized her last name and it's not a common name. Turns out she is married to a guy I was in Scouts with, along with his brother. And his dad was our scoutmaster. After she learned that she jokingly said I was hired. Small world, though.

We talked about several different things and it looks like based on my Marketing degree she was interested in getting me involved with some of the marketing things that she does. Some of that is delivering fliers to places, which doesn't sound great, but I might also help with putting together the newsletter, and whatever else she can think of, and that sounds interesting. Much better than just shelving books. She said that I'm the first volunteer she's had so she apologized if she wasn't sounding very confident about what all I would be doing. I said I wouldn't have known either way so she told me to forget what she had just said.

After our talk she walked me back downstairs and it came up that I hadn't had a library card in awhile so I went to set that up, which worked out because while I was trying to get that sorted the lady I talked to called up to see what she needed to do to get me started as a volunteer. Turns out I needed to sign some paperwork so they could do the background check. So I put my conversation with the girl at the desk about getting a library card on hold and went back upstairs to sign papers. Then I came back down, registered online at a computer near the checkout desk for a library card, and then went back to the girl so she could complete the process. I needed proof of residence or whatever it's called but she was able to use an Amazon delivery email I showed her on my phone so I didn't have to come back with a bill. And now I have a library card. Again. I had one as a kid and then maybe in high school I signed up for a new one, and now I am up to date again.

As for the volunteer thing, as long as my background check goes well and gets done in a timely fashion, I should be able to start next Monday. I put down three possible days on my application but we're going to start with just one day a week and see how things go. That sounds good to me.

When I got home I didn't do anything but after dinner I read my final article for the week. Tomorrow I need to start doing research for my group project for this week and research for the paper I have to write in my other class. Research and writing should fill the rest of my week. And hopefully I won't put it off until the weekend. I think the group thing is due Saturday, so putting that off wouldn't be a good idea.

I just got off the phone with my friend in California, who I haven't heard from in awhile because he's been busy traveling for work. He tooted his own horn a bit and said he got the best year-end review in his group of fifty-nine other guys, which he said is a big deal because he'll never be compared against such a large group again and it will be really good for his career, whether in the NAVY or afterward. So that's pretty cool. Tooting of ones own horn perfectly acceptable.

Now I'm going to go to bed because it is midnight and tomorrow is picture day. I don't have to get my individual picture taken but at eight o'clock we do the staff picture, which means I need to be there by eight o'clock. I usually don't leave the house until 8:10AM so that won't work out. I think it was last year when I came in right as they were about to take it so I almost missed it. I would like to avoid that this year. Hopefully six hours of sleep treats me well.