December 11, 2017

 Last night I was watching a streamer who I subbed to a week or so ago. She plays music and at least when I have been watching, usually has around 100 people watching. She was going to get off for the night but decided to play a couple more songs. And then someone raided/hosted her with around 1100 viewers. And it was magical. She went from being pretty low-key and then the raid happened and she flipped the switch. A consummate performer, she rolled right into a high energy, multi-layered song with her guitar and looper, and the chat exploded. She held over 1000 people for that song and she maintained over 500 for several songs after that. I've joined in on raids before but I've never been hanging out in a smaller channel when such a big raid hits them. And I've never seen someone capitalize on a raid to such an impressive degree. By the end of it she had gained over 330 new followers and around twenty or thirty new subscribers. It was cool to watch.

Last night I got seven hours of sleep, because that's apparently what I needed. I spent my morning playing CoD: WW2 and I got in a match with the most blatant hacker I have ever seen. He had a diamond LMG and he pretty much spent the whole game just standing the middle of the map, turning in circles, and shooting everyone through walls on the other side of the map. They ended up going sixty-four and one. Maybe the one death was an attempt to make it look realistic. Tonight I got in another match, on the same map, with a different hacker. This time they were on my team and it really took the fun out of the game. We basically just ran around and captured the points in Hardpoint to get the game over with, all while chatting with the other team and apologizing for having such a horrible teammate.

After lunch I went over to my Mom's house to install her new video doorbell. It was kind of a pain in the butt. First I had to figure out which breaker the doorbell was on. You'd think it was on the Entry breaker, but it was on the Kitchen breaker. Maybe because the doorbell itself (not the outside button) shares a wall with kitchen. Regardless, I got it figure out so I didn't shock myself. The hardest part was getting the angled base plate things level and screwed into the wall. I had to use two of them stacked on top of each other, one to angle the doorbell up and the other to angle it to the left. And there wasn't a hole to screw threw, there was a slot, which I guess is convenient if you need to make it slightly off-center or something, but it my case it was just annoying trying to get everything lined up and level. But I managed it, and I got it all set up with the app, and it works. When it senses motion outside within your specified range, you get a notification on your phone and you can go to the live video to see what is outside.

The most annoying part of the entire process by far, however, was that I put the dogs outside so I could keep the front door open, and two out of the three kept scratching at the door to be let in. This happened persistently at random intervals for the entire time I was working. So annoying.

A quick aside. My laptop just shut off randomly and I lost a paragraph. Not sure what happened but let's hope it was a fluke and won't happen again. Moving on.

My Mom got back right as I was finishing so I was able to download the app on her phone and show her how to use it. She seemed pretty happy with it and I think the learning curve is pretty small, even though the app isn't perfect.

When I got home I played a little CoD: WW2 before making dinner, which consisted of rice and roasted vegetables. While the vegetables roasted I played a few more rounds of CoD: WW2 because why not. While I ate I watched YouTube videos. I'm really behind after dog-sitting last week because I didn't watch a lot of videos last week. I probably won't be caught up for awhile.

After dinner I played more CoD: WW2 and by the end of the night I was able to prestige for the second time. I played a few games after that and it was a bit rough not having the loadouts I am used to. I need to jump into War and gain some quick levels. Even though they seemed to have nerfed the points I still think it's one of the quickest ways to level up. And it's fun.

It's now eleven o'clock and I need to record my audio journal and get to bed. I open tomorrow morning, which I'm not really looking forward to, but I'm off at five o'clock, so that's something to look forward to.

December 10, 2017

 I got a full eight hours of sleep last night and it was pretty great. I woke up feeling rested, which is a rare occurrence. I spent my morning watching videos and clicking around the internet before getting reading, eating lunch, and leaving for work at 12:05PM, which was the correct time, unlike yesterday.

I got to work slightly early and was able to count the drawer fairly quickly thanks to the fact that I got all the change yesterday. There was actually quite a bit extra that I had to put in the safe. After that I turned on a bunch of computers and checked email before we opened.

We were doing the exam thing again today so I made coffee. It sat there all day. No one drank it. When I was cleaning it up I tried it again. It's not gross but it's not good. It still smells really good but it's not something I want to acquire a taste for. I also singed my tongue a little bit. Not to the point of burning it but to the point of being aware of it. Kind of annoying.

Most of my day was spent working on my catalog tutorial, with occasional breaks to read news articles or make a few formatting tweaks to my room schedule template. I made decent progress on the tutorial. I'm almost through the slides covering tips for searching and then I'll move onto account stuff. I think this will definitely be a tutorial that needs to be split up into at least a couple because it's covering a lot of information.

And that was my day at work, along with occasionally helping a patron and talking to coworkers. Most of the day went my excruciatingly slowly. There were a couple times where I thought I was going to fall asleep at the desk, and I wasn't even tired, it was just warm and quiet and nothing was going on.

After work I went to my Mom's house and we went to the Chinese buffet for her belated birthday dinner. My sister's husband apparently found someone throwing up in the bathroom sink and I'm hoping it was related to a previous illness and not something they ate at the buffet.

We went back to the house afterward for cake, ice cream, and presents. My sister also gave my Mom and I her yearly homemade Christmas card and it is really impressive. Among other things, the front is embossed with snowflakes. It's cool.

I got home sometime after nine o'clock and spent the rest of the night watching 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, YouTube videos, and livestreams, and clicking around the internet. I thought about playing CoD: WW2 but I didn't. I'll play tomorrow. Probably. Before and/or after I go install my Mom's new doorbell.

December 9, 2017

 Last night I slept with both my space heaters in my bedroom and it was quite cozy. Despite not wanting to leave my bed (and leaving my house later than normal because I was got it in my head that I was still at my Mom's house, in terms of when I needed to leave), I still made it to work on time. The counting of the drawer went fairly well but I did end up requesting sixty dollars in change because they ended up with a surplus of twenty dollar bills yesterday.

For the first two hours after we opened I read news articles and tweaked the room schedule template. The tweaking was because my coworker accidentally saved over it so the blank template was no longer a blank template. I ended up having it saved with the latest update in one of my folders but the first two backups I checked were older versions, so I decided to redo the latest edits. And then I found the right file. But I ended up keeping some of what I came up with today.

Later in the day I worked on the template even more. This time I added a few more sheets to cover the weekend room schedule, which includes Saturday and Sunday on one page. It requires running two reports, pasting each on their own sheet in Excel, and doing the same sort of editing on a third sheet where all the information is imported. The best part of this round of editing, is that I came up with a few different combinations of the TODAY formula that will, in theory, automatically update the date line for the printed schedule. People kept forgetting to manually update the date line so I figured I would automate it. The regular daily one updates the day of the week as well as the date. Saturday does the same and then Sunday does the day and date for tomorrow (because we print them on Saturday).

The other big chunk of my day was spent working on my catalog tutorial. I made progress. Slow progress. We'll see if I can get anywhere with it tomorrow. I'm kind of tired of tutorials. But I'm in charge of making a whole bunch of them. Hooray.

We had a passive thing today for studying, an “exam cram” because finals are next week. There wasn't really anything set up though or instructions left by the person in charge of it, so we didn't really do anything. And then while I was taking my lunch break upstairs, a patron asked about the coffee that was mentioned on the calendar. When I got back I made a pot, put it out, and then no one drank it. It just sat there for five hours. I might make some tomorrow at the beginning of the day and we'll see if it goes over any better.

After work I went to the grocery store. The parking lot was packed but I kept my head down and made it out quickly. When I got home I ate dinner and watched highlights from 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown because that show is great. I'm currently be distracted by an episode. And before that I was distracted by a different episode. It has taken me forever to write this.

I played more CoD: WW2 tonight and it was pretty fun. There have been updates recently and they have definitely tweaked some things. Some guns seem worse, others seem like laser beams. I also think they buffed the turret guns on tanks, or as someone in game chat put it, they nerfed the fun. I think they also reduced the overall points for the War game mode. I feel like I was getting a lot more last week. But like everything else, it could all be in my head.

It's now after 12:30AM and I need to record my audio journal so I can go to bed. I work at noon and then after work we're going to have a belated dinner for my Mom's birthday. But none of that can happen unless I go to bed, so let's get a move on.

December 8, 2017

 I got eight hours of sleep last night which was pretty great. When I got up I got ready, fed the dogs, and then put air in my tires. As I was decompressing my compressor I got a call from the delivery people. It was just after ten o'clock but they said they were about twenty or twenty-five minutes away. So I finished up with the compressor and headed to my house.

When I got there I moved the couch and footstool a bit, wanting to provide as much of a walkway as possible, and I turned on the lights in the basement. Then I listened to music and read a book. The delivery guys showed up around eleven o'clock, so about thirty minutes after they said they'd be there, but still an hour before the 12:00PM – 4:00PM window I had originally received. Not bad. And it only took them about half an hour to get the washer and dryer moved in and set up. They carried them in with an interesting strap and harness setup, with the appliance balanced on straps between them, it was pretty cool. And now I have a washer and dryer. It's pretty exciting.

After they left I called and scheduled a service appointment for my furnace next Wednesday. When I got to my house this morning it was forty-seven degrees inside. That's a little ridiculous and I'm kind of glad I've been staying at my Mom's this week during the really cold weather. I also called to cancel/renew my XM subscription for the regular discounted rate. Why pay twenty dollars a month when you can pay five dollars a month. And this time I got it for six months instead of five, so I'm good until June.

I did laundry when I got back to my Mom's. I know I have a washer and dryer now but I still need to get detergent and dryer sheets. I thought about going today but when I was walking backwards with my air compressor I nearly tripped, which caused my right foot to go up and my toes to flex, slamming my broken toe into the top of my shoe. I was then back to limping and didn't want to walk all the way through the store like that.

I spent the rest of my afternoon watching the original Star Trek series, clicking around the internet, and working on my texting spreadsheet. For dinner I decided to pick up a sandwich from Jimmy John's, a drink from Sonic, and fries, soft pretzel sticks, and a frozen hot chocolate from Dairy Queen. Too much food, and I still feel it hours later. But I'll survive. While I ate dinner I watched Psych: The Movie for a second time. I really enjoy it and it's definitely going into my Christmas rotation.

After the movie I packed up all my stuff because my Mom said she would be back home by midnight. Once I was all loaded up, I headed home. One of the neighbors' cars was parked particularly far over the center of the driveway and I ended up having to park in the middle of my driveway. So, the first thing I did after unloading my car was write out the note (which I drafted earlier this evening) and put it in an envelope under their windshield wiper. Hopefully it will survive the night so they'll be able to read it and, fingers crossed, they'll start parking fully on their side of the driveway.

When that was done, I tried to play CoD: WW2 but it said something about corrupt files and having to reset my rank and wipe all my unlocks. Umm, no thank you. I manually downloaded all the updates, and while I verified the local files I recorded my audio journal. Then I restarted the computer and after all that, I was able to get into the game. I was really glad I didn't have to go back to the beginning because I'm creeping up on reaching second prestige. If I can get there before Christmas I'll probably go for it because there will be an influx of new players so I won't have to worry about the player-base disappearing immediately after I prestige and go back to rank one.

It's now close to midnight and I need to go to bed because I have to work in the morning. I'm not looking forward to waking up but maybe I can have a productive day.

December 7, 2017

 So, last night I think I broke my toe. I was going to turn my fan on and instead I kicked the fan cord. Really hard for some reason. And then I reached out to grab the door frame because I was about to fall over in pain, but when I reached out I immediately got a muscle cramp along the full length of the left side of my back. So then I was hopping around on my left foot and shaking my left arm around trying to get the cramp to go away while cursing my hurt toe. This morning when I woke up the middle toe on my right foot was slightly purple. After being vertical for awhile it became very purple. I haven't looked at it since this morning but I'm slightly worried to see what it looks like now.

Anyway, this morning I woke up way too early, got ready, fed the dogs, and made it to my haircut by 7:57AM. Three minutes early ain't too bad for being so early in the morning. Before I left I was able to utilize my height and help the lady who cuts my hair by hiding some power cables for her Christmas lights that were hanging down from the top of her cabinets.

When I got back to my Mom's house I took a nap, watched Doctor Who, took another shower to get rid of the stray hairs that inevitably end up everywhere after a haircut, and then ate lunch and watched Star Trek: Voyager and YouTube videos.

I had two walkthroughs, thirty minutes apart, when I got to work. It was a real pain in the foot. And I ended up walking in such away that my right knee was popping with almost every step. It was annoying. But I didn't have another walkthrough the rest of the day so that was nice.

I was on desk for two hours after that and did things. I continued tweaking the room schedule printout template because it seems like a thing I'll be doing for the rest of time. I also got a confirmation for another adulting instructor. And I learned that I the same group wouldn't be able to help with the plumbing class. I think I've exhausted the non-profit options so we might need to discuss business options. Along with that stuff I also helped a patron with microfilm and tracked down an obscure Moody Blues DVD that is only available through PBS, so it's $84. I think PBS would make so much more money if they actually priced their stuff realistically.

After dinner I spent an hour reading library magazines and managed to finish two of them. A decent accomplishment but I still have twelve magazines in my stack. Slowly but surely. I also went down to the basement because we got a call from youth services that there were people down there, and no one was supposed to be down there. When I got there I didn't see anyone but I did find a puppet. Evidence that youth services wasn't lying just to get me to go down to the basement.

Then I was on desk for two hours. I got a new possible date for the library card outreach, so that's good, and then I spent most of my time working on my catalog tutorial. I started it awhile ago but it all became obsolete when we updated our catalog. So I spent my night redoing all of the screenshots. I almost caught back up to where I was before. A lot of work in an attempt to get back to square one. Good times.

I took a little break in the middle of that to take a look at the newly rearranged tech center classroom. It's not done but it's an impressive start. They got rid of the back two rows and moved the other rows forward to make room for a big table in the back. This will make the room a lot more versatile than just a computer room.

After work I went straight to my house so I could record my audio journal. There were four cars in the neighbor's driveway (two of which were over the center line) and one in the street. One of the reasons for picking this house was to avoid all the college kids on the other side of town. But they've found me.

When I got back to my Mom's house I started writing this and watching Psych: The Movie. It has taken me just short of forever to write this because I've been distracted by the movie. It is so good. My expectations were really high and it has exceeded all of them.

December 6, 2017

 Last night it took me forever to fall asleep. So instead of getting eight hours of sleep I got closer to seven. That was unfortunate.

When I woke up this morning, I got ready, let the dogs out and fed them, ate breakfast and made lunch, and watched Doctor Who before going to work. I also realized why my health coach appointment was messed up. I originally thought it was at 9:00AM tomorrow but when I logged in to acknowledge it the calendar thing said 3:00PM. I sent an email about that last night or the day before and I got a new email this morning with a time for next Friday. It was for 9:00AM according to the email I opened that had been forwarded to my main account from my more “professional” one. When I opened the actual email, it said 3:00PM. Then I noticed that the timezone was wrong in my “professional” account, and that was causing the time discrepancy. I sent another email this morning to apologize for the confusion, and sent a screenshot with the two calendar views side-by-side just to prove to the lady, and to myself, that I wasn't crazy.

It was a weird morning at work because I was only there for an hour and a half before lunch. I talked to my coworkers, checked my email, had a walkthrough, and maybe did some other things I don't remember. And then I went to lunch at noon.

When I got back to work I was on desk for two hours. I spent most of that time looking at exhibits for the virtual conference I signed up for today. That led to a lot of previews and samples for graphic novels and comics. Not a bad way to spend my time on desk. I also helped a patron with the copier and made a state library card for another patron. And, I continued trying to schedule an outreach event in February for library card sign-up at the university library. The university librarian picked one of the dates I sent him but then circulation pointed out two conflicts I hadn't thought about, one of which was on the day the university librarian picked, so I sent off another email with updated availability.

I was off desk for an hour after that and then had a walkthrough. I continued looking at the virtual conference stuff, read news articles, ran around a little bit looking for a key to one of our meeting rooms, and created a Christmas desktop wallpaper because the other librarians have Christmas-themed wallpapers and I did. On one of the computers I still have a big picture of a vegetarian burger as my desktop so I edited that by adding holly, tinsel, Christmas ornaments, and a gingerbread man. I'm thinking of maybe adding a new layer or randomness to it each day.

After work I went to my Mom's house to feed the dogs and then I came home to eat dinner myself and watch videos. I just recorded my audio journal and as I finished watching videos and typed up this entry.

Now I'm going to head back to my Mom's house. On my way over here there were some snow flurries. I didn't realize it was supposed to snow today. I'm hoping it's not something that sticks around. I'm good without snow.

December 5, 2017

 My alarm clock went off at 6:30AM this morning but I stayed in bed until after 7:00AM because my bed was warm and my room was cold. Also, I miss my old bed. It is really hard, and there is a spring that kind pokes me occasionally, but when I sit up in the morning my back doesn't hurt. My new bed is firm but also cushiony, and when I sit up in the morning it feels like my spine has to settle back into place.

When I finally got out of bed, I got ready, and then headed upstairs to feed the dogs. I then ate breakfast as I made my lunch, because that's what I do, and then watched Star Trek: Voyager and Doctor Who until it was time to go to work.

I was off desk for two hours when I first got to work and spent that time reading news articles and I started converting my homebound spreadsheets to the new layout. I had to tweak the new layout a little bit as I went but I'm happy with it.

After a walkthrough I worked on the room schedule printout. I had to edit the report so that it will include events, and then I made a few changes to my template, trying to make it make more sense. Slowly but surely.

I had an hour off desk after work and went upstairs to continuing working on my homebound spreadsheets. And then I was on desk for two hours. The first part of that was spent walking one of the other librarians through the updated room schedule template. Kudos to my coworkers for trying to figure out the very convoluted template designed to make things simpler.

The rest of my time on desk was spent finishing the conversion to my new homebound spreadsheet layout, and tweaking my room schedule printout template, yet again. I think I'm done with it at this point but we'll see how it goes when people actually have to start using it.

I was off desk for my last hour at work and I decided to walk around a little bit because I had been sitting at the desk and playing with spreadsheets for two hours. I rearranged my parent cart display and then ran into my co-presenter from the conference. We chatted a little bit and then I headed back to the desk and sat at our table and read a little bit of a library magazine. I'm so far behind on reading library magazines.

As I was about to leave I noticed a wasp, just hanging out on the exit door leading to the backstairs. So I went back to the desk, grabbed our spider cup, and caught a wasp. I then released it outside and I was really glad that it didn't attack me because it was buzzing around in the cup and I have no idea if I'm allergic to wasps.

After work I got gas and then went to my Mom's house to let the dogs out and feed them dinner. And then I came home to eat dinner and watch YouTube videos. I just finished recording my audio journal and soon I'll be heading back to my Mom's house.

Tomorrow I don't go in until 10:30AM so I'll get to sleep in a little bit. I'm looking forward to that.