May 26, 2018

I helped bake sourdough bread before getting ready this morning. The process actually started in the middle of the night, because why not. I didn't make the starter or the dough, but I provided the oven and the pot to put it in, so I'm going to take some of the credit for how it turned out.

When we were ready we drove out to a farm that has four camels, with the goal of combing the camels. By the time we got there the camels were taking a break, so we hung out in an old barn and ate a cookie. Then we went up to a loft room that looks like it was straight out of an Indian Jones kind of movie. Like a worldly adventures room from the 1930s or something. It was pretty cool. And then we combed a camel. Camels are big. And at one point one of them came up from behind me and bumped me out of the way so she could smell the academic librarian. Just a little bit scary, but I survived.

We went back to my house for a little bit after that, giving me enough time to change out of my damp clothes (because it was hot at the camel farm), and then we headed out of town again to go to a birthday gathering at a cabin by a lake. I was a little worried it would be out in the middle of a field, so the cabin was a nice surprise. Although we spent most of the time out on the back porch, so I was once again hot and damp. We ate good food and then the instruments were pulled out. Ten different people had instruments, and some of them switched between multiple instruments. The academic librarian brought her accordion, there were guitars, mandolins, a banjo, harmonicas, and a saw, which was probably the most impressive. At one point the lady on the saw played Happy Birthday, including the “and many more” addition at the end, and it was great. The saw is like a theremin, but actually good.

We left around ten o'clock, and there was talk of camping, but the campsites were closed, and I was really hot and tired after a long day, and really just wanted to take a shower and sleep in my own bed, so we headed back to town.

May 25, 2018

After several nights of not getting a lot of sleep, I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow last night. I slept through the night and it was great.

The morning at work disappeared. I talked to the other librarian about a lot of work-related things, and also things that were not work-related, and I helped research a couple different reference questions, because they were coming in fast this morning. One of them was from the city looking for an ADA document of their own, which they had misplaced and hoped we had a copy. We apparently used to have it many years ago but got rid of it several years ago (along with a lot of other city documents) because we're not an archive and no one ever used them. The other questions was about a mysterious trailer park that used to be in town fifty or sixty years ago but I only found passing references to it, nothing that substantial.

I met with my boss for our monthly meeting. There wasn't a lot to talk about but I would still say it was productive.

I helped the academic librarian with a question about metadata. I couldn't find anything useful in our collection (which isn't surprising), and ended up sending her the example for one of my metadata assignments in grad school. I also tried helping her with an ebook situation on her phone and laptop. And I got a request from a patron to find a picture of his Marine Corps platoon from 1981. That didn't go anywhere. I found a lot of possibly useful sites but the class number he gave me proved elusive.

I went to the academic librarian's house for lunch, which was again nice because the travel time is significantly less than going to my Mom's house, so I get more of a break without having to stay at the library.

On a walkthrough after lunch I got cornered by one of our regulars down by circulation. The academic librarian knows her and it apparently came out that we were dating, so I think that was the reason for the initial contact, but them she rambled on about a lot of other things. Among the stream of consciousness was an offer to teach me a song with the academic librarian's name in it, and a request to help her transport a piano. I was eventually able to get away, but it took far longer than it probably should have.

Then I continued looking for the Marine Corps picture, before going on another walkthrough, refilling the audiobooks, and covering a break in the tech center. After that I talked to one of the other librarians for almost an hour. There was a lot of random stuff, but also some work stuff, so I feel okay about it.

I spent the last hour on desk, read the news, and worked on a personalized reading list. Then I went home, ate dinner, eventually picked up the academic librarian, and watched an episode of Psych before going to bed.

May 24, 2018

This morning I woke up, got ready, and dropped the academic librarian and her bike off at a coffee shop. Then I drove around for a little bit because I was a tad early for work. When I got to work I had two hours off desk. I pulled more books for my biography display and then sat behind the desk and talked to two of the other librarians. In a completely natural way it came up that I'm dating the academic librarian, and it really wasn't awkward at all. What was slightly more awkward was having to go tell two teens to put a little more space between them, because they were being a little too friendly in a public place.

I had three walkthroughs in a row after that. I refilled audiobooks, talked to people in circulation and childrens, talked to a man sleeping outside our front door on one of the stone benches (which seemed really uncomfortable but he seemed to be enjoying it and it wasn't against our policy, but we kept checking on him just to make sure he was doing alright), talked to my fellow librarians more, and kind of got a start on a new personalized reading list.

I went to my Mom's for lunch and she happened to be in the garage when I opened the door. She was pretty confused by the bike rack on my car, so I told her about the academic librarian, and I don't think I've ever seen her so excited. It was nearly at a comical level, and it was ridiculous, but also pretty cool.

After lunch we were shown how to set up the technology in our different meeting rooms, and then I was on desk for two hours, after taking a bunch of new donated games down to the basement. I spent a decent amount of time tracking down an academic article for a patron. We're getting more requests for scholarly things due to the university library being out of commission due to the fire. We can handle some of those but our library isn't really equipped for that, so it can be a bit frustrating not having the ability to help people. I got lucky with the patron today because I found a pre-publication version of the article online. I also had some time to actually start on the personalized reading list.

I had a walkthrough after that, covered a break in the tech center, continued working on the personalized reading list, and did my best to stay awake, because I was tired, and when I'm tired I have a tendency to want to fall asleep.

After work I picked up Chipotle, swung by my house to pick up the autographed books from Alan Lightman (because I didn't want them sitting on my porch if it rained), and went to my Mom's for dinner. We ate, talked, and watched videos. Then I drilled a couple holes in a new bird feeder so my sister could add dowels to it, and fixed a mildly dangerous fire trap behind the TV, because my Mom had way too many things plugged in.

May 23, 2018

Woke up and ate leftover pizza in bed for breakfast. It is almost as good cold as it is hot. After that I had just enough time to run home and get ready before going to work.

I had two walkthroughs when I got there. I refilled the audiobook and talked to the academic librarian a little bit. She stopped by to work because the campus library won't be available for the foreseeable

future.

I was on desk for two hours after that and most of that time was spent helping patrons. I answered a lot of phone calls, helped a patron print our list of possible book club kits, and helped a patron open Solitaire after he was trying to find a crossword puzzle by typing his phone number into Google to log into an account that he didn't actually have. It was odd. I also helped one of the other librarians edit her new handout, and I talked to her husband about the job he just got. It's as a middle school science teacher, so he doesn't start for awhile, but he will be starting a masters degree for teaching this summer.

I was off desk for the next two hours so I went upstairs to the meeting room. I caught up on the news and created signs for the summer reading prize desk.

For my dinner break I went to the academic librarian's house. It is a few blocks from the library so I was able to enjoy a longer break.

I was on desk for an hour when I got back and caught up on the news. Then I was off desk for two hours. I checked out a couple books, read the local newspaper, and spent a lot of time making new end caps for the newly shifted books. I was a little smarter about it this time, so it went slightly faster than my previous attempts, and I got everything right on the first try, but it is still a pain in the butt.

I picked up the academic librarian after work. I also picked up her bike, so now I have a bike rack on the back of my car. I've never had a bike rack on my car, and haven't had a bike since I was a kid, but it makes me look like I'm ready for adventure. I need to go on more adventures.

May 22, 2018

Not a lot of sleep again, and then I dropped the academic librarian off on my way to work. As we were headed across town, I had the realization that she made me want to drive the speed limit so that I am with her for a little bit longer. That was pretty cool. Then I drove around a little bit longer to kill a few minutes before heading to work.

I was off desk for the first two hours so I went up to the meeting room and updated the webpage for today's tech class. That went pretty smoothly, and I was able to read a few articles, as well.

I then had a walkthrough and covered the tech desk for about twenty minutes so that worker could take a break. I also made a sign for two of our meeting rooms because even though the construction happening in and around them is obvious, we keep finding people in them. The last straw was a patron today who had to walk by a ladder and all the other stuff, and then told me he didn't realize it was off limits because he “didn't see a sign.” So I made a sign.

The tech class was after lunch. Two people were signed up, one didn't show, there were two walk-ins, and I had made four copies of my handout, so that worked out perfectly. The class itself went pretty well. It could have been better, but even if I thought it was perfect I would have wanted it to be better. There's no winning.

Following the class I spent forty-five minutes behind the reference desk, talking to my coworkers before going down to cover the tech desk for an hour. I was able to catch up on the news, read a few library articles, and talked to a couple teens about their game volume and talking.

I was on desk for the last hour and learned about a fire at the campus library. The best guess is that it was started accidentally by a worker welding on the roof near the ventilation system. It didn't seem to be that bad at first but then the news kept getting worse. I was getting updates from the academic librarian, as well as my Dad who was getting updates from his scanner I assume.

After work I went to the academic librarian's house. We decided to have our first official date and tried to do typical date things. We went and picked up a pizza from downtown (tomatoes and broccoli), sitting at a picnic table outside while it was being made, which was really nice. Then we stopped at the library to checkout a couple DVDs. We ended up eating the pizza on her porch and talked about random things, but spent a lot of time talking about old video games that she played growing up, which was unexpected but really cool. Also, the pizza was really good. I had never had it from that restaurant before but I want to have it much more often in the future. She also received continuing updates on the library fire, which only got worse.

When we were done eating we went for a walk around the neighborhood. This ended in a stop at her friends' house. We were invited in by the husband while his wife put the kids to bed. He offered us pineapple, and I don't think I've had cold pineapple in quite awhile, but it is still very refreshing. His wife eventually joined us and we had a good conversation until about 10:00PM, when we heading back to the academic librarian's house.

May 21, 2018

Last night I got about four hours of sleep. Then I had to get up early so I could go get a haircut before work. Ideally I wouldn't schedule a haircut before going to work at 9:00AM, but I was overdue and this morning was the earliest possible time. I had just enough time afterward to come home and change shirts before work. On the way to work I dropped off the academic librarian and made it to the library with time to spare.

I had two hours off desk when I got to work so I went upstairs to the meeting room. I caught up on emails, and I was able to switch weekends with one of the other librarians, so now I can go to a weekend symphony thing next month. I also had a little time to play around with Google Maps stuff in preparation for the upcoming class.

I was on desk for two hours after that and that was basically completely spent working on Google Maps stuff and helping the occasional patron.

And then I had a four hour lunch break. The person in the tech center who was supposed to work tonight was sick, and it was last minute, so of the two of us who were there, I volunteered to work a split shift and cover the tech center tonight.

This worked out pretty well because on the way home I was able to go to the grocery store, which was a much better time than going at 6:00PM. The produce selection was pretty sad in the middle of the afternoon, but at least it wasn't crowded. When I got home I took a nap before eating dinner and heading back to work.

I covered the tech desk for the next four hours and it was kind of nice. There is a lot less responsibility compared to working at the reference desk, so I was able to do zone out and work on things, after covering the regular tech desk responsibilities. I set a patron up on the creation station, helped a patron print, figured out how to properly turn off the projector in the auditorium (by using an iPad instead of the remote), made a list of audiobooks so that one of the other librarians could pull them for me (because I hadn't had time with my modified schedule), figured out which keys opened which doors in the tech center with that same librarian, and also helped her unjam the shredder.

All of that didn't take too much time so I was able to put in a decent amount of time on the Google Maps class. Thanks to being able to zone in, I was able to get all of the screenshots I needed and this allowed me to finish the handout/presentation for the tech class. This also made the night go by pretty quickly, which is always appreciated.

On my way home I picked up the academic librarian and we quickly called it a night.

May 20, 2018

Today was a pretty straight forward day and there really isn't much to write about. I slept in a little bit (but still didn't get much sleep), and then dropped the academic librarian off at church. Then I started my laundry, cleaned up around the house, took a shower, and clicked around the internet, one of my favorite pastimes.

After lunch there was a two hour nap, which helped quite a bit with the lack of sleep, and then we made sourdough French toast for dinner and watched Psych. So not a very exciting day, but it was very relaxed, and I needed that after being social and so far outside my comfort zone yesterday.