For the last month I've been working on getting to bed at a consistent time. It's been great. So the next step naturally would be to get up at a regular time. But I have a problem with my bed.
Now, I really like my bed. I got it for $5 from a student who was moving back to Japan the next day and really needed to get rid of it. It was the first bed I've ever purchased (and only bed, to date, unless you count air mattresses or the couch I slept on for a week until my stuff arrived at my new place) and was definitely a steal. It's way more than a $5 bed. It only has one fatal flaw: it is at its most comfortable between 6 and 7 am.
It's a comfortable bed all night but I tell you, it's never more comfortable than in those moments after my alarm drags me back to reality. I fall asleep pretty quickly so I can't enjoy the comfort nearly as much as it deserves. But by 6 am, it has become the most comfortable place on the planet. The pillows are perfect, the covers are perfect, the mattress is perfect and I'm just awake enough to enjoy it as I doze off between the snooze alarms.
So, as soon as I figure out how to solve the problem of my comfortable bed, I'll get working on getting up at a routine time. But given the complicated nature of this dilemma, it could take awhile.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Monday, May 29, 2017
What I do for a living
I confess, I'm pretty excited to have the day off tomorrow. Contrary to popular belief, librarians don't really sit around all day reading books. Especially when they aren't really librarians, they are reference archivists.
So what do I do all day, you ask? I answer questions. (Moms everywhere can sympathize). All day, day in and day out, my job is to answer all the questions that people can come up with. If I'm lucky, 1 in 10 of them can be answered with Google. But in most cases, if they could google the answer, they wouldn't be asking me. Information Professionals: Smarter than Google.* I also can't answer them by looking in a book. (Books. Those are for libraries). I have to check in 3 or 4 different collections - non-indexed, not word searchable, and sometimes handwritten. On paper, or even crazier, microfilm.
It has gotten to the point that I've developed a mental twitch every time someone walks into the Reference Room or I get a new email. Deep inside my brain, I have this tiny moment of panic as I ponder what it is I'm going to have to know the answer to in the next 5 minutes.
Actually, the in person interactions aren't too bad. Essentially, I show them the catalog, give them some pointers on how to search, and get them searching on their own. (Unless they don't know how to use computers. That's a whole different ball game). The tricky part is that there's no time to figure out an answer. You really do have about 30 seconds to come up with something, and in archival research, you don't get answers in 30 seconds. Usually, you don't even get them in 30 minutes.
Online questions, on the other hand, give you some time to figure out an answer. The drawback is, you also have to do all the research. And when most questions are going to take a couple hours of research, and you get about 20 a week, it doesn't leave much time for anything else. And some of these questions! Honestly, they astound me sometimes. The longer I do this job, the more I realize that of the 7.347 billion people on earth, I think I understand where about 50 of them are coming from. We get some very strange questions. And we answer them as best we can. It's what we do.
Like I say, I don't hate what I do. There is something really satisfying about unraveling an information mystery: you dig a little here, then follow a lead there, which sends you to another place with a tiny bit of information, and after checking a dozen different places, you finally put the whole puzzle together. And the whole time you are picking up random little tidbits that you never would have found out otherwise.** But sometimes, you just need a break, even from the fun world of archives.
*I'm trying to sell people on this as a motto. So far, no luck.
**Most of which you'll never use again, but occasionally they do come in handy. Like the time someone wondered why spring break was in February and I actually knew the answer.
So what do I do all day, you ask? I answer questions. (Moms everywhere can sympathize). All day, day in and day out, my job is to answer all the questions that people can come up with. If I'm lucky, 1 in 10 of them can be answered with Google. But in most cases, if they could google the answer, they wouldn't be asking me. Information Professionals: Smarter than Google.* I also can't answer them by looking in a book. (Books. Those are for libraries). I have to check in 3 or 4 different collections - non-indexed, not word searchable, and sometimes handwritten. On paper, or even crazier, microfilm.
It has gotten to the point that I've developed a mental twitch every time someone walks into the Reference Room or I get a new email. Deep inside my brain, I have this tiny moment of panic as I ponder what it is I'm going to have to know the answer to in the next 5 minutes.
Actually, the in person interactions aren't too bad. Essentially, I show them the catalog, give them some pointers on how to search, and get them searching on their own. (Unless they don't know how to use computers. That's a whole different ball game). The tricky part is that there's no time to figure out an answer. You really do have about 30 seconds to come up with something, and in archival research, you don't get answers in 30 seconds. Usually, you don't even get them in 30 minutes.
Online questions, on the other hand, give you some time to figure out an answer. The drawback is, you also have to do all the research. And when most questions are going to take a couple hours of research, and you get about 20 a week, it doesn't leave much time for anything else. And some of these questions! Honestly, they astound me sometimes. The longer I do this job, the more I realize that of the 7.347 billion people on earth, I think I understand where about 50 of them are coming from. We get some very strange questions. And we answer them as best we can. It's what we do.
Like I say, I don't hate what I do. There is something really satisfying about unraveling an information mystery: you dig a little here, then follow a lead there, which sends you to another place with a tiny bit of information, and after checking a dozen different places, you finally put the whole puzzle together. And the whole time you are picking up random little tidbits that you never would have found out otherwise.** But sometimes, you just need a break, even from the fun world of archives.
*I'm trying to sell people on this as a motto. So far, no luck.
**Most of which you'll never use again, but occasionally they do come in handy. Like the time someone wondered why spring break was in February and I actually knew the answer.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Tips for Conferencing
This week I attended a conference for work. It was for libraries, which made it kind of weird because I really work at an archive/special collections library, which is not really like a public, academic, or school library outside of the fact that both have books. But, there's always something that is applicable, so I made the most of it and developed some trusty tips for coping with conferences:
1. Get a good night's sleep. Sitting and listening for 8 straight hours is exhausting. I know, it sounds ridiculous and counter intuitive but it's a fact. So, be well rested.
2. Pack a sweater or a jacket. Even if it's 110 degrees in the shade outside (especially then!), layer up. Because conference centers are freezing.
3. Hit the vendor hall. The goal is to get as many free pens as possible (I managed 10. At this rate, I will never have to buy another pen or stylus in my life!). Or to stock up on chocolate to keep you alert during the sessions.
4. Always go to at least one "just because I want to" session. I know you're there for work and you feel obligated to go to all the sessions relevant to your particular job but give yourself at least one session that is something that you are interested in and that sounds fun and interesting, regardless of how relevant it is to your work.
5. Give yourself some down time. The one I went to, even lunch was scheduled with speakers. A person needs some time to not have to engage with strangers if they don't want to, to not have to be surrounded and 'on' as it were. This conference was only a one-dayer, so it was alright, but a person definitely needs to have a break.
So, there you go. Conference survival strategies. You're welcome.
1. Get a good night's sleep. Sitting and listening for 8 straight hours is exhausting. I know, it sounds ridiculous and counter intuitive but it's a fact. So, be well rested.
2. Pack a sweater or a jacket. Even if it's 110 degrees in the shade outside (especially then!), layer up. Because conference centers are freezing.
3. Hit the vendor hall. The goal is to get as many free pens as possible (I managed 10. At this rate, I will never have to buy another pen or stylus in my life!). Or to stock up on chocolate to keep you alert during the sessions.
4. Always go to at least one "just because I want to" session. I know you're there for work and you feel obligated to go to all the sessions relevant to your particular job but give yourself at least one session that is something that you are interested in and that sounds fun and interesting, regardless of how relevant it is to your work.
5. Give yourself some down time. The one I went to, even lunch was scheduled with speakers. A person needs some time to not have to engage with strangers if they don't want to, to not have to be surrounded and 'on' as it were. This conference was only a one-dayer, so it was alright, but a person definitely needs to have a break.
So, there you go. Conference survival strategies. You're welcome.
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Definitely NOT a foodie
I have a serious problem: I can never figure out what to eat. I get up in the morning and there's cereal or cereal or cereal. Or toast, maybe, if it sounds good, which lately it hasn't. Then I have to fix something for lunch, which means cooking something. Cooking takes so much time and effort and it's just for me. And if I make a lot of it, I end up eating the same thing every day for a week. And don't even get me started on dinner. Who wants to spend time fixing food when they've just worked a full day and there's no one to enjoy it with?
None of which would be that big of a problem if something actually sounded appealing. But seriously, food is just so boring lately. This is a situation that isn't going to improve with the summer, because heat will put me off food faster than anything.
So, yes, huge problem. But, today at work someone mentioned Hawaiian Haystacks and it sounded delicious! There was a food that I wanted to eat! So fingers crossed that I will still want it tomorrow at lunchtime. I need to eat something.
None of which would be that big of a problem if something actually sounded appealing. But seriously, food is just so boring lately. This is a situation that isn't going to improve with the summer, because heat will put me off food faster than anything.
So, yes, huge problem. But, today at work someone mentioned Hawaiian Haystacks and it sounded delicious! There was a food that I wanted to eat! So fingers crossed that I will still want it tomorrow at lunchtime. I need to eat something.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
The art of play
I am incredibly pleased to report that I still know how to play with five-year olds.
I'm pretty good at playing with kids, I think, but I typically play games or tell stories or am playing with 3 and unders, which is a different kind of play all together. (It usually requires being able to do the same thing over and over for long periods of time).
Yesterday, though, I had the chance to play with my 5 year old niece and 9 year old autistic nephew. For my nephew, my brother invented slide bowling, so mostly our play involved setting up the pins and handing him the balls and cheering him on. (By the way, slide bowling is awesome and the $8 bowling set was worth every penny, even if I were to never use it again).
With my niece, we played. It started out with Twilight Sparkle (one of the My Little Pony crowd) and we had to find the bezel treasure. (I don't know what exactly this looks like, except pizza-ish somehow?) We found/drew the treasure map, and the treasure was hidden by the mountain flowers. So we found the mountain, and the mountain flowers, and sure enough, the bezel treasure was there. We got the treasure, but then the monsters chased us, so we had to make it to the Leaf Tree. When the monsters got there, they turned into fairies. Turns out the mean witch had turned them into monsters, but the Leaf Tree undid the spell.
Then we had to stop the mean witch, of course. First we had to find the gold medallion and the special butterfly. Then we had to go to the fairy tree and get a little fairy to help us. And then we had to find the witch, which was tricky. Turns out she was at the mountain the whole time. When we got to the mountain, the butterfly and the fairy caught the witch. Then we threw the medallion at her and cast a spell with our wands (I believe the spell was enchanticus simpaticus. In case you ever need it). And the witch turned into a good witch, the mountain became Lovely Mountain again, and the mountain flowers came back (not sure at what point they went away, but you know how these things go).
So yeah. Pretty much saved the world. You're welcome.
I'm pretty good at playing with kids, I think, but I typically play games or tell stories or am playing with 3 and unders, which is a different kind of play all together. (It usually requires being able to do the same thing over and over for long periods of time).
Yesterday, though, I had the chance to play with my 5 year old niece and 9 year old autistic nephew. For my nephew, my brother invented slide bowling, so mostly our play involved setting up the pins and handing him the balls and cheering him on. (By the way, slide bowling is awesome and the $8 bowling set was worth every penny, even if I were to never use it again).
With my niece, we played. It started out with Twilight Sparkle (one of the My Little Pony crowd) and we had to find the bezel treasure. (I don't know what exactly this looks like, except pizza-ish somehow?) We found/drew the treasure map, and the treasure was hidden by the mountain flowers. So we found the mountain, and the mountain flowers, and sure enough, the bezel treasure was there. We got the treasure, but then the monsters chased us, so we had to make it to the Leaf Tree. When the monsters got there, they turned into fairies. Turns out the mean witch had turned them into monsters, but the Leaf Tree undid the spell.
Then we had to stop the mean witch, of course. First we had to find the gold medallion and the special butterfly. Then we had to go to the fairy tree and get a little fairy to help us. And then we had to find the witch, which was tricky. Turns out she was at the mountain the whole time. When we got to the mountain, the butterfly and the fairy caught the witch. Then we threw the medallion at her and cast a spell with our wands (I believe the spell was enchanticus simpaticus. In case you ever need it). And the witch turned into a good witch, the mountain became Lovely Mountain again, and the mountain flowers came back (not sure at what point they went away, but you know how these things go).
So yeah. Pretty much saved the world. You're welcome.
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