Little Joe's Pizza

For years, I have been aware of Little Joe's presence, but only recently did I decide that I wanted to try the food there. I think I had some of their food once for a Latin party in high school, but I'd never been to the restaurant. Well, let me tell you, getting there was no easy task. Why? Because they have ridiculous hours. On Fridays and Saturdays, when I would normally go for lunch, they don't open until 2:00pm. And they are closed on Sundays, which is my other prime time for trying new restaurants. But thanks to my friends, I was finally able to try it last night, and man oh man was it good!! I can't wait to go back. Hubby and I shared a small pizza- half cheese, half sausage. The small is 11 inches, but it was enough for me and the Hubs. We even had a few slices left to share with our friend, David. Hubby had a soda while I had water, and our total bill before tip was under $12. Not too shabby. What I'm really interested in, though, is the amazing sandwich that Sharon ordered. Apparently it's only available during the holiday season. It's a hot roast beef sandwich served with Au Jus. She got it with cheese and onions and green peppers. It looked and smelled amazing. I have to get back there this holiday season one way or another!
I definitely recommend Little Joe's pizza if you ever feel like going deep into Farragut any night except Sunday. :D

Christmas!

Christmas was marvelous. A 4-day weekend, snow, family, friends, Christmas, a great mass made for a really great Christmas this year. Definitely way better than last year. Last year had some really good moments, but I was just so stressed out that I couldn't really enjoy things fully. But this year... this year was something wonderful. :) I really enjoyed getting to visit with my friend, Lara. I don't get to see her much since she and her husband live in Chicago. It was enriching to hang out with her and talk about religion. I definitely felt fortified after we talked, cause sometimes I feel like the lonely Christian in my circle of friends. What a blessing to visit with Lara and Brad.
Mass this year was wonderful. I usually go to a 4:00 pm service on Christmas Eve to see the children in their nativity attire. It's been so crowded the last couple years that I changed it up a little this time around, and went to a 4:10 'overflow' mass. Father Michael gave a really excellent homily (one point I really liked was where he said that having Jesus in your life doesn't mean that everything is going to be OK, but that whether things are OK or not, you have Jesus with you always.... so cool!), and there was a lot of great singing. We sang many of my favorite Christmas songs, including O Holy Night and Joy to the World.
Christmas Day I got to visit with Dad and Rebecca, talk to Sarah, open presents with Charles, see his mother's side of the family, and chill out at home. It was just super to be able to rest. And the day after Christmas, we went to Home Depot and took advantage of the after-Christmas sale. We bought a 7.5' Christmas tree, some colored lights, and some ornaments. Now I'm all ready to go for next year!
Looking forward to seeing more folks this week. Life is good. :) :)

I ♥ Christmas!

It's that time of year again: the time when I leave my radio on B97.5 almost all the time. I frickin' love Christmas. I love the whole Jesus miracle story, and thinking about how safe we are, and I love Christmas treats and decorations, and shopping for my hubby. I love being out in the hustle and bustle (for about 20 minutes, and then I see people that leave shopping carts in parking spaces, and then the joy is gone for the day....). I think last year I was a little stressed about trying to find a real job, and I was worried about my work at SNS, and I was working a LOT, and trying to get settled into our new home. This year, I am blessed with a job that I adore, and I can just take it easy and enjoy spending time with my family and friends.
Tomorrow is a Holy Day, too, so I've got to remember to go to mass! Though I think with my work schedule, I'll be forced to go at kind of an odd time. But oh well. Hopefully there will be Christmas music at church. WOO HOO! :) OK, sorry for the outburst, I just adore this time of year. :) :) :)

Art Break

My coworker, Jim, was telling me about a certain Doctor Who character that he likes, but she's from the Matt Smith era, and I haven't gotten to that part yet. So I google-imaged her, and found that yes, Amy Pond is really pretty! But then I saw that someone took things a step further and drew Amy Pond in an Mucha/art nouveau style. I ♥ Art Nouveau. So I just had to share.

An Analogy

In church yesterday, the deacon had an interesting analogy. I'll try to recreate it here as best I can.

Imagine you really want to watch the Vols play, but you have to miss the game, so you record it to watch it later. Before you get a chance to watch it, someone says, "How bout that game? Isn't it amazing that Vols won!?" You might feel somewhat frustrated that you know the ending, but you go home to watch the replay anyways. The Vols throw and interception and get scored on in the first play. A few minutes later, the Vols fumble and the other team scores again. How do you feel? When you know the outcome of the game is positive, these screw-ups don't mean as much to you. You don't have to watch the game in an anxious state, because you know how things will turn out. Instead, you can watch with joy. Isn't this how our Christian life should be? We know the outcome. We know God has great things in store for us, and we know that in the end, God 'wins' and we are safe. So we should live our lives with the expectant joy of someone that knows the outcome, even if there are fumbles along the way.

I thought it was a really nice analogy, and it invokes an attitude that I'd like to try to adopt. I worry way too much. I have a fantastic life, but I always worry that I am going to lose the things that make me happy. But no one can take the Number One things from me, so I really should not stress out so much!

Anyhow, on another topic, I had a great day yesterday going to a 5K with Anya. I wasn't able to run the whole thing; I just hadn't trained enough, but I knew that going in. I am proud to say that I ran more than the first mile, and then I walked and jogged the rest. I would estimate that I ran a total of 2.5 miles and walked the rest, but I can't confirm that. I really liked that Anya and I had a plan: we would start together, and we'd meet up at the end and have dinner. But she didn't have to stay with me the whole time, so she could run the whole race and I could walk as needed. It was a great race day and I was glad to get to participate. I hope that next time I can run the whole race! :) My finishing time was meh, but I'll note here that it was 39:52 so that hopefully I can look back on this in the future and see my improvement. Oh yeah, and dinner at Savelli's afterwards was SO GOOD. I will definitely want to go back there sometime and would recommend it to others. :)

Epiphany

Maybe dieting is just not for me? :)

Where to start?

I started this blog because I had it in mind that I would post things about being a librarian, and about my progress towards being healthier, more fit, yada yada yada. I see now that I hardly ever post about library stuff, and since my weight struggles have stalled out, I haven't posted at all!
So I am going to just post a quick little catch-up about the pursuit of wellness. Several weeks ago I met with the Exercise Physiologist at work. We got some basic measurements, and I knew I needed to loose some weight. I signed up for Weight Watchers at Work, and set a follow-up appt with the physiologist. I have been on WW for approximately 5 weeks (Maybe more like 6?), and went to my follow up and got some bad news. I had lost a miniscule amount of weight (1-3 pounds or so?), gained 1.5% body fat, and gained a total of 3 inches in size (1 inch gain in shoulders, 1 inch gain in stomach pooch, 1 inch gain on waist). I am going the wrong direction. The physiologist made some ammendments to my WW diet, and I am incorporating them. This was about a week ago, and I meet her again next week to get follow-up measurements done. If I haven't lost anything significant after incorporating the changes, I am going to get some blood work done to try to figure out what's wrong with me. I have even been exercising. Not a LOT, but significantly more than I had been, so there's got to be something going on. Amiright? It's hard to get motivated to blog about weight stuff when the weight is not falling off. WW is not easy. In fact, it is very much the opposite. If it weren't for my faithful coworker that goes with me, and my good friends that are on it, I don't think I could or would do it. So I'm trying to draw together my internal strength, and figure out what to do after this 10 week cycle of WW is over. Should I renew? Should I focus less on food and more on exercise? Should I try a different diet? Lots to think about in the coming weeks, but I'm going to try to do better about blogging through it. The worst case scenario is that I'll have a solid record of what didn't work.

WW first official weigh-in

After much anxiety, I went to my first official weigh-in at WW, and am happy to report a loss of 2 pounds! It isn't as much as I hoped, but since I was afraid I had actually gained weight, I am happy. Maybe I can do this afterall!

Tonight I am planning to exercise with some friends. I think meeting people and being accountable to someone is good for me, so I hope this works!

WW FAIL

I have been on Weight Watchers for almost 2 weeks now, and have stuck to the plan quite well... until this weekend. For the Labor Day weekend, my hubby and I decided to go visit my sister, bro-in-law, and their 4 kids in Alabama. It was partly for fun and partly for "work," as my hubs needed to assess some children to get practice for his school work. He's working on a PhD in School Psychology and needs to practice assessing children, so my nieces and nephews are great candidates. I ate "on plan" until we got to Alabama, and didn't get back "on plan" until we headed home. I used up all my weekly points and then some, but it was glorious.

My sister is such a great cook. It would've been a crime not to have eaten the great food she prepared. But now I am paying the price! Oh well, we had such a good time, hanging out with family, and stargazing, and roasting marshmallows, going to the lake, boating.... the kids are great, the parents are great. Hopefully I can get back on plan for the weigh-in tomorrow!

Weight Watchers

So, exercising hasn't really been working out like I had hoped, so I decided to try Weight Watchers. There is not enough time in my day to go into all the background of my issues with food, so I'll just start here. I started weight watchers a week ago. It is hard. I know that it works, because I've seen it work for multiple people in my life. After trying it for a week, I wonder how anyone can make it a serious life-long change. But since I paid for 10 weeks of moderated discipline, I'm going to stick with it. How much have I lost so far? Zero pounds. However, I have not gained weight, so maybe it's just taking a little while to get the weight-loss momentum going. My biggest grumble is that I feel hungry and unsatisfied. However, I expect this to improved as my appetite diminishes and as I learn "tricks," like little things to eat that keep me more full, and for longer. I fully anticipate that things will get better. I have to believe they'll get better. One other downside to weight watchers is that I have less energy and have a harder time concentrating. I want to include exercise in my life, but I just don't feel like I have it in me. If I were to exercise, I would earn extra WW "points" which would allow me to eat more. But I expect myself to do the work THEN get the reward, and without consuming an edible reward, I don't feel I have the energy to get going. It's kind of a catch 22. However, in the end, I know it all boils down to excuses. I need to stop making excuses. What is the common thread in all successful weight loss stories? People get motivated enough to quit making excuses. They just do it. That's what I gotta do.
I have to give a major shout-out to Anya for keeping me interested in and motivated to learn about fitness and healthy eating. I don't always do what Anya says; I don't always do what I know I need to do. But I have a much better chance of succeeding when I am armed with the knowledge. Just gotta hang in there.

Blar blar blar

For the most part, life is grand. Great husband, great job, great friends. Leave it to human beings to find one little negative thing and focus totally on it. But here it is: I feel like such a fatty. This weekend some friends are getting together to go tubing to celebrate one friend's birthday. I love that friend dearly, and tubing sounds like a lot of fun, but I am just really dreading this trip. Husband tells me that when tubing, people wear swimsuits. Well I will not be wearing a swimsuit. I thought that maybe I'd go buy some lightweight cargo pants with secure pockets so that I could be the keeper of the keys... but that plan was foiled when I went to the mall and to Target and left feeling like the Goodyear blimp. :/

I have been exercising, but not as much as I should. So i think I might go to the Rush to inquire about a membership again. I see their ads that say $19/mo with no enrollment fee. That is quite fair. I know I enjoy Zumba classes a lot more than I enjoy going to the gym at work. It's nice to come home and eat and decompress and then go exercise. Please wish me luck, or pray, or do whatever you do. I am tired of feeling like an undesirable blob.

Oh dear.

I've been away from my blog for a little while but I'm back! I was sick last week, so I didn't exercise at all, but I hit the gym hard yesterday, and on Thursday I plan to go back to the Zumba class with my good friends, Karen and JeMiale. I feel good. Fat but good. At least I'm doing something about the fatness, so I need to focus on the positive side. ;)

I'm getting the hang of things at my new job, but it's keeping me really busy! I feel like I've already learned so much, but many many new things come up every day. I hope I always love my job as much as I do right now. Even the frustrating computer stuff is fun in its own little way.

And things at home are grand as well. This past weekend, my oldest sister came to town to visit. She stayed with me and my hubby for the first time ever, and she didn't have any of the kiddos with her. She has the world's greatest kids, but it was really nice to get to just spend time with her. She taught me some sewing basics as I am learning how to quilty. We've been designing a quilt top by email and phone for a couple weeks, and we managed to get the whole quilt top put together this weekend. So next time she comes to town, we will back a back and we'll make a quilt sandwich. We got to spend time with our other sister as well. The three of us had a great outing, going to the Farmer's Market at Market Square, eating at the French Market (mmmmm nutella crepe!), going to the quilt show, going up into the sunsphere, and hanging out. If and when I get the pictures from the weekend, I'll have to post some. We had a great time, but I am/was exhausted.

So that's what's going on in my world. What's going on in yours? :)

The Post That Needs to Happen

I've been dreading this, but the time has come. I met with the exercise physiologist at my new job, and she took all my measurements and gave me a workout plan. I promised myself that I was going to post all my measurements here on my blog so that I would be accountable. I meet with the physiologist again in 6 weeks, and darn it, I'm gonna have something to show for it!
Currently, I do ZERO regular exercise, and my "diet" involves eating pretty much whatever I want whenever I want it. It would be unrealistic to go from this lifestyle to one that embodies Anya-like diligence and self-control, so I asked the physiologist to get realistic with me. What can I honestly do; what will I stick to? She came up with a fitness routine for me to do 3 days a week. Each routine should take approximately 30 minutes. Diet-wise I am supposed to eat out less often. If this isn't achievable, I don't know what is!
And now for the moment we've all been waiting for: my fitness assessment figures as of 7/1/10:
Ht: 5'5" (that shouldn't change)
Wt: 157.6 (egads! Mini-goal = 145lbs)
Blood Pressure: 110/76 (not too shabby)
Body fat: 32.1% (how am I still alive!? STAY PUFT!!!)
Waist to Hip Ratio: .73 (she said this was acceptable, but I should google what it means)
Flexibility: 9 (this is a relatively meaningless number. More accurate to say that I can't even touch my toes when my legs are straight. This is dangerous!)
Goals: to lower weight and eventually do a pull-up.

Circumference Measurements:
Shoulders: 43
Chest: 36
Waist: 30
Abdomen: 34
Hips: 41
Biceps: 12 in. ea.
Thighs: 23 in. ea.

While on the one hand it feels like a big failure to post these numbers, I need to remember that the upside is that this is my starting point. I'd better have some improvements to blog about in the next several weeks!

Also, since having the assessment done, I joined some friends for a class at the Rush. I had a wonderful time, so maybe I can really enjoy this new "exercise" thing. ;)

♥

My dear hubby must think I'm completely crazy. I was catching up on facebook, and within the span of about 30 seconds I went from "I really love how amazingly awesome people can be!" (thanks, Anya!) to "I frickin' HATE people. >:("
Honestly, posting anything on the internet means putting yourself out there for the world to see. Wouldn't you want to put your best foot forward, or make the best impression that you could? Why do people put things online that are cruel to innocent people? It boggles my mind. My husband had to remind me in the "I HATE PEOPLE" scenario that this perpetrator is only ~13 years old. Man, if people judged me based on how I was at 13, I'd probably have no job, no friends, and no husband. So I need to learn to cut people some slack. Thank you, Husband, for reigning me in. I need to learn to get off my judgmental high horse, and spend more time in the "people are awesome" camp. :)

Tomorrow morning is my meeting with the Exercise Physiologist. Coincidentally I also have plans tomorrow evening to go to a Zumba class at the Rush with some friends. I expect the class to wear me out and humiliate me all at the same time. I've got no rhythm. I'm like a breadstick. But I'll be with some really great people, and I'll actually be taking a step in the "fit" direction. Which will be a huge improvement over the "fat" direction I've been headed. Speaking of fatness, I got another "don't get fat" suggestion today. I guess I should be flattered that people care enough to say something. :p

Ok, almost time for bed. G'night, y'all!

Friends

I have had the same core group of friends for several years, but am happy to announce that in the past year I've made several new friends. Some are librarians, some are friends of friends, but all are really nice to have! It's really hard to find a balance, though, of not neglecting the good friends I've had for ages. I recently noted on my facebook status that I'd been thinking of that old girl scouts song: "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold." When I was little I found it so confusing-- are the gold friends the new ones or the old ones? I've also always kind of preferred silver to gold. As I get older I see that the old friends are supposedly the gold friends, but I challenge this assumption. My friends are all gold. Otherwise they wouldn't be my friends. Life it too short for anything less. ;)

Husband and I took a walk today. A brisk, 2 mile walk. I loved that I was exercising and spending time with him at the same time. Wish we could do that every day! This evening I hung out with some lovely ladies and watched "Billy Elliot," which I'd never seen before. It was really good! The movie was accompanied by dinner delivered from Kasumi, and a fruit tart from the Fresh Market, with homemade whipped cream. Good company, good food, good film-- what's not to love? :)

Insulting

Recently, a very very good friend of mine insulted me repeatedly regarding my appearance. She didn't mean to; in fact, she was trying to "help" me, but it really hurt my feelings. I am overly-sensitive, so I knew I might be over-reacting, but I told my dear hubby what my friend said. He just rolled his eyes, and we had a good laugh at it.
The reason that I post this is to remind myself that there might be times when I am trying to help someone, and I might accidentally insult the heck out of them. If I have ever insulted you in any way, I am sorry. I didn't mean to, or if I did mean to, then I'm doubly sorry now.
I am also trying to remind myself to have more of a sense of humor about things. The world is not out to get me. In fact, my life is pretty amazing and good. I need to not sweat the small stuff. Hmmm.

Fitness Goals

I started my new job this week, and so I'm starting to really think about what goals I have for the future. On the one hand, I'd like to just take a moment to rest. I feel exhausted and want to tell myself that I've "earned" a break. But on the other hand, I think that I ought to jump straight into working out, before I get too lazy. I will no longer be working at my evening librarian job after tomorrow night, so even if I worked out for 30-45 minutes after work on Thursday, I'd still get home about 4 hours earlier than I'm accustomed to getting home.

My new job offers a lot of great benefits. One of the ones I plan on taking advantage of is a wellness program that will help me assess how "well" I am, in many aspects of my life. I plan to use this as a jumping off point, and a way to chart my progress. So sometime in the next couple of weeks, I will get some biometrics taken. I think I'm going to post the numbers here, not so much because anyone cares, but because I want to see myself improve. I want to be accountable.

But what do I *really* want to accomplish? There are many life goals that I have, and I am proud to say that I've reached a couple of them. But right now I'm focusing on fitness goals. I adore food, and can't honestly see myself making any drastic changes to my diet, but what can I become physically?
My long term fitness goals are to run a half marathon, to be able to do a pull-up, and to get down to 135 pounds. Well that's all well and good, but what about some achievable short-term fitness goals?
Without having weighed in the past few weeks, I'd estimate that I'm about 155 pounds. So goal #1 is to get down to 145. I wonder what a good time-frame would be for that. It's "just" 10 pounds, so I am arbitrarily setting a date of August 1st. In lieu of a pull-up, I'd like to be able to do 25 good push-ups in one set. (I used to be so good at push-ups!) And I'd like to run an entire 5K without walking sometime before Christmas.

Are these goals too much or too little? It's been so long since I've set and achieved a fitness goal that I don't honestly know what I'm capable of! But I plan to blog it out. :)

Oh Happy Day...

Today I signed out at ORAU in preparation for my new job at ORNL that starts Monday. Wednesday is my last night shift at my evening librarian job. I am so glad that I'll get to stay in touch with the people at both jobs that I really like. :) I'm super stoked to start the new position, though. I feel it is going to help me to grow as a librarian and as a person. It is affording me lots of wonderful opportunities. Even good stress, however, is stress. I've been eating even worse than normal, and biting my nails quite a lot. So this weekend I am going to try to find some ways to relax and have fun that don't involve over-committing myself or eating more. :)
Tonight I just spent some time resting, and played a little poker with some friends. Tomorrow I'm going to sleep in, then go meet up with my good friend, Chrissy, then get together with my Saturday crew for some board games. I'm actually going to pick up a cool boardgame that I played last weekend, called "Things." Between that and our old standby, Shadows Over Camelot, it promises to be a fantastic day.
In other news, I'm been collaborating on a project with my oldest sister that is guaranteed to be epic. It involves me learning a new skill, and us spending some time together. What could be better? Stay tuned for more info.
Well, Star Trek calls, and I must answer. Hope any readers have a wonderful weekend!

Good Times, Good Times

This weekend has been atypical. But awesome. My dear hubby and I usually have a weekend routine, hanging out with our good buds, and it is always wonderful. But this weekend we had a couple differnt events come up, so we broke our habit. Friday night we went to dinner with my boss, Al, and his wife, Sue. We had a delicious meal at Bravo, and enjoyed getting to visit with very nice, generous people. Al has been really good to me, and I'll get to keep working with him through my new job at ORNL, as I will be the liaison to the Neutron Sciences folks. So glad I get to stay involved with the neutron community. :)
Saturday, I got together with 2 lovely lady librarian friends, Anya and Erin. We planned to watch both of the Twilight movies that are on DVD, but due to some technical issues, we only got to watch the first one. Which is fine because now we have an excuse to get together again soon. This was our second movie + delicious food date. The first was when we got together at Erin's for "Gone With the Wind", homemade BBQ, banana pudding, and other goodies. Our Twilight date was equally awesome. Anya hosted us with some delicious homemade lasagna (must get the recipe!), "werewolf kibble" (chocolate and PB chex mix- so good!), garlic bread, and veggies. Everything was awesome. Anya even had a Twilight themed beverage-- Bloody Bellas. It was a juicy punch spiked with ginger ale. I have never read any Twilight books or seen any Twilight movies. To be honest, I was expecting it to be a little lame, but was still excited because of good friends and good food. But I was pleasantly surprised. I can definitely understand how the Twilight universe could generate such fandom. :) Oh, yeah, we also all went on an outing to get gellato. Coconut gellato = the shizzle.
So after that fantastic afternoon, and a promise of reconvening for "New Moon" in the near future, I met up with my hubs and we went to a birthday party for one of his classmates. Played an awesome board game called "Things," and visited with his cohort. There are so really funny people in his school psych program. We got home fairly late, but it was a good day.
I am so thankful to have such an abundance of awesome people to hang out with.
And now I need to wrap this up, as it's time to proof read Charles's NASP proposals. He is making dinner while I proof read. Sweet deal, eh? :)

God is so Good! Always!

Today I got official notice that I got the job I've been praying for. I'm going to be a reference librarian at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Research Library. There are no words for the happiness and relief that I feel. I'll be working with an amazing group of people, doing what I love. I'll be able to have just *one* full-time job. I'll have benefits. I'll be able to spend more time with my dear husband. I'll be able to start exercising again. I will be able to rest, and to develop professionally, and to challenge myself. I am so excited. I truly feel blessed. God is so amazing- He knows the contents of our hearts. I am so grateful. ♥ I could go on and on, gushing about how thrilled I am, but I don't want people to think I am bragging. I still know people that are hurting as they look for a job that they can love, or even just a job at all. So I will stop gushing, but please don't take that as an indication that I am ungrateful, or not excited. I just want to respect the struggles that others are going through. I am truly humbled by the kindness of others.

In unrelated news, my best friend has gotten another art contract. Go, Chrissy! You Da Woman! *pumps fist in the air* I gotta say, Chrissy is a phenomenal artist, and so deserving. :)

Hmmm, what else is new? Oh, husband and I got our new furniture last week, and it's awesome. It makes me look forward to being home. Funny how "little things" in life can make things pleasant or unpleasant. Oh, also, my little kitty, Kenobi, has been getting into trouble. Turns out he loves carbs. He's broken into our box of cheezits and done some damage there. He tore into a new loaf of bread, bit my package of poptarts.... he's a carb addict! He takes after me in that regard, I guess. :p

Well I am on cloud nine, but I've got things I need to accomplish, so I'd better get back to the grindstone. God Bless!

JDRF Walk

Things have been a little hectic, so I haven't gotten to blog in awhile, but I wanted to push out a quick update about the JDRF Walk to cure juvenile diabetes. It's going on in Knoxville this weekend (May 15 @ the World's Fair Park). UT-Battelle is a sponsor this year, and I'm gonna walk proudly with lots of UT-Battelle people, as I think about my niece, Mary Grace, and her struggle with juvenile diabetes. It has really affected my family in numerous ways, but there isn't much that I can do about it, so showing my support by helping to raise money will at least get me off my butt. :) So if you're free this Saturday, or even if you're not, I hope you'll come out and walk with us, or at least donate to the cause.

In other news, I *finally* got to see "Gone With the Wind." Yes, I am a little late, but it was worth it. I was surprised by the ending, because I had no idea how it would end. It wasn't how I pictured it, but it was good. Watching it with some awesome people, helped. Thank you Erin A. and Anya M. Watching with good food was a bonus- great BBQ, banana pudding (puddin'), chips, fruit, cheese, veggies, lemonade... And to top it off, I got to feed Erin's goats. That's a huge deal since I love goats. The whole affair was delightful.

Unfortunately, that's about all I have time for in this update. Ta-ta for now. :)

Interview :)

Yesterday I had an interview for that dream job I applied for. I felt pretty well prepared, thanks to advice from several great people. Charles and I practiced some interview questions over the weekend, and I considered my library philosophy, my goals, my strengths, and my weaknesses. I think that overall it went quite well. I was somewhat nervous, partly because I want the position so badly, and partly because I was dressed in a suit, which is slightly out of character for me. I was a little toasty and uncomfortable, but it was well worth it to have my lucky suit. (Why is the suit lucky? I have worn it to 2 other interviews and was offered both positions!) I even heard rumors today at work that Anna was in a suit yesterday. :p
Tomorrow I get to meet my boss's boss. That'll be interesting. I've wanted to meet him for awhile now, so this should be a nice opportunity. I am so grateful that my supervisor at SNS has been so supportive of this interviewing process. He's given me advice and sample questions, as well as expressed confidence in me. It's been an interesting couple of days. :)

In other news, I want to thank Web of Science for keeping me from going mad. At my evening job, a student asked me to help her find an article from Medical Physics. All the bibliographic info that I had told me that the article was one page, but I couldn't get full text of it anywhere, and it wasn't showing up in PubMed. Finally I decided to look up the bibliographic info in WoS, where I learned that it wasn't even a real article, but rather a conference abstract. No wonder it was one page! WoS to the rescue, as I was able to stop searching and let the student know that she might prefer another source for her reserach paper. Thank you, ISI, for being awesome.

Ah yes, and I wanted to give a quick update about some things I have watched or am watching that you might enjoy. Charles and I got "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" from a Redbox over the weekend, and I ♥ed it!! It was so cute and fun and clever. I am a big Roald Dahl fan, so I could have a bias, but if you or your honey bunny like cute things, give it a go.
Also been watching more "Top Gear." I love that show, and I am not even a huge car fanatic. I just find the banter, the challenges, and the Stig very appealing. All 3 of the show hosts are charming in their own special way, and the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment is usually fairly entertaining. If you've got BBC or Netflix, give that a try, and tell me it's not awesome. I won't be listening. :p
Lastly, I saw the first episode of a British series called "Spaced." It has Simon Pegg, and although I just watched one eppy on YouTube, I'll be requesting the first disc from Netflix. I don't know how to descibe it, but as a fan of other Britcoms (The IT Crowd, Black Books, The Mighty Boosh, Extras...), it appeals to me.

Ok I really must get back to the task at hand. Have a wonderful evening, and send good vibes my way for that dream job. :)

Oh dear.

It's been a heck of a week. My hubby is ill, change is in the air at work, friendships evolve and change. And I've been saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Everything seems so small, and yet so big. I don't know how to put it into words, but one moment everything seems so important, and the next moment, nothing seems important. Guess I'll just have to ponder that.
Anyhow, at my favorite of my 3 jobs, I got to work on a report to analyze some citation metrics for a particular division. It was fun to do that type of reference librarian work. It's like being an information detective. I'm glad I got to be a part of that. At my evening medical reference librarian job, I got some really good questions (difficult-to-find article requests, and REAL reference questions that don't involve me unjamming the printer), and have been getting trained to be the backup ILL person. That's been really enjoyable. My coworker, Anya, is a great mentor for things like this. She has even managed to teach me some shortcuts in Excel. Woot! At my newest job, I've continued meeting lots of new people and interviewing them to assess needs of a publication tracking system. I feel like I've got my rhythm with this whole "3 part time jobs" situation, but at the same time, it is a little taxing. Or a lot taxing. Depending on the day. ;) All in all, though, things are going well. I'm connecting with people and learning new skills constantly, and I'm getting paid for it. Life is good. All I need now is for my dear hubby to start feeling better soon.
Oh yeah, one last thing: last Saturday I participated in the Dogwood Classic 5K. Having not run in ages, I was glad that I could alternate between walking and running, and finish with a time of 38 minutes and some odd seconds. I estimate that I ran a little over 2 miles of the course altogether. I felt FANTASTIC the whole rest of the day. I feel motivated to do another one, too. Maybe if I skip the b'fast of Dr. Pepper and Dunkin Donuts I can do even better next time! :p
Ok that's all for now. Peace out!

Library Liaison Adventures

This week has been interesting with regard to my professional life. On Monday I got to interview a quality manager at the Lab about our proposed publication tracking database. It was interesting to get to be in the driver's seat, and ask all the questions I wanted to ask. Kind of exciting. Also got to take the lab taxi, so it was like a little field trip. :D
Today I got to go with one of the Lab librarians, Bill, to teach a very nice customer about Web of Science Search Alerts. She was so kind, and made me feel good about my ability to teach her. Bill was complimentary, as well, so I felt like it was a success.
These are really minor things, but they are exciting to me, because it's the type of thing that I imagine myself doing when I dream about having a full-time job. It's like I'm one step closer to that goal with every new skill that I learn. I am so grateful that I'm not like all those people that went to library school only to learn that they find libraries boring. Those stories make me sad, so I'm glad I am in the opposite situation. :D
Better get my nose back to the grindstone!

Busy Busy

It's a beautiful spring, full of beautiful redbuds and my personal favorite: dogwoods. Things are going pretty well. The position I applied for (and have been praying for!) has closed, so in the next couple weeks I should find out if I have an interview. Things at SNS are going well, with my boss and I making rounds across the lab to interview people about the proposed publications database. I feel like I am learning a lot, and also getting more comfortable with talking to a wide variety of people, often in high positions. It's been a challenging but rewarding experience.
I had my annual evaluation for my evening medical reference librarian position, and it went better than I expected. My boss gave me credit where I had undervalued myself, and that is always nice. I've been working on some little continuing ed projects, and my boss was impressed with the extra training and community activities I've done. I really lead a charmed life. :)
The rest of the world, however, seems to have some problems. Par for the course, I guess, but it really hurt my heart to learn this week that a local priest was accused of inappropriate sexual relations. :( He confessed and turned himself over to authorities and was stripped of his priest status. It just hurts to know that there are people out there that are so willing and able to hurt other people. Initially I found my faith in my religion somewhat shaken, but now I am trying to view things from a perspective of forgiveness. We all have our shortcomings, and we are to forgive others' trespasses, so that is what I am trying to do. I hope this priest didn't hurt anyone else, and I hope anyone he victimized can recover as much as possible. I hope I can have the strength to stand up to people that make jokes about priests, and let them know that they aren't all bad. My brother is a priest and would never do such a thing. I feel it's wrong for me to sit idly by while people pick at the character of a whole group of people, so I hope I can be strong and stand up for those that are unable to stand up for themselves. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.
I have a lot of folks on my prayerlist right now, so I just want to give a quick shout-out to let people know that I am thinking of them and praying for them:
For Aunth Katherine and Uncle Joe, Bridget W. for her job situation, Ben and Sharon for his job situation, Frowin in Italy, victims of church scandal, those that have no one else to pray for them, and for the veterinarian that was killed by a hit and run driver as she worked to save the life of a dog that had also been struck by a car. :(
On that downer, let's return to pleasant thoughts. Last night, Charles and I went to Taste of Thai at North Peters Rd. It was my third visit there, and I ordered the Yellow Curry for the third time. It's soooooo good. Please check it out and let me know what you think. Tomorrow I get to meet Mr. David Green (Narvi!) at Sunspot for brunch. I'm really looking forward to the company and the food.
Lastly I want to mention that I've really been getting into the show Top Gear. It's a British car review show, and it's HILARIOUS. I've also got a little crush on The Stig. I suspect my husband, Charles Galyon, is secretly the Stig. Time will tell.
Wishing everyone a beautiful and wonderful weekend... bye for now!

Great Teachers- Part 1 of 2

Today I was thinking abour teachers and professors that really had an impact on me, either as a direct result of their classes, or on a more personal level. I thought I'd do a little "Academic Shout Out" to some of the ones that helped me the most. I hope I don't leave anyone out; I've had a lot of great teachers over the years!

Tom Brinthaupt, Middle Tennessee State University- Tom was my advisor for my M.A. in Experimental Psych. I took a couple classes with him, and really benefitted from his teaching style. Not a week goes by where I don't think about the concepts we discussed in his classes. He mentored my research, gave me opportunities, recommended me for recognition, and is just a great person. I still stay in touch with him through facebook, and am a peer-reviewer in the psychology subject area as a result of his prodding. :)

Harold 'Terry' Whiteside, Middle Tennessee State University- Dr. Whiteside taught one of my first and favorite classes as MTSU. It was all about Persuasion. In his class, I read "Helter Skelter," and was terrified. But I loved Dr. Whiteside's attitude, lecture style, and sense of humor. I kept all the books from his class and even look at them every now and again.

Dana Fuller, Middle Tennessee State University- Dr. Fuller taught my stats classes, and did an amazing job. For the first time in my life, I actually understood statistics! And even kind of enjoyed it! She was so fair, and always did a great job coming up with assignments and examples that would help me understand the purpose of what I was doing. People at MTSU say that it doesn't matter whether you take Regression or ANOVA first, but having taken ANOVA first, I disagree. I really think Regression is a little simpler, and so I was pleased that after taking ANOVA and then Regression, Dr. Fuller allowed me to audit her ANOVA class. I got so much more out of it the second time around!

John Lounsbury, University of Tennessee, Knoxville- I took a quantitative psych class from Dr. Lounsbury towards the end of my undergrad career at UT. In it, we learned about all sorts of psychological tests, and got to take several! Dr. Lounsbury made sure that every student felt motivated to learn, because he made it personal. He learned everyone's name after the first day of class (because he recorded our introductions with a video camera and studied it that night), and was kind enough to pull me aside to ask how I was doing with life in general. He really took and interest, and I appreciated it.

Lorraine Normore, University of Tennessee, Knoxville- Best SIS Professor EVER. She was so fair and direct. She was clear and precise; you knew what to expect. Then on top of that she made an interesting class out of subject matter that I feared would be dreadfully dull. The power to make cataloging enjoyable = epic win. She's hilarious. She even has an online fan club. All the students that I associate with are huge Normore fans. If you don't like Dr. Normore, then I don't like you. ;)

Amy Disch, University of Tennessee, Knoxville- I got a lot out of Amy's management class in the SIS program. She let us apply the things we were learning in class to our own experiences. It really helped things to click for me. I also really admire Amy's attitude towards librarianship, her involvement in SLA, and her willingness to serve. After I finished her class, we became facebook friends, and I've been able to call on her to review my resume and give professional advice that I can really rely on. Thanks, Amy!

Nancy Carden, Farragut High School- I took Ms. Carden's film class my junior year. It was one of the best classes of my high school career. I was exposed to things I never would've explored if left to my own devices. I learned so much. And as I understand it, Ms. Carden became a librarian after I graduated! No wonder I liked her so much!

Tracy Poulsen, Farragut High School- Mrs. Poulsen was just a student teacher when I was in school. I think she's an administrator of some sort (Vice Principal maybe?) now. She taught my Physiology class, and was amazing! I loved her sense of humor, I loved the opportunities she gave me. She was so respectful to students, and really bent over backwards to let eager students learn. I remember dissecting a cat in her class, and she let us come in to the school in the evening for extra study time with the cats that we were going to be tested on. One time, she even sent me to the office for a positive referral. The confidence she showed in me really helped me out.

Angela Emery, Farragut High School- I had Ms. Emery 2 years in a row. She made English class fun by giving fun assignments, telling jokes, and prompting creative writing. What was best though was that she was so kind! She knew who I had a crush on, and would even give me excuses to go talk to the boy. I wonder where she is now. Ms. Emery, where are you?

I still have lots of people to write about, but I need to wrap this up. So next time: Jeff Callahan, Ron Rogers, Frank Galbraith, Vicki Wells, Anita Gouge, Ken and Peggy Long, and maybe more!

Success!

I did my first orientation the other night at work. It was for an upper level health sciences research class. I went over the basics of scholarly articles, peer-review, and academic journals. We talked about APA citations, basics of research, dangers of procrastinating, and then moved on to talk about specific databaes, including CINAHL, PubMed, and the Gale databases provided by the Tennessee Electronic Library. I was a little nervous, but the students actually asked questions. I also got to talk about Google Scholar. Anyone that knows me well knows what a huge fan I am of Google Scholar, so I loved getting to teach the students what it should and should not be used for. I even found a great example of a medical article for which our library did not have full text, but for which full text could be found on Google Scholar. I saw all the student notebooks come out to take notes then! :) Now, to toot my own horn just a little bit, I wanted to share the little email I got from the professor after the class:

Anna,


Thank you very much for all of your help. You have done an awesome job helping our students get a great start on the writing project.


Thank you :)

SLA Meeting and Easter Sunday

This weekend was fantastic. From hanging out with new friends to my first chapter meeting of SLA, it was all so fun and rewarding. On Friday night, Charles and I met 2 of his classmates for dinner at Taste of Thai. It was amazing. I'll definitely go there again! Then classmates Cora and Carolyn came back to our house and met Frodo and Kenobi. Of course they were impressed by the world's cutest, most lovable puppy and the most adorable and soft kitten. ;) We watched a couple episodes of The IT Crowd on our X-box netflix setup (great show!) and had a grand old time.
On Saturday, Charles and I headed to Murfreesboro for the SLA meeting. I had a blast talking with Christi, Erin, and Fred. What fantastic people! You couldn't ask for better people to be professionally associated with. They're all go-getters, and all so positive. After a nice, productive meeting discussing new events we've got planned, I got together with Charles to meet up with Dr. Tom Brinthaupt and his son, Robbie. We had a delightful lunch of BBQ with all the fixings. Had a great chat, and got to meet Tom's kitties. My only regret is that I didn't get to meet Tom's wife. Maybe next time. :(
After lunch, Charles and I drove around The Boro for a bit, and got him a new smartphone. He's been wanting to upgrade for awhile, and Verizon is running a special at the moment where you can buy a Palm Pre for $50 (no mail in rebates, woo hoo!), and for the life of the phone it can operate as a mobile hotspot for no additional charge. We still have to pay for the data plan at $30/mo., but this means that his phone can serve as a mobile hotspot, allowing him to connect to the net with his iPod Touch and his laptop virtually anywhere! He's still a little undecided about how well he likes the Pre, but he's got 30 days to make up his mind. After going to the Verizon store and getting that set up, we went to Toot's and had delicious chicken and fries. Nom nom! Then we drove back to Knoxville, hung out with our Saturday crew, and then went home.
Easter Sunday, I got up and went to one of the best masses I've been to in ages! Fr. Michael Woods said mass at All Saints, and it was so alive! He was dancing, and shouting. There were several touching moments in the homily, as well as some great music. Then Charles and I went to his aunt Sherry's house for Easter dinner. Delicious food and amazing people, as always. I had some of the best potato salad I've ever had in my entire life. *the secret is ranch dressing* After that, we went to Home Depot and bought some things for our house, including some azaeleas we are planning to plant in our back yard. I don't have a green thumb at all, so I'll just be thrilled if I don't kill these in the first year.
After the trip to Home Depot, we rounded up our Frodo puppy and took him out to the Fiedler farm to play with Mary Catherine, Ethan, and Boomer. He had a blast, and ran until he couldn't run anymore. He got to see horses for the first time, and got to see ducks and cats and puppies, too. It was so great. The weather couldn't have been any better. It was like new life was all around, as if the long, hard suffering of lent had finally broken open. :)
I am so thankful that I got to have such a beautiful Easter, with so many experiences and so much joy. I was a little worried to head back to work on Monday, but then I got to have a great talk with my boss about the dream job I'd recently applied for. It was so nice to have the support, encouragement, and advice from someone I respect. I really feel good about things.
Well tonight I get to do my first orientation at my evening job. I'll be talking to a class of upper level Health Sciences students in their research class. They're coming to the library to learn about our medical databases. I spent some time preparing last night, and will prepare some more before I see the class this evening. So wish me luck-- I'd better get back to work. :)

Uh-oh....

I forgot that there was more stuff I wanted to write about, but I realize that it can be daunting to read one huge continuous text block, so I'm just gonna make a separate entry.
This weekend is my first SLA meeting as Membership Chair!!! I am so excited to get to go to the meeting and see folks face to face. Especially Christi. WOO HOO! PLUS, while I am there, Charles and I are meeting up with Dr. Brinthaupt and his family. YAY! And then when we get back to Knoxville, we'll either get together with our Saturday night crew for some Shadows Over Camelot (and other fun stuff), OR we will hang out with some of Char's School Psych classmates and watch Britcoms. Either way, it's a win-win. And then the next day will be Easter Sunday! I've really been looking forward to it this year. We will go spend some time with Charles's extended family, and I will finally eat the chocolates that Char brought me from Chicago. So there is just so much to look forward to in the coming days.
Special shout out of thanks to Bethany Farmer for training me on ProQuest, CSA, and RefWorks. Bethany is my ProQuest hero!

Dream Job

Well, this week I applied for a dream job. I can't say "THE Dream Job" because it is not as an ice cream taster for Ben & Jerry's. ;) But of the 3 part time jobs I currently have, one of them stands out as the clear favorite. This week I applied for a full time opening as a librarian at my favorite place of employment. I am filled with enthusiasm and energy, and have been praying for this to work out, although I know there are many qualified applicants. I just have such strong feelings of affection for the people I work with and the work that I do... But my materials are submitted, so there is nothing more I can do at the moment but wait. I need to remember that God has a plan for each of us, and as much as I pray for this job to be part of God's plan for me, He knows what is best for all involved. So I wait.
In totally unrelated news, I went to a great restaurant on Sunday and had one of the most amazing brunches of all time. Not exaggerating. The place is Sunspot, and it's on Cumberland Ave. It's owned by the same folks that own Aubrey's, so how could it not be awesome, right? :) My brunch included cheese grits and seasoned roasted potatoes, but the highlight was the entree-- are you ready for this? Brace yourself: it was a straberry banana cheesecake chimichanga, with caramel and whipped cream. Oh, it was a little piece of heaven. Totally worth every penny and then some. But apparently they change their brunch menu every week, so how will I know when I can enjoy it again? Well, the point is, I will definitely return to Sunspot, and you should give it a try, too!
Ok well I'll keep you posted on the job. Please wish me luck as the quality of my life would drastically improve should I be granted a full time position at such an awesome place. Seriously-- it'd be an immeasurable difference! Oh, and Happy Holy Week!

Gah!

Today has been a crazily busy day, but I like that. It also rained. I like that a lot. Rain is so refreshing, especially on a day where you've got to work really hard. It's nice to be inside working on a rainy day, and then it's extra extra nice to leave your work and go out into the fresh drizzle or downpour and let your worries wash away. :)
Yesterday was interesting-- it was my first day doing my new media report duty at the ORNL library. It was actually kind of fun! Everything went pretty smoothly until I realized that stories I was adding to the database were not being tagged as I would like. But my Media Report Mentor gave me a temporary fix and hopefully we'll figure out a long term solution. I also haven't gotten any feedback yet to let me know how close I was to being correct, but I look forward to the feedback so I'll know how to do better in the future. :) Have I mentioned that being a librarian is awesome? I got to answer some good reference questions today, and at my night job I got to chat with some stressed out students cramming for their final exams. Good times. Ooh, and that reminds me, I want to wish good luck to those taking comps tomorrow. Good luck!
I recently saw a very good movie. I wanted to write about it-- you've probably heard of it; it's called "Doubt" with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I actually caught the last 2/3 of it on TV, and then looked it up on Wikipedia and IMDB, and was so intrigued that I put it on my instant queue on Netflix and watched the first 2/3. I want to go rewatch the last 1/3 to make sure I covered all the bases. As a Catholic, it's a somewhat troubling film, because I don't want to believe that certain people are capable of behaving in certain ways, and yet we know that people are people. Just because someone says they are going to devote their life to helping people doesn't mean they won't hurt people. :( But what was interesting about the film was that I watched it under the assumption that the priest in the film was guilty. It wasn't until I read about the film (and play) that it occurred to me that he could be innocent. And now I feel guilty for assuming he was guilty! What's wrong with me? Anyhow the movie was really good. Can't say I'm a big Meryl Streep fan, but she was awesome in this. I urge you to check it out if you like slow dramas that make you think and feel.
Ok well that's enough for one night. Time to hit the hay. Behave out there, kiddos, and a final shout-out to Bethany Farmer, one of the world's coolest people.

Opening My Mind to New Experiences

Today was an interesting day at ORNL. I got to go hear a talk given by U. S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu. He talked about energy, climate change, and opportunities. It was actually pretty fascinating, despite my expectation that it would be on the dull side. I was glad to get to hear him speak.
I also helped identify a computer problem that has been limiting my ability to access fulltext articles for the past couple days. Apparently the problem is related to cookie session in Internet Explorer, so my workaround for the time being has been to use Mozilla Firefox. I have to say that I *love* the personas on firefox! I am using one now that is called "Japanese Tattoo" or something to that effect, and every time I open my browser, I smile. Who would've thought that such a little thing could make a big difference? I wish I could use firefox at all my workplaces, but alas, I cannot.
In other news, I'm interested in learning more about funky shoes that shape up your legs. Has anyone tried them, and if so, what do you think? At approximately $100 a pair, I'd need a very strong endorsement to even consider purchasing a pair. I'd love to hear (er, read) your stories!

Goals

Well, I failed in my attempt to make it to mass this weekend. I had the best intentions, but I got distracted by my desire to see some family that was in town. So today I read (what I hope were) the scripture readings for Sunday. The gospel reading was one of my favorites- it is John 8:1-11, and I don't know that because I am some phenomenal Bible scholar, but rather because it is sitting open in my other tab (thank you, tabbed browsing!). It's about the lady that the people want to stone to death, and Jesus tells them that one among them without sin should cast the first stone. I just think it's an awesome reminder to us to be aware of our own shortcomings. But it gets even better, because Jesus then tells the lady to go on, just don't sin anymore. Wow, if only it were that easy!
This got me thinking about goals. One huge life goal could be to just not sin. I mean, that doesn't even require active participation in anything- it's all passive. It's like the Hippocratic Oath's "first do no harm" bit. Why is it so hard, then? I guess because humans are naturally self-serving, and to avoid that is a challenge. But how am I going to go out and achieve all of my other life goals if I can't even master the "simple" stuff? I want to have a good career, be a great wife, maybe even be a mother one day. I want to be a good person, be charitable, exercise, learn, and grow. How can I do all these things? I'm open to suggestions.
Incidentally, I had a great time with my family. ♥
Oh, and I also got to see the Motorola Devour in action at Best Buy. It was awesome, but my technophile hubby expressed some misgivings with the software, so he's got me wondering if a Droid would be a better way to go. The Devour is so much more visually and tangibly appealing, though. Anyhow some new phones come out next month, so he is urging me to wait, and that is fine by me. Maybe time will reveal some more info that will inform my decision. I didn't want to spend all that money on a data plan anyhow. :p

Customer Service Out the Wazoo

A coworker from my evening job recently collaborated with me to provide some pretty cool customer service (if I do say so myself!). Basically a girl showed up at my campus in a panic because a powerpoint presentation she'd made at the other campus was not on her flash drive, and she was due to do the presentation in less than an hour. I called the other campus and had the librarian there check the computer that the student had used, and instructed him to please email me the powerpoint file if it was there. The student had to go to class, so I asked if she wanted me to text her to let me know if we'd found the item. She was so pleased and excited! She jotted down her cell phone number. Unfortunately, the file was not located, and I had to text the student to give her the bad news. But the good news is that she was really thrilled that we bent over backwards to try to help her in a pinch. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I want to give credit to my colleague, Carl, for trying to hunt down the file and for getting back to me so promptly. And thank you, technology, for making communication so easy!
Speaking of technology and communication, I am just dying to get a smart phone. Or smartphone. Which is it? I have had my eye on the Motorola Devour ever since the non-functional mockups showed up in Best Buy. But do I really like the phone? It's impossible to tell since the Verizon store does not have any working models. In fact, when I called Verizon to ask when a floor model would be available, I was informed that they might never get one. Now, how am I supposed to know whether I like the phone or not? I am certainly not going to buy one without trying it out. :( In truth, it may be a blessing in disguise that they don't have a floor model, because I really don't need to spend $30 a month on a data plan. I have too much to do as it is, and I've seen how ubiquitous internet is addictive to users and potentially irritating to neglected dining companions. ;) So maybe it's a good thing that I haven't gotten to play with one. But will that deter me from going back to the Verizon store for the third straight weekend to see if they have it? Nah.
In other news, there is a Tennessee Valley Chapter SLA meeting coming up in the very near future! April 3 to be precise. I am so excited because it will be my first chapter meeting EVER, as well as my first meeting as a chapter officer! I am the Membership Chair this time around, and thanks to the fantastic Erin Anderson and Christi Underdown, I've actually got some ideas to contribute. PLUS, the meeting is in Murfreesboro. My husband is going to go with me to Murf and we are going to meet with our advisor from our MTSU master's program. I am really looking forward to catching up with Tom, and possibly meeting his family. If we have any room left for food at all by the time we leave Murfreesboro, we are going to try to eat at Toot's. Toot's was one of our favorite places to eat in the Boro, and I really miss it, so we need to try to make it happen.
To top things off, the day after the SLA meeting is EASTER SUNDAY! Woo hoo! Reminding me of God's goodness. His mercy endures forever! :) Plus, I will get to see some of my in-laws, eat great food, and finally partake in chocolate. There's just so much good stuff going on that I can hardly stand it. With that being said, peace out for now!

Cornucopia of Random Minutiae

Today was a great day. I didn't accomplish everything I set out to, but I made a pretty good effort and I got quite close. I got some training on a new work responsibility, worked a shift at the reference desk, ate lunch with a friend/coworker (froworker?), helped some wonderful ladies shift our journal collection, and got some interlibrary loan orders ready to go. Now it's off to job #2! No, wait, let's go back and bask in the greatness of the day. I got to spend time with some really great people. The guy training me has been so kind to me, my lunch buddy really boosted my ego, 2 tech services lovelies voiced confidence in me and gave me their "seal of approval," and the journal shifting ladies made me feel like such a valued part of their operation. It was truly fantastic!
In a random bit of pet-peevery (is that a word? if it wasn't, it is now!), a lady at my night job removed a standard issue staple from her papers with her teeth. And there was a staple remover right there in front of her, within her grasp. So it looked a little uncomfortable and unneccessary, but to each his (her) own, I suppose. But then, instead of putting the staple in the trash (~2 feet away), she spat it out onto the floor. What fine human specimen do you suppose will get to pick it up? Hmm. It wasn't the end of the world by any stretch of the imaginiation, it was just one of those things that make you go, "Huuuuuhhh? Whaaaaaaa?"
I want to give a shout out of appreciation to Cora Smith. She's the library clerk at my evening job, and a very lovely person. She's also an SIS student. She resigned from her job yesterday, moving on to bigger and better opportunities in another state. She'll get to rejoin family and loved ones, and I wish her the best. Cora, we'll miss you. You are an awesome lady! I wish you success in the future.
Lastly, I want to say how much I adore Aubrey's Cafe. It's one of my favorite places to eat in the whole world. To be fair, there are several locations, and I am not too picky-- I never met an Aubrey's I didn't like. If you are ever in Knoxville, I recommend it. I like the Rooster Grill sandwich with the thick cut potato chips, and I also really enjoy the Rattlesnake Pasta. They have great (and free!) bread and butter to warm you up, too. Try it, and then try telling me it's not wonderful. I dare you! ^_^

On a Roll

It's been a nice week. I feel as if I'm on a roll, as one success follows another. I don't consider this bragging, because I have to confess that the successes are largely due to other people, luck, grace, circumstance, a Divine Hand... but nevertheless, I feel like this week has been a success and a boon to my self confidence.
I got some really sweet and sincere praise today from a coworker that I deeply admire, and it made me think about paying it forward. Nothing fills me with the desire to be a mentor quite like thinking about those that have mentored me. I am blessed at this stage in my career to have supervisors that value me and help me to grow. I am flattered that people offer me guidance and learning opportunities, and I am constantly surprised by how generous librarians can be. That's not to say that they're all saints, but my dealings so far have been overwhelmingly positive. And my customers are amazing, too!
Last night at my evening job as a reference librarian in a small, private college, a student was impressed by how quickly I found an article for him. He told me I was his favorite librarian EVER. It's corny, but it really made me feel good. (Thank you, Google Scholar, for making me look awesome.) I have so many students that I really care about, and I feel honored to get to help them. Is that cheesy? Maybe so, but I love cheese, so what do I care? :) Q'apla!

Life Lesson From Star Trek (TNG)

The other night, my dear hubby and I were engaging in one of our favorite pasttimes: watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. (I ♥ you, Netflix!) In the episode we were watching, Counselor Troi lost her empathic ability. She wasn't sure if it was permanent or temporary, but was trying to stay optimistic. Dr. Crusher cautioned Troi against false hope, to which Troi replied, "There is no false hope, only hope!"
That sentiment really resonated with me, as I have experienced a somewhat difficult personal situation over the past few months. Some days I think I subsisted on hope alone, because my faith (and admittedly, my maturity) was lacking. I'm coming out of it, thanks to an improvement in my situation, renewed faith, and sunshine. Still, I think it's good to remember that there is no false hope. There is only hope. :) God has been so good to me, and so consistently. What should I fear?

What Librarians Do

A couple of weeks ago, I was eating dinner with my husband and a couple of our closest friends; friends we have known for 15 years or more, that we see once or twice weekly. Somehow we were talking about advanced degrees, and one friend mentioned casually that he thinks it's stupid that yo need a master's degree to be a librarian, because "how hard is it to shelve books and check things out?"
I had to bite my tongue to avoid saying something hurtful, because this rude and ignorant comment really hurt my feelings. I understand that people don't typically realize what librarians actually do, so I was willing to cut some slack on the ignorance. I tried to explain that shelving and checking out can be done without a master's degree. I tried to let things slide, but as I was driving home that night, I was thinking: does my friend even know that I am a librarian? Is it possible that despite knowing someone for so long, he might not know what I do for a living? It made me wonder if I perhaps separate my work life and personal life too much. I was reminded of Chandler Bing on Friends, whose friends didn't know what he did for a living. And this got me to thinking: would a stranger think that I was ashamed of what I did? Nothing could be further from the truth!
I am so proud of what I do! I think I am in one of the greatest professions of all time, no exaggeration. True, I am not a doctor or a cleric; I didn't invent something incredible. However, librarians are so critical to the sharing of information. We're vital to discovery, and although we aren't social workers or psychologists, we are in a real helping profession. I love that my job gives me the opportunity to help others, to learn continually, and to serve society. I am proud to be a librarian, and I think it's time that people knew that. :)
I could go on and on about things that I love about my job, but rather than just regurgitate it here, I should live it. I am usually so concerned with offending people by pushing my views on them that I err in the opposite direction: no one knows my feelings on them. I should practice stating my opinion and perspective in a non-obstrusive way. It'd be a good experience to have, and isn't that what blogs are for?

New Blog- Woo Hoo!

I have had a library blog for awhile over at lycanthropology.livejournal.com, but I decided I'd like to start fresh with a blogger account. So now I need to see if I can move my old entries to blogger. I like that blogger is a little more recognized as a "reputable" blogging site. I've been a livejournal fan for years, and will probably stay affiliated with it, but it has a repuation as being somewhat emo and unprofessional. Not to imply that this blog will be professional or anything, but you get the idea. :) So I'm going to go play around now, and I look forward to coming back later to make an actual post with meaningful content.