Feeling strangely human
So you’ve guessed things have been crazy for me this year. Â I’ll admit, I spread myself too thin. Â Luckily things are starting to calm down. Â My todo list has things going off it more often than things going on it, I’m finishing off a term as secretary for the SELS board, the MWNE program is starting to run smoother after some rough spots caused by the 501(c)3 process, and my I’ve lost a bunch of weight since my knee surgery a few years ago, making feel a lot better health wise.
Another thing that’s happening is that I’m starting to get the itch to talk to people, to post on this blog, and to get outside. Â That’s a sure sign that my stress levels are lowering. Â When I’m stressed, I tend to turn into a hermit and focus on whatever it is that’s stressing me until it is done, closed, completed, or otherwise finished. Â People often refer to me as a “hermit crab” during those times and I really can’t argue with them. Â I think now they may have to find a new nickname for me.
June 30, 2009
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Bad News and Good News
If I hadn’t experienced this, I would have thought this was a script from a sitcom. But it happened, and I’m flabbergasted.
Tuesday morning, my wife Julie went into work and was informed that she will no longer be working there; the details of why are irrelevant to this story. I got the call at work and headed for home to console her and prop her up, but Julie was surprisingly not that upset. Meanwhile I was already thinking of how to adjust the budget, thinking if we needed to sell something to get through the tight times - that type of thing.
Around noon, she got a phone call from a place she was interviewing for as a second job saying she had been hired and she can start tomorrow.
I was speechless for about ten minutes with how fast the situation turned around. Really. Maybe it was because I had already gone into “crisis mode” and then got pulled back out quickly, but I just couldn’t believe how fast things turned around.
The new job is less hours, but at a higher pay rate so it evens out. Plus it is closer to where we live, so less gas will be spent. It is might even be walking distance on the nicer days.
Oh - and did I mention that Tuesday was also our anniversary? Happy Anniversary Julie; putting that “for better or worse” all in one day was an intersting present!
May 1, 2009
Tags: good luck, Julie, work Posted in: Uncategorized One Comment
Back to where I began
Well, if you are reading this, I guess I finally got off my duff to a) start blogging again and b) migrate my blog to a slightly different URL and using different blogging software.
Why did I switch software? Mainly to get used to using the software, as that’s what I’ll be using over at the UNL Libraries BetaZone. Good enough reason to switch for me.
Why did I switch URLs? Originally I had envisioned emeraldfusion.net to have a bunch of subsites, but they never happened, so I’m moving the blog back to the address I started it at. If I ever want to do something else, I’ll just get another domain name.
Why did I finally get started blogging again? Well, Julie’s suffering through a major spell of headaches. Actually it is the same headache varying in intensity for the past nine days. That left me with lots of “quiet time” to fill, so I finally got stuff sorted out and moved the blog.
Maybe this will be the push I need to get back into the blogging habit.  My workload is finally beginning to stabilize a bit so hopefully I won’t be spending all my time on chasing deadlines.
April 11, 2009
Tags: fluff, Julie, wordpress Posted in: Administrivia One Comment
Happy new year!
Just a quick note to wish all of you a happy new year!
January 1, 2009
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Plans for next month
It seems I’ve gotten into the habit of only blogging one day a month here. I hope to change that next month - but probably not until after the 16th. I’ll be away from work starting that day until Jan 12. I’m finally taking an extended vacation, surrounding the usual campus closure for the holiday/semester break. Being away from the office for about a month sounds like a good plan to me.
I plan to:
- Clean out my home office’s files and storage drawers
- Get my “library blog” going, if I haven’t already by then
- Go through my closet and dresser and remove clothes I don’t wear anymore
- Finish up my obligation for the NLA web site
- Instal Drupal on my website so I can start my next “secret project”
Of course - there will be plenty of video game playing, college football viewing, and sleeping as well!
December 1, 2008
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As the leaves change, so does my life
For once we get to see the leaves change color here in Nebraska, instead of having them just fall off because of early snow or ice. Like the leaves changing, my life changed color over this past month, redefining my roles in my professional life. One change was quite unexpected as well.
As I mentioned back in June, I’m finishing up an 8 year run as the webmaster for the Nebraska Library Association. I took the position as I was still getting my Masters of Library Science, and before I got my first librarian’s job. I “grew up” being the NLA’s “web guy”. Through that time I did three site-wide redesigns, switched webhosts once, and helped set up membership services through another vendor. I’ve been given the chance to present at conferences and do classes and such. I’ve also been able to travel the state and not just talk to people, but to talk with people about technology and libraries. I’ve worked with many people who are passionate about what they do and the communities they serve. Earlier this week, I met with the new webmaster and started the transition process. I’m not going very far, as I’ve been elected Vice-President / President-elect of the Association. New challenges ahead in this arena!
I also am passing on the web duties of the Ms. Wheelchair Nebraska program to someone else. I still need to give her the passwords, but first I need to find them. That’s the problem with telling Dreamweaver to remember the passwords, I guess. I got involved in the MWNE program by being their webmaster. I’m now president of the board for a second year. I never thought I would be in this position when I started working with them a few years ago.
Another big change just happened this last week and was something I did not see coming. I’m changing jobs - sort of. I was hired as “Assistant Systems Librarian” and did mostly training and some troubleshooting. Recently I added “Digital Media team leader” to my duties; basically working with services surrounding a/v things like circulating cameras and video recorders, and supplying video & audio editing software for patrons to use in the Libraries. I’m now off the team and have new job duties. I am now the “Emerging Technologies Librarian” and will be responsible for finding out ways to use some of the new tech out there to provide services to our clientele. Blogs, wikis, & RSS feeds are (of course) a few of the things I’ll be looking at, but I also want to spend a lot of time looking at other data mashup tools to make research easier, especially for the undergraduate population here. I’m still doing training and some tech support, so there’s still a good chunk of my job that remains the same. I am a little sad about leaving the digital media team, as I feel like we were just beginning to click as a real team and not just a group of people thrown together.
All in all, a very eventful October. Some of the changes are bittersweet. I am a tad reluctant to let go of the past experiences and feel like there is much more I can still do in those areas, but I am also eager for some of these new challenges and opportunities to present themselves.
These things will certainly change the color of my life dramatically, as these roles played a large part in identifing my place in my workplace, my career, my field, and my community. Of course, we can not stop personal change, like we can not stop the leaves from falling from the trees, can we?
October 31, 2008
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A single-track mind
I was thinking recently about my music listening behaviors after reading that some bands want to pull their songs from iTunes, as they claim they are losing money. They claim that iTunes & downloadable music stores like it are changing people’s listening habits by emphasizing the single song instead of the full album.
To tell you the truth, I’ve been listening to music the same way since the early 90s, just the tech has changed to enable my habits, to let me purchase music in a way that matches the habits I already had.
First off, I was always more interested in the single track instead of the full album. I would constantly make myself mixtapes grabbing a track from this album, a track from that album, a track from the radio… I would hardly ever listen to music album by album (or in my case - cassette by cassette). My listening habits didn’t change when iTunes came out, but it did let me purchase music in way that fits my preferred way of listening to music. I can purchase a single track much easier now than I could a few years ago. To those bands that would complain about me not buying the whole album, I would probably tell them I wouldn’t have spent any money on their music if I couldn’t get just that one track I wanted. Something is better than nothing, right?
Secondly a feature popped up on CD players that I just loved in the early 90s, the multi-CD shuffle. Oh my goodness, this really enabled my listening habits. I would load the 3-disc, 6-disc, whatever-disc player with a bunch of CDs and then hit shuffle. The player would pick random songs from any of those discs. Again, I emphasized the single by itself, not in some context with the other songs.
Did I miss some grand message that the artists wanted to make by not listening to an album from start to finish. Probably, but that wasn’t what I wanted when I listend to music. I wanted the magic of discovering new themes through random plays. I wanted to extend emotional energy by having a 60-minute mix tape of handpicked songs instead of being directed by someone else’s grand vision.
I’m still this way. I’d much rather load up the iPod with my choices in music for a long road trip. I’ll still buy a full CD or album here and there, but I have to like the majority of tracks on that album to do so. I won’t buy it just to get the one song I like. I doesn’t make economic sense to me as a consumer to do otherwise.
All this talk about how people’s music habits have changed make me chuckle a little, because my habits haven’t changed dramatically for years, but the technology is finally enabling people like me to listen the way we want to. People like me; people with single-track minds.
September 26, 2008
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The wife’s wild week
This past week was a wild one for my wife. Monday afternoon she was running some errands, getting ready for her upcoming foot surgery, when she was hit by a car that pulled out in front of her. She went the hospital in the ambulance and everything. She came out OK - all the tests showed she was clear to go home by mid-evening. She suffered a nasty friction burn on her neck and horrible “seatbelt trauma” aka bruising on her right side, but at least she’s all in one piece!
The car didn’t turn out so well. It got towed away and it was labeled by the investigating police officer as “totaled”. We haven’t heard back from the insurance yet though.
All week she was dealing with the insurance and accident stuff, and had no car to get around. I tried to come home early as much as I could so we could get stuff ready for after her surgery.
Friday morning, she went in to get her foot fixed and came out fine. She’s starting to feel the pain of the surgery today - I guess all the anesthesia is out of her system now. She’s getting around in crutches OK, but it will be a little bit before she feels ready to be left alone.
August 24, 2008
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To Portland and Back Again
Last week I made a trip to Portland, OR to present a session on relevance ranking at the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting. It was a couple of long days for me, but good days.
First, my flight from Lincoln to Denver was delayed for 3 hours, because of problems with the aircraft. During the wait a bunch of of us commiserated and I found that I was in the company of a professional photographer from LA who does many shoots for magazines, like the cover of TV Guide and some Rolling Stones work, and one of the first female police officers from Arizona. (At least that’s what they claimed to be). We finally get our flight out and land in Denver.
During this time, I wasn’t sure I had a flight from Denver to Portland, so I’m hoping that I’m able to get one yet that night. I luckily catch a flight from Denver to Portland right as I landed, one of the last three seats on the plane. I finally get to the hotel around midnight and get a pleasant surprise - I get the best room in the place! Too bad I’m too tired to really enjoy it.
The next morning I get up, catch a quick breakfast, practice my presentation one last time, then hit the train to the convention center. I catch about half an hour of another session, mainly to scope out the room and the crowds as I’ve never presented for this group before.
Next up is my session. There was a decent turnout, about 165-175 people by my program sponsor’s estimate. There were some good questions, and I got some very nice compliments after my presentation.
Right after I got done, I get onto the train to the airport. Me and my CPAP get through security, I grab some lunch and some wifi time. Things are rather uneventful as I get to Denver and have 3 hours to kill before the light to Lincoln. I spend some time in the New Holland Hub in the airport and was rather happy with the food and fine “adult beverages” they had. The flight from Denver to Lincoln is uneventful and I get to Lincoln around midnight.
Again, it was a long two days, but two very good days.
July 22, 2008
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A Tale of two CPAPs
Long term readers of this blog probably remember that I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a while ago and use a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine when I sleep. This is a bit of an annoyance when I travel, as I have to carry it with me. Checking it with my luggage when I fly is not a smart move, as it could get damaged or lost, and then I’m stuck with no safe way to sleep until I get back to Lincoln. I’ve seen earlier versions, and the one I’ve been using for a while is a lot more portable than those, however; I still dislike going through airport security with my both my CPAP bag, and my laptop backpack. I want to travel light!
I’m currently trying out a replacement machine. It’s about half the size, and I should be able to just tuck it into my backpack, along with my laptop and a day’s worth of clothes! I’ll be giving it the grand test on Sunday when I fly out to Portland, OR.
Wish me luck!
July 12, 2008
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