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!

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?

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.

The wife's wild week

Julie's Wreck 01,
originally uploaded by Scott Childers.

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.

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.

A Tale of two CPAPs

CPAP comparison,
originally uploaded by Scott Childers.

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!

The changes are beginning

I can now let this cat out of the bag, officially:

As some of you may already know, Scott Childers will be leaving the position of Internet Services Coordinator at the end of the year. Scott has been, and continues to be, a great asset to NLA.
I know we appreciate all he has done for both our organization and our members throughout his years of service.

This is a part-time position, but integral to the association. We hope to have the position filled by November, as Scott has volunteered to help with training the new ISC.

Below is the link which will take you directly to the job description on NLA’s website. If you are interested, please take a look. If you know of someone else who might be interested, please pass this information on to them. Thanks!

http://www.nebraskalibraries.org/isc.htm

One of the reasons I haven't posted here lately is that I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends before I leave the position of Nebraska Library Association's Internet Site Coordinator. I have been serving since 1999, before I even got my first professional librarian position. I've always been one to have many projects going at once, but I don't feel right handing over a bunch of partially finished things to the next person.

It is a bittersweet time for me. I'm looking forward to new challenges within the NLA and other organizations, but I see so many things I could be doing to make the NLA web presence a stronger one, a more collaborative one, even just a "better" one. I've had the chance to work with so many great people across the state as part of this experience, and it certainly opened the doors for me to become a voice for technological progress in libraries in this state.

I don't plan on sitting around. I'm running for NLA's Vice President/President Elect this year, so I hope I'm still serving the NLA - just in a different capacity. I had actually made the decision and let the NLA board know back in January and have told quite a few people, but I didn't feel right posting about it until the "job ad" had been posted.

Tweet, Tweet

I'm finally jumping on the twitter bandwagon. My twitter profile is available at http://twitter.com/scottchilders for those of ya that might want to see it.

Toast to Ms. Wheelchair Nebraska 2008

Last night was the "Toast to Ms. Wheelchair Nebraska 2008" event. I must say that it was a blast! Everyone I talked to after the event said they had a good time and left with smiles on their faces. We also made a decent amount of money from the fundraising activities, so all in all I would say the night was a success.

On an interesting note, yesterday was also the birthday of our current titleholder's mother, and a bunch of her friends came to the event and turned it into a bit of surprise birthday party. I must say it was a fun-loving group and we were happy they came!

These Boots are Made for Walking

I passed a milestone today, literally. Shortly before my knee surgery, I could barely walk a couple blocks without having to stop because of the pain. Today I walked non-stop for half an hour outside, walking over 1.5 miles.

It felt great to be able to do it without massive amounts of pain. I did have some aching, but that was just some mild muscle pain from not walking that much for a long, long time.

Now, I'm not about to enter any marathons any time soon, but it was almost a year ago that I would have second thoughts about getting off the couch to walk to the kitchen. It isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes the small victories can be pretty sweet if they are a long time coming.

Returning to Action

Well, things are starting to become clearer in my life now. I got the official news of two of the things I was waiting on about a week ago. That clears the way for me to begin to move on some things, to make some more definite plans for my professional future and to begin some sideline projects I want to do. I've got some other things to wrap up before I really jump into some of those other projects I've got in mind, but things look good for me to start writing more beginning now.

I can let you all know that I really want to get a piece of my fiction writing sent off to a publisher sometime this year. I've got about 3 short stories half-finished and a novel started. It would be really nice when I get one of them finished. Why haven't I finished any of them yet? I'm glad you asked. I didn't finish them because I felt guilty about writing these pieces when I had so many other things that I needed to get done, things I was getting paid to do.

One of the changes I'm making in my life is to set aside some time to do writing everyday; along with setting time aside for exercise, chores, and of course work for the NLA and MWNE. I hate the idea of doing a lot of scheduling for my days, but I really need to if I want to accomplish the things I want to do. I also need to do it so I don't overload myself again. I'll admit I got myself in pretty deep with some commitments recently and I can't do that to myself again.

Things are still going to be a bit chaotic for me for a while, but at least I have my goals to work on and a direction to point my life toward instead of the constant waiting for other people's decisions like I've been doing the past 3 months. I guess it has been like waiting in line for a rollercoaster. You can see that there will loops, turns, and probably some screaming and stomach churning moments - but you can also see the beginning, the end, and track inbetween and you just want the waiting to be over, to get in the car, and head out on that ride.