It's May

Already? Seems like it way just January. Summer seems to be pushing itself early here in California. For the last week we've managed to stay cool despite 104 degree days and 80 degree nights. We've been running the A/C in the house which I'm sure will make our power bill terrifying. I'm trying not to think about it too much.

The news from down here is pretty good. Everyone is healthy and Michelle has been at Stanford working for almost 6 weeks. I still love my job and all the challenges it presents.

**Warning librarian stuff follows**
I've been going through the arduous process of reviewing our reference collection. This means not only looking at what we have and figuring out what we should have that seems to have vanished, but also seeing what we've got in electronic format. Once I've done that I have to go back and see if there's things we can buy to replace the print titles and work to get rid of duplicate copies before we send our print off-site.

When I look at the shelves they seem so empty but when I start looking at the books the list grown really fast. So only 1/3 of the way in it looks like what I thought would be a short task is going to take weeks. The good news is more things are available electronically than we thought, so all this preparation will get us where we want to be eventually.

**Okay that's the end of the librarian stuff**

I hope everyone is having a good spring and that the sun shines on you, but not too much.

Until next time,
Sarah

Where am I?

Just a quick update to minimize confusion. I am now in California working at Stanford. I don't have a permanent home yet, Michelle is still in Seattle and I'm staying in a rented room.

My flight was hellish due to a nasty typhoon that decided to hit the bay area the day before I flew down but I made it in one piece. My luggage arrived the next morning. *sigh*

I'm excited to finally be starting my new job and soon it will, I'm sure, all feel more familiar and I'll be a little less scattered.

Best wishes and Happy new year!
Sarah

It's nice to feel wanted

If word has escaped you, please consider this an official notice that I finally have found a GREAT job. I'll be starting at Stanford in January as an Engineering Librarian. Michelle and I are working right now on logistics and figuring out where we want to live and such.

It took me a year of interviews and applications, but in the end I did actually find a position I'm proud of. I was losing hope that something would work out and considered taking a tech job at Microsoft, but thankfully I didn't go through with it.

Yesterday I got a voicemail from one of the other colleges I applied to letting me know how disappointed they were I withdrew my application, and I couldn't help patting myself on the back. It sure feels nice to have choices....

More news soon!
Sarah

Blah, blah. blog...

Now from that title you might think I'm bored...but you would be wrong. I just started on Aug 30 working at Microsoft doing some indexing and search refinement work. It's quite interesting and I'm happy to be doing it, even if it is for Microsoft. I get free pop and a nice paycheck, no complaints here.

Even bigger news is that I heard early this week that I have been invited to interview for an Engineering librarian position at STANFORD!!! :) It's one I didn't have a lot of optimism about because I thought I'd get weeded out by the millions of other applicants (which is what happens in Seattle) but apparently, THEY LIKE ME!! So October 1st (it was originally Sept 17) I will be giving it my all down in Palo Alto.

So everyone think good thoughts for me.
~Sarah

So long my fuzzy friend

Mid-way through graduate school I found myself in love with a furry orange ball I named Dewey. He was a terror, he ate my stuff, he bit, he scratched. Molly, our lab mix, adopted him as her baby and kept him clean. Despite his rotten behavior we grew attached to him and he picked up an array of nicknames: SOK - Satan's own kitten; douche; douche bag; and little f**ker, to name a few. We tried to keep him indoors but he became an expert escape artist, so we conceded.

Friday morning I found Dewey dead in the front yard as I was heading to a meeting. It seems that he must have been hit by a car and somehow found his way back to our yard. I don't want to know what happened and I want to believe he didn't suffer. His time with us was very short, but we miss him terribly nonetheless.

This has not been an easy year, I'm still looking for work and trying to keep our heads above water hasn't always gone smoothly. The loss of my friend and kitty has been a bit of a thorny addition to a difficult year. Here's hoping he finds lots of catnip and upholstered furniture in heaven.


Scritches to all the kitties out there,
Sarah

Detail oriented...

I've been interviewing a lot. Trying to find the right job. I've been getting asked more often lately about my attention to detail. I think most folks who know me know that I'm totally anal retentive about all sorts of things. That said, I've been having some trouble coming up with more descriptive/job interview appropriate ways to describe this aspect of my personality. I've described myself as "detail oriented" as well as "very attentive to details"...I just can't decide if that fully captures it. And being the anal retentive girl that I am, I just can't stop thinking about it.

So, if anyone out there has some good alternatives, I'd love to hear them.

'Til later
Sarah

Books and busing

I've got a temporary position right now which has been great for the finances. Still looking for that elusive permanant position, but I'm sure it's out there, somewhere. The temp job is pretty far from home and I've been being a good commuter and taking the bus. The result has been a feast of reading. I haven't devoured books so quickly in a long time and I've been able to finally get to some long awaited books I had to put off while I was in school.

So far here's the list:

• What is the what, by Dave Eggers (everyone should read this book)


• The Girls, by Lois Lansens (surprisingly good)


• The Hitchhikers Guide (a classic)


• Massachusetts, California, Timbuktu, by Stephanie Rosenfeld (an emotional roller coaster)


• Possible Side Effects, by Augusten Burroughs (so funny, I laughed really loud on the bus)


• March, by Geraldine Brooks (disturbing)

It seems like there's more but my memory is failing me, again.

More later,
Sarah

March Madness

Okay just to clarify, this blog has nothing to do with Basketball....now that we have that clear...

It's March 1st. Just a few short months ago I finished my masters degree. I told myself back then that it would realistically take a couple of months to find a job. In the midst of the search I frequently lose sight of that reality and become obsessed with my state of employment. I DO have a job, two of them actually. The problem is neither is the job I want. I want a full-time job that pays a livable salary, and I want benefits.

I knew that the super-saturated Seattle library job market would be hard, but I guess I didn't quite realize how hard. So now, despite any previous statements otherwise, I've taken my search on the road and started accepting that my dream job may not be here. It's really scary to think about moving away, but if I find the right position, I'll go.

So what does this have to do with March madness? My couple of months of searching have passed without offering up the position of my dreams and it's starting to make me a little crazy. It's hard for me to get happy, it's hard for me to be optimistic. I just have to remind myself that it's out there; it just may not come in the time line I had hoped for. I also have to remember that I have a lot to be thankful for right now: a roof over my head, a warm bed at night, and the love of my life. Not really so bad in the long run.

Spring is coming, don't let the winter blues get you.
Sarah

The sick pleasure of noise in the library...

Just as a sampling of one of the many reasons I love being in the library and around other librarians. The other day I was helping our head librarian shift some books in our reference stacks. There's some sick pleasure that can be found in the shuffling of books from one shelf to the next.

One of my co-workers aptly described it as being like, "defragging your hard-drive." And she's totally right, it's that kind of satisfaction...of course, you have to have the right personality to find pleasure in this sort of activity. So here's where it got funny, we're shifting books to condense the stacks, as we're doing this we're removing un-needed metal bookends. Since we're in the library (you know shush and all that crap), I begin quietly stacking them off to one side...my boss grabs them and flings them down on the floor at the end of the aisle (about 8 feet away)hitting the metal covering on the radiator. He does this over and over as we shuffle the stacks and we laugh and ponder the noise insulation value of all these books.

I love librarians.

Not exactly blown away...but close

As most people have heard the Seattle area got hammered by a nasty winter wind storm on Thursday (12/14). My partner and I lost our power at about 10:45pm and got it back on today (12/18) at some wee hour of the morning. During the 3 days of darkness we camped out with my extremely generous sister-in-law who had thankfully kept her power through the storm. I had to work 2 of the 3 powerless days at the library, which was thankfully warm and bright and full of people escaping the cold.

Growing up we always lived in the middle of nowhere and my parents were meticulous about keeping emergency supplies. We also had gas appliances so we were able to stay warm and eat. Living in the city has contributed to a state of unpreparedness that I don't feel comfortable with anymore. We had a flashlight, and candles but you can't warm your house with a candle unless you want to burn it down (which certainly would be warm). No alternate forms of heat, non-perishable food, bottled water, battery operated radio, or even a good set of warm clothes were available to us in our house. Our poor dogs and cats had to suffer in the cold (with lots of blankets and food of course) but we had to leave.

Now that we're warm we are starting to see the wisdom of getting prepared, of having the right supplies so we can be warm, fed and comfortable for an extended period if we need it. This time it was just a power outage, but Seattle is certainly due for a good shaking as well. Next time, I don't want to worry, I want to be warm.

Until the next storm hits...
Sarah

Behavioral interview questions

Following up on my last post, I learned a bit more about why I failed this interview process. First of all, the questions I was asked are apparently an example of Behavioral interview questions. What? Or at least that's the thought that went through my head. How does one know when an interview will be behavioral? What ever happened to, do you have the skills for this job?

It's been 6 years since I had an interview for a professional position, am I out of date? Anyhow, interviewee be warned, this is apparently not uncommon in the greater Seattle area. The libraries use these questions to determine if you can handle the job, not to assess if you're skilled enough to do it.

Whatever...

Here's some samples for those of you who also never heard of such a thing.
(http://www.quintcareers.com/sample_behavioral.html)

Oh, and as far as reapplying, I have to wait, 6 months.

Grrr
Sarah

Rejection!

So, I'm just a few weeks from graduation, and I've started looking for a job. I've had 2 student jobs for awhile, one for 2 years and one for 10 months. I feel pretty qualified to work as a librarian, since I've been doing it for over 2 years now, so I felt pretty confident about my recent interview. After about 2 weeks I touched base with the library and they told me I had not been selected...which, I realize, you don't get every job you apply for...but, I already work at this library, as a librarian.

So I feel pretty confused, hurt, etc. The good news is, I could reapply and interview again; the bad news is that I have to keep working there through the end of the year knowing they don't want me; which makes me sad. Obviously I'm a professional and I don't buy into that whole "screw them" attitude that I've seen in others, and I will do my job proudly regardless. I just hope that this isn't a sign of things to come.

Hopefully one of the other jobs I applied for will pan out, I was hoping to be working in January full time, but I guess I have to wait and see what comes.

I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy as we head into December.
~Sarah

Wench?

Some people would say wench is a derogatory term, but I beg to differ. I happen to like the word wench. I'd take issue with some of it's synonyms, such as matron, shrew, dame, etc.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (http://www.oed.com) wench has been used to refer to "A girl, maid, young woman"; "a female child"; "a girl of the rustic or working class"; "a wanton woman; a mistress"; and "a female servant, maidservant, serving-maid." I feel comfortable embracing all of those terms except perhaps the wanton woman part. I'm pretty sure I'm not 'wanting' for anything these days, except maybe a few more hours of sleep.

I love answering reference questions, and I do take an 'at your service' approach. I'm here for my patrons and whatever obscure question they want me to try and answer (within all the legal limits, etc.)

If you're reading this, tell me, what does wench mean to you? Do you have any wenches in your life?

Books, books, and more books...

I am so enjoying my summer off from classes, basically all I've done is read. I've got a few small projects, and picked up a 3rd job (yeah, I know that's crazy) but most of my free time is being spent reading. I thought I'd list what I've been reading here, I'll add some more information about the individual books later...mostly I need to make a list before I forget what I read.

To simplify the rating process of my likes/dislikes a * means I liked it enough that I'd tell other people to read it. the lack of a * does not mean I don't like the book, it just means I would be cautious telling other people to read it...like it requires a disclaimer or something. Thankfully, I have liked all the books I've read for the most part.

So here's the list (in no particular order):
*The Well of Lost Plots , by Jasper Fforde
*Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde
*Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
Gilead, by Marilynn Robinson
The Big Over Easy, by Jasper Fforde
*Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution (Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters), by Wally Lamb
*Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi
*My Year of Meats, by Ruth Ozeki
Ummm.....I think I'm forgetting some, I'll have to get back to you.

I'm currently reading Library an Unquiet History, by Matthew Battles

*Note: it would seem I couldn't finish Library an Unquiet History, I plan to come back to it, but for now, it was too dense for my muddied gray matter.

Summer at last...

Learning from past foolishness, I am not taking summer classes this year. And why should I? I've only got 7 credits left and then I'll be a full fledged librarian.

This has been the craziest 2 years of my life, to say the least. The lack of Blog posts should be evidence of that, I think. So this summer I'm working on my portfolio for graduation, spending some time reading books (instead of dry academic writing) and thinking about what comes next.

This summer we're likely doing a lot of hanging around town, we've got a short trip planned to Victoria and maybe some camping, but that's about it. Next summer I hope I'll be making enough money that we can take a real vacation.

Quitting my job 2 years ago was crazy, being really broke sucks, but when this is all over, I think it'll be worth it.

Until I have something more exciting to say...
Sarah

What year is this?

Yeah, I think I may have been under a rock. No, that's not it, that's right I'm in grad school, I don't have time to ramble on I've got papers to write.

Seriously though, I had great intentions here like many of the projects I'm involved with, I just ran out of steam. At least I'm trying, right?

So here I am, heading into the home stretch. I never thought I'd see 2006, I figured last quarter was gonna kill me, but I lived just like ever quarter before that, and now there's just a few more quarters to go and I can go out and get a job like a grown-up.

So here's the last 6 months quickly:

June: End of Spring quarter and the start of the summer of hell
July: Sell condo, start to fall behind in summer classes
August: New apartment, second summer class starts, what was I thinking?
September: Go to Canada, get hitched, take an incomplete in that second summer class
October: Finish summer class just in time to start fall classes, have big 'ole family party
November: Huh? Oh right, November, study lots, eat turkey
December: ACK what happened to November? Study too much, get 3 weeks off, spend one bailing water out of living room (HO HO HO)
January: Hey, that's now! Just started another quarter, doing an internship and taking a light course load, maybe I am learning something....

See you in February, I hope...
Sarah

Spring Quarter already

It seems like this school year just started, but already I'm into Spring quarter and looking at classes for Summer. The time truly did go by faster than I would have expected. Amazingly everything is coming along pretty smoothly.

I'm excited about at least one of my classes this quarter, especially doing virtual reference for the IPL. I think it's going to be a pretty interesting opportunity. My other class has an instructor that I struggle to understand, perhaps it's just a different teaching style, but I get confused easily. I'm also looking forward to the library training I'm taking, learning about doing chat reference. I'm hoping that all of this experience will be helpful as time goes by in finding more work in school, and hopefully help me when I get out as well.

When I started this 3 years seemed like an eternity, but with one nearly behind me, I can't imagine how I could get through it all in less time. Maybe I can, but it seems like a more intense undertaking than I may be up for. The current pace is suiting me just fine.

Until next time,
Sarah

Two down and how many to go?

I survived Winter quarter, surprisingly well at that. I'm keeping really good grades and I really love my classes. For one of my final projects we did a study of non-traditional library services in 4 Northwest libraries. It was really interesting to get to talk to the librarian where I did my portion of the study and really helped re-afirm my decision to be in school.

Now it's Spring break, I'm waiting to see my final grades and then I'm heading off to Newport Oregon for a much needed break. Then it's back to class the end of March. This next quarter looks pretty exciting, between learning about cataloging and doing reference for the IPL. Promises to be another huge learning experience.

Till next time!
Sarah

Oh yeah, that's right I started a blog...

This has been a CRAZY time in my life. It's already February, the second quarter of classes is almost over, WHERE did all the time go.

Things are going much better now that I've grown more accustomed to being in school. I finished my first quarter with a 3.7 GPA, not too bad if I say so myself. The first quarter was difficult because of the adjustment to being in school coupled with a really difficult class load and a professor with poor communication skills, but I lived.

This quarter is much better. I'm working as a reference assistant in the UW Engineering Library and I'm learning all about working in a library. I'm taking a reference services class as well, which has been a great corollary to the job. I'm hoping to get an assistantship next year. That would help with the financial pinch quite a bit.

All that aside, I'm feeling pretty good about my decision to leave my job, I don't miss it, EVER. I miss the great friends I made working there, but never the stress or the work load. I'm enjoying this opportunity to re-acquaint myself with someone really important, ME!

~Until next time
Sarah

Time flies whether your having fun or not...

I really shouldn't be so cynical. I've been really busy with school and I've learned so much already, it's hard to believe. But I'm having a minor setback called gallstones. As if life isn't busy enough I had to go to the ER at 3:30am this past Saturday because I thought I was going to die from the pain. So now I'm a little behind in my studies and still feeling crappy. I've got a couple days yet before I'll be in a bad behind place, and I think I'll be okay, but it just seems like when it rains it pours. I'm still looking for work, I don't know that I'm making a very strong effort, I think I'm procrastinating for the 'official' start of the quarter at school (my program starts early).

I have discovered that I am an expert procrastinator, very good at coming up with a million things to do other than study. But I'm also realizing that I need a more realistic schedule, which means not sleeping in every day, and commiting to a schedule for studying....and as soon as I get this gallbladder thing fixed, I'll get right on it.

Until next time...