Being a YA Liberrian, I am always on the prowl for ideas for crafts, programs, etc., that I think teens/tweens would enjoy doing. And that wouldn't be overly stressful for their liberrian. :) I stumble into one blog after the next (all these crafty blogging folk link to one another and create this spiderweb of craft pages) and then can never find them again, so I've gone 'old school' and made a Delicious account where I'll have all this stuff linked. Should you be in the market for similar links (whether or not for similar reasons), feel free to use my Delicious page as a jumping-off point to find your way into the spiderweb o'crafters!
http://www.delicious.com/alaforniagirl
And, of course, the ones I think are BEYOND cool (that I might want to do) and the ones I do end up doing will be on here, linked directly!
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Friday, April 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Backing up to go forward
The original plan was, each night I would update this blog from the hotel, sharing details of our trip from MS to Sacramento. But we didn't get into the hotel in time to use the computers and still get a reasonable amount of sleep, so that didn't happen. Add to this that I haven't had Internet access for any length of time on any regular basis, and it has made blogging difficult! So the plan is, I will back up and recount the stories of each day's journey so the things that happened on our trip across I-40/Route 66 will be known to all. For now, I'll give the quick-and-dirty details of life since I began settling in here in Sacramento (or to be technical about it, 'the greater Sacramento area.')
Tuesday (2/7) I began looking for an apartment in towns in the general vicinity of my library (Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, etc.) and wasn't getting very far. On a whim, I decided to ride out to Folsom to see what the area looked like, and was hooked. So, my apartment hunt switched gears and I set my sights on Folsom apartment complexes. The place I went to last on Wednesday (2/8) was far and away my favorite -- great location, rent is reasonable for the size/area, has a much more unique look to it than other complexes (there's a lot of places here that all look the same...this one is not like that), is close to everything I could want at a moment's notice, and only about 20-30 minutes drive into downtown Sactown.
I moved in on Friday (2/11) and was thrilled to have begun settling into my own place before I started work this week (2/14). So far, work has not been much work, which is to say, Monday was the usual first day stuff (paperwork, HR stuff, training about sexual harassment, etc.) and Tuesday was fairly similar. I was at my branch for the first couple of hours, then spent the afternoon at a branch in the Southern end of the system in a session on 'Verbal Judo' (AKA How to deal with difficult people), and some odds and ends at the branch.
Today I actually started some hands-on training (yay!) and spent some time at the front desk (yay!). Tomorrow will be all day at another branch and Friday will be an AM meeting, then at my own branch the remainder of the day.
As for the aforementioned road trip...stay tuned!
Tuesday (2/7) I began looking for an apartment in towns in the general vicinity of my library (Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, etc.) and wasn't getting very far. On a whim, I decided to ride out to Folsom to see what the area looked like, and was hooked. So, my apartment hunt switched gears and I set my sights on Folsom apartment complexes. The place I went to last on Wednesday (2/8) was far and away my favorite -- great location, rent is reasonable for the size/area, has a much more unique look to it than other complexes (there's a lot of places here that all look the same...this one is not like that), is close to everything I could want at a moment's notice, and only about 20-30 minutes drive into downtown Sactown.
I moved in on Friday (2/11) and was thrilled to have begun settling into my own place before I started work this week (2/14). So far, work has not been much work, which is to say, Monday was the usual first day stuff (paperwork, HR stuff, training about sexual harassment, etc.) and Tuesday was fairly similar. I was at my branch for the first couple of hours, then spent the afternoon at a branch in the Southern end of the system in a session on 'Verbal Judo' (AKA How to deal with difficult people), and some odds and ends at the branch.
Today I actually started some hands-on training (yay!) and spent some time at the front desk (yay!). Tomorrow will be all day at another branch and Friday will be an AM meeting, then at my own branch the remainder of the day.
As for the aforementioned road trip...stay tuned!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Maintaining
Tomorrow is the end of the line for me on the Batesville train. Well, at least as far as working at the library is concerned. I guess technically it's not the end until I leave town Wednesday night. I know it will take me a while to not wake up with my mind trained on going to BPL during the week, or when I get home at night, not wondering what to do about certain things the next day.
And I've gotten into the packing that you only do right at the end. Plates, bowls, glasses, spatulas, frying pans... I keep thinking this cube thing is going to be sitting out in my driveway and I'm going to have a panic attack at how small it looks and at the idea that I'm going to have to dump a bunch of stuff off on my parents because I won't have room to haul it to Cali with me. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen. :)
Excited as I am about what life holds for me in Cali, I'm not in a hurry for it. (I know...if you know me and you're reading this, you don't believe me.) I just don't want to rush things. Tomorrow will be the last time I'll see the folks I work with for a while. This weekend will be the last time I'll see all my T-town peeps for a while. Post-road trip, it'll be the last time I'll see Mom and Brooke for a while. So I'll start pinging off the walls about Cali when I get there. For now, I'm just trying to 'maintain'....enjoy the lasts, remember all the "last stuff" about everything/one as it happens.
Picture me like Kirsten Dunst in Elizabethtown, using my "hands-camera" to take imaginary photos of the images I want to remember that can't always be captured in a real photo. And the ones that can be captured in a real photo will be linked in future blogs, via my Flickr account. Ha!
And I've gotten into the packing that you only do right at the end. Plates, bowls, glasses, spatulas, frying pans... I keep thinking this cube thing is going to be sitting out in my driveway and I'm going to have a panic attack at how small it looks and at the idea that I'm going to have to dump a bunch of stuff off on my parents because I won't have room to haul it to Cali with me. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen. :)
Excited as I am about what life holds for me in Cali, I'm not in a hurry for it. (I know...if you know me and you're reading this, you don't believe me.) I just don't want to rush things. Tomorrow will be the last time I'll see the folks I work with for a while. This weekend will be the last time I'll see all my T-town peeps for a while. Post-road trip, it'll be the last time I'll see Mom and Brooke for a while. So I'll start pinging off the walls about Cali when I get there. For now, I'm just trying to 'maintain'....enjoy the lasts, remember all the "last stuff" about everything/one as it happens.
Picture me like Kirsten Dunst in Elizabethtown, using my "hands-camera" to take imaginary photos of the images I want to remember that can't always be captured in a real photo. And the ones that can be captured in a real photo will be linked in future blogs, via my Flickr account. Ha!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Beginning of the end
It is so weird to that think the week ahead is my last week at the Batesville Library. And that in just over two weeks, I'll officially be living in California. Craziness! It is an odd space in life, being at the end of one chapter of your life and knowing it. By that I mean, it's not a sudden change...sometimes life changes the chapter without you knowing it's coming, for better or worse.
But to look to the week ahead and know this is the end of the line for my days as the Head Librarian here in Batesvegas..in some ways it seems like I haven't been here long and in other ways, it seems even longer than the 2 ½ years it has been. I have learned a lot, some good lessons, some tough ones, but one thing I know for sure: not being the boss is the way to go for moi. My staff has joked all along when problems crop up 'that's why they pay you the big bucks.' I'll be happy to take 'regular size bucks' and not be the person with whom problems come to visit.
With this new job in Cali, the thing I look forward to more than 'not being the boss' is, what I've done with a percentage of my time in Bates, will be what I do all the time! And it has been my favorite part of my job here. I've thoroughly enjoyed researching, planning, and actually doing the programs for the teens (and 'tweens') so for that to be My Job...shut the front door!
There is an element of 'Adult Services' in my job description but I've been told that will amount to helping make posters, flyers, calendars, etc., and helping the branch head plan the adult programs, though she'll actually do the programs when the time comes.
I'll also be plugged in with the schools in the vicinity, which should be interesting because I haven't done 'teen librarian visiting the school' before and I've heard great things about this from other YA librarians. (Young Adult, that is)
And...there is a large home school population in the area that they want me to work with and get them more involved with the library. Generally, home school groups have the reputation of being public library lovers, so this shouldn't be too tough.
And...they have a good existing group of teen volunteers that I can work with and get them in on programming and outreach and to be the ones who help me get a teen board up and running.
All in all...I predict good things for Jen-Jen and the new liberry.
But to look to the week ahead and know this is the end of the line for my days as the Head Librarian here in Batesvegas..in some ways it seems like I haven't been here long and in other ways, it seems even longer than the 2 ½ years it has been. I have learned a lot, some good lessons, some tough ones, but one thing I know for sure: not being the boss is the way to go for moi. My staff has joked all along when problems crop up 'that's why they pay you the big bucks.' I'll be happy to take 'regular size bucks' and not be the person with whom problems come to visit.
With this new job in Cali, the thing I look forward to more than 'not being the boss' is, what I've done with a percentage of my time in Bates, will be what I do all the time! And it has been my favorite part of my job here. I've thoroughly enjoyed researching, planning, and actually doing the programs for the teens (and 'tweens') so for that to be My Job...shut the front door!
There is an element of 'Adult Services' in my job description but I've been told that will amount to helping make posters, flyers, calendars, etc., and helping the branch head plan the adult programs, though she'll actually do the programs when the time comes.
I'll also be plugged in with the schools in the vicinity, which should be interesting because I haven't done 'teen librarian visiting the school' before and I've heard great things about this from other YA librarians. (Young Adult, that is)
And...there is a large home school population in the area that they want me to work with and get them more involved with the library. Generally, home school groups have the reputation of being public library lovers, so this shouldn't be too tough.
And...they have a good existing group of teen volunteers that I can work with and get them in on programming and outreach and to be the ones who help me get a teen board up and running.
All in all...I predict good things for Jen-Jen and the new liberry.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Pieces of the puzzle
The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place! Rather than having to rent an apartment that I've seen only online, a colleague at another branch of the library is letting me rent her extra bedroom to give me time to find a place once I'm there. (And the rate she's offered me is super fab, thanks Jami!) Add to this that I've worked it out to rent one of those 'cube' things to load and pay the delivery service to move it, then unload it on the other end. MUCH cheaper than paying full-service movers, without forcing me behind the wheel of a U-Haul for 2,200 miles (at 55 MPH...). And my landlords in Batesvegas are letting me pay pro-rated rent for the 3 days of February I'll be living here -- no one does that! All told, this is working out quite lovely and I'm looking forward to earning my stripes as a California girl! (But I'll always be a Bama girl, so as expected, you can think of me as an AlaFornia Girl!!)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
So it begins
With three weeks left to go until I finish up my two-point-five(ish) years at my current job, I get to be off two Mondays in a row. Tomorrow, snow day! Next Monday, MLK Day. Pay me to stay home? Done.
People keep telling me how different California is from Alabama (and Mississippi). That is the whole idea. One thing I believe factors into this commentary is that most people think California and their mind instantly goes to Los Angeles. Never been to LA, so I cannot make comments on it, but I suspect living in Sacramento is not the same. And let's face it, wherever I go there I am. Do I think this experience will in some way change me? Of course. If you don't change in some way every so often, you're not living. But will it fundamentally interfere with who I am? No. I don't think I'll come home convinced that Scientology is the way to go or anything else people assume California will 'do to you.'
But first things first...deciding who will move me across country. Because the very idea of driving a U-Haul 55 MPH over 2,000 miles with my car trailer-hitched to it is enough to reconsider the entire thing. And once this honor is bestowed on some fabulous bidness, I will get my shit packed and also be deciding where said packed shit will go when said movers arrive wanting to unload it.
I'm thinking the Fair Oaks/Citrus Heights area. At least until I settle into the groove of Sacramento well enough to know if/where else I'd want to live. Or maybe I'll be fortunate enough to land in the perfect place and not be in a hurry to pack it all up and shuffle it across town somewhere.
People keep telling me how different California is from Alabama (and Mississippi). That is the whole idea. One thing I believe factors into this commentary is that most people think California and their mind instantly goes to Los Angeles. Never been to LA, so I cannot make comments on it, but I suspect living in Sacramento is not the same. And let's face it, wherever I go there I am. Do I think this experience will in some way change me? Of course. If you don't change in some way every so often, you're not living. But will it fundamentally interfere with who I am? No. I don't think I'll come home convinced that Scientology is the way to go or anything else people assume California will 'do to you.'
But first things first...deciding who will move me across country. Because the very idea of driving a U-Haul 55 MPH over 2,000 miles with my car trailer-hitched to it is enough to reconsider the entire thing. And once this honor is bestowed on some fabulous bidness, I will get my shit packed and also be deciding where said packed shit will go when said movers arrive wanting to unload it.
I'm thinking the Fair Oaks/Citrus Heights area. At least until I settle into the groove of Sacramento well enough to know if/where else I'd want to live. Or maybe I'll be fortunate enough to land in the perfect place and not be in a hurry to pack it all up and shuffle it across town somewhere.
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