Larocque and Roll

Why coffee at 9:30pm is a bad thing June 11, 2008

All afternoon, I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies. Not just any chocolate chip cookies - the ones I get at the coffee shop where I get my Wednesday lattes [1]. By the time I’d closed up the department and everything was shut down, I decided that, what the hell, I was going for it. However, not only did I come out with two lovely chocolate chip cookies, I also came out with a coffee - and not a decaf.

Now, here it is almost 11pm, and I’m just slightly wired. Which is the story of my week - stress and running on caffeine. I had an awesome [2] work-related stress dream the other night where I finished doing up the work schedule for the next few weeks and then someone asked if I’d remembered to add the new employee in my department to it. “Of course,” I replied, knowing that I’d spent so much time making sure that everything was in order. “No, not her - the other [woman with same name].” At which point I realized that not only was I not in my library, I didn’t know half the people waiting to look at the schedule, meaning that the schedule I’d been slaving over was completely wrong.

Sunday night I dreamed that I was smoking two cigarettes at once. Just so you know, I don’t smoke, nor have I ever been a smoker [3]. I think it’s a sign I need to chill out.

[1] On Wednesday, I go into work in the afternoon and stay late, so I usually pick up a latte on my way in. It’s become a ritual, and something to which I look forward.
[2] And by “awesome” I mean “nightmare.”
[3] I have smoked cigars on a couple of occasions. That can be chalked up to two things: grad school and the awesome cigar bar in Halifax.

I’m not internationally known, but I’m known throughout the microphone February 10, 2008

Last week, it was my distinct pleasure to spend it in Toronto surrounded by friends, colleagues, and other fellow librarians. There were lots of interesting sessions, and tons of things to do when you weren’t in session. My week went something like this:

Tuesday:
Up at 4:30am to catch the bus to TO. Normally, I’d take the train, but the train doesn’t get there until 7pm, IF it runs on time. Getting up at an ungodly hour to take the bus means I get into the city by early afternoon, leaving me enough time to do some sightseeing and shopping. Which I did - I walked up Spadina to Queen West, and hit Americo Yarns. Then I wandered into Kensington Market, went to Lettuce Knit for yarn and help [1]. I also found a cool artist’s market, and bought a print for in my living room [3]. Caught the subway back to the hotel, ditched my purchases, and set off to Jorge’s. I finally got to meet Mrs. Jorge and Olivia, both of whom are adorable. Quite possibly the funniest line of the evening was when Jorge described Olivia’s reaction to the vacuum cleaner: “She went all Leonidas on it.”

Wednesday:
An all-day pre-conference session. More people than had signed up were there, so we were pretty packed in. There were a few people I knew from other meetings, Facebook (Hi Joanna!), or through other friends (Hey Debra!) Met some new friends for drinks and dessert, and then hit the opening reception to find Karen and Steve [4]. Also ran into a couple of librarians from up this way (Hi Leslie, Shelly and Rebecca!) and Jennifer, who was making the big move to Montreal and wouldn’t be convening my session [5].

Thursday:
First official day of the conference! We [6] started it by heading out to our traditional conference breakfast spot for our traditional conference breakfast, which consists of waffles/crepes with fruit and chocolate and/or whipped cream. Delightful! Then onto the first session of the day, which was about getting and using user feedback. Then onto the session I was convening on open source software in the developing world, and a stint in the AskOn booth after that [7]. Finally, I met up with a bunch of other librarians to go see a taping of The Hour. I could spend a great deal of time talking about how cool it was; instead, I’ll give you these pics:

Friday:
Seriously, it’s kind of a blur, it was that busy. However, I do remember the most important part of the day - going out for dinner! The same group of usual suspects went to the Mexican restaurant Karen, Steve and I found last year. We were worried that it wouldn’t be as good as we remembered, but that fear was completely unfounded - not only was the food as spectacular as we remembered, this year they had a mariachi band! Afterwards we hit the Indigo flagship store, then headed home.

Saturday:
Checkout! Fortunately, I do it early enough to avoid the crush. Then off to a session, and then to my presentation. There’s not much to tell about it, at least not much that wouldn’t bore most people to tears at this point [8]. Except to say that it went well, and I didn’t make any egregious mistakes. Walked down to meet my mom and sister for lunch, and then headed back home with them - hell, I’d come that far, I might as well take a day or two to visit the folks. Had a great supper, and polished off many bottles of wine with my sister and cousin while playing Settlers of Catan, at least until I started falling asleep at the table and my b-i-l took over for me.

Sunday:
A big family outing to celebrate my dad’s birthday and retirement. The neph was adorable, and flirted with all the waitresses. Then home for more Settlers of Catan, and sitting around watching some football game. Are they still playing at this time of year?

Monday:
Home again, this time by train. Again, slept most of the way.

So, there you have it - my week down in the T-dot. It was fun, and I’m already looking forward to next year.

[1] I started knitting a sock on the bus when I wasn’t sleeping [2]. At some point, a whole lot of stitches fell off the needle and started unraveling. The kind and friendly woman there picked them back up and put them on the needle for me.
[2] Which was most of the time.
[3] Once I get a frame for it.
[4] Or as I started calling them, The Nickel City Posse.
[5] Yeah - I was also presenting at the conference. More on that later.
[6] By “we”, I mean Karen, Steve, Joanne (from TBay) and her sister Cathy who’s also a librarian.
[7] I’m one of the friendly AskOn operators, by the way.
[8] Maybe some other day.

We’re all a bunch of losers January 7, 2008

Just before the holidays, a couple of my co-workers started bemoaning the weight they knew they were going to gain over the holidays, and what they were going to do about it. Two people on staff actually challenged each other to see who would lose more weight over a period of a few months. A few other people found out and wanted in, and then it turned into a big free-for-all, with the challenge becoming who could lose 10 pounds first. Being the joiner that I am, I signed up too.

This morning was the official weigh-in, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that my actual weight wasn’t far off what I expected it to be, despite the fact I haven’t weighed myself in over six years. It’s still too much, but not nearly as bad as I feared it would be.

I’m hoping for good things to come out of this - I’m already pretty careful about what I eat, and I don’t keep junk in the house because I’ll only eat it if it’s there. I’ve seriously cut back on the amount of pasta I eat, and if I do, I try to make sure it’s whole wheat. My only weakness is my Wednesday latte, with which I usually get a couple of oatmeal or gingersnap cookies; however, I bought a package of cinnamon snaps which are supposed to be low fat. On the exercise front, I’m getting back in the habit of walking to work when it’s feasible (i.e. when I’m not working until 9pm) or going for walks on days when I don’t work. And I’ve also pledged to do at least half an hour of Wii boxing in the evenings.

(Others at work are talking - not seriously, of course - about how they’re going to sabotage the competition by bringing in chocolates or do extra baking. However, we found out today that our “office” was this week’s winner of the local radio station’s lunch contest, so on Wednesday we get a Swiss Chalet lunch for 12 [1]. Fortunately, I don’t start work until after lunch, so I’ll miss it.)

[1] The Executive Assistant entered us over a year ago, and this week - the week we start our weight-loss challenge - we win. Proof positive that the gods are a whimsical and capricious lot.

Like band camp, but geekier January 6, 2008

At the end of this month, I will be making my annual trek to Toronto for the OLA Superconference [1]. And I’m looking forward to it in almost the same way you’d look forward to minimally-supervised field trips in elementary school - it’s a chance to get away from your usual surroundings, see new people, and do things you can’t do at home. Oh, we’re not going to loose all control - we are librarians, after all - but we do have a full slate of activities to do once the work-related stuff is done, like:

• Meeting up with various people who live in and around the city who aren’t officially librarians (hey Jorge! Hi Jackie!)
• Go to that really tasty Mexican restaurant that none of us remember the name of, or where it was, except that moments before we found it we’d seen the MTV building.
• Steve and Karen are trying to get tickets to see a taping of The Hour for a whole pack of us.
• This will be the year that we finally get our act together and go on an honest-to-goodness pub crawl. Most years, we wimp out before we get to the first one - this year, we’re going to hang on until at least the second place (I’m taking suggestions, seeing as none of us live close enough to Toronto to know the bar scene well)

So, if you live in Toronto, be prepared for a very sober group of librarians to invade, starting sometime around the 29th. Chances are good you won’t know what hit you.

[1] Whenever I say the word “Superconference,” I want to do a Mary Katharine Gallagher.

Smarty pants December 12, 2007

Thanks to everyone who sent me encouraging messages yesterday after I posted my Facebook status as “stupid stupid stupid!” I did send a few people a brief explanation, but here’s the long story:

Whenever anyone on our public computers sent something to the printer, it printed immediately. Then there were discussions/arguments about what the person had to pay for, and sometimes the exchanges were heated. Or, someone would print something and never pick it up, so at the end of the day we were stuck with a stack of paper no one wanted.

The company who made the reservation software we have on the public computers also makes a piece of software which will hold print jobs until the person comes to pick them up, thus cutting down on arguments and wasted paper.

So, yesterday, the rep was coming to install it on our computers. We’ve been corresponding for weeks about network setups, system requirements, blah blah blah. Monday night she sent me a confirmation email, making sure that the computer I wanted the control software installed on was able to print to the printer the public computers use.

Which is when it hit me: the circ computers don’t use that printer. In fact, they can’t see it at all because the public computers are on a completely different network, so they wouldn’t be able to control the print jobs. In the three months we’ve been corresponding about setting this up, I somehow managed to forget this minor, but key, detail.

In the end, our IT folk came up with a workable solution, and basically saved my ass. I’m still reeling from how foolish it was to overlook that last bit, and how much stress it put on me and the IT folk. There’s no excuse for this, and the only defense I can offer is that I’m currently overseeing three other major projects, all of which are coming to a head this month, not to mention all the day to day details, like scheduling and vacations and overtime.

Fortunately, today I was back to my usual self. Not quite brilliant, but far from the idiot I felt I was Monday night.

I hate my job August 16, 2007

Well, it’s official - I’ve passed the honeymoon phase at my job and I’ve fallen out of love with it. Want to know why? Next week, I have to go to Toronto - not once, but twice. On the first trip, I’m going down with a friend who works at the library in Sudbury, and we’re stuck in a crappy hotel downtown. Once we check in, I’m being dragged out to eat real Thai food and drink martinis, which is hardly anyone’s definition of a good time. Then Wednesday, we’re in meetings all day at this dump, and then it’s back to Sudbury.

Thursday, when I get back, I have to turn around and haul myself down to Markham, for a demonstration at the new branch of the public library - I hear it’s so nice that I might not want to leave. Once I escape from there, it’s down to the family homestead for the rest of the weekend, and then back to the north on Monday. And you know what the worst part is? My CEO was more than happy to let me do all this - in fact, he didn’t even put up a fight when I asked to go. How much does that suck?

Tragedy January 17, 2007

We had a death in the library on Tuesday. Thomas, who’s always sat in the same spot to do his job, gave up the ghost at around 3 in the afternoon. He started working, made a funny noise, and then quit. Fine, but then there was the smell, which patrons noticed and commented on.

Frankly, I don’t have time for this. I’m getting ready for the OLA conference in two weeks, and have a ton of stuff to do. I don’t need to deal with a death and all the accompanying crap that goes along with it. On top of this, how the hell am I supposed to get him out of the library? He’s too big to fit in the dinky little elevator, so we may have to hack him up and take him out piece by piece, and deal with the mess afterwards. Whatever we do, it has to be done soon - I’m getting sick of looking at the corpse.

By the way, I’m talking about one of our microfilm readers. I bet you thought I was talking about one of the patrons!

(Yes, all our computers and microfilm readers have names. We’re quirky that way. There were four microfilm readers - Minnie, Fuji, Thomas and Franklin - of which only two work (Minnie and Franklin). Minnie is hooked up to a computer, Sonia/Sonya, and you can print things on her. Franklin is a year older than me, which is like two hundered in microfilm reader years.

The rest of our computers have similarly clever names - downstairs, we have internet stations with names like Colt, Harrison, Wordsworth, and Skye. The three circ computers in the Adult department are named after the three musketeers, Arthos, Porthos, and Aramis. The computers in the training room are named after the seven dwarves.

One of the major reasons for doing this is to help with identification if there’s a problem; rather than telling IT computer 3423 or the second circ computer on the left isn’t working, we can just tell them that Fiona is being grumpy, and they know exactly which computer to look at.)

Why I’m not (and won’t be) blogging about work November 13, 2004

Quite a few people who have blogs (and whose blogs I love) talk about their day jobs, along with other things. That’s fine and cool - sometimes, that’s why I read them.

But you’ll note that I rarely - if ever - talk about my job. Oh, I might mention co-workers current (Hi Karen! Hi Jeff!) and past (Hi Robin!), but I won’t talk about the specifics.

I am trained as a Librarian - I refer to myself as that, even though that’s not my job title right now. It’s just a lot easier to say “I’m a Librarian who works with other librarians” than try and explain what a Library Consultant (not actually my job title either) does. Since I graduated with my MLIS from Dalhousie in 2001, I’ve worked in a few different jobs, some of which included the word “Librarian” in the title, but basically I was always working in a library-type environment. But now I’m working in an office, and the job is slightly different. So why not?

1. Privacy of our clients. We work with a specific type of library in Northern Ontario. Not that anyone besides the organization and our clients would be interested in what we’re doing, but I’m not going to talk about what I’m doing for a specific client(s) because the conversations I have with them are confidential, as far as I’m concerned.

2. Privacy of my co-workers. I love the people I work with - they’re a good bunch. We have weekly meetings where everyone gets updated on what everyone else is doing, but again, not really of interest to anyone else but us. I respect their personal and professional privacy by not talking about them or their work.

Karen and Robin are exceptions. Robin and I started at roughly the same time, but she left in September. Karen still works for the organization. Both of them are friends I hang out with outside the office, so I will occasionally mention them. However, I don’t talk about what they do at work since I’m respecting their professional privacy.

4. Privacy of the organization. We do stuff. The people we do stuff for know it. What goes on behind closed doors stays there.

5. This is a personal blog. This isn’t a professional blog, where I’d post stuff targeted towards the clients. If/when I start a blog that is work-related (updates, articles, help, etc.) I will not be linking to here from there, and I will not be linking to there from here. I am making a conscious effort to keep my professional and personal lives separate. Here, I can post about stuff that amuses me (and my family, for the most part.)

6. It’s boring. Really? You’d start snoring if all I did was talk about work. I can pretty much summarize my workday thusly: get to work, change the message on my voice mail, check my email, do stuff, have lunch, do more stuff, and go home. There you have it - the exciting life of a Library Consultant in an nutshell. I’m doing you a favour - trust me.