Cleaning and Careers

Nearly every day I've been spending a few hours doing some very deep house cleaning. I'm the type who unscrews light bulbs and switch plates so that I can dust them (the light bulbs) and wash them (the switch plates). I've been working on the pantry lately.

I wish I could say that I've tossed a lot of stuff, but I'm not much of a hoarder and I only keep what I use or really love or to which I have an incredible sentimental attachment. Everything that was in the pantry is still there except for a few jars of condiments that were very old. After dusting and washing all the shelves, I made sure the labels of all the cans faced forward. They look beautiful and every time I open the door, I'm so pleased.

Washing shelves and arranging cans of beans and tomatoes gives me plenty of time to think about what I want to do with the rest of my life.

I didn't set out to be a librarian. Like many other people, it happened by accident. I had dropped out of UMass/Amherst after 2 years and needed a job. I went to the personnel office in the administration building and filled out a general application. After taking the typing test I was told there was an opening in the library. I was not thrilled. I wanted something more glamorous, but I needed the paycheck.

Shortly after starting there, I was assigned to a project reclassifying some 250,000 books from the Dewey Decimal System to the Library of Congress System. What an education! And I decided I liked the work. So after finishing my BA (with tuition waivers because I was full time staff), I attended library school at Simmons College in Boston.

It's been a great career. I've done a lot of traveling and met lots of interesting people along the way. I'm well known throughout Massachusetts and also Connecticut because I've taught lots of cataloging workshops. But do I want to continue doing this? Is this a good time to try something different? If so, what?

I actually made a career change once. I sold textbooks for the College Division of what was then Harper & Row Publishers. I was an okay sales rep but not great. After 5 years of my job being on the line every minute, I made the transition back to libraries. I had missed working in a library.

I've thought about other careers. I was a part-time aerobics instructor at the Greenfield YMCA for about 8 years. I was even certified by the American Council on Exercise. (I thought it quite interesting that after earning my MS at Simmons I didn't have to do another thing to continue being a librarian, but I continually had to take courses to maintain my certification as a fitness instructor.)

Not even an energetic 20-year-old can be a full-time aerobics instructor. In order to make a living, one usually becomes a personal trainer or something similar, and for whatever reason I never made that leap. When I moved from Greenfield, I left that volunteer position along with any intentions of pursuing a career in fitness.

So what's next for me? I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

The Gremlin

It happened again. A couple of weeks ago I received a call from my local public library that I book I requested via C/W MARS had arrived. I don't remember requesting this book. I have a very good memory and I'm sure I'm not getting senile, so I have some theories on what happened. One is that once I requested the title, there was no reason for me to remember that I had done so. I knew the process would work itself through and it did. My other theory is that there is a benevolent gremlin who decides there are some books I really should read, gets into my C/W MARS account and requests them for me.

This time the title is Inventing the Rest of Our Lives by Suzanne Braun Levine. Being the anal retentive person I am, I'm sure I'll finish this book, but so far it's not striking any major chords with me.
Some of the situations don't really apply to me. I don't have kids so I haven't had to juggle that aspect of my personal life with my work life. And I won't have to contend with "emply nest syndrome" either.

I went through a major work/personal crisis back in my early thirties and another the year I turned 50. I've resolved (at least somewhat) many of the issues Levine discusses.

However, one chapter that I have been dwelling on is called the "Fertile Void". Since I was laid off and am no longer working, I've started to seriously think about what I want to do with the rest of my life.

I've always worked and most of that time I've worked in the library field. Even though I talked about retiring "someday" I always envisioned myself working. Every day that I'm not working in a library is creating more and more distance between me and a library career. (I'm still a Trustee at Hatfield Public Library and on the board of the Friends of UMass/Amherst Libraries - that's different.) I have less and less motivation to read the posts on the email discussion list AUTOCAT or read the electronic newsletter from the American Library Association. It's been weeks since I looked at a library-related blog.

I still check the MBLC job postings, but I'm thinking that my next job will not be in a library. Or maybe I'll actually retire.

Still Searching

This week I applied for another job and received two rejection notices. Actually, one of the rejections had been in my spam box for a couple of weeks (I get so little spam with gmail I sometimes forget to check it) so maybe the score is actually 1-1.

Neither the job for which I applied nor the most recent rejection are in libraries. I've been checking the MBLC job search site regularly, and there are some interesting positions available. As usual, many of them are not within commuting distance and a very high priority for me right now is a short commute. For the last 5 years, my daily drive has been a minimum of an hour and 20 minutes each way. When I carpooled, (which was most days for the last 2 years) the time was longer.

For the 4 1/2 years before that, the commute was usually an hour and the traffic was terrible. Connecticut drivers on I-91 are fast and aggressive. When I was assigned to a project in a library, I often had a shorter and easier drive (Brattleboro VT, So. Hadley MA), but occasionally it was much longer (Rutland VT, Londonderry NH, Boston MA). Those longer trips generally involved staying overnight.

My dream is to have a job within 1/2 hour of my home, although I like an occasional longer drive. I feel differently about driving long distances to different places (a fun adventure) and driving a long distance to the same place day after day (I'd rather not).

While I've worked in libraries for many years, I sometimes think about a career change. I'm at that stage now. I love libraries and believe in them, but I also want to experience more of the non-library world. The skills I've been using are transferable to many other areas. My job now is to find out where those skills are most needed.

Cooking

Anyone who knows me knows I love to cook. I love the entire process: selecting a recipe, arranging the ingredients, slicing, dicing, stirring and especially eating. My main complaint about all of this hot and humid weather is that I don't want to turn on my stove and I especially don't want to turn on the oven and make the house even hotter.

While I haven't been doing much cooking, I have been making Gazpacho - the perfect antidote to New England pretending to be New Orleans. (When I was in Mexico, the weather was hotter, but drier.)

While this Gazpacho recipe calls for 1/4 cup of oil, I use less than half that amount. And I never bother to peel or seed tomatoes. As soon as I publish this post I'm going to make some Gazpacho. There is just enough time for it to chill before lunch.


GAZPACHO

3 lb. (6 c.) tomatoes, peeled, seeded & cut up
1 onion, cut in chunks
1/2 c. green pepper chunks
1/2 c. cucumber chunks
2 c. tomato juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar

Combine tomato, onion, green pepper & cucumber in blender or food processor & puree until smooth; transfer to bowl or tureen. Stir in tomato juice, garlic, cumin, and s & p. Cover and chill. Before serving, stir in oil & vinegar. Serve with garnishes.
Garnishes:
1 c. peeled, seeded & finely chopped tomato
1/2 c. finely chopped onion
1/2 c. finely choped green pepper
1/2 c. finely chopped cucumber
garlic croutons

Health Insurance

I've been putting this off for as long as I can. Today I decided to face the fact that since I'm not quite old enough for Medicare, I need to find some affordable health insurance until I'm once again employed.

Fortunately, I'm pretty healthy. I eat (more or less - mostly more) healthful meals, drink plenty of water, get enough sleep and exercise regularly. I pay attention to my stress level and this health insurance issue is beginning to cause me some stress, so I need to tackle it.

For most of my life my medical costs have been limited to routine check-ups and tests. There have been just enough serious diseases in my family that I know it *can* happen to me event though it probably won't. Back in 1973, I fell while climbing Mt. Monadnock and broke my ankle. A few years back I had some problems with arthritis that required seeing a specialist and also some physical therapy. Yoga has kept the stiffness under control.

Since CMRLS no longer exists, COBRA is not available to me. I logged onto Mass Health Connector to see what my options are. At CMRLS, I was covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield so I also called them for a quote.

Given my medical history and because I'm sure I'll be covered by an employer's health insurance plan soon, I'm choosing a Bronze Plan. That has the lowest monthly premiums and the highest deductables, but covers basic wellness visits for just a co-pay.

In the meantime, I'll continue regular Yoga exercises and I'll stay away from Mt. Monadnock.

ANTs in My Brain - Yuck!

If I posted more regularly, I wouldn't have to talk about what I did last week.

Last week, I dressed in business casual clothes, got in my car, and went to work - at least for the day. A K-8 art school teacher from outside of Massachusetts had contacted me looking for a basic workshop on cataloging and MARC format. She had been assigned responsibility for the library and wanted to do a good job. Her school is in the process of purchasing Follett's Destiny as their online catalog.

The previous librarian had also been a teacher assigned to take care of the library and things are organized in a somewhat idiosyncratic way. My student had found the Catalogers Pages on the CMRLS website and wanted to know what options she had during the summer. I pointed out some links on the site to free tutorials and also told her I was available to give a one-on-one workshop.

It was fun. My student was bright and had already done a lot of work looking at bibliographic records and trying to identify the fields she needed. She asked lots of good questions (like Why are biographies sometimes shelved together and sometimes integrated with the rest of the non-fiction collection?). We spent several hours together talking about cataloging and what she needs to know as a minimum to keep her library running adequately.

We had met at a public library that was convenient for the two of us and we spent time in their children's room looking at the way books were organized and cataloged even though a school will do some things differently. At least she now has a foundation on which to build.

The ANTs? ANTs stands for Automatic Negative Thoughts according to Dr. Daniel Amen in Change Your Brain, Change Your Body. They are all of those lies (Dr. Amen's word) for those thoughts that just pop into your brain. If you believe them, they can undermine all of your goals. Fortunately, I haven't been plagued with a lot of them recently. I'm having too good a time reading, deep cleaning my house, doing a (very) little yard work, trying new recipes and just enjoying myself.

However, soon I'm going to have to get serious and begin a real job search. I realized as I headed for the workshop with the school librarian how much I miss going to work. Even if I'm not assaulted with ANTs, it's going to take some Positive Thinking to keep me energized for the trek.