Life Goes On

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity.

I was hired as the on-call cataloger at Sprinfield City Library. Working for a municipality (this is my first experience) requires a LOT of paperwork. First, I was sent several forms to fill out and mail back. This was all the stuff for withholding federal and state taxes and the city retirement fund. Then I had to go to Springfield and meet with the city HR person, bring my passport to make sure I'm legal to work in the U.S. and fill out more forms.

Then I was sent to Mercy Hospital for a quick physical and drug test, both of which I passed.

Last week, I attended an orientation with the Diversity Officer for all new people hired by the city (there was one other person) where we learned about ethical conduct (good) and sexual harrassment (how to avoid it, not how to do it). Then I went to the Library for "training".

As an on-call person, I can only work when the regular cataloger is out, but I do get up to 8 hours of training. Since I'm not familiar with the specific work flow at SCL, I needed to learn that and also get up to speed with my original cataloging as I haven't done any at all in a while and very little for the last few years. This will also give me some current field experience which will definitely help when I teach cataloging.

This week, I'll get more training and I actually get to work for one full day. The change in my routine (more on that later) is good and I get to earn a few extra dollars on top of my unemployment benefit.

I also had a job interview on Friday. I don't want to go into details about what or where until I know more, but it's not a library position.

Today, I need to do some preparation for cataloging workshops that I have scheduled in a few weeks both in Massachusetts and Connecticut. October seems far away, but I know better.

There is one kind of discouraging thing about all of this thorough housecleaning that I've been doing the last couple of months. I'm about three-quarters of the way through the house and the first rooms I did need cleaning again. At least it won't take so long to do them this time since I probably won't unscrew the light bulbs or switch plates.