This 'n' That

 It's now about 11 months into the COVID shutdown. I've adapted to many things and feel as if I can't stand one more minute of many others.

I've sort of gotten used to staying at home, though I sometimes find myself planning for a weekend and wondering which friends to invite. M and I used to go out just about every Friday or Saturday night depending on what was happening. Since we were more active than most of our friends, it was usually up to us to initiate a get together with another couple or two. Now, many of our friends are not going to any indoor venue and some of the rest are not meeting with people regardless of the location.

Perhaps I should feel grateful. The fewer people with whom I come in contact, the less my chance of contracting COVID or even the seasonal flu.

Right now (as I look out on the snow-covered yard) I'm (not so) patiently waiting for spring and warmer weather when we can entertain on the patio or screened in porch. At least the days are getting longer.

I now have a walking buddy. C, who also leads senior exercise classes in Hatfield, walks nearly every day. Since she lives near the center of town, she many routes from which to choose and they are all relatively flat. Where I live, there is only one place to walk and it's all downhill. Which means on my way back, when I'm getting tired, it's all uphill. C and I have been meeting about once a week and walking around town in different directions. We walk about 3-4 miles (which is much more than I would do on my own); once we did nearly 5 miles.

Walking is good especially because I seem to have lost interest in Yoga and Pilates. Suddenly, I just didn't want to do them anymore. Maybe I just need a break. Or need different CDs and DVDs.

Of course, I've been doing a lot of reading. I began the V.I. Warshawski mystery series by Sara Paretsky. I'd forgotten how much I like her books. When I first discovered them many years ago, I read all of them. But then, as always happens, I caught up to her and she doesn't write as fast as I read. At best, only one is published each year. The same thing happened with Louise Penny. But it's been so long since I read Paretsky's earliest books, they're all new again.

And on my alphabetical list of potential duplicates, I've reached The most ...

Today, I'll be going into the MLS office. It's the highlight of my week.

Back at the Beginning

 Most of my job is spent working from a spreadsheet: a list of potential duplicates in the MassCat catalog given in alphabetical order. However, the program used to spot duplicates, doesn't recognize initial articles. I am now reviewing titles that begin with the word "The".

There are a lot of them.

In a way, it's a little discouraging. It's taken me years (six? seven?) to slog my way through the alphabet to arrive at the letter "T" - only to end up back at "A". Actually, I'm at "B". I feel like Alice in the looking glass: I think I'm going toward something, but in reality, I'm going away from it.

Actually, it's not that bad; it's more ironic.

After five months of working from home, I've finally developed a sort of schedule. I try to do my MassCat work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday like I did in the "old days". That gives me two full days plus the weekend, to do other things like housework or yardwork or just sitting around reading.

But as of last week there has been a change: I'm leading my exercise class again! This is sort of an experiment. I'm leading it once a week and virtually. The first week, we used Microsoft Teams because that is what the Town Hall uses for it's meetings. However, only 3 people managed to log on. And I could only see myself in a tiny box which kept disappearing. In a meeting, seeing oneself in a tiny box is no big deal, but I need to know that I'm lined up so that exercisers can see me and what I'm doing. 

This week, we used Zoom, but after 35 minutes of what was supposed to be a 45 minute class, the program shut down leaving me in mid leg lift. The plan now is to schedule 2 half classes (upper body, lower body), one right after the other and consider the time in between as a break. Beginning tomorrow, there will be an outdoor class in the park next to the Town Hall.

As happy as I am to be back (even virtually) with my class, I now have to review my work schedule. Given that I don't much like to do housework other than dishes or laundry, I could always give that up. But who else will clean? My housekeeper has not been here since mid-March. 

I miss her as much as (maybe more than) my exercise class.

Tackling the Letter T

Here it is July 7 and I'm still working from home.

I'd like to be in the MLS office, but the administration is being very cautious about opening the offices. I appreciate caution. I'm also looking forward to being out and about, even just a little.

M. and I have been carefully venturing out. We've met with friends (no hugging) at outdoor venues, shared take-out meals, and on one occasion actually ate dinner around a dining room table with 4 other people. We had planned to eat outdoors, but it was pouring rain.

Fortunately, no one I know personally has become sick with the virus. I know others who have friends, relatives, or neighbors who have contracted it. I know of two who have died. I've been watching the data on confirmed/probable cases in Massachusetts. I'm happy to live in an area that has relatively few. Most of my close relatives live in the eastern part of the state which is more densely populated and more vulnerable.

As much as I miss working in my cubby in the office, I miss my exercise class more. I'm still getting exercise, perhaps more than in the Healthy Bones and Balance class, but I miss the people. They're my friends. And even though we're not close, there is still a connection that I find comforting.

Back to the title of this post. Yes, I've finally reached the letter T. It amazes me that I still find duplicates and incomplete records that begin with earlier letters. Why haven't I found them before now? Clearly I will never totally finish cleaning up the MassCat catalog.

When I finish with Z, I'll start with A again.

It's Daytime and I'm Awake

I've always responded to my surroundings. When it's dark, I'm sleepy; when it's light, I'm awake. Now that it gets light at 5:00 a.m., I'm awake at 5:00 a.m. and often get up soon after.

Today is one of the rare days I did not exercise first thing. I've been very good about practicing Yoga or walking to the newspaperbox early in the morning. But every once in a while I just need a break from exercise.

For the last two months, I've spent most of my time at home. Pretty much everything is closed down due to the virus. Keeping people separated seems like the best way to minimize its spread, but I'm getting somewhat bored and lonely.

The hardest thing for me is that I've had to do a major readjustment with the way I shop for food and household items. I'm not someone who goes to the supermarket once a week and buys everything. I visit a variety of different places for different things. There's the bakery for bread; the food co-op for most food and meat; the supermarket for the things the co-op does not carry or where the prices are too high.

I go to a health food store for vitamins and skin care products because I like their selection. There is a butcher shop where I sometimes get meat and a seafood store which is the only place that sells finnan haddie. Now that the weather has warmed up a bit, the farm stands are opening. I get as much fresh produce from farm stands as I can. I'm used to stopping by one or more of these places to pick up a couple of items as I need them.

Going to the market is such an ordeal now. Sometimes I have to wait in line so that the store does not exceed its limit of customers inside at one time. And there's the wait to get to the cash register, always keeping at least 6 feet from the next person. Since I'm not allowed to bring my own bags, I now have a cabinet full of paper bags. Well, that's one plus: I used to run out of paper bags needed for recycling. It will be a while before I run out of those.

As the virus seems to be fading, stores are beginning to open up. Soon I'll be able to invite people here for drinks as we sit by the pond. I wonder how long it will take before I'm able to get back to my former routines?

What I'm looking forward to most is being back in the office and leading the senior exercise class. I miss those the most.

The Best Thing

The country - and the world - is in a state of emergency.

Here in Hatfield, the Senior Center has been closed to the public, as have all town buildings. Exercise classes are no longer being held.

This morning, I went for a walk. Since I live on a dead-end road, there is only one way to walk. My daily newspaper is delivered about 1/2 mile from my house where the gravel road turns to one lane - though there are a few places to pull over so a car going in the other direction can pass.

It's a pleasant walk, gradually downhill - which means it's gradually uphill on the way home. I sometimes see deer - though not today - and other wildlife. There is a stream that runs under the road which always produces a lovely sound.

Even though the temperature is hovering around the freezing line and it's sort of raining/snowing, walking was the best thing for me to do to begin my day.

It's a difficult time for everyone. The office has been closed and I'll be working from home. I had lots of things planned, both business and pleasure, for the next few weeks. Those have all been canceled. My three days/week schedule of exercise class and work was perfect for me and prevented cabin fever. That no longer exists.

I'm a person who functions best with a certain amount of regularity, but nothing is regular right now. I also tend to be a worrier; I didn't sleep very well last night.

The only normal thing for me right now is to take those morning walks. Morning walks are the best thing.

I'm in Love with Bennett Cerf

For the last several months I've been on a nostalgia trip - ever since I discovered episodes of What's My Line on You Tube.

I remember watching the show on television when I was a kid. I also watched it when it went into syndication late in the 60s, but the original version - which ran from 1950-1967 is the best.

The regular moderator was John Daly. Regular panelists were Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen and Bennett Cerf. There was a rotating guest panelist every week: often Steve Allen, Ernie Kovacs, or Tony Randall.

While everyone on the show was articulate, urbane and witty, by far the most adorable was Bennett Cerf. I love his impish grin.

Bennett Cerf was the founder of Random House. He was also an author. Know for his puns, he had a great sense of humor. There was constant teasing between Bennett and host John Daly.

Publisher, wit, theater goer, avid reader - what librarian wouldn't love him? Every few days I sit down at my computer and watch an episode (or two or three) of What's My Line.

An update on other aspects of my life: I just finished reading The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen. My stack of reading was getting low and this was on the New Book shelf at the library. While I'm generally not interested in books with a supernatural or paranormal theme, this one was gripping. I couldn't put it down! Not all of the "loose ends" were completely tied together, but I don't care. It was a totally absorbing read.

Writing down my intention of practicing Yoga regularly has worked - at least so far. I think maintaining the habit will be easier as I continue. I took the time twice last week and again today (it's only Tuesday) to listen to and work along with my favorite Yoga CD.

And at work, I'm still plugging away on the letter S. There are lots of words that begin with that letter, so this may take me a while. Yesterday I worked on merging duplicate records of items with titles that began with "Sigmund Freud", books and other media by and about Sigmund Freud, and any other record I happened to spot along the way. Then I began on the word "sign". MassCat has lots of books in its catalog on American Sign Language and baby signing.

I think the best part of my job is serendipitously learning about so many different things and being about to follow up by borrowing a book and learning more. I keep saying that this is the perfect job for me.

Yoga

Once upon a time, I got up  every morning (or so) and did a session of Yoga or Pilates. I'm not certain why I stopped, but likely it was because I've been leading (or attending) the senior exercise class three days each week.

The Yoga "class" was on several different audio cassettes. I would rotate among four different ones for a variety of exercises and stretches. The cassettes are getting very old and sometimes they'd get "eaten" by the player. I could usually extricate and rewind them but I began to get anxious about playing them.

I found some of them on CD (which I can play on my DVD player) so two of the sessions are now available worry free.

Today is a holiday and there is no senior exercise class. This morning, first thing, I pulled on my sweats and spent the next half hour stretching and strengthening my back using Yoga poses. I feel great.

About a year and a half ago, I strained by back. I don't know how. One day, my lower back was feeling stiff, but that usually goes away in a couple of days. This time it got worse so that I couldn't lean forward or backward without extreme pain. I also could not cough or sneeze without extreme pain. I could sit, stand, lean from side to side and lie down. My PCP prescribed an NSAID, recommended icing by lower back (fortunately it was summer; I refuse to ice any part of my body in winter) and the spasms eased.

My acupuncturist recommended some exercises which are some of the same ones included in the Yoga CDs.

Though I no longer have pain, my lower back still stiffens if I'm stationary for a long period of time. I often wake up during the night with a stiff back. In the morning, my back is stiff.

I really need to stretch more and strengthen those back muscles. Obviously senior exercise class is not enough. I often tell the participants in the class that Mother Nature is working against us and we need to keep active to offset the effects of aging. Clearly I need to take my own advice.

I'm hoping that 2-3 days each week when there is no senior exercise class, I'll pull on my sweats first thing in the morning and stretch and pose while listening to my Yoga CDs. Writing my intention down will help make it a reality.

Onward to O

Yes! On Friday, I finished with the letter N. That's the fastest yet for completing a letter. I was so close to the end I really wanted to get there. I did not start O because I had a lot of requests from libraries that had arrived on Thursday and I needed to attend to that task. I pride myself on MassCat's (my) turnaround time.

Since I only work in the office 3 days/week, it's not a good idea to let the requests sit around. Forty-eight hours is a reasonable limit. Also, the MLS-Northampton delivery days are Monday and Thursday. Some of the requests were sent to me in "person" on Thursday. I always try to get them done and back into the bin for Monday's pickup.

I have something to look forward to when I arrive in the office at 11. That letter O.

This will be a busy week.

Monday: a lecture at the Sci-Tech cafe on Future Foods, including 3-D printed foods (?). This is a series of very technical topics presented for the general public. They're usually way over my head and the people I know who attend them say the same thing. But the talks are still interesting. The research that's going on in universities is truly amazing.

Tuesday: a documentary on Hedy Lamarr, the actress who was also an inventor. Amherst Cinema has
been showing films of women who have made significant contributions in scientific research. Of course, being women, they tend to be ignored or not taken seriously.

Thursday: a meeting of all the Healthy Bones and Balance (HBB) Leaders. We have these meetings 3 times/year. It's a chance to meet some of the other leaders, learn about new exercises, and ask questions. I still think about becoming a personal trainer and/or wellness coach.

Friday: LaRK Jazz Trio is playing at Bread Euphoria. The L of LaRK is a friend of mine whom I met when she started to attend the HBB class at the Hatfield Senior Center. Now M and I socialize with her and her husband and have also become LaRK groupies. It's a pleasant night out and we often invite friends. We sit around, chat, drink wine and munch on pizza or soup and sandwiches. Very nice.

Saturday: M and I are hosting a dinner party. We haven't had one in a long time and are looking forward to this. Of course, there is some stress: what will I serve 8 people? What's easy to make so that I can still spend time with my guests? And I want to impress them with my culinary skills.

As spring continues its envelopment of New England, more signs pop up. Yesterday, a mother black bear and her yearling came onto the deck. No doubt, she was trying to get to the bird feeder, which is too far from the deck for her to reach. It's taken us a lot of years to place that feeder in a way bears and squirrels cannot get to it. That doesn't stop them from trying, though. The bear climbed a tree (which was still too far away) and then settled for picking up the seeds that had fallen to the ground. As fascinating as they are to watch, I don't want to encourage bears to spend time in my yard. After a few minutes, I stuck my head out the sliding glass door and told her to "go away".

She did.

Chair Yoga and Tolerance

The Hatfield Senior Center offers Chair Yoga on Tuesday mornings. I've been going for a couple of years now. I'd prefer to practice "full-blown" mat Yoga, but this is free and convenient. It's also more of a workout than one might think.

Whether on a mat or chair, a Yoga practitioner is to remain focused on his/her own body and not watch what others are doing (or not doing). That's part of the discipline.

There is a woman named D. who often attends the class. She usually arrives a few minutes after we've begun, and I find it a little distracting. If there is not an empty chair, the instructor has to fetch two more. (We use two chairs for several of the postures.) D. has many physical limitations and cannot lift even a light chair.

D. also chooses to do a couple of the postures standing. She uses a neoprene knee support for some, but not all, of them. The knee support attaches with velcro which makes a distinctive sound as she puts it on and takes it off.

I have to admit to getting annoyed. Is D. oblivious to the multiple distractions she creates for the others in the group? Or am I the only person who feels this way?

I try to remember that D. is often in pain, that she comes to Chair Yoga to help mitigate that pain and to try to keep her body functioning as well as it can. I try to treat the distractions she causes as a challenge and keep focused on my own postures. After all, that's part of the discipline.

I do, however, wish she would arrive on time.

The Downside of Senior Exercise Class

I've thought about writing this post for a while.

I thought about it when M., a woman I've known and admired for several years stopped coming to exercise class. She and I had served together on a town committee. She was smart, physically active, and had a fun sense of humor. She also had dementia. She was clearly having trouble in class following directions and would do her own variation of the exercise. I didn't worry too much as long as she wasn't doing anything dangerous. However, her family felt she couldn't be left alone during the day and the last I heard she's attending senior day care where she has more supervision than I could give her.

Something similar happened with J. I didn't know her well, but she had recently moved out of her own house and in with her daughter. She was sometimes confused and not always sure she was in the right place. A few months later I was told that she was now in senior day care.

D. started with exercise class at his doctor's suggestion. He was only there a few weeks and then entered the Soldier's Home. A few weeks later, I saw his obituary.

And most recently, there was R. A friend of hers told her about the exercise class. R. was sassy and funny and talked a lot during class, complaining about how hard the exercises were. She made everyone laugh. I was so surprise to get a phone call one weekend telling me that R. had had a massive stroke and died 2 days later. The class on Monday morning was just not the same and I had a hard time concentrating on it.

I've lost a lot of friends from that class during the last couple of years. I only knew them in that context, but each of them added something special. It's very sad.

But there is an upside - a very big upside - and that is all of the people who share with me their successes. "I tripped and was able to regain my balance. I didn't fall!" "I picked up the bag of groceries and carried it inside the house." "I stood up from the sofa without a problem." And many, many more.

A New Phase

It's been a very busy summer, proven by the fact I haven't posted for 2 months. Today is September 2, the Labor Day holiday and I'm preparing for class on Saturday.

As of last week, I've "retired" from 2 of my part-time jobs. Now that school is back in session and I'm working more hours at MassCat as well as leading the senior exercise class 3 times each week (up from 2), I no longer have the time to work at Springfield City Library or Donohue Group. I'll miss the camaraderie at those places, but I'll savor the shorter commutes. I'll still be presenting the occasional continuing education workshop just in case I get the urge to do some traveling.

Another reason I'm able to work less is that I'm now old enough to collect Social Security payments with no deduction for other earned income. Of course I have mixed feelings about this. I love what feels like "free" money, but isn't Social Security for old people? Fortunately, I'm healthy and active enough to enjoy the new bounty.

A good reason to continue those exercise classes.

Quality of Life

On this Thanksgiving Day, I am especially thankful for my good health.

I come from a long-lived, healthy family and have always assumed good health. As I get older, I see many colleagues who are not so fortunate. While most of the women in my exercise class are active and independent, many have had knee, hip or shoulder replacements. Others have physical limitations that keep me aware of my possible vulnerability.

Recently, I reconnected with a woman with whom I went to Library School. I had always been a little envious of her: She was very attractive, always looked good in her clothes and had a job I would have liked. Now, although still attractive, she has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She had to leave her job, has a difficult time walking and has lots of trouble following a thought to its conclusion. Another friend of mine broke her foot and is wheelchair-bound. Although the wheelchair is temporary, an accident like hers could happen to me.

And there are other people I know, some much younger than I, who have a variety of physical ailments.

All of which motivate me to keep active both physically and mentally and to be thankful every day for what I am able to accomplish every day.

An Itinerant Cataloger

I've just finished the first week of my new schedule as an itinerant cataloger, although the schedule will fluctuate a little from week to week. There are two holidays in November to work around, too. The week was somewhat more chaotic than usual since I had to cope with 34 hours of no electricity due to Hurricane Sandy.

Here's what it looked like:

Monday: I arrived at Springfield City Library at 9:00 a.m. The first thing I needed to do was learn the cataloging function of Evergreen and SCL's local practices. The library closed at noon because of the storm. I went home and graded papers and began prep for Thursday's class. The lights went out at 2:30, but I worked until it got too dark to do that. I lit candles, listened to the battery powered radio and watched the wind blow the trees around.

Tuesday: Still no lights. I went to SCL and worked on music CDs (mostly copy cataloging), got more comfortable with Evergreen and SCLs music classification system.

Wednesday: The lights came on about 12:30 a.m. It was good to wash in warm water and make coffee that morning. I went to Town Hall to teach the senior exercise class at the Council on Aging office, then off to MassCat to work on their database. I'm more aware of the differences between Evergreen and Koha, the two most common Open Source systems available to libraries.

Thursday was owner/member appreciation day at the local food co-op. I had been planning for a couple of weeks to go shopping there and take advantage of the 10% discount. First, I had to finish prepping for LIS415, which I did. I had a lot of photocopying to do for class, so I left a little early. It was a good class, perhaps the best of the semester. This has been a quiet group of students, not much discussion/questions during class but that night was different. They had a group assignment to work on and really got into it.

Friday: back to Town Hall, but first a stop by the library to sign the bi-weekly warrants (I'm trustee chair). The other exercise instructor usually takes responsibility for most of Friday's class. I lead the part where the exercises aggravate her bad back. I found out that the Town Hall will be closed the day after Thanksgiving and there will be no exercise class. That's good because it makes my schedule easier. The MassCat office will also be closed that day and if there's no exercise class, I can work at SCL from 9-5.

So now it's Saturday and I don't feel like doing anything at all. I've done some odds and ends around the house and there are plenty of things I could do, but they can wait till tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll have more time. It's the first day of Standard Time (fall back) and will be a whole hour longer.

Back to Yoga

I haven't practiced Yoga in several weeks.

Because I've been leading the senior exercise class every Wednesday morning, and on the days I work at DGI, I've been walking the 1 1/2 mile trail along the Farmington River and also bacause I did the Hatfield Education Foundation 5K walk, I figured I was getting plenty of exercise. Big mistake.

None of those activites provide the stretching that Yoga does. As a result, a little over a week ago I lifted with my back instead of my legs and pulled a muscle in my lower back. For the next few days, getting into and out of bed was painful; getting into and out of the car even worse. I was okay while sitting or standing, but I needed to be very careful while changing from one to the other.

My back has been slowly getting better and the good news is that I'm redeveloping good habits in terms of posture. And I've gone back to my morning Yoga routine.

I will not neglect Yoga again.

MY Classes

This is my third semester teaching LIS415 - Information Organization. I've started making serious changes to the notes and slides I was given and I'm really feeling as if this course is MINE. The class last Saturday went really well; I had a good time and the students responded.

In a few minutes I'll be leaving to teach my senior exercise class. This is also beginning to feel like MY class. I have a structure to follow (like LIS415), but I can make adaptations and I'm getting to know the students and we're all having fun.

On another note, I've nearly finished Julia Child's My Life in France. What a wonderful book! It's been on my virtual "To Read" list since I saw the movie Julie & Julia. Now I understand why Julie was so adamant about trying all of Julia's recipes. With all of the cooking I do, I've never actually used the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but I want to read it. Being a semi-vegetarian and traveling the low-fat route, I'm not sure how many of her recipes I'll actually use, but the cookbook sounds fascinating. The kind of work Julia put into it (10 years!) is incredible. Now that's passion.

Julia Child had such a wonderful spirit and love of life. The book, as its title explains, focuses on the years she lived in France and continues a little beyond with the publishing of the cookbook and the production of her television show on WGBH (neither of which would have happened if she had not lived in France). While she comments occasionally on her somewhat stormy relationship with her father (they had very different political views and he felt betrayed by her because her opinions were different from his), there is a lot of personal information left out. Julia was 6' 2" - that's very tall for a man and even fewer women reach that height. What was it like for her growing up? Was she teased by her schoolmates? What other challenges faced her especially in an era that had never heard of Universal Design? She must have spent a lot of time bending over kitchen counters built for people of "average" height. Because of her travels, she flew a lot; how did she deal with lack of legroom? That sort of situation is never mentioned in her book. I'm so curious about the other aspects of her life.

I strongly recommend My Life in France. I'll be sad when I've finished it. I wish someone would write Julia Child's biography - but it would have to embody her style. Is that possible?

A Flurry of Activity

I spent 4 days of the last couple of weeks working on catalog maintenance and also some cataloging. I was in two places that were in many ways the same: both were large spaces with plenty of room to work and with pleasant and helpful colleagues. However, they were different in one big way: one had windows and the other did not. The one without windows actually had windows (I could see them from the outside of the building) but they were solidly covered over, I guess because the room was "computer central" for a network of libraries. Once I get involved in a project, I don't really notice the lack of windows as long as the room is well-lit and ventilated.

It was good to get out into the working world, even for a few days. I got to wear clothes that spend more time hanging in my closet than on me. Since I completed those short projects, today I am home in my playclothes although I'll be putting on something a little more presentable to go out later today to run errands.

Tomorrow will be my first time teaching low-impact aerobics to a group of seniors. The exercises are designed to prevent (or slow down) osteoporosis. I had 4 hours of training a week ago Saturday and I've been practicing with the DVD that is given to participants. They each receive a booklet and DVD so they can practice at home. There is lots of material to read on exercise and nutrition as they relate to bone health. One of the best things about being a cataloger (or probably a librarian in general) is that just about everything in the world is useful to my job in some way. Now if I need to catalog any books (or DVDs) on osteoporosis, I'll have a lot of working knowledge.

Only 4 days till classes start at Simmons GSLIS west. I'm thinking of ways to incorporate more in-class projects and discussion and lessen my lecture time in LIS415. That's what was suggested in many of the evaluations I received from the last class - and the class before that. Now that I'm much more comfortable with the syllabus and the material, I can begin to deviate from them a little and include more of my own material.

Last night I finished Fire Sale, a V.I. Warshawsky detective novel. Today I will return it to the library and add 4 dots (1 for each hundred pages) to the 100,000 pages chart. The Hatfield Public Library has issued a town-wide reading challenge and I'm going to do my best to make it happen.

Obsession - or is it Compulsion?

I've already begun waking up in the middle of the night thinking about how I'm going to make changes to LIS415 next semester. I understand that catalogers don't have OCD. They have CDO - that's OCD but in alphabetical order. :-)

The other news I have is that I am probably going to be the new fitness instructor at the Hatfield Senior Center. This is one of the volunteer jobs I called about yesterday. I was a volunteer fitness instructor at the Greenfield YMCA for 8 years and really loved it. I was even certified by ACE (American Council on Exercise) and the YMCA.

Being the instructor is the perfect way to insure you work out. Even if you pay for aerobics classes, it's still easy enough to skip a class. But when you're teaching the class, there's no way you can skip.

For a while I considered a career change. However, it's hard to be a full-time fitness instructor. Even energetic 20-year-olds can't teach enough classes to pay the rent without causing serious bodily injury. Fitness instructors are often also Personal Trainers to give their muscles a rest and I wasn't sure I wanted to go the Personal Trainer route. I'm not certain why, though I know it involves a lot more training than I had at the time. Somehow being a Personal Trainer seemed to mean I would have a lot more responsibility and I didn't feel confident enough then.

Anyway, after some training (after all, it's been about 12 years since I've taught fitness classes) you'll be able to find me on Wednesday mornings boogeying at the Hatfield Senior Center.

A Reasonably Productive Day

It's best for me to exercise first thing in the morning - before I have a chance to think about what I'm doing. This morning, I walked to the end of the road (1 mile, inclined downward) and back (1 mile inclined upward). It takes me about 40 minutes to make the trip and I'm always very warm by the time I return home.

The assignments are ALL GRADED!!! There were twice as many as usual because the students worked on these individually instead of in pairs.

And, I vacuumed the inside of my car. It looks lovely. When I bought this car a year ago, it was in pristine condition. I regret to say it does not look quite as nice as it did then, but I want to maintain it physically as well as mechanically. It's the nicest car I've ever owned and I want to take care of it.

I have a big day tomorrow, which I'll elaborate upon later.

One More Class

Next Saturday is the last class of the semester. Today, most of my students gave an oral presentation on topics of Library Science history. Next week, the rest will give their presentations on topics on the future of Library Science. It's so much fun to see how excited they get as they research their topics. The only downside is some of them are not able to distill their information into the allotted time. I mark them down (not a lot, but some) if they go over their time limit.

They turned in their last homework assignment today. I'll spend Monday and/or Tuesday grading the papers so that I can return them next week. Then I still have to compile and submit final grades. Then I get a 5 week vacation - although some of that time will be spent preparing for the Spring Semester.

I've gotten back into the swing of morning exercise. That October snowstorm threw me off of my schedule and then I began experiencing pain in one knee. The pain is good incentive to spend time on Pilates or Yoga every morning because I can really feel the difference. Activity, specifically stretching, minimizes any discomfort. Both of my parents have arthritis and have had various joints replaced. I'm hoping that by paying close attention to my exercise routine (there's that discipline again) I can avoid a similar fate.

Getting Sloppy

Not with my cataloging. NEVER!

For the last few weeks, when I wake up, rather than practicing Yoga or Pilates or going for a walk, I've been brewing a cup of coffee and toasting a slice or two of whole wheat bread. Then I sit on the sofa and watch the birds at the feeder and listen to the waterfall on the very little pond we've constructed near the house.

But as cozy as that scene is, I'm noticing that I feel stiffer and I'm not sleeping as well at night (although that could be caused by the suddenly hot and humid weather). So this morning (Monday is always a good day to begin good habits) I put on one of the easier Yoga audio tapes and spent 45 minutes stretching and breathing.

Then I brewed a cup of coffee and toasted 2 slices of whole wheat bread.

My perpetually changing schedule makes it difficult for me to get into a routine of exercising, but that's something I really need to work on. Last week I started my new project at MassCat cleaning up that database. I'm finding possible duplicate bibliographic records, determining if they really are duplicates, and merging all of the libraries' holdings onto one. I'm also upgrading skimpy records that were imported from other systems when the library joined MassCat. It's tedious work, but very gratifying. MassCat will have a squeeky clean database when I'm finished with it.

Cataloging for the private O'More Library is nearly complete so I only have to make one or two more trips to Cambridge.

And I need to start seriously preparing for LIS415. Now that I've re-energized my exercise program, can that be far behind?