I'm not a religious person. I hate the crass commercialism of any holiday. I don't have children and therefore don't (and never did) have to perpetuate the story of Santa Claus. I especially don't like trying to live a normal life - shop for food, have my hair cut, run other mundane errands - only to face incredible amounts of traffic on the city streets.
What I really hate most about Christmas - that season of "peace on earth and goodwill toward men" - is how frazzled and short tempered so many people become. While trying to navigate all that traffic, many drivers cut in front of other cars, lean on their horns, and generally become obnoxious.
However, there are a few things I like about the holiday season. I love the lights. I love driving down the street and seeing trees lit up. And one of the few concessions I make - that many others have abandoned - is writing personal notes in Christmas cards and sending them to people I seldom see. I don't want to lose touch with people I worked closely with 20 or 30 years ago. Many of them have moved far away but I still think of them. Facebook and other online connections are not the same as sitting down with a cheerful card and telling a friend (briefly) what I've been doing for the last year and wishing her or him well.
Now that we have entered the new year and the manic celebrations are over I can get back to my mundane routines and shop for food without fighting frantic crowds.
But I will miss the lights.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Another book
My local public library subscribes to something called Wowbrary. Every week I receive an email listing the books and other items that have just been added to the collection.
A recent Wowbrary posting included Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 stylish secrets I learned while living in Paris. Since I like to take breaks from reading murder mysteries and I'm always interested in fashion tips, I clicked on the "Reserve" button.
This book was not quite what I expected, but still pretty interesting.
Jennifer Scott spent 6 months in Paris as an exchange student. Life in Paris was very different from her native southern California and she learned a lot, only some of which was about fashion. Jennifer has one chapter in Part 2 (Style and beauty) called "Liberate yourself with the ten-item wardrobe". She claims that French women, even in well-to-do families like the one she lived with, have very few clothes. They buy good quality clothes that they can mix and match and don't wear something entirely different every single day. This wardrobe is not as restrictive as you might imagine. There are ten different items for summer and winter and many things are excluded from the basic 10 such as outer wear, underwear, jewelry, scarves, shoes and other accessories.
Ten items are fewer than I'd like to own, even with the exclutions. It feels a little like being a vegan. I can totally understand having a couple of basic pairs of pants and a couple of skirts, but I find variety in tops, of which I have several (although much fewer than I used to). Tops that really catch my attention are some of the few things I have bought during the last couple of years. I really enjoy wearing them. My wardrobe is more like being a vegetarian.
While I don't expect to whittle my wardrobe down to 10 items, it will definitely continue to get smaller. There are several things that have been on on the borderline and this book is tipping them out of the closet and into the donation bin.
Another chapter that struck my fancy was entitled "Look presentable always". The Parisian family with whom Jennifer lived always wore their good clothes, even at home. While I take care when I go out in public and when having guests in, at home alone, I usually wear what I call "play clothes." These are the sweat pants, t-shirts, old socks, etc. that are old and worn but still (in my opinion) wearable. They're great for working in the house or yard because I never have to worry about ruining them. Madame Chic supposedly wore good clothes when she did her housecleaning (she did all her own housecleaning, one way she was able to stay trim) and simply wore an apron over them to keep them clean. I don't know if my house is dirtier to start with or I clean differently, but an apron - even a large one - would not suffice.
While many of the "secrets" in Lessons from Madame Chic are things I already do and others are things I know about but have not incorporated into my life for whatever reason, I draw the line at giving up my play clothes.
A recent Wowbrary posting included Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 stylish secrets I learned while living in Paris. Since I like to take breaks from reading murder mysteries and I'm always interested in fashion tips, I clicked on the "Reserve" button.This book was not quite what I expected, but still pretty interesting.
Jennifer Scott spent 6 months in Paris as an exchange student. Life in Paris was very different from her native southern California and she learned a lot, only some of which was about fashion. Jennifer has one chapter in Part 2 (Style and beauty) called "Liberate yourself with the ten-item wardrobe". She claims that French women, even in well-to-do families like the one she lived with, have very few clothes. They buy good quality clothes that they can mix and match and don't wear something entirely different every single day. This wardrobe is not as restrictive as you might imagine. There are ten different items for summer and winter and many things are excluded from the basic 10 such as outer wear, underwear, jewelry, scarves, shoes and other accessories.
Ten items are fewer than I'd like to own, even with the exclutions. It feels a little like being a vegan. I can totally understand having a couple of basic pairs of pants and a couple of skirts, but I find variety in tops, of which I have several (although much fewer than I used to). Tops that really catch my attention are some of the few things I have bought during the last couple of years. I really enjoy wearing them. My wardrobe is more like being a vegetarian.
While I don't expect to whittle my wardrobe down to 10 items, it will definitely continue to get smaller. There are several things that have been on on the borderline and this book is tipping them out of the closet and into the donation bin.
Another chapter that struck my fancy was entitled "Look presentable always". The Parisian family with whom Jennifer lived always wore their good clothes, even at home. While I take care when I go out in public and when having guests in, at home alone, I usually wear what I call "play clothes." These are the sweat pants, t-shirts, old socks, etc. that are old and worn but still (in my opinion) wearable. They're great for working in the house or yard because I never have to worry about ruining them. Madame Chic supposedly wore good clothes when she did her housecleaning (she did all her own housecleaning, one way she was able to stay trim) and simply wore an apron over them to keep them clean. I don't know if my house is dirtier to start with or I clean differently, but an apron - even a large one - would not suffice.
While many of the "secrets" in Lessons from Madame Chic are things I already do and others are things I know about but have not incorporated into my life for whatever reason, I draw the line at giving up my play clothes.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
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.
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.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Hot Stuff
Of course! As soon as I posted about semi-retirement, I received a phone call from Springfield City Library asking if I could work for them part time.
Because the migration to a new Integrated Library System did not go as smoothly as everyone hoped, their cataloger has fallen way behind on original cataloging and they need someone to help. That's me.
So now I'm working just about full time: 10 hours each week at MassCat, 1 or 2 days each week (depending on what else I have scheduled) at SCL, and one full day and evening for preparation and teaching Information Organization. And let's not forget the senior Osteo Exercise class which now meets two mornings each week because it is so popular.
Last year at this time I had no work other than the Info Org class. Now I can barely fit in all the things I have to do. Guess I'll just have to cut back on cleaning house :-)
Because the migration to a new Integrated Library System did not go as smoothly as everyone hoped, their cataloger has fallen way behind on original cataloging and they need someone to help. That's me.
So now I'm working just about full time: 10 hours each week at MassCat, 1 or 2 days each week (depending on what else I have scheduled) at SCL, and one full day and evening for preparation and teaching Information Organization. And let's not forget the senior Osteo Exercise class which now meets two mornings each week because it is so popular.
Last year at this time I had no work other than the Info Org class. Now I can barely fit in all the things I have to do. Guess I'll just have to cut back on cleaning house :-)
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Settling into Semi-Retirement
I was laid off from a full-time job more than two years ago. I collected unemployment for a while and have worked in a variety of part-time jobs. Finally my life seems to be settling into somewhat of a pattern that I enjoy.
This is what my schedule looks like for the next few months: Two mornings each week (Wednesday and Friday) I attend the senior exercise class in town. I share leading the class with another woman. Sometimes I lead the entire class; sometimes we each lead a part of it. Now that there are two classes each week, she'll be leading more. If I find myself short of time, I may not go to both.
After exercise class, I head out to the Massachusetts Library System-west office where the MassCat office is located. There I spend the rest of the day on database maintenance and original cataloging for member libraries.
Thursday evenings I teach LIS415 for Simmons GSLIS-west. I spend most of Thursday (and some of the other days not otherwise accounted for) preparing for that class.
For the next few months, I'm contracted to teach one Continuing Education class/month for the Connecticut State Library or the Mass Library System. The workshops will be Cataloging Equipment, RDA, and an overview of cataloging for "accidental catalogers".
That leave me plenty of time to read (current book: Dearie), work on crossword puzzles and cook. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I'm baking muffins and quickbreads. I also made a pan of lasagna and included a layer of roasted summer squash. Yum.
This is the life - hope it continues this way for a long time.
This is what my schedule looks like for the next few months: Two mornings each week (Wednesday and Friday) I attend the senior exercise class in town. I share leading the class with another woman. Sometimes I lead the entire class; sometimes we each lead a part of it. Now that there are two classes each week, she'll be leading more. If I find myself short of time, I may not go to both.
After exercise class, I head out to the Massachusetts Library System-west office where the MassCat office is located. There I spend the rest of the day on database maintenance and original cataloging for member libraries.
Thursday evenings I teach LIS415 for Simmons GSLIS-west. I spend most of Thursday (and some of the other days not otherwise accounted for) preparing for that class.
For the next few months, I'm contracted to teach one Continuing Education class/month for the Connecticut State Library or the Mass Library System. The workshops will be Cataloging Equipment, RDA, and an overview of cataloging for "accidental catalogers".
That leave me plenty of time to read (current book: Dearie), work on crossword puzzles and cook. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I'm baking muffins and quickbreads. I also made a pan of lasagna and included a layer of roasted summer squash. Yum.
This is the life - hope it continues this way for a long time.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
First Day of School
It doesn't matter if it's second grade, high school, or college; if you're a student or the teacher, the First Day of School still feels like the First Day of School.
Tonight, I teach the first class of the fall semester of Information Organization. There are 13 students enrolled - a nice size. It's large enough for variety and discussion, but small enough that I should be able to learn everyone's name in a couple of weeks and not be overwhelmed when I grade papers.
This will be my 4th time teaching the course. I had really become comfortable using eLearning (aka Blackboard) and recently figured out a bunch of neat features when Simmons decided to switch to Moodle. I spent a few weeks last month copying and pasting materials from one to the other. Moodle isn't as pretty as eLearning, but maybe I just haven't found how to add interesting colors and designs.
This morning I finished revising the slides and lecture notes for tonight's class and just uploaded the slides to Moodle under Unit 1. I have the hard copies I need, several files on a flash drive to print at the GSLIS-west office before class, the props I'll be using for an organization exercise, my water bottle and a snack. I'm ready to go!
Tonight, I teach the first class of the fall semester of Information Organization. There are 13 students enrolled - a nice size. It's large enough for variety and discussion, but small enough that I should be able to learn everyone's name in a couple of weeks and not be overwhelmed when I grade papers.
This will be my 4th time teaching the course. I had really become comfortable using eLearning (aka Blackboard) and recently figured out a bunch of neat features when Simmons decided to switch to Moodle. I spent a few weeks last month copying and pasting materials from one to the other. Moodle isn't as pretty as eLearning, but maybe I just haven't found how to add interesting colors and designs.
This morning I finished revising the slides and lecture notes for tonight's class and just uploaded the slides to Moodle under Unit 1. I have the hard copies I need, several files on a flash drive to print at the GSLIS-west office before class, the props I'll be using for an organization exercise, my water bottle and a snack. I'm ready to go!
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