Friday, November 30, 2007

In Which Your Faithful Narrator Discusses Another Interview

I had an interview the other day. It was for a part time position, but its a position I feel could lead to better things. The position was for, essentially, a reference job. The Indianapolis Marion County Library (IMCPL) has just done a massive renovation and rebuild. Actually, it is two years late and roughly fifty million, yes you read that right, fifty million dollars over budget. Most of that fifty million went towards fixing a defective parking garage.

I could do it. I could go part time at my current job and do that part time and believe it or not, I'd make more money a year than I do now full time. I'd just have to keep a certain amount of hours at my current job to keep my benefits.

I am trying not to get myself all wound up and excited about the job interview, though. I think it went well, but I thought my interview I had a few weeks ago went well and I ended up not getting that job. I guess you could say that I am cautiously optimistic and prayerfully hopeful. Though, I will say, it would be awfully sweet to work in a brand new building.

All I have to say is this: the view from the sixth floor is truly amazing, oh, and the old building that housed the library is now the fiction wing. Yeah, you read that right.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

In Which Your Faithful Narrator Gets a Shot of Needed Self-Confidence

Last night I discovered a website that listed library jobs. I started perusing some of them and I discovered, happily, that I might actually be qualified for a good many of them. There is a nice feature that lists jobs by states and then those states have links to universities and public libraries, so I spent about an hour or more happily bouncing around the country looking at library jobs.

I found a few that were enticing, but I didn't send my resume or anything because I didn't have my thumbdrive that has my resume on it. As a matter of fact, I've been thinking I need to redo my resume. Make it look more professional, the problem with that is I dislike working on my resume. I don't like "bragging" about myself.

When I didn't get the job I interviewed for a few weeks back I was actually more crushed than I led myself to believe. That, I won't call it a failure, really took the wind out of my sails, but yesterday I learned that classmate of mine got a job in a library in Savannah, GA. I figured, if she can do it, why can't I? I think I've mentioned my dilemma when it comes to my self-confidence. I can be my own worst enemy when it comes to that kind of thing.

In other news, but kind of in the same vein, I finally got my degree in the mail today. I'm, dare I say it... stoked. I feel like taking that degree and showing some of my teachers that told me I wouldn't get out of high school that I did, in fact not only get out of high school, I went to college and got an A.A. degree, a Bachelors, and now, my friends, a Masters.

Am I allowed to feel proud of myself for a little while? I don't think I can express here, in words, the feeling of accomplishment I have; it feels good to be able to say to my teachers from the past "I showed you!" And the 16-year old dishwasher who made a promise to himself that he would in fact get a masters degree someday can feel especially proud of himself for achieving that which many didn't think he could do.

So, to Mr. Campenero, my fourth grade teacher: I DID IT! To Miss Miller, my high school English teacher who told me I shouldn't try and take the English 101 class my senior year: I DID IT! To Mrs. Walsh, my Spanish teacher: I DID IT!

Now, I just have to take this good feeling and turn it into something positive. That's going to be the trick. I have to be careful because that voice of self-doubt will rear its ugly head.

Oh, did I mention that about two weeks ago I requested information from Concordia Ft. Wayne? Never hurts to look into things, right?

Friday, November 16, 2007

In Which Your Narrator Enters the Electronic Store and Survives Somewhat Unscathed

Going to the electronics store is always something of a nerve wracking experience to me. Particularly, when I go with my parents and I have to try and explain the difference between various electronic equipment. Try explaining the difference between HD and Blu-ray to a man, my father, who still marvels at something like, I don't know, color TV. The problem is, though, that I don't quite understand the difference between HD or Blu-ray, either. And I'll admit that I do in fact sometimes marvel at the fact that I am sitting in Indiana and watching a baseball game in New York. Or try explaining what the bells and whistle of Microsoft Vista as opposed to XP are. Another admission, I really don't know. I am not the most technical savvy guy in the world. Matter of fact much of the information and knowledge I do have is probably more from osmosis than anything else.

We went to H.H. Gregg today. For the last couple weeks my mom has been toying with two decisions. The first was about a computer. She has a computer, had it for about five years. Its a Gateway and has XP. Her problem is that it has started to slow down. So she calls her in house computer guru, i.e. me, your faithful narrator, and asks me fix it for her. Well, if it can't be fixed by staring at it, or doing ye olde disk cleanup I'm pretty much useless; however, I did poke around a bit and decided that if she got rid of much of the downloaded stuff and pictures she has seems to have saved she might just be able to get the thing chugging, again. I showed how to do that and then delete the stuff. The other day she did it and did clear off quite a bit of space. She says its moving faster now, which is a good thing. This morning she announced that she had decided not to buy a new computer.

The second decision she has been thinking about was getting a new TV my parents' bedroom. That is why we went to H.H. Gregg. H.H. Gregg is a bit overwhelming. Its TV section is quite impressive and if you look closely at the TVs they have there you can see subtle differences in the picture. I learned something today. Flatscreen TVs don't have very good sound. They may have kick ass picture quality, but there is little room for speakers. We went to H.H. Gregg twice, wait three, times today. The first time was this morning, around eleven, or so. We talked to this guy name Trevor. He talked to us for about a half an hour and we decided to get a TV by a company we'd never heard of before. So we took the TV home, plugged it in and I got it programmed to get the TV stations. Turned it on and started to watch it. The picture was good, I'll give it that, but the sound... oi, or to quote my mother "it sounds like they're talking into a can underwater," and my favorite "that's not how Paula Deen sounds." So, she called H.H. Gregg which turned into an exercise in patients. We took the TV back to H.H. Gregg and ended up buying a Samsung, I think. It was more money, but the sound is wonderful and the picture... oi! You can see the extra money in the quality of the TV. The old adage of "you get what you pay for" did, in fact, come into play today. Now, I'll just have to learn how the TV works so I can explain it to my parents, particularly my mom. And yes, Paul Deen sounds like she's supposed to: brassy southern belle.

Friday, November 09, 2007

In Which Your Faithful Narrator Rifts on Being an Optimist

Its tough to be an optimist. I have to work at it. If I'm not careful the hum-drum, doom-n-gloom around me can, and sometimes does, bring me down. I have never really been a pessimist. I have wallowed in pessimism before, but never really made a home there, I discovered that being a pessimist takes too much energy. I have to work at it. Being a optimist is so much easier, takes less energy, and is more fun.

Sometimes, I think people look at my optimism as being lazy, or they think that, in reality, I don't care. Those are both fallacies. I do in fact care and I'm not lazy. The last few weeks on the job front were tough for me, but I kept telling myself that there was a reason for all the things that didn't go my way. I believe that wholeheartedly. I'm sure that I'll look back on the last months in the future and say "yep, that's why such and such didn't happen. Thank God for that..."

It is easier to be an optimist.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

In Which Your Faithful Narrator Discovers Subersive Haiku on the Computer While Working the Circ Desk in the Law Library

** these are not mine. i don't know who wrote them, but they're pretty funny. enjoy**

The Web site you seek
Cannot be located, but
Countless more exist.
--------------------------------------------
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
--------------------------------------------
Program aborting
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask far too much.
--------------------------------------------
Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
--------------------------------------------
Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.
--------------------------------------------
Your file was so big.
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
--------------------------------------------
Stay the patient course.
Of little worth is your ire.
The network is down.
--------------------------------------------
A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.
--------------------------------------------
Three things are certain
Death, taxes and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
--------------------------------------------
You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.
--------------------------------------------
Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.
--------------------------------------------
Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.
--------------------------------------------
Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
--------------------------------------------

In Which Your Faithful Narrator Muses About Nothing in Particular Except Existential Curve Balls

Reformation Day came, and went; in retail we are officially gearing up for the Christmas season. Product has been rolling in since September, we have started stacking books under tables (the acronym for such activity, at least at my employ is COUTS, though, I don't quite remember what it stands for other than the UT means "under tables," we booksellers may be witty, sometimes, but not all that original).

The annual statewide scratching of collective heads has begun, again. Daylight savings time does the "fall back" routine this weekend, Saturday to be exact. So, the newspaper had its yearly "tutorial" as to what counties do what. All I know is that my county Johnson County falls back and is on Eastern Time. That's all I need to know. The northwestern counties go Central and southwestern counties do something else. Ah, Hoosiers, gotta love ya.

I was distinctly depressed the other day. Like down in the dumps depressed, corner of the dark bar with a shot in hand depressed. Life has thrown me some curve balls the last couple weeks and the other day I just couldn't keep myself positive, so became negative and started beating myself up. I'm pretty good at that, I can give myself a pretty good emotional black eye from time to time. That night I just went to bed and slept for about nine hours. That worked really well.

I wish there was more to report, but there really isn't much going on in my neck of the blogosphere and maybe, just maybe, that's a very good thing.