Library? No, it's a Video Rental Store!

Last night, I felt like I knew what I was doing for the first time at work. I moved calmly and seamlessly from one task to another, didn't get irritated at anyone, didn't make any obvious, flustered mistakes, and didn't once apologize and tell anyone that I was new.

For starters, my feet didn't hurt. I swallowed my shoe-pride and bought a pair of ugly brown Crocs on Monday. I can live with the lack of style. I can ignore the color. Saints-Be-Praised, my dogs aren't barking anymore.

Second, I took in a container of leftover Venison Bourguignon and shared it with (read: pushed it upon) my co-workers. I put some in a cup and heated it up for my boss, so she could eat while she was swamped with computer work at her desk. She is now my biggest fan. Everyone else swooned a bit too. I am IN! (Thank you, Julia Child).

Third, I started identifying the small things that drive me crazy already, and working on solutions to those problems (because these things also drive everyone else working there a little nuts).

Who knew that the local library is actually the new Netflix/Blockbuster? Daughter Juli tells me that all the 'net blogs are touting money-saving ideas, such as "Don't rent videos, borrow them from your local library!" She says that she recently read a news article that said that Blockbuster has closed more than 800 stores, and that libraries are now the primary source for renting movies.

All I know is that when I got the library job I was thrilled, thinking that I'd be around all those BOOKS! I'd be helping people find research materials, deciphering the Dewey Decimal system, and sharing unlimited access to the written word with the world.

Instead, my two main activities at work are: managing traffic for public computer usage, and dealing with eleventy-billion DVDs. I check them in. I take them out of the cases, slip them into sleeves and file them alphabetically in the storage bins. I re-shelve the empty cases. Two minutes later, someone brings the same case back to the desk. I check it out. I find the disc in the storage cabinet, take it out of the sleeve and put it in the hard case again. Again and again. Over and over.

Yesterday, instead of re-stocking the empty cases on the shelves, I just let them pile up on the desk until they literally started sliding to the floor. My thinking was, if I put them back, people will just check them out again, and I was too busy to deal with it (the library was a madhouse since we had been closed for the prior three days). I was too busy defusing computer conflicts
("but I can't wait until someone else is done!") to get upset over movies.

The other problem is the DVD shelves themselves. They are too deep for the cases, so every time I do re-shelve, I have to re-straighten everything, pull out the cases that have slipped to the back, re-alphabetize everything again and shore up the sliding mass of movies. About the hundredth time I did this yesterday, I thought (in my best internal Jimmy Stewart voice) "now wait just a gosh-darned minute!" There must be a better way to do this.

I got out the yardstick and did some measuring. All I'd need is 12 pieces of wood, 1" x 2.75" x 35.25" long. I could slide these spacers into the back of each shelf--then, no matter how many times people messed with my DVDs, they would slide in to the spacer and STOP! They would all go to the edge of the shelf, and no further. Yes, I would still have to shore them up laterally, but no more digging and slipping and hiding!

I asked the director if this would be a good thing. She countered by telling me to just go to Henard's Lumber and get what I needed on the library's account. She also said "I like people who take initiative!" I felt like I had just won a gold star in Library!

And who knows, maybe someone will check out a movie, and then miraculously decide to read the book. It could happen, right? It would be a start at least.

TGIF!

I'm still loving my new job, but boy am I tired! I am so glad it's Friday!

I've always thought that the only thing wrong with real jobs is that they make you go every day. That, and the fact that you have to wear shoes.

Naturally, Bill is fed up with me being gone, so he's planned a whole day of whirlwind activities for Sunday, just to wear me out before I have to go back for more training every day next week too. The following week, I will start my normal schedule of two days per week, eight hours per day. It will seem like a vacation!

Bill & Bud's Excellent Adventure

Bill and his dad arrived late last night, just as I was getting ready for bed. The news from St. Louis is good--dad's cancer is in a temporary hiatus, and the doctors believe he can discontinue chemotherapy for the time being. They are quick to say he can resume anytime, but for now, Dad is enjoying life without the debilitating side effects that were making him so miserable.

Bud will stay with us for a few days until he decides to go home. He's a rambling man, and never stays in one place very long. He's sleeping on the couch on the main level, because he doesn't trust his numb feet on the narrow stairs to the loft.

I continue my work adventure. Yesterday was okay, but I found myself on information overload, and pretty much forgot everything I learned the first two days. It is also very hot--the budget doesn't allow truly comfortable A/C (the director keeps the temp at 78), so I am wardrobe-challenged. I keep dressing lighter and lighter each day, but I come home as sweaty as if I have been working out at the gym.

My only hope for winter is that the director will be just as frugal with the heat as she is with the cooling in the summer. If she keeps the library at 68 or below, I might be able to make it through the day without being in a constant overheated hot flash.

Work

I enjoyed my first day of work. I learned where everything was, shelved books (and fixed mistakes whenever I found them), checked in and checked out, and even helped a woman with a major computer problem, just by noodling around and trying everything I could think of. It worked and she went away happy.

It's downright exhausting to be on my feet in big-girl shoes for a whole day though. I came home, walked the dog, wolfed down a sandwich and collapsed on the couch. When I woke up at 7:30, it was dark and the day was over!

All of this meant that I was still awake at midnight, with no signs of getting sleepy. I finished my bedtime book and turned out the light, and began a mental list of all the jobs I have had (my version of counting sheep, I guess). Let's start with just those I had before I graduated from high school:

1. Teen columnist for the local newspaper at 11
2. Babysitter at 12-18
3. Girl Scout Daycamp Counselor at 13
4. Swimming & springboard diving instructor at the YMCA at 14-17
5. Waitress at 15
6. Inventory clerk at Robert Hall Clothing at 16
7. Jafra cosmetics consultant at 16
8. Grocery bagger at Lucky Market at 17

Then, the jobs I had during college and my first marriage:

9. Cashier at a movie theatre in Laguna Beach, CA
10. Cashier in the UCI cafeteria
11. House painter
12. Drug counselor
13. Deli worker at Honey Baked Hams in Corona del Mar, CA
14. McDonalds in Santa Ana
15. Short-order cook at UCI
16. Assembly-line worker in furniture factory
17. Assembly-line worker in IV factory
18. Assistant manager at Honey Baked Hams in Anaheim
19. Office manager at YMCA in San Jose
20. DJ at KUCI
21. Advertising production manager for UCI newspaper

Then, after graduating from college:

22. Paste-up artist for advertising agency
23. Assistant to the CFO
24. Cocktail waitress
25. Freelance advertising & public relations
26. Typesetter, graveyard shift
27. Import customs expiditer
28. Staff writer for Century 21

And when I got together with Bill:

29. Managing editor for C-21
30. Newswave reporter at the 1980 DNC convention
31. Avon lady in Orange County
32. Bartender in Lafayette, Louisiana
33. Waitress in St. Martinsville, Louisiana
34. Bartender in North Pole, Alaska
35. Freelance writer
36. Avon lady in San Pedro

After Juli was born, Bill and I moved to Vallejo, where he went to college for four years:

37. Waitress in Napa, California
38. Cocktail waitress in Crockett, California
39. Waitress in Vallejo, California
40. Discovery Toys sales
41. Avon sales

And then, we moved to New York:

42. Waitress in Saratoga Springs, NY
43. Account manager for radio WCGS
44. Freelance radio advertising sales
45. Publicity writer for the school district
46. Rx technician at Rite-Aid in Corinth
47. Culinary student
48. Volunteer work for HSA/PTSA
49. Homegrown - plant & seedling home-based business
50. School board trustee
51. Bookkeeper & Tax Prep
52. Ebay sales
53. Pampered Chef sales
54. Longaberger sales
55. Tastefully Simple sales
56. Substitute high school teacher
57. Stock clerk at Wal-mart (my shortest job--1 & 1/2 days, and I quit!)
58. Rx tech at Rite-Aid in Glens Falls

Finally, to Tennessee:

59. House renovator
60. Cancer patient (hey, it's a full-time job!)
61. Cutco, Longaberger, Tastefully Simple sales
62. Rental property manager
63. Library helper

Are you asleep yet? I fell into slumber somewhere around the factory work...

Pickle & Peach Joy; Corn Grief

While Jeannie and I were making a joyful mess in the kitchen over the weekend,


the ever-present varmints were having a picnic outside, with my corn as the main course:

Jean and I sighed and cleaned up the mess. Then I took it as a sign that it was time to harvest the remaining ears--obviously, someone thinks the corn is ready to consume. My little patch yielded 18 small ears (minus 5 from the critters' dinner party). Not bad for a first experiment.

J and I were so pleased with our 10 pints of Bread & Butter Pickles! The canning water bath was still hot, so we pulled 2 quarts of last year's peaches out of the freezer and made 5 pints of Peach Jam. After all that hot stove work, I was still dithering about what to have for dinner. I made a half-hearted attempt at defrosting some chicken and poblano peppers. We briefly thought about going out for Mexican food, but when Jean expressed a desire for a margarita and we told her this was a dry county--no margaritas in this venue--we quickly decided on pork tenderloin leftovers, hash browns and steamed green beans. And much wine. And the last of the awesome apple pie I made on Friday.

Awesome Apple Pie

1 pie crust

Mix together and pour into unbaked crust:

8 tart apples (I used 4 Winesap and 4 Granny Smith), peeled, cored and sliced

Juice of 1 lemon

2 Tbls. cinnamon

1 Tbls. brandy

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup Pie Filling Enhancer (from KA Flour Company)

1/4 cup Boiled Cider Syrup (from KA Flour)

1 tsp. vanilla

Topping

Mix together with fingers until crumbly:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3 Tbls. cold butter

Spread over the apple filling and press down lightly. Spritz lightly with water, just until topping is moistened.

Bake 20 minutes at 450, then cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes more at 350.

Bill left for Illinois yesterday, and is on his way to St. Louis with his dad this morning. Jeannie left for Kentucky in the early afternoon. I went to the movies, and spent a happy two hours with Julie & Julia.

Julia Child was my heroine when I was growing up. I used to watch The French Chef on my lunch hour when I was in elementary school. She was my secret crazy aunt, and I knew even then that she was changing the world with her whisks (no one in America had ever seen a whisk until her TV show!), her butter and her wine. Bon apetite indeed. Obviously, I loved the movie.

And now, I am up early, keeping my ambivalence at bay while I figure out what to wear and how to get to WORK at the appointed time. A new adventure.