AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

O-kay, people!

< rant >

What part of the "Microsoft Office and Research only" and "no games allowed in the Lab" signs don't you understand??? You're using a computer, so I know you can read. Or did you blank out, selectively, on that skill?

Oh, and how about that cell phone? How many times have I and my staff told you, personally, that we don't allow cell phones in the lab? Did you think the rules changed today? Just for you?

WELL, YOU'RE WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!

Use this equipment for what it's meant for, or get the **** out. The library is not your personal video arcade. You do not have a constitutional right to view the Yahoo! personals or visit an AOL chat room. And while you are sitting there, taking up one of the few computers in our building that actually have more than general internet access, people who might actually be wanting to use the library for the purpose it was designed for are wandering around, futilely trying to find a machine to access the library catalogue from.

And you know, I hate being the Dragon Lady, or That Bitch Librarian Who Kicks Us Off The Computers, or whatever it is the charter high school kids are calling me now behind my back. I really don't want to develop such an adversarial relationship with these students, and/or convince them that the library is not a good place to be. But, you know, sometimes I want to call the parents of these "little darlings," the men and women that are so proud of their children, who studiously spend 3 hours at the library after school each day, and tell them what the little pissants are actually up to.

Hint: it's not schoolwork.

< /rant >

Hey, it's my birthday today!

Finally into a new week after an incredibly busy stretch. I worked all last weekend, then got on the road after work Monday to attend a conference Tuesday and Wednesday, back to work Thursday and Friday, plus performing at the Sawadee Friday and Saturday and trying to get into the studio earlier in the week. Whew! Of course, my one day off was spent housecleaning...but at least my apartment is now dirt-free!

Had an interesting time at the restaurant this Friday--there was a table made up of 2 young teenage boys (about 14) along with the mother of one of them, who had come specifically to see me. All righty. Let's just say the guys, um, really enjoyed my performance. It was pretty funny actually, what with all the comments and the shifting of chairs as I went by and the other antics. I was tempted to go up to them afterwards, and tell them I was old enough to be their mother and a librarian to boot, but I thought, nah, why bring cold hard reality crashing down on them? And they were nice enough to leave a tip, so...

Well, I finally finished Broward County's Positive Start Supervisory Development Series training. Let's see. In the past three months, I have learned:

• the four step communication process
• the six major communication components
• the eight steps of feedback planning
• the seven stages of staffing procedure
• the four steps of interview preparation
• the three-step change process
• the ten steps of delegating
• the three steps of performance planning
• the five-step ADA accomodation process
• the seven steps to creative problem solving
• the five step process for managing conflict constructively
• the five steps to progressive discipline
• the nine steps for avoiding litigation landmines
• the four-step civil service grievance process
• the three step motivation process
• the five steps of coaching
• the four stages of team development, and....
• the four strategies for building a work team

Gee, I wonder how I managed to live life all this time without knowing all these steps, stages, strategies, processes, and components. I feel so ... enlightened ...

Really, I can hardly stand it.

Scary news from a fellow TN-carrying coworker today--she heard a story about someone (out-of-county) who got denied a TN reapplication because an INS agent told him "he could not be on TN status with the same company for more than four years." Needless to say this is the first time I've heard of this so-called rule that I cannot find mention of in the NAFTA agreement or the U.S. government's web site. But, seeing as I am at the 3.5 year point with Broward County, with no immediate prospects lined up, I'm not to happy to hear about this situation/misinterpretation/whatever it may be. Of course, I expected many things to go differently when I came down, and I didn't really anticipate staying with this employer on this status for so long. But since my faith in my Division and the County to deal with this properly, or get the correct information, is extremely low to nonexistant, I'm not reassured.

Rob, Bill and I finished our second track, and are partway through our third. Which means Rob will be taking our stuff around to the label soon, seeing if they are interested. ack! Trying to let go of expectations, here, and accept that even if we do get signed immigration/work permit legalities may get in the way of me being associated with the final product. See above. Anyway, I'm pretty psyched about how good the music is sounding, and I'm really enjoying the recording process, so I'm doing my best to just stay in the moment and get everything from it that I can.

Michael and I are off to Daytona tonight for the Florida Library Association Annual conference. I had not planned on going, but it was decided that the committee I'm chairing should meet even though I don't get the leadership training that will give me the info I need to answer anyone's questions till April. Not that I am stressed about this ... oh no .... not that everyone on the committee has more experience and knowledge than me ... nope ...

Strange days....

There was an attack in Cameron Library at the U of A last week. I used to work in this building, and it's weird to think of something like a stabbing going on in a place I used to be in every day.

In addition, one of my coworkers here was assaulted, seemingly at random, and beaten so badly he needed stitches in his inner and outer lip. I think his face is still so swollen that they still don't know whether his nose was broken, and both his eyes are black. A more unlikely person for this to happen to you couldn't imagine--this guy is a thoughtful, gentle, considerate person who always is looking out for others. Yet someone felt the need to literally punch his face in.

Kind of depressing. Especially on top of the fact that all my friends seem to be going through emotionally difficult times, as well. Maybe it's something in the water?

Did my solo at our student performance party a little over a week ago. People I knew actually came this time, which was a change! I did a three part routine, starting with veil, then moving to a faster section, then a Saiidi section with a cane. My guests said that they thought it was really good, but I couldn't help but be disappointed. I still feel like I am flailing around throwing a bunch of random moves on top of the music, rather than using the dance to express the music. But I suppose that will come with time. I'm doing more gigs at the restaurant this month, and I said I would perform at the studio's biannual recital, too, so I have to try to come up with something for that. Somehow this seems to be taking over a large part of my life...but somehow I don't mind :)

You should look at this site. And this one. And this one too. They are all hilarious! (thanks to bhuz and randy)

Edited 22 March 2004 to update dead canada.com link...

Well, once again it's been a long time since I last posted. I'm still busy, obviously, at home and at work. My supervisor has been out sick for three weeks, so in the interim I am pretty much the acting department head. Which wouldn't be so hard, except that my supervisor has been pretty resistant to the idea of actually training me, his assistant supervisor, in any of the things he actually does. So, I've spent the time shepherding the lab through an equipment upgrade, writing evaluations, and frantically trying to figure out exactly how the Reference Department statistics that get reported to the State Library are calculated. Whew! I hear that once the guy actually gets back he's decided to let go of the need to do everything himself and start training and delegating. If he stays away much longer he won't need to because I'll have figured it out by trial and (much) error first!

In bellydance news, I found myself very glad that I had come across the costume I mentioned below last weekend, because I was offered an opportunity to do a gig at a restaurant on Saturday night! My teacher knows a local restaurant owner who used to take classes with her. The woman decided that she would like to give other students the chance to get some performing experience by inviting them to do shows at her restaurant. Needless to say I did not really feel like I was ready for this, but Myriam assured me that she was not expecting professional-quality dancing from us and that everything would be fine, so I went. I was pretty nervous the day before, but when we got there the place had slowed down for the evening and there were only 2 or 3 tables full besides Michael so I could kind of relax and try to enjoy myself. I did three sets of ten minutes each--which doesn't really sound so long until you get up there and try to do it and feel like you've run out of moves halfway!--with 2 costume changes. It probably wasn't the best dancing ever seen, but I had fun, the owner was happy, Michael said it was good, and apparently the customers said they enjoyed it too. I even ended up with a $5 tip in my gift basket. Neat!

Hopefully this will make the performance party solo tomorrow easier...though I'm still having visions of slipping up with the cane and accidentally throwing it at someone's head!

I have a rough cut of the instrumentals for the next song that my group is working on, but nothing finished as of yet.

So things are pretty good here. Which is good, because I'm happier, but not so good, because I'm busy enough to be distracted from the job hunting. It seems hard to find and maintain that equilibrium where you are at once actively seeking out things to make your life better where you are but still not losing focus on the eventual goal of leaving. And of course it seems like every time possibilities start popping up on the boards, opportunities/extra work/other distractions pop up here, too. I'm almost starting to wonder if there is not a message there, but I don't know for sure. And of course if I stayed here long enough the question would be moot, anyway, since sooner or later BCIS will decide my "temporary" status is not and kick me out.