undeep_thoughts

Every time I go on vacation I do all my planning last minute. Well, if I do much planning at all (note to self, find good restaurants in Ventura and SLO. More importantly, try to find something that's going to be open Christmas day). This time I'm taking the procrastination to a whole new level because I've also been putting off all the Christmas stuff too. Heh, basically I've left it all for Friday. Yep, my goal is to do all my Christmas shopping on Friday. Then wrapping, sending, and cleaning Saturday. Then all the rest of the trip prep stuff on Sunday, I guess. Heh, and Jessica wants me to find her super-special Australian sunscreen. HA! As if people in Sacramento have seen the sun in the past month let alone needed sunscreen!

Am I forgetting anything? Bwahahahaha! A better question is have I even begun to make my list of things to tackle? Bwahahahahahaha!

Not much happening around here these days. Ok, so we had that fun bit of weather forecasting. All the fun was in the forecast, and not the reality, for me. But we have been having delightfully cold days this week. We even went so far as to break our record low yesterday. Sure the pathetic thing was 25 (now it's 24) but still, breaking records is always fun. The worst thing about that are all the "who believes in global warming now?" comments of the village idiots.

Oh, and I had to scrape the frost off my car before heading to the gym this morning. Geez, I can't remember the last time I had to do that! Just glad I still had my trusty ol' scraper in the trunk. See, my Montana upbringing where I learned to always be prepared for winter sure paid off. Just don't ask what I did with that snow shovel I used to have (I believe I gave it to the thrift store before leaving St. Louis).

For the first time since I've lived in Sacramento (ok, that I can remember), we're under a Winter Storm Watch. The dreaded word "snow" even appears in the forecast. You know when they specifically say "down to sea level" that they mean business. However, I'm rejecting their forecast (don't even know why I'm bothering to write about it, quite frankly) and will believe it when I see it. But I will wear a warm jacket to work tomorrow - just in case :)

And my long drought on Facebook is over! Yeah, guess I finally got the urge to do a little typing. We'll see how long the urge lasts (no promises!!)...

So, yesterday I did something I said I would never do... I joined a gym!!!! Yes, me! I'd always said that I refuse to sweat profusely in public (because I am such a sweater... and not the cable knit kind!). But, alas, since I've lived in my new apartment I haven't felt really comfortable treading the mill at home. It's loud (maybe because I never once got it serviced in seven years *blush*) and I think the place is generally pretty shaky and I didn't want to contribute to more cracks in the walls.

Anyway, I'll now be stinking up a local branch of Anytime Fitness - a super-no-frills gym if ever there was one. It'll be a whopping $32/month and I guess that's ok considering I no longer have a car payment. It doesn't seem overly popular and I have to say that makes me happy. Maybe I won't have to be fighting over machines. I predict that I'll be putting more miles on my car because it's just a little too far to walk.

Many people have been asking me (mostly in derisive tones) how often I expect to go but to them I say MEH! I signed up yesterday, got oriented yesterday, and went this morning. Let's just say my poor body was a bit unenthused when I asked it to walk on my former normal settings (I think it's been three full months since last I treaded the mill). At least my body had done that sort of thing in the past... but when I asked it to do some weight machines - bwahahahahaha! My muscles said - WTF? Hee.

Anyway, it feels good (even if it's not as easy as it used to be) to be getting a good workout. My body is happy that I've decided to get off my ass. Netflix probably thanks me too, since I'm sure I'll be going through fewer movies now that my time will be occupied with other things ;)

So I just finished up my Level 1 meeting a bit ago. The Admin rep was very civilized. I could tell he completely understood all the issues (if only I had such eloquence!) and as two thinking adults we had a delightful rapport. HOWEVER! Despite the relatively painless nature of the meeting, I am in wait and see mode as far as what happens next. As I said, he represents the Administration side of things, and no matter how much he expressed understanding and support for my side of things at the meeting, the cold hard reality is that he's there to protect his Administrator.  (Hee, snake speak with forked tongue.)

From here, he has 14 days to respond to my requests (repost the entry, create a policy, etc.) or just say "HA!" whereby I bump this up to Level 2 and we go to faculty hearing panel. Of course, Mr. Admin has a history of not getting his portion done within the stated timeline so I know it will be longer than 14 days before anything is done either way. But I'm soooo hoping for resolution. Please, please, please. I don't want to have to go in front of a panel of people and yabber at them.

I will try to remain positive. And focus on the fact that at least I'm doing what little I can in a crappy leadership situation.
 

Where have I been, you ask? Well, how about the burning pitfires of HELL?! Ugh, I just went through the annual worst weeks at work. I could yammer on about the details, but let me just sum it up as 24 lectures in little over two weeks. And I had various bits of work over the past two weekends. Every year I know it's gonna happen and every year it still makes me miserable. This year was particularly unlovely because I had four freshman seminar classes all in one day (multiply that hell by the three visits they made and you have a surefire equation for miseryhellhellhell). &^%$% freshmen!

Anyway, I'm a little scared to even lift my head a little lest the shit continue to splatter. Next week (Thursday) I'm having my Level 1 hearing for my grievance. Eeep! (See! This is why I think the misery will continue). I have piles of work to take care of which should help keep me from fretting too much about it. But still, I worry. Oh, in case you were wondering, the Level 1 hearing involves me, my union rep. and the HR rep. So at least I don't have to worry about a big confrontation with the dean and/or her hatchet women yet.

On top of all that we've been having these horrible near 100 degree days - like six in a row so far. Stupid high pressure weather system, why can't you let go of your death grip? I was going to get up early before the heat kicks in today and take care of some chores but, ugh, nooooo. I sort of lack the energy to do anything constructive.

My one positive thought in all this? At least this year I don't have my annual review to do. The first five years at Sac State it was due at the end of October. But now that I'm tenured I have no annual review at all until FIVE years from now. Somebody grant me some willpower to at least cobble together some notes so five years from now I don't have to try to remember what happened here in the delightful year of 2009. Please? Somebody? Oh, guess I'm the only one who can make me do anything at this point. Go me! You can do it!  (heh, sorry, didn't mean to make you read my little pep talk ^__^)

I have 'em, I swear I do! Should I start with a great big huzzah! that August is finally over? Man, I swear in the last two weeks I had about six August birthdays to celebrate. Not that I don't love celebrating birthdays, but my budget is pathetically unhelpful in that direction these days. I swear for my birthday I'm going to pencil in NOTHING!! Hee.

Classes started at school today and I've really got to whine about the fall fashions. Either the peoples just aren't trying this year, or the fashion fashion equation is something like jeans + shirts (t or otherwise) = zzzzzzzzzz Not that I'm not happy school has started again. I got to answer the same question three dozen times today (that's NOT an exaggeration, I swear). But I'm happy that at least it's students and not the usual pack of porno-watchers.

Last, but definitely not least (though none of this has been all that substantial), I started reading The Elegant Universe the other day (a delightful book about the physics of time, the speed of light and all things fundamental to the universe). Heh, Jessica gave it to me a long time ago and when I plucked it off my shelf I was a bit shocked to see it's 10 years old now. For a second I thought maybe I should just skip it since I'm sure they've made some advancements in string theory in the decade between then and now, but I was just that desperate to read something. I've gotta say it's not that great of reading material for the bus because I need more time to absorb the concepts. I mean, I knew time isn't the constant we like to think it is, but knowing that and understanding the practical implications are two different things.

So, tonight I look forward to tossing in turning in bed contemplating how time moves slower for people/things that are moving faster. Hee, relatively speaking.  It'll be a refreshing change from the tossing and turning while worrying about work.

Ahhh Coldplay, your very blandness soothes my tormented soul tonight. For tomorrow I'll start working on my grievance. *gulp* I'm such a non-confrontational, passive-aggressive type that this is going to be pretty hard for me. *stress* I just don't want to go through all the pain of the grievance process only to be humiliated (I lack the eloquence of many of my fellow co-workers who would do a great job championing themselves if this had happened to them). I'll cling to the hope that my colleagues support me (and I can't imagine why they wouldn't) and that this is one small step towards improving the shit that passes for library management these days.

After writing about my upcoming winter vacation, I guess I got inspired to write all about my summer vacation. The photos were long ago posted (here) and now I'll just try to write a snappy little summary of the fun times. Really, if I don't write it all down in a year I'll forget everything (which reminds me, I never did finish writing up my Japan trip, but that really is way too late now:).

( Let's take a little trip to Wyoming, shall we? )

I think I should change the name of this blog to my travels and entertainments since that's mostly what I talk about around here. I suppose I should have written up a little something about my camping trip to the Grand Tetons - more for my own memory's sake than anything - but boy have I gotten a case of the summer lazies. It's nice, but it means I'm not getting much done.

The sole exception to that has been planning a midwinter vacation with Jessica. Yay! The esteemed individuals of my section of ALA (*smoochies* BRASS) have decided that attendance at the midwinter ALA meeting is no longer required. Can I hear a HELL YEAH??!! That means I don't have to trek over to Boston in the middle of January (aka frickin winter) entirely on my own dime (since there's no, zip, zilch hope of support from my direly strapped institution). So rather than pay for a flight, hotel, food, and conference fee, I'll be paying for gas, hotel, food, and entertainment... but for a vacation. I gotta tell you spending quality time with one librarian beats spending an extended weekend with 10,000 librarians. Anyday.

So, Jessica and I will be doing a SoCal extravaganza - doing Death Valley, Channel Islands, and the Central Coast over nine lovely days of December. Crazily enough, with furloughs and observed holidays I won't have to take a single day of vacation to do it. We'll be camping in Death Valley and I'm looking forward (heh) to trying the whole camping thing in the middle of winter. The other nights we'll be staying in the most luxurious of hotels (heh, Motel 6, how I've "missed" staying at your clockless locations). I just have to spend the time between now and then living the non-extravagant lifestyle which I'm sure I could become accustomed to (heh, no more five-margarita Second Saturdays for me!).

I hope everybody got their postcards! If you didn't get one, but wanted to, send me your snail mail address and I'll add you to my address book. Just ask anybody, I'm good at sending postcards, and I don't abuse your address in any other way.

I've returned safe and sound to Sacramento. I'm still a bit draggy from a night of no sleep but not to worry, in between a day of cleaning fun I posted my vacation pictures (I was channeling my inner patience left over - amazingly - from two Amtrak rides). Enjoy!

http://pics.livejournal.com/undeep_thoughts/pic/0008htrp/g50

Postcards for everybody coming up!! Um, if I have your addy in my old timey address book, that is. I've verified the price of a postcard stamp (do you know how hard that was to find on the USPS web site???), packed my postcard stamps, my 1 and 2 cent stamps (one of you lucky peoples will be getting a 26 cent cougar and a 2 cent necklace stamp), and leaving for the Inter-mountain West (first stop, Denver!) on Amtrak tomorrow.

We'll be camping in Grand Teton National Park and you know that leaves plenty of time for writing postcards before heading to bed at night. Yay!!

Did everybody have a lovely 4th of July weekend? We got Friday off to observe the Federal Holiday and I spent the day eating and watching tv. Heh, aren't those the ultimate in all-American activities? Anyway, Rachel and I did a bit of a Veronica Mars marathon. It's so well written that I think this is the third time I've watched it despite it being set in high school (oh, the teenage angst!).

I fulfilled all my social needs on Friday so on Saturday (you know, the actual holiday) I barely left my apartment (Holiday? What holiday?). I did get some chores done (1170 square feet of floor is a few too many to keep clean for my taste) but otherwise I vegged the whole day away (yay!).

Then on Sunday I went to my first ever SF Giants game. Yay!!!! I always love a good Major League baseball game and this time I was extra, extra lucky because it was a free ticket. For those of you who care here are the stats:

• SF Giants vs. Houston Astros
• Cloudy then sunny skies. Mid 80s. Breezy. Sunscreen prevented any sunburn
• Not a fan of either team (zzzzzz) so that means I was there for 1) food and 2) home runs, baby!!
• Tickets were for 2-3 rows behind the Giants dugout!!!!! (Price of the tickets? $88!!!)
• Well, I should delete some of those !!!! because, dude, those people in that section are jaded.
• JADED!! Kinda wet blankety, too. I cheered all that much louder every time the Astros got a home run just for them >:)
• Hot dogs were good, but still not as heavenly as the ones I had at the Metrodome in 2001 *sigh* *drool*
• Refused to take my hat off when they made us stand for God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch
• Since it was 4th of July weekend apparently every team, including the Giants, wore red hats
• Astros kicked Giants a$$ 7-1. Any team that charges $30 for parking deserves to lose, I say
• Four (or was it five?) home runs total (yay!!!)
• I think Giants name refers to the size of their egos
• I'd only heard of one of the players (opening pitcher for SF - Randy Johnson - ooold guy)
• Jumbotron layout? Craptacular!!  Though I did find out Matsui san of the Astros was born nine days after me in Osaka, Japan
• Gimme another free ticket and I'll go again anytime (though I'd prefer to take in another A's game)

Next year I'll really have to consider taking in some fireworks. And maybe participate in a bbq. It's good to have goals, you know?

Well, looks like the horror of summer has finally (finally!) descended on Sacramento. I'm in dire need of groceries, but I'm afraid I'm just not in the mood to face 106 degree temps for things like lettuce. I swear this is not complaining! After all this the first bit of extended heat we've had all year and it hasn't quite managed to burn all those June days of highs in the 70s out of my mind... yet. Maybe it's because I have the luxury of A/C this year (I'm cheap enough that I love having A/C but even better I love having it but not needing it). Amazingly enough, I somehow found the willpower to use the treadmill this afternoon. Probably because I was feeling guilty for bailing on goth club night. Let me just put it this way, I have plenty of black clothes, I just lack summery, light black clothes.  

In vacation news, at the end of July I'll be heading east on Amtrak. I guess last year's jaunt to Denver didn't leave any lingering bad memories because I'll be doing that again this year. Once in Colorado, I'll be heading with Mike et al up to the Grand Tetons National Park for camping. Mom and Dad and maybe R&R will be joining us from Utah. Once we're done camping I'll head back to Utah and take Amtrak home from SLC. I'm already digging deep inside to draw forth my inner calm and relaxation for the 30+ hour trip.

Basically, I have no money for vacations of any sort (thank you, lovely new apartment!!) but I really need to get away from work. While I don't work directly with our Dean a whole lot, she has managed to suck the life/fun/willpower to work out of me. It was hard to imagine employee morale getting any lower than when we had our interim dean in charge, but the current Dean has surpassed that beyond all belief. We're also facing vast budget cuts next (fiscal) year and furloughs and/or layoffs loom nigh. Let's have a round of cheers for pay cuts!! Anyway, I need a break from all that and how could a 30 hour trip on a train not distract me from all that?

So I'm working the 5-9 shift tonight and I gotta ask: How many social networking sites can one person have open on a computer at once without going insane (I've got three plus my email)? How many times can a person hit refresh before giving up on anybody responding? And, most importantly, how many social networking sites does it take to make a person really, truly feel desperately alone in the world? Hee, as you can tell a night of Facebook, Twitter, LJ and email is just not all that effective for passing a four-hour desk shift.

Let's talk about something else, instead, shall we? Mmm, I think I have all this crazy energy because of the excessive coffee I drank today. Hee. Oh, and because I'm back on my treadmill for the first time since moving. My new place is very, very vibrate-y (you should have heard the place rumbling in last week's thunderstorm) and sound travels with utmost ease between the units so I've been hesitant to inflict the noise and vibrations on the new neighbors. But when weight-loss plan took a turn for the worse (*sigh*), I basically thought screw the neighbors! I still only plug away on the thing during reasonable hours but I hope none of them will complain to the landlady about the noise. Don't hate me because I'm fat!!!

I had a lovely, though too short, little weekend. Phoebe surprised me Friday by accepting my invitation to see The Juan MacLean in SF on Saturday. Yay!! I was bracing myself for trying to stay awake for the drive home at 2:00 am not to mention trying to think how I going to try to look as unalone as possible while at the show. You know I'm not one of those cool kids who can tap away at a cellphone while waiting...

Anyway, the show was great!! For once, both the mysterious opening DJs (why does the Mezzanine never publicize the "support" as I believe they're called? grr) and the opening "band, " The Field, were all fabulous. I guess it helped that I was there specifically to see The Field (last time I tried one of the guys couldn't make it through customs). Heh, Mr. The Field - who I think is a solo type artist - hired a couple bodies for support and it was totally worth it. I love how he hired somebody else to look bored playing the laptop while he  and another guy played the soundboard. Oh! And Mr. Mustache (as Phoebe called him) even played a little xylophone during one of the songs. Hee. [Do you know how long it's been since I had to spell xylophone? So long that I had to look it up!] Now I'm debating actually buying their new cd rather than waiting for eMusic to load it. Mmmm, xylophone...

The headliners, The Juan MacLean, despite a rather crappy lead singer (incredibly weak voice, could barely be shouty enough though she was quite the snappy dresser), also rocked. I just have to say that when I arrive to see a stage swarming with percussion type instruments (seriously, one of them I couldn't even begin to identify), I'm a happy, happy girl. More cowbell!!! Plus, I loved how they took a 10-minute song and made it 20... mmm with percussion. Beautiful, beautiful percussion. I was a little surprised that Mr. MacLean et co. put up and tore down their own instruments. Heh, if only I had something interesting to say to them, I totally would have thrown myself at them while they were working. But noooo, I'm too shy.

All in all, it was the best concert I've been to in a long time. Ok, so I haven't exactly been to a concert in a long time, but still. A thoroughly enjoyable time!

By the by, in case you're not following the Facebook (and I know you're not!) I finally got my tenure letter the other day. Yay! All thumbs up for both tenure and promotion. Yay!!! It all kicks in with the start of the 09/10 academic year. By all, I mean the hardness to ever get rid of me as well as the raise that accompanies the promotion. Did I mention, YAY!!!

Just to fill in the details a bit, our tenure letters were supposedly due May 22nd (read, put in the mail the 22nd) but as of this morning I still haven't gotten my copy in the mail! I waited patiently until Monday, then trekked myself over to HR to get a print copy. I'm glad I did because the post office is falling down on that whole forwarding job. The provost (and his minions) must have started working on the letters quite some time before the deadline because I filled out that change of address in mid-April and yet my letter had my old address.

But alls well that ends well (or starts, at the Provost was sure to mention of my career here). I'm trying to pin down a date for the big housewarming/tenure party. I'm thinking of having it July 3rd (University is closed to observe the 4th of July). I'm kinda hoping tons of people won't be in town and can't make it. Guess I'd better decide soon because these days sure are flying by.

with titles I like (because I can't resist a hackneyed reference):

Up Against the Sprawl: Public Policy and the Making of Southern California
Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age
Joy of SOX: Why Sarbanes-Oxley and Service-oriented Architecture May be the Best Thing that Ever Happened to You
Indecent Disclosure : Gilding the Corporate Lily (that one was so good I ordered it twice!)

If you want to check them out, I'm afraid you're on your own for finding the call numbers.

Can you tell I'm working my first solo four-hour desk shift? *sigh* On one hand I'm working alone (booooring) on the other hand my co-workers all are stopping to chat as they leave. GO! So I can get my work done then goof off for a couple hours.

I just put in a whole new load of laundry (*sigh* as some of my neighbor toddled off to do something fun since they always do their laundry weeknights *sigh*) and have even more time to yammer about nothing.

I just thought you'd like to know that the letter from the Provost with the final decision on my tenure and promotion is now a full week late. Considering this whole tenure thing was/is a multiyear process, I don't think an extra week is that big a deal to wait. On the other hand, come on!! How long does it take the Post Office to forward mail? My co-worker got his letter Tuesday and got a yes to both tenure and promotion. Yay! Him. As I've said before, I'm not terribly worried, but late at night I can't help but speculate if they send out the rejects later...

In other work news, I've sort of volunteered myself for a hellish schedule this summer. First, I'll be working all Wednesday night shifts in June.  New for this year the person doing the late shift (5-9) will be doing it completely alone (no student assistant, no double librarians). I've done this before at UW and SLU, so I'm not worried... except for maybe my sanity. Those nights have historically been sssssllllllllllllloooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww (thus the single staffing). Maybe I'll make a resolution to update my LJ a lot this summer. See who I can drive crazy first.

I've also volunteered for a host of Saturday shifts - three in June alone. What have I done???? They're only four-hour shifts - mine will be 1-5 - but I can't believe I'll have to be at work six days a week most of summer. Again, what the hell was I thinking????? And in case you were wondering, no this does not mean I get more money. I'll just take comp time. *sob* Happy summer everybody!!

If anybody's still reading my LJ, but wondering why I've not been updating much, I guess my attention span is guilty of drifting towards Facebook and (much less so) Twitter. However, I still have paid time left on LJ so it's not as though I'm not feeling guilty for the lack of attention I'm giving my journal here.

Of course, the other reason I'm not updating is that not much is really happening with me these days. It's all work, eat, relax, watch tv, not sleep, and repeat. A million people are still asking me how living here is going and I have to say life on J Street is still pretty sweet. I have no major complaints. I can think of a few minor ones (if you insist, oh, you do?) Heh. Well, hardly a day goes by that somebody's not doing laundry. That kinda grates on my nerves. How much dirty clothes do people have, anyway? Guess what I'm doing right now? Hee.

The only other "bad" thing is that I have some of my favorite plant right outside my bedroom window (the one I "discovered" last year), yet I haven't been able to smell them at all this season. I've always found it a bit tricky to catch even the shortest whiff of scent. Now I'm afraid that having them right under my nose isn't helping things at all. Grr.

See how I wasn't lying about my life being a tad dull? Content does not make for entertaining LJ reading, now does it?