I’ve actually been pretty busy this last week-plus and haven’t been able to arrive at a coherent topic lately, so, instead I thought I’d reflect on my recent history and give what updates I can on my professional life.
The good news is that I’m still pretty happy at the relatively new job. While the new-job sheen wore off some time ago I still get to come to a place that I like with people I like to do work that I like. So, yay! No job is perfect, though, and I’ve come to be aware of the political and structural difficulties surrounding me. But it’s — so far — stuff that I can easily handle and is far better than from whence I came.
I’ve been able to navigate the employee-colleague social aspects pretty well. I don’t hang out with anyone I directly supervise and any students that I happen to spend time with outside of work — usually at the pool hall — have been able to maintain a professional distance.
My wife, DeLyle, has a job on campus now and we’re happy as a couple of clams. Her office is across campus and we eat lunch together most days. We’re starting to hang out with coworkers and build a social life. And our apartment is really cute now that we’ve been able to properly nest.
Halloween was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to stepping up my game next year. It’s really cool that we can have fun like that from time to time.
One conference down and one more to go! After presenting at the 2017 MLA Conference in early October I’ll be leaving on Wednesday to attend the Access Services Conference in Atlanta. I’ve been wanting to go to this conference for years, but this is my first opportunity to go. I’m also excited because I used to live in Atlanta and will be able to meet with one of my friends while I’m there.
If you’ve never been, Atlanta is a very cool and cosmopolitan city. I may take myself to the GA Aquarium, which wasn’t there when I lived there.
I’m really growing into my leadership position, I think. I’ll probably never be comfortable in it, but that would likely mean either complacency or megalomania and I’ll be no petty tyrant. I’m feeling good about the direction we’re going in.
It looks like the rest of my week will be pretty busy, so I’m not likely to get a substantive post up until after ASC. I hope to see some of you at the conference. Until then, make it a good day.
Tales of a Former Librarian 