I enjoyed this inservice more than any I have ever attended, and think that it was the most useful. Linda Brennen gave us a pretty straightforward lecture on a project method, and then we had a short time to start....public relations programs for both campuses....We were in 3 groups, and what we started is to continue.
It was as good exercise for me.. an approach to getting started on things.
I really did connect well with a lot of people...felt really GOOD...sat next to Yolanda (her name ?)...she started telling me about shopping for cloth..and turns out she belongs to some kind of Medieval group, but she is Muslim..a group that actually had a jousting at Hard Labor Creek recently (I did first aid...we are 21st century there)..she talked about Muslim Med..cloths, etc, colors...and said they would feed silk worms to produce various shades...she mentioned 3 shades of green..facinating lady.)
Was able to talk to John Dye and David Bunnell...about the Cambridge Abstracts databases...and possibility of IPA..although later Judith said she had tried our new password and had the same problem we had had when we got CA on Galileo....too long to load....Probably not a good idea.
At lunch sat with the Listening Room fellow...who had a rock band shirt..seems it was from Macon and he had traveled all over the US and Europe with them as their merchandising person. No, no groupies he said..they were into weights and the first thing they looked for was a local gym.
On the other side a gal who had been a reporter for the Macon Telegraph...interesting...a kind of sailor suit dress, and her hair was both grey and long..
Beth said something extremely interesting about our salaries....I was not mistakened..I seem to have gone from 45 to 50 th. dollars in one fell swoop...and it was something she worked out with the Administration....across the board raises for everyone....even paraprofessionals. I guess my long years of service are what is making the difference.
Nice time about 6 of us talking after Teri's cake....I did her birthday, just got it delivered from the Cafeteria....as I had had the pastries...a total investment of $40.00..actually.
Afterwards Judith came into my office and we talked and talked and talked...She started by asking me not to say "what will the asst director " do in front of the other librarians...but then I did ask her to say more....she is dissatisfied with Beth Perry..I was able to say how well she seemed integrated with the theology faculty sitting at graduation waiting to march....sort of tried to support her...but Judith said Beth Hammond had objected to BP's "rolling her eyes"..had asked her to stop (and yes, I do encourage this)....
Judith said that she wanted this person to see that the librarians were accountable....to it sounded to me to "check up" for her to see that they were performing....She felt she had not had that problem with Jack and Rod.
I asked her about Information Literacy...she gave me a plan and tomorrow I am going to write it out in much the form that LB gave us...and send it to her. If she agrees, then I will forward it to the librarians, or maybe even use it for discussion when she is gone as a plan we can use..and then say we have attended to "Information literacy"....
Judith clearly is not taken with David Bunnell, and also seems not to have been able to talk easily to John Dye...asked me how I had.
At the end of our talk..while she tried to like across the 2 chairs..with her feet propped up..she told me a lot about the interview she had had. It is an extension campus, director, reporting to a vice chancellor...in Indiana, state institution....about 6,000 students....did not really get good vibes from the staff..said there was not a chance to ask questions...I was surprised that she was not sure what ILS they were using...sirsi, notis ?? she did not seem sure....
She said, however, if offered the job she was not going to take it, but would continue to look. Beth must know this and wonder how a search will go with us...and what is going to happen. I guess Beth must also wonder about me, too.
Interesting time. Well, in any case at the end of the day I felt "plugged in"....
Also, I talked with David B...briefly about the IPEDS...He looked terrible at the meeting...and was off to himself during lunch. I probably should be spending more time with him....once we are talking about something substantial then we do connect.
At the end Glenda, who is now working on acquisitions, came introduced herself to me and I was able to tell her about ordering from the publishers when I said so....
Message From: echristian1@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Date: Mon, May 8, 2000, 11:47pm To: echristian@webtv.net Subject: Fwd: Mentoring to an International Librarian
Date: Tue, Feb 29, 2000, 1:08pm (EDT-2) From: "Troy Swanson"
Message From: echristian@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Date: Thu, May 11, 2000, 12:48am To: dogb@webtv.net (BJ) Cc: echristian@webtv.net Subject: Re: Wednesday
Can't help giving advice, I guess. Would just see to it that the van is NOT fixed on time and not be available...not your fault, blame it on the van people.
This credit card business is interesting. Back in the really old days my bank mailed me an unsolicited Mastercard...just before the family took it's first big trip west. I charged a camera, which was terrific... zone focus Olympus...and got great photos on the trip...and did not tell my husband I had it.....until...after 3 weeks everywhere in a vw van that we had to push off to start and continuoulys pour oil into ....it quit on us in Mississippi....the family in the house where we broke down helped get us to town..and then
.....with husband getting drunk near the bus station (we had run out of cash money...I could always have called my parents.....we were not homeless types..)...I took my barefooted girls and my unwashed self to a local bank in Columbus Mississippi...and with that card actually had them pass over money for our bus tickets home....amazing...
It really shocked me when the local department store gave my daughter right out of college, a credit card..and she treated it like a rite of passage....
I have mixed feelings about the whole business....but hope I can
pay off this debt and stay away from anymore....
Thanks for listening....
Elizabeth
Delivered-To: echristian@mailsorter-bryant.bryant.webtv.net From: dogb@webtv.net (BJ) Date: Wed, May 10, 2000, 7:37am To: echristian@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Subject: Wednesday
Hi Elizabeth,
Credit cards do tend to get away from us. Since I stopped working I have become obsessed with money and rarely charge more than I can pay off at the end of the month. Of course I don't have the opportunity to do the interesting things you do.
I am sitting here waiting for Justa to arrive. She was due at 5:30 because this is shower day. Her cell phone isn't on so I can only wait. Every time I hear a car go by I think it's her.
I have everything all planned for the time that Demi will be away but today I found out that this Sunday is a big problem. Everybody has plans to celebrate Mother's Day and the agency can't find anyone to come to see me. I think the only way to handle it will be to have Demi leave me a sandwich when she goes and I'll help myself when I'm hungry. That means I'll only get one roll over that day but I better get used to it. While Demi is away I'll only have one a day. I survived with only one roll over a day before Demi came and I'm sure I'll survive now.
The sprinkler guy missed coming in the morning by three hours but at least he came. I hate not being able to see what is being done but they replaced a broken valve and did something else. They were here for a little over two hours and will send me the bill. I guess they think money is no problem because they never gave me any idea of how much it would cost. I asked them to come back and check the whole system and when Demi heard that she asked me if I had all that extra money. She and I have different outlooks on household maintenance. I'm big into preventative care and she only wants to fix what is broken.
While she was napping I called Mike who is the boss at the van repair shop. The problem is that the air bag suspension for the kneeling feature has ripped and must be replaced. He has ordered the part. I explained the situation about somebody wanting to borrow my van for a long trip and he is going to try to tell her that it is his "professional opinion" that the van not be used for any long trips. I hope that works. Again I wasn't given a price for the repair but when the pump for the suspension system went it cost over $1,000. Between this and the sprinklers I may have to use some of my home equity loan money.
Oh well. That is why I got the loan.
We haven't quite reached full summer weather yet. The temperature only reached 86° yesterday but they are predicting that we may reach 90° by the end of the week. That plus the increased humidity means summer is almost here.
Sunshine Smiles,
Barb
Message From: echristian@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Date: Thu, May 11, 2000, 12:29am To: carolyn@somerville6.freeserve.co.uk (carolyn somerville) Cc: echristian@webtv.net Subject: Would love to correspond
I already have 2 penpals from Scotland, one of two years standing the other (who actually plays the bagpipes, or at least sent me a photoplaying bagpipes..ane NOT in a kilt....and would love to add another.
I have a web page that tells you more about me and my interests than anyone probably wants to know and will forward it shortly.
What I would like to know before we start is how you envision "penpalling"....
I set out to get a penpal in every country and have made some progress....but find it difficult sometimes to keep topics going. I am a 66 year old librarian with twin grandchildren, going on 6 years old. I am interested in politics, in the Internet, and in the issue, right now of retirement.
I was considering it..in fact started a web page "countdown to retirement"...but then at my work things keep getting more and more interesting....and all of a sudden the government here passed a bill that lets use between 65 and 70 keep all of our earnings and still draw social security (though IRS may take what SSA gives)....and then I just got a salary letter with an amazing raise that has been negotiated by the University Librarian on our behalf...so with all that money....I really don't want to stop....
So.....if you want to write let's have at it.
How many other penpals do you have and what countries do they live in ? What are their interests ?
Elizabeth
From: "carolyn somerville"
hi my name is Carol Would like to write to someone I am 61 years old and live in Scotland..I have a disabled husband but that does not deter us we like to travel Iliac to go to dances and I bowl a lot I have plenty of interest I have just got my computer and are still learning slowly two finger job I have 4 grandchildren and are kept quite busy with them Hope to hear from you Carol
Message From: echristian1@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Date: Tue, May 9, 2000, 12:08am To: irisdestar@webtv.net (irisdestar) Cc:
echristian@webtv.net Subject: Greetings Elaine
Thinking of you. I was a bit of a tourist in my own city Sunday walking from the Greyhound station (after visiting my daughter in Rome Georgia) to the heart of the city where I live..and it is amazing what you can discover. There are blackberry bushes with edible berries growing between the pavemend and a parking lot, with the state capitol's gold dome glowing in the background.
Further up...and I was horrified to find that the King federal buiilding ...a hugh marble 30s edifiace has a sign requiring visigtors to the immigration offices LINE UP OUTSIDE. All those poor people who come with their small children with hours and hours to wait...they will be frisked as if criminals to enter the building itself....
I was shocked...
Later,
Elizabeth
Delivered-To: echristian1@mailsorter-bryant.bryant.webtv.net From: irisdestar@webtv.net (irisdestar) Date: Thu, Feb 10, 2000, 11:18pm (EDT-4) To: echristian1@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Subject: Re: Relationships for seniors
My apologies for taking so long to respond - this week has just gotten away from me. You had asked how I approached retirement.
I've done art off and on all my life, expressions in various media: drawing, painting, printmaking, photography and some craft spinoffs - many of the textile and fabric arts from the ordinary knitting of children's sweaters to spinning and dying wool and constructing wall hangings, and blah blah blah. In any case, I thought that when I retired I would pursue painting more seriously, with more time to spend, the children grown up, etc. Well, it took me 5 years into retirement before I even picked up a brush. I'm not sure what I did during those years - this and that - a little travel, a lot of reading, some needlepoint -- I just let it happen day to day, waiting for life to reveal to me the next path I should take. Trying not to force things. Since what I did during my working life was never a real career choice, just something fate landed me in, and which I was reasonably good at, when I retired I never, ever looked back with longing. I do understand that for some, to retire can be a painful loss of identity and satisfaction, and probably a post-retirement semi-career around one's field is a convenient
solution.
Most people I know (women, at least), are having a wonderful time with their retirement, some of them using the freedom to explore a few dreams they may not have had time for. I do think that if that is what you are looking for, it is important to allow yourself plenty of empty time, although it may be slightly uncomfortable at first, and take the opportunity to explore and investigate and take chances with something new.
My sister, on the other hand, taught dance at the high school level her entire working life. After a year or two of retirement, she went back to teaching, this time movement classes for seniors. I believe she longs occasionally to try something new, but is unable to allow herself the empty time in her life to discover what that might be.
Well, I have rambled on and may not have said anything of value. Someimes the words just run off my fingers on this keyboard!
Peace, Elaine Message From: echristian1@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Date: Tue, May 9, 2000, 12:08am
To: irisdestar@webtv.net (irisdestar) Cc: echristian@webtv.net Subject: Greetings Elaine
Thinking of you. I was a bit of a tourist in my own city Sunday walking from the Greyhound station (after visiting my daughter in Rome Georgia) to the heart of the city where I live..and it is amazing what you can discover. There are blackberry bushes with edible berries growing between the pavemend and a parking lot, with the state capitol's gold dome glowing in the background.
Further up...and I was horrified to find that the King federal buiilding ...a hugh marble 30s edifiace has a sign requiring visigtors to the immigration offices LINE UP OUTSIDE. All those poor people who come with their small children with hours and hours to wait...they will be frisked as if criminals to enter the building itself....
I was shocked...
Later,
Elizabeth
Delivered-To: echristian1@mailsorter-bryant.bryant.webtv.net From: irisdestar@webtv.net (irisdestar) Date: Thu, Feb 10, 2000, 11:18pm (EDT-4) To: echristian1@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Subject: Re: Relationships for seniors
My apologies for taking so long to respond - this week has just gotten away from me. You had asked how I approached retirement.
I've done art off and on all my life, expressions in various media: drawing, painting, printmaking, photography and some craft spinoffs - many of the textile and fabric arts from the ordinary knitting of children's sweaters to spinning and dying wool and constructing wall hangings, and blah blah blah. In any case, I thought that when I retired I would pursue painting more seriously, with more time to spend, the children grown up, etc. Well, it took me 5 years into retirement before I even picked up a brush. I'm not sure what I did during those years - this and that - a little travel, a lot of reading, some needlepoint -- I just let it happen day to day, waiting for life to reveal to me the next path I should take. Trying not to force things. Since what I did during my working life was never a real career choice, just something fate landed me in, and which I was reasonably good at, when I retired I never, ever looked back with longing. I do understand that for some, to retire can be a painful loss of identity and satisfaction, and probably a post-retirement semi-career around one's field is a convenient
solution.
Most people I know (women, at least), are having a wonderful time with their retirement, some of them using the freedom to explore a few dreams they may not have had time for. I do think that if that is what you are looking for, it is important to allow yourself plenty of empty time, although it may be slightly uncomfortable at first, and take the opportunity to explore and investigate and take chances with something new.
My sister, on the other hand, taught dance at the high school level her entire working life. After a year or two of retirement, she went back to teaching, this time movement classes for seniors. I believe she longs occasionally to try something new, but is unable to allow herself the empty time in her life to discover what that might be.
Well, I have rambled on and may not have said anything of value. Someimes the words just run off my fingers on this keyboard!
Peace, Elaine