Plan Q, Phase I

Oh, poor, poor neglected blog. That's what happens when you get stuck in a rut. The past few years have been mainly a matter of endurance, which typically involves a great deal of "stuckness." Things are beginning to shift, though....

One of the reasons I went to library school was to find a job I enjoyed, that would also allow me financial breathing space, and the ability to afford the things I loved to do. Four years after moving for my first professional library job, I'm in a place where I may be able to realize these goals.

I'm working full-time (since April) as an academic reference librarian. While the job has its downsides (working weekends and evenings), it has its pluses as well. The university I work for is online, which means my work environment is online. Translated, as long as I have electricity and an internet connection, I can work anywhere.

One of my loves is travel, but I've not been in a position to afford much travel for some time now. Happily, my job situation opens up the possibility of traveling while I work.

So I've decided to take a chance, make a change, and launch myself out into the wide world.

I'm leaving Butte in September. I'll be spending a couple months in Missoula, and then another couple months celebrating the holidays with family in Iowa. I'm calling this 4 month period Phase I of the larger Plan Q.

What is the rest of Plan Q? Well, it will test the portability factor of my job (while hopefully not making Callie too cranky). I'm still researching and developing Phase II, but it most definitely involves travel, and doing some of the things I've had on my list for a very, very long time.

Stay tuned for the further adventures of the traveling librarian and her grouchy cat!

Not long enough

I got back to Bloomington Saturday night around midnight. Callie was very glad to see me.

It was wonderful to be in Missoula, and to get to see all the people and places I did. A week is not enough to fit everything in, though. I did not get to see everyone, and I didn't get to spend as much time with people as I would have liked. In spite of that, it was a great week.

Thanks to Craig and Boomer for picking me up, letting me crash there the first night, and providing driving service. Thanks to Adriana, Halen, and Ian, for all their hospitality - for feeding me, giving me rides, and for rearranging bedrooms to fit me in. Thanks to Denise, Becky, and Kevin, for putting up with me for a few nights, and for the tour de bead stores. Kerry, thanks for all your help and advice. Paul, the cake was delicious, and I'm very glad you didn't screw things up (sorry I can't be there in July). Thanks to Tom for the river walk, and for showing me the bald eagles' nest. Sorry if I'm forgetting any one or anything.

I'm going to try to get photos posted in the next few days, after I figure out the mysteries of getting them from the camera to the computer. Summer school starts this week, so it's back to the grind.

I see some travel in the future...

to....Missoula via Spokane. And no, it's not an April Fool's joke. Those of you who actually read my blog without being told to read it know this already. Yes, the tickets have been purchased. I fly into Spokane on Saturday April 26th at 12:14pm. I leave from Spokane on Saturday May 3rd at 1:19pm.

It looks like I can take a bus from Spokane on the 26th at 5:15pm, getting into Missoula at 10:40pm, and one on the 3rd at 7:30am getting back to Spokane at 10:55am. So, I am looking for volunteers to come fetch me from said bus station, and also volunteers for places to stay. If you would like to be a volunteer for anything, please let me know. I am excited about being able to see all of you, and the mountains, and have good coffee (although not at my favorite place, since it's closed, sigh).

Now I have to survive the last few weeks of the semester, without getting distracted by thoughts of Montana. That'll be tough to do. Hmmm, the attribution theory and academic library performance evaluation OR mountains and rivers and friends..... see my dilemma?

Random Thoughts and Happenings

Just a few random things from the past few days, in no particular order.

Gates 101
This morning, on the walk to class, I took the "shortcut" through the HPER field. It finally reopened after spring break. I'm not sure if it's that much shorter, but going that way avoids walking where the narrow sidewalk is right next to a busy street. If you wanted to, you could reach out and touch the cars and buses passing by. Walking through the field and then the arboretum is much, much nicer.

The field is fenced in, and the gates are chained shut and padlocked. When it's open, the chains are loose, so people can fit through the opening fairly easily. You might need to turn sideways to get through; you just can't open the gate all the way. I ended up following a group of about six sorority girls who were taking up the whole path so I couldn't pass. At the far gate, it was open enough to get through, but the metal latch was down. The sorority sisters all started complaining. They would have to not only squeeze through the gate opening, but they would have to bend down to get under the latch. All six of them did this, complaining the whole time. The two girls who came up behind me, seeing this, said, "you've got to be kidding."

I, however, flipped the latch up so it was parallel with the gate post and walked through sideways, without having to bend over at all. The girls behind me burst out laughing, one said, "good call," and we all shared a little giggle at the expense of the hapless sororiety girls. The sad thing is, the sororiety girls all headed into the business school, and I thought, they don't know how to get through a gate, but they'll all probably make several times (at least) the money I'll make in my lifetime.

Being Carded
Yesterday, I went to Friday's with Melissa for the traditional Easter cheeseburger. We had a festive fruity dacquiri to go with it. We both got carded, and I was told that I "look very good for my age." I'm not sure what that meant, but hey, I'll be 49 in October, so I'm telling everyone that I was carded! Woo hoo!

In Which I Try to Decide If I Should Spend My Tax Refund on a Tattoo...
I've been debating getting a tattoo. I even took an exploratory journey to a tattoo place over spring break. I fell in love with a cool magpie design (who could have predicted that?).

It's really beautiful, but to do it with the detail I'd want, it would be kind of big, and it would be expensive (like over $200 expensive). I got my tax return back, and was thinking that I might just splurge and get the tattoo. That was before I went to Bonnie's apartment on Friday before Easter to color Easter eggs.

She showed us some photos of the library in Flagstaff where she'll be doing her internship this summer. That lead to other photos - all of her summer in Montana. It made me so homesick for mountains, and all the people I know who live in them that I ended up looking at airfare randomly over the past few days. Lo and behold, while flying to Missoula was expensive, flying round trip from Indianapolis to Spokane was only $2 more than the tattoo. I guess the tattoo will wait. I leave Saturday, April 26th and come back to Indiana Saturday May 3rd. I scared Callie with my happy dance. Montana here I come!