Good Weather, Bad Memory

Well, the weather cleared and it didn't rain. It also warmed up a bit which was nice for the ride home for lunch.

Oh yeah...ahem...what I was forgetting was to pay the rent. I was supposed to take care of that during lunch. I have until the 10th so I'm not too worried, but forgetting important things like that is a little disturbing.

Cold to Very Cold With a Chance of Rain

It's June, and I shouldn't be cold. The temperature has been pretty low the past few weeks with minor exceptions. This morning was also overcast. Normally I wouldn't mind some rain - I enjoy it. However, I ride my bike to work, so when I felt a few tiny drops I figured I was going to get soaked sometime today.

I don't mind riding a bike, but this town certainly isn't bike-friendly. I don't mean the people, I mean the layout of the town itself. There are far too many hills and most of the roads are narrow with no bike lanes. It doesn't help that there are a bunch of stupid college kids who drive way too fast and way too close to me. One of these days I'm probably going to get hit.

Speaking of hills, shouldn't it get easier to go up them the more you do it? Maybe I'm just starting to show some aging, but the hill we live on just doesn't seem to get much better. I'm not in terrible shape, although I haven't been swimming in a few months. The workout times for the local masters swimming club were just way too early. I'll have to look into some later practices. I miss getting in the water.

The kids had a great time putting the posters up in their rooms last night. I had forgotten how many I had brought home. We covered the walls and a good portion of the ceilings. They spent the rest of the nights in thier rooms just looking at them.

Ah! Do you hear that? Quietness! It gave my wife and I some time just to sit and talk. I don't know if I have anything planned for the rest of the week. It seems like I'm forgetting something.

Strange Start to the Week

I work at the main library of a research university. A month ago I would have said I worked in the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) department, but nowadays it is a little more confusing than that. Due to budget cuts and the retirement of several staff members, ILL has merged with the circulation department. In spite of all the grumbling from others, this has been a good thing for me. Not only do I get to do more than just scanning/mailing out articles/books, but I'm getting to learn more about different aspects of libraries - always a good thing since this is the field I want to get into.

This started as a work-study job last year and has progressed (as staff members left) to a full time job over this summer. What I do is not particularly dramatic or what some would consider interesting, but I enjoy it here.

When I walked in this morning, I noticed that the schedule did not have me listed as working until Friday. A week off? Wow. That's going to cut into the paycheck a bit. I went to ask my new supervisor (who is very easy to get along with) - it was either a mistake or another round of budget cuts. Turns out it was a mistake.

So here I sit in an empty office. Everyone else moved two weeks ago to the circulation area. The Ariel scanners, the Fedex terminal, and I still sit here with a phone that never rings. Mondays are always slow.

Tonight is family night. When we cleared out the office we found a huge box full of posters about children's books - you know, the kind you see hanging in schools and libraries. Nobody wanted them, so I was given permission to take them home. Tonight we are going to wallpaper the kid's rooms with these posters.

Old Counsel, New Format

"Keep a journal or portions, as you go along in life, a record that can be woven into a Book of Remembrance, telling of difficulties you have been able to overcome, challenges met. Express your inward feelings and thankfulness. These are part of your Book of Remembrance passed on to your children and decendants..."

Such was the councel given to me in September of 1992. I have been pretty diligent in ignoring this over the past thirteen years - which, in hindsight, is unfortunate. Over the course of a nearly a decade and a half, I have dropped out of college several times, joined the military, gotten married, had four children, and moved more times than I care to think about. A lot has happened to have not recorded it anywhere. I still have my memories, but with each passing year they are subtly changed with what my father-in-law calls "reconstructive memory."

So this is my attempt to remedy the situation.

I admit that it is a little daunting to put this out where anyone can read it. I have my reasons, which I may or may not share at some point in the future. Although I used to consider myself fairly computer-savvy, I have only recently become aware of blogs. I have been out of the loop for a long time...and I can't say I miss it. I left the computer field in order to have more time to spend with my growing family. The irony is, perhaps, that I still don't spend as much time with my children as I should.

Having faults is a part of mortality - and this is my story...

My First Game of Diplomacy

Well, I played my first game of Diplomacy yesterday. I got Austria-Hungary. Yeah, I know a new player with one of the hardest nations. I also had one of the strongest players as a neighbor in Turkey. However, I was saved by the fact that Russia and Italy were single-mindedly intent on destroying Turkey and not me. I was also lucky enough to time a backstab on Italy at a moment when most of her units were around Turkish waters - leaving the Italian pennisula mostly empty. Needless to say, the 3-way alliance that Russia, Italy and I had fell apart after that. I was fairly confident that Russia and Italy were both weaken by the war and Turkey was still contained in the corner. I would have loved to see how it ended, but I had to leave early - another player stepped into my spot so I'm curious to hear if they renegotiated the alliance or what.

I can see why people don't like the game. I had fun even though I was pretty stressed out most of the time. Given what it is, Diplomacy is a fun game. But I don't think I'd want to play it all the time - I don't think my heart can handle it.