Well...

Feeling a little bummed about the phone interview today, which I think I really did badly on. I can do the work, I look great on paper, but interviews of any sort - especially by committee - make me very nervous, I tank, and I just sound like a babbling idiot. I finally got a phone interview with UK for a job I really want and most everyone who knows me seems to think I would be great at it - especially nurses, the main patron of this position - and I really think I blew it. But I guess it's best to consider it practice and analyse what I did badly and how I could have done better, for next time. I will eventually convince someone to hire me and let me show them what I can do. And who knows, maybe they'll give me that chance despite it all. After all, I came out of my interview with the Shriners folks convinced I'd done badly, they hired me, and I worked there as a librarian for twenty years. :)

Tomorrow I pack

Well, begin packing, anyway. It's going to take awhile. I went by U-Haul and got a bundle of 25 boxes (for 73 cents each!) and some box tape. The plan is to begin in the living room, to pack the books that I want to keep, and then I'll be able to pack up the ones to be donated after that, in different types of boxes for now. The U-Haul boxes will be uniform and easier to store. I may eventually need to get some for the donated ones, but for now, I'm going to focus on what to keep, so I can start taking them over to the storage unit. The art will all go, too, although there's one triptych with two of the paintings that are too big for my car, I believe, so they may have to go last. And then there's YKWIA's self-portrait, which is on a larger canvas. But I think all the others will fit in my car. Then there are furniture/major items.

To keep:

• The kitchen island
• The microwave stand
• All of the bookshelves that come apart and fold up
• The bookshelf with glass doors
• The bookshelf that matches my computer desk
• The bookshelf my dad built
• The computer desk and maybe the printer stand, if I still have the triangular piece that goes with them, along with the desk's hutch
• The steamer trunk
• My aquarium
• The table (which comes apart)
• The curio cabinet
• The CD/DVD stand
• The boards and blocks the plants usually stand on
• The queen mattress and box springs
• Ma Craig's hourglass table (it has sand and works)

Not going:

• The cherry end tables
• The loveseat, which was 'found' by the Dumpster fourteen years ago, so it gave its all
• The entertainment center
• The tall Sauder bookshelf
• The short pressboard bookshelf
• The bed [it has a broken cross rail that cannot be repaired, after 30 years of service]

Maybe keep/maybe go:

• The dresser
• The two chest-of-drawers
• Two occasional tables
• The two steel shelving units in the closet
• The table I'm using as a TV stand [Brenda might be able to use it as a potting stand]

Taking with me to the house:

• The laptop and accessories
• My printer
• My floor speaker that is Bluetooth
• (Perhaps) one folding bookcase
• Two bins, one for clean clothes, one for dirty ones, to go in the closet
• Two small trash cans, one for trash, one for recyclables
• (Maybe) the TV and DVD player
• The plants!

I'm going to see if Brenda can take the fish. If not, maybe I can get Animal House or another pet store to take them. There are three pretty goldfish and a Chinese algae eater. Of course, some small things will go, like some clothes, my CPAP, etc. But most of the small things will either go to storage or Goodwill. That's all I can think of at the moment, anyway. But tomorrow starts all the decisions of what to keep and what to purge.

Well, I am the proud renter of

a storage unit. I went with Space Center Storage over on Stone Road. I tried first over on Richmond Plaza, which is closer to my current apartment, but they showed me the 10'x10' unit and it simply wouldn't be big enough, but the 10'x15' would be, and they didn't have any climate-controlled ones available. Because the items I need to store include books, art, and furniture, it's important for the temperature and humidity to be controlled. I set it up so the monthly rental fee and insurance (required) come directly off my debit card, in case something happens and I might otherwise miss that date. I also got a heavy-duty lock from them. I almost got some boxes but decided to check out U-Haul and they have them much cheaper. I'm going to go over there in a little while and get some boxes and tape. Needless to say, those were on the list from last week, which got interrupted by appendicitis. So if I take what I had left, let's see what else there is [with a couple additions]. I'd like to complete all of this by tomorrow evening:

1. Tour and rent a storage area for the move.
2. Obtain or at least line up some boxes.
3. Work on reducing/weeding books.
4. Take out the trash and recyclables.
5. Do some cleaning.
6. Do some job hunting.
7. Write up my notice for my apartment manager in preparation for the move, to be given on Sunday.
8. Pay my COBRA bill so it's in time for August.
9. Create a timeline/Gantt chart for the move.
10. Finalise my list of what from each room will go to the house, and what will go into storage.
11. Research movers, as neither my friends nor I, can handle the big stuff.
12. Find a missing book from the library that is camouflaged among mine.
13. Do laundry.

I did get a little rest, too, sleeping later than I planned today and taking a short nap later after coming back from the storage place. I haven't slept much this past week, we had an incredibly busy week (over 100 in clinic each day except Friday, and over 200 on the schedule for Wednesday). Next week is slower (yay!) and I'm off Friday for the delivery of the furniture over at YKWIA's. On Monday I have a phone interview from the University of Kentucky Medical Library for the nurse liaison librarian position I applied for in the spring. :) My boss is aware, and I'm going to have them call me on my lunch break.

Okay, I'd better pay my COBRA now (so there's time before the end of the month for it to credit), it was the main reason for getting onto the computer this afternoon, although I did want to blog, too. Then I'm going to go get those boxes and do some work on the apartment before running over to a friend's house to help him feed the animals and check on him since bending is not an option for him still. Have a good weekend!

This is cool

To see a total eclipse, I'd have to travel 109 miles southwest. I'd love to, I've known about this for years, but I'll probably be at work. But it will be almost total, almost 95%. Put your zip code in at the handy link and you can find out how much you'll see.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/25/16019892/solar-eclipse-2017-interactive-map

So...

I've been so busy taking care of various things that this evening I found an email from yesterday afternoon offering to do a phone interview for a job I applied for this spring with the university that is a medical librarian position working to meet the needs of their nurses. I replied this evening to express my interest and arrange a time.  Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

I should not have made such a lengthy to-do list

I was at the furniture store Saturday morning and as I was wrapping up the daybed purchase, I got a call from a friend, and I knew immediately something was wrong. He'd been having some pain the day before, and we thought it might be gas. But it had gotten worse. So I hurried over and called our family doctor, who advised going to the emergency room. That was very good advice, as he wound up having emergency surgery. With the exception of stopping by my apartment for a few necessities and a couple of showers, I have been over at his house or running errands for him to make him more comfortable for most of the weekend. Since this is the friend with whom I'm moving in, I guess you could say we had a trial run for living together. I hadn't originally planned to stay last night, so I slept in my jeans and a shirt, just taking off my belt and bra. At one point I woke up and I was halfway off the bed, as the dog had kicked me over, and my jeans were twisted so that the fly was on my right hip. Needless to say, I pushed the dog back and made sure I kept my ground from then on.

I'd set my alarm for 5 am to give me plenty of time to go home, shower, and get ready, but woke up at 4:30 to help him. I went ahead and fed the animals, as he can't really bend at the moment, got my stuff together, went home, got ready, dropped off some books that needed to go back to the library, and went to work almost an hour early. So now I'm sitting in the break room having a little alone time and catching up with news, etc. It's going to be a very busy week--four days of over 100 patients in clinic, with Wednesday having over 200! After work today I'm going to go check on him.

Okay, it's almost time to go upstairs and start my day. Hope you had a good weekend!

Things to do tomorrow

1. Weigh myself (I haven't in a while) -- Yay, I've lost 10 lbs!
2. Reconcile my finances. (It would have been nice to have been paid on Friday like I should have been, but it'll be Monday instead.)
3. Get supplements for a friend at Costco, who will pay me back.
4. Visit a furniture store to get a daybed for the move.
5. Tour and rent a storage area for the move.
6. Go to the library and return some books.
7. Obtain or at least line up some boxes.
8. Work on reducing/weeding books.
9. Take out the trash and recyclables.
10. Do some cleaning.
11. Run by the grocery and get mayonnaise for a friend and denture cleanser for me.
12. Plant mint and ivy at a friend's house.
13. Do the game notes.
14. Do some job hunting.
15. Write up my notice for my apartment manager in preparation for the move, to be given on Sunday.
16. Pay my COBRA bill so it's in time for August.
17. Create a timeline/Gantt chart for the move.
18. Finalise my list of what from each room will go to the house, and what will go into storage.
19. Research movers, as neither my friends nor I, can handle the big stuff.

That's enough, don't you think?

Worry tends to eat at you if you let it

I'm not sure it's a good sign that it's the middle of a Friday night and instead of sleeping, I'm mentally composing a tactful response to a work email string. I have also been scheduling at night in my dreams. I've never had so much trouble walking away from work and not worrying about things on my own time. I've always kept work, health, and personal life fairly balanced, and I'm having trouble now. I must find a way to bring it all into harmony again.

RIP Chester Bennington

You probably wouldn't think it by looking at me, a middle-aged librarian without a single tattoo and only one simple piercing in each ear, but I like Linkin Park a lot, something any of you who have read this blog for awhile probably know, though. I don't care so much for the screaming songs, but I do like the ones that blend Chester Bennington's and Mike Shinoda's vocals, particularly. I have several of their albums (my favourite is A Thousand Suns). The following just feature Chester Bennington, which maybe is fitting, given their subject matter and the fact that he was found this morning, having apparently committed suicide by hanging. His friend Chris Cornell had recently died, also believed to be a suicide, and he was found on what would have been his friend's birthday. Requiescat in pace.

So sad.

This is a long shot...

But I'm sharing for a friend who had lost her dog in Mercer County, Kentucky:

REWARD!  Large tri-colored male beagle from Bruner's Chapel Road, Harrodsburg, KY.   Missing since 07/09/17, answers to "Elvis" when he feels like it.  Last seen wearing a gray Seresto flea collar.  He's a house dog, not a hunting dog.  Please comment or email me (eilir.rowan@gmail.com) if you see him, and I will get you in touch with my friend.  Thank you!

GRRRRR...

If you're annoyed, like me, with the fact that Facebook videos are playing with sound again as you scroll past them, check out your settings and you can change it to off for starting videos in your newsfeed with sound. I personally get annoyed with the autoplay. If I want to watch a video with sound, I'll turn it on myself, Facebook. Don't push it on me.

Another loss due to breast cancer

Maryam Mirzakhani, First Woman to Win the Fields Medal, Is Dead at 40/

That's not good

I was doing a final edit on the previous post and had some sudden enteric issues. I hope it's a matter of I ate too many cashews (it happens sometimes, so maybe I'm mildly allergic) at one time, rather than me coming down with a stomach bug. :( I don't want to be sick again, and while I rarely get them, I often get them spectacularly. I once snapped a pair of glasses in two while throwing up, for example. But I don't feel nauseous at all, so I'm going to blame it on the cashews.

I'm not sure

that I've ever gone this long without blogging, except maybe when I first started this blog. I'm sorry. I've mostly been working. The other night I was at the emergency room for hours with a friend (who is okay, but it was important to go), and I tried to write there since I had my computer with me and they supposedly had free WiFi, but it wouldn't save my post, let me listen to Pandora, or was in any way helpful in helping me pass the time, and my phone was dying, and neither using their charging station nor plugging directly into a wall outlet using the stock charger seemed to work, as at the most it would go up 1% after several minutes. It was rather frustrating. The next day I was a little late to work, but my boss understood, as she'd been in the ER with her father the other day and had come in late herself. Despite being very tired I worked very hard and maintained a level of perkiness suitable for dealing with the public, although it was hard, and then went and got my friend some groceries. I was so tired that I could barely drive, and came home and went straight to bed. Yesterday was slower at work, and I was still pretty tired, but I managed to get through it, go home, and I went to bed early again, sleeping till almost eleven this morning. I got up, got a shower, and went to the library to work on the game notes for about three hours, then went and got my hair cut (it really needed it; I hadn't had it cut since the end of March), and then came home and relaxed for a bit before returning to the notes for another three hours or so. But they're finished. We are, as far as I know, playing tomorrow, now that we've recovered (mostly--coughing is still bad for both of us) from the plague, so I wanted to get those done. I did want to work on the house some, as well, especially the books, but it's 9 pm now. It's taken so long because there was a lot of investigation. Anyway, that's ready for tomorrow. I need to desperately do my laundry tomorrow over there as well, as I didn't do so last weekend, and I'm down to almost nothing (or at least comfy underwear, which I consider essential). I'm looking forward to playing, though. We are currently playing an adventure that is set in Glasgow, Scotland, so I'm learning a lot about its history, including that of Saint Mungo, the patron saint (whose Celtic name was Kentigern). I know a little bit about Kentigern, or at least the name, from The Battlefield Band's song 'The Dear Green Place'



Mungo is known for four miracles which are portrayed on the city of Glasgow's heraldic shield. From Wikipedia:

• The Bird — Mungo restored life to a robin, that had been killed by some of his classmates.
• The Tree — Mungo had been left in charge of a fire in Saint Serf's monastery. He fell asleep and the fire went out. Taking a hazel branch, he restarted the fire.
• The Bell — the bell is thought to have been brought by Mungo from Rome. It was said to have been used in services and to mourn the deceased. The original bell no longer exists, and a replacement, created in the 1640s, is now on display in Glasgow.
• The Fish — refers to the story about Queen Languoreth of Strathclyde who was suspected of infidelity by her husband. King Riderch demanded to see her ring, which he claimed she had given to her lover. In reality, the King had thrown it into the River Clyde. Faced with execution she appealed for help to Mungo, who ordered a messenger to catch a fish in the river. On opening the fish, the ring was miraculously found inside, which allowed the Queen to clear her name. (This story may be confused with an almost identical one concerning King Maelgwn of Gwynedd and Saint Asaph.)

I'll give you resurrection and the spontaneous creation of fire, and the fish, of course, but we're still trying to figure out how bringing a bell from Rome constitutes a miracle. There must be more to the story, surely. Anyone with information, feel free to comment with that.

Okay, I think I'll get up and stretch a bit, as I've been typing at the computer for far too long. I will try to blog more. In the meantime, if I don't write again tonight, have a good evening, and a great weekend.

After a fairly stressful day

(and holding my bladder for something like three hours, as I was in check-out at work most of the day by myself), I relaxed and visited, first with my stepfather, and then with my best friend. So I feel recharged to some degree. But I really need to learn to just walk away from my desk at times and not take everything so seriously. I feel a little like I'm on an assembly line, with a lot more juggling and concentration. I know part of my occasional frustration is my OCD--I have trouble leaving something unfinished. On the other hand, at 5:15, when I was 15 minutes over and had to leave to meet my stepfather, I just had to close my door and tell the next person bringing a family up that we would call them with an appointment. I can't stay until the last patient is gone every time, and today was a very busy day, so there were still patients in clinic, of course. Anyway, the good thing is that despite that, I kept up pretty well in terms of the queue running smoothly. Now let's hope I can do so tomorrow without being so tense.

After work, my stepfather John came up and we visited for about an hour. He's having a hard time with my mom's death, and Sassy, their dog, died not long after. Then YKWIA and I visited while he cooked. He gave me a taste of the avocado soup and the salad, which had rice, curry, olives, and a bunch of other good things in it, although he was going to chill it to enhance the flavour.

Okay, one of my tasks for today was to get to bed by midnight. Morning comes early. I don't want a repeat of today, where I overslept and it put me off all day. Good night.

I'm home

I mostly just relaxed with YKWIA, we watched three episodes of 'American Housewife', went through some experimental game mechanics, and I went to the store for him. But I had a good time. I did get in a little later than I planned, so I'm going to call it a night soon, and put some things off until tomorrow. I'm going to try to get up early tomorrow and take the trash out, as I think it finally cleared up and my stepfather is coming by tomorrow. I'll try to get the book review in before the end of the day tomorrow. I did check the job list, and apparently, the job that I thought closed tomorrow is already closed. It was with the state, although it would have been a lot of wear and tear on the car, as it required a fair bit of travelling. So maybe it's not so bad that I missed out on it. I definitely have to watch things more closely, though, even if I do seem to have a job lined up now, as I would eventually like to be in a library.

So anyway, it was a good day. I'm basically online to check out an adapter that I got that allows me to link up to an Ethernet cable (my laptop just has USB ports, so this allows me to connect directly, plus has a 3-USB-port hub built in as well. When I move, I'll have to either use my phone hotspot or connect via the Ethernet cable to his modem. He nixed the powerline adapter idea. I think he's afraid it will somehow harm his home's wiring, although I did explain that it wouldn't. Oh, well. This will work. Anyway, the adapter seems to be working pretty well. I also have to go online and look up a manual that I managed to lose within a day of getting. It was in my backpack pocket and I guess it fell out. It was one of those tiny manuals which fold out, so it was really easy to lose. But it may be online. I thin I'll go look for that now. Have a good night, and I hope your Fourth was great if you celebrate.

It's been a very wet Fourth so far

so I don't know if there will be fireworks tonight. I got up by 8:15 (but it was lovely to sleep in that much), and while I've been moving slowly, I have paid my bills through the first third of this month, except for two that come out automatically, and I've added that in my cheque register. I'm still coughing and snotty, but I feel better. I'm going to go over to YKWIA's in a couple of hours and we'll do something together. I haven't taken the trash out because the rain has been pouring, although I think it has eased up a little. So I think my next thing to do is work on the book review that's due tomorrow. It's a text on managing electronic resources, so hopefully, it will be a good read. I also need to check the Kentucky library job list--I think there's a job closing tomorrow with the state. I'm going to try to work on the books after spending some time with my friend.

Hope you're having a great and happy Fourth of July.

You know you're really tired

When you fall asleep before nightfall fully dressed, including bra, because you are too tired to change.

I thought I was doing better about staying up after a long workday, but I guess the summer cold sapped my stamina. I also went the whole day without caffeine, and had a raging headache. I couldn't even bear to listen to music.

That was three hours ago. I woke up, got dressed in some shorts and a tank top, and had a fruit pop to ease my throat. It's mostly left my head and has settled in my chest, but that means less nose-blowing, at least.

But I think I'm just going to rest tonight and start doing some things here tomorrow. Specifically, I need to:

1. Take out the trash.
2. Pay some bills, online and paper.
3. Work on a book review.
4. Go through and weed books. I have between 2,500 and 3,000 books, and need to reduce them by 2/3, and at 20 or so books a box, and about 50 days, that's two boxes a day to remove from the collection, if I did the math right in my head.
5. Go to YKWIA's and do something fun.
6. Watch the Idle Hour fireworks, weather permitting, as per usual, including being able to park at the old hospital to watch. :)

Have a safe and lovely holiday. Good night.

Question

Have any of you used a set of 'powerline adapters' as an Ethernet connexion in a house? These are inexpensive adapters that use the existing home wiring to transmit data, can be encrypted, and as far as I can tell, the signal would be unable to be read from outside due to the transformer scrambling it between the home and street. I am going to be moving in with a friend who refuses to have WiFi in his house, mainly over security concerns. I have a 5GB Hotspot through my phone I can use to connect my laptop to the Internet, but an Ethernet connexion would be better and it would be nice if I could do so on my end of the house rather than in his library, nor do I want to run a lot of wires. This seems to be an option. Any ideas or suggestions?