Things people ask librarians [problem solved]

Him: How do I find a book chain?
Me: Why do you need one?
Him: I keep losing this book. How many times have you had to find it? It keeps eluding me. I need to chain it to a shelf. (The book in question is How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household by Blu Greenberg, which is quite excellent and used a great deal in this house.)
Me: I don't think you can easily get book chains anymore. Last I saw, you still could get cables.
[Does quick Google search.  Goes to Demco (a library supply company) and has no luck, either.]
**IDEA**
Me: What about a box you could put it in? I have one I think that will fit perfectly.
Him: You do?
Me: Yes! [Takes him over to my bed's headboard.  There are three nesting boxes in the shape of books.  I take the middle one and empty it of papers.  The book fits perfectly.]
Him: Where will you put the papers?
Me: The big box.  Now don't lose the box. It looks like a book.
[Sends him happily to his home library to read.]

His library has more books than the library I worked in for twenty years [we had about 1500 books and then the various bound and unbound journals. I had about 2000 to 3000 myself at home before de-hoarding for the move, where I probably halved that.  He's probably at about 4000 or so].  I have often been tempted to include 'Managed the private library of X' on my résumé for just such reasons as this, despite payment being in the form of love and affection of his animals.  I have moved the books on several occasions, dusted, arranged, ordered, found lost ones, etc.  The only thing I haven't done is truly catalogue them, and if he ever gets that card catalogue I had at the library, I see that in my future.

So nice to be off work today

My furniture is going to be delivered today, and I didn't know when that would be, so I asked off for the day. Turns out they're coming between 4 and 7 pm, so that leaves the rest of the day to be productive. I did sleep in, till 8:45, but there are things I need to do today:

1. Pay my rent.
2. Pay my electric.
3. Call the credit union with a question.
4. Get all of the boxes out of my car!
5. Water the plants in the living room (I got the ones in the bedroom a couple of days ago).
6. Look for a rose-coloured full microfleece blanket.
7. Help YKWIA get the house ready for the furniture, moving some things and cleaning.
8. Take him to pay a bill.
9. Receive and inspect the furniture.
10. Pack some.

I need to take two pillows (for the shams) and a blanket I'm going to use to protect the bedding from one of the dogs, who has very short hair but really sheds. Fortunately, the bedding is a cream colour, and she's a light gold, so it should be mostly okay. But since I'm allergic to dogs and cats, I should minimise direct contact as much as I can.

With the exception of Monday, when my mood was troubled by the horrible interview, it hasn't been bad this week. We were a little slower, about 100 people in the clinic or so a day, so busy enough to always be working, but not overwhelming. On Tuesday I sent an e-mail to the interviewing committee thanking them for the interview, answering the question I misunderstood and basically telling them that I tank during interviews due to nervousness, and I hope they'll consider me for the next step in the process, despite my performance on the phone. I hope they will. I suppose all the experts would say not to do this, but I felt I should. The new head of the committee sent an e-mail to me Thursday acknowledging it. So all hope is not lost, hopefully. I really want this job, and I think that I would be very good for the nurse-patrons.

Other things to accomplish this weekend:

• Finish the game notes, as we're playing on Sunday.
• Take off the caps of soda bottles to give to a co-worker who saves them and take out the recyclables, which are full.
• Pack some more.
• Take some light items over to storage and the new place as I can.

The plan is now to go through the books and pick what I want to keep, putting those in the U-Haul boxes. Then YKWIA can look through the ones left and those not chosen by either of us can go into some of the other types of boxes to be taken to the library. My therapist suggested just letting the movers take care of the books that are going into storage rather than me trying to deal with them a little at a time--I will be paying them to move them, anyway. That is the bulk of what I've got, after all. I've already booked the move to start at 9 am on Tuesday, August 29th. I booked them online, with a note that things will be moved from my apartment to a storage centre, that much of it is books, and with a request that a few large items be moved to the Dumpster area if they are amenable. I'm using Wildcat Moving, a local company that seems to have good ratings with the Better Business Bureau and online. I absolutely refuse to use another company, Two Men and a Truck, which is very popular around here, as they stranded a couple I know in the middle of their move with some lame excuse when they realised that the couple was not my friend and myself but rather two men. No kidding. Hometown Movers saved the day back then, and I would have used them now, but they seem to have disbanded. So hopefully, Wildcat Moving will be a good experience. That gives me 24 days to pack, including a weekend right before. I'm off the 28th and 29th for the actual move. That also gives me a couple of days afterwards to clean the apartment and turn in my keys. That reminds me--I should fill out a change of mailing address sometime this weekend, while I'm thinking about it.

Okay, I'm going to get going. I need to pay those bills, get off the computer, and get moving. The boxes will take a little time to get into the house--there are probably about 35 in the car, although the U-Haul ones are still packed flat in a bundle, at least. Hope you have a good weekend!