MaxLibris

Ok maybe it’s just Google and not BB (is that an oxymoron?) - but I was pointed today to a particular (new) street map view of Atlanta which shows my friend and former co-worker Jessica probably driving to work.

I am in my fourth official week here as the Technology Coordinator for the Greater Midwest Region of the NN/LM.
Here is what I’m enjoying so far about Chicago:

• Lilacs - there are lilacs everywhere it seems and as I recall they don’t grow very well in the South so it’s bringing back memories of my glorious youth in WI
• Mass Transit - I take the bus and/or train to work and to play every day and so far it’s been great, save for the few experiences like:
  • the man who had to be taken off the train because he was pulling down his pants (can I say manscape?)
  • the drunks
  • the man who was trying to sell everyone pirated software

  I take the Red Line L to the Pink Line to get to work but sometimes I take one of the express buses to the Pink Line.

• Lake Michigan - being so close to the lake is awesome. I will say that I don’t go TO the lake very often as of yet, but my plan is to change that. When I take the bus to work in the morning, the bus goes along Lake Shore Drive. The lake looks different every day!
• Chicago - well, the city herself.  It’s a pretty outstanding place to be if I do say so myself.  The architecture alone could keep you busy for ages.  I just picked up “The Devil in the White City” - so I can learn a bit more about the history of this fantastic city.
• Art - I have been to the Art Insitute a few times and revisited it when I first arrived in early May.  This is the first museum in a city of which I live in that I will become a member of, with no reservations.  There are so many other museums in town that I want/need to visit!!
• Neighborhoods - so much diversity in so many different types of ‘hoods.  I live in Uptown which unfortunately is NOT my favorite neighborhood, though I do like the Buena Park part of it - I’m sort of hoping to move to perhaps Andersonville or to Lakeview in the next six months.
• Academic Life - I like being ON a university campus.  There are lots of perks and benefits to it - however there are downsides.  The bureaucracy can drive one up the wall - and the paperwork is mind-boggling.  Other than that - I love it.

As far as my job, this is what I have been working on:

• Inventory of technology in the office
• Getting rid of old/redundant technologies
• Learning about NLM and NN/LM
• Preparing for my first trips (June 6 to Milwaukee is my first official trip)
• Meetings with Library Systems to decentralize our server and make us more accessible to the rest of the University (something that has not happened in too long)
• And probably many other things - but at the moment I’m too sleepy to remember

I’m settling into my new job responsibilities at NN/LM GMR (which is located at the University of Illinois at Chicago.) I even got a paycheck yesterday and I just started. They must REALLY like me. I moved to the fair city of Chicago in early May and so far am enjoying it quite a bit. However, during my first week I had some side-effects from a medication that made me a little ill and then second week (when I started my new job) - I got a nice nasty cold. The cold was very similar in nature to the one I had during Computers in Libraries in April so I’m thinking it was lying in wait to resurface. It was all I could do to go to work every day and then go right back home and jump into bed. My first week also included the start of MLA 2008. I have never attended the full conference of MLA before - though I have been a speaker at the Midwest Chapter Meeting and a joint meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter and the Southern Chapter a couple of years ago. I met some fantastic people at MLA this year and especially during the pre-conference stuff I had to attend as part of NN/LM.

MLA happened to run right up against another conference at the same hotel - International Mr. Leather. I was trying to come up with possible topics for plenary sessions and breakout sessions. I came up with some options but decided that they were a little risqué even for me. Ok probably not but I’ll keep this clean.

All is going well so far - just trying to understand my responsibilities. I was just given the responsibility of find a magnetic nut setter (11mm) this weekend. That should be interesting! I will eventually be migrating data from a 2000 Server to a 2003 Server and that is something I am looking forward to. What I am truly looking forward to though is being off for 3 days.

Well he actually comethed already.  I am happy to report that I am not stealing anyone else’s internet connection at the moment, and using my own.  I had a déja vu moment yesterday.  I was standing in my new apartment (I have to mostly stand or sit on the floor since my stuff hasn’t arrived yet) and I felt as if I was repeating something.  When I was in Seattle, I left my fab job and moved to Bezerkeley for another job.  Unfortunately, when I lived there, I was unhappy - hated my job, felt alone… the good thing is that I was able to snap myself out of that feeling.  I just said that this situation is completely different - which it is.

I had a lovely lunch with my new friend Peter in Boystown and then we took a leisurely stroll along the lake near the harbor.  I’m really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed very soon.

Yes it is that time of year again - though I don’t really celebrate Cinco.  I’m celebrating in a different way today, by moving to Chicago.  My bags are all packed, my belongings are already on their way up to Chicago and I’m at the airport (ATL) waiting for a flight to take me to Newark and then on to Chicago.  I have such absolutely amazing friends in Atlanta.  I can’t begin to tell you how much I will miss them.  I was able to spend a lot of time with them this weekend and we all shared some really great times.  I’m so grateful that I am able to re-establish a friendship which I wasn’t sure was salvagable, to make those who have made such an impact in my life know just how much their presence has changed my life forever, and letting me call at all hours and vent my frustrations, my hopes, my dreams, my loves and losses - wow.  Words cannot adequately express how much I will miss them.  Christi. Andrew. Steve. Mike. Peyton. Mike. Del. Gary. Danny. Rodney. Ivy. Bobby. Mark. Rob. All the others - you know who you are - you are in my heart forever.

I’m flying to Baton Rouge later today to teach my last “official” class for SOLINET.  Tomorrow is my last day and the end of almost 5 years at this job.  I’ll be teaching Web 2.0: Social Software Applications for Libraries at the Greenwell Springs Road Regional Branch Library (part of E. Baton Rouge Parish Library System).  I have taught there before but to be honest I can’t remember what class it was - I think it might have been a class that is part of the Rural Library Sustainability Program from WebJunction.  Still waiting to hear from the movers as to what day exactly they will be here to pack up my life - but my plan is to fly up to Chicago on Monday.  I sold my car last week - and honestly part of me is a little panic-stricken! I thought I would be so relieved but I’m really not.  I am hoping that I’ll get used to it.

I’m still a little bit loopy from having my bathtub reglazed for the tenant who will be living in my condo in Atlanta (hi Melissa!) - it looks awesome! The fumes however have given me a major headache and I did not sleep well last night.  If it wasn’t so cold here at the moment (50’s - I know, Chicago is colder) I would have left ALL the windows open.

Oh - the presentations from FLA 2008 are all posted on the Presentations page.  Check ‘em out!

I am in Florida at the moment.  I am speaking at the Florida Library Association Annual Meeting…this morning spoke on technological change and trying to get buy-in.  I was pleasantly surprised by the reception and my performance.  It was great to see some familiar faces in the crowd like Cheryl Wolfe, Stephanie Race and Karen Schneider.  I have been so full of anxiety lately because of my impending move to Chicago and trying to tie up loose ends at MPOW.   I drove up the coast to where I grew up - and a lot of memories have been flooding my head.  I stopped by ole Countryside Mall where I used to work back in 1985 (or was it 1986?), drove by the ole Bookstop (which is no longer there), Phillippe Park, my old house - posted some photos of them on Flickr.  (Search for tag: pinellas).  Back to Plant City for now and then back to St. Pete tomorrow for one last session.

I’m not even gone yet but my good friend Rusty already put dibs on my office.

I don’t really care - it’s a nice one for the most part, though a little too close to the Ladies Loo. I am moving to the Windy City, the City of Booze and Jazz, the third largest city in the US, the city known originally by the Miami-Illinois Native American name of shikaakwa, the city that burned and came back like the Phoenix - Chicago.

I recently accepted a position with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine - Greater Midwest Region. It is located in the Library of the Health Sciences at the University of Illinois - Chicago. I will be the Technology Coordinator and will be working with some fantastic people. My last day at SOLINET is 28 April (though I have a class or two that might make the last day pushed back) and my first day is 12 May - right in time for MLA.

I had a problem with me ole blog - and after careful (I thought) reinstallation and backing up, I lost all posts from October 2007 to now.  Sux.  I had to recreate the MySQL database so they are not to be found, sadly.

Today is the day many cities on the Earth will willingly plunge into darkness. For an hour maybe.Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. Your city may be on the list of those that will hold events to acknowledge a needed commitment to energy conservation. Sydney was among the first cities to do this, followed by Christchurch and Auckland.

Other cities include:
Brisbane, CA
La Plata, CO
Asbury Park, NJ
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
…and hundreds of other cities.

What are YOU going to do during Earth Hour?