A New Toy

I ordered a new cover for my iPad - two of the others I have are becoming a bit frayed around the edges - this one has the added advantage of a bluetooth keyboard!  It certainly is small, yet very easy to use - particularly since there is great "feel" to the keys.  I'm hoping that it will be useful - particularly for taking notes etc. during meetings.  Of course there aren't many meetings left in my library career!

  

Luckily, the keyboard will also link to my phone which might come in handy for texting especially since my fingers don't fit the phone keyboard easily - especially in portrait mode. 

Regardless - I'm enjoying the keyboard and I'm sure I'll use it often.  And thank you Amazon Prime - I was able to order it Wednesday evening and get it Friday morning!!  YAY!!

Time passing

Things are moving forward.  On Feb. 27th I met with the City's retirement person and signed the necessary papers to apply for retirement.  (YIKES)  Next week I have an appointment with Social Security to do the necessary paperwork for Medicare and find out if Harry's SS is going to be higher than mine (I think it is) and get everything ready.

We're checking out materials for March 24 - so it seems like March is almost over already!  The perils of living 3 weeks in the future!  Time is certainly passing quickly and before I know it, it will be May and my career will be coming to an end.

As I said in my email to my boss - it's never easy making large, important changes but there are times when it's necessary.  I've enjoyed every one of the 30 years I've been working but it's time to step aside and let someone else have the fun.  I'll miss the people with whom I work but I don't know that I'll miss the daily work.  I'll have to see.

Wow

It's been an interesting couple of weeks - about a week ago, I came home to find a message from a cousin whom I haven't seen or heard from in about 30 years.  I haven't had a chance to call her back due to work, etc. but I'm certainly planning on returning her call and reconnecting.  Then today a trip to the mailbox brought a card from another cousin whom I haven't seen in over 50 years.  She said that she'd sent me a Facebook message but I certainly don't remember getting one (and there is another Diane Wetterlin in the world!) so I sent her a FB message this evening.  We'll see what happens.

After all these years, to have voices from the past - two different families in the same week - mind boggling!

Words

Coulda Woulda Shoulda - how many times do these words get used by everyone (including me)? How many times do people say these words to justify something that's happened to them or what they've done (or not done).

I know I've said those things - dwelling on the past or what might have been - but it never changes anything and rarely makes me feel better.  So I've decided to do my best to avoid those words. Instead I'm going to use words like Can and Will and Do instead.  I'm going to focus on the present, dream a bit about the future and look at the past only for the good times.  I can't change what has happened but I can learn from it.  I focus on the present and what's important - my family, friends and, of course, my pets!  And I can look forward to the future, without over planning it, and new adventures.

We'll see how it goes -

Musings - again

SIGH - where to begin without sounding pompous?  I enjoy Facebook - a lot.  I like reading what my friends are doing and keeping up with relatives but lately I'm having a problem.  My problem is the extreme polarization of the country (and apparently some of the people I've friended).  This polarization and, in my opinion, the relative safety of posting inflammatory remarks from the comfort of ones home has become so extreme that it's very tempting to hide all postings from some people or to un-friend them completely. I really don't want to do that.

I've been interested in politics for a long time.  I've known, as an adult, 7 presidents.  Some I voted for, some I didn't.  Some votes I've regretted!  But I don't remember the nastiness that's currently being directed at the President - not even during Watergate with Richard Nixon.  (I am NOT a crook!) I certainly didn't approve of the job that the previous President did, nor did I like the people around him.   I was against his foreign policy and most, if not all, of his domestic policies.  I complained and criticized.  But I never called him anything except Mr. Bush, the President or President Bush (ok, sometimes just Bush).  I never questioned his parentage, his birth, his patriotism.  I was taught to respect the position - it wasn't necessary to like the occupant but I was to respect the title.

Maybe that's naive.  But I think that the political discourse would be so much more productive if we just followed some rules like no name calling, or no yelling.  If we didn't reward those who yell the loudest and how about some facts to back up the rhetoric? ( I like footnotes!)

Anyway - I like the people I've friended (and yes I know them) and don't want to lose any but I use FB as relaxation and sometimes the posts are anything but.  Decisions to be made I suppose.

May

This year is flying past - it's almost Memorial Day!  Bryan graduated from ODU and won the Academic Achievement Award in History - so proud of him!  He invited me to the honors luncheon - very nice event and I was thrilled to go.  Of course now he's looking for a teaching job and, while I certainly want the very best for him, it will be a jolt when he leaves.

One more year at work - that's the plan right now and I don't foresee any changes - before retirement. Guess then I'll have to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life! So many opportunities!  I do know that I'd like to travel some - hopefully I'll find someone to go with me - but I also want to just "be" - and enjoy the area around me.  I can go on mini-trips that I don't have time for now - lots of dreaming going on!

But for now, I simply can't believe how fast the year has gone - in the past it's seemed to move slowly from January to May but not this year!  I suppose all the changes and additions at work have had a hand in making it appear to fly.  Here we are in the beginning of "holiday time" (that's what I call it since we'll have actual holidays almost every other month while we don't have any from the middle of January to the end of May!) and pretty soon it will be Christmas and another New Year!  But, l don't want to get too far ahead of myself!

Think I'll go enjoy this sunny, cool day after all the heat and humidity.

Managing Change

Today I went to a session on Managing Change - it couldn't have come at a better time.  The talk dealt with a particular model that has the change be an event then the transition being the reactions to that event.  There are three steps - 1.  the Ending; 2. the Neutral Zone; and 3. the New Beginnings.

We're always in some part of this transition and sometimes in two or more stages at the same time!  I know that at least one of my changes started with my boss's retirement - that was The Ending.  My reactions to that were mixed - I was pleased for her yet wondering how my life would be changing both in the long term and the short term.  A new manager was definitely the long term change but, in the short term, was trying to manage all the new responsibilities while attempting to ensure the rest of the staff had what they needed.  The Neutral zone is where I think I am now - I've moved forward but there are still questions and, unfortunately, not, as yet, very many answers.

If that was the only change then it would be fairly easy and simple to wait for the new manager to be hired and figure out my role at that time, but life is never that easy!  My problems, staff problems, department issues - all conspire to make this change simply one of many - I can tell when I'm getting stressed by change - I want to sleep too much (most of the time), and get cranky! Then I know it's time to stop, take a deep breath and slowly start one step at a time to work through the problem.

SIGH!