Heading West

Despite knowing that today (well, tomorrow) was coming for what seemed to be a long time, it feels like it's suddenly arrived.

The movers have come and gone, the Youngstown apartment is mostly empty, and tomorrow morning I head west.

I've seen several things recently I want to comment on, but all of them will have to wait for now, unless I get time in a hotel room following a day's drive.

I am probably going to take a couple of days longer than I technically have to to make this drive. I haven't done a long drive since last summer, this is a route I've never taken before (which does make me a little - not nervous, but extra aware) and I kind of want to be able to stop if I see something that I want to stop and look at. I'm basically driving cross country. I might as well enjoy it!

The status quo

Some days I love Library Pariah. Today being one such day:

Librarian Foolishly Exceeds Expectations

"...an entire generation of students would be forever lost to the almighty reference tally sheet."

Though perhaps not quite as much as I love the Smart Bitches and the cover snark.

Why Twitter?

Twitter is one of my new favorite web tools. I admit that when I first heard about it, it seemed voyeuristic and perhaps a little egotistical - why would people care what I was doing all day and why should I care what others do?

Then there was today, when I started with a comment about it being my last day at my current job. There were the good luck comments and supportive things, and then the day pretty much went, with the usual chatter in the LSW Meebo room.

Between 4:00 and 4:15 this afternoon, I went from "La la, this isn't so bad" to the basket case phase. I managed to close out of the Meebo room, and sent a tweet that said " lost it. Almost made it through the day. Didn;t."

You know what, I had lots of fast responses - and I appreciate every one of them, even the person who thought they'd said something in the room that offended me (and honestly, I don't even know what the conversation was about when I left) and sent an apology as a direct message.

These are responses that I wouldn't have been able to get from my in-person friends today: they were either coworkers (and so almost as much of a basket case as I was) or at work elsewhere and not really available. That's what I like about Twitter. It's fast, and it fits my Child
of the 80's instant gratification mindset some days. Today was just one of those days. Thanks folks.

Now I have to figure out how to make it work for work - without the obvious networking with other librarians thing, but actual work with patrons stuff. But that can percolate in my brain for a while. Because I have a month to get moved and settled before I start the new job.