I made it back to Alabama. It was an exciting trip. Exciting in a bad way.
Thursday morning, my roomie, Maya, and I get in her car to make our way up to Salt Lake. We had plenty of time, or we would have had plenty of time if it hadn't started snowing like nobody's business! So instead, we slowly inch up to the Salt Lake airport. I make it about 45 minutes before my flight left. Still would have been fine if it hadn't been for the computers crashing in the check in line! And I was the person at the front of the line when they crashed! I was so close! So, I stood there for about 15 minutes. Now it's 30 minutes until my flight leaves. I get up to the counter and one of my bags is overweight! Argh!!! I quickly rearrange some stuff between my bags. Finally, I get my bags checked. However, I am still not checked in. They gave me a stupid little paper that informs me I have to check in at the gate. Great. Next is going through security. By this time, I'm feeling panicky. I know I'm going to have to run to my gate like a scene from a Home Alone movie. I rush through security as fast as I can, forgo putting my belt back on, cram my feet into my shoes, almost knock over an old lady in a wheelchair, hope that I haven't dropped anything or left anything behind and make a running start for my gate. Of course, my gate is at the very end of the terminal. When I get there, I'm completely out of breath. 5 minutes until my flight leaves. I made it, right? Wrong. I go up to the gate and the somewhat unhelpful man there tells me that since I'm not checked in, I have to go talk to the person at the desk. I turn around and looked hopelessly at the desk, which has a line of at least 20 people. No possible way I can make it through that line in 5 minutes! I was totally going to miss my flight. Completely panicked at this point, I call Dad and tell him that I'm afraid I'm not going to make it. And I really was afraid I wasn't going to make it. Nevertheless, I get in the line. Some of the nice people around me in the line (whose flights weren't leaving in 4 minutes) tell me to just go up to the front and see if I can cut. Desperate, I do so and a girl informs me that one of the people at the side of the desk is helping a group of people on my flight. So I just hand my paper to that person and she tells me to go ahead and board. Really? It was that simple? Why didn't the guy at the gate tell me that? Dad, of course, is still on the other end of my phone, so he's heard the whole thing. As I walk up the walkway thingy (what are those things called?) into the plane, I tell him that I got on the plane, it's ok, I'm gonna make it after all, etc.
So you'd think all my problems were over, right? Well, they were mostly over. Since I was like, the last person boarding the plane, I had to find a place in the overhead compartment for my carry-on. After much searching, and much whacking people in the head with my ginormous backpack every time I turned around, I find some room for it. Then I find a seat (I was flying Southwest) and promptly give a concussion to the poor guy in the aisle seat while crawling over him.
Needless to say, that was probably my worst airport travelling experience ever.
The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful and calm compared to the first part. I made it to Las Vegas, had a 3 hour layover, got a boarding pass for my connecting flight, then flew to Nashville. Surprisingly, my luggage made it to Nashville even though I checked in late. My brother-in-law, Peter, picked me up and I spent the night at my sister and brother-in-law's. The following day, I got to spend some time with my adorable niece and that evening, my dad and brothers came up and drove me down to Huntsville.
Wow, I've had quite the week!
Monday, December 22
Tuesday, December 16
Last Day
Today was my last day working at my beloved Harold B. Lee Library. My job, first as a desk clerk, then as a Holds/Recalls secretary, was such an incredible blessing. I met amazing people and did work that I absolutely loved. I can hardly believe it's over.
The last 3 and a half years have been great. I always felt so incredibly welcome in the Circulation department, from the very beginning. I remember being trained, feeling completely overwhelmed by all the information that I had to learn, then eventually getting a handle on everything. Working at the front desk was always so fun, especially with Sondra. She used to randomly survey random patrons. The only question I remember, though, had something to do with guys wearing pink shirts. I remember when Alexis got a promotion to TL and we had a running joke where I would show her the reserve book I was about to shelve. (This comes from when we were supposed to have another person check books we were about to shelve so as to cut down on non-reserve books being shelved in Reserve.) I remember when I worked with Tim one late night and he essentially gave me a home teaching message. I remember being sick and having someone send me home and cover my shift for me. I remember root beer float Saturdays with Lilia and Jennica. I remember many many deep conversations at the front desk when JoAnn overhear us in her office and join in the discussion. I remember the first day Camille left me alone in Holds/Recalls to do the work by myself. I remember teaching Austin about stealing Blackboard and encouraging him to write the best ever Blackboard theft post. I remember doing Book Processing with Parker when he read me Italian poetry. I remember really hating to call people about Reserve Recalls. I remember decorating the ginormous Christmas tree last year with everyone. I remember the day nothing printed out for Holds and Recalls and we had to do everything manually. There are so many good memories.
Today, Kristina (my dear former fellow Holds/Recalls secretary) commented that now that I'm leaving all the knowledge and information I learned at the library will be useless. Yes, some of it will be. But I hope that I've learned something more important than procedures and policies. Like learning how to be patient with people, learning to put myself in someone else's shoes, learning to respect other's beliefs and opinions. I hope that I'm a better person now than I was when I walked through the Reserve Door for my job interview over three years ago. I feel like I've grown up so much. And now it's time to do even more growing up.
The last 3 and a half years have been great. I always felt so incredibly welcome in the Circulation department, from the very beginning. I remember being trained, feeling completely overwhelmed by all the information that I had to learn, then eventually getting a handle on everything. Working at the front desk was always so fun, especially with Sondra. She used to randomly survey random patrons. The only question I remember, though, had something to do with guys wearing pink shirts. I remember when Alexis got a promotion to TL and we had a running joke where I would show her the reserve book I was about to shelve. (This comes from when we were supposed to have another person check books we were about to shelve so as to cut down on non-reserve books being shelved in Reserve.) I remember when I worked with Tim one late night and he essentially gave me a home teaching message. I remember being sick and having someone send me home and cover my shift for me. I remember root beer float Saturdays with Lilia and Jennica. I remember many many deep conversations at the front desk when JoAnn overhear us in her office and join in the discussion. I remember the first day Camille left me alone in Holds/Recalls to do the work by myself. I remember teaching Austin about stealing Blackboard and encouraging him to write the best ever Blackboard theft post. I remember doing Book Processing with Parker when he read me Italian poetry. I remember really hating to call people about Reserve Recalls. I remember decorating the ginormous Christmas tree last year with everyone. I remember the day nothing printed out for Holds and Recalls and we had to do everything manually. There are so many good memories.
Today, Kristina (my dear former fellow Holds/Recalls secretary) commented that now that I'm leaving all the knowledge and information I learned at the library will be useless. Yes, some of it will be. But I hope that I've learned something more important than procedures and policies. Like learning how to be patient with people, learning to put myself in someone else's shoes, learning to respect other's beliefs and opinions. I hope that I'm a better person now than I was when I walked through the Reserve Door for my job interview over three years ago. I feel like I've grown up so much. And now it's time to do even more growing up.
Wednesday, December 10
Tidbits
Well, it's certainly been a while since my last post. I really have no excuse. I've been working and going to school, but I haven't been super busy.
I have two days of college class left. It's amazing. I can hardly believe it. I think I'm in denial. Next semester won't even be a semester. No more thinking like that.
So, I should probably share what's going on in my life. My roommate Suzie got engaged. She's getting married this March in California. I'm going to the wedding. I've never been to California before and Suzie asked me to be a bridesmaid. And maybe while I'm in California, I might just have to go to Disneyland. Yup.
I have no job as of yet. Maybe I'll hear from the library back home. Meanwhile, I'll just have to start the job hunt when I get back.
The Friday of Thanksgiving break I got set up on a date. With my roommate's brother's roommate. We watched Wall-E and played Carcassonne (and a little bit of Rock Band! I love that game so much!). I had a good time.
There is no snow here! I desperately want some before I move back to snow-less Alabama for the rest of the winter.
I have one paper left to write, three finals to take, several bags of clothes and stuff to take to DI, loads of stuff to pack in boxes, many boxes to ship, eight Christmas presents to buy, too many goodbyes to say, and one plane trip to take before I get home.
I have two days of college class left. It's amazing. I can hardly believe it. I think I'm in denial. Next semester won't even be a semester. No more thinking like that.
So, I should probably share what's going on in my life. My roommate Suzie got engaged. She's getting married this March in California. I'm going to the wedding. I've never been to California before and Suzie asked me to be a bridesmaid. And maybe while I'm in California, I might just have to go to Disneyland. Yup.
I have no job as of yet. Maybe I'll hear from the library back home. Meanwhile, I'll just have to start the job hunt when I get back.
The Friday of Thanksgiving break I got set up on a date. With my roommate's brother's roommate. We watched Wall-E and played Carcassonne (and a little bit of Rock Band! I love that game so much!). I had a good time.
There is no snow here! I desperately want some before I move back to snow-less Alabama for the rest of the winter.
I have one paper left to write, three finals to take, several bags of clothes and stuff to take to DI, loads of stuff to pack in boxes, many boxes to ship, eight Christmas presents to buy, too many goodbyes to say, and one plane trip to take before I get home.
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