Nearing the finish line... too tired to care.

Well, I've completed almost all of the work necessary to earn my MLIS. I'm not celebrating yet, though. Not only do I have a couple of hoops to jump through, but also I'm not really in the mood.

Internship Update: Week 3-4

On Monday I turned in my first research assignment, which was to create a fact sheet and toolkit for CPL children's librarians to use with new LEGO DUPLO kits. I also discussed with my site supervisor how best to use my time and complete the required number of hours.

Project Work/Life Balance: Negotiating a 4-day Work Week

A new semester started today! I think it's time for the big reveal.

(Catch up on the backstory here, here, here, and here. And re-read this for good measure.)

Project Work/Life Balance: Do Your Homework

Once I came to the conclusion that something had to change, and brainstormed a bit about how that could look, I didn't just go charging into the boss's office waving a pitchfork or a timecard.

Don't let's be silly.

Project Work/Life Balance: Working a Shorter Week

When we last saw our heroine, she'd established that an 80-hour workweek was NOT SUSTAINABLE.

After crunching the numbers, it looked like my best bet was to graduate in May as planned. And I had to take those courses to graduate. So it came down to decreasing my working hours. And that required meeting with my employer to negotiate whether and how that would happen.

Project Work/Life Balance: Working From Home Is the Best

Today the morning weather was miserable, and I felt pretty lousy myself, so instead of heading into the office, I chose to work from home. (We can do this occasionally, but until recently I hadn't had a suitable computer setup to use all of my work tools.) Over the break, during which I worked from home on a computer loaned by my employer, I confirmed that working from home is an excellent setup for me.

(not my keyboard, but much like my cat)

Be Kind to Yourself (a good reminder)

For the past year and a half, I have been working full-time (40 hours/week) while also taking a full courseload of grad school each semester. At times, I feel like Supergirl (and maybe like I need to be this busy or else what would I *DO*??). And at other times, that's made for a very busy, stressed-out librarian-in-training. And the effects seems to be cumulative, or at least increasing over time. I need a certain amount of sleep to function and a bit more than that to feel well (more than most folks, for various reasons). As an introvert, I need time to myself (usually in the form of curling up with a book) to feel calm and healthy. As a newlywed, it would be lovely to be able to spend quality time with my wife -- and while that occasionally looks like the two of us reading our own books in the same room or folding laundry together, it doesn't extend to me frantically writing a term paper on my laptop while she brings me ice cream. Some sunlight would be nice. But I've shunted most of that aside while I work and study, and it's hurting me!

The approach of a new year prompted me to get some of this stuff in order.