I'm sure by now my reader is wondering what has become of me. Did I leave for the beach and pull a Virginia Woolf? No - nothing that drastic. I've been plugging along. Looking for work, reading, applying for jobs, networking, chatting online with friends, tweeking my resume, going to Weight Watchers meetings and mostly staying close to home.
So - accomplishments! I enjoy reading and have worked my way through several books from my local library - which has the benefit of being about a mile away so it is a good walk over and back so I get some exercise too.
As for my Weight Watchers accomplishments - I passed the 50 lb mark and... as of last night I weighed in under 200 lbs - the first time I have been under 200 lbs in about 20 years! What made that even sweeter is that I had no idea if I had even lost any weight in the past week. The bathroom scales at home are much kinder than the scales at the Weight Watchers office and the scales at home have been stuck at 190 for about 3 weeks - so what a nice surprise to go in and learn of this success.
I wouldn't have made it this far without the support of George!!! So, many thanks!
Band -- our marching band has had a good summer and performed at many events. Now we are getting ready to head into our fall concert season. That's always fun! On a sad note one of our band members passed away rather suddenly in June. He was quite the musician and played in many ensembles within our band and without. Some of his friends organized an evening concert and memorial that was quite nice.
I did notice when I saw his dates that he was 58 years old when he died. I turned to a friend and said - okay this is the third friend of mine who has died at the age of 58. Steve replied that things happen in 3's so this will put an end to it. I said - well - just so the next round isn't people aged 53 as I'm looking at that in two months and it could take me and a bunch of my friends!
Family home - still hasn't sold - but I'm still hoping and praying! I haven't resorted to burying a statue of St. Joseph - maybe I could start by asking him for help!
Job front - My efforts have paid off somewhat. I started off the month with two interviews. One was a phone interview for a job at Georgetown Medical Library. I think it went well. I hope so. Next step for them is to weed the candidates and then invite the next round for on-site interviews. Like going into the semi-finals of a reality show. Would be nice to make it to the next round!
On Tuesday of this week I had an interview for a two-month temp job for a contractor at an agency near College Park, MD. That interview went well and they offered me the post. Starting Monday I'll be working - at least through the end of September so I'll be getting up and dressed and out of the house every day!
So - August is starting out as a really good month for me -- hope and pray things continue to get better!!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Split focus
There is much to write in here and I will get on it. I am gainfully unemployed at the moment having left my last job at the beginning of May.
The job search is going well. At least there are openings. I applied for one job at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American History. I talked to a librarian there and learned that they had 1100 applicants for a single job. "So," I said, "I won't be hearing from you anytime soon."
I have applied for government jobs as well as two positions at Catholic University - that would a 10-15 minute walk from my house!
But there is good news in all of this. I am hopeful that I will land in a job that is right for me - makes use of my skills and my interests. I'm told that the work environment at CUA is great!! At this point I am just waiting for an interview.
Other exciting news - I'm overdue with a write up about my trip to the Holy Land. I was on the ground in the Holy Land for 9 days - April 26 - May 4.
I was on a pilgrimage with members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. (Say that three times fast!)
The pilgrimage went very smoothly - we hit all the high spots - Calvary and the Tomb in Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, the home of Caiaphas (now the Church of St. Peter!), the Upper Room, the Garden of Olives and Gethsemane and the Wailing Wall. In Bethlehem we visited the site of the birth of Jesus and also visited Shepherds' Field.
After leaving Jerusalem we took the bus to Bethany and climbed down into the tomb of Lazarus. Then we headed north, stopping to renew our Baptismal promises at the Jordan River. We also stopped at the ruins of the Essene community near the Dead Sea.
The rest of our trip was centered in Tiberias and we made day trips to Mount Tabor, to Haifa and the Cave of Elijah - now a Carmelite Monastery, the home of St. Peter along the Sea of Galilee. We enjoyed a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee that was spectacular.
The last day of the pilgrimage took us to Nazareth and the grotto where Mary received the message from the angel Gabriel.
I will post some photos and tell some of what transpired while we were there. A magnificent trip!
The job search is going well. At least there are openings. I applied for one job at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American History. I talked to a librarian there and learned that they had 1100 applicants for a single job. "So," I said, "I won't be hearing from you anytime soon."
I have applied for government jobs as well as two positions at Catholic University - that would a 10-15 minute walk from my house!
But there is good news in all of this. I am hopeful that I will land in a job that is right for me - makes use of my skills and my interests. I'm told that the work environment at CUA is great!! At this point I am just waiting for an interview.
Other exciting news - I'm overdue with a write up about my trip to the Holy Land. I was on the ground in the Holy Land for 9 days - April 26 - May 4.
I was on a pilgrimage with members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. (Say that three times fast!)
The pilgrimage went very smoothly - we hit all the high spots - Calvary and the Tomb in Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, the home of Caiaphas (now the Church of St. Peter!), the Upper Room, the Garden of Olives and Gethsemane and the Wailing Wall. In Bethlehem we visited the site of the birth of Jesus and also visited Shepherds' Field.
After leaving Jerusalem we took the bus to Bethany and climbed down into the tomb of Lazarus. Then we headed north, stopping to renew our Baptismal promises at the Jordan River. We also stopped at the ruins of the Essene community near the Dead Sea.
The rest of our trip was centered in Tiberias and we made day trips to Mount Tabor, to Haifa and the Cave of Elijah - now a Carmelite Monastery, the home of St. Peter along the Sea of Galilee. We enjoyed a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee that was spectacular.
The last day of the pilgrimage took us to Nazareth and the grotto where Mary received the message from the angel Gabriel.
I will post some photos and tell some of what transpired while we were there. A magnificent trip!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Part of the process
Several years ago I finally realized that my parents weren't going to live forever. Sad as that was it still didn't prepare me for the real grief that I experienced when each of them died.
After my mother died a few years ago, the four kids got together to discuss the future of the family home that we now shared equally. I have written about our home in other posts. Our great-grandfather, P.R. Lawyer, had the house built and then enlarged to accommodate his growing family and the arrival of his mother-in-law.
Over the years the house was home to other relatives and was always a gathering place for family and friends. My grandmother became the next owner after her father died. She married and raised her two children (my mother and my uncle). Eventually the house went to my parents and now it is ours.
Next came the realization that none of us could keep the house. Three of us already own homes and none of us can afford to buy, repair and maintain the house. So we sorted through what was there and negotiated what items we wanted from the house. Some are items that have just always been there. A rocking chair that our great-great-great-grandparents brought from Germany (according to my grandmother), a pitcher, a toby jug, a dresser, just to name a few.
My brother found someone who was willing to handle the sale of anything that we wanted to get rid of. So we empty out the house, organize our brother's things (one of us is living there) and clean the place to make it look nicer for potential buyers.
Now I have spent the last two weeks up there packing up dishes and all manner of things from the attic, the basement and the two floors of living space. My brothers and sister helped and even a neice and a nephew. Then the cleaning started.
By the time we were done with the second floor I was amazed and inspired. I saw again the home I had always loved and saw the potential for it to be a home or even a bed & breakfast. A place that a new family will love and cherish.
I'm posting some photos - but you'd have to have seen how it looked prior to our efforts these past two weeks.
Now - if you're looking to buy a late Victorian home in downtown Berkeley Springs, WV - let me know!
After my mother died a few years ago, the four kids got together to discuss the future of the family home that we now shared equally. I have written about our home in other posts. Our great-grandfather, P.R. Lawyer, had the house built and then enlarged to accommodate his growing family and the arrival of his mother-in-law.
Over the years the house was home to other relatives and was always a gathering place for family and friends. My grandmother became the next owner after her father died. She married and raised her two children (my mother and my uncle). Eventually the house went to my parents and now it is ours.
Next came the realization that none of us could keep the house. Three of us already own homes and none of us can afford to buy, repair and maintain the house. So we sorted through what was there and negotiated what items we wanted from the house. Some are items that have just always been there. A rocking chair that our great-great-great-grandparents brought from Germany (according to my grandmother), a pitcher, a toby jug, a dresser, just to name a few.
My brother found someone who was willing to handle the sale of anything that we wanted to get rid of. So we empty out the house, organize our brother's things (one of us is living there) and clean the place to make it look nicer for potential buyers.
Now I have spent the last two weeks up there packing up dishes and all manner of things from the attic, the basement and the two floors of living space. My brothers and sister helped and even a neice and a nephew. Then the cleaning started.
By the time we were done with the second floor I was amazed and inspired. I saw again the home I had always loved and saw the potential for it to be a home or even a bed & breakfast. A place that a new family will love and cherish.
I'm posting some photos - but you'd have to have seen how it looked prior to our efforts these past two weeks.
Now - if you're looking to buy a late Victorian home in downtown Berkeley Springs, WV - let me know!
Upstairs Kitchen looking toward back door
Upstairs Kitchen looking toward stove and sink
Upstairs Kitchen looking toward back bedroom
Upstairs Back Bedroom
Upstairs Back Bedroom - at one time it was the family living room - hence the fireplace.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Knowing someone you never met.
I had the good fortune of growing up in the same household with my maternal grandparents. Not only that, it was the same home in which my grandmother had been reared. There is mention of the house and its history elsewhere in this blog.
Over the years I heard many stories about my one great grandfather, Peter Randolph Lawyer generally referred to as P.R. Lawyer. His wife, Ida May, called him Dolph, but my grandmother always referred to him as Papa.
P.R. was born in the southern part of Morgan County in an area known as Oakland. This is always pronounced with equal emphasis on both syllables. His parents, James West and Margaret Jane Lawyer were farmers and lived in a typical home. (I will have to find my records with the exact dates, but P.R. was born about 1871.)
Life on a farm is never easy and in those days I'm sure there was a lot of work. But Papa Lawyer must have applied himself. He went to the local one-room school through about the eighth grade as far as I remember hearing. But that included lessons in the three 'Rs - Reading, Riting and Rithmatic, as well as history and penmanship.
Papa had a great love for music and instilled that love in his children. Over the years he sang in the church choir, played the organ, the coronet and even designed a few instruments.
My grandmother told me how at some point in his youth P.R. Lawyer headed west to seek his fortune. She never said where he landed, but I suspect he didn't get much past the Mississippi. Still he saw something of the country, but he missed his home. She said that especially in the evenings watching the sunset he grew homesick. So he headed back east.
P.R. did not want to be a farmer and instead moved into the growing town of Berkeley Springs and opened a jewelry store. In addition to jewelry he sold china, silver, watches and clocks, and music.
I never learned the story of how he met his wife, but I wonder if it was maybe at church or if he rented a room from his future mother-in-law. P.R. Lawyer and Ida May Casler were wed in the new Presbyterian Church in Berkeley Springs - the first couple to be married there.
P.R. had a house built on Independence Street and lived there with his new bride. My grandmother told me that her parents moved to Basic City, Virginia briefly. She was born in Berkeley Springs in 1891 and she gave me the impression that she moved with them to Basic City. But they didn't stay there for long.
My grandmother told me that there was a fire in Basic City. I don't know if P.R. lost the store, but business was bad. According to the Wikipedia article Basic City was hit hard in the depression of 1893. In fact Basic City is one of Virginia's Lost Cities. It was subsumed by the city of Waynesboro.
After moving back to Berkeley Springs, P.R. had a house built in the Wright's & Smith's addition to the Town of Bath. In October 1895 the Lawyer family, P.R. (Papa), Ida (Mama), and children Anna and Herbert moved into the home on South Green Street.
My grandmother told me that Papa had very particular ideas about how he wanted his home to be. Having grown up in a farm house he wanted a more formal home. They had a separate dining room and Papa took all of his meals in the dining room. He never ate in the kitchen. The upstairs had a center hallway. In the farm house one had to pass through one bedroom to get to another. He must have enjoyed his privacy.
The house faced west - looking at the ridge that ran alongside the town. On summer evenings P.R. would put a chair on the front porch roof outside his bedroom and sit and gaze at the stars. I don't know if he read up there or just sat, smoked a cigar and thought.
After a few years when double parlors became fashionable, P.R. had an addition built to the home. This was to accommodate a growing family - the birth of son Henry "Harry" Lawyer born in 1903 and to welcome Ida's mother, Anna Matilda (Ma) Casler.
In addition to running his business, P.R. was active in the community. He played in the Berkeley Springs Band, he was a charter member of the local Lodge of Freemasons and served as a Grand Master for a time. He was active in local politics and served as Mayor of the Town of Bath - Berkeley Springs is just the name of the post office. At one point he ran for a state senate seat but he did not win. P.R. had the misfortune of being a Democrat in a very Republican county.
P.R. had a phone line installed at the house on Green Street that was a direct line to a phone in his jewelry store. One day there was a fire in the summer kitchen. Ida was so shocked by it that she ran down the hill to get P.R. and never even thought about using the phone.
The family attended the Presbyterian church. Anna played the organ. She sang Alto and Herbert sang Tenor - Harry ended up being the Bass. The children attended school at Mount Wesley Academy which was just a few blocks away. Anna graduated in 1909.
When the US entered World War I Herbert served, playing euphonium in the band and running telephone cables. After his basic training he served in France. After he returned from the war he went to work as a salesman, first for Gold Medal Flour and then for many years for the H.J. Heinz Company. He and his wife Hazel Parlette Lawyer settled in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Anna, my grandmother, helped her father in the store, gave piano lessons and played for the silent movies. She told me that she got paid 25¢ to play for the movies. If a vaudeville troupe came to town and needed a pianist then she would rehearse with them and play for the show and then she'd make big money - 50¢
Anna met her future husband, Edward F. Carroll, when he came to Berkeley Springs with a traveling semi-pro baseball team. The team moved on, but Eddie stayed and worked in the local Washington Hotel. Eddie courted Anna for about 10 years before P.R. gave his consent to let his only daughter get married.
There were two factors at work I think - one, P.R. was a Freemason and my grandfather was a Roman Catholic and I don't think P.R. wanted to see his daughter marry a Catholic. So I think some of my grandfather's work was in winning over P.R.
More than that P.R. didn't think that Anna needed to get married. He could provide everything she needed. Well - everything except children. Anna loved children and wanted a family of her own. So P.R. relented and Anna and Eddie were married in a simple ceremony in the parlor in the house on Green Street.
By this time Eddie was no longer working in Berkeley Springs. He was managing the Rappe Hotel in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. So Anna moved up there to set up house keeping. Given how attached the two were I can only imagine how much P.R. must have missed his little girl.
Don't get the idea that he was a soft-hearted type. He was strong-minded and used to getting his way. But he loved his family. In 1921 Anna was pregnant with her first child and she was living in Greensburg. P.R. ran the store without Anna there to help him. He had some health problems. He suffered from gout on occasion and that year came down with Bright's Disease.
During the summer P.R.'s condition worsened and they sent for Anna. But she was nearing the end of her pregnancy and the baby was due. In those days a woman had bed rest for several weeks following delivery, but Anna needed to get home.
As things happened she had a difficult labor and the baby was very weak. Each morning the nurse brought the baby in to my grandmother to nurse, but one morning my grandmother felt how cold the baby's hands and feet were. She warmed them, but called for the doctor. She knew that her son was dying and said to the doctor, "This is a Catholic baby. He needs to be baptized." The doctor sent the nurse to get some water, "and it doesn't need to be holy water!"
The doctor baptized my uncle as he lay in his mother's arms. Shortly after the baby died.
With little time to grieve Anna made ready for the train ride from Greensburg to Hancock and then a car ride the last six miles to Berkeley Springs. She said the ride in the car was the worst part given the roads and the condition of shock absorbers in those days.
Anna arrived in Berkeley Springs where she was able to help her mother care for P.R. during his last month. P.R. Lawyer passed away on October 4, 1921 in the home he built on Green Street.
Harry Lawyer was sent to learn watchmaking and he ran the store to support Ida. Anna bought her brothers' shares of the family home and continued to live there. She would live part of the time with her husband Eddie where he was working. They had two other children, both born in Greensburg, Edward Lawyer "Ned" Carroll and Margaret Anne "Margie", my mother.
They, like my sister, brothers and I grew up in the house that P.R. Lawyer built. None of us ever met them man, but we all felt as though we knew him. Ida lived in the home with her daughter and grandchildren. Harry and his wife Pearl lived next door with their four boys.
Ida passed away in 1952. Before she died she asked her only granddaughter, Margie, to move back to Berkeley Springs so that Anna wouldn't be alone. My mother honored her promise. After moving back to West Virginia Margie met Dwan McBee whom she had known when they were both much younger.
They dated and married and raised their family in the house on Green Street.
So why am I writing about this now? I'm not sure - I dreamed about Papa Lawyer last night and felt the need to write about him. I will check my dates and add them to this story.
Over the years I heard many stories about my one great grandfather, Peter Randolph Lawyer generally referred to as P.R. Lawyer. His wife, Ida May, called him Dolph, but my grandmother always referred to him as Papa.
P.R. was born in the southern part of Morgan County in an area known as Oakland. This is always pronounced with equal emphasis on both syllables. His parents, James West and Margaret Jane Lawyer were farmers and lived in a typical home. (I will have to find my records with the exact dates, but P.R. was born about 1871.)
Life on a farm is never easy and in those days I'm sure there was a lot of work. But Papa Lawyer must have applied himself. He went to the local one-room school through about the eighth grade as far as I remember hearing. But that included lessons in the three 'Rs - Reading, Riting and Rithmatic, as well as history and penmanship.
Papa had a great love for music and instilled that love in his children. Over the years he sang in the church choir, played the organ, the coronet and even designed a few instruments.
My grandmother told me how at some point in his youth P.R. Lawyer headed west to seek his fortune. She never said where he landed, but I suspect he didn't get much past the Mississippi. Still he saw something of the country, but he missed his home. She said that especially in the evenings watching the sunset he grew homesick. So he headed back east.
P.R. did not want to be a farmer and instead moved into the growing town of Berkeley Springs and opened a jewelry store. In addition to jewelry he sold china, silver, watches and clocks, and music.
I never learned the story of how he met his wife, but I wonder if it was maybe at church or if he rented a room from his future mother-in-law. P.R. Lawyer and Ida May Casler were wed in the new Presbyterian Church in Berkeley Springs - the first couple to be married there.
P.R. had a house built on Independence Street and lived there with his new bride. My grandmother told me that her parents moved to Basic City, Virginia briefly. She was born in Berkeley Springs in 1891 and she gave me the impression that she moved with them to Basic City. But they didn't stay there for long.
My grandmother told me that there was a fire in Basic City. I don't know if P.R. lost the store, but business was bad. According to the Wikipedia article Basic City was hit hard in the depression of 1893. In fact Basic City is one of Virginia's Lost Cities. It was subsumed by the city of Waynesboro.
After moving back to Berkeley Springs, P.R. had a house built in the Wright's & Smith's addition to the Town of Bath. In October 1895 the Lawyer family, P.R. (Papa), Ida (Mama), and children Anna and Herbert moved into the home on South Green Street.
My grandmother told me that Papa had very particular ideas about how he wanted his home to be. Having grown up in a farm house he wanted a more formal home. They had a separate dining room and Papa took all of his meals in the dining room. He never ate in the kitchen. The upstairs had a center hallway. In the farm house one had to pass through one bedroom to get to another. He must have enjoyed his privacy.
The house faced west - looking at the ridge that ran alongside the town. On summer evenings P.R. would put a chair on the front porch roof outside his bedroom and sit and gaze at the stars. I don't know if he read up there or just sat, smoked a cigar and thought.
After a few years when double parlors became fashionable, P.R. had an addition built to the home. This was to accommodate a growing family - the birth of son Henry "Harry" Lawyer born in 1903 and to welcome Ida's mother, Anna Matilda (Ma) Casler.
In addition to running his business, P.R. was active in the community. He played in the Berkeley Springs Band, he was a charter member of the local Lodge of Freemasons and served as a Grand Master for a time. He was active in local politics and served as Mayor of the Town of Bath - Berkeley Springs is just the name of the post office. At one point he ran for a state senate seat but he did not win. P.R. had the misfortune of being a Democrat in a very Republican county.
P.R. had a phone line installed at the house on Green Street that was a direct line to a phone in his jewelry store. One day there was a fire in the summer kitchen. Ida was so shocked by it that she ran down the hill to get P.R. and never even thought about using the phone.
The family attended the Presbyterian church. Anna played the organ. She sang Alto and Herbert sang Tenor - Harry ended up being the Bass. The children attended school at Mount Wesley Academy which was just a few blocks away. Anna graduated in 1909.
When the US entered World War I Herbert served, playing euphonium in the band and running telephone cables. After his basic training he served in France. After he returned from the war he went to work as a salesman, first for Gold Medal Flour and then for many years for the H.J. Heinz Company. He and his wife Hazel Parlette Lawyer settled in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Anna, my grandmother, helped her father in the store, gave piano lessons and played for the silent movies. She told me that she got paid 25¢ to play for the movies. If a vaudeville troupe came to town and needed a pianist then she would rehearse with them and play for the show and then she'd make big money - 50¢
Anna met her future husband, Edward F. Carroll, when he came to Berkeley Springs with a traveling semi-pro baseball team. The team moved on, but Eddie stayed and worked in the local Washington Hotel. Eddie courted Anna for about 10 years before P.R. gave his consent to let his only daughter get married.
There were two factors at work I think - one, P.R. was a Freemason and my grandfather was a Roman Catholic and I don't think P.R. wanted to see his daughter marry a Catholic. So I think some of my grandfather's work was in winning over P.R.
More than that P.R. didn't think that Anna needed to get married. He could provide everything she needed. Well - everything except children. Anna loved children and wanted a family of her own. So P.R. relented and Anna and Eddie were married in a simple ceremony in the parlor in the house on Green Street.
By this time Eddie was no longer working in Berkeley Springs. He was managing the Rappe Hotel in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. So Anna moved up there to set up house keeping. Given how attached the two were I can only imagine how much P.R. must have missed his little girl.
Don't get the idea that he was a soft-hearted type. He was strong-minded and used to getting his way. But he loved his family. In 1921 Anna was pregnant with her first child and she was living in Greensburg. P.R. ran the store without Anna there to help him. He had some health problems. He suffered from gout on occasion and that year came down with Bright's Disease.
During the summer P.R.'s condition worsened and they sent for Anna. But she was nearing the end of her pregnancy and the baby was due. In those days a woman had bed rest for several weeks following delivery, but Anna needed to get home.
As things happened she had a difficult labor and the baby was very weak. Each morning the nurse brought the baby in to my grandmother to nurse, but one morning my grandmother felt how cold the baby's hands and feet were. She warmed them, but called for the doctor. She knew that her son was dying and said to the doctor, "This is a Catholic baby. He needs to be baptized." The doctor sent the nurse to get some water, "and it doesn't need to be holy water!"
The doctor baptized my uncle as he lay in his mother's arms. Shortly after the baby died.
With little time to grieve Anna made ready for the train ride from Greensburg to Hancock and then a car ride the last six miles to Berkeley Springs. She said the ride in the car was the worst part given the roads and the condition of shock absorbers in those days.
Anna arrived in Berkeley Springs where she was able to help her mother care for P.R. during his last month. P.R. Lawyer passed away on October 4, 1921 in the home he built on Green Street.
Harry Lawyer was sent to learn watchmaking and he ran the store to support Ida. Anna bought her brothers' shares of the family home and continued to live there. She would live part of the time with her husband Eddie where he was working. They had two other children, both born in Greensburg, Edward Lawyer "Ned" Carroll and Margaret Anne "Margie", my mother.
They, like my sister, brothers and I grew up in the house that P.R. Lawyer built. None of us ever met them man, but we all felt as though we knew him. Ida lived in the home with her daughter and grandchildren. Harry and his wife Pearl lived next door with their four boys.
Ida passed away in 1952. Before she died she asked her only granddaughter, Margie, to move back to Berkeley Springs so that Anna wouldn't be alone. My mother honored her promise. After moving back to West Virginia Margie met Dwan McBee whom she had known when they were both much younger.
They dated and married and raised their family in the house on Green Street.
So why am I writing about this now? I'm not sure - I dreamed about Papa Lawyer last night and felt the need to write about him. I will check my dates and add them to this story.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Back by popular demand
Greetings readers,
The Back by popular demand is a euphemism. After almost a year hiatus I doubt I have any readers. Prove me wrong?
So the past year has been a full one and I have learned much. In my current job - reviewing contracts for data and database services - I have learned about reading contracts and what goes into a good contract. The needs agencies have to publish and the relative willingness some vendors have to allow us to negotiate terms.
From colleagues I have observed much and learned as well. From associates at other libraries I have learned that somethings never change. By the way, I hear karma can be a bitch.
So on the whole it has been a good year. I lost a long time friend suddenly last fall and another friend passed away in February from cancer. Maybe the good do die young and I'll be stuck here until I'm over 100. Actually - that has been a goal - not so much in and of itself. I have a goal to live beyond 2063 when my home state of West Virginia celebrates it's Bi-centennial.
But I digress... It is Spring - Washington, DC's best season what with all the lovely parks, warm temperatures and low humidity, and the lovely Cherry Blossoms. In the spirit of renewal, I am renewing my blog and talking about topics related to the work of librarians.
Important topics from work and the ether:
More to come on all of this!! Spring is the air!!!
The Back by popular demand is a euphemism. After almost a year hiatus I doubt I have any readers. Prove me wrong?
So the past year has been a full one and I have learned much. In my current job - reviewing contracts for data and database services - I have learned about reading contracts and what goes into a good contract. The needs agencies have to publish and the relative willingness some vendors have to allow us to negotiate terms.
From colleagues I have observed much and learned as well. From associates at other libraries I have learned that somethings never change. By the way, I hear karma can be a bitch.
So on the whole it has been a good year. I lost a long time friend suddenly last fall and another friend passed away in February from cancer. Maybe the good do die young and I'll be stuck here until I'm over 100. Actually - that has been a goal - not so much in and of itself. I have a goal to live beyond 2063 when my home state of West Virginia celebrates it's Bi-centennial.
But I digress... It is Spring - Washington, DC's best season what with all the lovely parks, warm temperatures and low humidity, and the lovely Cherry Blossoms. In the spirit of renewal, I am renewing my blog and talking about topics related to the work of librarians.
Important topics from work and the ether:
- Contracts for electronic resources and data
- Resource sharing tools like Sharepoint
- Customer outreach and liaison with customer groups
- Creating new libraries
- A year of change
More to come on all of this!! Spring is the air!!!
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