DC

I will be in DC for a week for my summer class, so it will be rather quiet around here while I'm touring libraries. Have a great week, all!

(P.S. I took this picture a few years ago at the National Mall and I just love the lighting and how the Smithsonian is peeking out on the left.)

Link love

This morning, a mouse darted out of my toaster as I went to put a slice of bread in it for breakfast. I screamed and it hid behind the microwave. I put my cat on the counter, hoping it would smell it and catch it for me, but he was too interested in getting petted, so the mouse darted through a burner and into my stove instead. Sigh. Landlord's been called and the exterminator will be exterminating.

Here are some gems I came across this week on the interwebs:

This post about reflections on an 8th anniversary made me feel much better about my doubts and worries when it comes to relationships.

"Don’t let the negativity given to you by the world disempower you. Instead give to yourself that which empowers you." – Les Brown
The world will beat you down if you let it. Be strong and be kind to yourself.

I plan on making this zucchini quinoa lasagna very soon.

I've been listening to the Best New Dance Hits of Summer 2011 stream on NPR this week to keep me upbeat during work.

I'm currently reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, watching Mad Men, and will be watching The Sound of Music as soon as I'm done with this post (can you believe I've never seen it before?!).

Good news and bad news on the job front

Good news: I recently had a conversation with my supervisor about my aspirations once I receive my masters in May. I told her that I'm not opposed to staying here, but I'm not opposed to leaving either. Ideally, I would like to stay where I am since I don't think I'm quite ready to move on from Richmond yet, but I know that it's a scary, dismal economic environment out there right now, so it's quite possible I'll have to move where a job is. It sounds like there might be enough funds to open up a position at my library in the next year though. My supervisor wanted to know where my interests lie to see if what the library needs right now is something I'd be interested in. She said that the next position to open up would probably be a digital content/electronic resources librarian. That generally fits in with my interests in technical services and technology, so I'd be down with that. I also told her that I would ideally like to be able to apply the research I'll be doing for my thesis and see it come to fruition, so it's possible that could be part of the job description as well. I'm not keeping my hopes up too high right now since a lot can happen in a year, but I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed!

Bad news: my mother is losing her job. Come Wednesday, on her 60th birthday, she will be unemployed. She's worked at the same place for 17 years, but will be forced out of her position without severance because the location is being closed due to lack of funding. Her job is her whole life. She has replaced her own family with the families that she has worked with so closely. This loss will be nothing short of devastating for her. I'm worried for her because I don't know what she's going to do with herself. She will be forced to face the music and realize that her priorities have been misplaced for the large part of those 17 years.