A Wandering Eyre

If you want to know what is going on with the Rochester clan, and let me warn you we do nothing the easy way, please go read Defying Genetics.

If you are waiting for snarky Jane to return, please continue your holding pattern.

–Jane, getting used to the routine of the NICU

I am convinced that the more pregnant you are, the more your brain can only focus on babies. I think, biologically, this prepares you for having to concentrate on a wee person’s survival for weeks. I mean years and years. What was I thinking?!

As a result of having what my more experienced friends call “Mommy Brain,” I have been unable to do much of anything interesting. Couple that with the fact that it takes me twice as long and about twice the energy to do even the simplest tasks and you have a Jane who has energy only for nesting.

I am pulling the life trumps blogging card now and taking my maternity leave from this site for a few weeks. I will pop in occasionally with a quip. There will be very big news here on Friday. Not baby news, but actual library related news. Keep your RSS readers ready for that because I think it is fabulous stuff. Would I lead you astray? Never!

There will be an announcement and picture here of Baby Rochester once he decides it is time to join the land of the living, breathing people. He is officially one day late today.

I expect to be back annoying you with inane commentary later in May. Until then, I will be posting ridiculous updates and pictures of the most. wonderful. baby. ever on our family blog.

–Jane, expects to be less round by late May

I have thoroughly enjoyed the small vacation of sorts that I have been taking the last month or so. I have immersed myself in the domestic needs of the Rochester household and concentrated on the business of gestating the child in my belly. I have not missed work, but I have missed being caught up on the goings on in libraryland.

I have already heard about some of the excitment from CiL including some not so Swift things and an incident involving the Brickskeller. I plan on catching up on everyone’s goings on in the next couple days. I am going to make an effort to be in this space more the next couple of weeks, until Baby Rochester makes his appearance. After that, I am taking about a month off for maternity leave and it will be very quiet around here, but a little more chatty over at Defying Genetics.

–Jane, must go get organized for the day has suddenly filled

(picture inclusion with a nod towards Helene Blowers)

This post has been a long time coming. If all works out accordingly, this post will be published directly after or right before I hand the interested parties my letter of resignation from the University of Houston Libraries where I have worked for three and a half years. I am sad to be leaving my friends and colleagues behind, even though I will see most of them often enough. Those who know me or have been paying attention will not be surprised at my departure. I have needed, searched for, even longed for a change in work scenery for quite awhile.

I am trading my crazy, traffic filled commute for domesticity and working from home. Instead of a Social Sciences Librarian, I will be a stay at home wife, mother, and Geek Librarian At Large. In addition to changing diapers and walking around with a baby attached to my chest, I plan on engaging in the following professional activities:

Friends and long time readers will surmise correctly that I am going to continue to do the things that I love the most about being a librarian, teaching and advocating for technology education in librarianship. Due to the impending arrival of Baby Rochester, I am placing a hiatus on most professional travel for almost a year and half. I expect my next conference to be ALA Annual 2009, though one never knows what life will bring you. Box of chocolates, anyone?

I plan on writing at least one more post reflecting on working in an academic library, based on my experiences in the one that fostered me these last few years, and the kind of job I would love to have some day. Those should be coming along shortly.

Until then, I am excited about this new phase of my life, happy for the change of pace, and pleased to be able to finally tell you, gentle readers and friends, my plan.

–Jane, tickled baby boy blue

This is the round-up post minus the soapbox elements. In this post, I write about the things I liked about my trip and the things that made me feel good about ALA. There were, of course, some not fabulous things about Midwinter, but I am putting those in their very own post. Just for you, readers, because I know how you sometimes like a good bitch.

ALA Midwinter was fun, if very quick, for me this year. I flew in on Saturday and left Monday. Philadelphia was a nice city to visit, even if I left one rainy cold city for the same weather at home.

The best meeting I attended by far was the Jim Rettig Presidential Advisory Board Meeting. It was a good meeting for two reasons:

First, it was very well run and efficient. Second, at no time during the meeting was any idea turned down with a no or dismissed. We instead discussed how to make each idea feasible, even if it meant giving the idea to a group who could handle it better. I left feeling positive about the possibilities for the group’s initiatives and it was the best meeting I attended all conference, including the one that I helped run. It affirmed my belief that there are plenty of people in ALA who want to try new things.

The ALA Publishing Reception was at the Mutter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. I liked the babies in jars and fetal skeletons displays the best followed closely by the syphilitic skulls. I have not seen so many cool skulls since Physical Anthropology in college. Fabulous. The Terminal Street Market was wonderfully full of delicious food, spices, fruits, vegetables, and handmade items. It was a feast for the eyes and the belly. I had some veggie samosas from Nandi’s Kitchen that were fantabulous.

This is likely be my last ALA until Annual 09 because I plan on staying home from traveling for a year after Baby Rochester arrives. I still have virtual commitments to several committees and that will continue. It made all my meetings with friends bittersweet, knowing I would only see people online for a large amount of time until I start the conference circuit again. It was nice to see old friends and meet some new people, as always.

The Blog Salon was fun, as usual, and was in a wonderfully large room this year. Sadly, there were no shower caps, but I did see a group in Second Life off to one side. I also met the creator of the “March of the Librarians” video, Nick Baker, who is a lovely person.

As I was uploading pictures to Flickr, it dawned on me that I take less pictures when I am not drinking. My set for Midwinter is very small as a consequence of my being in Philadelphia for a shorter period than normal and for the distinct lack of alcohol consumed. I still have a handful to get online.

The wifi, though occasionally spotty (as wifi sometimes is), was usable in most areas of the conference center. Thank you, ALA. It is much appreciated and was noted by this blogger. I hope this is a precedence that only improves.

–Jane, it’s raining in Houston today

Mr. Rochester and I have set up a family blog, Defying Genetics, for our friends and family who live too far away to hear and see frequent updates about our growing clan.

I wanted a place to put more family type things and I thought I should separate that space from this one. Follow along over there if you want or care to or stick here for your usual dose of sarcasm, soap boxes, and silliness. I am sure there will always be some crossover, but I had to have somewhere else to post ridiculous amounts of baby and dog pictures. The drinking librarian pictures can stay here though.

–Jane, hopes Baby Rochester gets the good genes

A mundane update about me, because really, it is all about me, you know.

I had a fun weekend filled with tree trimming and house light hanging. Mr. Rochester could really care less about either, but I adore them so that he perches on the ladder while I hand him gutter clips and the next string of lights. He even helped with the tree this year. Lovely. In other Rochester news, we are having a healthy baby boy. Mr. R is glad to have escaped a house of giggling and princesses this round and I am glad to have escaped the threat of having my daughter want to be a cheerleader.

Now, if you were unfortunate enough to have spent your formative years cheerleading, please do not be offended, but what would two nerdy geeks do with a cheerleader? Just consider that and move on without getting all huffy. I was a band nerd for the love of Friday.

I then packed off to Sacramento, CA to teach the first of many workshops for InfoPeople. The workshop is on using Web 2.0 tools and ideas for staff training. It went off well with a very participatory group with a myriad of good ideas of their own. I am going to make some tweaks for next time. If you live in California, I will be back every week in January teaching the same class.

If you have received your copy of American Libraries for December, my little face appears twice! I wrote the “On My Mind” column this month on freedom and literacy in libraries. There is also a picture of me a few pages later, p. 48, at the Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium from this summer. In that picture, you can see me laughing as I lose horribly at Mario Kart. It was fun, even though I failed to be victorious, twice.

Now, I am back in Houston, enjoying our “cold” weather (it is 50 today) and contemplating what to tackle on my to do list first.

–Jane, had some last minute emails from students who did not prepare well for their research papers

Where else but here, lovely readers, would you have a manifesto for ALA followed by this:

I think Baby Rochester needs this book in home their library. A whole book about how poo works. Awesome.

All hail The Queen for sending this my way.

–Jane, reading to children is important, reading to them about poop is essential