A Ghost of Daisies

So the big news out of my camp is that I was awarded a graduate assistantship (GA). There are a lot of duties involved and I report directly to my department’s director which is a huge honor. She’s been very understanding of my shyness! I’m a regular blabber mouth when I get comfortable, but so silent until I’m comfortable with my surroundings. :-)

My duties are being the lab assistant for at least one shift a week, assisting the director with her project in International Comparative Librarianship (which admittingly I don’t know much about right now), help redesign the department’s website (but not code! Thank goodness since my degree is in new media, not computer science!), lead a focus group with the Charlotte cohort on how the program is doing, and whatever duties necessary to help with the accreditation process.

Today I did an inventory on all the equipment in our computer lab. There was some ancient stuff in there! I was especially amused by the digital camera that saved to a floppy disk! I then reorganized the locked compartments in an order that made sense. Tomorrow I want to write out a proposal for a borrowing policy since there is not one currently in place. Also I want to brainstorm on how we can advertise that we do have equipment available for checking out. Maybe a five minute showcase in a few classes so students are aware of them?

Next was phone duty which meant navigating the poorly chosen answering service to filter the voice messages. You could not delete a message until it specifically told you that you could. Times this frustration by how many times I had to replay the message to get a spitted out telephone number. Argh! I then made two calls and got to utter, “a graduate assistant” when I called potential students. I’ve noticed that several emails I have received from other students have their position in their signature. Should I add it to mine? Right now all I have is a link to my blog as my signature.

Finally there was the meeting to address the accreditation process. I took minutes on my netbook (she’ll be one in March!). I’m not really sure how those notes panned out since it was difficult to follow the conversation and type in coherent sentences at the same time. However, it was nice to just email them directly off to the group as soon as the meeting adjourned. I only tentatively put my name forward for one project since I’m still not sure how demanding my normal GA duties will be. I am kinda jealous that another GA is getting to organize the department’s paperwork.

I am so infinitely grateful to have been given this opportunity. Last week I was musing in a broken down fashion that it was time to apply for a minimum wage cashiering job in order to take care of Dollbaby’s needs, but then the life changing email came along! I feel much more secure now with this income coming in. Plus experience! Resume building! I am beginning to feel like an adult. It’s the first time sole responsibility has felt good.

P.S. Did you see the snow storm over the U.S. right now? We’re scheduled to get 5-8 inches while Asheville is looking at 6-10.

….and in the daylight. It’s melting a bit right now at today’s high temperature of 34 degrees. This will be nothing but ice come morning.

I’m sure work is pleased that I had to call out today. My dad was gun ho about taking me until the news showed cars doing 360s on level pavement. We got 3-4″ of snow here, the most we’ve had in probably 11 years minimum. I would enjoy the unexpected snow day more if it had been my day off work instead of making this an absence. It’s actually my third since January (one per month). The first one I was sick and then last month the picture above was a thick sheet of ice instead of snow.

*sigh*

I’ll put away the impending migraine away and later today go think about making a snow angel.

The Blizzard struck while I was in the second grade at Black Mountain Primary. They dismissed class and we rode home on the bus with the Blizzard coming down hard. My brother and I were dropped off on the main road in Montreat. Keith was only in first grade with our respectative ages being six and seven years old. We trudged up the road then up the mountain where we lived. Mom was at home asleep with our baby sister, who was only four years old at the time.

After the Blizzard blew itself out, my brother and I volunteered to help dig cars out of the drifts in all our excitement. The shining moment for me was that I made a snow sculpture of my mom’s new boyfriend’s head. Mom complimented me and I thought that I would like to do some more sculpturing someday. The other was that my class submitted short pieces about the Blizzard which was published in the local newspaper, the Black Mountain News. I had a copy of it up until about ten years ago when it was lost while moving.

I wish it would snow.

It is snowing in Las Vegas.

(I should mention that the last time my area had REAL snow that kept us out of school for a week was the Blizzard of ’93. It’s still the biggest snowstorm in local memory in that a couple years ago, I was assigned to do a “listening” project and jot down people’s conversations. At the bus terminal downtown, a young gentleman admited to an older gentleman that he was new to town. The local immediately told him the harrowing tale of the Blizzard of ’93. It was that good.)