Chaos, You Have Met Your Match

So, to defeat the forces of chaos (or kaos, to extend the "Get Smart" metaphor), I must take this:
boxes full of books stacked in the tunnel, and turn it into this:
nice and neatly organized and findable materials (which are sent here because few people are looking for them, but that's beside the point, the point is that we can find them -- and that they're stored in the most space-saving way possible).

To get the loaded trays of books (some of which weigh 75 pounds) to their final resting place (M does insist on calling this place the book cemetery), I have to take them on this long journey:
Whenever I take a full cart of trays off to be shelved, I am put in mind of the final scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" where the carton containing the ark is being wheeled off into some warehouse deep below the capital (at least that's where I always pictured it being).

And yes, those shelves you see in the distance are over 10 feet tall. And many of the trays weigh over 50 pounds. And yes, I have grown muscles in places I didn't know girls could have muscles since I started working here. And I have been happier working here than I have been at work in a long time.

Okay, lest you think the work is all heavy lifting and ladder-climbing, there's a whole lot of magic with the computer between the chaos and the order (the important part that makes the books findable in the end). It is particular and picky, and while basically easy for anyone with any tech services experience, it is complex at the same time.

Believe me, I just had to write the manual for it so that my replacement can be trained by someone who's never done the job after I leave. [The wheels of academe, they do grind painfully slowly, especially in the summer -- two month's notice was not enough to have my replacement here before I leave.]

Next up -- finished socks. I promise!

How I Get to Work

So, yes most mornings I feel a little like Maxwell Smart when I get to work. Security gate, other gate with surveillance camera, security doors, regular doors, two alarm systems (with different codes), more locked doors (one which shrieks when opened), and then a call to security to let them know I made it in safely.

And like Max, my job usually involves attempting to keep the evil minions of kaos from taking over the world (or at least this small underground piece of it). Perhaps more on that later.

And I do promise a return to some real knitting content soon. There are FOs to show off.

No More Secrets

Good grief, where did I disappear to for four months?! Well, into a hole in the ground and behind a veil of secrecy. Interestingly, the two have nothing to do with one another (or with our Vice President).

The New Job

I LOVE it! What's not to love for an introverted librarian about working in an underground bunker processing books. There are only two of us here, and our jobs are unrelated (or at least un-intertwined) enough that we don't really interact much in the course of the day. Ahhhh bliss. M is thrilled to have me come home from work at the end of the day not completely exhausted by a) dreadful working conditions and/or b) dreadful human interactions. We can actually have a social life.

Boss is truly wonderful, which makes it just that much better.

Which also makes THE SECRET a little harder to deal with.

The Secret

We're moving to Tucson, AZ. In less than a month we and our stuff will be in transit to the desert. We are thrilled, terrified, nervous, and a little overwhelmed at the whole idea.

We have known since March that this could be a possibility, but we couldn't say anything to anyone, especially with me in the middle of a job search. Yes, I was a little uncomfortable searching for a job here knowing there was a possibility we'd be moving this fall, but I needed a job, and there was also a very good possibility we WOULDN'T be moving in the fall. So search I did, and then, on my 2-month anniversary, as M was home rather excitedly preparing her letter of resignation, I told my boss (with slightly less glee) that I would have to leave in two months (my last day being just four months and two days after my first day).

Why? M has a great new position with what seems like a fantastic church.

More to come in future posts. I promise I will be better now that the secret's out. Well, at least until I get frantic over the packing.