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I should probably call in sick tomorrow but will see how I feel. I haven't felt well since June 15. I suffered with a horrible sore throat and saw a doctor on June 22. He found nothing wrong and even took a strep throat swab. He prescribed me 875 mg amoxocillin pills and to take two a day. That's a tremondous amount of anitbiotics to take considering I didn't have a bacterial infection - I was diagnosed with acute pharyngitis (sore throat). I suspect that he theorized I could develop may develop a viral infection but am not sure why he prescribed the drugs. All they did was make my stomach do cartwheels for a week. It probably cleaned out all the backterial in my body and made me vulnerable to catching this chest cold. My throat slowly improved but this morning I woke up with a sore chest and croopy cough. Now at the end of the work day I feel like crap. I must have caught some virulent cold bug from someone as this sucks! I've had no energy for two weeks and feel as bad now as I did two weeks ago. Hopefully this thing will run its course as I don't want to go back to the doctor and take more pills as a safeguard.

Darcy's wedding shower was last weekend and was ironically the worst day that I had with my churning stomach. So I had the apartment to myself and drank ginger tea with honey and watched the last few episodes of Enterprise. The tea was good (had to grind a ginger root and let it steep in hot water before straining). Unfortunately I couldn't find the final episode on my friend's tape so I will have to wait and watch it some time, some where.

Wedding plans are coming together (see the wedding blog for those details). My mom returned home from her Spokane trip and reported that my grandmother improved quite dramatically from her almost fatal bout with (can't remember the superbug she had). It caused massive dehydration and delerium. My poor aunts and mother had to deal with taking care of my grandmother and cleaning out her apartment and revising her estate. In many ways it's terrible to get old and being sick puts a lot of pressure on relatives. I hope that when I reach my grandmother's age that there will be a cyanide pill that people can take. It could alleviate so much pain and suffering for surviving relatives and to not deal with nursing homes and extended care facilities and spiraling costs of health care.

I'm a bit disappointed with my status with the HCT. I've not been contacted by anyone since my interview like they said would happen. All I know is that last week my online application history chart had a stop sign affixed in my *failed interview* category. I can accept that providing that the search committee had my complete application. Unfortunately they did not and they even mentioned it in my interview. I told them that I had made changes to my personal profile and that I saw the changes myself. However, the following day I logged in and looked at my official application (which is kind of buried in the website) and I was shocked to discover that the app reflected NONE of my editions since I first posted my application on May 1!! I was livid and emailed the only two contacts I had at the place. One was the individual who called me about the interview and the other person was the recruitment head. But I've had no reply.

As I reflected on the interview I realized that I had no opportunity to ask interview follow-up questions. I only had twenty minutes to ask them questions and I only asked a few of them. I felt that the interview was rushed and, combined with how things have progressed afterwards, I feel that things are disorganized there. Not that I'm a well organized person either but I've been left in limbo with no way to contact them!

A colleague at work has a friend who works at the American University of Sharjah. We've sent each other a few emails and I've learned a few more interesting things about life over there. It's not perfect by any means but can't be worse than living in Broward County for five years. That university is constructing an impressive new library.

Work is okay but it is boiling down to the lull before the storm as three people are leaving by the end of August. Another will go on maternity leave in the fall at least two others are actively looking for work elsewhere. Department morale is very low and I am tired of hearing people bitch even though they have legitimate complaints. But I've been here as long as they have and in some cases longer. But you either suck it up and do your work or get the hell out of here. I have one more year of learning the ropes with collection development and whatever other tasks I can learn before we leave this god forsaken place for who knows where.

My university's retirement annuity policy change has really irked me and is a factor when we will leave. NSU has decided that employees must be employed on the last calendar day of the year (Dec. 31) in order to retain all retirement contributions by the employer. In other words if I leave next summer 2006 then I will not be able to keep all the money that NSU has contributed for me for that year. I'm having TIAA-CREF calculate how much I receive annually from NSU. Anyway that adds up to a lot of money. That's enough griping for now - I want to go home and rest my aching chest and pick up my Harold Balazas art that my grandmother and aunt sent me (wedding gift!)...

posted by Michael at 7:22 PM

 
I forgot to mention last time that I set a new record for doing chinups in one day - 148! I did a half decent workout Tuesday compared to what I normally do now. I guess I wanted to let off some steam after my video conference interview. I'm glad I was able to take that day off! I relaxed after the workout and began reading Dave Thomas's SCTV : Behind the Scenes book. It's very enlightening and I was lucky to remember watching it live in the early 80s when I lived in Red Deer. I'm battling a flu virus as I woke up Wednesday morning with a very sore throat and overall feeling of weakness. Perhaps I caught something when we went to the Turkish restaurant Tuesday night. Two of Darcy's friends bellydanced there - a lot of fun!

Last Friday I flew with my supervisor to Orlando to attend the Florida Library Association's Leadership meeting. It's a day long orientation for members who are committee chairs and heads of interest and discussion groups. It's kind of fun and good experience but it takes time. I'm the Chair of the Continuing Education Committee for 2005-06. Darcy was chair last year and will help me get through this year! I'm trying to plan at least one program and co-sponsor it with the local Broward County Library Association. I'm the Historian there and attended my first Board meeting Monday! Almost time for me to head off to my drumming class. ...
posted by Michael at 7:26 PM

 
Another hectic thirty days have passed since my last posting. Anyway the big news, besides wedding stuff, is my job interview yesterday (June 14). It was the Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I had set up my online profile May 1 and got a phone call at 1:00 am on May 31 from a staffer at the HCT. Darcy's mother had just flown in a few hours earlier so we were still up and talking. I was naturally excited to get the phone call but also nervous about the video conference interview. The college emailed me a week later confirming the location for the interview that was only half a mile away. A couple of days later I got the college's literature in the mail along with an informative CD-ROM. I scoured their website and took notes and even found an article published by two former staff in 2000. So I was fairly prepared for an extensive interview but knew that I likely wouldn't have the opportunity to showcase my knowledge.

I had never participated in a video conference before but the technical aspect of it went fairly smoothly. The lady at the office that had the facilities showed me to a large conference room (the HCT paid for this) and positioned the microphone and camera. Then I spread out my copious notes on the huge table. But I needed to strategically position them so that they wouldn't show up on camera. I arrived half an hour early and had time to decompress! During the setup time I was able to see myself on the television and thus could get a sense of what the interview panel was going to see. I wore my lucky $900.00 Hugo Boss suit (I first wore it to my SLIS grad in 2000 and all subsequent job interviews).

It was just before 9:00 am and the t.v. screen changed to a menu of options and then I heard the dial up tone and phone number appear. The first three times were unsuccessful but eventually the transmission connected and I saw their slighly hazy images. Movements were slightly jerky and images not crystal clear and the sound had about a five second delay. They quickly introduced themselves (one lady had graduated from SLIS at the University of Alberta!)

The panel mentioned that three positions were currently vacant with two being at Women's Colleges. At least one of the positions had a start date of August 13! They proceeded to ask me several situational questions which I answered pretty well I think. I only had twenty minutes left to ask them questions. I admitted that I had several but had to be selective due to time constraints. Unfortunately they didn't offer any way for me to ask follow-up questions. They realized that due to my August wedding that, if I were successful in the interview, that I would not be able to start work in two months. But they assured me that positions appear throughout the year due to contracts ending and people rotating out.

I'm only concerned know as to whether I made this next cut or not. I'll find out within two weeks. The panel did mention that they did not have my answers for the *about me* section. I just checked and they are indeed all blank! I've altered them periodically since May 1 and most recently just now. I suppose I need to email my lone contact at the HCT who called me. That category is vital to learning about each candidate excluding professional experience.

It would benefit Darcy and I, if we're hired, to start work there anytime after the fall. For me, starting there next spring would be ideal. That would give me one more year at NSU to become more comfortable with collection development and other duties along with fulfilling BCLA and FLA committee obligations. We'll see what happens! It's 1:00 pm and time for me to start work...
posted by Michael at 12:58 PM