STAYIN' ALIVE

More water under the bridge since last taking keyboard in claw. Here in Portland OR we are gearing up for the big transition to digital TV. I set up my big TV with the converter and antenna last year and am all set to to the same to my smaller set in the bedroom, but then the Blizzard of '08 occurred and one of my favorite stations, Channel 49, is MIA. They took a big hit on their tower and are still not back with a digital signal that lasts without breaking up within moments. Since the analog signal for that channel still works, I haven't converted it yet I have the gear though.
Everyone at work is running around like chickens with their heads cut off with the new looming economic crunch. Just when we were hoping for new toys, staff, and hours; but the New Paradigm put the kibosh on that. We "lucked out" in one sense as far as job loss goes, because we are not going to replace the several people we lost(including 2 who died over the last couple years), and may have to cut hours even further. That may help us because we are also losing the boss to half-time and Shannon, our patron accounts guru, who will be doing that full-time and no longer directly in the department, which cut the legs out from under us as far as covering things in emergencies (staff illness, vacation, etc.) . So if we can't afford to cover the last couple hours( I usually leave at 8pm), we may cut them out altogether.
My Facebook page is picking up. Have managed to find several of my high-school buddies and buddy-ets ( Hi Nance!) and lately even heard from a gal I knew from my days at PSU when I chaperoned the PSU Chamber Choir around the state of Oregon 2 years in a row, 1978-79. (Hi Judy!)
My archival work for the Library continues and next month I am slated to start learning the Big Scanner, capable of doing whole sheets of newsprint at a go. While doing this I began to think of my old Great-Uncle/Great-grandad- by- adoption Syd Angleman, a long-time Dean of Literature at University of Utah c1930-65. I started checking out HIS archives at the U and found he has a bunch. So I have halfway-decided on going back to Salt Lake City to check it out. I had sworn never to go back after taking care of Mom's cremation and carrying back of the ashes(on Greyhound no less- no special info or certificate needed to carry ashes, so I just stashed them in with the rest of my luggage). But this could be interesting on a couple levels, one familial, the other as a budding archivist.
Ended the year getting prescriptions and dental check-ups and fillings, only to have their fruition bolluxed up by the weather til after the New Year. Things started to go south around the weekend of Dec. 12th. Snow and stuff made it so that we had to close the next Monday, but were able to stagger along for the rest of the week until the next front came in- the weathermen were using the term "Pineapple Express" which dumped a foot and a half of snow on us and shut us down for the next week. I got kinda stir-crazy after awhile.
Been wondering whether I should take advantage of Circuit City going down the tubes and snag a computer at a discount price. Briefly thought about getting a credit card, but not if they are to start out with and extra 20% of charges at the get-go. I'll talk with someone at the bank this week. There are a few things that I need a credit card for like Amazon.com. They used to take my $ orders but stopped that a while back.
Also I have been working on my New Year's resolutions. No.1 of course is to stay bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for Year 3 of the New Me. Fine tune the diet to keep taking off the lard from the first year. Down to about 180 now. Yay! Already had to drop the size 36 waist jeans as they started to fall off, and am back to size 34! My exercising with my little hand-weight is continuing too, jazzing it up with some new stuff I am thinking up on my own to work on different muscles. Got to hit the track across the street next.
Das Projekt geht immer wieder. Have vowed to get at least an article out of it this year. Start with one of those Military History blogs. Also want to kick-start my Booksie page and put in another short story ("Hell Night in Salinas", about a hitch-hiking trip gone horribly wrong back in '73) and make sure they get some exposure this time, dammit! Got to take another run at RefWorks too, which I need for the Projekt, and utilize my Google Docs more often and use my alternate e-mail accounts more often. Last Friday I found out I had missed out on an offer to have one of my pics from my Flickr account used in a guidebook for our fair city put out by Schmap. Which reminds me, I need to get my Blizzard pics on Flickr, too.
That's all for now buckaroos!