The Now: September 22, 2021

There is one thing that is dominating my time more than any other right now... pandemic parenting logistics.

I cannot begin to tell you how mentally exhausting it is to figure everything out. This week, we had to shuffle two full-time working schedules while trying to get an appointment for our kiddo for a runny nose. A RUNNY NOSE! Our daycare - who we love and do not fault - has to follow the guidance set down by the oversight/licensing department. That means any runny nose leads to a kick out, which leads to needing medical clearance before our kid can return. FOR A RUNNY NOSE! This became even more difficult with the K-12 schools being back in session because it applies to everyone. So, getting an appointment is exponential harder. Even our pediatrician's office agrees it needs to change. They're seeing kids who don't need to be seen. It's also a slow financial death - one co-pay at a time.

I could vent about this for ages because the regulations need to change to a runny nose PLUS one other symptom.  But I digress... here's what else has my attention.

WORK

• As a faculty member, I have to submit a tenure package at the end of each academic year. One part of that is a document with our yearly goals and objectives. I just drafted and submitted my document for the 2021-2022 academic year.
• I conducted my annual review of our social media policy. Only a few changes this year.
• I hosted the second webinar in our fall series. This once covered our asynchronous course, Library 101.
• Still teaching classes. (Yeah!) The recent classes have all been online. I don't love talking to black boxes, but at least the students are asking great questions.
• I submitted a proposal to speak at Computers in Libraries 2022. It seems so far away...
• The survey for our study on how faculty develop their research assignments closes soon. I sent out more marketing blasts and it helped us snare a few more takers.
• It took our IT guy several days (cause my new office has gremlins) but I finally have an updated computer AND two screens! I missed my second screen so much.

PERSONAL

• I finally got around to scheduling a family photo session. We were gifted the session with our wedding photographer during our baby shower. Fingers crossed the weather holds!
• It's been a few months since I updated my book tracking and readings lists. Head on over to the Reading List page to see what I've finished recently.

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