Another Busy Day

This morning is going to be a bit rough. I have to teach a class while being observed by a group of alumni. (It’s Alumni Weekend.) And before and after the class, I have to give tours of the museum to two other classes. Then, this afternoon will be spent putting the last touches on getting the museum ready for the onslaught of visit for this weekend’s Alumni Weekend. We always come close to having more visitors on Alumni Weekend than throughout the rest of the year. Tomorrow will be filled with various events that begin as soon as the museum opens at 8 am and will end around 8 pm. Saturday will be spent welcoming alumni to the museum and probably a few impromptu tours. Now, excuse me while I study over my lecture notes. I don’t want to be stumbling over my words while I have observers in my class.

Busy Days

Yesterday was a very busy day, and today won’t be any better. I’m teaching a class for an introductory course and thus, I am teaching at least one class for every professor in this department (some have two sections of this class, so I’ll be teaching for them more than once). In all, I have thirty-five classes to teach over the next two weeks: twenty-eight for this department, three for another department, and my four regular classes for the semester long history class I’m teaching. Needless to say, it’s exhausting and I’m barely in my office all day, and when I am my office, I’m working to keep up with emails and my other usual duties. Yesterday, I was so tired, I went to bed at 8:45 p.m. I’d planned to at least stay awake until 9 p.m., but I didn’t make it. I had to fight off Isabella for an extra hour of sleep this morning.

My blog posts might be short over the next two weeks. If they don’t come at their usual posting time, know I am OK, just busy and tired.

Busy Weeks Ahead

Classes start back this week, and for the first time in over ten years, I’ll be back in a college classroom teaching a full semester long course using the museum’s collection. I’ve been teaching a class here and there for various professors who want to use objects from the museum, but that’s just one or two days in those classes. My first class will be tomorrow, and unless there was a rush of students signing up for it over the weekend, it should be a nice small group of students.

In addition to my class, we have a new exhibit we are preparing to open on Friday. Also, during the two weeks after this one, I’ll be teaching more than 30 classes for other professors hoping to use objects from the museum. Nearly every day during September, I have at least one class a day, sometimes, there will be seven or eight in a day. 

It's tiring and a lot of work, but there is always a rush at the beginning of the semester. It should slow down in October. If you’ve ever taught, you know how tiring teaching can be. You have to be “on” and at your best for your students. It’s a good tiring though, especially if your students are enjoying their learning experience.

TGIT

While I have thoroughly enjoyed having my VIP speaker here, I will be glad to drop her off at the airport this morning. She is a truly lovely woman, and she gave a fantastic talk. I'm just tired. I worked from around 9 am yesterday until just after 9 pm last night. Being a good host to our speakers is one of my favorite things about my job, but it is a lot of work. Every speaker I have ever scheduled for a program has been a very nice person, so it is a joy for me to make sure they have a good experience while in Vermont. At dinner last night, my speaker said that we were the "gold star" of all the museums she has spoken at. She said all of them have been nice, but none treated her as well as we did. So, it sounds like I must be doing something right. After I drop her off at the airport today, I'm going to have lunch with a friend and colleague of mine in Burlington. I have not seen her in nearly six months, so it will be nice to catch up. After lunch, I will probably head back home to collapse on the couch.

Playing Host

I am hosting a VIP speaker for the museum this week. This is part of my job that I absolutely love, but it's also one of the most exhausting things I do. I picked her up at the airport around lunchtime yesterday and took her to lunch on Church Street in Burlington. I showed her Church Street Marketplace, and she wanted to see Lake Champlain. So I took her down to the lakefront, and we walked along the path. Then I took her to the Vermont State House because she has an interest in state capitols, especially the small ones. The Vermont State House is the smallest state capitol. It's a beautiful capitol with a gold dome topped with Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. The legislature was in session, so we did not get a good look at the House or Senate chambers, but it's always nice to walk around the state house. We didn't have time for much else, so I took her to check into her hotel. I left her for a little while and then came back to pick her up for dinner. We had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant, and I returned her to her hotel. I left home around 7 am yesterday and arrived back home around 7:30 pm. It was a long day. Today will be similar. I will get to relax for a bit this morning, and I will pick her up a little after 9 am to take her to the museum, where I will give her a tour and then set her up for her talk. I'm not sure what I will do with her after her talk, but tonight, I will take her to dinner. This is likely to be a longer dinner than last night's. It's at a restaurant that moves along at a much slower pace, but the food is excellent. Tomorrow, I will take her to the airport, then I am going to lunch with a colleague and friend in Burlington who I have not seen in a while, so it will be good to catch up. I have a little bit of shopping to do while I am in Burlington, then I am off work until Monday and can just relax, which I am very much looking forward to doing.

All Good

It was nearly 10 pm before I got home last night.  The program went really well (except for the virtual component, which could have been better). We had a record crowd. In fact, we had so many that we had to simulcast it to the gallery where we had an overflow area. We ordered the perfect amount of food. We only had one of the boxed lunches left.

After the program, the speaker and I could finally have our lunch. After that, I took her on a driving tour of campus before taking her back to her hotel with a detour through town so she could see it. The university sits on the edge of town. I was able to go home for about two hours before going back to pick her up for dinner. Our reservations were at 7 pm, the service was slow but excellent at the restaurant we went to. The food was delicious. 

Today will be another busy day, but my speaker will need to be at the airport by 3:30 pm, and then I can go home and get some much needed rest.

Long Day

I was late getting home last night, and after a long, tiring day, I basically collapsed on my couch before getting up and crawling into bed a little while later. I wasn’t even thinking about writing a post for today, that’s why this post is late. It’s going to be another long day, as I will be taking our guest speaker to dinner tonight. She’s a lovely lady, so it was a very pleasant day, just busy and tiring.

A Full Plate

I have a full plate this week, and I’m not talking food. I have three sets of VIPs coming in this week. Today, I’ll be at the museum by myself. Tomorrow, I have to give a tour to foreign dignitaries and then leave right afterwards for the airport to pick up a VIP speaker for my Wednesday program. Once I have picked her up, I’ll take her to lunch before we meet with some colleagues of mine at another museum. Then we’ll be off to get her checked into the hotel before whisking her away for dinner. Wednesday, she will be giving her talk, and I’ll give her a tour of the university and the surrounding area. I’ll probably take her to Montpelier to see the nations smallest capitol and the Vermont History Museum. Then, it will be another dinner before taking her back to her hotel. Thursday, I’m going to be taking her to do some shopping at some of the country stores Vermont is famous for, though I won’t be taking her to THE Vermont Country Store. It’s actually not very close. One place in particular that I want to take her has these delicious (and famous) cider donuts. They are a must have in my opinion, especially if they are fresh out of the fryer. We’ll probably have lunch at this particular place while we are there. Then, it’s back to the airport. If that’s not enough, we then have another set of VIPs coming for a special Veterans Day program. This program is not one I’m involved with, but I do have to be present for. I think that’s everything. If it’s not, it should be. It’s definitely a full plate.

Ready To Be Home

This has been a long week, and I am ready to go home. I want to see Isabella. I hate having to leave her. I’m hoping I’ll get home around 5 or 6 pm tonight. I’d like to be home earlier, and if I had come on my own, I would be. However, I have to stay with my colleagues for the final lunch which won’t be over until at least 2 pm. Luckily, the car should be packed and ready to go as soon as everything ends.

I usually like going to conferences, even though they are often boring, but usually, I get to do something fun in the city where the conference is held. This time though, I was not here with fun people, and I kept getting pulled in different directions and had little time on my own. The good thing was that I was able to run into a friend of mine that I haven’t seen since before the pandemic. I used to see her regularly at LGBTQ+ events in Burlington, but neither of us have been going to many of those events, not to mention that there haven’t been a whole lot of them to got to. She was mostly busy at the conference, so I only got to see her for a short time, but it was really nice to see her.

There won’t be a “Food Report #3” today, because I didn’t eat anything worth mentioning.

Tech Trip

We made our trip down to Boston yesterday. The new technology that we are getting for the museum is truly remarkable. It’s going to be very nice, and I really think people will be impressed when they see it. That was really the only good part. My day started off with a mild migraine, but it got exponentially worse as the day went on. As I said yesterday, the plan was for me to do the driving. About halfway back, I had my boss take over the driving. I was having a really hard time of it, and I was very nauseated. I sat in the back seat for the rest of the trip back to the museum dozing off and on. Once we got back, we all went our separate ways, and I returned the car to the car rental place. By the time I got home, I felt like crap. I was tired, nauseated, and in pain. I crashed on my couch and barely moved until I moved to my bed and went to sleep.

Quick Trip

My colleagues and I are heading down to Boston for a quick trip down and back. We did this trip about a month ago to test some new technology for the museum, and this will be the final test of that technology before they come next month to install everything. (Or, will it be August? I can’t remember.) I picked up the rental car yesterday, and I’ll be driving. I prefer to drive as my colleagues tend to have lead feet and drive a little to fast for my taste, not to mention that my director hates to drive in Boston. Honestly, I don’t mind. Southern deivers are far worse than anything in New England, even the so-called “Massholes” aren’t as bad as drivers from Nashville, Tennessee, (notoriously known for being bad drivers) or even Montgomery, Alabama, for that matter. Driving is one of the times that I am a bit of a control freak. Most of the time I tend to think I am pretty easy going and go with the flow. However, I’d rather be the one to drive and be in control then be scared the whole time because of someone else’s driving. 

It’s going to be a very tiring day. When we went down last month, I was fine until I got home and sat on my couch and felt like I never wanted to move again. The good thing is that I’m taking vacation days tomorrow and Monday. I need to start using my vacation time a little along so that I don’t end up taking it all in May before the fiscal year ends. I’ll also be off Tuesday, but I’ll have to go in for a short while for a meeting. I’m looking forward to a four-day weekend. Will I be doing anything this weekend? Probably not, but I’ll have some time to relax and take it easy.

Early to Bed

My presentation went well yesterday , at least people said it was interesting and enjoyable. I felt like it went well, and usually I can tell one way or the other by the time I finish. We should be posting the presentation to the museum’s Facebook page by the end of the week.

After, my presentation was over, I took the rest of the afternoon off. I could feel a headache coming on, so I laid down and took a nap. I felt better when I woke up, but it didn’t last. A few hours later, I had a really terrible headache and the area around where I had the tooth extracted was hurting pretty badly. Then, the nausea came. I saw the end of Jeopardy and went to bed.

Hopefully, I’ll be feeling better today.

Odds and Ends

The Winter Olympics begin today, and like the code in yesterday’s picture of a 1900 Ivory Soap advertisement, the American luger Chris Mazdzer always displays his own secret message for why we should watch the Winter Olympics, particularly the luge. Chris actually lives about 75 miles west of me in Saranac Lake, NY, which always seems to be the coldest place on our weather maps here. I like Mazdzer and he seems like a pretty nice guy. I’ll probably also watch some of the figure skating, but I’ve never found the Winter Olympics to be as interesting as the Summer Olympics. The athletes wear too many clothes, although if they all wore skintight body suits like Mazdzer, who needs to see someone in a Speedo!

In other news, I’ve viewed four different apartments in the last week. None of them were suitable. One was rented just before I saw it but the landlord showed it to me anyway. I viewed two different ones on Tuesday. One was in a terrible neighborhood and the other was in a seemingly better neighborhood, but the rooms were so tiny. Neither of those two apartments were in great shape either. Although I was told they’d look better with a fresh coat of paint and a deep cleaning, you just can’t put lipstick on a pig and expect it to win the Miss America Pageant. The one I viewed yesterday was on the third floor of a house that had been split into apartments (most apartments in Vermont are like this). The outside stairs leading to the apartment were not in great condition; they did not feel completely safe. The apartment itself was huge: two bedrooms, two baths, a nice sized kitchen, and living room. However, there were just too many issues to make me want to pay the rent they were asking. So, the search continues.

In better news, it looks like the installation of the new exhibit is running ahead of schedule. I suspect we will largely be finished today and ready for our soft opening tomorrow, that is if the 6-18 inches of snow (I know that a wide range but we are on the border of the line between 12-18 inches and 6-12 inches) we are expecting today and tomorrow don’t derail us from finishing it in time for the official opening. Because of COVID, we will not be having our usual opening reception, though I’m hoping we will have one in the summer for the local community. I’ve had a vision for this exhibit in my mind for months, and it’s so gratifying to see it in reality almost exactly as I pictured it. I know the saying goes, “Pride goeth before the fall,” but I am very proud of this exhibit. I think it looks good and is very calming and soothing, which not many of our exhibits are. In fact, we’ve never had one quite like this one, and I am proud of it. I hope our visitors will enjoy it and learn from it.

Mental Health Day

With the fact that I have to conduct four job interviews today, I had to take a mental health break last night when I would have normally written this post. I had to get to bed as early as possible. I wish I’d had a glass of Prosecco to calm my nerves before bed, but I rarely drink, so it’s ok that I didn’t. We’ve done two previous interviews, and I swear, I feel more like the head of the search committee than my museum director who should be leading the process. I had to take the questions he put together after soliciting questions from all the committee members and edit them down to a reasonable number. He just combined all of them together without doing any editing of them. I’m literally having to fix everything he’s fucking up about this job search process. Ok, enough of this. I have to go to bed, and I can’t continue to think about all of this. If it means I have to step up where he’s failing in order to get the best candidate because he can’t seem to be bothered, then that’s what I’ll do. [End internal dialogue.]

Pending…

We had the meeting yesterday morning, and quite honestly, it probably couldn’t have gone worse. It appeared that all hope was lost. We were being forced to compromise. They let us have our say, then we were told they did not care. The directive had come from on high. The situation was as bleak as it could possibly be.

However, there were some late day developments that may have changed some things, I can’t go into details because quite honestly, I don’t know what’s going to happen next week. We were told things needed to be put on hold until this could be discussed further when the ultimate decision maker would be back. Let’s just say we were given the impression that the directive did not come from on high. The fat lady hasn’t sung quite yet, and the ultimate decision is still pending, I don’t see a different outcome in our future, but I think the ultimate decision will be delivered with more tact in hopes of mollifying everyone.

Anyway, I have my interview at 10 am, and after the interview (probably after lunch), I’ll update this post with how it went. Until then, I hope today is a better day than yesterday.

UPDATE: My interview seemed to go exceptionally well. She said that I sounded exactly like what they were looking for, and the job seemed to be well-suited to me because of my description to her of why I was interested in the position. Because this is a new position they were creating, she asked if I would be comfortable in starting in a position that had no prior established procedures. I told her that in my current position, I had been hired as the first person to hold this newly created position, so I had experience with this aspect of the job and looked forward to the opportunity to mold the position into the best it can be. We talked about a lot of things, and she brought up a discussion of salary, and it is in the range I was considering, so that’s definitely a plus. 

In addition to all of that, the phone interview was supposed to take 20-30 minutes and took about 40 minutes instead. That seems like a good sign to me. She said she’d pass her notes and my application material to the museum’s hiring committee (she’s just the first line HR person), and she’d let me know the next step (i.e. if they were going to continue with me as a candidate or not) early next week, possibly Tuesday or Wednesday. She’ll give them her recommendation, and we’ll see how it goes from there. She seemed to be leaning in the direction that I was exactly what they were looking for in this position.

Being Who I Am And Saying What I Feel

Tonight, the museum is hosting a reception for the opening of a new exhibit. The reception will be the first in-person event, and the first time the public will be allowed in the museum since the pandemic started. However, it will still not be back to normal. Anyone wanting to attend has to register for the opening by calling the museum. Attendees are also required to have a negative COVID test within 72 hours of the event and/or proof of vaccination when they check in. Also, the reception will be held outdoor, so we can allow a few people at a time into the museum to view the exhibit. All of this is exciting but also nerve-racking.  I never do well at these types of events. I get nervous in crowds of people I don't know well.

When I’m in a room full of strangers or only passing acquaintances, as will be the case tonight, I never really know how to interact. I listen more than talk because I never know what to say. I tend to overanalyze every movement, word, and thought a hundred times throughout the event and afterward. If I can stick close to someone I know well, then I am generally okay, but if I am left alone with someone I barely know, my anxiety takes over. Sometimes, I can do quite well. This is probably conceited of me, but the more knowledgeable I am about my surroundings, the better I do. However, this is an art exhibit, and I am a military historian, not an art historian. I can usually hold my own with art pieces that are at least a hundred years old, but all of the art in this exhibit is abstract art from a living artist. I am completely lost.

Yesterday, I talked about “clothes make the man.” Tonight, I will be wearing a suit. The biggest problem is that I have lost some weight, and my newer suits (they are at least 2-3 years old), are too big now, and I have not lost quite enough weight to fit into my older suits. I rarely wear suits. I only wear them for university functions like the reception tonight. I have no need for a suit any other time. So, I have to make do with what I have. It’s too late to try to buy a new suit, and that’s an expense I was not prepared for anyway. Plus, everywhere I know of in Vermont that sells suits has a very small selection of suits that would fit me. It’s hard enough to find a shirt that fits well, let alone a suit. Besides, I hope I will continue to lose weight, and if I do, then any suit I buy right now would also be too big.

 

I like to look my best at these functions. I will wear what makes me feel most comfortable and looks the best on me. But, as much as I want everything to look good on me, I can't help but wonder what others will think if I wear a particular piece of clothing a certain way. I can't help but create these internal struggles that I can only see and feel. I don't want to believe that these thoughts are my truths, but they sometimes take precedence. While I don't compare myself to others usually, I can't help but feel that I have to act, talk, or look a certain way to be allowed to be a part of someone else's world instead of just trusting myself that I am enough to be loved for who I am.

 

The American financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch once said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.” While this is excellent advice, I have the university's administration to impress tonight. I have met our new university president only once for a few minutes back in October. He started a year ago, but we have had little contact with him in person because of the pandemic. There will be other big wigs there as well, but I hope I can go by Baruch's maxim: "Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.”

 

Below are a few pieces of advice I am trying to take to heart:

1. Be kind to myself and appreciate who I am
2. Resist the urge to please others constantly
3. Only say things I mean
4. Get to know myself better
5. Try not to overanalyze and be fully present in every moment.
6. And finally, as RuPaul sings in her song “Sissy That Walk”:

Pick myself up, turn the world on its head

Don't forget what my mama said

People talking since the beginning of time

Unless they're paying your bills, pay them bitches no mind

Mundane Monday

I’m back to going into the museum for part of the week. Mondays are my day to go into the museum each week. If I have a program to do, I go in on that day too, but mostly it’s only on Mondays. Usually, I am at the museum with my boss, and it’s just the two of us. Our schedules are only allowing two employees in the museum on any given day, which means we are most likely the only two people in the museum all day. We aren’t getting any visitors right now because we are only open to students, faculty, and staff.  No one in the three groups seem to want to visit the museum right now. 

Today, I will be the only one in the museum, as my boss has taken a vacation day. I have very little to do. I’ll open the museum at the correct times and lock the doors when I’m supposed to, but I do not expect to see any other people in the museum today. I have a few things to do, but nothing that couldn’t have been done at home. I’ll mostly sit at my computer all day, getting up every so often so I don’t get stiff. It should be a pretty mundane Monday.

Another Headache Day

Yesterday was another headache day. I am going into the museum on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but I left after lunch yesterday. My head was hurting so bad, and I just couldn't stand the thought of being there all day. I went home and went to bed.

A week from Monday (September 21), I will have my first Botox treatment. I'm praying that it helps. I really need some relief from these headaches. I have not had a headache free day in over four months. It hasn't been a constant headache, but they come in waves of intensity.

Opening

Tonight is the opening reception for our new exhibit about swords and guns. We have everything from pre-Islamic Arabian swords to a Star Trek Bat’leth (You know me, the Trekkie, it’s actually a replica of the Klingon Sword of Kahless). In the gun department, we have a Chinese wall gun which is over six feet long, and took two men, one in front and one at the trigger, to hold and fire it. We also have Persian rifles, a gun owned by Abraham Lincoln, and dozens of pistols. We have a massive arsenal in our gallery right now. The cadets will love this exhibit. Some of these weapons are really beautiful pieces of art.

Disappointed

My big lecture event did not go as planned. Most everything went without any problems; however, attendance was awful. Though we were promised that the cadets would be strongly encouraged to attend, not a single one did. No students at all showed up. I’m not only upset, I am angry. When the university has speakers, students are usually required to go, yet we did not get any support from the administration. This was an extremely important topic for our cadets, and the program was ignored. I was so embarrassed.