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Saturday, November 30, 2013

Shopping Monday

Not much to report from here, just a lot of work (including two meetings, which resulted in more tasks for me, unfortunately). The only nice thing was the shopping trip I did Monday (on my day off). I toured two malls near Malmö and also the city of Malmö. I got a few Christmas presents and some things for myself. I noticed several new shops that were interesting, a discount book store and a Danish style shop with lots of ornaments (very cheaply). I ended the day at the TGIF restaurant, treating myself to a good sized meal with brownie & icecream for dessert.

My back isn't doing that great, so I got a treatment by the chiropractor again this week. Every time I'm there he tells me I have to find another job... It's the heavy lifting during the storage round that is causing some of the problems.

The weather here is not winter-like at all. It has been the warmest fall ever in recorded history. It's still not below zero and we are driving our cars with spiked tyres (it's the law from Dec 1st) for no reason. Not a snowflake in sight. It's dark and moderately rainy, but not cold. The calender says it's the first advent tomorrow, so it's time to get some of the Christmas decorations out. Seems a little early.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Christmas market

It was an extended weekend at the summerhouse, I was there until Tuesday. Our database at the library was down for an upgrade and there would be very few requests, so I took the opportunity to get vacation. Especially since my mother wasn't well and wanted company. Saturday we took the bus to Åhus for a flea market round. This day all proceeds went to the Philippines, so we paid extra at the cashier. We got some ornaments and glassware. Also got a very ugly plastic necklace in a disturbingly green color, and the saleswoman asked what on earth I would use it for. The upcoming Christmas party at work will have a theme - the 1970s!

Sunday we took the bus to Kristianstad to go to a Christmas market. The first stall sold ointments for people with muscle inflammation (and that had nothing to do with Christmas). But my mother, who has exactly that problem (and right now pretty severely), asked for a demonstration and was given one treatment on the spot. She noticed a difference and bought the product. After one day she quit taking the strongest pain medication. She has been to a chiropractor, a doctor and two fysiotherapists, but the thing that helped the most was a liniment bought at a Christmas market. It's incredible.

Getting back to work Wednesday was not pleasant, the tasks were piled up on my chair (they put it there so I will be sure to see it). But the database upgrade went really well. At least we haven't noticed any disasters so far. Friday I did a repeat of my (by now) famous lecture on biographic works. I think I have given it about five times for the staff. It's about biographic works with more normal people, like farmworkers, schoolteachers and craftsmen. It's more likely that you will find your ancestors listed in those books than in the ones about noble or royal families. The books I showed were published about 1920-1960 and they can be quite interesting for genealogists, but also for people studying the 20th century in general. Several colleagues have found relatives in those books during these lectures.

Friday, November 15, 2013

International visit

The work week started Tuesday with three meetings. It's remarkable that I survived. We do have a lot of issues to discuss, mainly staffing and long-term planning. Thursday we got a visit from the medical faculty library in Copenhagen, Denmark. Five librarians who work in their stacks came to see how we work here. They were fascinated by our call slips and asked about logistics and rules for borrowing. We also talked about digitization (seems like unavoidable these days, when talking about libraries). It was interesting to compare our work issues (they are similar).

I'm sorry to say that the Emigrant Institute in Växjö will close. They hold a large collection of books and archive material relating to emigration/immigration and they have had such big financial problems that these collections have been in reality unavailable for quite some time. It's sad that it ended like this. It's unclear what will happen to the collections, but there are a few options and I hope they can find an archive that will be able to take care of it (and also make it available). The museum part, with exhibits about Swedish emigration and Swedes in America, will continue like before.

After two more meetings this week I'm pretty tired and I will be off to the summer house this evening, to visit my mother.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Weekend at the summer house

The rain storm early last week meant that I stayed at home both Monday and Tuesday. Normally I would be at home only Monday, but the trains were cancelled both days and I need to use up more vacation days anyway. Many trees fell over the railtracks, and it took a while before they could get that cleared. I was just glad not to have to go out in that weather, some pretty big objects were flying around and glass windows were damaged (not in my building, though).

My work week was very short, I worked Wednesday and half Thursday. I then took the train and bus to the summer house. Last week was Fall break, so my sister and her kids visited. My mother was also there, of course. She needs some treatments at the medical center here, so she is staying for a few weeks. The long weekend at the summer house was pretty wet. It rained almost the entire time. But the others had been active cutting logs for the fireplace and storing them in the garage. We did some short visits to the nearest towns also, the rest of the time we just relaxed and played with the kids. I think that I easily can get accustomed to having this much time off from work. It's very nice.