Where I outbark the Aardvark

Was yesterday an Aardvark fail?

Or was I being particularly - and egregiously - obtuse?

For the past four or five months, I've been answering random questions (they're only nominally reference-y in scope) on Aardvark - which Google picked up about a month ago. At first, it was really fun. Some of the questions were Yelp-like: best location for X in the City, doctor recommendations, etc... And then there were the host of students trying to get homework done in about 100 characters or less.

But I think, in hindsight, I went a little crazy with this poor guy from California yesterday. X asked:

Rome was so successful for so long and,why is it that great civilizations,like Rome, seem destined to fail? I ask this question, in reference to the United States of America.

Something about the question just set me off. I mean, how audacious is it to be the arbiter of US failure? As far as I know, I still live in the United States of America. Nor do I recall seeing barbarian hordes raping and pillaging (metaphorically?) the landscape during my morning commute. So I responded with this:

I think that is a very wide sweeping generalization on civilizations that are extremely distinct in composition. The idea of something "destined to fail" presupposes that there was a master plan inherent in their foundation (if, in fact, "destiny" exists at all). This is not true of either Rome nor the United States.

X responded with:

You are absoltely right I was new to aardvark and was more interested in asking a question than actually thinking to ask a intelligent question. Thank you for your answer.

Which made me feel like a first class heel. And a bad librarian. Siggghhhhh. So I'm trying to make it up to X from California with this:

In hindsight, I think my answer was a little obtuse ;) There are many, many reasons why there is no longer a Roman Civilization - although the US is still chugging along. Was there a particular facet that you wondered about: bureaucracy, food logistics, barbarian incursions, etc...?

Hoping that the use of an emoticon will reveal that I am actually a nice librarian... hopefully.

New Job! Happiness ensues!

I am writing this post while I am at ... work! (Actually waiting for tech correspondence on exporting catalog into a hard copy when the web version is down and importing MARC records).

Yes, I now have a full time job (along with my private cataloging gig in Manhattan) with a small medical academic college in New Jersey*. And like magic (really, it's real magic) new, strange, amazing, crazy and just plain unusual things have started to happen as my weirdness magnet kicks into drive. It was only sleeping for a while, I think. So many new experiences lately that I still need time to absorb and understand them. And a few hours of sleep here and there would be nice, too.

So I started my new position on January 4 (after much date finagling). My coworkers are awesome and I scored an Audubon Society calendar for volunteering to keep the library open an extra 15-20 minutes yesterday. I also had to teach my co-librarian how to Copy+Paste. I don't think I will comment publicly about that particulary when I was wading through library statistics and pivot charts as a lark. I inherited a lot of paper. I hate paper. Paper is not searchable. It has no connectivity. It gets dusty and makes me sneeze. I get paper cuts. So in my free time, I started imputting all the stats into Excel (because I am a notable Excel junkie) and making beautiful graphics. I had a breakdown of 2008 by average length of visits, users by program, etc for my first staff meeting.

I also dive bombed an adjunct faculty meeting and introduced myself. Despite a head cold that has me sounding like a phone sex operator at the moment, I got lots of accolades for taking initiative. I am full of initiative and live on accolades, so I am very happy!

I like Jersey City so far, too. I have learned that Jersey City has a lower sales tax than the rest of New Jersey - which is half of New York on clothes and shoes! Shoes! Also, many people don't know where they're going. I have been asked at least twice everyday this week for locations. And random people talk to me all the time - despite my surgically attached iPod. I have never been referred to as "Mama" so much, even when I worked in the Bronx.

Suffice it to say, I am extremely happy. Work makes me happy. Productivity makes me happy. Finding books, answering reference questions, helping students with their resumes and running around in my Docs makes me happy.

But I have to go back to work, now. More blogging updates (and music!) later.

* I would give the name but, well, I *am* writing this from work!