Toodling Tuesday

Last Saturday I was working at the shop and Judi brought me my name tag for the 2009 season. It read "Michael -- Gift Shop Manager." I laughed and said that that was news to me. I had talked with them about it, but they had made no firm offer yet.

So today I had a meeting with the general manager and assistant treasurer, and they offered me the job. I plan to tell them tomorrow that I'll take it. This will be full time and year round, so there goes my life of semi-leisure. Still it will mean a real salary and reasonable income again. Which is good. I admit I would rather have had the library job, but that would be part time and temporary with only a chance of becoming permanent, so this is the better deal.

This evening we went to a lecture on haunted Wisconsin at the library, an event co-sponsored by the Friends of the Library and the local historical society. It was okay, but not all that informative. This is the second lecture we have been to recently, and it makes me realize that not everyone can be a public speaker. The guy who spoke tonight has written quite a few books -- none of which I have read -- and he may be a good writer. (He even has one about weird things in Texas.) But as a speaker, not so much. I told Tom that people don't always realize that there should be a beginning, a middle and an end. And if these parts fit together, that is even better.

On the other hand, there was a huge turnout and he practically had to shout to be heard because there was no sound system. That was not fair to him and he might have done much better in a setting that was friendlier for the speaker. I plan to mention at the next Friends' meeting that we need to invest in a simple sound system for the sake of people we invite to speak. No need to make their job harder than it has to be.