I’ve been out of work sick for over a week. It’s time to go back. I’m already out on Thursday and Friday because I’m heading home. So I will only be at work Tuesday and Wednesday before I am out for two and a half weeks. I am feeling much better, thankfully. I am still coughing some, but that’s kind of to be expected. I knew I wouldn’t be miraculously well over the weekend, but I do feel remarkably better. I wish I didn’t have to go back to work, but I don’t really have much of a choice. I’ve got several meeting to attend and dozens of emails to answer. It’s going to be a busy two days.

As I wrote this post last night, there was a 50/50 chance that I was going to work today. I’d been leaning toward not going, but I’ve been out of work for a week and I feel guilty about being gone so long. I do feel better but I’m short of breath, I barely have a voice, and when I do cough I can barely stop. I’m pretty sure it will be one more day at home.

I’d interviewed for a job about six weeks ago. It was for being a historian at one of the coastal forts. If you are not familiar with the coastal forts, there were quite a number of them built in the early 1800s, many of them on the gulf coast. I’ve always loved the coastal forts and their various designs, their history, and so many other things. We used to go to Ft. Pickens in Pensacola, Florida, when I was young, and I loved exploring the fort. This job was not at Ft. Pickens because it’s part of a National Park. The one I interviewed with is a state park. While being a historian at one of these forts would be a dream come true, there are too many drawbacks to the job. My vacation time, sick time, and holidays would be significantly diminished. I wouldn’t just be the historian, I’d have other jobs as well, such as working in the gift shop, manning the entrance, reenactments, firing guns from historical periods and other duties I’m not thrilled about and all in the heat of the summer. When I weighed the pros (closer to home and good retirement) against all the aforementioned cons, I ultimately can’t accept. They are supposed to get back to me today with a salary, which will be based on my current salary. I will continue to mull it over, but I think I’ll have to say no.

This week will be a short and quiet week. We only work Monday, Tuesday, and part of the day Wednesday. The week will be quiet because all of the students have gone home for Thanksgiving. I know of only one thing I have to do at work this week, and it may take all three days. I have to wrote a lecture on something I don’t know that much about, but I know I can do it. The lecture is just a matter of getting my material together and then forming a coherent lecture. It will get done. Other than that, I don’t know of much else that needs to be done. I’m sure something will come up though.

I wish I could stay comfortably in my bed this morning. Instead, I’ll be getting up early, brushing the snow off my car, and hoping I can get into work. There is a high probability I will be the only one there today. Two of my fellow coworkers had planned to be off long before we were expected to get 8-12” of snow. The other coworker lives on a mountain and may not be able to safely make it to work. So it will likely just be me. That’s going to make for a long day. Most of the students are gone for Thanksgiving break, so it will be quiet around the museum. Oh well, I have a few things I can work on.

Today is the last day of the conference, and secretly, I’m just ready to be home. It’s been a fairly good conference, but there have been protests by the hotel workers about low wages; they are in the midst of labor talks. It means that many people didn’t want to have sessions at the hotel, so they moved them off site. The offsite locations are hard to get to and many of my sessions I’d looked the most forward to were moved. So at this point I’m fed up a little and just ready to be home. 

First of all, I wanted to answer Roderick’s inquiry about my job interview. It was short which isn’t a good sign to me. However, I am everything they seem to be looking for with one exception. I don’t have experience with living history. In addition to my job as a historian, I’d also have to learn to fire weapons from the War of 1812 through World War I…in costume. I am not too thrilled about this part of the job, because I’m not a fan of guns. I know how to shoot one, and I’m a damn good shot, but that doesn’t mean I like guns. Anyway, I was supposed to hear from them by the end of last week, but I still haven’t heard anything. Also, I seriously doubt they can or will meet my salary requirements.

I have to be at work an hour early today. I am not a morning person. I hate getting up early and usually wait until the very last minute to actually get out of bed. My morning routine is simple. I get up, take a shower, shave, brush my teeth, and get dressed. Then, I head to work, where I make a cup of coffee. No one bothers me before my coffee. The trade off for coming in early is that I get the afternoon off.