This post was brought to you by the letter

Well, *oming into work today was TOTALLY worth my time.

I was running late anyway, whi*h always starts off the day on a high note. And then I hurry in and get settled at my desk. I try to log into Millennium (our library *atalog program). At whi*h point I find out that the letter * on my keyboard is no longer working. Just one letter. Arbitrarily the letter *

(Have you figured out whi*h letter it is yet?)

You might think that you *an get around using this letter. And I was able to do so through one rather strenuous and stilted sounding email sent to my *ampus te*h support desk. (An email that has not been responded to yet. Sadly I had to resort to a follow up phone*all. That always makes me feel like a te*hno-phobe who *an’t even send an email for help. But really, I just *an’t get a response.) Anyway. You *an get around using the letter *. For a while. I don’t spend a lot of my work day writing about animals (*ows, *i*kens, *rusta*ians, *anaries) or pie flavors (*o*onut, pea*h, *herry, *ho*olate). However, it is a useful letter.

In fa*t, not having use of the letter * has shown me that it is a*tually the unsung workhorse of the alphabet. You *annot re*eive, pro*ess, or *orre*t anything without the letter *. I *annot sear*h for book titles – whi*h is most of what I do all day long. I either sear*h for books online to pri*e quote or pur*hase. Or I sear*h our library *atalog to see if a book is on the shelf, lost, or *he*ked out. YOU try using a library *atalog without the letter *!

And of *ourse, as I figured out five se*onds into my morning, I *annot log into most of my programs or internet vendor *he*kout *arts without the letter *. But I don’t work entirely on the *omputer all day, every day. I do have other a*tivities, I mean, tasks. So what else do I do?

I pro*ess invoi*es. Blast! Not only *an I not spell pro*ess or invoi*e without the letter *, but I *an’t log into Millennium to do so. Neither has the other half of my shipment arrived. I thought it would *ome yesterday afternoon. It didn’t. And this morning’s mail delivery *ame and went with no new boxes of books for me. I *an’t pro*ess new books if there are none here to pro*ess.

So I sort through the latest build-up of *atalogs. It is my job to sort and route relevant book and media *atalogs tot ea*h individual librarian for the subje*ets that they sele*t and pur*hase books for. It is a little tedious, so I usually put it off for a while. And after the holiday, I really anti*ipated a huge sta*k to have to re*y*le . . .er . . . *arefully sort and route. Of *ourse I don’t just toss half of them on sight. Why do you ask? Hmmm, strange. There are relatively few *atalogs. Ok, so that only took five minutes. I know, I will re-do the display! There is a bulletin board outside my *ubi*le. I use it to post interesting multi-subje*t *atalogs. So everyone *an see them.

So I set up a display of independent film post*ards, fliers, and *atalogs. I also usually send an email to the librarians when a new display goes up. But how to do so without using the letter *? I de*ide to use an * instead (as I have also *leverly done here as well). I add a P.S. to let them know that I am not really trying to *urse at them all through inter-offi*e email. Good thing the group email address for the library staff does not start with the letter *, or I would not have been able to pull it up.

Now what? (Fingers drumming on the table top.)

Am I really dead in the water with 5 ½ hours to go? And how on earth did I fill up the last 2 hours? Oh yes, *hasing down the helpdesk for a new keyboard. That still hasn’t arrived. I *ould *all ba*k and offer to pi*k it up from them myself. But I really don’t want to *all and pester them again and be that person. My whole day has ground to a halt all be*ause of one stupid, little key, one 1.5 *entimeter square pie*e of plasti*. What do I do for the rest of my day?

I guess I will write a blog post. You all don’t mind going without the letter *, do you?