Museum go Boom

At least, that's what it feels like. Lets start with a man dying a week ago today, died of a heart attack int the front gallery while installing a cash register for a special event. Then Friday we lost power briefly. Sure, power loss isn�t a big deal- unless you're a museum. The surprising result was not theft or even compromised visitor safety- it was the frying of our server. Now the database (which my job revolves around) is out for who knows how long.

Then today a literal truckload of Native American art shows up. Me with my curatorial hat on says YEAH! COOL! Me with my assistant hat gets treated like I don�t know what any of it is (I do know. This is petty, but I don�t like being thought of as the "dumb assistant"). Me with my registration hat says NO!!! Too much stuff, not properly laid out and handled- and no room for it! Now (with all three hats on) I have to:
a. Straighten up the room the art is in, which is a disaster zone right now (including stacks of other art with no where to go, packing materials, general trash, etc.)
b. Organize the Native American art so that it is well laid out both conservationally and aesthetically speaking
c. Make it all beautiful by finding extra lights, fabric to cover the trash, vacuuming the floor, etc.
I sort of enjoy this sort of thing, but the general chaos of the museum is making it difficult (other large scale projects are going on EVERYWHERE today). Plus my boss is out for paternity leave for the rest of the month, and the second banana is on vacation for a few weeks- so on top of it all I'm getting their phone messages, mail, etc. to sort out. Make that �urgent� phone calls from people I�ve never heard of who assume that I know what�s going on when they casually mention that they�ll be in to pick up their art (or have their art shipped, etc.). For those of you not in the museum registration world, you NEVER let someone just waltz out the door with art unless you�re double triple sure that every possible department involved is aware. Registration = scape goat for most departments, so if something goes wrong (even if you didn�t orchestrate it, only touch it) you get the blame. Sorry, just a bit of extra stress there.

Lots going on. Lots and lots. Museum go boom, Sara go into overdrive.