If You Don't Hear from Me for a While...

Like I said, if you don't hear from me for a while it's because I'm completely overwhelmed by the amount of reading and work I'm doing for grad school. I'd probably do just fine if it was one class. I'd do all the reading and do a bang-up, stellar job on the assignments, but, I'm taking two classes and, well, it's a lot of work!
The Reference and Information Services class that I'm in is my equivalent of undergrad Paleontology with Jim Cullen at Salem State College. That may not mean much to most of you but imagine this: learn 233 sources (reference sources: print, on-line, etc) by the end of the semester. It's your final exam: 30% of your final grade. It's pretty much the same as: learn the phylum, class, order, family, genus, species of all of these specimens (fossils) from 2.5 billion years ago to 65 m.y.a. (that's 'million years ago'). Okay, it's maybe not that bad but at this point in the semester it feels like it. Yes, I'm overwhelmed, to say the least...
Did I mention that I'm taking another class? And the other one isn't exactly a walk in the park either. I'm confident I'll survive all of this but there's added stress in my life in the form of an evil housemate (and I don't use the term 'evil' lightly) who refuses to move out. We even offered him cash! If someone offered me cash, I'd find another place to live. He refuses to pay rent, utilities and do house chores. Nice, huh? So we'll likely have to go to housing court to get rid of this giant 47 year-old self-proclaimed Red Neck teenager who's a big bully. OK, I admit I'm ranting.... but I need to.
Nice timing too. I've waited 10+ years to start grad school and now this giant baby is causing a lot of stress in our lives. We're both completely baffled by all of it. I'm a trusting person, perhaps too trusting, some might say. But that's only because I'm wanting my version of Heaven here on Earth right now. I strive for it on a regular basis. When something like this happens all I learn from it is that I can't trust people and I have to protect myself even more from something like happening in the future. Not exactly my idea of Heaven...

Feel free to send me an email, call, chat with me on Facebook...

You Gotta Read This....

If you're interested in librarianship, that is, read this blog. Especially this essay about worshipping librarians.

25 Random Things About Me

FYI: A friend of mine on Facebook (actually, it was cousin Becca), "tagged" me and requested that I write 25 Random Things about Me. So, for those of you who are my friend on Facebook this is a repeat, and I apologize for that. Yes, it's not very original. But entertaining, nonetheless? The Silly Sisters are here to remind you not to take this too seriously.

A personal note: I normally hate doing these things but this time it was kind of fun. It's very random and whatever came to my mind I wrote down.

1. I'm thrilled we have a new president. I love hearing and listening to President Obama.
2. I love not having TV. Who needs it? Not me.
3. My body has its very own internal clock and wakes me up at the same time every morning.
4. I love my kitty.
5. I do have some regrets.
6. I wish I could sing like Ella Fitzgerald. But I have no rhythm, so there's very little hope.
7. I enjoy going to church but not any church, preferably a Swedenborgian church.
8. I'm lactose intolerant.
9. I would love to go to Paris and London.
10. I prefer warm to cold. I hate cold. I'd rather be dripping with sweat.
11. Yarn! I love yarn! I learned to crochet a year ago and love it.
12. My photographs have been published and exhibited.
13. I still have my teddy bear from childhood.
14. There are rocks and fossils all over my house and in my flower gardens.
15. I love sand!
16. I miss Trevor when he has to go to work.
17. My left foot is slightly larger than my right.
18. I have an entire drawer devoted to socks. Smartwool are my favorite.
19. Caffeine makes me all jittery.
20. My favorite junk food indulgence is White Cheddar Cheez-its. I only buy them from vending machines and NEVER keep a box at home.
21. I miss my grandmother, Hattie.
22. My favorite book of all time is Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck.
23. I saw the Grateful Dead 6 times.
24. My favorite colors are: orange, brown and all the ones in between.
25. I'm going to be a librarian! I'm beginning to take courses for a Masters in Library Science from Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Last Free Saturday until Mid-March

My classes at GSLIS West, as it's known, start next Saturday January 31st. I'm enjoying my last free Saturday until mid-March when I have my spring break. Not sure how one Saturday in March is really a spring break but we'll see when I get there. Then there's another one in April for Easter.

Are you curious how I've been spending my last free Saturday? First of all, I got up when I felt like it. This is not unusual at all. I've been getting up when I feel like since the middle of February 2008 when my former employer decided they could get by without a lab manager. I've been doing this with such regularity that I've forgotten how to work my alarm clock. I'll practice setting the alarm this week so that I'll be on time for my classes on Saturday.

So, I had one of my all-time favorite breakfasts that reminds me of my grandmother, Hattie. I made myself 2 soft-boiled eggs and a slice of my home-made 100% whole wheat bread toasted and smeared with butter. I served the eggs in one of Hattie's egg cups. The one that's large enough on the bottom to hold 2 eggs. And a cuppa Irish Breakfast tea sweetened with agave with dribble of milk. YUM! I love breakfast. It's my favorite meal.

After breakfast I got busy making lentil soup for Trevor. I don't eat lentil soup but he does. He's working at the Grand Summit Hotel at Mount Snow today stilt-walking in the lobby and playing games with kids.

And since it was Saturday, I did a very traditional Saturday chore: I WENT TO THE DUMP! Okay, it's really called the transfer station but I like to call it the dump. As usual, the old dudes that work at the Hatfield transfer station were listening to the polka show on WMUA 91.1.

I stopped in at the co-op on my way home and picked up some lunch. Had a nice chat with the cashier and the new marketing director and headed home.

This afternoon I did another traditional Saturday chore: I WENT TO THE PACKY! The returnables department was so swamped with people I decided to put my small bag of returnables in my trunk and pick up some wine.

I went to the car wash! My car was so gross! Now it's all shiny :-)

I decided to stop in at Webs and pick up some yarn (Plymouth Yarns Baby Alpaca Brush Paint) so that I can make myself another pair of fingerless mitts. While I was there I ran into my old house-mate, Jenny. It was so great to see her and hear about her and Jake's (another former house-mate) new baby. They live in Brattleboro, VT now.

A quick stop at the Forbes Library in Northampton to drop off books, movies, CDs and pick up some more and then I headed home.

It's been a pretty good day so far.

New Yarn

A skein of Malabrigo silky merino yarn (if you actually follow the link it's "Vienna") arrived in the mail yesterday. That and a new bra, which is also exciting but I won't write about the new bra. Don't think that it's because I can't write about a bra, because I certainly can. Believe me, I know a thing or two about bras.

It's all about the new yarn. Now, this skein (actually, technically, it's a hank, but let's not get all techy about yarn for the moment), is the most beautiful yarn in my stash. It's so soft and the colors are gorgeous. They're all "Nancy" colors if you know what that means. If you don't it means they're browns, oranges, tans, etc. Did I mention it's silky? The yarn is 50% silky and 50% merino. The yarn arrived in the middle of the afternoon right when I needed a break from the Technology Orientation Requirement that I'm attempting to complete before classes start on 1/31. Everything is due on 2/15 but I just want to get it out of the way so I can focus on my coursework.

Back to the yarn.... this is my second skein (well, technically, it's a hank) of Malabrigo and I have to say that Malabrigo makes the most beautiful yarn ever! I'm still in possession of the first skein (hank) I bought and look at it every once in a while to just admire its color and softness. I love Malabrigo yarn so much that I joined a group on Ravelry called "Malabrigo Junkies". Speaking of Ravelry, did you know that you can search for patterns by yarn and then use filters to narrow your search to type of project (knit or crochet), yardage, needle/hook size, etc? It's great! So I found a pattern for a scarf that is pretty simple and it turns out that I have the book it's in!

So, I wound my skein into a center pull ball with my handy-dandy ball winder and swift. (Thanks, Trevor.) Then I took out a hook and got to work! I'm completely in love with this yarn.

I'm thoroughly convinced that crocheting will help me maintain my sanity over the next couple or years or so while I work on my MLS from Simmons College GSLIS. I just hope I have time for it!

Whirlwind trip to Beantown

Trevor and I drove to Boston today so that I could drop my 3 photos at Simmons GSLIS tech lab on Palace Road in the Fenway. The trip wasn't as much fun as I was hoping it would be due to lack of parking. No, not lack of parking. NO parking. We found Palace Road pretty easily and then drove around blocks and blocks and up then up to the "hospital region", as I like to call it, and then back to 300 the Fenway where Simmons is and drove around and around back to Huntington Ave to Longwood Ave and back to Palace Road for at least 30 minutes, maybe more like 40. Finally we gave up and Trevor illegally parked on Palace Road while I went and made a phone call and got let into the building. If we'd actually found a place to park I would have liked to see the Simmons College library so that I could feel all nerdy inside. But, alas, no parking.

Then, to add to our (or my, still not sure at this point) frustration, I forgot to write down the directions to the Elephant Walk Restaurant at 900 Beacon St in Boston, which according to Google Maps is .9 mile from 300 the Fenway. And, me not being very quick map reader, we turned right onto the Fenway instead of left and before we knew it we were going the wrong way, away from our destination. To make matters worse, ended up on Soldiers Field Road going west.

At this point things were getting ugly in the truck cab. Full bladders and empty stomachs, did not help the situation. Being in the nagivators's (yes, I did spell that correctly) seat, I had to make a quick decision about what to do so that we wouldn't continue to spiral out of control. We got off Soldiers Field Road and went to Harvard Square. This I could handle. I'm very familiar with Harvard Square. I even know where to find an affordable meal. We found parking right on JFK Street and walked to Algiers on Brattle Street and things were looking up. Our parking meter, which only had an hour on it, was running out of time. No time for stopping in any shops. We got right back to the truck and headed back to the turnpike. We were back in Northampton by 3:15.

Check it Out!

My old pal, Kathy Tafel, is going to the Presidential Inauguration (I always have trouble spelling that word.). She's blogging about here or you can just look for her blog to the right: You're the Decider.