It feels like it's been forever since I posted an entry, but it's only been nine days. One thing I've noticed since moving to Illinois is that when people (mainly, Colin and my mom) ask what I did that day or how busy I've been, it's frustrating because I can never remember enough to make it seem like I really am as busy as it feels like. So I've decided to start chronicling my movements and whatnot a bit better. I doubt it'll be daily posts with hourly details (probably keep kind of a running word doc journal or something) but at least I'll know what I've done. For a former history major and family genealogist, I have terrible memory.
This week I've started really getting in the genealogy research, both trying to determine how to organize it and doing actual research. So far, there's nothing available for anyone but me and Colin to see, but with our combined skills we've found some promising possibilities.
We were looking for open source and something many people could work on without it actually being open to the public. After some initial research, I found some options and knew we wanted to work with the GEDCOM file format. It's not the easiest format to use for genealogy but it is by far the most common one and I want to ensure that it is compatible if we ever have to change things. We are also really hoping to find a way to include photos, notes, and stories - while keeping it easy and secure so that family members may be encouraged to add invaluable things themselves.
First, Colin set up a website he owns so that it would use the PhpGedView program. I spent a day wrestling with it; there's very few helpful instructions and it is not intuitive. I still am not sure if it was just me not knowing what I was doing or if the program is buggy (even after an update to the latest version of php). I did figure some things out, especially that after every time you edit a page, you have to click on edit then "accept all changes" - for ever single page that it affects, before the changes are visible. Adding media items such as photos is also not easy.
Now, instead of using an online program and website, I am creating the GEDCOM file on an open source (works on everything - Linux, Mac, and Windows) program called GRAMPS. I was shocked at how easy it was to install the program on my computer and work with it. It's a charm so far. Doesn't have nearly as many extra features that PhpGedView has, but I'd rather have just what I need to create it and for faster than many other interesting things I don't need while creating it and much slower.
However, GRAMPS and PhpGedView both are not suited for multimedia and showing notes. Sure, you can add notes but they don't show up readily until you click on "notes." To make up for this, we've also added a private wiki to the website which should be able to link to the particular part of the GEDCOM file on PhpGedView on a specific person when someone (who was access to both the wiki and PhpGedView) clicks on the link. So far, I'm planning to assemble the GEDCOM file in GRAMPS and then upload to PhpGedView. This file will not contain everything; mostly just the overall tree view and basic statistics (like birth and death).
The wiki will both augment and probably be much larger than what is in PhpGedView alone; it will have a page on every individual with an outline of statistics (including other things known such as immigration) and further details. I'm not positive just how the pages will look but for now I will try to keep it to just linking one generation backward and forward. And something that I never considered (note that my interest in genealogy stems back at least to 2001 when I started keeping pedigree charts in a binder) but is very important is to keep a research log. This will be a way to know what I have and have not looked for, what I've found and where, and what I've added and changed. Some of this can be done by looking at the changes the wiki will log, but not all of it and it will be easier for me to keep track and for others to understand.
The wiki will also be excellent to use for photos and their captions, which is currently the primary desire of the Alworth family and will be very useful when it comes to preserving and sharing photos and such.
A less technical and more fun fact: Last night I found the Denmark 1890 census entry for my grandpa's mother's family! This is very exciting, since not much is known about them prior to the immigration of her and her many siblings to the United States. I've also pieced together some things that I know weren't completely unknown by my family but needed to be sorted out, especially documents we have copies of from one of my grandpa's relatives (I honestly don't know her relationship exactly but intend to find out).
All right, I'll quit going on and on about genealogy and get back to it ...
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Whatever happened to communication?
I started out reading this strip almost jumping up and down shouting "yes! yes! totally!" It's made me realize how I've been viewing the activity of blogging currently. And then forced me to push past this, since blogging is more than social networking (not many read this and that's fine with me) than a way to articulate and archive my thoughts, despite the scanty number of posts.
I think I'm going to force myself to stop there even though there's so much about life and thoughts to ramble on about. Perhaps this will give me the nudge I need to post short and sweet in some weird way.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Yay I've got a MLS!
Just a quick note to announce that I have indeed completely and utterly finished my Master's in Library Science degree. Last class was over at 12:15 pm today, when I'd given my presentation and handed in my last paper.
Yay!
And my car is hopefully gonna be fixed by noon Friday so that means I get to lug up a bunch of stuff to Highland Park, help Colin seal the windows against the cold, and attend Tom's party Saturday. Oh, and rent Julie and Julia :) Colin's company party is Thursday night then I'll head down early Friday to finish packing, greet arriving family members, wait for Colin to show up, and then graduation is Saturday morning. And no, I'm not driving to Charlevoix directly after that but taking the rest of my stuff to fully move in the apartment in HP. *Then* I'll be in Charlevoix for Christmas.
So all in all, both cheerful and kind of blank. Stay tuned for what happens in the next episode ...
Yay!
And my car is hopefully gonna be fixed by noon Friday so that means I get to lug up a bunch of stuff to Highland Park, help Colin seal the windows against the cold, and attend Tom's party Saturday. Oh, and rent Julie and Julia :) Colin's company party is Thursday night then I'll head down early Friday to finish packing, greet arriving family members, wait for Colin to show up, and then graduation is Saturday morning. And no, I'm not driving to Charlevoix directly after that but taking the rest of my stuff to fully move in the apartment in HP. *Then* I'll be in Charlevoix for Christmas.
So all in all, both cheerful and kind of blank. Stay tuned for what happens in the next episode ...
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
it's not a rose ... SLA needs a new name
Tomorrow, the vote for whether to change the name of Special Library Association to Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals ends. And I have yet to decide whether to vote yes or no. In attempts to find out and hope that I could find someone whose words would make me jump up and down shouting "That's it! That's what I mean! Exactly!" I am perhaps even further from a decision. Many times I did indeed find myself nodding in agreement but it was only sections of both pro and con blogposts which I've posted below to hopefully consolidate my thoughts.
Why do I even care? Someone mentioned that it's not going to change what they do and what the organization means to them, and I agree with that. But that's not really the point of a name change - it's about image, both the self and the projected. I may be a quite new member (renewing for my second year in January) but I went to the conference this summer and I plan on only increasing my involvement and passion in the organization.
I never really liked the name SLA - I don't like being egotistic and saying "well those are the regular librarians - I'm studying to be a *special* librarian" - but I understood what it meant. It made sense when I knew the history of the association, how it grew out of a combination of many smaller library organizations that didn't quite fit in with the general ALA.
But, come on - ASKPro? First, I thought it was the name of a program or some online reference librarian thing. Then I thought about how it actually sounds to me, a hearing impaired person who frequently, well, mishears things.
I'm all for trying to change and more accurately reflect the organization's membership, but I agree with naysayers so much on this choice. I don't mind that it doesn't say "library" but it will mean it's less likely to be grouped together with the other library organizations. Even if my job title neglects to have the word "librarian" in it, I'm still going to consider myself a librarian, just like many other SLA members.
The big question to me: if I was looking at professional organizations to join, would I have joined "ASKPro?" I probably would have been even more confused what the name meant than with SLA. Honestly, I don't think I would have thought it was a relevant organization. But others have probably been dissuaded from joining SLA because they thought "oh I'm not a special librarian" when in fact they may very well be just that but aren't aware of it because the term is so vague.
So why am I spending the time reading other thoughts and mulling over the issue in the middle of one of the craziest weeks which include the last bit of grad school work, getting my car fixed, first snow, dealing with family drama, and lots of planning (holidays and moving - don't get me started on job searching and applying)? Because the vote deadline is less than 24 hours away. I think I'll sleep on it, but I'm leaning towards "no." Meanwhile, time to get cracking on my very last SLIS project due Thursday.
Quotes:
"As was pointed out in the email announcing the proposed name, John Cotton Dana (founder of SLA, as if you didn’t know!) said in the first place that “The name Special Libraries was chosen with some hesitation, or rather in default of a better…”. The name doesn’t really mean much to me, and certainly means far less to non-librarians."
http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/am-i-a-strategic-knowledge-professional/
"What I keep coming back to though is this: simply, it is time for a change. ... Maybe “Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals” will require as much explanation to non-members and non-information professionals as SLA did, but at least they won’t have to work their way past a set of inaccurate assumptions to begin with. ASKP is a blank slate."
"If the new name stops people from thinking “well I can’t join that association, it’s only for special librarians” – isn’t that a good thing?"
http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/sla-vote-yea-or-nay/
"As others have suggested, if the SLA has to explain to its own *members* what the term means, there is a problem.
I think the SLA executive have to go back to the drawing board on this one."
http://www.coolweblog.com/bilodeau/archives/005164.html
"I have queried several non-librarian friends, including attorneys at my firm. So far, I have not had one positive response. Replies have included:
* “What does that even mean?”
* “Sounds pompous as hell.”
* “What are you, the CIA?”
The most positive response I have received was simply that it was too vague and the individual had no idea what it meant or who the association would include.
I grant that everyone I have queried thus far has preferred the proposed name to “Special Libraries Association”. But what does that really mean? They find the proposed name pretentious, unspecific, and challenging to say, but it’s better than what we have so we should go for it? No. It means what so many of us have been saying for years. “Special Libraries Association” is confusing and unclear and should be changed. That is all."
"I do not support the proposed name, but I think “Special Libraries Association” is no longer sufficient. I worry that we will miss this opportunity because so many of those that strongly back a name change can not support the proposed name. "
http://midwesterngirl.com/2009/10/23/my-lengthy-thoughts-on-the-sla-proposed-name-change/
Why do I even care? Someone mentioned that it's not going to change what they do and what the organization means to them, and I agree with that. But that's not really the point of a name change - it's about image, both the self and the projected. I may be a quite new member (renewing for my second year in January) but I went to the conference this summer and I plan on only increasing my involvement and passion in the organization.
I never really liked the name SLA - I don't like being egotistic and saying "well those are the regular librarians - I'm studying to be a *special* librarian" - but I understood what it meant. It made sense when I knew the history of the association, how it grew out of a combination of many smaller library organizations that didn't quite fit in with the general ALA.
But, come on - ASKPro? First, I thought it was the name of a program or some online reference librarian thing. Then I thought about how it actually sounds to me, a hearing impaired person who frequently, well, mishears things.
I'm all for trying to change and more accurately reflect the organization's membership, but I agree with naysayers so much on this choice. I don't mind that it doesn't say "library" but it will mean it's less likely to be grouped together with the other library organizations. Even if my job title neglects to have the word "librarian" in it, I'm still going to consider myself a librarian, just like many other SLA members.
The big question to me: if I was looking at professional organizations to join, would I have joined "ASKPro?" I probably would have been even more confused what the name meant than with SLA. Honestly, I don't think I would have thought it was a relevant organization. But others have probably been dissuaded from joining SLA because they thought "oh I'm not a special librarian" when in fact they may very well be just that but aren't aware of it because the term is so vague.
So why am I spending the time reading other thoughts and mulling over the issue in the middle of one of the craziest weeks which include the last bit of grad school work, getting my car fixed, first snow, dealing with family drama, and lots of planning (holidays and moving - don't get me started on job searching and applying)? Because the vote deadline is less than 24 hours away. I think I'll sleep on it, but I'm leaning towards "no." Meanwhile, time to get cracking on my very last SLIS project due Thursday.
Quotes:
"As was pointed out in the email announcing the proposed name, John Cotton Dana (founder of SLA, as if you didn’t know!) said in the first place that “The name Special Libraries was chosen with some hesitation, or rather in default of a better…”. The name doesn’t really mean much to me, and certainly means far less to non-librarians."
http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/am-i-a-strategic-knowledge-professional/
"What I keep coming back to though is this: simply, it is time for a change. ... Maybe “Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals” will require as much explanation to non-members and non-information professionals as SLA did, but at least they won’t have to work their way past a set of inaccurate assumptions to begin with. ASKP is a blank slate."
"If the new name stops people from thinking “well I can’t join that association, it’s only for special librarians” – isn’t that a good thing?"
http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/sla-vote-yea-or-nay/
"As others have suggested, if the SLA has to explain to its own *members* what the term means, there is a problem.
I think the SLA executive have to go back to the drawing board on this one."
http://www.coolweblog.com/bilodeau/archives/005164.html
"I have queried several non-librarian friends, including attorneys at my firm. So far, I have not had one positive response. Replies have included:
* “What does that even mean?”
* “Sounds pompous as hell.”
* “What are you, the CIA?”
The most positive response I have received was simply that it was too vague and the individual had no idea what it meant or who the association would include.
I grant that everyone I have queried thus far has preferred the proposed name to “Special Libraries Association”. But what does that really mean? They find the proposed name pretentious, unspecific, and challenging to say, but it’s better than what we have so we should go for it? No. It means what so many of us have been saying for years. “Special Libraries Association” is confusing and unclear and should be changed. That is all."
"I do not support the proposed name, but I think “Special Libraries Association” is no longer sufficient. I worry that we will miss this opportunity because so many of those that strongly back a name change can not support the proposed name. "
http://midwesterngirl.com/2009/10/23/my-lengthy-thoughts-on-the-sla-proposed-name-change/
Friday, December 4, 2009
Present grumblings, past fun, and future plans
The inner corner of my right eye itches and burns but I can't find anything causing this. But I keep trying to ease this really annoying problem which in turn makes my eye all watery. Also, I have lots of congestion running down my throat which made my pill stick in my throat and I hate it when that happens. I don't think the whole thing lodges in there but it takes its sweet time making its way down and leaves residue. It feels uncomfortable and makes me cringe when it burns sometimes like when I burp or when I'm trying to flush it with water, tea, and chicken noodle soup.
I also keep trying to work on my last two projects (each include paper and presentation due next week) which by K standards are very manageable but things just keep popping up that need to be dealt with. Like my car. It's been a month since it broke down but it is very probable that someone will come tow it back to their shop and fix it by next weekend. So Colin's driving down for the weekend and I really hope to make it to Tom Beck's party next Saturday.
So yeah, graduation is the 19th and I'll be moved out on the 20th. The trips made by both me and Colin will be how stuff gets moved, and my parents are taking big items back that we won't need, like my twin bed and desk table. Then there's the matter of finding a job. I've done searching but I think other than sending a resume to the most interesting ones I've found so far, I'm not going to focus so much on it until I've moved, at least.
Plans for post-holidays so far include possibly going to ALA's midwinter conference in Boston mid-January, having Becca visit in February for a couple days (yay!), going on a cruise with family early March, going to Becca's wedding late March and Ashley's in June. Also, Laura and Emily plan on study abroad in Europe next fall and Colin just might have to go back to India for a period. Regardless of all that, I'm gonna be bored on the normal days unless I can find at least some temp/part-time/unpaid/whatever library-related thing I want to do.
Thanksgiving in Charlevoix was nice. A bit different without my mom's parents, but still nice. I got really full and was wearing pants that I'd made the mistake of putting through the dryer so I had to excuse myself to go change into pajama pants. The next day, while Laura and I are trying on clothes in JC Penny, she said Mom and she had been wondering if I was pregnant. Um, no. Now, I don't know where they got the idea or if the pants were at all a "clue" but, seriously? Colin made me laugh when after I told him this he said that he was first thinking they were worried but then remembered who my mom and sister are and realized they were probably hoping. All in all, weird.
It was really good to spend time with William though. Hadn't seen him since the funeral in March; it's the first time I hadn't gone home during the summer. We had a great time watching Ice Age 3 - even my dad watched it! There were games of Up the River (Colin finally properly learned how to play) and Scrabble, a walk down the road, playing with the puppies, and just general good family time. Also got to meet Laura's boyfriend Nathan (yet another correlation between Emily and Laura - both their boyfriends are named Nathan) and Weston's (a cousin of mine) friend P.J. who's living with him at Brooks Hill and has a job at Applebee's.
On the drive up and down Michigan we stopped both times to visit Emily who had to stay for an exam the next week and couldn't make it to Duluth for Thanksgiving. I also had the ingenious idea of reading Sherlock Holmes stories to Colin while he drove. That's how drives usually work out - since I can't have a conversation with him while I'm driving without apparently making him nervous he does the driving while I do the entertaining such as reading or crossword puzzles. Oh and trying to navigate (we always end up taking detours but neither of us mind too much).
I suppose you might be wondering why I used the time to write an entry instead of a paper - mostly, it's because I felt like I needed to get a bunch of the thoughts swirling in my head not paper-related out of the way. I had to write a packing list with what goes on the first, second, or third trips just to stop gazing around the room wondering. I think I"ll aim for a chunk of paper writing and then a walk in the sunshine, but it depends on when and if they're towing the car today. Meanwhile, send me some academic focusing power, if you've got any to spare.
I also keep trying to work on my last two projects (each include paper and presentation due next week) which by K standards are very manageable but things just keep popping up that need to be dealt with. Like my car. It's been a month since it broke down but it is very probable that someone will come tow it back to their shop and fix it by next weekend. So Colin's driving down for the weekend and I really hope to make it to Tom Beck's party next Saturday.
So yeah, graduation is the 19th and I'll be moved out on the 20th. The trips made by both me and Colin will be how stuff gets moved, and my parents are taking big items back that we won't need, like my twin bed and desk table. Then there's the matter of finding a job. I've done searching but I think other than sending a resume to the most interesting ones I've found so far, I'm not going to focus so much on it until I've moved, at least.
Plans for post-holidays so far include possibly going to ALA's midwinter conference in Boston mid-January, having Becca visit in February for a couple days (yay!), going on a cruise with family early March, going to Becca's wedding late March and Ashley's in June. Also, Laura and Emily plan on study abroad in Europe next fall and Colin just might have to go back to India for a period. Regardless of all that, I'm gonna be bored on the normal days unless I can find at least some temp/part-time/unpaid/whatever library-related thing I want to do.
Thanksgiving in Charlevoix was nice. A bit different without my mom's parents, but still nice. I got really full and was wearing pants that I'd made the mistake of putting through the dryer so I had to excuse myself to go change into pajama pants. The next day, while Laura and I are trying on clothes in JC Penny, she said Mom and she had been wondering if I was pregnant. Um, no. Now, I don't know where they got the idea or if the pants were at all a "clue" but, seriously? Colin made me laugh when after I told him this he said that he was first thinking they were worried but then remembered who my mom and sister are and realized they were probably hoping. All in all, weird.
It was really good to spend time with William though. Hadn't seen him since the funeral in March; it's the first time I hadn't gone home during the summer. We had a great time watching Ice Age 3 - even my dad watched it! There were games of Up the River (Colin finally properly learned how to play) and Scrabble, a walk down the road, playing with the puppies, and just general good family time. Also got to meet Laura's boyfriend Nathan (yet another correlation between Emily and Laura - both their boyfriends are named Nathan) and Weston's (a cousin of mine) friend P.J. who's living with him at Brooks Hill and has a job at Applebee's.
On the drive up and down Michigan we stopped both times to visit Emily who had to stay for an exam the next week and couldn't make it to Duluth for Thanksgiving. I also had the ingenious idea of reading Sherlock Holmes stories to Colin while he drove. That's how drives usually work out - since I can't have a conversation with him while I'm driving without apparently making him nervous he does the driving while I do the entertaining such as reading or crossword puzzles. Oh and trying to navigate (we always end up taking detours but neither of us mind too much).
I suppose you might be wondering why I used the time to write an entry instead of a paper - mostly, it's because I felt like I needed to get a bunch of the thoughts swirling in my head not paper-related out of the way. I had to write a packing list with what goes on the first, second, or third trips just to stop gazing around the room wondering. I think I"ll aim for a chunk of paper writing and then a walk in the sunshine, but it depends on when and if they're towing the car today. Meanwhile, send me some academic focusing power, if you've got any to spare.
Monday, November 23, 2009
It's all part of a big circle
Random thought: I was taking a pill from the bottle when I remembered dreaming about doing that very thing a few nights ago, but in the dream there were a lot less pills in the bottle. So I wondered: "Was I dreaming of the past or the future if it's a cyclical action?"
After posting that last entry, I went over to LJ, which I hardly ever do since I have linked to my blogger account in a way that whatever I post in blogger will show up in LJ. I was curious to see just how much posting the LJ friends still did and I found that Joanne was easily the most frequent blogger. I don't miss much though, since I have her blog as a subscription in Google Reader along with other blogs that don't consistently mark their entries as private (I hope that doesn't creep you out, Joanne).
Then I learned a couple of surprising bits of information, namely that the feeling that I've had an LJ account forever is proved by the date of my first entry: January 12, 2004. That's a really long time ago, people. Since then, I might not have been the most consistent blogger, but I still managed to write 264 journal entries - this will be my 265th.
I also noticed that I'd updated my location to Bloomington, but my bio is still original, as evidenced by this section: "Yes, I like to hike. I also like many other things but I can't think of them right now ... oh there's something about being a K College sophomore history major somewhere in there ..." I clicked on the "edit" button, then realized I really didn't care what it said and who would read it anyway?
Watching the NASA Atlantis shuttle launch about two weeks ago was pretty neat. I saw a news article via google news about it last night and decided to check out the twitter activity. NASA allowed 101 twitterers to have special access near the base, to interview and be interviewed, and they even got a wave from the astronauts as they drove past in the van on the way to the shuttle. I started getting ready for the launch soon after I got up around 10, intending to make sure I had a good video feed that'd work for linux and to have the right websites to bounce back and forth on, but then it was addicting watching the pre-launch and before I knew it, four hours flew by and the shuttle was in space. Whoops. I guess there are worse addictions ... (While it was nice of Chris to not mind changing the channel downstairs to NASA minutes before the launch, it was annoying that he interrupted my moment of awe by shouting "I didn't know it was going to launch NOW! You said pre-launch! I thought you meant like an hour more!")
Two weekends ago was the house party. I wasn't really looking forward to it but I was very relieved that Colin managed to be down here that weekend otherwise I probably would've caved into the temptation just to hole back up in my room and watch movies instead. I'm not anti-social; spending hours in a dimly lit rooms reeking of alcohol and beer and filled with mostly people I don't know just doesn't appeal to me. But it turned out to be fun, especially when we burned all the crappy deck chairs and table in the fire pit, even with the really rude guy who kept saying and doing things that made me just downright despise him. I *will* take offense when you purposely knock the cup of water out of my hand that I'd gotten for someone I care about who had just been throwing up. That's all I'm saying on that subject.
So since my car is still out of commission (yes, at least partly my fault there but I can only pester someone so much if they're doing me a favor), I had to determine how I was going to get to Charlevoix for Thanksgiving. I hadn't been to my hometown or seen my brother since the funeral in March - this year was the first time I had not made it home during the summer. As long as I made it to Chicago, Colin and I would drive the rest of the way in his car.
I hadn't missed any classes this semester except the first one (was still en route from India) so I was perfectly okay with missing one class (tomorrow) especially since I honestly find that course boring. Also, the last couple of weeks I've been on-and-off sick with viruses so even when I wished for nothing more but to stay in bed, I always dragged myself to class after deeming myself not that sick after all. It's unusual for me to do that, believe it or not. Last Wednesday night I registered a fever on the thermometer but mostly just felt really tired the next morning and did just fine. I think being stuck at the house except for classes was huge motivator.
So I looked up flights and found that if Chris was willing to drive me to the Memorial Union on campus, I could get shuttle bus and roundtrip flights for just about 200. So I did. Now I find myself sitting on Colin's couch, waiting to pick him up from work and watch Heroes during a spaghetti dinner. When we were out for lunch, we both noticed we felt like I had to leave to head south soon, which has always been the case. Ok, so technically I could have left this afternoon, gone to class, and then driven back before leaving for a night in Kalamazoo on Wednesday but it sure wasn't worth it.
This entry's been slowly written ever since I posted the last one. I just need to realize short entries are not only just fine but in fact preferred ...
After posting that last entry, I went over to LJ, which I hardly ever do since I have linked to my blogger account in a way that whatever I post in blogger will show up in LJ. I was curious to see just how much posting the LJ friends still did and I found that Joanne was easily the most frequent blogger. I don't miss much though, since I have her blog as a subscription in Google Reader along with other blogs that don't consistently mark their entries as private (I hope that doesn't creep you out, Joanne).
Then I learned a couple of surprising bits of information, namely that the feeling that I've had an LJ account forever is proved by the date of my first entry: January 12, 2004. That's a really long time ago, people. Since then, I might not have been the most consistent blogger, but I still managed to write 264 journal entries - this will be my 265th.
I also noticed that I'd updated my location to Bloomington, but my bio is still original, as evidenced by this section: "Yes, I like to hike. I also like many other things but I can't think of them right now ... oh there's something about being a K College sophomore history major somewhere in there ..." I clicked on the "edit" button, then realized I really didn't care what it said and who would read it anyway?
Watching the NASA Atlantis shuttle launch about two weeks ago was pretty neat. I saw a news article via google news about it last night and decided to check out the twitter activity. NASA allowed 101 twitterers to have special access near the base, to interview and be interviewed, and they even got a wave from the astronauts as they drove past in the van on the way to the shuttle. I started getting ready for the launch soon after I got up around 10, intending to make sure I had a good video feed that'd work for linux and to have the right websites to bounce back and forth on, but then it was addicting watching the pre-launch and before I knew it, four hours flew by and the shuttle was in space. Whoops. I guess there are worse addictions ... (While it was nice of Chris to not mind changing the channel downstairs to NASA minutes before the launch, it was annoying that he interrupted my moment of awe by shouting "I didn't know it was going to launch NOW! You said pre-launch! I thought you meant like an hour more!")
Two weekends ago was the house party. I wasn't really looking forward to it but I was very relieved that Colin managed to be down here that weekend otherwise I probably would've caved into the temptation just to hole back up in my room and watch movies instead. I'm not anti-social; spending hours in a dimly lit rooms reeking of alcohol and beer and filled with mostly people I don't know just doesn't appeal to me. But it turned out to be fun, especially when we burned all the crappy deck chairs and table in the fire pit, even with the really rude guy who kept saying and doing things that made me just downright despise him. I *will* take offense when you purposely knock the cup of water out of my hand that I'd gotten for someone I care about who had just been throwing up. That's all I'm saying on that subject.
So since my car is still out of commission (yes, at least partly my fault there but I can only pester someone so much if they're doing me a favor), I had to determine how I was going to get to Charlevoix for Thanksgiving. I hadn't been to my hometown or seen my brother since the funeral in March - this year was the first time I had not made it home during the summer. As long as I made it to Chicago, Colin and I would drive the rest of the way in his car.
I hadn't missed any classes this semester except the first one (was still en route from India) so I was perfectly okay with missing one class (tomorrow) especially since I honestly find that course boring. Also, the last couple of weeks I've been on-and-off sick with viruses so even when I wished for nothing more but to stay in bed, I always dragged myself to class after deeming myself not that sick after all. It's unusual for me to do that, believe it or not. Last Wednesday night I registered a fever on the thermometer but mostly just felt really tired the next morning and did just fine. I think being stuck at the house except for classes was huge motivator.
So I looked up flights and found that if Chris was willing to drive me to the Memorial Union on campus, I could get shuttle bus and roundtrip flights for just about 200. So I did. Now I find myself sitting on Colin's couch, waiting to pick him up from work and watch Heroes during a spaghetti dinner. When we were out for lunch, we both noticed we felt like I had to leave to head south soon, which has always been the case. Ok, so technically I could have left this afternoon, gone to class, and then driven back before leaving for a night in Kalamazoo on Wednesday but it sure wasn't worth it.
This entry's been slowly written ever since I posted the last one. I just need to realize short entries are not only just fine but in fact preferred ...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The short version of the story of the last 2.5 months
Lately, I've been feeling a strange disconnect between what I do and think and what the reality is. Every time I've felt the urge to blog about something, I start thinking about all the other things I haven't and/or should write about. Not that there's any real rules to blogging. I spend a lot of time on my computer and then forcing myself to avoid it as long as possible, which is not very long usually since almost everything in my life is to some extent online now: friends, Colin, school, entertainment, boring things like paying bills. It's kind of scary, actually. Oh, and yes - I have finally given in and joined Twitter, as part of this crazy idea I got last week to start using Remember the Milk. You can find me as "deafelephant" although (at least for now) you'll have to subscribe to me (or whatever the action's called) to see my tweets because I'm keeping things private.
-- A couple technological "side" notes --
1) Remember the Milk is actually kind of hard to describe; calling it an online to do list doesn't do it justice. You can have it send you reminders daily and/or at "deadlines" via SMS, email, or IM what you should be doing (I have it set to send a reminder 15 mins before anything with a deadline so I know when a show will be on TV). You can send items too - I find this very useful. You make multiples lists, such as by project or place to do them. And these are just the basics. Other than keeping track of school projects, books and movies to read and see, creative ideas, and everything else I can think of that I have to do or keep track of, my Big Idea is to set up an efficient food system, including what I have, links to recipes, and what I need to buy. Since I intend to avoid real meal planning and still have the flexibility to decide what I really feel like eating, this is going to be even more challenging. However, I think this will actually pay off in the end; I hate being hungry and wracking my brain trying to think what food I have all the way down in the kitchen. Go ahead and call me a cataloguing geek. Overall, I've decided to use RTM because I don't want to always carry my notebook (especially into a store), I need a place to also store links with notes I make, this will be incentive to carry my phone and keep it charged, and like I said, everything I do is pretty much online that paper to-do lists and schedules don't make much sense, no matter how much they've saved me in the past.
2) I've also moved a bit more into cloud computing, even as the general tech world is increasingly ignoring it. This is not because I have a netbook or that I use linux (although the characteristics of someone with these might carry over). I just need an easier way to backup stuff and to get at it, especially since I've found myself both copying a document to my thumbdrive *and* emailing it to myself so I can print it off at school. One acronym librarians like is LOCKSS (lots of copies keeps stuff safe). Thus, I've started using pote.com as an insanely simple online word processor (two drawbacks: no footnotes and no straightforward downloading and saving as word). I've got about a gazillion documents in Google Docs, but have been moving away from it more and more because I don't like the interface. Heck, I hate using most word processors, online or offline, especially the Windows Vista MS Word. My problem is probably that I'm just too picky.
2b) I have an external hard drive (quite old in hard drive time) but I rarely use it for backups. I make a valiant effort to backup periodically which usually is every 3 to 6 months but this is not enough for safe keeping. I'm always nervous about losing the stuff I'm currently working on. After countless Blue Screens of Death and complete failure then total wipe or even complete physical replacement of the hard drive in my ThinkPad, I can't think why I despise Windows and am paranoid of having only one copy of something accessible. In any case, I've tried online storage options, never liked any of them, and since I'm trying to keep from giving *everything* to Google, I've kept looking. Solution: dropbox.com - I love it so far. There is no need to manually check to make sure that the most current versions of files are there or insert new ones; it automatically syncs when you connect to the internet. You can also access and edit things from any computer with internet access. It Just Works.
-- end side notes --
I also feel like not much actually happens in my day-to-day life but when I look back over recent weeks I realize it'd take hours just to tell you what's happened. And I don't mean "well, this day I took a shower and didn't used conditioner and this day I did use conditioner" but the more (hopefully) interesting tidbits, like how my car broke down on my way back to B-town the Monday night before last and the future of my car is looking quite bleak. I made it back safely, even if it was after midnight and my housemate came and picked me up in Martinsville, with only 25 miles further to go. This weekend Colin was a big help when we towed my car back to the house. If you ever need to do non-local car-towing, definitely check out U-Haul. From extensive online research, I knew it was going to be just over 100 dollars for self-towing as opposed to easily 250 to 300 with a towing company.
Since then, I've been more housebound than ever, unable to hop in my car and drive to the coffee shop or the grocery store. I had been making a point to try to get out every day, which doesn't always happen but it was a good thing for me to do. I'm trying to limit how much I depend on my housemates for rides and fortunately I only have the two class periods per week, although I did need to get prescriptions filled last Wednesday.
As for groceries, I've been doing perfectly fine without having to go to the store, apart from picking up milk when getting prescriptions and when Colin and I went shopping for the hors d'ouevres smorgasbord impromptu party. I tend to get more than I immediately need of any food I buy, usually sticking to a rule of "need one, get two." I'm really quite bad at making decisions sometimes; I'm the girl you see standing forever in front of a section because she can't figure out if she should get the cheapest, the bulk, or the quality (bulk isn't always the cheapest in pennies per ounce and sometimes I only want a little so it would actually be overall price that I'm looking at). So if I'm getting one of something, I save myself from twice the grief by getting two. Anyway, I've got quite a strange stockpile and although I've run out of eggs (some things I don't buy two of: eggs and milk), I'm using this as a good kick in the pants to finally use some of this stuff up, especially things I remember migrating from my apartment in May.
Currently, it's sunny and gorgeous out but I've got this sniffly sickness being nursed by a pot of cooling tea and a box of kleenex. It's one of those times when I feel driven to be uber-productive while I'm sick and I'm trying to rein it in so I don't keep wearing myself out. I might have to take a short slow walk outside just for sanity's sake though. But as for the dishwasher, maybe someone else will unload it after I started it and did the overflow of dishes by hand last night but I'm not overly optimistic nor does it bother me too much. Not even finding really old leftovers in tupperware with thriving colonies in the fridge bothers me much. Now, someone stealing and drinking my big bottle of pepsi for what is very clearly my part of the pantry, that annoys me, but I keep in mind it had been open for a couple days before it went missing so they got flat warm pepsi.
Okay, that's enough talking for now. Guess I'll have to actually get to what I was going to say in another post.
-- A couple technological "side" notes --
1) Remember the Milk is actually kind of hard to describe; calling it an online to do list doesn't do it justice. You can have it send you reminders daily and/or at "deadlines" via SMS, email, or IM what you should be doing (I have it set to send a reminder 15 mins before anything with a deadline so I know when a show will be on TV). You can send items too - I find this very useful. You make multiples lists, such as by project or place to do them. And these are just the basics. Other than keeping track of school projects, books and movies to read and see, creative ideas, and everything else I can think of that I have to do or keep track of, my Big Idea is to set up an efficient food system, including what I have, links to recipes, and what I need to buy. Since I intend to avoid real meal planning and still have the flexibility to decide what I really feel like eating, this is going to be even more challenging. However, I think this will actually pay off in the end; I hate being hungry and wracking my brain trying to think what food I have all the way down in the kitchen. Go ahead and call me a cataloguing geek. Overall, I've decided to use RTM because I don't want to always carry my notebook (especially into a store), I need a place to also store links with notes I make, this will be incentive to carry my phone and keep it charged, and like I said, everything I do is pretty much online that paper to-do lists and schedules don't make much sense, no matter how much they've saved me in the past.
2) I've also moved a bit more into cloud computing, even as the general tech world is increasingly ignoring it. This is not because I have a netbook or that I use linux (although the characteristics of someone with these might carry over). I just need an easier way to backup stuff and to get at it, especially since I've found myself both copying a document to my thumbdrive *and* emailing it to myself so I can print it off at school. One acronym librarians like is LOCKSS (lots of copies keeps stuff safe). Thus, I've started using pote.com as an insanely simple online word processor (two drawbacks: no footnotes and no straightforward downloading and saving as word). I've got about a gazillion documents in Google Docs, but have been moving away from it more and more because I don't like the interface. Heck, I hate using most word processors, online or offline, especially the Windows Vista MS Word. My problem is probably that I'm just too picky.
2b) I have an external hard drive (quite old in hard drive time) but I rarely use it for backups. I make a valiant effort to backup periodically which usually is every 3 to 6 months but this is not enough for safe keeping. I'm always nervous about losing the stuff I'm currently working on. After countless Blue Screens of Death and complete failure then total wipe or even complete physical replacement of the hard drive in my ThinkPad, I can't think why I despise Windows and am paranoid of having only one copy of something accessible. In any case, I've tried online storage options, never liked any of them, and since I'm trying to keep from giving *everything* to Google, I've kept looking. Solution: dropbox.com - I love it so far. There is no need to manually check to make sure that the most current versions of files are there or insert new ones; it automatically syncs when you connect to the internet. You can also access and edit things from any computer with internet access. It Just Works.
-- end side notes --
I also feel like not much actually happens in my day-to-day life but when I look back over recent weeks I realize it'd take hours just to tell you what's happened. And I don't mean "well, this day I took a shower and didn't used conditioner and this day I did use conditioner" but the more (hopefully) interesting tidbits, like how my car broke down on my way back to B-town the Monday night before last and the future of my car is looking quite bleak. I made it back safely, even if it was after midnight and my housemate came and picked me up in Martinsville, with only 25 miles further to go. This weekend Colin was a big help when we towed my car back to the house. If you ever need to do non-local car-towing, definitely check out U-Haul. From extensive online research, I knew it was going to be just over 100 dollars for self-towing as opposed to easily 250 to 300 with a towing company.
Since then, I've been more housebound than ever, unable to hop in my car and drive to the coffee shop or the grocery store. I had been making a point to try to get out every day, which doesn't always happen but it was a good thing for me to do. I'm trying to limit how much I depend on my housemates for rides and fortunately I only have the two class periods per week, although I did need to get prescriptions filled last Wednesday.
As for groceries, I've been doing perfectly fine without having to go to the store, apart from picking up milk when getting prescriptions and when Colin and I went shopping for the hors d'ouevres smorgasbord impromptu party. I tend to get more than I immediately need of any food I buy, usually sticking to a rule of "need one, get two." I'm really quite bad at making decisions sometimes; I'm the girl you see standing forever in front of a section because she can't figure out if she should get the cheapest, the bulk, or the quality (bulk isn't always the cheapest in pennies per ounce and sometimes I only want a little so it would actually be overall price that I'm looking at). So if I'm getting one of something, I save myself from twice the grief by getting two. Anyway, I've got quite a strange stockpile and although I've run out of eggs (some things I don't buy two of: eggs and milk), I'm using this as a good kick in the pants to finally use some of this stuff up, especially things I remember migrating from my apartment in May.
Currently, it's sunny and gorgeous out but I've got this sniffly sickness being nursed by a pot of cooling tea and a box of kleenex. It's one of those times when I feel driven to be uber-productive while I'm sick and I'm trying to rein it in so I don't keep wearing myself out. I might have to take a short slow walk outside just for sanity's sake though. But as for the dishwasher, maybe someone else will unload it after I started it and did the overflow of dishes by hand last night but I'm not overly optimistic nor does it bother me too much. Not even finding really old leftovers in tupperware with thriving colonies in the fridge bothers me much. Now, someone stealing and drinking my big bottle of pepsi for what is very clearly my part of the pantry, that annoys me, but I keep in mind it had been open for a couple days before it went missing so they got flat warm pepsi.
Okay, that's enough talking for now. Guess I'll have to actually get to what I was going to say in another post.
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