Archive for February, 2010

February 14th, 2010

!!!!!

I BOUGHT MY TICKET TO EGYPT TODAY!!!
I leave April 30th & will be back July 12th.
I can’t wait for an amazing internship, lots of adventure & personal growth. Part of me is terrified at the prospect of boarding a plane & showing up in Cairo alone, but I’m also equally thrilled at the chance. I’m so thankful I’ve had the chance to make my goals a reality!

Besides the ticket buying, the rest of the weekend has been so great.
Friday we went to an art gallery opening. Our very talented friend Joe had some pieces in the show & it was a really good time. Almost all of our friends were able to go, which was wonderful. I’m lucky to be part of such a supportive group of people.

Saturday we were at the Ugly Mug, like every weekend, where there was lots of fun & lots of chat roulette [the weirdest/strangest/funniest/creepiest thing on the internet, ever]. Later in the evening some friends were in from out of town. Today we went to Spring Arbor and saw Joel’s brother in the lead role of the musical. My brother-in-law is an incredibly talented actor and musician, so it was great to watch him on stage.

chat roulette at the ugly mug

chat roulette at the mug

We’ve never done much for Valentine’s Day & this year was no different. However, we got engaged 4 years ago on Valentine’s Day, so it’s fun to look back and see how we’ve grown.

us, much younger

us, now

My Valentine’s gift to you: a strangely romantic song, from my favorite band. How can you not be touched by a song titled ‘International Small Arms Traffic Blues’ with such touching lyrics?

International Small Arms Traff…

I hope this finds you full of love & peace, chasing after the life you dream of.
Now to bed, for tomorrow is long.

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February 10th, 2010

Snow day, lazy day, cranky day, homework day

After a full day of snow, it was a county-wide snow day today. Almost all the local schools were closed, Washtenaw County had a half day off and even Eastern Michigan University closed. U of M, however, was open – they’ve only ever had two campus-wide snow days, one in 1945 & another in 1974. Also, contrary to the rumor that I’ve heard a number of times today, it’s not because some law students sued the university over a snow day.

Although life has been SO busy, I’m really thankful for all the opportunities I have & the ability to live such a carefree life. Last night a group of us went to Sidetrack to celebrate the coming snow day. The snowfall doesn’t look too dramatic, but considering the snow was nearly completely melted, it was quite a storm.

Google just added Buzz to Gmail – it’s like Twitter or a Facebook status & allows you to add other sites into your feed. I honestly don’t see a need for it & think it’s a little obnoxious, but then again, I’m feeling pretty down & cranky today. At any rate, I think I’ve reached my saturation point for web 2.0 & social media.

This afternoon holds more paper writing, application work and computer programming. Although there’s been talk of sledding, which would be a welcome break from sitting in front of this computer.

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February 9th, 2010

A snow day & a deadly plant

The snow has come as promised! Joel’s work has already closed for tomorrow & I’ll be taking the day off work [since everyone else probably will], which means SNOW DAY!! So exciting!

Today at work I came across the oldest plant I’ve seen so far, from 1870:

1870 1870

According to the annotation tag, it’s hyoscyamus niger & was collected in nearby, in Detroit. Not familiar with the plant, I looked it up & this is what I learned [& it's really interesting!!]:

Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), also known as stinking nightshade, is a plant of the family Solanaceae that originated in Eurasia, though it is now globally distributed.

It was historically used in combination with other plants, such as mandrake, deadly nightshade, and datura as an anaesthetic potion, as well as for its psychoactive properties in “magic brews.” These psychoactive properties include visual hallucinations and a sensation of flight.

It was sometimes one of the ingredients in grut, traditionally used in beers as a flavouring, until replaced by hops in the 11th to 16th centuries.

Henbane is thought to have been the “hebenon” poured into the ear of Hamlet’s father.

I’m also working on another project at work where I’m putting bryophyte  specimens [non-vascular plants, like moss] from Greenland into new packets & gluing the labels onto the front. These specimens were collected in the 1950s.

Plans are settled for the ASB/conference conflict – I’ll work at half day at the National Library of Medicine on Friday, fly out of Washington National at 4pm, land in Indy at 6pm & drive to Bloomington where we’ll spend the night & I’ll present the next day. I bought the plane ticket & booked the hotel room & it feels great to have those crossed off my list.

Lately, my thoughts frequently drift to the fertile crescent & this beautiful library.
It’s only about 4 months away, Insha’Allah…

While I’ve been writing this, Gwen has come & perched herself on my shoulder. She’s adorable.
Gwen, being adorable

Time to do homework & watch the snowflakes fall.

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February 8th, 2010

A quiet moment in the midst of chaos

Finally, a few quiet moments – the first of the day. Mondays are so intense. Also, since Friday, life has gotten exponentially crazy & awesome & beyond busy.

Not only did I find out my paper has been accepted to a conference, things have progressed rapidly with AUC [the American University in Cairo] & I’ve started filling out funding applications. Anything could change, so I’m restraining my joy, but this is basically absolutely amazing!

I just realized that I haven’t been able to find my passport in a few months, so I should probably get started on getting a replacement…

The semester is really starting to pick up. Spring Break is only 3 weeks away & before then I have to rework the paper I’ll be presenting, prepare my presentation, apply for at least two funding sources for my internship, apply for funding for this conference, do other internship prep, do prep work for our GROCS project [we're almost ready to go live!] & keep going to class & doing homework. Also, the Monday after break I have three assignments due, so I should probably get them done before break. Luckily I love pretty much everything I’m working on, but I’m still a little worried I might explode.

The best tool I’ve found to help me keep organized while trying to live this chaos is Teux Deux – the simplest & best website ever. It’s a do-to list. That’s it. Nothing fancy, nothing confusing, just function.

This weekend was pretty great. The show at Founders was incredible – so many friends came, I ran into so many people I knew, the band was wonderful, the beer was good & it was a really nice time. Also, our friends turned their livingroom into a “sportzone” for the Superbowl & I had a nice time hanging out & eating pizza rolls while working on homework during the game.

The sun shone the entire day today & it was beautiful. There’s a winter warning out starting tomorrow so it won’t last long, but I wouldn’t mind a snowpocalypse or snowmageddon. [I have a thing for extreme weather].

This week is going to be tough,
so it’s time to get some sleep.

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February 6th, 2010

I’m on my way to becoming a professional

Last week I submitted my paper “The Destruction of Archives as Cultural Genocide” to the Society of American Archivists student chapter conference at Indiana University called “Change and Continuity: A Conference for Students and Beginning Professionals on Archives, Rare Books, and Special Collections.” Today I found it was accepted! I’m very excited & very, very nervous.

Unfortunately this presents a small problem – the conference is on Saturday, March 6th & the week leading up to that I will be in DC for spring break. It’s a 10 hour drive from DC to Bloomington, so it wouldn’t be very feasible for me to rent a car & drive myself there. At the moment I think I’m going to take a flight Friday night out of Washington National, Joel will meet me in Indianapolis, we’ll drive to Bloomington, spend the night & I’ll present at the conference in the morning.

Oh the hassles of having so many great opportunities… :)

Now we’re headed to Grand Rapids for the show at Founders.
Here’s to a good weekend!

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