Some Random Odds and Evens

Well, this will be a short entry, but I do like to keep those of you out there informed, especially since it probably seems as if I've dropped off the face of the Earth. Rest assured my fine readers, I have not. Proving that the Earth is round is one thing, dropping off I"m sure is just as complicated. I am sorry to have been out of touch, but plan to be for the next 4 weeks or so anyways, as I am in the midst of writing THREE, yes, that's THREE graduate school papers...yelp! However, one of the papers is fairly intuitive, which means it will get done this weekend, another, more complicated, and the last and of course, most important is the MOST complicated and taxing on my brain capacity. But, I digress (of course) . this is all my life has consisted of, since getting back to B-town. So I miss the finer things. I am however, excited to sign my lease for my apartment for next year, to start my internship in Iowa city over the summer, to come back and visit the fine b-town friends still here, and orchestrate a number of weekend visits to other locales. I look forward to teaching myself vi. because i am a huge dork and as steve would say, I belong in the "pink ghetto" (or traditionally small group of women that find computer science programming languages interesting and fun) So next semester i will take information architecture for the web (a class i couldn't take this semester b.c of scheduling conflicts). I look forward to the family reunion at okoboji, and a 24th birthday sure to make me realize i have to grow up now and look for a real job soon - which i'm almost entirely ready for after this semester.
oh yes, I must mention, before I close this (ya, no seguway there) that my parents are awesome. They sent me a plant! yes, a truly live plant...haha, an azalia plant that is now sitting in my window, but i think it doesn't really like the sun allt hat much, as it looks more "awake" at night - and i was informed they are a night blooming plant. fun huh? it brightens up the room, and i think they knew I was stressed about things here, so wanted to make me feel a lill better about my chosen higher degree and that whole "where am i going, what am i doing with my life" discussion. so thanks folks!
okay, it's off to read about fund-raising in libraries and how that relates to their management for my 10 pager!
happy trails to all and good luck to those of you also finishing your semesters!

Back to the Grind

Well, Spring Break was a welcome change from IUB and the humdrum life of sus the grad student. Instead I was Sus the traveler, Sus the MLS student with librarians to interview, Sus the friend back from out of town (this last one I find especially appealing).
So the first is great because well, let's face it, I LOVE to travel, and also, I'm fortunate enough that for xmas my parents bought me a ticket to visit Steve in San Fran (and they came along which meant things got paid for not out of my own pocket...hooray) Can I just say how great my parents are? I love them so much, and not because they pay for me to take exciting vacations, but because they are actually *gasp* quite cool to hang out with and converse with. I think even if I had to pay for my own ticket i would have jumped at the chance to spend some quality time with the rents. For that matter, I'd say the same about Steve now to. We've worked hard on our relationship over the past years, alot of growing up and communication, and now I"m happy to say I would even enjoy spending time visiting him regardless of the parents being along, or probably even the awesome locations he seems to pick to live in :) And let me say San Fran was an awesome choice for living - Well done Steve :) I had a BLAST out there...and enjoyed pretty much every minute of my journey out there. (plane flights not withstanding) Saw the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay, the SFMOMA (see below), Yeurba Buena Gardens (our hotel was right near it), the SF Aquarium, Hard Rock Cafe, tall ships, Monteray Bay, the M. Bay Aquarium, Seaside, Calif., Carmel, Calif, San Jose, some of Stanford Campus, Sunnyvale (and YES< it made me think of Sunnydale and Buffy the V.Slayer.) and the PACIFIC Ocean - both in San Fran side, and also from the 17 mile drive - which kicked, and also means I saw spy glass, pebble beach and some other golf courses, and houses I can hope to dream to own someday!
The SFMOMA provided me the op to be studious and a good student and inquisitive and interview the librarian at the SFMOMA about her position, library etc etc, it was well worth the time and will hopefully also help w. the paper i'm writing (ACK!) Plus the exhibitions were way cool,a nd I felt all professional and grown-up for setting up the tour/interview and exploring.
But, let me tell you why this last is the best. Now that I am no longer in Iowa City, I have gained this awesome status as the out-of-town friend that all of the IC friends should make it a priority to see while she's back. This is a great thing to me. Because I absolutely adore my friends back home, and love them to death, so it is only natural that when I am back in town I want to see all of them that I can and spend as much time as possible hanging out with them. I am happy to report that it was reciprical in most cases. Dude, totally just spelled that wrong - spell check didn't rescue me there. So first, thanks to all of you who made yourselves available to me, even for the smallest amount of time, it was much appreciated and I will see you all again soon (ACK!!! not much time left before I finish the first year of grad school - well hopefully finish)
Speaking of friends....secondly, SOOO many upcoming birthdays to send shout outs. Christa and Traci, this month, Rena, Q and Becks next month...happy birthdays folks!
all right, that said, I really should get a move on...I am wet from soaking rain, and soaked from wet rain..(and kickboxing) so must dry off and begin the process of trying to get ALL these things done...ACK! (back to the stress!)

Thoughts

Okay, so, because spring break is just a few days away, my mind is totally already on ADD MTV generation mindset, so I'm just writing in this journal cause it's something else to do..yay, doesn't that make you happy kind readers.
Traci and I were discussing the future of libraries the other day (not jsut out of the blue, but it was part of a paper we had to write) and we were elaborating on what we see as technology of the future and guess what we decided?
Does everybody remember Back to the Future? Come on, admit it,despite how much the third one really dived, those first two caught your interest...well, libraries of the future will have the librarians traverse the reference floor on hovercrafts. You know you thought it was cool when Michael J,. Fox was playing the hero on that train with the hovercraft to save him....you know you wanna see an older woman with a bun and glasses tooling around on one of those things - course our version is superquiet, like your superquiet vacumn cleaner, so as not to disturb the serious reading patrons.
Remember the last time you used the drive up window at the bank, you put your check or whatever into that little container and it gets sucked up into the bank by a secret power of physics? well, libraries of the future will have those to deliver books to patrons that have been held for them :) wouldn't that be neat - our version would be padded though - so as to minimize the impact ot the book - or as christa warns (from jake's preservation class) undue stress on a book spine will NOT help the book to stay in good condition.
as for other thoughts on the library of the future stay tunned...
in a galaxy far far away...

It is March now. just an update for those of you paying attention to how fast the semester flies by. I am looking forward to my trip next week to cincinatti to the art museum library for class, and perhaps to Indy to go clubbing that night, then driving back to IA in the morning, and hoping to see some of the ic friends that night, then flying out sunday for san fran. then meeting w .the head librarian at the sfmoma library on tuesday for an interview and library tour - oh ya, BIG library dork here!!! then fisherman's warf, eating really great food, sunny days, the asian art museum, riding a cable car, setting foot in the ocean (since i haven't been to the west coast ever before!) so ya,fun times ahead. also have to homework over break...reading and studying for a midterm, and researching for papers...blah...but yes, very fun options ahead....
so that's the update...have to work at 8 am tomorrow morning, so this one is short and sweet..unusual for me...well at least the short part.