What do I do with free time??

Greetings faithful viewers, readers, gawkers, movers and shakers. I am now back in IC, for a few days, until flying to San Fran for a few more days...then back here.

So, I've got some free time on my hands, while I search for a job (primary goal now that XML is finished.) So, much to your liking..a blog post counts as a use of free time.

I've watched alot of Wildfire. It's addictive, it's about racehorses, and it's fun to pick out what they mess up about horseracing (after all it IS a t.v. show)

I also got to visit Hilary in Waconda, IL and see the Lake County Discovery Museum (heh, kinda fun, though my health does seem to want to really co-operate these days)
did anyone else catch word that this is the highest pollen count season on record so far, in both Iowa and Indiana? (perhaps Illinois as well?) and moving from state to state hasn't helped my allergies settle down at all. Regardless, I've had a good few days visiting folks, and culturing myself up a little.

Now for the rest of my relaxation I will read some books --surprise --and download some classics on to the ipod from a casting site, to listen to on the plane.

I promised someone that I would actually try to do Alcatraz this time, so that's on the list, along with visiting the asian art museum, napa valley wine tour by train (with the rents) and hopefully enjoying a few days in California sun (do they have pollen there also??? I hope not)

Official graduation celebration starts tomorrow night - so feel free to send your congrats and such my way ---change from the sofa does count in my eyes also :)

in a related note --if anyone realizes they need to simplifiy their life of material possessions, even with sentimental value (and we know who we are) I think I shall write a book someday entitled "why don't you want to part with that croucheted blanket with the hideous orange and lime green flowers?" (the back cover of the book will then host the reply of "my grandmother made it!!") --it will be a self-help book about coming to terms with realizing that one person just cannot possibly hold on to every sentimental object/article of clothing given to them over the years --especially those of us in our mid-twenties moving around alot.
(*note to self: you probably have already defeated the purpose of your future book by continuing to possess scrapbooks full of birthday cards from ten years ago...*)

In a not so great coincidence, holding on to PHOTOGRAPHS should be paramount in all one's endeavors...especially when your laptop gets sent to the best buy service warehouse WITHOUT them backing up your files like you told them to...so those of you with CDS of images that i've made (over the last year..i.e. new years eve, misa/casey's visit...halloween, etc) might be kind enough to send me copies of those copies??/ that would be fab....because images on the computer - and slim-cased cds full of digital images take up very little space in homes of 20 somethings...:)

that is all for now...

Deconstructing Da Vinci and other odds and ends

Okay okay, I know there is the "bandwagon" mentality about reading the Da Vinci Code.
So, if you haven't read it yet, embrace the hype and read it before the movie comes out on May 19th - a) because it's an entertaining read b) then you'll fully understand what's going on in the critical circles c)the book is likely to be ten times better than the movie --that is usually the case --though i shall reserve final judgment until after seeing the film.)
I also know there is a lot of negative talk about the book via the art historical field. (This is usually the case with a work of "fiction" that presents itself as "fact" with a tiny disclaimer.) This happened to a certain extent -at least at my own undergrad institution with books like Girl With the Pearl Earring etc. So, get on board folks. and if you want you can read Holy Blood, Holy Grail also and support those cats. Mostly because they just suffered defeat in their legal battle over copyright. You can read about that almost anywhere, and I'm too lazy to post links right now - but check out the NYT for articles about it.
allrighty, that's the post for today. I"m done w. school for two weeks,
and what have I done with my time? I validated my pathfinders from L524 and Hummanities to xhtml standards. (which took almost an hour each) I am going to revamp the pages also because they are sooo boring right now, and now that i know CSS, I can make them better from a design standpoint. I also started a website for my family - so that we can all share pictures and the latest news and new addresses...this will at least hopefully work for the younger "millenial" generation. And everyone else will at least know when addresses have been updated. I've written thank you notes for my scholarship (yay!) and a thank you note for grandma.

So, my plans for the next few months:
May 5th-8th(morning) ---Moving out of my apartment, and working at the FAL library
May 8th (afternoon)-10th--Iowa City (to see above all else the FRIENDS and FAMILY - duh!)
May 11th --driving back to B-twon for my weekend XML workshop.
May 12-15 (morning) B-town for XML workshop
May 15 (afternoon)- May 17th --Itineret (splg?) dweller hopefully camping out in a guest bedroom in Chicagoland. :)
May17th(afternoon) --driving back to B-town for Pearl/CGI workshop.
May 18th-22 (morning) Pearl/CGI workshop - B-town.
may 22 (afternoon) drive back to Iowa City.
may 22-may 26 - iowa city
may 26-may 31st -SAN FRAN to visit Steve and Victoria :):)
june 1st - Iowa City
june 18th - WICKED in CHICAGO with lis and erik - woo hoo!!!
july --b-town a certain weekend for festivities
august - graduation from SLIS
august 12th- beerfest in madison wisconsin.
and in the time in between looking for a job ---anybody wanna hire me?

we're into june now people. are you all enjoying your summer and noticing how fast it is flying by? i'm enjoying mine. the internship is fun, and hanging out with friends is fun, and i'm tackling a giant project of organizing a scrapbook of pictures from my undergrad days, and have realized i've taken an awful lot of pictures over 5 years!!! especially with the advent of the digital camera. so ya, oh and barnes and noble will have orrientation tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes, but i'm gald they've hired me, and i might be able to transfer to the b-town store after the move back there. okay, that's all from me folks! night