Validation

I finally got my paper back from the professor from the project me and my partner worked on at the end of January. I got an A, which is sweet, because I actually worked hard on that thing, collecting opinions of reference librarians and comparing and contrasting two seemingly opposing ideas.

Last night in class, we got to use Dialog for the first time. It's kind of hard to describe, but essentially it's a command-line way of accessing many databases simultaneously. It's also expensive. The library where I work used to have a command-line system (Dynix blue screen DOS-style) so it made sense to me, but learning all the one-letter commands was kind of annoying. I just have one assignment using it, so I'll have to practice and do that sometime soon before I forget everything I learned last night.

Wanting to hide

I think the stress of life is really getting to me lately. What with job, school, and a boyfriend, I have a lot on my hands on a regular basis, and it's kind of a juggling act. I'm back to some of my old sleeping problems. Mostly, I love my life as it currently looks, but I still worry and wonder and needlessly fret (about things I can't control) and purposely, needfully fret (about homework, mostly).

I wish I could take a two week vacation from reality. Someplace quiet and peaceful, no internet, just a stack of good books and the ability to sleep in.

In memoriam

This weekend has been quite draining. In addition to working on this major reference class assignment, getting over the flu, I've been feeling sad because one of S's cousins, really more like an aunt, died on Friday, probably of a heart attack. I mentioned her before here, his 'Aunt Bonnie'. She was always so cool and fun and nice to me, it's almost unbelievable that she's gone. She was 46, and her children are 20 years old and five years old. I don't feel sad for Bonnie, but I do feel really sad for little Mitchell and her husband Don and older daughter who's just in college.

The last time I saw her was at Mardi Gras, and she told me I looked so beautiful. She wanted me and S to dance more than we were, which was a lot. She always made me feel like part of the family, like one of the gang, would talk to me and ask S about me. I'm going to try to switch my work schedule a little so I can attend the funeral on Wednesday.

It's so weird that she's gone.

Round two with the flu

A bad thing happened on Tuesday evening in class. I came down with the flu. I though I had lived through it already, back in December, when I was in so much pain, even my toes hurt. Remember? Well, my sister got a really bad case, and her fever was near 103, and she got this weird fever rash on her back that looked like aliens had abducted her and poked her about 1,000 times with small needles, and she was nearly coughing up her own lungs, which led to throwing up.

So, I was not excited to come down with the same cough that she had. Thankfully, she'd visited our doctor that day and got us two perscriptions for TamiFlu, which probably saved me from getting the worst of it. Andrea felt so bad about getting me sick, and she insisted I take the medication. I am glad I did, because Wednesday was a bad day, but Thursday was better, and Friday was about the same, but my fever was about 100 (don't know exactly since I took Tylenol and ibuprofen alternately every few hours to help with the horrible achey body feeling) and I was coughing, but not as bad as she was. I also kept down everything I ate on Thursday, unlike Wednesday, where pretty much everything came back up. Gross, to be sure.

S took great care of both of us and managed not to get sick himself. He got us Gatorade and watched "The Prestige" with us. He also bought vitamins and Airborne and rubbed my achy muscles and was generally wonderfully sympathetic. I'm so grateful to have such a good caretaker.

Reference burnout happening a little too soon

I am hating my homework tonight. I found answers for everything, but dang, it was hard-won. And I'm still going to have to go to campus early tomorrow to look for print sources for all of these, too. Ugh. So many of the sources mentioned in the textbook (damn you Bopp and Smith!) are out of date or there are no online versions available. The text is from 2000, and flash forward seven whole years, and look where we are. We practically live online. I know I shouldn't, but I think I'm going to have to refuse to use anything on microfilm or fiche. I am 25 and I can do that kind of thing.

So I found out that a lot of these questions could be easily answered using Google, but much less easily answered using the approved sources. If I could, I would throw Ulrich's Web out the window. That thing is so slo-o-o-o-w and it's probably because I'm remotely using a remote server based in Illinois, via Dominican University, via St. Kate's, and so on, but wowsers, was that annoying. All to find out that the Nation (magazine) is indexed in about 20 places. Great.

Also, to answer the burning question, have any novels been written aobut librarians, the Literature Resource Center came to the rescue. At least 173 novels (for adults) have been written featuring librarians, according to that search. I wouldn't be suprised if at least half of them are disgruntled.

True fact

"You know what I love? Your hands are usually cold, and so I get to warm them up, and then somehow, when my hands are cold, yours are perfectly warm, and you can warm mine."

Procrastinating?

Hello there! I should really be doing some preliminary reading in order to do my reference homework later at the St. Cloud State library, but instead I'm here. I'm also going into work today (I know, a Sunday!) when the library where I work in normally closed, in order to help clear off our loading dock. In a nutshell, bags upon bags of books are routed through our central hub, and we unpack and repack them. We've gotten behind, as we've lost a few employees lately (due to promotions). I don't know how long I'll be there today, but I'm willing to help out since the library is closed on Monday and I won't have to work then.

I don't know why I keep putting off my reference homework. I guess one answer is that it took me about three hours of time at the library to find what I needed for the first assignment, about two hours the second time, and so I'm hoping magically it will only take one hour this time. I know this can't be true, but I'm holding onto the dream. I have to read two chapters of the textbook (Bopp and Smith, you kill me) and that's it. It's like, really? That's it? This professor could totally be throwing way more shit at us to do on a weekly basis, especially considering how much of my life was taken up by homework for my first grad class. I'm grateful, actually, that it isn't more work, but it could be, and I wouldn't complain.

Reflections on the coming Hallmark holiday

I really like Valentine's day. I can't help it, I'm a girl and I like romantic and sweet things. Lucky for me I have a great boyfriend who fulfills this need on a daily basis. I don't ask for much... just hugs and kisses and his attentions, which he gives me in abundance.

Last year, I was super stressed out about what to get S for Valentine's day, because we'd only been dating a few months, and I didn't want to overdo it if he didn't do much, but he ended up getting me a bunch of little things which made me feel incredibly special and very cared for. We also went on a nice date, which I still rank as one of our best dates. I gave him white chocolate chip cookies, some of his favorites.

This year, since S is job-hunting and soul searching for careers, I think it's going to be a little more low-key. S said something about making me dinner, but even if that doesn't happen, I have a gift certificate for him which I hope we end up sharing (for chocolates, okay? Nobody should eat more than a pound of chocolates alone, not even my dear S) and I can afford to treat him to a nice dinner out (I can write that here because he doesn't read my blog).

So, anyway, here's hoping next year S has a job and can take me out, or is in school and I can cook for him! Hah.

Well, that was dumb

On my way home from work, I tried to stop and get part of S's Valentine's day present, and traffic was horrendous, like it took me 25 minutes to get from the library to my suburb, and just as I drove up, the store closed. Crap.

So I came home and watched a two-week old episode of "Gilmore Girls" and then realized my DVR missed the latest episode, wherein the main character Lorelai possibly admits to her husband that she's in love with Luke! Oops. My mom saved me on this count, though, as she also captured the newest episode with the DVR my parents have upstairs. Phew.

Then I ate a bunch of those dark chocolate covered almonds. Man, those are good, but I think I ate about a half a cup of them, and then felt a little... odd. Not bad, just... squinky.

Andrea got home from work and I talked to her for a while, and it turned out that, while I thought I was being a nice, sweet sister by giving her my stupid Facebook "gift" (a fundraiser Facebook is doing for breast cancer research—$1 per gift, which are these little icons designed by the woman who designed the latest Apple logo, but you get to give one gift for free). Turns out Andrea already gave her "gift" to someone else. And I gave her a freaking puppy (icon)! Boo-urns.

Then, I read more of "O is for Outlaw" and because I've been up since 7am and didn't sleep well last night, I fell asleep on the couch, and my phone rang around 9pm. I couldn't move. I was paralyzed by sleep. Moments after my phone stopped ringing, I grabbed it and saw that it was S, and called him back. Except he didn't answer. He didn't answer the next five times I called. I figure he must be in some basement (it's Trivia Weekend and he was going to rustle up a team to help) and not getting service, what with his falling-apart-soon-to-die-completely phone.

So I decided to get up and do something, and ended up cleaning off my desk and eating a bunch of Nerds that were sitting there. They've been sitting there since sometime in December, so I figure I better finish eating them soon, or something bad may happen. Like... I'll spill them.

To make a long story short...

Last night we wound up at the Green Mill after all, since Jazz Night at the Tavern was cancelled due to weather. S and I had good conversation over a margarita and a bloody mary and some coconut chicken fingers and nachos. And, I learned that Leinenkugel's is not an entirely gross beer, but it's still beer, and still, therefore, gross.

The weather decided to become winter today, complete with snow, so I'm hoping that kind of wraps up by the time we leave for St. Paul. S is going with me, which greatly reduces my winter driving anxiety, but I still don't like driving when it hasn't been plowed sufficiently.

I'm excited to discuss our assignment tonight in class, since my experience in doing the homework was both interesting and fun. S and I went to the St. Cloud State library and I used the Great Soviet Encyclopedia with great success. Additionally, I read about Margaret Mead in a bunch of anthropological encyclopedias and used the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations to gather more information on some quotes. Thanks to S, I also had a caffeine charge and didn't get a parking ticket due to him plugging the meter. What a guy.

Monday's almost over

S stopped by to visit me at work and is going to hang out until I'm off at 9, and then I think we're going to hit the pubs. Not really, but I think we may go out to jazz night at the Tavern downtown, though I think I'd rather go to Green Mill and have an appetizer or two. We'll see. Maybe we could do both.

Saturday evening was a good time with S and some of his family. We got dressed up and Andrea helped with my hair and I promise I will add some photos to this post when I download them from my camera. I am told I looked pretty darn good, and S looked wonderful, of course. We ate and had tiramisu for dessert and danced until midnight. My shoes were actually quite comfortable (no blisters) but my feet did get sore anyway.

Just the way you look tonight...

Tonight, S and I are going to the Catholic Charities Mardi Gras party, for which I had to buy fancy shoes and borrow a dress from my sister. Photos to come, for sure.

S sees this as our chance to go to "the prom" together, since we didn't do that in high school. He still hasn't decided between his dapper blue pinstripe suit or his dashing black tux, but he's going to check with his aunt who's been to this before to find out what people wear.

I am not psyched about the -20 temperature for this event, and me with bare legs! But it should be fun, nonetheless.

She's just a duck

Only a handful of people I know have read this "Pearls Before Swine" strip and thought it was funny. I have it cut out and on my desk, and didn't even read the previous strips leading up to that one, which put it into context and make it even better. But, man, that's my kind of humor.