Recently Received

So this morning I checked my email only to find an email from the University Library at Philips University in Marburg. Yes, that's right, Marburg, Germany, where I studied 3 years ago. Laughing, I thought to myself, they must be telling me that I can't use the library anymore. I can't remember whether I turned in my library card when I left or not, but I haven't used it since July 2002, and I'm not registered as a student, so I'd imagine I've been deleted from the system by now. Oh no. The email let me know that I can now receive my overdue notices, book availability notices, and other information via email. Yes, a new free service from the Universitaetsbibliothek is now available to me. Next time I'm in Marburg, I'll have to see if I can check out a book :)

URG

that's how i feel. "urg" say it out loud. it's fun.

despite my enjoyment of laurel thatcher ulrich, i am tired of writing about her. do i really have to put her work in its historigraphical context? a midwife's tale is a big freaking deal. isn't that enough? oh well. rough draft gets turned in tomorrow. i'm on page 12. don't think i'll get to 20.

it's really cold. the snow was "falling" horizontally today. that's just wrong. weather.com says that the average temperatures here are close to PA, which is warmer than VT. they don't take into account this piercing wind. wow.

they're going to have lunch outside after church in Raleigh on Sunday. get rid of the cockroaches and i'll head back to the South right now. i might just do it anyway. i haven't experienced weather like this in a long time, and it's a big shock.

how to people go to grad school without being married? i think i did laundry last week, but other than that, i've had someone to cook my meals, clean my bathroom, and go to the grocery store while i sit at home reading about women and parks. i don't think i could do all of that by myself. of course, if i wasn't married i'd live closer to campus and probably wouldn't even be here... hmm :) just kidding

Things I Like

Archer Farms (Target Brand) Caramel Cashew Trail Mix (the best trail mix you'll ever eat) from Target.

The Park District of Oak Park - they gave me tons of stuff to look at for my project
Christmas Shopping

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich - If I was motivated enough to spend days in musty archives I would want to be her. Well, I still want to be her, but maybe I'll pick a more recent time period. Early twentieth century dining rooms, you say? Why certainly! Seriously, she writes good stuff, and a lot of instructive things for wannabe historians. Very interesting.

Being a computer science minor. One of our elective classes (ie I'm not taking it because I want to be DONE!) is called Public History Media. I thought I might want to take it until I found out that the class project involves creating a website. Been there. Done that. Oh yeah, did I mention that it's part of my job to maintain the Kids' section website? (well, it will be anyway, probably around the first of the year)

Going home and eating potato dough rolls and macaroni and cheese. Somehow I can't make them the right way. Probably because my mom doesn't always follow a recipe :)

My professor for giving us an extra week on our rough draft.

Library book sales. Where else can you find Emily Post's Etiquette guide from 1940 for $1?

By the way

You should have seen the jaws dropping when I unveiled my map. Add to that my use of satellite photos of my street from Google Earth and you'd think I was a technology genius. Which I am, at least compared to many of my classmates. I was surprised by the prevalence of USB storage devices, but this technology advance was negated by one person's use of overheads. Really. Overheads. For photographs. You'd be better off passing your photos around.

Presentations

I have to talk about this because it drives me INSANE... I absolutely hate listening to students give presentations. In particular, there are a few students in my local history class who need to learn the meaning of "10 minute presentation" and "notes." Perhaps if you had taken even 5 minutes to prepare some notes for your presentation you would not have taken 20-25 minutes instead of your alloted 10. Perhaps then our class wouldn't have gotten out half an hour late, and perhaps your presentation might have been remotely interesting instead of full of "um," "ah," and a lot of time trying to figure out what it is you wanted to say. Really, 5 minutes - highlight some things on your paper or something. You could have probably just read your paper in less time than it took you to stand in front of the class searching for the important points in your paper because you didn't highlight them. UGH! This is the 3rd time this has happened, and it's always the same people. No, I don't want to get home from class after 10pm, especially when I have to be at work at 9am the next day. Now I know that not everyone is good at giving presentations, and I know that I am not a presentation superstar - that's why you practice, and that's why you have notes. Or at least one of the two. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!