Since my life is more than shoes...

I thought I'd share it with you

Thursday, December 27, 2007

5 Christmases

That's how many we've had since we've been married. I never went to the hospital on Christmas day, but there was the time when I went the day after...
Christmas #1 - In our little apartment on the NCSU campus.

Christmas #2 - This is the one where I went to the hospital the next day. I don't really remember Christmas because I was so sick. Good thing Andy remembers it for me.

Christmas #3 - This one was in Vermont, and it was cold. There's a picture of me wearing a long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, and a hat in front of the Christmas tree. It was pretty chaotic, but every once in a while you've got to go home for a holiday.

Christmas #4 - We went to my friend Barb's house from work. She has 3 daughters and 5 grandkids. We ate really good food and played the Twister version of DDR. I was terrible.

Christmas #5 - The first in our own house. We went to Brian and Bethany's and had the best popovers I've ever had. I don't know if I've ever had popovers before, but I want more! Andy got Guitar Hero, which has made him very happy, although I think I've damaged a nerve in my finger from playing.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Automated Postal Center

Why do people stand in line at the post office when the automated postal center is just around the corner? I have no idea. Yesterday we went to the post office. There was a huge line. We walked up to the automated postal center (no line), mailed our package and left within 1 minute. Other people hadn't even scootched their boxes forward in that time. Now I don't know what happens when you go to the postal center and your box is too big for the little box taker thing. Maybe you still have to stand in line (in which case, just get the post office man to ask you the questions, like are you sure you don't want insurance to cover loss if Aunt Mabel's socks don't make it to Kalamazoo). But if you've got a small package and you've got an automated postal center, use it. You'll never regret it. Unless of course there's no one in line, it might be faster, I'm not sure. Oh and if you want to send something media mail you have to stand in line - for whatever reason you can't do that at the postal center.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

del.icio.us


I used to have my own computer. Not that we don't have a computer any more, but I used to only use one computer. My trusty IBM Thinkpad from college that stood the test of time and got my through an MA in Public History. Well, it's still going, but it has some trouble with PDFs, can't run Word with the track changes feature (cuz it's Win 98 with an old edition of office that eats the new version's track changes), and it gets really sad when you have too many websites open at once. Oh yeah, and most places won't let it on their WiFi because Windows 98 might eat them. Or something.

Anyway, it used to be my only computer. I used Andy's computer when I really had to do something that mine just couldn't do, since his laptop was just a smidge newer than mine and had XP. Well, that laptop bit the dust (it still goes, kind of), and we bought a new computer from Tiger Direct about 2 1/2 years ago. The shine of its big screen still didn't lure me away from my laptop in the corner. What did was the freezing cold winter temps in the bedroom of our tiny apartment in Oak Park. Then I was hooked. So I still used the IBM when needed, but the big computer was just so much better for viewing multiple PDFs of articles about food while writing my Master's Essay. So I transferred my bookmarks and started using the "big" computer.

Then I got into grad school at UIUC. I knew I wanted a laptop because there's nothing I hate more than computer labs. They usually smell, have weird temperature control issues, and are just downright annoying. Since I had all sorts of trouble with my trusty IBM at LUC, I wasn't about to try to go to 10 days of library school bootcamp with a laptop from 2001. Nope, sorry, not going to have it fail at some crucial moment when I desperately need wireless service. So we got me a new laptop. It's pretty and silver and does everything I need it to. Except that it's a laptop, and it is still really nice to use the big computer sometimes.

What is the point of this rambling, you ask? Well, I was just thinking today as I bookmarked some useful website, that I really need to start using del.icio.us. I have bookmarks all over the place, and I have to check both computers to find what I need. I'd never bothered with the site much before because I didn't think it was worth it to me. Now I wish I had. So I think I'm going to break down and try it. For the good of myself and those around me. And the giant bookmarks list I've got on this computer alone...

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

December 5

20 days until Christmas. Just thought you'd want to know.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

looky here at my lookybook

this is a really fun site (lookybook.com) that lets you look at picture books AND embed them into your own website!

The latest

So I turned in 2 more websites, one about books for kids, and one about cookbooks. Enjoy:
http://courseweb.lis.uiuc.edu/~jevogel2/lis403/index.html
http://courseweb.lis.uiuc.edu/~jevogel2/lis501/index.html

Now I have 3 more papers, but they're all 2 pages or less (although one is 2 pages single spaced). The worst is over, but I have to maintain my momentum....!