Getting into the spirit

I bought my very first Christmas tree! It is a whopping 32" high and boasts a colorful array of fiber-optic lights. I also purchased some tiny ornaments including some snow man heads that I am obsessed with (pictured below.) Aren't they ADORABLE?? My boyfriend and I spent a ridiculously cheesy evening putting up the tree and decorating it while listening to Christmas music and eating apple pie.

Downside: My cat has taken to chewing off the fake needles as well as pieces of the fiber optic glass! I bought some bitter spray stuff to put on it - which my boyfriend had to taste "just to be sure" and now cannot get the bitter out of his mouth. He's a smart one for sure. The bitter seems to be keeping her back for now, but I did find one of the cute snow men on the floor this morning! I would be devastated if she destroyed any of them. See, this is why I can't have nice things!

Anyway, merry whatever to all of you! I'll be coming home to Iowa in less than two weeks!

Art show!

I was recently in the East Austin Studio Tour. The prints and drawings above were hung at Space 12 which is a hip community space on the east side that a friend of mine knew about. It was fun to be in a show even if I didn't sell anything. I gave a woodcut demonstration and met some cool artists. The best thing that came of it was that I am going to teach a bookmaking class once school is out this winter. That will be super fun!

Sorry this post is short, but I am in the middle of many homework assignments including, but not limited to; building a website from scratch, a 15 page paper and a usability final report. Yay grad school...

Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love making costumes, dressing up and pretending I'm a different person. Can you guess who we were this year?

The only downside was that we were both sick and so only went to one party for a few hours and did not do any, ahem, liquid celebrating. Sad. Now I have an excuse for a mid-winter costume party!

So many things!

I have been too sick/busy/whatever to post for a while, and I don't want to drag it out into too many posts, so here's one big one encapsulating all that I have done since last post:

Got my new crown! And here ends the great tooth saga of 08/09. Hopefully. Isn't it lovely? You can't even tell it's a fake!

Took a trip to San Antonio and saw the Alamo. Don't worry, Phil, your magnet will be hand delivered! I was warned that it was a lot smaller than you would expect, but I thought it wasn't that small. There were a lot of tourists at the Alamo, and the rest of the city was totally empty. It was a very strange trip.

Got sick. Sorry, there are no photos to document this. I had a fever on and off for four days and now it's dwindled to sinus issues. I hate being sick, especially the third or fourth day when you start to feel a little better and go stir-crazy.

News for all you Iowa City folks: I will be coming home for a few days in December! I am bringing the new boyfriend, so I may not have the opportunity to see everyone I want to see, but please let me know if you would like to plan something. I am so excited to come home but also because it will be the boyfriends first visit to Iowa.

I think that's it... Oh, and Happy Halloween! That post will come soon...

Irresponsibility

My boyfriend and I bought a 40" LCD TV together this past weekend.  I am well aware of my precarious financial position being a student and up to my ears in debt BUT did it anyway.  I have priorities, you and I both know that.  Irresponsibility never felt so good.  

It's wonderful!  It's so crisp, clear, big and bright.  I get some HD channels with the cable that comes with my rent, we also got a Blu-ray player so movies look 20 times better AND I can hook it up to my computer and get streaming Internet, including movies from Netflix.  I am set in my entertainment for the year.  Totally worth it.  

We started saving for it a few weeks ago, as I told you in an earlier post, but decided to go ahead and get it now.  Best Buy had a deal where we could finance it interest free for 18 months.  We'll have it paid off in less than 6.  It was also way cheaper than I thought it would be.  We got a good deal.  So, on the whole, not a totally crazy decision.  I guess I am a little adult after all.  Damn!

(By the way, the second picture is of the HBO show "The Wire" on pause.  I would recommend it highly, I'm on season 2 and it is AMAZING.)

80's night!

Here's a little snippet of the action that went down last Sunday night.  That's me in the zebra leggings.  Moments after this picture was taken, my library school friends and I went to a club that plays 80's pop music every Sunday night and had ourselves a spandex-tastic time.  Librarians can party as hard as anyone can!  We have to in order to get through the Masters degree...

Update

Here's a brief update on the things going on in my life in no significant order:

• I want to adopt this stray cat my boyfriend named Lucifer.  He's black and really sweet and quite young (less than a year) but more importantly he is not neutered.  I may just take him into the feral cheap-o place to get him neutered and not officially adopt him... but I really like him!  Oh, and shut it Mom and Dad, I can see you rolling your eyes all the way from Iowa!

• I have recently rediscovered my love of chocolate milk.  

• School sucks right now.  I'm just not motivated and I want to be done.  I think my Information Architecture class will be really interesting though.  My other classes are good too - I just need to get back into the swing of it.  

• My tooth was recently prepped for it's crown.  The picture above is my temp.  Isn't it super ghetto?!  It feels really strange in my mouth too, very smooth and foreign.  The crown itself is costing me $430 out of pocket.  Sounds awful, but it's a cake walk compared to the $1000 it would have been without insurance.  

• It's been raining a lot here, FINALLY.  I was convinced that I really was in hell, but I think it's starting to become fall.  It's kind of depressing when you think 92 degrees is downright nice, even cool.  When it hits 80 I'll have to wear a jacket!  

• I'm saving up for a 40" flat screen LED TV.  I know, I know, I am up to my ears in school loan debt, but I want a TV!  I worked it out so that instead of eating out all the time I am only eating out twice a week and saving the rest for the TV.  My boyfriend is getting in on the deal so we will most likely have enough by Christmas.  I'm so excited!  I have NEVER been so motivated to save money.  

I will try to take some more interesting pictures.  You're probably getting sick of looking at my mouth.  I'll try and track Lucifer down and get a picture up of him.  He's really skinny and may have worms or something but really good looking otherwise and SO friendly.  Too friendly.  I think it'll get him in trouble someday.  Anyways, that's it for now.  

My teeth suck

This is the next installment in the ongoing tooth saga:

Last night part of my tooth came off, pictured above as the little grayish blob next to the penny (for size) while I was flossing.  It is off of the same tooth that had the root canal.  I need a crown on that tooth but I ran out of insurance money a couple months ago.  I was supposed to "go easy on it" while the temporary seal was on but I guess I just gnawed and crunched my way into cracked/broken tooth land.  

Has anyone seen District 9 yet?  I had flashbacks to a certain part of that movie, and I don't want to ruin it, but I think if you've seen it you'll know what I mean.  But reality was nothing like that horrible scene.  It was just a little piece and it doesn't even hurt.  I just hope that there isn't more cracking that I haven't seen yet.  

My appointment to prep for the crown is not for a week and a half and I don't have dental insurance until the first of the month so I hope nothing has to be done right this instant.  I'll keep you posted.  I am getting really sick of all these tooth problems.  

My birthday

I can no longer say I am in my early twenties.  *sigh*  As of July 27th, I am twenty-five years old.  The only thing keeping me from feeling TOO old is that most of my friends are a few years older and my boyfriend is the ripe old age of twenty-nine.  He took me to a fancy steakhouse and bought me champagne and a rib-eye.  Then we went to Dairy Queen for dessert.  Yeah, he's a keeper.  Sorry for the disgusting picture, but aren't we just too cute??  (I had to duck a little because I'm taller than him when I wear heels.)  

Trip to Houston

I took a little trip with some friends from school who happen to both be girls (a girl-cation in the words of my good friend Kirsty) to Houston a couple weeks ago.  Highlights include:

Dog show!  This event was insane.  I've never seen so many dogs in one place.  I like dogs and everything, but this was a little much.  My two friends were just beside themselves, though, as they both LOVE dogs.  Here are some pictures of them covered in pugs:

Another highlight was going to the Menil.  They had a great exhibit of Claes Oldenburg drawings.  We also saw two big fires and drove through a crazy rainstorm on the same day.  On the way there we spotted a sign that said "Dirt for Sale" and then another down the same road that said "Dirt Wanted."  Only in Texas.  

It was good to get away from real life/the boyfriend/the cats for a weekend.  I had a great time overall.  

Birthdays

I don't have anything all that exciting to report.  There were a couple of birthdays of note that I helped celebrate, the first my boyfriends, the second my mothers.  

My boyfriends birthday was on a Friday and we decided to have a party of sorts.  I made a cake (the poorly decorated one pictured above) and some friends came over and there were mojitos and mint juleps.  I have discovered I do not like mint juleps.  It so happened that some of our school friends were also having a birthday party that night so we decided to pile into a car and head over there.  It was a good time on the whole, nothing too exciting but nothing too lame either.  

The second birthday was my mothers.  This was a bit more exciting as I flew up to Iowa as a surprise.  My aunt and my mothers friend planned the whole thing.  My uncle and cousin picked me up at the airport on the day of her birthday and I arrived around lunch time at my parents house.  My father saw me getting out of the car and he came to the door saying "What the hell!!??"  I shushed him and waltzed into the kitchen very casually where my mother was and said "Hey, what's up?"  It took her a second, but she finally came out with "Lizabeth!  What are you doing here??"  She then squeezed out a few tears and hugged me.  It was worth every penny of that plane ticket.  My whole family was so excited to see me as well as the two other relatives that showed up as part of the surprise.  We ended the surprise with a dinner party.  The picture above is my and my mothers feet at the party.  Yes, we are dorks.  It was a good time overall but quite hectic.  

I flew back to Austin the following Sunday and went straight back to work/school.  As of tomorrow, however, I am done with summer school.  Whew!  

Uninvited guest

I was minding my own business, having a root beer float in front of TV with my boyfriend when all of a sudden there was a slight rustle in the kitchen.  My cat flew off the couch and over to the fridge where he proceeded to reach his little arm under as far as it would go.  At this point, I figured it was a big cockroach as usual.  Ragnar is quite the little hunter and goes after every roach that enters the house, no matter how big.  I often wake up in the middle of the night to find a roach clinging for dear life to some high-up place while Ragnar paces around below making little hunting noises.  Not only is it good having cats, but I've found having a man around has it's perks as well.  He went and got the flashlight and a large shoe suitable for Texas sized roaches to inspect the situation.  Lo and behold, it was not a roach.  

I have a mouse.  Unbelieving and generally wanting to see for myself, I pushed him out of the way and had a look.  There it was, cowering by the wall underneath my fridge with it's beady eyes and it's soft, plague-ridden fur.  Kill!  We set Ragnar on guard duty (Hatshepsut having been laying around in front of the TV this entire time) and went off to buy some traps.  When we returned it was still under there and we decided to try and flush it out and smash it with a shoe.  I was all for blood, but my dear boyfriend was reluctant "because it's a mammal!"  Not that he hasn't killed before.  He moved the fridge and the flushing commenced.  It was a no-go and after about an hour of taking panels off of various appliances and shining of the flashlight, it was gone.  

We set a few traps and it has been almost two days with no sign of it.  I'm hoping it either is gone for good or is getting hungry and thinking the peanut butter on the traps looks mighty tasty.  I will keep you updated.  

The ongoing tooth saga...

So my tooth has been incredibly sensitive for the past however many months and a lot was done to it.  By sensitive I mean lukewarm water was too cold and an accidental touch of ice cream sent me into spasms.  I had my old silver filling replaced - still sensitive.  That was then replaced with a filling with some kind of buffer - still hurt.  I was x-rayed and put on antibiotics for a week - still hurt.  It was then that the dreaded words were spoken.  

Root canal.  

Dun dun dun!  I feel like I'm too young to get a root canal.  Seriously, though, they're not that bad.  It's a lot like getting a filling, only longer, bloodier and with more Novocain.  I was fine and eating ice cream the very next day!  No more pain!  The picture is what it looks like with the temporary filling.  I go in on Tuesday to get it finished up and then I'll be back again in September to get a crown.  Now, I feel like I am WAY too young to get a crown.  This had better be the last tooth problem, or I swear...

New Orleans

Approximately eight hours after my last paper of the semester was submitted, my boyfriend and I took off for New Orleans and four days of relaxation.  Highlights:

• Beignets at Cafe du Monde.  Powdered sugar bliss.  

• Jelly fish at the aquarium.  I want to poke them!
• The worst 3D IMAX movie about dinosaurs.  
• Touching a shark and stingray.  They wouldn't let me poke them.  

• Being depressed and tired at the zoo yet still impressing Garrett with my casual use of the word "ungulates."  
• Steak that melted like butter in my mouth, making all the high-heeled walking pain disappear.
• Oysters and Strawberry Abita at Acme Oyster House.  

• Being sorely disappointed about Bourbon street (it smelled like puke and there were stupid tourists and icky-looking strippers everywhere) yet excited that we could drink our beers while walking outside.  

• Breakfast on the balcony and cribbage by the pool at our adorable hotel in the French Quarter.  Ugh, how grown-up!
• Driving through the "rich" part of town and ogling the amazing old southern homes.  
• And last but not least, having no homework, no place to be, no schedule and no worries.  

The Ultimate Taste Test

In the words of my fellow library schooler/partner in crime:  "This is what nerdy graduate students do when school is over."  We pitted Coke, Mexican Coke, Pepsi, Pepsi Throwback and RC cola against each other in the ultimate taste test.  Can the average Joe (AKA the two of us) tell the difference between these similar sodas?  The predictions: Garrett "Of course I can."  Me "Undoubtedly."  The results: no we cannot.  It was utter failure.  In a similar study a few days later, we pitted Coke and Pepsi against our not-so-sophisticated taste buds and actually were able to tell the difference.  This study was not completely unbiased, however, because the Pepsi had gone slightly flat and both participants were aware of this fact.  Perhaps we will perform this simplified test again at a later time.  Stay tuned!  

Bon Appetit!

I subscribed to the magazine Bon Appetit a while back but have been too chicken to try any of the fancy/complicated recipes.  Until this weekend!  I attempted a pasta salad of sorts with asparagus, peas, butter lettuce (so good) and prosciutto (so expensive!)  Here's the recipe from their website including a picture of what it is supposed to look like:

http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/04/pasta_with_peas_asparagus_butter_lettuce_and_prosciutto

It was really tasty.  What made the dish was the prosciutto - it's saltyness and strong flavor added the extra oomph that was sorely needed.  Plus I just love asparagus.  Also, it didn't take as long to make as I first thought, but I did have some help.  

In other news, I found a cockroach in my bed.  I was making my bed one morning and there it was.  It was dead, thank goodness.  Apparently it had been in there all night because all of it's little legs and antenna were broken off and scattered between the sheets.  Gross.  I was horrified at first, but was running late so I could do no more than toss it in the trash.  As the day went on, I got over it (I am already getting used to these dudes inevitably finding their way into every aspect of my life) and by the time I got home I was fine.  I picked up the vacuum and sucked up all the leg bits, made my bed and went on with my day.  That's right, I did not change my sheets.  Whatever, I'll be fine.  

Strange weekend

I am very disappointed that I don't have any pictures of all the stuff that went down this weekend.  The first craziness was taking my uninsured, delinquent friend to the emergency room.  He has a staph infection in his leg and had to go in to get some of his wounds lanced.  The poor guy could barely walk so I helped him hobble in and ended up spending five hours sitting in the waiting room.  We watched TV on his laptop until his batteries ran out and then we looked at all the derelicts and tried to guess what was wrong with them.  A few were obvious:  Drunken, possibly homeless dog bite woman, got a finger cut off at work guy and impossibly fat, twisted ankle Hispanic lady.  The others were a little more ambiguous - like the guy sitting next to us, flushed, sweaty and totally unmoving with his hands on his knees.  He was freaking me out.  The whole day was tortuous, but I was just doing my job as a friend.  He'll repay me someday.  

The second incident was at the laundromat today.  My boyfriend and I went to this nice little place on Guadeloupe to do our laundry.  It has wifi so we could do our homework while we waited.  All was going well until we started putting our stuff in the drier; we look down the row and see flames shooting out of another drier.  This guy, who I can only assume was the owner of the flaming clothes, tried to put it out by closing the door repeatedly.  It did not work.  Others started to notice, and as the flames grew to about two feet this other guy ran to get the fire extinguisher.  He put it out and the entire laundromat filled with smoke.  The laundry lady then proceeded to bitch at him and clean up the mess.  Now all my clothes and sheets smell like smoke, but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend another five dollars in quarters to wash them again.  I'll just pretend I'm a smoker for the next couple of weeks.  

On a side note, I have been incredibly thirsty all weekend.  Today alone I have had over half a gallon of water.  It's kind of freaking me out.  Anyways, I'll try to post more frequently from now on, but no promises as this is the end of the semester.  Crunch time, baby!  

Best homework EVER

I'm taking a preservation class this semester and on Thursday my professor assigned the best homework I've ever been assigned.  We were given little paper sticky traps and a plastic bug cup and told to go forth and find an insect.  Each person in the class was to trap, alive or dead, a different kind of bug.  Then we study it, draw it or take a picture (guess which one I will do) and write up a little brochure on it.  In class next week we will have five minutes to present our insect.  As soon as I heard about this project, I really wanted the American Cockroach, or Periplaneta americana.  They can seriously damage books and I have had a personal vendetta/fascination with them ever since I moved here.  It was a first find, first served deal with the bugs, so I was afraid I wouldn't find one before someone else did.  I mean, they're everywhere!  Luckily nobody else in my class wanted to catch one.  I wonder why...

I found this little guy, as yet unnamed, in a box at work.  He's been dead for quite some time.  He's really dried out.  I carried him around in my purse all day.  Thank the lord the bug cup didn't come open because then I would have little dried pieces of cockroach in my purse.  Gross.  

Busy yet accomplishing nothing

I'm so sorry it has been over three weeks since I've posted on here.  I have been busy and very distracted.  This spring break has been a whirlwind of excesses - food, parties, friends and yet no homework.  I had a friend from Iowa visit (on the left in the photo) and it was super fun, but I am in serious slacker shame right now.  I am going to devote the entire rest of the day to homework.  Except dinner with some friends tonight...  Man.  I am a terrible student.  

I'm wondering how many of you dear readers know what game we are playing in the picture.  I call it Rummy Tiles, but I think it's really called Rummykub.  It's totally an old lady game, but I have always loved it.  My visiting friend and I saw it at Walmart and just HAD to get it.  It makes me feel a bit like an old lady playing it - but I'm sure old ladies would not take a digital picture of the board before a huge reorganization attempt in order to have a record of what it looked like for when you need to put it back together.  Yeah.  Take that old ladies.  

Look at that picture.  They totally think I'm cheating.  

Brace yourselves

Get ready to be grossed out.  Seriously.  The faint of heart should look no further.  

Last Monday I went to the dentist and I'm not sure how it happened, but my tongue was somehow burned.  At least, that's the explanation I've come up with.  It may have been some hot fried pickles the night before, but I would have noticed this bad an injury, right?  I have not mentioned it before now because I wasn't sure if I should tell my parents.  We have this new agreement that I am not to tell them anything about my life other than A. I'm doing well in school B. that I'm eating healthy and C. that I'm generally happy.  This tongue incident does not fall under any of those, but how weird is it??  I felt like I needed to share this with you guys.  Here it is:

This is what it looked like the first day.  

This is what it looked like a few days later.  I thought it may have been infected (note the yellowness on the inside,) so I started on some salt water rinses and Orabase.  

Here's what it looks like now.  I think it's healing nicely.  It's still painful to eat pretty much anything, but much less so than at first.  Of course, initially I was stupid and had citrus fruit and sharp edged, salty corn chips and the likes.  Now I'm on soup, pasta, pudding and other soft, neutral food.  As soon as I'm healed, I'm having nachos and spicy curry!  Has this ever happened to anyone you know?  I thought it was bizarre.  Sorry for grossing you out - but imagine if it was in YOUR mouth?  I will take a picture if there is a cool scar after I've healed.  

This incident has reminded me of some other injuries I've had.  Looking through my old photos I discovered I have a bit of a penchant for documenting my bodily ailments.  I have pictures of spider bites, bruises in various stages of color, cat claw marks and more.  I've even started documenting my friends issues.  I have a nice picture of my friends twisted ankle, which turned out to also be two broken toes!  Why is this such a fascinating subject?  

World domination

At long last, I finally got to play Risk last night.  I have been jonesing for a rousing, trash-talking game of Risk for months now.  Despite being sick, having to work early this morning and a pre-game trip to the grocery store for dice, I stuck it out until the bitter end.  I did not win, but was the last one standing against the winner (seen on the left strategizing intensely.)  I hope for it to become a monthly thing, but with people my age, it's hard to pin down anything regular.  

I was pink, and as you can see I made a run for North America (my favorite.)  At the beginning of the game I had forces in Australia, but was beat out by the winner, playing green.  How is it that almost EVERY time whoever gets Australia wins the overall game?  It's uncanny.  I feel like my mistake was turning in cards a little early, only getting 6 armies and taking over North America without enough backup to hold it.  I also made a risky (ha ha) run for someone's cards later in the game, succeeded, but stretched myself a bit thin.  Ah well, I still enjoyed myself immensely.  I'm glad I can lose but still have fun playing, despite what my parents may think about my gaming habits - people are able to change from age 10 to 24 you know.  I don't go cry behind the couch anymore.  I can't fit.  

V-Day

Happy Valentines Day everyone!  Despite being single, I am quite the popular one today.  I have three different invitations, none of them dates, for tonight.  The winner is a good friend from school, recently single, with whom I plan to watch movies, bitch about men and listen to depressing music.  Yay!  I also think I'm going to make some bruschetta and possibly margaritas.  The other two invitations were from men, but I shall snub them in favor of a girls night.  Valentines day sucks anyway.  Regardless, I hope you all have a good one!  Unless you're happily partnered.  Then you can eat it.  

The joys of pet ownership

This is what happens when you turn your back on an almost empty cup of milk.  It gets knocked off the table by an overweight tabby attempting to shove her face silently into it.  I'm mad.  I only brought a few dishes with me and most of them are hand painted by me or members of my family.  This one was a marbled tumbler my uncle painted.  One of a kind.  Irreplaceable.  Chasing my cat around the apartment using a dish towel as a weapon just did not seem like enough punishment.  Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything to her.  Her brain is only about as big as my thumb, so how could I justify anything further?  She's really cute too.  Stupid cats...

Music is my boyfriend

Recently I have been going through a kind of music overload.  After getting a bunch of new music from my friends I was inspired to create several different mixes of wide thematic variety.  Examples of the insanity are "Dance Mix SUPERFREAK," "A Little Bit Country" and a semi-depressing "Breakup Mix."  I just couldn't stop.  I sent some to a couple of friends and am anticipating excellent mixes from them in return.  

The best part of this music explosion was discovering a bunch of old mix CD's from my sister.  My favorite is one from October 2003 - which is around the time this photo was taken of her.  She was 21 and in her Datsuns/Dandy Warhols phase.  That was a good phase.  She used to introduce me to all sorts of new bands and her mixes are always really fun.  She does take liberties that I would not; in one mix she put three Neutral Milk Hotel songs IN A ROW.  Now, I don't have a problem with putting multiple songs from the same artist, but never too close together.  To each his own mixing methods.  I respect my friends personal mixing styles but I adhere to my self-imposed rules.  They are as follows:

1.  Total length should never exceed one hour

2.  The maximum number of songs from the same artist is 3 (different bands with the same singer count as different artists)

3.  Songs from the same artist should be separated by at least two other songs

4.  Theme mixes are allowed one non-theme related song to be placed at the end as a "Bonus Track"

5.  Songs longer than 7 minutes should be placed near the end so as not to bore the listener

6.  Always include a track list

7.  Male and female vocalists should be spread evenly throughout the mix

8.  Transitions should be as smooth as possible 

Now, these are not set in stone, they are merely guidelines.  What are your mixing rules?  Post them in the comments or email me.  Happy mixing, y'all!

Harvey!

This is my friends new dog, Harvey.  We picked him up from the Austin shelter yesterday around 5PM.  Isn't he pathetic/adorable?  He's a mutt but I am convinced there's some boxer in him.  The shelter said he was part Australian cattle dog, but they say that about every dog.  They also say he'll be about 30 pounds when he's full grown.  We'll see!  He had just had surgery so was very tired, but he still explored her apartment and played a little bit.  I am officially his godmother!  It was very exciting - I kind of feel like I got the dog too, but at the end of the night I got to go home.  If he poops on the carpet I don't have to clean it up, I don't have to train him or listen to him cry in the middle of the night.  I just get the good parts, like playing with him and petting him and carrying him around.  I could help out with the bad, stinky parts, but only when I feel like it.  Like an Aunt.  Yes, I am this puppy's Aunt Liz!  Watch out for more pictures of this cute little guy as he grows up.  

Back to school

This week was the first week of classes.  All three of my classes look like they're going to be really interesting and challenging in a fun kind of way.  One of them, Understanding and Serving Users, requires reading seven different books - the first of which I have yet to receive in the mail.  I think they'll all be keepers, I find user interaction really fascinating.  I'm super excited about this semester.  In my digital libraries class we will be creating our library for the Harry Ransom Centers materials on the Hitchcock movie Spellbound.  I am going to watch it this weekend - I'll let you know what I think.  

As interesting as my classes are, the first day always sucks.  You just go over the syllabus in excruciating detail in order to take up the three entire hours of class.  Hence this little drawing I did, among many others and much to the amusement of the people sitting next to me.  Hey, I don't have a laptop so I've got to entertain myself somehow.  

In my other class, Protection and Care, the first day was actually really fun.  We spent half of it coming up with a fake class library.  The professor told us to just come up with something and left us completely on our own.  I'm not sure that was wise.  We will use this library throughout the semester as an example of how certain things, like climate and space affect a wide range of materials.  The library our creative class came up with was the Neil Young Canadian National Christmas Museum and Archive.  It's a one room cottage in between a ski resort and national park in Canada.  It houses such collections as 26 historic Santa costumes, two gingerbread houses, thousands of letters to Santa and a taxidermied reindeer.  I'm thinking this is going to be a good class.

Nectar of the gods

Is there anything better than Coke from a glass bottle?  I swear, it tastes better than from a can or plastic bottle.  It's more expensive, sure, but totally worth it.  I was getting groceries yesterday and after picking up everything else on my list, tired from fighting my way around the constantly busy store I reach the soda aisle.  What I wanted was a twelve pack of Canada Dry.  There was none.  The only drop of my favorite ginger ale they had left was a couple of two liters way back in the back of the highest shelf.  The only thing that could console me was Coca-cola in a glass bottle.  To further my decadence, and to celebrate the start of my three day weekend, I have just ordered a pizza.  What goes better with pizza than a nice, cold bottle of Coke?  Now I can't spend any money next week, but I have my priorities.  

Armed and... well... not especially dangerous

I am now the proud owner of a Maverick Rev-6 Nerf gun.  It was spur of the moment purchase at Target by my friend.  I vowed to pay him back, but he turned it into an incredibly awesome gift.  This is all because my other friends boyfriend got her one for Christmas and none of us can keep our hands off of it.  Now there are three.  I smell a war coming on...

It pisses me off that a good portion of the world shuts down at five every day.  What about those of us who are stuck at work?  I need to mail stuff at the post office, go to the bank and do all sorts of things.  But no!  Then in the evening, during all my free time, I get nothing done.  Well, I'll show them once classes start and I finally have some time in the afternoon.  Although, I may be getting another job at a library that is scheduled to close down in April.  They need some help with the transition and are conveniently located right next door to my current job.  

You know, I thought that this Nerf gun would be a good cat deterrent.  I could just shoot them when they were doing something bad.  It would make less of a mess than a tissue box or magazine and there are five "bullets" so I don't have to get up and retrieve whatever I've thrown.  It turns out that the cats think it's a really fun game.  They run after the little foam darts and pull them off the door or TV or wherever they've stuck.  Then they look at me and cry until I shoot another.  That backfired big time.  Regardless, its an awesome toy.

The Gauntlet

Almost my entire route to and from work has power lines running above it.  I walk under them right around sunrise and sunset each day.  Apparently this is prime bird-sitting time and I am constantly worried that one is going to poop on me.  I just know it will happen one day.  I mean, consider the odds - twice a day, five days a week for twenty minutes at a time.  Never fear, when it finally happens, I will take a picture and share my pain with all of you.  I also saw a dead cat on my way to work this morning.  (No, I did not take a picture of it.  You're welcome.)  It was so small and looked kind of like a fake stuffed cat.  What a downer.  It reminds me why my cats are inside cats.  

In other news, school is one week away.  I am super excited about two of the classes I am taking.  One is Protection and Care which is basically a hands-on beginning preservation course.  The other is Digital Libraries which will rock my socks off.  We will be creating a digital library for a collection from the Harry Ransom Center.  Past classes have done the Rebecca collection and also Gone with the Wind.  I heard this semester is something Hitchcock but I'm not sure which one.  I am taking one other class, but it's just a required Users class that I heard kind of sucks.  I'm sure it will be fine.  

Meanwhile, I am trying to enjoy my last week of freedom despite working full time - on my feet for 8 hours a day.  I know what you're thinking Mom and Dad, "suck it up."  Yeah yeah.  It's the weekend now, though, and I am going to relax and/or party.  Have a great weekend everyone!  

This may or may not be Texas

Is it weird that I think of my little apartment in Austin as home?  I mean, my parents house is still home, but more of a childhood home.  On my way back from the airport I was breathing in the warm Texas air and I exclaimed how good it felt to be home.  My friend found that strange - that I considered this home after only 6 months.  I think it's because it's mine.  This is the first place that has been completely mine.  I am on my own, alone, by myself.  Ok, that may sound a little depressing, but it's heaven to me.  I am my own home.  

Back in Texas

Well, it was a good visit home but I'm glad to be back in Austin.  The above is a picture of me chipping ice outside my parents house.  It snowed a lot, was icy and cold while I was home, just like a good Iowa winter should be.  Today the cold is just a faint memory to me as I pad around outside barefoot and in a skirt.  It was actually quite hot in the sun today - my car was uncomfortably warm too.  It's like freaking summer!  Oh, I know it's unbearably hot in the summer here in Texas, but right now I'm used to this lovely mildness.  Fortunately my memory is reliably hazy and I will again complain in shock and horror about the ungodly heat next summer.  Just something for you guys to look forward to.