Going-to-the-Sun Road

So, I inadvertently spent the Fourth of July in Canada (bad trip planning – but I did sing the Star Spangled Banner on my way to Customs and Immigration, and paid homage to the red poppies I keep in the car), and on the way back to Yellowstone the next day, I drove Going-to-the-Sun Road through Glacier National Park.  I understand now why it is consistently rated among the top 10 best drives in the country, and here are the pictures to prove its awesomeness.

Wild Goose Island

Bluest water in Montana

Jackson Glacier in the background

Random tourists included for scale

Snowmelt waterfalls

More snowmelt waterfalls

A mountain goat and her kid, traversing the ranger station parking lot.

Idiot tourist getting way too close to the mountain goat. Surprise!

Rain is on its way ...

A new way to leave your mark. In snowpack.

Glacier National Park is an amazing place, and I hope that one day I have the chance to go back and spend some quality time, rather than just driving through (still more than worth it!).  And, before I sign out, one of my favorite wildlife photos from this summer.  Monsieur Elk says, “Huh?”

That's quite a rack you've got there.

Ode to the Map Room

Disclaimer: We did actually do a lot of work in the map room this summer.  In fact, we did this much – http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/upload/archive_maps9-11-09.pdf – 500 pages of inventory, plus weeding duplicates, and compiling misplaced sets.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, the map room was a place for mild insanity to thrive – it was like a sensory deprivation chamber that made us all a little loony.  The fact that we would find materials such as the following only made the silliness worse.

But it did make things more fun, too.

All photo credits belong to Sam(bo).

Chris in the Map Room

^^^ We did not do that. It's just a stellar example of professionalism in times past.

A valid point, indeed.

Hey, it was funny at the time.

The infamous fire map. This is only one of the many offensively entertaining captions on said map.

O, Map Room … you were an interesting place.

1pm on a workday

Yes, I know that I have been neglecting my blog.  However, things have been going smoothly in general, and my internet access is iffy, at best, when I’m not at work.  Greetings from work.

I actually wanted to write today to express some disappointment in some of the democratic processes of this country.  When the fellow interns and I heard that President Obama was going to be in Bozeman on Friday (only an hour and a half away) we were all really excited to drive over and see him speak.  Then, come to find out, the program starts at 12:55 pm.

It makes no sense to me to hold a public forum about public issues and exclude anyone who works during traditional hours.  It’s not even during the school year when a lot of students would be able to make it.  So, I don’t get to go see the President speak because I’m fortunate enough to have a job for the moment? (It ends in a week and a half)  This forum is about health care, and my federal job presently doesn’t cover anything health-wise that I can’t take care of at the park clinic, and my high-deductible policy premium just went up this month … I’d like to have a chance to see the people that I helped elect into office talk about issues that are relevant to me.

1pm on a Friday?  Really?

Another massive photo post

So here are a smattering of the photos that I’ve taken since I got to Yellowstone. The last couple weeks of May here, there was still a lot of snow cover on the ground.

Between the Tower and Canyon areas

Between Tower and Canyon

Right after getting here, Manny and I drove through as much of the park as we could before I started working.  The canyon area was really pretty, and this is one of the more famous views of the park (but with snow!)

Waterfall at Canyon

Thomas Moran painted this waterfall from what is now known as Artist Point, to which I will hopefully be hiking at some point this summer.  Also, we went by Beryl Spring, so named for the vivid color it exhibits.

Beryl Spring

One of the cool things I get to do while working here is Bookmobile, which means that I get paid to drive around the park all day once a month.  Win.  On my first venture out, I took a picture of Old Faithful erupting from the Bookmobile site near the geyser:

Old Faithful as seen from the Old Faithful Clinic.

One of the really cool sites that’s near to the dorms is Sheepeater Cliff – when the Sheepeater tribe was still around (before they were presumably absorbed by the Shoshone) they lived by this feature, which was obviously created by volcanic activity.  They were the only tribe that is thought to have lived in the Yellowstone area continuously for a significant amount of time.

Sheepeater Cliff

The following are a few photos of the Norris Geyser Basin:

Norris Geyser Basin wide view

Scary unstable part of boardwalk.

Thermophiles in the geyser water

Constant Geyser - or, "Not so constant geyser" since it never erupted while we were there.

Then we went to the Artist Paint Pots with some pretty cool mud pots … although this one did spit on my foot, which at geyser temperatures really hurts.  In the future, always wear close-toed shoes to mud pots.

Artist Paint Pots

And before I close out this post, I’ll leave you with pictures from the snow we got in June.  It didn’t stick for very long, but it was pretty while it lasted.

Snow in June outside the dorms.

Snow in June

The next photo entry, when I have reliable and fast internet to get around to it, will have more wildlife, but there’s a lot of geothermal areas in the park to cover, so that’s that.  I will hopefully be back soon with more pictures!

Photos (finally!)

I am finally telling the story of how I got to Montana.  That makes it sound much more important and serious than it actually is, but the trip was exciting, and as you will soon be able to tell, very beautiful.

The first day of the journey took Manny and I from San Antonio to Albuquerque.  As you can imagine, there are not too many pictures from this leg, since as much as I love West Texas, it’s not the most exciting landscape.  To sum up: there was a lot of sand and sky, and the wind just about blew the brats off the charcoal BBQ pit we stopped at to heat up lunch.  However, we did stop to gaze upon the world’s second largest roadrunner in Fort Stockton (Manny is in front for scale):

Manny and the world's 2nd largest roadrunner in Fort Stockton

From there we drove through Roswell (not as fabulous as I had hoped, though the UFO shaped McDonald’s was a nice touch) and into Albuquerque.  After waking up bright and early the next morning, we drove into Santa Fe and had a classic New Mexico breakfast at Tecolote Cafe (sooo good – put Christmas chili on anything and I’ll eat it), and then headed up to Taos.  We bummed around town for a bit, and then took a short out-of-the-way drive to the Rio Grande gorge to check it out:

The Rio Grande gorge outside of Taos

It’s hard to do justice to the actual size of the gorge.  We also saw 3 bighorn sheep there (my pictures didn’t come out very well, they were down near the bottom) and there are only about 300 of them in all of New Mexico.  And here is another picture just because I like it, and because it sums up my love for northern New Mexico:

Big sky country

From there we drove back up I-25 to Colorado Springs and spent the night so we could wake up early again the next morning to drive into Rocky Mountain National Park.  Originally, we were planning on going the back way up through the entire park, but thanks to my weather nerd, Manny, we ruled that out due to bad weather and decided to go in via Estes Park.  This ended up being a great decision, because as we got up to about 11,500 feet, this is what everything looked like:

Fog worse than San Francisco

Between zero visibility (literally, I could not see more than 20 yards in front of the car) and no frame of reference while close to what I knew from memory was a steep precipice, we decided to head back out of the park, thankful that the awesome guy at the gate let us in for free with my new National Park Service intern status.

This left us with lots of extra time in Fort Collins, and we got to recharge and plan the detour through South Dakota that we were both really looking forward to.  The next day we got up bright and early (pattern, yes – it’s still going on right now) and drove up through the rolling grassy hills of eastern Wyoming into the rolling grassy hills of South Dakota.  By the time we saw the Black Hills, they were a welcome sight indeed.

First stop in South Dakota was a sandwich place in Hot Springs (awesome food on this trip – why anyone sticks to the chains when they don’t have to is beyond me) and then onto Wind Cave National Park.  Here we saw our first buffalo of the trip, including one we have since christened “Jowlie” because he was having a grand old time scratching his face on a guardrail and slapping his jowls against it.

Jowlie

Also, an antelope posed for us.  This was the beginning of what would end up being a series of insane animal encounters that are still happening.  In what is now referred to as the Miracle of South Dakota, I avoided hitting two deer and a turtle that all decided to cross the road at a very disadvantageous time.  All I can say is that the wildlife out west is very lucky that I react to even the smallest shadows that move in my line of sight when driving.

Photogenic antelope.

From Wind Cave we drove through the Black Hills to Rapid City, contemplated checking into the hotel, and then decided that, surely, there was enough daylight yet to get out to the Badlands – and there was!  Sunset in the Badlands is truly beautiful, and everyone should experience it at least once.

The Badlands near sunset. A whole lot of sandstone.

Badlands - you can see the striping in the formations here.

Jagged edges of the Badlands.

Manny at the Badlands.

Sunset at the Badlands.

Oh, and before we went to the Badlands, we saw the world’s largest groundhog!!

World's largest groundhog!!

The next day we went to Mount Rushmore – here are the Presidents under the Texas flag.

Mount Rushmore.

And after the world’s largest groundhog, here’s a real groundhog who is super cute :)

Groundhog!

And here’s Devil’s Tower from a distance, from the parking lot of the place we had buffalo burgers out in BFE, WY.  It’s a huge rock born of volcanic activity – and it really is HUGE – that picture doesn’t really do it justice.

Devil's Tower.

It got darker as we drove through the Crow reservation and into Montana – through Billings, Livingston, and finally to Bozeman where we camped for the night.  From there we drove into the park, and that is another entry that is on its way very soon!

All in all, here’s how far we drove (not including short stops and detours that added another 500 miles onto the journey, necessitating an oil change the week after getting here).

View Larger Map

Lazy Sunday morning

And you know what makes a lazy Sunday morning even better?  When you know that you have Monday off as well.  Three day weekends are awesome, I love the 10/4 work week.  You get a day to crash, a day to have fun and be lazy, and then a day to be productive during business hours.

Michaela and I are at the internet cafe in town, both talking to our respective boyfriends – me on email, and her on Skype chatting away animatedly in Italian.  We’re getting another Italian intern next week, she says, and promises to cook for us.

Also, most amazing idea – I almost hugged her when she said this – they do a drink in Torino where they spread Nutella on the inside of a small coffee cup, and then add some coffee and a bit of steamed milk.  Genius.  I will be trying that soon.

I drove all the way up to Livingston for groceries on Thursday (100 mile round trip) that was instigated by me running out of Greek yogurt.  When I get to the store, do they have it?  No.  Thankfully Maeve (the other library intern) found some yesterday.  At least I like driving.

Also, it is cedar season here.  I did not get to escape that particular allergy this year, pollen be damned.  I’ll probably head to the Mammoth clinic soon and see if they can give me a steroid shot or something – Claritin is just not doing it.

In other news, elk still like to run out in front of my car.  I swear, they hear the car, look up fromeating, and think, “Yes, yes … that would be the best idea ever to run out in front of that thing … yes …”  The antelope do it, too.  I saw a rattlesnake by the road a couple days ago, and was very happy to be inside a car when that happened.

To anyone who anticipates visiting a national park in the future, they are not petting zoos.  I thought this was self-explanatory, but apparently people have a hard time grasping this concept.  We have taken to calling stupid tourists “tourons” as a hybrid of “tourist” and “moron” because of the stupid things we see on a regular basis.  Parents trying to put their kids on top of bison, or encouraging their kids to pet the elk.  Not a good idea.  Maeve saw a kid get kicked the other day because the parents thought petting one would be a banner idea. I’ve also seen people litter here.  IN THE NATIONAL PARK.  It makes my head hurt, people.

Anyways, moral of story: being on vacation is no excuse for being stupid.  Being lazy, silly, or any combination thereof?  Yes.  But stupid?  No.

Yellowstone at last

First update from Yellowstone – still no pictures because I left my external hard drive back at the dorms, which is a 6 mile 1000 foot climb away up in BFE.  Technology can be hard to come by, so I will update when I can.  People here are chatty, which leave me uninclined to hang out at the local internet cafe all that long, since I already listen to people talk all day long every day living in a dorm.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though.  The job is good, and I like the people up here, I just don’t get nearly as much quiet time as that to which I am accustomed and enjoy.

I was the only intern to get here with a completed background check, so the other interns had a week to hang out and hike, and since Manny was here that week, he got to go out hiking with them.  Since then, the weather has been crap (including some snow yesterday), so I have yet to get out and hike.  I keep telling myself that it will happen one day …

At any rate, things are good, and I will put together a photo essay in the near future.  In the meantime, I’m going to go do the 100 mile roundtrip to the grocery store in Livingston.

Some crazy dude at the cafe is showing me his green card … that isn’t really a green card.  It’s a Latino caucus card that he had in his passport.  I think it’s time to move on ….

Day 2 on the road to Yellowstone

Let me sum up the last two days:

Yesterday, Manny and I were on the road at 645am trying to beat rush hour on 1604 – we drove out I-10 to Fort Stockton (pictured above with the giant roadrunner), and then took Highway 285 North into New Mexico.  This included several small towns with names the likes of which I have already forgotten (or maybe that’s because they were more like speed traps than anything else …) and then drove through Roswell which included a drink stop at the flying saucer McDonalds.  Then we drove another forever and finally ended up in Albuquerque.  And promptly passed out without a blog entry.

Today, we got up and went to Santa Fe, had breakfast at the famous Tecolote Cafe – complete with Christmas red and green chiles – and hung out around the Plaza for a bit.  Then back on the road and up to Taos.  If you’re ever in Taos and in need of frybread (because it’s freaking awesome), I highly recommend Tiwa’s Kitchen on the reservation by the old pueblo.  We got some frybread sticks with chokecherry juice and a couple of Indian teas to go – SO GOOD.  Then we took pictures at the Rio Grande river gorge:

Rio Grande river gorge

We saw 3 of the only 300 bighorn sheep in New Mexico there, which was pretty cool.  Then we drove forever again (part of which involved narrow mountain roads in a rainstorm) and ended up where we are tonight – Colorado Springs.

Tomorrow the itinerary involves attempting a drive through Rocky Mountain National Park, weather permitting.  I would also like to take the time to sing praises for Priceline, who has come through for us twice so far this week, and we’re working on getting a 3rd reservation for Saturday night.  Friday night we’re staying in a room that’s  normally $180/night for $40.  Who knows how to travel cheap?  <– This lady.  No namby-pambys here.

:(

I’m currently drinking my last St Arnold’s Divine Reserve No. 5.  It is both wonderful and painful, because it is my favorite beer, and yet there is no more.  With what could I possibly bribe the St Arnold’s people?

Seriously, I want to know what it would take to get them to make more!

This beer has aged really well.  I wish I had some Blue Bell vanilla to go with it, but I’ll be okay.  It’s gotten thicker and fruitier … and it still looks like used motor oil.

Ah, love.

Loooooooooooooooooove.

More cake references

My time thus far in Houston has been good – I have been to two high school sports banquets, hung out with my family, saw my good friend Lucas, and ate like half a chocolate cake that my mom made.  My mother has made this particular cake on only one other occasion in my life to date, and this stuff is really.freaking.good.  My dad’s face lights up when he takes it out of the fridge; it’s really cute.

I am re-registered for this next fall – I registered before, but ended up re-arranging some classes, adding some, swapping, etc.  New schedule:

15 graduate hours – I just might be insane.  I’m getting my cognate out of the way, and I’m really excited about taking a graduate-level history class.  Maybe if I end up working in a university library one day, I can use my one free class per semester to get my MA.  Which will take like 4 years that way.

Back to San Antonio tomorrow for a couple of days to go to my friend Vicki’s birthday party.  I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about Vicki on here before, but I would like to take this time to gush about her, because she is more awesome than you.  Seeing her – and even just seeing her name pop up on my caller ID – makes my day.   So thank you, Vicki, for being such a joy in my life – for your encouragement, your laughter, your strength and wisdom, and your empathy.  You are amazing :)

Tonight we Raid!

It’s so nice to have time to blog again.  I turned in my last paper of the semester on Monday morning via teh.intarwebz since Manny and I were in Mount Vernon, Illinois on the way back to Texas.  We hopped in the car after that and drove until 2am, when we got back to San Antonio and promptly fell asleep.  Those last few hours were pretty brutal – but at least we can take our time driving up to Montana in a few weeks.  Here is how far we drove yesterday (and it does not factor in the time it took when I-30 was closed outside of Dallas because a semi rolled and lost a load of lumber)

I am busy doing one of my favorite things – Google Mapping!  I <3 Google Maps.  Sometimes I get on there and just drag the screen around until I find places I didn’t know existed and read up on them.  The introvert in me loves to look for the most remote places in the world and wonder about what it would be like to go.  One day!

This afternoon will be spent eating tacos and sweet potato fries at the Cove.  Ridiculous food excitement ensues.  I might have to head over to the Liberty Bar soon as well – it’s one of my favorite places in San Antonio – great food, lovely drinks, housed in a place that looks like it’s going to fall over and crush your tipsy self.  I love it.

Observation

Truly, my intent with this post is not to be political, though it may come off as such.  I’m currently writing a paper on citizen digital engagement surrounding Prop 8 in the last election cycle, and when I went to the state of California’s website to look at the exact wording of what was passed, I notice the following:

Inches away from the guarantee of rights  … is the language passed with Prop 8.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_1

One more term paper …

… and then I’ll be done for the semester.  It’s been a long time since I last updated, but with all of the schoolwork and internship searching I have been both incredibly busy and uncertain, so blogging seemed a bit counterproductive.

However, all of the searching has paid off.  Back in January I got an offer for an unpaid internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Image Library, and while it would have been an amazing opportunity, the responsible thing to do was to keep looking for something paid.  I am so very grateful to the Met for understanding that financial circumstances can be the height of inconvenience, and I recently accepted a paid internship at Yellowstone National Park’s Research Library and Archives.

So I’m getting pretty excited about spending the summer in Montana and Wyoming.  And, as part of UM’s School of Information Practical Engagement Program (PEP), in order to get credit for the experience, I have to keep a blog.  Conveniently enough, I already have one, so I will definitely be updating more frequently – especially once I leave Texas in May to drive up there.

Oh, my poor little Civic, climbing the Rockies.  The thought is a little daunting, but it’ll get there.

The last time I was in Yellowstone was the summer of 2000.  I spent a summer in Wyoming on a service project with Global Routes at the Wind River Reservation.  That was where I first fell in love with the West.  I swear, I breathe better out there.  Here is a picture from that trip:

There’s an oldie, but goodie.  Those who have only known me since college have probably never seen me that dark (or covered in children), but I think that’s about as much continuous sun exposure as I’ve ever had in my life, and thankfully my Mediterraean skin handled it well.  I might look like that again after this summer – there’s no reason to be inside when the average high in July is 72!

Back in Washington!

I am back in Washington, DC for the second time in about a month’s span – this time, however, I have a full week to orient myself and enjoy the city.

The University of Michigan’s School of Information (SI) does their own “Alternative Spring Break” program every year, where the students pay a nominal fee that goes towards renting a car to go there and back, putting us up in a hotel, and completing a “mini-internship” of sorts. At the beginning of the semester, we apply to different positions that SI has found to be open to the program and secured their interest.

This year, I am spending a week at the US Naval Observatory Library in DC with the lovely Sally Boskens, the institution’s librarian. I am going through a donation from the family of Asaph Hall (the astronomer famous for discovering the two moons of Mars), pulling out items that the Library of Congress (LOC) has requested, re-organizing, and writing up a report.

So far, in addition to that, I have gotten to play in the rare book room, looking at manuscripts by Galileo, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and many others. Nerdgasm. Seriously. They are lucky I did not drool on that stuff.

Here are some photos of this great building – it’s a beautiful library with an open feel, round with spiral staircases.

I was at work today by 530am because Vice President Biden was broadcasting live to the major network morning shows from in front of Asaph Hall’s desk in the USNO Library. So, the timing for this internship was pretty awesome. After the interviews he stuck around for a while and I got to meet him – he talked about his grandkids and living just down the hill from this building. Actually, he kissed Sally’s hand, which was unexpected, but pretty cool.

Here are a few pictures of the setup – they had everything ready to go when Biden got there. He had an earpiece, which made it sound like he was talking to himself, which looks really weird when you’re laughing as much as he does. I think the only time I saw him really relax was when he took a couple minutes to read the paper. He was still in the chair with the lights and everything, and everyone was staring at him (because what else was there to do?) and he just opened the paper and read. Kind of surreal – his life must feel very surreal at times.

And here is Biden sitting in it.  This is the only good shot I managed to get since I couldn’t use a flash.

Also, apparently the VP travels with personalized napkins. They had a breakfast spread in the hallway with paper napkins decorated with a silver “Vice President Biden” design. And the muffins were tasty. When I left the hotel at 500am nothing was open, so I was hungry.

And here are a few new general pictures of DC just for grins!

^^^ Check out how much emptier the Mall is than the last time I took pictures here!! ^^^

Here’s George Mason – and he’s reading Cicero, my hero.  Which makes him even more awesome.  And that’s my friend Meredith on the right checking out Mason’s reading selections.

And here’s the Washington Monument again, because it just photographs so well.

Jess and Manny go to Washington

Yes, I am finally making this post.  In a couple of weeks I will have another Washington, DC post since I’m going for Alternative Spring Break (I’ll be working at the Naval Observatory – I know, it’s awesome, the astronomy geek in me is singing the Hallelujah Chorus), but it is right that these should be separate for blogging purposes.

I will go through the day in chronological order.  And there will be maps.

230am – Alarm goes off.  We drag ourselves out of bed, put on the numerous layers of clothing laid out the night before, and get to the car.  “Do we stop for coffee?”  “Nowhere is open yet … and we’d hate ourselves if we couldn’t find parking.”

400am – Arrive at the park and ride and get on train into the city (see map for ridiculously long route into the city, in spectacularly professional-looking Paint editing.  I save my awesome PhotoShop skills for when I have time to kill)

Map:

515am – Arrive in the city.  We stop by Starbucks, get caffeine, and feel sorry for the poor folks stuck working at that location on Inauguration Day.  It was MAYHEM in that Starbucks.

530am-830am – We find our place on the Mall and take pictures of the Capitol building as the sun comes up.  It looked like this:

630am ^^^

730am ^^^

830am ^^^

900am – This next picture I like to call “The crowd is cold.”  At this point, we had all been standing around in the sub-freezing temps for several hours and were huddling for warmth.

It was about this time that they started playing the concert from Sunday on the Jumbotrons, and there was an en masse sing-along.  That was actually entertaining, and as long as we were singing, it wasn’t as cold.  Then the live entertainment started, and they had children’s choirs singing for like an hour.  More Springsteen, please.

1130am – I take a zoomed-out picture of the Capitol and the insane number of crowds that have gathered (we weren’t as far back as the photo looks, but the crowds really were that impressive).

1200pm – After Aretha and her hat performed, Biden and Obama took their oaths.  And it was good.  And there was much rejoicing:

1230pm – Chaos breaks forth as everyone tries to leave the Mall.  But, we did get a picture of the MSNBC booth and the back of Keith Olberman’s head!

100pm – 530pm was spent sightseeing.  Manny kept his flag in his backpack, and I have pictures of the flag traveling all over DC :)

Jefferson Memorial:

The FDR Memorial:

The WWII Memorial (not quite as impressive when it’s freezing and the fountains aren’t on)

The Korean War Memorial: (if you look closely in the first photo, you can see Manny and his flag reflected)

The Lincoln Memorial:

The Vietnam War Memorial:

After the Vietnam War Memorial, we wandered around the Georgetown area until they opened the subway back up and we could get back to the car.  Overall, this is how much we walked that day, as reflected in a very scientific-looking map:

730pm – We are back in Martinsburg and stop by Arby’s on the way back to the hotel room.  This gives me the chance to remember one of my favorite 30 Rock lines: “Dammit, Jack, you know I love my big Beef and Cheddar!!”

930pm – We are passed out.  Hard.

And then we spent all of the next day driving back to Ann Arbor.  This included a few hours on Route 50 going through the heart of Appalachia in West Virginia.  Luckily, I know how to drive in mountains pretty well, and Manny was a good sport having never been driven through mountains before.  It was an occasion requiring Tom Jones music.

We stopped at CiCi’s pizza in Akron to stuff our faces, and then made it home.  That was a really long 3 days, but it was worth every minute of hassle and crowds to be there for history.  One day, I can link my sister’s kids to this obscenely long blog post and tell them about how “I was there.”

30 Rock

I. love. 30 Rock.  So very, very much.  And it hit me today how much it resembles one of my all time favorite shows, the Mary Tyler Moore Show.  Think about it:

• Liz = Mary
• Jack = Mr Grant
• Pete = Murray
• Tracy = Ted
• Kenneth = Georgette
• Jenna = Sue Ellen/Rhoda

And they work at a TV studio … coincidence?  I think not.

I promise that a real post on the Inauguration is coming, I just have not had the time to do anything besides upload and tag the photos.  Too many class readings, internship applications, etc.  Life is nuts.

Cold.

How cold is it you ask?  My earrings froze into my ears this morning.  THAT’S how cold it is.

First day of school!

Or, first day back at school, at any rate.  And, Wednesdays are going to be my long days for the first half of the semester.  I had Information Resources and Services from 9am-12pm, and then my 6-hour preservation treatment processes extravaganza from 2pm-5pm (lecture) and 6pm-9pm (lab).

It’s sad how much I love school sometimes.  I spent 6 hours learning about types of paper and how to take staples and paperclips out of it today, and it was awesome.  Did I mention that I’m also easily amused and like to pick at things?  You should see me eat crab legs.

So when I wasn’t notes or picking at things, I was sending out internship applications, resumes, and cover letters.  I know that somewhere out there, someone wants to pay me to be their intern/go-fer for the summer!

Visiting Papa

I don’t make a lot of personal posts on here – usually they have to do with school, etc., but I wrote this and thought it appropriate to post.

On my way out of Houston, going to San Antonio on Monday, I visited my grandfather at Forest Park cemetery.  He has been resting there peacefully since the summer of 2004, and it has always been important to me to make it out there when I can.  I don’t do it obsessively, nor to grieve or torture myself with the loss, but rather just to have a one-way chat and catch up.  I like to think that he can hear me sometimes.

So I just say that I’m visiting Papa instead of “going to the cemetery.”  It better represents what I actually do when I go.

I used to go almost every time I drove to Houston, but it had been over 8 months since my last visit with the move and everything else that’s been going on.  We had a lot to talk about, and I felt very acutely that spot in my heart that he occupied aching.  I talked to him about all of the things he’s missed – my graduation from UTSA, AmeriCorps term, getting into grad school and doing something with my life while getting to share it with someone I think he would have really liked.  And he would have loved the stories about the public library.  He loved hearing about random people can be.

It was the first year since he passed that he wasn’t mentioned on Christmas.  I don’t think I realized how much that bothered me until today.

I got a birthday card from my grandmother this evening – we went out for a birthday dinner, but she didn’t give me the card until I was getting out of the car to go back inside the house, and when I opened it in the kitchen I understood why.  In some respects, we can be a waspy family – we don’t get very emotional in front of each other often, and we save those feelings for either very unfortunate or special occasions.  Mimi has always been sweet, but never terribly nostalgic or the like, and the cards that I get from her tend to say the things that we don’t speak aloud but still need to be known.  Never have I known her to pour out so much at once, though, as with this card.  As I read it, tears came unbidden to my eyes and I passed it silently to Mom, who reacted the same.

It made me so glad that I went to visit Papa earlier this week.  It made me feel a little closer to Mimi – and while it was never part of my motivation to go, it made me feel like a better, more deserving grandchild – to be the recipient of such amazing unconditional love.  It made me feel very, very lucky.  I thought of the snapshots of my childhood – today, in my mind I saw the photo of Papa standing in front of their house, with an infant me zipped up in his ’80s Adidas tracksuit jacket.  Remembering my visit with Papa and holding my birthday card in my hand, I felt like I was in the right place.

2008: A Year in Review

Ordinarily I’m not a big meme person, but I always liked filling out the year in review ones at the end of every December.  So, here is 2008 (and yes, it’s long):

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
I loaded up all of my stuff and moved to the great white north to go to grad school!  I also maintained a long distance relationship from 1500 miles away.  It was a year of firsts.

2. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No one really close, but I think there’s something in the water … that seems to be going around.  Note to self: drink less water and more margaritas.

3. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness.

4. What countries did you visit?
Well, I saw Mexico while camping in Big Bend in August, and then later this past fall I saw Canada from Detroit.  But I didn’t actually make it to either country …

5. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
More time with Manny.  A job that I like that actually pays.

6. What days from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Election day.  It’s become a defining moment for me.

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Jumping through all of the flaming fiery hoops of hassle and bureaucracy and exhaustion to get into grad school, make it up there, and end the semester with an A- average.

8. What was your biggest failure?
Nothing really happened this year that was so horrible it couldn’t be righted.  I don’t want to say that I didn’t do anything wrong this year, but I feel like I managed myself well and made it out okay.

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just different varieties of Kid Plague that I caught working at the library.

10. What was the best thing you bought?
Tuition?  Ha.

11. Where did most of your money go?
Tuition.

12. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Grad school and moving to Ann Arbor.  And camping in Big Bend!

13. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder — Much happier.  I’m not in the middle of a 6 week long sinus infection for one …

Thinner or fatter? — About the same.  Hopefully next year I’ll get to say “thinner”.

Richer or poorer? — HAHAHA so much poorer.  I guess it’s a testament to how much I love grad school that I still manage to be happier.

14. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Going to the gym, a little more studying could have happened I’m sure.

15. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stressing out about money and grades.  I’m still po’ and the grades came out okay :)

16. How did you spend Christmas?
With the family.  It was good, and I roasted a turkey for the first time, and got cool stuff.  All in all, not over the top and not too subdued.  It was a good year.

17. What was your favorite TV program?
30 Rock.  I love Kenneth!  I have a soft spot for clueless nerds.

18. What was your favorite film of the year?
The Dark Knight – it was every reason that you shell out to go to the theatres instead of waiting for it to come out on DVD.  Amazing.

19. What were the best books you read?
I’m currently working on Pillars of the Earth and loving it, but I doubt it’s going to be done by the end of the year … which is tomorrow.

20. What was your favorite new blog?
I didn’t really start any new blogs this year … maybe I should have …

21. Who were your favorite new artists?
Oh I’ve been horrible about finding new music this year – I did finally get into Metallica, though.  Took me long enough, haha.

22. What was your greatest culinary discovery?
Well I brined and roasted a whole turkey for Xmas, and that was pretty cool.  Otherwise, I do love Le Dog by campus.  I <3 soup.

23. What did you want and get?
A chance to prove myself as worthy of my ambitions.

24. What did you want and not get?
I wanted a full ride to grad school.  That did not happen.

25. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 25, and I spent a low key day with Manny, and then had dinner with two of my favorite people in the world, Vicki and Richard.

26. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Less grad school debt … but I’m reconciling with the fact that it’s just part of the experience.  My undergrad education was totally paid off when I started since I went cheap for it, and this is my time to splurge on my education for the most important degree I will get.

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Layered.  Shirts under dresses over pants and on and on …

28. What kept you sane?
My amazing support system consisting of my family, my boyfriend, and the most amazing friends any woman could ever ask for.

29. Which celebrity/public figure did you admire the most?
I’m going to have to go with Barack Obama.  I’m just so happy and amazed that we elected someone so competent and who can command such respect.

30. What political issue stirred you the most?
This presidential election has been a turning point in my life.  I’ve dedicated a lot of posts to this, so I won’t go through my whole spiel, but this has really helped me to be a little more at peace with a world that I have spent a lot of time feeling disappointed in and fearing.

31. Did you miss anyone?
I miss my support system in Texas.  Thank goodness for my basic human right to teh intarwebz and cell phones without long distance charges.

32. Who was the best new person you met?
I’ve met some really amazing people in Ann Arbor that I’m excited about building lasting friendships with, so there’s more than one :)

Wireless

So I upgraded the fam to wireless this trip.  Dad also got a wireless printer that took me a while to get online, but it’s on now.

I won.

So Christmas is over, and I hope everyone had a merry one.  It was good at the Jones house this year – a little subdued, which was actually really nice.  I got sweaters (much needed) and fru-fru bath products (much wanted).  I get all my awesome bath stuff during Christmas/birthday week and ration them throughout the year.  Hey, it works.

I’m off to San Antonio tomorrow for a short trip, which will be good.  There’s not a whole lot to report, really.  It’s been pretty uneventful, which I have never minded.  Actually, I welcome that.

I did see a bunch of people from high school the other day – one of these days I’ll actually upload the pictures!  It was good to see everyone – we’ve all gone in completely different directions (literally and figuratively), and it was interesting to catch up.  I hope this means I can skip the ten year reunion …

Mom is reading my blog now – Hi, Mom!

Greetings from Charlotte

Greetings from the Charlotte airport – I am half of the way home for the Christmas break, having finished finals alive and (mostly) intact.  I should have been making this post a day ago, but God decided to defrost his freezer on the Great Lakes yesterday (couldn’t fit in any more Lean Cuisines, I guess) and canceled my flight.  However, after I spent an hour on the phone with airline customer service (fun!) and got my new flight scheduled, I got to enjoy the snow day.  Of course, I literally had to dig my car out of the snow to run errands this morning, but I made it.

I find winter to be fairly easy if I just think to myself “It could be Texas summer … it could be Texas summer … it could be Texas summer …”  It’s like a mantra, but it reminds me of how much better the ice is than the heat.  For me at least.  I produce body heat like a nuclear reactor.

Grades are all back, and I am pretty satisfied with them – with the exception of 500, but that is in a category all its own.  Considering that none of us knew what the professors wanted out of us and graded accordingly, I feel like my “B” could have been a lot worse.  As it is, I’ll take the other “A-”s and “A”.

So Calabria was right, I am a lot better at grad school than I was at undergrad.  It’s pretty allegorical to the rest of my life, really.  The more freedom I have, the more productive I am.

And to close out the post, I leave you with a picture of my cat, who is obviously grateful for the snow day that incapacitated any hopes for transport.  That is her favorite place – on the down comforter over my legs.

Someone finally said it …

I love it!  Finally, someone tells the truth in a public library job advertisement:

“Work Environment:
Work is performed in a library environment. Constant sitting and standing are required. There may be some exposure to angry or hostile individuals. Incumbent works varied hours including weekends and evenings.”

Hahahaha – oh man, that made my day.  Actually, I take that back – getting the A in my preservation class made my day.  The ad was just the cherry on top.

One more test and I’m done with finals for the semester!

Snow and finals

Kitty is still a little unsure about this whole snow business.  Actually, she looks a little shifty there ….

So I was taking pictures of Kitty’s first time in the snow this afternoon instead of being as productive as I could have been.  But, as my friend Meredith says, you’re more productive when you take 10 minutes out of every hour to move around.  I think she’s right.  So what if I took half an hour.

Finals … are pretty tedious, and yet stressful at the same time.  I’ve got three major projects due by Thursday.  One of them is due Monday morning, and I think it’s going to turn out really well – that’s the preservation needs assessment I’m doing for the museum’s Asian scroll collection.  I managed to talk to some people at the Field and British museums, respectively, and their input has been extremely helpful.

Then the 500 assignment (ugh) and 501 Final Paper and Reflection Paper and Peer Evaluations (ugh x3).  With the snow and cold, it won’t be hard to stay inside and get things done at least.

I’m ready to be done with this semester!  I got the syllabus for the Physical Treatment Processes class I’m taking next semester, and it looks like it’s going to be really awesome.  It’s all the stuff that I really wanted to learn in conservation classes when I applied to UT, but at UM I’m learning that stuff plus management skills and appraisal.  I’m happy to be here, I feel like it’s a really good fit, and I’m looking forward to building a career from it.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I just got back from celebrating Thanksgiving in Texas and spent some quality time with the family and boyfriend.  I also managed to get a couple of friend visits in as well with two ladies who have been helping me hold on to sanity for a very long time (props to them, it’s a hard job sometimes).  As my mother told my sister (who is also looking at a very busy spring semester), friends should never come last, and I’m happy to keep mine high on my priorities.  I also appreciate my boyfriend being willing to share me with my friends, since he is awesome and understands how important my friends are to me :)

And, speaking of busy semesters, I am officially going to take on 13.5 credit hours in the spring (at UM it’s called the Winter term, but whatever) since I got into the class on Physical Treatment Processes for books and paper.  Very exciting!  It brings out the geek in me.

I came home last night to a care package from my church in Bellaire, Texas last night, that was pretty nice.  It’s to help me get through finals, and for my first round of graduate finals it’s very much appreciated. Besides, college students can never have too many hot beverage mixes and Ramen noodles!

After a full day of travel yesterday, I am happy to spend a day almost entirely on the couch which began not too long ago.  The cat is currently laying across my right arm as I type and is attempting to stick her paws in my mouth to garner attention, so I’m off to give it to her.