For the first time this winter it has dipped into single digits. It is 8 degrees Fahrenheit outside right now, and it is not yet December.
So, all of you San Antonio people that read this blog and laughed at me when I said I was going to Michigan … you may continue laughing.
So between the hole leading to my front door that’s covered with plywood and the small hole in my bathroom ceiling where it leaked from the plumbing in the apartment above me, I definitely feel like I’m back in college (or at least back in that crappy apartment I was in before I moved to the apartment on French Pl … I miss that apartment). Check it out:
Classy!!
Granted, it’s not as awesome a ghetto-rigging job as the one I pulled in the apartment on French that involved putting curtains up with a wire hanger wrapped around a Swiffer mop, but nice nonetheless.
…
So onto more relevant things, I registered for next semester yesterday morning. Here is a list of the classes I’m taking:
532-1 Digital Government I: Information Technology and Democratic Politics 1.5 Credit(s)
- Steven J. Jackson
Course is the first in a two-part sequence exploring contemporary practices, challenges, and opportunities at the intersection of information technology and democratic governance. Whereas the second course focuses on challenges and innovations in democratic administration, this first course focuses on theories and practices of democratic politics and the shifting role of information technologies in supporting, transforming, and understanding these. The first half of the course seeks to ground contemporary discussion around IT and politics in various flavors of democratic and political theory. The second half builds on this foundation to explore ways in which information and information technologies have come to support, constrain, and otherwise inflect a range of contemporary democratic practices.
533-1 Digital Government II: Information Technology and Democratic Administration 1.5 Credit(s)
- Steven J. Jackson
Course is the second of a two-part sequence exploring contemporary practices, challenges, and opportunities at the intersection of information technology and democratic governance. Whereas the first course (SI 532) focuses on tensions and innovations in democratic politics, this course takes on emerging directions in democratic administration and the shifting role of information technologies in supporting, transforming, and understanding these. The first part of the course sets contemporary discussions of digital or “E-government” against a richer backdrop of administrative, bureaucratic, and organizational theory. The second part of the course explores a range of cases in which emergent informational forms and practices have entered — and in some cases, begun to alter — the traditional art and practice of goverment. Drawing on examples from local, state, federal, and international experience, students are encouraged to adopt a practical and appropriately critical take on the practice, problems, and possibilities for democratic administration in an increasingly IT-saturated age.
625-1 Digital Preservation 1.5 Credit(s)
- Elizabeth Yakel
This course was part of the original plan for building out the Preservation of Information specialization (si.umich.edu/msi/pi.htm). While SI 581 deals agnostically with both analog and digital Information, there is a need for a course that goes into greater depth about the status of digital preservation and highlights new developments and tools. This course fills a gap at SI and complements the other Preservation of Information courses and those in electronic records management.
626-1 Management of Libraries and Information Services 3 Credit(s)
- Tiffany C.E. Veinot
Information practice demands knowledge of all aspects of management and service delivery. This course introduces selected theories, principles and techniques of contemporary management science, and organizational behavior and their application to libraries and information services. Students develop skills in planning, organizing, personnel management, financial management, leading, marketing, stakeholder management, and coordinating functions in libraries and information services. Students also have the opportunity to think critically about, and reflect upon, contemporary management practice in information organizations.
Information professionals find that no matter whether they choose a career as a single entrepreneur, solo librarian, archivist, or whether they join a large organization, they become managers — of themselves, of clients or staff, and sometimes of substantial systems and services.
644-1 Advanced Preservation Administration 1.5 Credit(s)
- Elizabeth Yakel
Teaches advanced principles, policies, and procedures for managing information through its life cycle and protecting that information from loss, damage, deterioration, destruction, and obsolescence for as long as it has value. Building on the basic principles introduced in SI 581: “Preservation Administration,” this course focuses more on policy (e.g., selection) and managerial issues (outsourcing, copyright, and personnel).
647-1 Information Resources and Services 3 Credit(s)
- Darlene Nichols
* Learn about the information needs, information resources and delivery mechanisms available in both human and technology-based systems
* Study a representative sample of same and apply these sources to real-life situations
* Consider the on-going management and evaluation of systems and services designed to meet information needs
* Learn about likely developments and future research in this area
…
All of the available courses can be found on SI’s online catalog here. And yes, I know that there are 6 courses listed above, but 4 of them are half-semester, so it’s still only 12 credits. So many interesting classes, and so little time. It’s weird knowing that I only have 4 semesters, and I’m already almost through the first one. I’m almost 25% of the way through grad school. So weird.
^^^ It’s much overdue, but I did want to post my Obama pumpkin from Halloween, also known as the Obampkin. My carving skills > yours.
Sun Dog
If you look really, really closely in the above picture, you can see a tiny fragment of rainbow in the far left side. I was driving to Lake Michigan the weekend before last and noticed two rainbow fragments in the sky at the wrong angle and called the weather nerd boyfriend who explained that this is called a “Sun dog”, which is created when light from the sun goes though ice crystals in high clouds. I thought that was interesting enough to pass on, and hopefully other nerds appreciate.
Here is a wikipedia link with better pictures and explanations: Sun dogs.
So with regards to school, I currently have three separate group projects happening right now. I’ve got the Washtenaw County Historical Society thing for 501, a Google Books project for 500, and a Preservation Needs Assessment for the Museum of Anthropology’s Asian scroll collection.
It’s a little overwhelming. Everything will get done, and it will be done well, but I’m going to be operating in high gear until the end of the semester.
At least the weather is going to be crappy all weekend – I won’t be tempted to go outside and blow off the afternoons. We’ve got thunderstorms and snow showers through Monday night woohooooo. Here’s a picture from the dusing of snow we got last weekend:
Also, I joined the Institute for Civility in Government. My friend’s dad is a co-founder, so I’ve been hearing about it for a while, and after the insanity of this last election, I felt moved to join. Palin had her aggressive and passive uncivil moments – from spreading lies about Obama “pal-ing around with terrorists” to not bothering to correct people when they made untrue accusations. And, after living in Texas for so long where I had to put up with all of Tom Delay’s nonsense, I think civility is something very undervalued in this country today. I’m a fan of the masters of rhetoric – I love reading things like Cicero for fun – and I think the world could use a little more civility.
The Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan
Another benefit to attending the University of Michigan is student tickets to University Musical Society (UMS) performances. Tonight I saw Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman play piano duos, including a performance of a piece by one of my favorite composers, Sergei Rachmaninoff. The piece is called Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, and it was pretty awesome (in the classic sense of the word, not the Keanu Reeves interpretation). Bass lines thundered, the treble flitted from octave to octave, and as the piano professor says in the movie “Shine”, it was full of “big fat chords”.
It was the first time I’d been to the Hill Auditorium. I spent the last week volunteering at the Ann Arbor public library doing inventory on their UMS programs at the Hill Auditorium from 1890 through 1950, where I read about 8 performances by Rachmaninoff in the very building I was in this evening. It was humbling to know that I was in the same place that Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Horowitz, Caruso, and Marian Anderson all performed. I like to remind myself of the history of a place when I go.
So I’ve decided that UMS student tickets are like the greatest thing since sliced bread. I need to check into tickets for Yo Yo Ma in March …
It’s strange to me to think all children born after this will only know an America that has elected a black president.
What a high.
I feel like we’ve been given a second chance in this country, and that this more than makes up for the devastation of 2004. I feel optimistic for the first time in a long while, about a country that I love so much, but which has disappointed me for so long.
Call me what you will – call me an elitist, call me liberal snob, call me whatever you want, but I knew that this country could do better, and it finally has.
What. a high.
I’m actually pretty fired up – it’s invigorating to know that we’re watching history happen right now. And I’m actually hopeful. I’m not going to jinx anything though – I remember the palpable disappointment over what happened in 2004, and I’m crossing my fingers that what we’re seeing is a change for the better.
Two guesses who I voted for.
I’m watching MSNBC coverage right now, and I’d just like to say that the West Palm Beach ballot is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. How many people have to be disenfranchised before we address some of these issues?
The Boyfriend and I did some canvassing for Obama in Toledo the weekend before last, and people were really afraid that their votes weren’t going to count. With every new voting issue that comes up, it becomes easier to understand why.
And speaking of election problems … http://www.ourvotelive.org/home.php . <— As of this post, there were 43,009 voting problems cited. For a model democracy, we sure do run a dysfunctional election.
But I don’t want to end this on a bad note – keep the faith! Things have to get better! I have a bottle of wine I’m about to open! Good thoughts … good thoughts … positive thinking ….
I finished up SI678 this past week as a half-semester course (Preservation of Sound and Motion), and have moved on to my second half-semester class … which is actually a pre-req for the class I just finished. The big assignment for the class is a preservation needs assessment for a local organization, which I’m looking forward to doing. Maybe this is something I can apply to the SAPL …
I had to scrape a good deal of ice off my car yesterday morning before heading off to class …. and so it begins.
Also, a few photo highlights from the aforementioned road trip that Dad and I took to Hartwick Pines and Tawas Point:
There are some more pictures in my Flickr set, which is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83852768@N00/sets/72157608168134533/
So I put 500 miles on my car today (after ridiculous amounts yesterday were spent getting it back into good condition … and I didn’t even know anything was freaking wrong with it) on a road trip with my dad, who is visiting for a long weekend, and is a great travel companion.
We went from Ann Arbor, up 23 and I-75 up to Hartwick Pines State Park, over to Lake Huron, and then back to Ann Arbor. It looked like this on the map:
Road Trip with Dad Route
It’s fall, and the colors everywhere are awesome. The maples look like they’re on fire they’re so red, and the rich golds in other trees are really beautiful. We stopped in Grayling to get lunch before heading into the park (at the appropriately named “Grayling Restaurant”), which was a diner that looked like it hadn’t changed since the 60s. We had pancakes at 12:30pm, and were called “hon” and “sweetheart” repeatedly by the waitress, who greeted most of the other customers by name. We were bystanders in a conversation about a 14 point buck that someone found in their backyard as they bragged to the booth on the other side of us. It was kind of surreal. I didn’t see a single person take out a cell phone the entire time.
Then on to the park. Hartwick Pines was recommended to me by a professor in undergrad who said it was one of the only places left where you could see an old growth white pine forest, which is apparently what most of Michigan looked like before the Europeans came to colonize the area. It was pretty surreal, like being in a different time. The trees were so tall that I took a panoramic series of 4 pictures going vertically, and since their shade blocked out the sun, there was no undergrowth to obscure the distance.
We wanted to see some of the lakeshore here, and since Hartwick Pines isn’t too far from Huron, we went East on 55 until it dead-ended on the lake. I’ve seen Lake Michigan in Chicago, and the brown nastiness that is western Lake Erie from a plane, but Huron, with its sand dunes and lighthouse at Tawas, was really like being at the ocean more than anything.
Then we went to Olive Garden in AA and gorged ourselves on breadsticks, and now we’re back at my apartment, watching UT kick Missouri’s ass, and making fun of my twitchy, spastic cat. I’ll post pictures of the trip after I get them all sorted and resized, but that’s not happening tonight :)
I’m working on a paper right now that evaluates an NEH grant used to fund preservation of motion pictures, and I’m having a hard time getting out of history mode. I’ve realized just how accustomed I am to writing papers for liberal arts, and it’s starting to freak me out a bit that I’m having a hard time focusing on some things that are kind of important.
The project I’m evaluating is one proposed by the University of Alaska at Fairbanks to preserve films of Native Alaskans from the 1930s to 1970s, and as I’m going through the project database, I’m really working to focus on metadata and scope instead of US History and Native American cultural struggles – the latter being my natural inclination.
*sigh*
I’ll be happy when this paper is done. At least it’s split up between group members, and I don’t have to do the copyright portion. That would be even worse.
… or the freak out could be partially due to the fact that I’m working on a paper at 2am on a Saturday night … I have no life. Welcome to grad school, Jessica!
On a side note, while at the Museum yesterday, I cataloged a surrender flag from right after the Boxer Rebellion in China that someone would have hung outside their door for the relief troops to see. It said (in lovely, English script):
Noble Men, Good Men, Sir, Please do not kill us.
… and I’m sure that the original author did not intend for it to amuse me here in 2008, but it did. Just a little.
Regardless of what happens with the economy, I know that the library is where I want to be, and no matter what happens I will work towards that.
That being said, one of the perks of going into librarianship that’s been touted the last decade is the fact that a lot of librarians were set to retire in the next few years. With people’s 401k’s crumbling around them, I have to wonder what that means for me, and for the rest of us in MLIS programs. Will those jobs that we’ve been counting on still be open for us when we’re ready? Or will we be stuck in the same horrific rat race as the rest of country, on the verge of what promises to be a lengthy recession?
I started volunteering at the Museum of Anthropology this past Friday – I am helping them inventory their Asian scroll collection, and potentially looking at long term storage solutions with my Preservation of Information specialization once we’re done.
I didn’t know quite what to expect when I showed up at off-site storage, but they gave me a pair of gloves, took me down to the collection, and told me to explore. “Pick up things with two hands, close all the cabinets properly, you know, common sense stuff.” I’ve never been able to handle artifacts like that, and it was an awesome experience. I can easily see how people get addicted to the field – being able to handle things creates a stronger bond with the items, makes them more real.
It’s looking like Friday afternoons will be a highlight of most weeks, and it has made me feel stronger about applying to the Museum Studies program for graduate certification. Hopefully that will work out – it’s an environment I’ve always loved, and it can’t hurt to have more career options in an economy that looks more and more like things are just going to get harder the next several years.
Python is hard. Actually, it’s not really that hard, but my brain doesn’t think that way. I still can’t get used to a language where x = x + 1 is true. Just a couple more weeks of this mess and I can get on with the rest of my technological education that will not involve writing software.
The boyfriend was here from San Antonio this past weekend, and the general consensus is that Ann Arbor is pretty awesome. I’m happy here – it fits.
In a few weeks, I’ll have photos of the full fall colors – the leaves are just now starting to change, and it promises to be an amazing fall.
So I just finished UM’s School of Information (which shall henceforth be referred to as SI) orientation, and I’m excited about the new semester. I did find out that one of the classes I was happy about taking (SI 580 – Archives) won’t count for either of my specializations, so I swapped it out for the intro to technology requirement that I was going to delay until spring. This semester I will be learning to code in Python … hooray. Actually, if I can pull it off well, it could be really awesome – it’s just going to take a ton of work to get to that point.
I got a coat off of ebay that arrived in the mail today. I think it can be safely assumed that I will not freeze this winter as I will be too busy looking like an inuit child.
Yeah, it’s a crappy quality picture, but the full length mirror is in my bedroom that I keep all natural light out of, and the flash blocked everything out :)
It’s my turn to laugh at all the Texas folks and tell you that the temp here ranges from the 60s to 70s during the day, and I’m driving around with my windows down comfortably. It will be your turn to laugh at me in January. But I’m finally here! I’m in Michigan, getting all of my things put away.
Moving has been what my mother refers to as “an adventure”. Dragging all of my stuff to Michigan has been challenging to say the least, but adding a cat and car problems to the mix brings it to a whole new level.
Now, to be fair, the cat has been pretty good for the most part. Kitty has been in several restaurants and a couple of hotel rooms without making a peep to give us away. Inside the car she was a pain in the mornings, but slept through most of the afternoons.
The car noises freaked me out – we decided to get my AC fixed before going on a 1500 mile drive with a cat – I haven’t had AC in the car for the last few years. Well, after getting on the road, I started to hear squeaking noises, and then grinding noises like heavy machinery was clashing. Oh, and my floorboards were flooding on the passenger side. The geniuses at the repair shop didn’t reconnect the drain hose, and the compressor is now going out. And they didn’t tighten the belts. So I spent most of the drive hoping that my engine wouldn’t fall out on the interstate.
But, I’m here in one piece, and so is the cat. Finally.
Anyways, the reason for the post is teamviewer – this is all related, I promise. When the floodboards flooded, my laptop bag was sitting on the floorboard, and from then on, I couldn’t get any sound on the laptop and thought that the repair shop was going to get a really big bill from me. So I emailed the boyfriend, who is awesome and technologically inclined, and he told me to install teamviewer. I did, and he took over my screen and desktop, went through all of my sound settings, and fixed it for me. It was really cool, my cursor was moving around seemingly of its own volition.
So, if you are ever far away from your computer nerd friends and need help, teamviewer is your new best friend.
It feels odd finally having enough time to sit down and type for a few minutes. Since my last post, I have gone camping in Big Bend, eaten tons of breakfast tacos on the run, packed up my San Antonio apartment, moved all of the stuff to Houston, weeded and organized said things in Houston (in a garage in the heat no less), gone to a wedding in Austin, and also attended a family reunion in Nacogdoches. I guess I’m trying to get as much Texas in as possible before leaving.
I have also decided that east Texas is covered in cemetaries and donut shops.
I am officially registered for class (!) which is very exciting. I will be taking the following classes:
My mom looked at me like I was crazy for being interested in all of these subjects (“That sounds boring.”), but I am really looking forward to being back in school and studying all of these things. It’s good to be a nerd.
And just because my photos from Big Bend came out pretty well, I’ll post a few …
My Flickr gallery is here, where I also have photos from aforementioned family reunion.
See, I said I’d talk about food. Cathy, one of our shelvers, made an Italian creme cake for me, with lots of cream cheese icing, and it is awesome. I’ll probably have diabetes by tonight with the huge slice that I ate, but it will totally be worth it.
Today was a pretty tame day by public library standards. It was busy, and there were screaming children; but, no accused me of base treachery, or asked me to waive huge fines, or sarcastically called me “sweetie”, or got too close to my face (some people have NO sense of personal space or boundaries). It kind of makes me wonder what’s in store for my last day. I hope the crazies haven’t been saving up the crazy.
Also, in my ALA e-newsletter, there was a link to this post – http://blog.booklistonline.com/2008/07/15/booze-and-books/ – that I thought was a really good idea, and being the wino that I am, thought to challenge myself to beverage/book pairings.
It’s the day before my last day of reporting to work at the public library. There are a lot of things that I will miss. I had some really great coworkers here at the library – people who made breaks and time at the reference desk truly enjoyable – and I learned a lot about office dynamics that I’d somehow managed to avoid in my previous jobs. I’m coming out of this a little wiser I hope; and, despite some difficulties that I had to work through in the public library system (contrary to popular opinion, this is not an easy place to be an introvert), I find that working in a library is still something that I want to do, and that should be a good indicator.
I won’t lie, there are a few things that I won’t miss – despite all of my efforts to be as pleasant, polite, and helpful as possible (which was thankfully not unnoticed by many patrons), there have always been a few who were consistently rude and demeaning … but that’s life. Sometimes it just feels a bit concentrated here. I’ve learned a lot about not taking things personally, when to let go, and when to vent. Those are all good lessons to learn – and I know they will be applicable both back at school and again at the library when I return to public service.
All in all it’s bittersweet – I’m leaving a significant time in my professional development behind to make some changes that will in turn aid my career in the long term as a librarian. I will miss wandering the stacks and the friends that I’ve made.
So I thought this transition up to Michigan for grad school would be a good time to start a blog. I can reflect back on my time here at the SAPL and also document the experience of getting my masters 1500 miles away from home. I’ll probably talk about food and wine a lot, too … but I’ll find a way to relate it all. Most of the time.
