As SpringChick announced on the Great Lakes Yahoo! board this morning, I will be hosting the Great Lakes Gathering 2008 in Minnesota. This is the first year that Minnesota has the gathering and will definitely be the biggest gathering in Minnesota letterboxing history (at least so far). The one this past October was about 30 people. Attendance at the annual "Big" gathering is usually 100+. So if anyone is looking for some place to visit the weekend of May 31st (hey, that's right after my birthday!), Minnesota is lovely that time of year. This weekend I'll be working on finalizing the location (probably what I'm most worried about right now) and will announce the location hopefully by Wednesday.
I'm excited about it, but definitely very nervous. It will be the biggest gathering I've hosted and I plan on enlisting the help of Minnesota letterboxers.
Those of you who have hosted large gatherings, do you have any advice?
Friday, January 18, 2008
Monday, November 26, 2007
It's Official...
I hate Mondays. I hardly ever have good Mondays.
I put in my request for my Christmas PTO this morning at work. My supervisor emailed me back and said that it was tentative. This afternoon he emailed me back and said that my request had been downgraded from "tentative" to "unlikely to be approved". That means I will be spending Christmas in Minneapolis. It's the first time in my entire life that I haven't spent Christmas with my family. I'm not particularly religious, but I do think of Christmas as family time and I love the warm, safe feeling that I get when I go to bed (in "my" bed with my heavy down comforter and my parents just across the way) and the smell of pine in the air. It's also my brother's birthday.
My parents are discussing what to do. My dad sounds like he wants to come up to Minneapolis for Christmas and my mom wants my brother and I to come down either the weekend before or the weekend after. It just won't be the same. Christmas Eve is the one time I actually enjoy going to church-mostly because of the candlelight. I know that I can go to a service up here, there are plenty of beautiful churches and I've never seen a midnight Christmas mass, so this would be a good time to go to one. But my parents won't be there. There won't be the drive along the lake to see all the beautiful old mansions decorated for the holiday. There won't be the opening of one present and cookies after church. Or dinner with my grandmother's beautiful china. Or my brother's annual chocolate chip cheesecake birthday cake and my annual complaint of "Can't you pick anything else?".
I know I'm welcome at Evan's family's Christmas, but it just won't be the same.
In the grand scheme of things, me not being able to actually be with my family on Christmas isn't a big deal. At least I have family and other people to share it with. There are people who don't even have that. I'm just amazed at how much this is bothering me. I've been fighting back tears all day. Yesterday I was all excited for the holiday season. I never get excited for Christmas this early. Now I don't even want to think about it and I just feel kind numb.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
I put in my request for my Christmas PTO this morning at work. My supervisor emailed me back and said that it was tentative. This afternoon he emailed me back and said that my request had been downgraded from "tentative" to "unlikely to be approved". That means I will be spending Christmas in Minneapolis. It's the first time in my entire life that I haven't spent Christmas with my family. I'm not particularly religious, but I do think of Christmas as family time and I love the warm, safe feeling that I get when I go to bed (in "my" bed with my heavy down comforter and my parents just across the way) and the smell of pine in the air. It's also my brother's birthday.
My parents are discussing what to do. My dad sounds like he wants to come up to Minneapolis for Christmas and my mom wants my brother and I to come down either the weekend before or the weekend after. It just won't be the same. Christmas Eve is the one time I actually enjoy going to church-mostly because of the candlelight. I know that I can go to a service up here, there are plenty of beautiful churches and I've never seen a midnight Christmas mass, so this would be a good time to go to one. But my parents won't be there. There won't be the drive along the lake to see all the beautiful old mansions decorated for the holiday. There won't be the opening of one present and cookies after church. Or dinner with my grandmother's beautiful china. Or my brother's annual chocolate chip cheesecake birthday cake and my annual complaint of "Can't you pick anything else?".
I know I'm welcome at Evan's family's Christmas, but it just won't be the same.
In the grand scheme of things, me not being able to actually be with my family on Christmas isn't a big deal. At least I have family and other people to share it with. There are people who don't even have that. I'm just amazed at how much this is bothering me. I've been fighting back tears all day. Yesterday I was all excited for the holiday season. I never get excited for Christmas this early. Now I don't even want to think about it and I just feel kind numb.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Have You Hugged Your Cataloger Today?
This semester of school has certainly given me a new appreciation for what catalogers do.
The Dewey system and I? Well, we get along fabulously. It's like doing a puzzle. A very elegant, nerdy puzzle. Granted, when you get into dropping digits and zeros it gets a bit confusing. And sometimes when you look at a number, you can't really figure out the thought process that the cataloger took, but I love it. A book on breeding racehorses? 636.12. You say you're interested in civil engineering as a profession? 624.023. Doing a Dewey number really reminds me of letterboxing-looking at clues, trying to decipher them to get to the right place, and the "A-ha!" moment when you find what you're looking for. You can really tailor the number to bring out certain aspects of the work. It's fantastic!
My relationship with the Library of Congress Classification System? I want a divorce. There are 44+ volumes (compared to Dewey's sleek four) and there are no instructions (the brief instructions in Dewey seem downright verbose). Granted, it's the Library of Congress and they do pretty much what they want to do and this system obviously works for them. It was created for use only in the Library of Congress and they don't really share the rules that their catalogers use. So us mere mortal librarians (and poor MLIS students) basically have to figure it out based on what others have figured out.
I've spent the past three hours pouring over various volumes of the LoC Classification System for my final exam and I honestly feel like throwing them out the window. There are directions to look at a certain table, but no clues as to where this table is. The descriptions of the headings are vague at the best of times and the indentations screw with your head. Tables are scattered throughout the volumes, so you have to go digging in several different books to find what you need.
So hug the cataloger at your local library and thank them for making it easy for you to find what you need! 'Cause it sure as heck ain't easy to do.
The Dewey system and I? Well, we get along fabulously. It's like doing a puzzle. A very elegant, nerdy puzzle. Granted, when you get into dropping digits and zeros it gets a bit confusing. And sometimes when you look at a number, you can't really figure out the thought process that the cataloger took, but I love it. A book on breeding racehorses? 636.12. You say you're interested in civil engineering as a profession? 624.023. Doing a Dewey number really reminds me of letterboxing-looking at clues, trying to decipher them to get to the right place, and the "A-ha!" moment when you find what you're looking for. You can really tailor the number to bring out certain aspects of the work. It's fantastic!
My relationship with the Library of Congress Classification System? I want a divorce. There are 44+ volumes (compared to Dewey's sleek four) and there are no instructions (the brief instructions in Dewey seem downright verbose). Granted, it's the Library of Congress and they do pretty much what they want to do and this system obviously works for them. It was created for use only in the Library of Congress and they don't really share the rules that their catalogers use. So us mere mortal librarians (and poor MLIS students) basically have to figure it out based on what others have figured out.
I've spent the past three hours pouring over various volumes of the LoC Classification System for my final exam and I honestly feel like throwing them out the window. There are directions to look at a certain table, but no clues as to where this table is. The descriptions of the headings are vague at the best of times and the indentations screw with your head. Tables are scattered throughout the volumes, so you have to go digging in several different books to find what you need.
So hug the cataloger at your local library and thank them for making it easy for you to find what you need! 'Cause it sure as heck ain't easy to do.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
It's Red!
As I type this, I'm sitting in my favorite coffee shop and sipping chai. I'm supposed to be working on my final exam for my Cataloging class and looking up Library of Congress authority headings, but I'm having too much fun playing with my Christmas present to myself-a new laptop! It replaces my six year old Vaio. I'm quite attached to the old one. It's been through several moves and had even gone to Wales with me, but it was time to retire it. The new one has wireless and doesn't weigh 50 pounds. And most importantly, it's red!
It's been kind of fun going through and adjusting the settings and whatnot to my liking. When it came time to assign it a name, I christened it Childermass. My boyfriend (the man who named our home network "Voltron") saw the new name and said "Childermass? You're naming it after a character in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell?"
So say hello to Childermass!
It's been kind of fun going through and adjusting the settings and whatnot to my liking. When it came time to assign it a name, I christened it Childermass. My boyfriend (the man who named our home network "Voltron") saw the new name and said "Childermass? You're naming it after a character in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell?"
So say hello to Childermass!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Amazing what fifteen years can do...
This week I received The Little Foxes' contribution to the Quote This! II ring. All of the stamps had something to do with confronting fear and it seemed quite appropriate that I got that this week.
As I've mentioned before, I've started Aikido again after taking a break for fifteen years. I remember how I loved to do forward rolls and being thrown and falling when I was little. I would get this thrill at just effortlessly tucking my body and springing back up in a perfect hamni (stance).
Fast forward fifteen years. Front rolls are the bane of my existence. I hate seeing the floor come up and I dread practicing moves that involve me having to do a front roll. That changed a little this week. Summer is always a bad time for me with headaches and just generally not feeling good, so I haven't been able to go to the dojo as often as I'd like (there's a reason why I live in the northern part of the US!). Now that the weather is getting cooler, I've been going more often and have been able to concentrate more.
This week I felt a little twinge of the thrill I used to feel when doing front rolls. It actually felt good to feel my feet flying over my head and knowing that I am in perfect control. And on Thursday we practiced a move that I have never enjoyed because it basically has the defender turning the attacker's arm in to a staff and launching the attacker into a front roll. I have never been able to do the front roll without hitting my head or hurting my shoulder. But I actually managed to do a decent roll and stand up in hamni. Granted, I still hit my head or roll on my shoulder, but I'm not so afraid of it now.
I'm still amazed that in my (very) long break from Aikido, I became afraid of falling. I went from this fearless ten year old who would try any move, even if it looked really difficult, to a twenty-five year old who cringes when she sees the floor rushing up.
Fear is a funny thing.
As I've mentioned before, I've started Aikido again after taking a break for fifteen years. I remember how I loved to do forward rolls and being thrown and falling when I was little. I would get this thrill at just effortlessly tucking my body and springing back up in a perfect hamni (stance).
Fast forward fifteen years. Front rolls are the bane of my existence. I hate seeing the floor come up and I dread practicing moves that involve me having to do a front roll. That changed a little this week. Summer is always a bad time for me with headaches and just generally not feeling good, so I haven't been able to go to the dojo as often as I'd like (there's a reason why I live in the northern part of the US!). Now that the weather is getting cooler, I've been going more often and have been able to concentrate more.
This week I felt a little twinge of the thrill I used to feel when doing front rolls. It actually felt good to feel my feet flying over my head and knowing that I am in perfect control. And on Thursday we practiced a move that I have never enjoyed because it basically has the defender turning the attacker's arm in to a staff and launching the attacker into a front roll. I have never been able to do the front roll without hitting my head or hurting my shoulder. But I actually managed to do a decent roll and stand up in hamni. Granted, I still hit my head or roll on my shoulder, but I'm not so afraid of it now.
I'm still amazed that in my (very) long break from Aikido, I became afraid of falling. I went from this fearless ten year old who would try any move, even if it looked really difficult, to a twenty-five year old who cringes when she sees the floor rushing up.
Fear is a funny thing.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Schoolin'
Yesterday was the first day of my second semester of library school. I'm only taking one class this semester since I've heard from others that this is one of the hardest classes of the program. It's "Organization of Knowledge", which is basically learning cataloging rules. It only meets every other Saturday, but for five hours each time. I honestly don't know if I'll like the class or not. Cataloging has never really interested me, but who knows? I could actually end up enjoying it.
There are a few familiar faces in the class, mostly from my Intro to LIS class. And "That" girl is in the new class. You know the type-always has something to say even if it has nothing to do with the topic at hand, argues almost everything the professor says, asks if every single chart or PowerPoint presentation is going to be posted on the class website, etc, etc. She was in my Reference Services class and by the end of the term, the professor was having none of it. It made for some interesting classes and the rest of us would place bets on how long it would take the professor to shut her down. By the end of class yesterday, I could tell that the professor for this class is going to get quite sick of her quite quickly.
In terms of my other schooling (aikido), the dojo is hosting a seminar this weekend with the head of the Virginia Aikikai Assocation. He's a 6th dan (a sixth degree black belt). They're doing testing this weekend as well. I really wanted to watch the testing since the next time they hold testing, I'll probably be the one being tested. I managed to catch the tail end of the testing after my Cataloging class. The upper ranks were testing and it was kind of intimidating. The whole test for the higher ranks is basically defending yourself against three or four attackers. It was amazing watching a woman probably a little taller than me send three tall men flying. I know that they've all been training for years, but I can't imagine being able to do that at this point. Someday...
There are a few familiar faces in the class, mostly from my Intro to LIS class. And "That" girl is in the new class. You know the type-always has something to say even if it has nothing to do with the topic at hand, argues almost everything the professor says, asks if every single chart or PowerPoint presentation is going to be posted on the class website, etc, etc. She was in my Reference Services class and by the end of the term, the professor was having none of it. It made for some interesting classes and the rest of us would place bets on how long it would take the professor to shut her down. By the end of class yesterday, I could tell that the professor for this class is going to get quite sick of her quite quickly.
In terms of my other schooling (aikido), the dojo is hosting a seminar this weekend with the head of the Virginia Aikikai Assocation. He's a 6th dan (a sixth degree black belt). They're doing testing this weekend as well. I really wanted to watch the testing since the next time they hold testing, I'll probably be the one being tested. I managed to catch the tail end of the testing after my Cataloging class. The upper ranks were testing and it was kind of intimidating. The whole test for the higher ranks is basically defending yourself against three or four attackers. It was amazing watching a woman probably a little taller than me send three tall men flying. I know that they've all been training for years, but I can't imagine being able to do that at this point. Someday...
Monday, September 3, 2007
The Sculpture Garden
A visiting letterboxer made her first plant at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden a few blocks from my apartment. It took me two trips to find it, mostly because it's one of those "hidden under a rock in a pile of rocks" clues that I always have problems with. Not that I minded going to the Sculpture Garden. It's always fun getting lost there.
But success!
I walked there early this morning, thinking that there wouldn't be the clumps of people that are always wandering through the garden. There were a few families, but it wasn't too bad.
Of course, there was a crowd around the Spoon Bridge.
It felt really good to get out and letterbox on my own. Lately it's either been too hot or I've had my parents (and less than enthusiastic brother) tagging along. I spent probably about an hour wandering around the garden and visiting all my favorites.
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