After an amazing evening of hog roasting and drink toasting, I came back to my new home to sleep. I didn't sleep last night because someone (or 2 someones) was walking around above my bedroom for an hour and a half after I came home to crash. It disrupted my entire sleep and R.E.M. cycles.

Tonight, although I do honestly love this movie, it's freaking Titanic which they have BEGUN at 10:20pm. Does anyone know that it is a good 3 hour movie? Cause I do. I watched it 6 times in the theatre, no lies.

I have somewhere to be in the morning. And I'm not in the mood.

Not to be ungrateful, but this is Reason #3,621 Why I Hate Sharing Living Quarters with Anyone, I don't care who you are.

A New World

I'd never experienced a dissertation defense until today.

To be honest, I'd never had much interest in them - figuring they'd be full of technical or discipline-specific jargon so that I'd be sure to be lost in the first few minutes.

Today's observation changed my mind.

I can't remember (or find) the specific title of the dissertation, however, it was on the toxicity levels of TTX in rough-skinned newt eggs and something about coevolution of traits.

That this presentation, which lasted about an hour, was the culmination of 5 years of study and lab work simply blew my mind.

Now I'm all hyped up on attending dissertation defenses so I can learn, but also to see what interests people and to be amazed at their dedication to one particular research question. I don't know if I could ever pursue something like doctoral students do, but it's inspiring nonetheless to see students achieve something so great.

Congrats on a job well done, Liz!

Some things do actually work out

Last night after class, I found a parking ticket on my windshield because I forgot to display the $85 parking permit I bought last August. Needless to say, I was annoyed at myself, my own forgetfullness, to no end.

I wrote an appeal email when I got home, in hopes that someone might show a little lenience. But the parking operations here is not known for its merciful dealings.

Here is what I wrote:

I am writing to appeal a ticket (No. #########) I received in the Library parking
lot this evening, Thursday, the 3rd of August at 18:53.

My vehicle was not displaying my parking pass (here I gave my permit #), however, I own one which was sitting inside my car. I remove the pass when driving (which is stated in All caps on the permit itself), and forgot to put it back on my rearview mirror when I exited my car for class this evening.

Because this seems to be a very small oversight considering I have a valid permit and use
it every day and because the parking lot was not full, a situation in which the lack of a
displayed permit could mean restricted access for someone with a parking pass to campus
facilities, I feel that this citation should be dismissed.

Thank you for your time and consideration.


This morning, I received a reply:

Greetings,

Thanks for your appeal. I just wanted to let you know that the citation
has been voided, and there is no fine due.

Best,

Parking Operations Employee

When I read this, I was glad that I appealed. $40 is a lot to pay for one minor mistake.

It's raining!

I've never been so grateful for rain as I am at this moment. Reflief from the heat, at last!

Why is everything an ordeal for me?

I can't begin to count the number of seemingly small matters that have turned into ordeals in the last month.

Let me give you one extremely insignificant example from today.

I wanted to make some rice into which I planned to put a can of cream of mushroom soup. Easy enough. You don't even have to know how to do anything fancy to make this meal. Oh, and I wanted some broccoli.

I cooked the broccoli. I'm good at that, do it all the time.
I got the rice out and read the directions on how to cook it about 15 times while the broccoli was cooking. Trying to cement it in my mind so I could put the package away as soon as I removed the necessary rice. Reading the directions alerted me that 1 cup of rice, mixed with 1 3/4 cup of water would work. I decided to double the amounts because I figured I could eat on it for the next few days.
When I read "Makes 4 servings.", I thought it meant the entire bag.
It means 1 cup of rice = 4 servings.
The rice grew and grew and grew. I had a hard time finding tupperware that would hold all of this rice.
It took forever to cook.
And then there was this seemingly endless supply of rice.

Ordeal, people.
All I wanted was some flavorful rice with broccoli. What I got was a month's worth of rice and a sink full of dishes.

At least I have a full tummy.

The idea of a "roving reference librarian" is somewhat disturbing to me. This concept was promoted by an article I read for class today ("Alternative Strategies for Promoting Information Literacy" by Jeanne Galvin, Journal of Academic Librarianship, 31(4), p. 352-357.).

The idea is to be available where students need help without requiring them to come to the reference desk. But what it amounts to is a librarian roaming around in the reference area, essentially looking over students' shoulders as they use wireless Internet access and print resources.

I feel like it turns librarians into spies, or at least makes them look as if they are suspiciously watching students for moments to reprimand bad behavior or wrong use of resources. As a student, roving librarians would make me nervous and not want to study at the library or even use library print resources.

I don't think that's what we want to accomplish. For our own job security, we should be begging students to come into the physical building.

All that said, I will not become a roving librarian when I get a real job. I'll stay at my desk, thank you very much.

Let's just reiterate...

...when clicking in and out one's retainer as a teenager, it's pretty gross, but I'd argue understandable when one considers all the pain and torture that teeth work requires.

However, clicking in and out one's false teeth, in such a way that the base (or fake gums, as it were) are visible is not understandable and exponentially more disgusting.