Meta: blog no more

My mother died on July 18. This, of course, effects all kinds of things, including the 43 Things I'm likely to accomplish this year.

I was usually writing for her when I wrote in this blog, so I don't want to continue. Maybe the object of this blog was to get the Chautauqua Diary, which gave me a way to honor my mother's life.

I think I will continue to be active on 43 Things, but I won't re-post my entries here. And I will be revisting my list of Things and either considerably shortening it or making it more of a Life List than a This-Year List.

I will continue my Wanderings of a Student Librarian blog, so please follow my progress there.

Meta: blog no more

My mother died on July 18. This, of course, effects all kinds of things, including the 43 Things I'm likely to accomplish this year.

I was usually writing for her when I wrote in this blog, so I don't want to continue. Maybe the object of this blog was to get the Chautauqua Diary, which gave me a way to honor my mother's life.

I think I will continue to be active on 43 Things, but I won't re-post my entries here. And I will be revisting my list of Things and either considerably shortening it or making it more of a Life List than a This-Year List.

3. read 30 books in 2005

12 down. 18 to go.

Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman is a wonderfully-written series of essays about books, reading, and writing. I thought my favorite essay in Ex Libris was going to be "You Are There" about reading passages in the same places where they are set. But I liked equally well the next two essays, one on gender-neutral language and one on hereditary proofreading.

39. decorate the loft at the cabin

Rick's night stand

Before:


After:


Big improvement, huh? The new piece is a child's wash stand. I got it from a friend of my mother's who recently opened an antique store.

6. publish in a peer-review journal

It turns out I was wrong last week when I thought I hadn't won the student paper competition. I received word today that I won. Either they were running behind their time schedule or somebody backed out and I'm the runner up. I'm not as happy about this as I thought I would be because I had really adjusted to the idea of not having to do all of that work right now. Now, my summer looks way over-scheduled....OTOH, this was and is my best shot at meeting this goal, so it's time to call in that 43 Things spirit and get going.

23. Switch to reusable shopping bags for groceries

The last time I tried to do this I couldn’t get in the habit of getting my bags in the car when I go shopping. I’ve solved that problem. As soon as the bags are emptied they go on the doorknob and I put them in the car the next time I go out (whether it’s to the grocery store or somewhere else).

Now, the problem is that I too often leave the bags in the car when I should take them into the store! So I can’t call this done yet. I still have half of a habit to develop….

4. get a job

I mailed two applications today. I have done several things to pursue this goal, but this is the first step that might actually lead to a job.

2. Be a better blogger

This blog has a spin-off. The Missouri Humanities Council took an interest in the pictures and entries of the Chautauqua. Since the blog wasn't a really good forum to send people to (reverse chronology and you have to go back to the June entries to see the relevant posts), I pulled the Chautauqua entries into a separate diary.

32. watch more movies

War of the Worlds

I think this one was enjoyed equally by myself and my teenage movie buddy. We liked the intensity, focus on character, and special effects.

11. take a walk everyday

Walking at a conference is no great trick. But "taking a walk" (for fun, health, and peace of mind) rather than merely walking for transportation can take some doing.

The convention center in Chicago doesn't make it obvious, but if you're diligent enough, you can make your way out to a marvelous bike/pedestrian path along Lake Michigan. I highly recommend that as a place to walk during a Chicago convention. I did it twice.

My last day at the conference had no free time. I intended to walk when I got home, but my flight was delayed so that it would be after dark before I got home. So, I walked the airport--all three concourses of Midway (Concourse C is short, Concourse A has the coolest stores).

8. present at a conference

Good news on this front. I found out last week that the proposal I submitted to present at the Missouri Library Association conference was accepted. So, if all goes as planned, I should complete this goal in October.

6. publish in a peer-review journal

Bad news on this front. I didn't win the graduate student paper competition I entered--the date has passed when I would have heard had I won. On a positive note, this means I can do the project more on my own time schedule.

4. get a job

I did two interviews and talked with someone from a third institution about an opening during the American Library Association conference last weekend.

14. go to library conferences and workshops

I went to the American Library Association conference in Chicago last weekend. That's the biggest U.S. library conference of the year--over 25,000 attendees. When Barak Obama spoke at the Opening Session, the first thing he did was look over the audience and say "that's a lot of librarians!"

32. watch more movies

Herbie Fully Loaded

I took my movie buddy to see the Love Bug (but I don't think they ever called him that). I'm sure he liked Star Wars better, but he was a good sport about it. It was especially fun for me since I've been watching so many races this summer.

36. learn about wikis

I added a page (my conference schedule) to the unofficial ALA conference wiki. I also edited two pages, adding my schedule to the Attendee Schedules page and my blog to the Conference Bloggers page.

The only problem I had was that I couldn't see my name on the Attendee Schedules page. Meredith advised me to clear my cache and that did the trick! Otherwise, it was easy.

25. catch up reading professional journals and magazines

I read my entire backlog of American Libraries--motivated by the American Library Association conference this weekend.