Hello Again, it's Summer!
Hello Livejournal - It's been a MONTH without an update. Cause it's summer. I really thought I'd have tons of free time, but actually, I feel very busy! The wedding planning is getting down to the wire. I can't believe at all that I only have three more weeks until I'm a married woman! It's just gone so fast. There's a lot left to do, so it's feeling a bit crazy! I am so ready for this day to come though.
I have a Masters Degree! Well, my diploma still hasn't been mailed because I had a library hold (apparently they don't like it when you hang on to 42 books after graduation!) and Dr. Smith forgot to put in a grade for my MA exam studies course. Hah. Anyway, it's done, success! The paper went just fine, Kalamazoo was a BLAST (especially that wild Saturday dance!) and I an glad it's done. for now. I'm taking the summer off from (too much) academic work. That semester kicked. my. ass. and this is a well-deserved mental break.
Sort of! I am also working at the Vatican Film Library this summer, helping build a big database for the journal Manuscripta. In the future, when it's done and online, if a scholar is working with a specific manuscript, they'll be able to look in this database and find every mention of that manuscript in Manuscripta articles - a very helpful tool. The motivation for me is not so much that I'm helping build a super database, but that I am personally learning SO MUCH about how libraries organize their special collections, and how to find specific manuscripts across Europe! I think I now know the word for "manuscript," "library," "collection," "folio," "codex," and "catalogue" in German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, and a host of other European languages. Crazy. Its pretty fun though, when it's not endlessly frustrating, because finding these manuscripts is like a hunt, or sometimes a wild goose chase! It's particularly awful when collections have moved libraries since the date of the citation in Manuscripta (I'm currently working on the late 1950s journals) and I have to hunt them down, or the shelfmarks have since been changed, or the article has a typo that makes the manuscript really hard to locate, or libraries don't have accessible catalogues online, in print in the VFL, or on Google books, etc. Sometimes I want to bang my head against my desk, and sometimes it's really fun. Either way it is very SATISFYING when all the data for a manuscript makes it into the database after a good long hunt.
Recently, I received a fabulous Kitchenaid mixer for a wedding shower gift from the Moenning family ladies - I tested it out tonight and made "Chocolate Pixies" - perfect! They were super tasty. I took a bunch of pics and will post a Jess Jones style entry to celebrate the Kitchenaid debut!
I have a Masters Degree! Well, my diploma still hasn't been mailed because I had a library hold (apparently they don't like it when you hang on to 42 books after graduation!) and Dr. Smith forgot to put in a grade for my MA exam studies course. Hah. Anyway, it's done, success! The paper went just fine, Kalamazoo was a BLAST (especially that wild Saturday dance!) and I an glad it's done. for now. I'm taking the summer off from (too much) academic work. That semester kicked. my. ass. and this is a well-deserved mental break.
Sort of! I am also working at the Vatican Film Library this summer, helping build a big database for the journal Manuscripta. In the future, when it's done and online, if a scholar is working with a specific manuscript, they'll be able to look in this database and find every mention of that manuscript in Manuscripta articles - a very helpful tool. The motivation for me is not so much that I'm helping build a super database, but that I am personally learning SO MUCH about how libraries organize their special collections, and how to find specific manuscripts across Europe! I think I now know the word for "manuscript," "library," "collection," "folio," "codex," and "catalogue" in German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, and a host of other European languages. Crazy. Its pretty fun though, when it's not endlessly frustrating, because finding these manuscripts is like a hunt, or sometimes a wild goose chase! It's particularly awful when collections have moved libraries since the date of the citation in Manuscripta (I'm currently working on the late 1950s journals) and I have to hunt them down, or the shelfmarks have since been changed, or the article has a typo that makes the manuscript really hard to locate, or libraries don't have accessible catalogues online, in print in the VFL, or on Google books, etc. Sometimes I want to bang my head against my desk, and sometimes it's really fun. Either way it is very SATISFYING when all the data for a manuscript makes it into the database after a good long hunt.
Recently, I received a fabulous Kitchenaid mixer for a wedding shower gift from the Moenning family ladies - I tested it out tonight and made "Chocolate Pixies" - perfect! They were super tasty. I took a bunch of pics and will post a Jess Jones style entry to celebrate the Kitchenaid debut!