DINOSAURS!
February 19, 2012 at 4:37 pm | Posted in adventures!, thoughts | 5 CommentsTags: academy of natural science, adventures, dinosaurs, philly
We’re big fans of awesome museums, science, and dinosaurs so we visited The Academy of Natural Sciences again yesterday. It is one of our favorite Philly places so far! It’s always nice to take a few hours and look at dinosaurs, butterflies, exotic animal displays and whatever else the museum has up that day. This time around I had a great time looking at all the tiny details of the dioramas they have the stuffed animals in. The level of detail that they put into creating the background is just incredible, especially when you consider that most people probably pay a lot more attention to the animal than the ground! They have plants, trees, other little animals… It’s amazing!
The big attraction this weekend was Paleopalooza! There was even more dinosaur related stuff around than usual. The highlight was probably the T-Rex from Field Station: Dinosaurs that hung around outside the museum. It was so much fun to watch it tear through the crowds scaring/entertaining children and adults alike! Steve got a great video of it chasing him down:
Anyway, dinosaurs are pretty awesome, and so is the Academy of Natural Sciences!
Books, books, books!
January 19, 2011 at 1:14 am | Posted in Book Arts, Books, thoughts, update | Leave a commentTags: bookarts, bookbinding, gifts
For Christmas I made many people books. I’m still working on a few, but here are all the ones that I completed and gave to people!
Kelly’s Book:
My friend Kelly loves to travel and write, and she’s currently stationed in Louisiana with Americorps. For her book I used some lovely paper I had that was covered in travel stamps, a red ribbon, and a map of the southern USA.
Lily’s Book:
My sister Lily just started high school. She’s recently started writing for a local teen paper. I made her book with earthy green paper (you can see some leaves in the paper!) and a map of Pennsylvania. Her book is a bit smaller than the ones I usually make so she can easily carry it around with her.
Maggie’s Book:
I was so excited when I drew my cousin Maggie in our family gift exchange this year! Maggie reminds me a lot of myself when I was ten, what with all the reading and writing, and I was thrilled to get to make her something special. When I was younger her parents would often give me journals as gifts, so it seemed very appropriate to make her one this year! My mom helped me pick out the fun, colorful paper I used to bind her book!
Jessie’s Book:
Jessie’s book was one of the first I made and also one of my favorites. I made her a dos-a-dos and I think it turned out beautifully! She’s a busy senior in high school, so I’m sure she can find plenty of things to fill up both sides of the book!
Mom’s Book:
For my mom’s book I tracked down some old family photos and put them together for her. She’s really into family history, so some of them were very old! Others were from when I was a child. There are plenty of blank pages in the back for her to fill up with other photos or family information she finds. Of all the books I made for Christmas, this one might be my favorite, if only for the content!
Little House
December 6, 2010 at 10:41 pm | Posted in Books, thoughts | Leave a commentTags: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House, school, The Long Winter
Oh Little House, you have taken over my life. I’ve been spending most of the semester reading, researching, and thinking about The Long Winter, my favorite Little House book.
Luckily, I haven’t gotten sick of them yet! Oh no, quite the opposite, I’m quite content to spend hours thinking about the Ingalls family and their troubles! It makes me much more grateful for the secure comforts of my modern house and family! I don’t have to worry about freezing to death or having to grind my own wheat all day every day for bread.
I do want to churn my own butter though.
Anyway, the first of my two Little House projects is… done? I feel like it can’t really be done, but I have other things to work on and I think it’s time to call it! So here’s the link if you’re interested!
http://courseweb.lis.illinois.edu/~stamm1/Laura/homepage
PS: The Interest page is my favorite!
So you want to watch some awesome movies… part 2
November 12, 2010 at 2:13 pm | Posted in Movies, thoughts | Leave a commentTags: film, must see movies
I forgot a lot of movies yesterday…. sooo, here are some more!
Igby Goes Down
directed by Burr Steers
If you aren’t already in live with Kieran Culkin from his amazing performance in Scott Pilgrim, this movie will make you change your mind. Like so many of the movies I like this one is quirky, funny, sometimes a little sad, and full of awesome.
Memorable quotes: “His conception was an act of animosity, why shouldn’t his life be one as well?”
Hannah and Her Sisters
directed by Woody Allen
I first saw this movie in my Philosophy in Film class and completely fell in love with it. One of my favorite Woody Allen movies. Such great acting, such great writing.
Memorable quote: Too many to pick from. Just watch the movie!
Annie Hall
directed by Woody Allen
This might beat Hannah and Her Sisters as my favorite Woody Allen movie. It’s so charming! If you liked 500 Days of Summer you’re pretty much guaranteed to adore this movie.
Memorable quote: “There’s an old joke – um… two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of ‘em says, “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.” The other one says, “Yeah, I know; and such small portions.” Well, that’s essentially how I feel about life – full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it’s all over much too quickly. The… the other important joke, for me, is one that’s usually attributed to Groucho Marx; but, I think it appears originally in Freud’s “Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious,” and it goes like this – I’m paraphrasing – um, “I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member.” That’s the key joke of my adult life, in terms of my relationships with women.”
Hero
directed by Yimou Zhang
I’m not super into martial arts films, but I really adore the wuxia style. It’s very Shakespearean. They’re all very beautiful and usually tragic. As you might have noticed by now, I’m a sucker for a good tragedy! Of all the wuxia films I’ve watched Hero has been my favorite. Even if you aren’t into martial arts films I really think you should check this one out–it’s so much more than just fighting!
Memorable quote: “I have just come to a realization! This scroll by Broken Sword contains no secrets of his swordsmanship. What this reveals is his highest ideal. In the first state, man and sword become one and each other. Here, even a blade of grass can be used as a lethal weapon. In the next stage, the sword resides not in the hand but in the heart. Even without a weapon, the warrior can slay his enemy from a hundred paces. But the ultimate ideal is when the sword disappears altogether. The warrior embraces all around him. The desire to kill no longer exists. Only peace remains.”
The Exorcist
directed by William Friedkin
I have a real love-hate relationship with scary movies. I love them because they’re awesome, but I hate them because I’m 22 and I shouldn’t have to still sleep with the light on! This movie is scary but also really well done. If you want a good horror movie instead of one of the thousands of crappy ones out there… go for this.
Memorable quote: “The Power of Christ compels you!”
The Graduate
directed by Mike Nichols
The Graduate! How could I have forgotten The Graduate! Watch it now, watch it now! You’ll never get Simon and Garfunkel out of your head, but that’s ok.
Memorable quote: It’s like I was playing some kind of game, but the rules don’t make any sense to me. They’re being made up by all the wrong people. I mean no one makes them up. They seem to make themselves up.
I promise that’s it for now! No more awesome movie list posts for at least a month, ok? Ok!
The one where Emily feels sorry for herself
October 26, 2010 at 3:16 pm | Posted in Libraries, thoughts, update | 1 CommentLife has been more than a little crazy the last few months, and I won’t lie to you, in many ways I am really looking forward to being done with school in December. I’m excited to be out of school for the first time in my life, and I’m excited to get an actual job.
But sometimes I worry that all this was a very expensive mistake.
Don’t get me wrong, I love library science and this year has given me so many great experiences that I would never call a mistake. But there aren’t a lot of jobs out there right now. Library school was supposed to help me get experience so I could get a job, but so far the only experience I’ve gotten has been classes and volunteer experience. When I applied to library school last year they told me that of course there would be plenty of graduate assistantships available. Well… we all know how this story goes. No graduate assistantship, no real library experience, and I’m back living in my parents’ basement.
I went to Illinois because it was supposed to be the “best” library school in the country, and as much as I would like to believe that, after this long in the program I really can’t. I’ve had professors who have texted in class during student presentations and online professors who have never even taken an online class, let alone taught ANY class, among other things. Graduate school has not been at all what I expected and I’m not sure if it really has prepared me to be a good librarian. I feel like there are huge gaps in my knowledge.
And yes, a lot of my dissatisfaction may be because I haven’t taken advantage of as many opportunities as I should have. By doing the program in a year and doing half of it through LEEP I’m sure I’m missing out on a lot of great things Illinois has to offer. However, I still can’t help but feel a little betrayed by GSLIS, ALA, and myself.
I have had a lot of great experiences through GSLIS that I don’t think I would have gotten anywhere else. All of my Special Collections classes have been amazing, and if even just for that I cannot regret my decision to do get my MLIS at the University of Illinois. I’ve met a lot of great people and I feel like my (almost) a year of library school has helped me to become a better person and help me become the sort of adult that I want to be. With any luck I’ll soon be blogging about my awesome library job, but I think until that awesome library job comes up I’m going to worry, and there will be days like today where I feel sorry for myself.
Sorry for the depressing post, folks. I promise that soon I’ll have some much less depressing posts about books, movies, pictures of my tunnel book, and food.
Banned Books Week
September 28, 2010 at 2:51 pm | Posted in Books, Libraries, thoughts | 1 CommentTags: banned books week, censorship, intellectual freedom
Happy Banned Books Week everyone! Go dust off your copies of Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird and the dictionary and celebrate your freedom to read!
It should come as no surprise to anyone that I’m against censorship. As an avid reader (often of banned books) and a future librarian how could I not be? Today I received my official ALA membership card. On it is printed the Code of Ethics which includes “We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources.” I fully intend to take that to heart. At some point in my career I’m sure I’ll have to fight for a book and I hope that I’ll be up to the task!
Intellectual freedom is one of our most important rights as free human beings. We have the right to think about things, to read, and to talk about our ideas. Even if we are wrong, we still have that right! If we want to live in a free society we need to accept that people are going to think differently from us and that other people have the right to listen to them.
John Stuart Mill wrote extensively on intellectual freedom. One of my favorite quotes from him is “However unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to be moved by the consideration that however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.” Humans are not infallible! No matter how right you think you are there is always the chance that you’re wrong, and by stifling debate you rob yourself and others of the chance of figuring out the truth. You can find more of Mill’s writing here. It’s pretty dense reading, but I think it’s definitely worth a look through. Of all the essays I’ve read in library school this is the one that has really stuck with me.
The American Library Association has a ton of great resources on banned books. If you start here you can find lists of frequently challenged books, information on banned books week, and information on the Office of Intellectual Freedom.
Eight Things…
August 4, 2010 at 2:48 pm | Posted in Books, Movies, Technology, thoughts | 1 CommentToday I spent a significant amount of time watching old Vlog Brothers’ videos on YouTube. For those of you who don’t know, the Vlog Brothers consist of Hank and John Green, and they make fun, funny, entertaining and sometimes educational videos. Watching this one got me thinking, what am I grateful for today? Go, watch, then come back.
You watched it? Good. So, what am I thankful for today, Wednesday August 4, 2010? Let me tell you.
Computer Labs
My computer is currently broken. For about two hours this was a huge disaster and I panicked, but then I realized that it wasn’t really that big of a deal. Since I’ve been having so many computer problems I’ve been storing more and more of my homework on gmail, and all my bookmarks are on Delicious, not my computer. I need the internet much more than I need a computer, and thanks to nice things like computer labs, I have the internet. So thanks, University of Illinois GSLIS building, I’m super happy that you have a nice computer lab for me to hang out in for 10 hours today.
Air Conditioning
It is hot here. Really, really hot here. I’m pretty sure Central Illinois in the middle of summer with no ac is one of the most godforsaken things. Last night my friend and I spent some time being old ladies and doing laps around the mall because it was too damn hot to do anything else. I don’t know how people handled the heat before ac, and I am super grateful that I’m going home tomorrow to houses and apartments and other places that are full of air conditioning.
August 5, 2010
THAT’S RIGHT! I’m super grateful for TOMORROW. Because you know what tomorrow is!? Tomorrow is the day I move back to Pennsylvania. Gooooooodbye to the midwest!
LEEP
And why am I lucky enough that I get to move home despite only being halfway through the program? LEEP! Online education is awesome. I get to live in the comfort of my own state, a mere 45 minutes from my boyfriend and even closer to most of the other people I care a lot about while still attending the number one library school in the country. LEEP, you make me happy.
Indexers
Indexers are awesome and amazing, and I have so much respect for them. I could not be an indexer. Frankly, this summer was full of more indexing than I’m really comfortable with! But now I can say that I do understand what they do, and why they are important to our society. They are unsung heroes of patience. They sit down and index tons of articles and books and… everything every day, just so we can find things. And why do they have to do this? Because of…
Aboutness
Aboutness is basically what it sounds like–what something is about. And computers, for all the wonderful and amazing things they can do, still can’t figure this out. And I’m pretty grateful for that. I’m excited that we live in a time when computers are so powerful and can help us so much and yet… our brains are still better. A computer may be able to do more math than I can (because I can pretty much only do math at the 5th grade level…) but a computer could not index this blog and you know what? I totally could.
Books
Surprise, surprise, books made the list of things I’m grateful for. I love that despite living in an age where digital media is quickly overtaking every other kind, people are still fighting for normal, physical books. Yes, I’m also excited about e-books and I’m interested to see how society accepts them and how they change us, but despite that I am deeply, deeply in love with real books. I’m grateful that I live in a time and place where I can have a huge collection of books to call my own. And! As of next week my book collection will be reunited under one roof for the first time in years.
Fake Movie Trailers
I love movie trailers in general, but lately it seems like there are so many good fake movie trailers out there and I am super grateful that they exist because they make me laugh. The most recent one to make me giggle?
Love Letter to my iPod
April 27, 2010 at 11:44 pm | Posted in Books, Technology, thoughts | 2 CommentsTags: Books, iPod, Technology
I love my iPod Touch. I have never been more satisfied with a purchase. Like I mentioned in a post earlier today, I really do feel like it has changed the way I connect with the world.
Originally, I wasn’t going to get an iPod Touch. I thought they were an interesting gadget, but nothing a poor college student like me should be spending money on! And then Steve got one. He was so enthralled with it, and I borrowed it constantly to check things online or play games… I had to change my mind and think about getting one. So one fateful day last June with a fresh paycheck burning in my pocket, I got one. The Radio Shack guy tried so hard to talk me out of it, but I was set in my ways. I haven’t looked back since.
How can a silly gadget change your life, you might ask. Well dear readers, if you’ve ever listened to me before… well, now would also be a good time.* Let me tell you how my iPod has changed my life.
I’ve always wanted to be the kind of person who keeps up with the news. Since middle school I’ve gone through periods where I’m very in tune with what is going on, and periods where I ignore everything news related. I think my main problem was always that I couldn’t find a way of getting the news that I really enjoyed. Television news is a joke, newspapers are large and at times physically uncomfortable to read, and reading the news on the computer always felt more like work than anything else. None of these problems exist with my iPod. I can pick the news sources I read (I have apps for USA Today, Time, and The Huffington Post and I also usually see what’s on Google News) and the format is very comfortable. Now checking up on the news is the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning, and the second to last thing I do before I go to sleep. I don’t have to have my glasses on to read it, and I only need one hand. I also love reading comics on my iPod. Most, like my favorite, are the perfect size for the iPod. Overall, it is just so much nicer than using the computer.
Let’s talk about my computer for a moment, shall we? I have a serious love/hate relationship with my computer. Lately it has had all kinds of problems, but even beyond that, using my computer too often feels like work. It’s hard for me to separate work from play when I do it on the same screen, often in the same window! So if I can avoid turning on my computer, I want to avoid it. Thanks to my iPod I have that option. I can keep the computer off while still staying in touch with the world! Living here, it’s rare that I go a day without my computer, but at home it’s pretty common for me to only use the computer for work and to go days without touching it.
The games are fun, and I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent playing Scrabble (ahem, Words With Friends). Lately I’ve been trying to teach myself chess using a few different apps, and who doesn’t love a good puzzle game? My iPod is my calculator, my back up alarm, and my weatherman. My iPod is fun and really, that’s why I like it so much. I don’t get bored with it because it’s always changing.
I have not tried reading any e-books on my iPod, although I may try it over the summer. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about e-books and what their role will be in the libraries of the future. In high school I read a few books online using my computer, and I hated it. After a while it hurt my eyes and it did not have the same relaxing feel of holding a book. I’m interested to see if my negative feelings towards e-books are still true, or if technology has caught up. One day I would love to try a Kindle (or some such device) but I don’t think a machine could ever completely replace a physical book for me. I love books. I love how they smell, how they feel, how they look… Picking up a book is so comforting. Opening up a familiar old book is like going home. The way the text looks on the page, the little imperfections that you have memorized after reading a book 10 times… These are aspects of reading that I don’t think an e-book could ever replicate. Like I said, over the summer I’ll probably try reading a book on my iPod, so I’ll let you know what I think of that, and hopefully at some point in the future I’ll have the opportunity to try out another kind if e-reader to form a solid opinion on them.
So dear readers, that is why I love my iPod.
*”dear readers” quote stolen from Brad Neely’s Wizard People Dear Readers
Things I Miss, Things I Like!
April 5, 2010 at 10:47 pm | Posted in thoughts | 2 CommentsSorry about he lack of posts this month! I was very busy with break, and catching up from break, and having my family visit! It was a fantastic month, and I had such a good time at home, so thanks everyone who made that possible 
Being home made me think about what I actually miss about home and what I actually like about being here. I’ll start with what I miss about Pennsylvania. I’m not going to include people because it would get a little too lengthy!
Red Beet Eggs
Maaaaan, do I ever miss these! My favorite lunch ever is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a red beet egg, and some orange juice. It just isn’t the same not seeing them at the grocery store! Over the summer I might try to make my own, so if anyone has any tips I would love to hear them!
Tastykakes
At home I rarely eat Tastykakes. They’re not very good for you, and the only ones I really love are the butterscotch krimpets. But now that I can’t have them, I WANT THEM. Little Debbies just don’t compare. When Jessie was here last week we went to Cold Stone, and she was trying to describe an ice cream creation she had made that tasted like a Tastykake, but they had no idea what she was talking about. Whenever I talk about home, I always seem to find Tastykakes in the conversation!
Turkey Hill products
When I moved to Lancaster from Berks I missed Clover Farms, but Turkey Hill was just as familiar and good. Being so far from home, I have neither! I miss seeing the “imported from Lancaster County” signs everywhere, and I miss the delicious ice cream!
Hills
I really did take my beautiful pennsylvania hills for granted. Driving home it was so good to reach the point where the land wasn’t flat! I hate how flat it is here, and I don’t think I could ever get used to it. There are plenty of farms nearby here, but they’re all so flat and boring… not beautiful like the ones at home. Maybe I’m just being too picky, because really, does a hill matter? But whether it matters or not, I miss my hills!
Things I like about Champaign County
The Cupcake Store!
Cakes on Walnut is adorable, delicious, and like nothing I’ve ever found in Pennsylvania! It’s a fun little place in Downtown Champaign where you can get cupcakes, or alcohol. I think it’s a perfect combination for a college town! Their cupcakes are wonderful, they make the frosting perfectly! I’m pretty picky when it comes to cupcakes and cakes, and in my opinion Cupcakes on Walnut makes the perfect cupcakes. They also have a pretty amusing calendar that is fun to look at while you wait!
Books on Main
I don’t know why I never went to many used book stores, but for some reason I never frequented them! That’s all going to change now that I found this place! It is my ideal of what a bookstore should be. Small aisles (doesn’t meet any ADA requirements, I’m sure!) and books overflowing everywhere. They even have a cat! They have old postcards and magazines, and of course, books! I’m trying hard to stay away, because I know I would spend all of the money that I don’t have on old books….
Steak and Shake
Imagine a cross between Friendlies and a cheap diner, and you’ll understand what Steak and Shake is. It’s cheap, yummy, and really really bad for you! They have really decent meals for under $4. What more can you ask for?
Library School
I really love being in library school. It’s so interesting, and fun, and completely worthwhile. I was worried that I had made the wrong decision by moving 12 hours away, and sometimes I still think it might not have been for the best, but I really do love school. Three of my four classes are fantastic, and I love everyone I’ve met here. It is so good to feel like I’m part of a community, and to know that these people will be my colleagues! How cool is that!? I have a profession, I have colleagues! Tonight in class we were talking about how librarians are crafty freedom fighters out to protect our civil liberties, and it made me proud to be a future librarian. I don’t know what kind of library I’ll work in, but I am so excited to get a job somewhere and become a real librarian, not just a student!
So that’s about it for tonight! I promise to not be so bad about posting this month! There will be some book reviews, tv reviews, and perhaps some thoughts on libraries?
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
