giveway

Ok - I first put this post up because I couldn't get all the photos I wanted into my other post - but now I got it to work so I'll leave this up as a link to my flickr account so you can see all the other pretty photos I have up there.

I have some exciting photos this week. Since I last posted Sean, Juliana and I went to NYC to see the Yankees game. It was a good time -- we missed the first 2 innings because we thought it was going to be a rain delay. But it wasn't.









We enjoyed some drinks in a bar in Queens near Sean's brothers house and relaxed, played some cards and orderd food in the night after the game.

Sean and I adopted a beautifuly and crazy little kitten. We named him Skooch-Birdie for reasons too long to explain and have been entertained by him ever since. My favorite Skooch-Birdie moments are when he sticks his tounge out (which he does often). He also has yet to understand the concept of glass. We have a glass coffee table and when one of his toys is sitting on it, he jumps into the table from below. His most educational moment came when Sean and I stood outside the window and he jumped into the window not once, not twice but three times -- then he learned his lesson and stood on the chair and waited for us to come in.

Sean and I went apple picking last weekend and picked out 4 types of apples which I turned in to 2 delicious pies. I would include a picture of the pies, but they were gone before I could get the camera.

This weekend we're moving into the apt. above the one we're living in now. It's a bit bigger (more room for Skooch to play) has a porch and has more light than the dungeon we're living in now.

I have a few interviews coming up in the next month so perhaps there will be some new job news to share soon - but only time will tell.

I'll just go ahead and start this post the way most start --

I haven't posted in a while. A lot has gone on since my last post. I graduated with my MSLIS, sat around for most of the summer until I couldn't stand it any more. I started waitressing again until I couldn't stand that anymore (that didn't take long) and then I finally accepted a job as the newest member of the Bryant & Stratton College faculty. That's right, faculty.

That more or less brings us up to speed. When I accepted the job, I told them that Syracuse isn't exactly my dream city and they understood that I'll be looking for jobs outside the area. That puts me in a pretty good position to hold a full time job while I look for something I want more.

During my "time off" I did get to do a few exciting things. Sean and I went to San Diego for a week and hung out with his friend Matt, got to see Terese and went to 2 Pearl Jam shows. It was a good time. We took a quick trip to La Bufadora (Mexico) which was completely amazing. We camped on top of a cliff, we were the only ones there and we paid for our campsite with beer and cookies. I was dangerously close to staying.












Sean and I also visited WI for a week to see little baby Adian. He's a cute one.

With my new job, I work Mon - Thurs 8-2 and then factor in a little more time for grading... but basically, that's it. So that gives me Friday off every week. Since it's Friday, I don't have to work, I'm posting to my blog, looking for jobs, cleaning this awful apartment and preparing for our trip to NYC this weekend. Sean, Juliana and I are going to see the last Yankee's home game. I have become quite a weekend sports fan. Last weekend I went to see the Syracuse v. Miami football game where the Orange squeezed a victory out of the Redhaws. A battle of the degrees and SU wins.

Ok, that's all for now -- perhaps I can make Friday postings more regular -- but I have had ambitious thoughts like this before.... so no promises.

I've decided to get crazy and update. At the moment I'm sitting in my office in the library, staring out the window taking bets on how soon it will rain. I have found amazing ways to waste time during my internship hours (yes, even so far as to blog) and then to create wonderful fancy documents that impress my supervisor. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to waste their time here -- but I have realized that things take forever to get done in a library and if I were actually to work at a pace I feel comfortable (without wasting time) the librarians get overwhelmed.

In other news, I began applying for jobs. Most so far are the the northeast from PA to MA. I'm looking at one in Chicago at Columbia College -- which I am highly underqualified for on paper, but I'm sure I could do it. Only time will tell though... I'm just hoping to get an interview out of one of these.

My schedule has been busy but things have been going well. I even manage to find the time to watch an unusually large amount of SU basketball. Thanks to Sean I can ocassionally be spotted sporting an oversize "Go 'Cuse" shirt and getting riled up about a last second 3-point shot or a brutal defeat. How strange.

I just made a call about my student loan which, unbenounced to me, is $25,000. Hopefully I'll get a decent job so I can pay it off someday. That's the majority of my news for now. I have Monday off from teaching for President's Day -- which is great. I may be heading to Juliana's house in Canton, NY for a party and to prove to her parents that I actually exist. I have been, until now, only a name and a face in the occasional picture or two. I feel a duty to prove my existence to them.

Ok, back to work for a bit -- while I'm talking about jobs, I think I'll rewrite my resume which I have somehow lost and now only have in PDF and plaintext formats. yeeee.

I havent posted in forever. I'm sorry about that. It seems I've been busy. Now that school has started I'm teaching three classes, working 20hrs a week for the school of management, interning at the university library and taking classes. It keeps me busy and keeps my blog empty. On a more exciting note, I started liking coffee last saturday.
At the moment it's a sunday afternoon and i'm in my library office trying to get all sorts of things done before the week starts again. yee haw. more later.

ok, so i didn't move this weekend - my key didn't work in my new place so i went to pennsylvania. anyway, that's good news for this blog because i'll be updating rather than packing. i've managed to put the majority of the things i own into the middle of the room so i can't walk around at all-- that means, if i leave this computer, i'll have to pack and move - and i'm in no mood for that. so, i'll take brad up on his shout-out.
Three nicknames that you have had:
1. johnstone
2. chatty cathy
3. katty

Three things you like about yourself:
1. my sharp, well-disguised wit
2. my ability to nap at any hour of the day
3. my stellar waitressing skills

Three things you don't like about yourself:
1. my ability to nap at any hour of the day
2. my subscription to blockbuster online
3. my unnatural attraction to mediterranean food

Three things that scare you:
1. revolving doors
2. conservatives
3. tiny modern dinosaurs (aka birds)

Three of your everyday essentials:
1. working
2. procrastinating
3. taps

Three things you are wearing right now:
1. my sweet new asics
2. thrift store t-shirt
3. pin-stripe pants

Three of your favorite bands growing up:
1. michael jackson
2. marlo thomas & friends (free to be you and me)
3. pennywise

Two truths and a lie:
1. i'm about to cut off my foot
2. i already cut off my foot
3. my whole body is happy to see that foot go

Three things you can't do without:
1. npr
2. all my buddies
3. apparently, my foot

Three things you most certainly can do without:
1. boxes for packing
2. underwear
3. bills

Three places you want to go on vacation:
1. vegas
2. luxembourg
3. nyc

Three things you want to do before you die:
1. move out of this apartment
2. pay back some loans
3. make a serious dent in my "to read" list

Three people you want to know these things about:
1. erin
2. a. todd - eternal reader/never writer of blogs
3. you

Saving all the waitresses 'cause they've all got longing in their eyes,
The little acorn becomes the mighty oak
The oak throws its seeds into the sky
Drive your car up to the pole
That's as far as you can go
Take your coat off when you know
To warm your bones in the northern snows
Drop a feather in the water
What the ocean gives the sky will take
Killing swans with twenty one guns
Just to see them fall into the lake
When you're driving up the coast
To your left is a black mass
Drive your car until you see
To wet your tongue with the salty sea
Float your paper boat up the creek
Watch the waves from its wake
Killing swans with twenty one guns
Just to see them fall and see them break

by Eric Johnson (Fourteen with a Beard Music/BMI)

ah, i can't wait...

i was just taking an awesome nap when i woke up to repeted honking. i looked out my window to see that one of my neighbors had given a small child the remote to his car to play with while he talks on the phone. i think i only heard her hit the 'panic' button a few times. who would ever think that is a good idea? dont they know people are take their 4pm naps?!

that is how curtis and i were greeted upon our arrival to the club quarters in chicago last weekend. we headed down for the ALA annual conference. from what i hear, the conference was pretty good, but i can't comment myself because i only made it to two meetings, the first of which was sunday night and the second monday afternoon. oh, by far the best conference related activity though, was the "book cart drill team" for those of you who are not so library-hip as i, book carts are those carts that library employees use to stack books on and wheel them around to the shelves. so, picture this: 'teams' of library employees dressed up in bright colors and sparkles performing their routines choreographed to music. it was classic and i wasn't sure if my unabashed laughter was quite appropriate amidst the cheering fans - but that is just something i can't stop.
chicago as a whole was a great time - i made it (on one of my "should be at the conference but am not" days) to the taste of chicago, navy pier, a long walk along the lake and millennium park. it was a great time and made me seriously consider chicago as a spot to move post-graduation. its a great city, close to home and seems to have tons to offer - and lots of flowers.
friday night of my trip i took the train up to wisconsin for my mom's birthday party and after i arrived at the train station i was greeted by my lack of planning so i hung out there until i could recruit my cousin nick to come and pick me up - he graciously came - and quickly.
the next evening was my mom's party so we spend the day getting ready by spreading 50's paraphernalia all over the house. i also took a while to 'repair' the poodle skirt my mom made me - she was inspired by a picture to put a larger-than-life banjo on my skirt with some music notes... although it was nice of her, the poodle skirt itself is not my style so me in a poodle skirt with a giant banjo on it is surely not my style. ellen and i did some emergency repair and i hit the scene with a bowling/poodle skirt. not too bad. the party was a good time but sadly i had to take off pretty soon after - but it was nice to be home for 24hours.
so anyway, i'm back in syracuse now and have a few exciting things going on. i'm moving this weekend - well, i'm moving tomorrow - but i haven't packed a thing yet. i suppose that will be today's activity. yesterday i also got offered my teaching job for next semester. i'm not totally sure i want to do it, but i should keep in mind it would be much easier next time around since i have taken so much time this semester to get used to how to teach and planning so many lessons... it's possible. we'll see what happens.
ok, that may be enough bullshit from me for now. perhaps i'll respond to brad's post on my next packing break.