Day 91: Post-St Patrick's Day Fallout

I am living on very much the wrong street for St Patrick's Day. After the parade yesterday, which left my right shoulder matching our school crest (white and RED; ouch!), my street didn't clear out until well into the evening. Absolutely marvellous weather though, and for now, only getting better (till the weekend anyways).

Lesson 90: The portions at McKibbons are absolutely extravagant. At Trivia tonight, I ordered the fisherman's chowder for the first time ever, but luckily had the foresight to ask what the size difference between "cup" and "bowl" was. The waitress told me that the cup was a regular sized bowl of soup, and the bowl was gigantic. The cup of soup that was brought to me was probably the equivalent of a full can of Campbell's Chunky soup!

Glad I didn't order that bowl!

On a more serious note, turns out my professor didn't appreciate my midterm example of reliability vs validity as much as I'd hoped, though I don't really understand why. But I still came out with a perfectly respectable mark.

Also, things seem to be just falling into my lap as far as next year is concerned. I may have lucked into a fantastic little apartment my friend won't be taking (the reason she won't be taking it? She just got engaged! Congrats, Laura! He's a lucky guy!). The apartment's not quite in the location I wanted, but next to a metro, so I can't complain. Might be nicer to stay out of the McGill bubble anyways; cheaper too.

I couldn't figure out a way to phrase this as a lesson beyond simply saying "course selection is haaaaard", but I'm also doing my course selection for next year. There are so many interesting courses that I'd like to take, and not enough time to do them in!

It looks like my biggest choice still to be made is Descriptive Bibliography (aka How to run a Rare Books collection) versus Cataloguing and Classification (Organization of Information, part two). My considerations are as follows:

• Descriptive Bibliography has the potential to be rather redundant given that I'm hoping to take History of Books and Printing, and Archival Principles and Practice as well.
• As much as I enjoy cataloguing, I don't know if I want to take another course about it that isn't going to focus on RDA, which as you may remember is meant to replace the current cataloguing rules right after my graduation (if they remain on track, big if).

Another course I'm not fully sold on is Database Design. Its focus is on Microsoft Access, and the course description states that it will also cover SQL which is what particularly interests me. However, I have been told that in practice, its coverage of SQL specifically is practically non-existent. And if I skip Database Design, I could take Language and Information instead, which is essentially about working in bilingual/multilingual systems which I imagine would be particularly handy if I want to stay in Montreal after graduation (which I would like to).

And of course, Knowledge Management comes hugely recommended, but I don't know that it's actually a course I'd like to take or that I would find particularly useful. Plus, I don't know what I'd be willing to give up in order to take it.

Other courses I'm hoping to take that I haven't yet mentioned:

• Metadata and Access
• Web System Design
• Library and Archival History
• Public Libraries

Choices, choices...

Day 88: And breathe that sigh of relief...

After a lovely trip to the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa with the ACA and CLA student chapters, I stayed on in Ottawa for a lovely weekend with my friend Sarah. She had to work a lot, but that just meant that I had an excuse to go eat at the pub she works at! Excellent place. If you're ever in Ottawa and want an excellent breakfast (or meal, period) you really should stop by The Lieutenant's Pump on Elgin.

And yes, you can quote me on that. I stake my vast and valuable reputation as a blogger on it. [/sarcastic self-aggrandizing] Seriously though, they're fantastic.

I mean, a burger with brie, mushrooms and bacon on it? Count me in!

Anyways, I digress.

Point is, I was back at school today. Though tomorrow I'm running off for a whirlwind trip to Toronto, during which I will ideally meet George R.R. Martin and get a book signed (for those who don't know, he is writing the series A Song of Ice and Fire, which has become the TV show Game of Thrones). But still...

Lesson 87: Professors are more aware of students' workloads then they are generally given credit for.

Or at least, I'll give my professor the benefit of the doubt and assume that's why she's given us the best gift she could have: a one week extension for all students on our collection development paper.

This week was going to be absolutely insane with the number of SIS events happening, my day in Toronto, completing a post-presentation write-up by Wednesday, the quiz in management, preparing my group presentation for next Monday, writing my evaluation of a research article for next Monday, spending and documenting 8000$ of imaginary money for our collection development paper due Monday as well, work, and the number of events I've been invited to for this weekend what with St Patrick's Day being so huge here in Montreal.

But now, I don't have to have completed the spending of the imaginary cash for another week.

And I feel like I can breathe again...

So lets see... if I can just get this write-up done now,
study for that quiz and finish readings tomorrow
evaluate a research article Thursday,
then I can maybe go to Gerts Friday,
do more collection development Sat+Sun
hand stuff in + present Mon and work on research proposal
train for the new job Wednesday, complete Collection Development
play soccer, work an 8hr shift, hang with Kristie
complete two essays and a research paper
Enjoy Easter? Go to Music Moot?
Seriously though, are you actually reading this?
It gets tiny like this so you can't actually read it.
This is an aesthetic representation of me losing my mind
Slowly becoming more and more helpless
As library school eats my brain like some zombie
Seriously, stop reading...



....Help me....

Day 85: The Heart-Wrenching Destruction of Books

This morning was the midterm for Research Principles and Analysis. As it was "Open-Everything" (like "Open-Book" but all course material was allowed) it wasn't too daunting, though that does tend to herald more convoluted and difficult questions.

I had bought myself some Tim Hortons on the way to write the test, and as a result I had a nice "medium" half coffee/half hot chocolate to drink through the midterm. As it's Lent, Tim Hortons has their "Roll Up The Rim To Win" contest on, so the cup I was drinking from could offer me many things from free food and drink, to a new car.

Always paranoid about having neglected some simple thing and as a result failing the entire endeavor, I told myself that if I had failed utterly on the midterm, I should at least win the camping equipment from my Roll Up the Rim. You know, to make up for it.

I won a donut.

I take this as a good sign for my level of success. I already know that I answered one multiple choice question wrong, but so far, that seems to be my only big mistake.

And any midterm in which you can write an entire response about Pastafarianism, Pirates and Global Warming is a good one in my books.

As for today's lesson...

Lesson 83: In 2004, the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Germany was destroyed by a devastating fire (caused by faulty wiring) shortly before the entire collection had been scheduled to be moved. This fire destroyed around 12,500 volumes which are completely irreplaceable.

It's nice to think that in an age of mass-digitization this kind of massive information loss can't happen. But cases like this make it all to real. The photos of the library before and after the fire were particularly heart-breaking; the entire place was completely gutted and lost the entire top floor.

The destruction of the original Library of Alexandria made me cry when I first learned about it, and upsets me just to think about.

I don't deal well with the destruction of knowledge and information...

Day 78: What do celery, passion fruit and latex all have in common?

I know those things don't seem to go together, but I'm serious. Celery, passion fruit and latex are all connected! And they aren't alone...

Lesson 74: Bananas, passion fruits, kiwis, melons, chestnuts, avocados, celery, tomato and latex all have cross-reacting proteins, meaning (as I understand it) that if you're allergic to one, you could have a reaction to any of the others.

One of my previous lessons established my apparently severe chestnut allergy, I have an avocado allergy I managed to pass to my mother in-utero and I have an irrational hatred of kiwis, melons and tomatoes, so what does this mean for me? I really hope I'm not going to wind up eventually unable to eat bananas and celery... I love bananas and celery!

Well... separately.

Not together.

That would be a very odd combination.... Crunchy, mushy banana flavoured waterstuff.

Day 48: Death? Yeah, sounds about right...

Lesson 45: Nut allergies are not to be trifled with.

Lesson 46: While a peanut is actually a legume, tree nuts are actually split into 6 or 7 different families. So, allergy wise, you can have reactions to one family, multiple families or all of them, but if you're allergic to one nut in a family, you will be allergic to all the other nuts in that family. Or be similarly un-reactive to all of them.

Which is why it was a bad idea of me to test out whether I have an allergy to chestnuts by eating a (absolutely delicious) chocolate-chestnut cupcake at the ACA bake sale (which was a huge success, btw). You see, I haven't had chestnuts at all really, and certainly not in any volume, or since I discovered my peanut allergy and started reacting to nuts.

I didn't even know I was actually allergic to peanuts until high school, after a ridiculous few weeks of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for every lunch. That incident culminated in me having 3 such sandwiches in one day, and reacting terribly (itching, hives, breathing issues... everything). I haven't eaten peanuts since. At least not intentionally, and I don't really react to small amounts.

But I've eaten walnuts, pecans and almonds and have no reaction to any of them. Which makes sense to me now, as most people who are allergic to nuts aren't actually allergic to almonds, and walnuts and pecans are both from the same family. I've been noticing a small reaction to cashews, which are with pistachios in the mango family. And my mouth itches a bit if I eat nutella or kitkat bars, which means I'm probably allergic to hazelnuts, filberts and hickory nuts, but like I'm about to stop eating kitkat bars and nutella! I've never noticed a reaction to macadamia nuts, which are apparently a family of their own, or brazil nuts, from the family legythis, that I'm aware of.

But really, I always thought a "nut allergy" was more of an all or nothing thing. Not a you might be allergic to these ones over here, but have no reaction to those ones over there kind of deal.

And now I know, nuts from the beech family, such as beechnuts and chestnuts, are 100% painfully off the table.

All it took was a numb mouth transitioning to tingling and onto painful, watering eyes, itchy throat, headache, exhaustion, nausea, and finally itching from the inside out.

...

Worth it. If only for that cupcake.

Day 45: We, we, we, we so excited...

I'M GOING TO NEW YORK TONIGHT!!!

I am so ridiculously excited, you have no idea... Quidditch, reffing, filming, party busses, sleepovers... WORLD CUP!!!!

*swoon*

All the work that needs to be done is done. I am ready to go to the World Cup for a weekend, ignore the fact school exists for a few days and get Quidditch-crazy!

But of course, we're basically at parity right now (dollar-wise) but all the banks are closed for Remembrance Day. That means no money exchange for Veronica. Sad panda.

Anyways, I'm skipping the lesson again today in favour of a few fun facts in honour of the World Cup!

Fun Fact #1: Butterbeer, the delicious warming beverage enjoyed by Hogwarts students visiting Hogsmeade, actually existed and was quite popular in the Tudor courts. It was a warmed, almost mulled, nog-like mixture of beer, eggs, butter, sugar and spices. I have a recipe for it from 1588 that I'm going to try out next week. However, J.K. Rowling states that she "made up" Butterbeer and imagines that it tastes like a "less sickly butterscotch", so Tudor Butterbeere isn't exactly what she had in mind.

Fun Fact #2: This year's World Cup is legitimately international! Not only are teams coming from across the United States and Canada, but also from Finland! Argentina and New Zealand! [edit: Argentina and New Zealand couldn't make it... :( maybe next year...]

Fun Fact #3:  Despite being a big enough fan of the series to have gone to every midnight book release, play Quidditch, get an advanced Beta-account for Pottermore, and have my granddad make me a wand (which I lost a few years ago at Barber Scout Camp in Guelph, to my greatest regret) I do not actually own the books... I read the copies that were given to, and bought by, my sister. But I never got my own copies; until they were released in French paperback. So I've read all the books in French and English, prefer them in English, but only own them in French.

You can keep up with all the World Cup action from the comfort of your own home with Muggle Net's Snitch Center! Watch streaming games, keep up with the scores, peruse player profiles, and check out the rankings (McGill currently sits at the #7 team... IN THE WORLD). Games start tomorrow morning after a 9AM opening parade.

Well, I have my camera, clothes, warm winter wear, a bag full of Dollarama candy and a sack full of Montreal-style bagels. I am good to go!

I'll be out of contact while I'm south of the border, so have a good one! I'll talk to you when I'm home!

Day 2: Orient me!

Today was a nice day. It felt a lot less early than yesterday! Orientation was more of a half-day followed by a BBQ, a tour and an introduction to Thompson House, the PGSS (or GSA for some of you).

So today's lesson is as light as the day was.

Lesson 3) MLIS students love Harry Potter and Doctor Who... I'm home!