Right now we are mid-trip in Redmond, WA and I thought it was as good of time as any to try and start to blog again.  We really have been having a nice trip so far. Well, I should re-phrase that a bit – I have been having fun and Reeves has been productive.  He attended the eMetrics conference in San Francisco and the MS Business Intelligence conference in Seattle.  While he has been working long days, I have had a fabulous time playing with my friends.  While staying in SF I was able to do a few things I haven’t done before.  Trina took me on a wonderfully guided tour of Chinatown including a yummy lunch of Dim Sum. She is now officially “Travel Trina” not just WebTrina anymore!  We also did an afternoon lunch at the remodeled Cliff House – what a clear and perfect day for a three hour lunch!

Now that we are in Seattle/Redmond I have been able to spend time with Leslie.  She came into Seattle and we did a little shopping and sat by the bay and had a lovely afternoon chat in the sun.  Reeves and I were able to spend Saturday wine tasting around Redmond/Woodinville (found a new wine I like – Red Sky) with Leslie and Jason and a really great dinner at the restaurant Purple Café and Wine Bar in Woodinville.  

Can’t wait till we are both officially on vacation starting on Wednesday night as well have many fun events planned with our friends in the week to come!

We have been going to and fro so much lately I just haven’t had the gusto to write much.  After we returned home from the Christmas holiday, visiting the Little family in Maryland, including the Terach’s new golden retriever puppy, Midas, Reeves left for a business trip two weeks later.  He returned home the day after I had left to Oxford to do a weekend workshop on Palaeography, meeting me with the car after I had finished the class on Sunday evening.  We then drove into London where we stayed at my favorite hotel, The Pelham in South Kensington, for 4 days.  While in London we went to the show Mary Poppins and enjoyed some really yummy cuisine at Bibendum.  En route back to Ireland we drove through Wales – what an enchanting countryside!  I absolutely LOVED the place we stayed near the town of Hay-on-Wye, The Felin Fach Griffin – it had modern and comfortable updates while still keeping all the authentic and traditional details which make up the soul of a home.  It is one of the few places I know I will visit again.  We drove about the countryside quite a bit and ended up visiting three of Edward I castle’s on the North and West coasts of Wales.  I also loved the car ferry experience – is was so much easier and relaxed compared to air travel, especially in this day and age.  In all, the trip was a wonderful time spent in our neighboring country!

I have also been busy trying to break into the archival world here in Ireland.  I have joined the 2 associations/societies and after attending the annual meeting of the Irish Society of Archives last week, the contacts paid off, I have a job!  Well, it is a volunteer position, but it is the first good step in the right direction. I will start at the National Archives of Ireland the day after I return from holiday.  I already know some of the collection on which I will be working, which is extremely exciting.  Even if I don’t get a paid position here, at least I will have the opportunity to work with some wonderful “old stuff”.   

I am now off to the States on Friday to stay with Amy for 10 days.  We are going to visit Boston for 4 days while I am there – some place I have never been and very excited to see all the history in which this town is steeped. 

We promised ourselves that if we moved to Dublin we would make the most of living so close to so many great countries, and we are starting the year off with a trip to the UK.  One of the things I personally am so excited about is living within an hour flight (and then only a 30 minute bus ride) to Oxford.  Ever since I did a summer course there in 2001 I have been hooked. Now, since we are within a reasonable distance, I can attend some classes. I am SO excited - in 2 weeks I am doing a 2-day workshop on palaeography! (yes, I am a big geek) I have dabbled in it a bit while doing my masters, but now I will actually have some formal training in it, and from a renowned institution.  For those of you who don’t off the top of your heads, palaeography is the study of old handwriting, specifically in this case late medieval handwriting of England. 

As English history has been a passion of mine for over 20 years, this will be a great opportunity to enjoy a closer look at some original documents, as well as adding to my greater knowledge base. Since Reeves has to be in Redmond, WA for work up until the first day of the workshop for me, he will meet me in Oxford with the car at the end of the weekend (he is taking the car ferry over from Dublin to Wales) and we will go into London for 3 days, returning West to Wales to stop at Hay-on-Wye for a day so I can load up the car with old books and then drive north to visit some of the castles built by Edward II of England before we take the car ferry home again.  In all we will be gone a week.  I am so excited because I have not been to the UK since 2002 and I have been aching to return.

Day 4 and 5 (04-05/10/2006)

We our in our final couple hours and I have to say this has been a perfect trip.  Just the right amount of time to not feel rushed, to do everything in a couple days, and a manageable size town in which to accomplish everything we wanted to really see that represents the town.

The food has all been wonderful and we didn’t even eat at a 'fancy' restaurant this trip - it has all been bistro-type places with local Austrian/Germanic food and a little Italian thrown in for a change of culinary scenery.  Maybe because it is in my heritage, but I do love this region's food -  although one needs to be a manual laborer to burn all the calories the dishes have!  Reeves has also been quiet the little German speaker.  He always thinks he doesn't do well, but he understands so much and can at least order food, converse short dialogues with the locals and get us where we need to be.  In fact, he had an exchange in German with a wait-person whereby he told her his German was very bad and he had forgotten most and she said "well, you are understanding me now aren't you!"

We have also been a bit shocked with the smoking everywhere here.  We realized we had been eating every meal outside and commented that it wasn't that bad until we were forced, by the rain, to seek refuge in the cafes. We definitely admit we would have a hard time living in a country that allowed smoking as many places as they still do here.

Yesterday, however, was my birthday and I had a wonderful day.  Although we woke up to overcast skies, the rain stayed away enough for us to not be caught outside getting wet. We started with the Dom museum which I have to say was a really well done exhibit. It was located in the mezzanine level in the cathedral, on the upper levels above the ambulatories.  On one side there was art and artifacts from the church and its history. One then crossed over to the other side via the platform for the large pipe organ at the back of the church.  On the other side they had a special exhibit on Mozart, placing his life, work and religious devotion, or lack there of, within the context of the time and the city's character.  There were many different sorts of artifacts, letters, hand-written pieces of music, etc. from Mozart which we were excited to see in this display. 

As a side note, we were a bit annoyed with the cost of exhibits and museums - there was not a free one the whole trip.  In fact, several places charged you multiple times to see different things with the same location.  Additionally, most were over 10 euro a person which, I think, is excessive for some of the smaller ones.  I am all for supporting the arts, but we must have spent half what we spent on food in "seeing" things.

The next item on the agenda, however, was the Rezidenz which was a beautiful series of palatial rooms used by the Prince-Archbishops as state receiving rooms, as well as their residence.  The rooms are still in use and we were lucky to get in as they were closing early for an event. Like the cathedrals, the rooms were in the Baroque style, again, very different than the multitude of English, French and Italian palaces I have toured.

Our very last tour was visiting a Mozart exhibit created especially for the 250th anniversary year and featured the latest state-of-the-art in museum display technology.  One of my enjoyments of visiting museums is not just in what is on display, but how it is being displayed.  Call it the archivist or historian in me, but I love evaluating each collection on a few different criteria...

1. Are the items pleasingly displayed?

2. Can you see the item from a 'normal' upright position?

3. Do they have descriptors for each item?

4. Do the descriptors contain date, location of origin, something more descriptive than "hat" or "shoe?"

5. Can you read the descriptor card from a 'normal' upright position? 

- these all seem logical and simplistic when read like this but it is amazing how many of these are lacking even in the most modern and most 'high tech' of exhibits.

Case in point, the Mozart exhibit - of the few 'original' pieces presented, many had the overly simplistic labels like "pair of shoes", no date, no origin, no context other than they looked old.  Additionally, many cards were illegible due to the color font on the chosen backdrop or because of too low of lighting.  Yes, one needs low lighting for conservation issues, but these objects were REPRODUCTIONS!

My last, and the most annoying observation, was in the audio tour. Normally I am a huge fan of the audio tour, I will even pay extra for one, but even with the cool technology this one used <it would automatically start playing the correct soundtrack when you walked in a room or touched an object on an interactive screen> we were ready to throw the thing out the window by the time we were done.  It was done in first person, specifically Mozart was speaking, with sidebars by his sister, mother and a few other people.  Not only was it annoying to listen to his trite repartee, he spoke in definitives, with 'modernized' history.  It is true there is much known about his life and work through an extensive library of letters and other correspondence, but much of what “he” was spouting was stated as 'fact' which really is speculation and supposition.         

We had a late flight out of Salzburg, which, of course, was delayed by an hour.  We didn’t get home till quiet late, but it was certainly a wonderful trip to remember!

Day 3 – 02/10/2006

We just finished with the evening Organ concert at the Dom.  It was a concert of the five pipe organs installed throughout the cathedral, each with a concert-level Organist from through out Europe.  The concert was titled Konzert an den Funf Domorglen.  Each organist began with their own solo, in ascending chronological order of composition dates, then began the "battle of the keyboards" - each doing their own improvisation on the Choral "Schonste Herr Jesu".  By the end all the organists were belting out their rendition, making one wonder, at what point do multiple number of organs just make a din? The ending however was lovely when they all finished with their crescendo and the pipe’s last chord reverberated and echoed throughout the vast space – chilling to the toes!

A short walk later to what is now our nightly ritual and we stopped at mozARTs for wine and ice cream.  It is a lovely outdoor spot and we were only ushered inside because of the pouring rain and wind driving the rain sideways.  The large umbrellas were doing fine until the cafe decided it was even too windy for them to remain. I personally like the power of the storm and would have been happy enjoying the natural show!

Today however started a bit earlier since we were going to go out to Hellbrunn to view the palace and grounds.  It did not disappoint and the trick fountains were definitely fun, although annoying if you were the recipient. It is amazing these were designed and implemented over 250 years ago with their intricacies and detail.  Also on the grounds was the gazebo which was in the Sound of Music featured in the song "Sixteen going on Seventeen".  After another wonderful alfresco lunch at the Hellbrunn café, we took the bus back to town, whereby the bus actually back into another car causing an accident!

We rested a bit before heading out to the Alter Platz for a traditional pizza dinner in the square.  There are so many wonderful dogs about who seem to accompany their people everywhere.  Their was a woman on the buss with two, including a 4 month old Afghan and a lovely black lab which sat next to us at dinner.  We are in dog heaven here and what is even better is they all seem so well behaved. I guess that come with their acclimation at an early age to being in public so much.

We are now killing time at the cafe before we venture out in the rain.  We have been so blessed with great weather up to this point I really hope tomorrow, my birthday, is pleasant.   

Day 2 – 01/10/2006

We woke to a bit of rain, but by the time we were done with our leisurely breakfast at the hotel, it was just overcast and a great temperature for me, tepid.  We started at the post office and then walked to the Modern Museum, but like unseasoned tourists we try not to be, we didn't check the opening days and were disappointed when we found out they were closed on Mondays.  This diverted us to across the river with a gorgeous view up and down the Salzach, the river that bisects the city. 

The leaves are just beginning to turn and the atmosphere is turning to fall.  We walked through the Mirabell Gardens with the fountain from the Sound of Music where they sing the Do-Re-Mi song and proceeded up to the XXXX Closter.  We took the 'scenic' path where by Reeves got some great shots of the city and fortress, but Paula got over heated and wasn’t prepared to do a two mile hike with steep inclines and declines in city walking shoes. (Can you hear the grumbling coming from me even now…) In all, however, it was a lovely view, just not a well labeled sign and path.  The Closter itself was a striking small chapel with an active monastery, fully equipped with monks in full length brown robes, complete with hoods, tending the picturesque garden.

It was almost three pm by the time we were down from the mountain when we finally had lunch off the Linzer gasse at the Gablerbrau restaurant.  Reeves had a yummy Weinersnitzel while I had a spinach and cheese crepe baked with yet more cheese - quite decadent but very apropos after our long and tiring hike.
 
We walked back across the river toward the shopping district where I picked up a new bag (very cool, unisex bag that I can use as a handbag, laptop case and just general duffel.  Here is the url: http://www.george-gina-lucy.com/ggl/content.html) and a gold charm for my charm bracelet.  We proceeded back to the St. Peter's church to look inside.  I have never visited a place with such Baroque influence.  Although it is not my taste, it is very impressive craftsmanship and artistry.  We stumbled across the St. Peter’s Stiftskeller restaurant which, deciding upon one glance, would be our dinner spot. It had then most unique interior, being part outside in a courtyard, and part enclosed in a Romanesque arched grotto – very atmospheric! On the route home we stopped at the Dom to take a tour of the interior and the crypt - again, the baroque influence is the dominant style here in Salzburg and was in no short supply in the Cathedral. 

After a short rest in the hotel room we proceeded to dinner in the St. Peter’s Stiftskeller for which the building dates back to 803 A.D.  It was set into a beautiful Romanesque arched grotto with ivied arches and candelabras.  We again has some wunderbar Austrian dishes and because it was still early when we finished, walked around the town a bit and stopped that the mozARTs cafe to have some wine and ice cream.  It is still a lovely evening, just perfect to sit outside with a sweater and a glass of warming liquid.   

After another month of craziness, I am finally getting back here again.  We had our house delivered and that just took over our lives.  We were, however, able to get away, for the first vaction in several years, that just included the two of us.  I journaled our trip while there and am finally getting around to posting. 

Here is the first day...

Journal from Day 1 – Salzburg (30/09/2006)

The morning bells were ringing at 11am with the Glockenspiel ringing in our day. It is a a pretty day with just a few clouds.  We had breakfast at the lovely little hotel restaurant – a fabulous continental breakfast, including pate, croissants, and fancy cheeses – the antique tables, buffet and cabinets were in a traditional setting with modern touches – picturesque! - Karen Brown never steers us wrong! (if you like boutique hotels, you should check her out: http://www.karenbrown.com/  The small room was busy with visitors, always a good sign of a good hotel.

The Hotel Wolf is very close to one of the main plazas  - Mozartplatz which is also next to the main cathedral, the Dom.  On the plane coming in yesterday I was actually sitting next to two women in a Choir from Bray, Ireland which was performing at the Dom today at 'half eleven'.  We stopped in at the beginning of the service/performance and listen to the large choir fill the cathedral with music.  Since is was a full Catholic service, we only stayed through the fist couple sung prayers, but with the pipe organ, soloists and choir it was a majestic scene.

Up the hill a bit we stopped off at the very quaint graveyard of St. Peter which looks like a scene out of Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings.  I have never seen wrought iron grave markers which were so charmingly designed and maintained with plaques and flowers.  Some of the family mausoleums were alcoves in the colonnade lining the wall of the fortress and had family members buried there going back hundreds of years.  There were painted family portraits, devotional oil paintings and other carvings open to the elements. I wonder how long they have been there!  The cemetery led to the catacombs actually carved out of and built into the side of the cliff below the fortress.

We took the funicular up to the fortress, started in 1077, with quite the Bavarian history.  It was such a lovely day with the sun peaking through the clouds washing the white stucco walls in warm light.  We had the loveliest lunch of goulash, wurst and sauerkraut while sitting out on the patio overlooking the Tennengebirg valley.  The veiled Austrian alps were in the distance in graduating shades of grey and blue rising into the sun. One of my favorite things about visiting museums and historical venues is reviewing the cafes – this one definitely rates very high with the great food and spectacular views!  

We did our normal thorough tour of the fortress including the underwhelming audio tour.  It had some interesting tidbits of information, but the only historical points of note were the views from the top and the 'bull' or pipe organ from 1502.  After a stroll through the museum, mostly containing implements of war and war making (not my forte or interest) we meandered down the very steep entry path to the Stift Nonnberg, a Benedictine convent which has been in constant use as an Abby since the 8th century, the oldest in the German-speaking world.  While in the chapel, which we had to ourselves, a nun in full habit came to change the candles. I felt I was on the set of the Sound of Music, which was very poignant since this was the church use in the scenes of Maria at her Abby.  It was a picture out of another century, especially since there was no artificial lighting, just the natural sunlight coming through the small high windows and the stained glass above the high alter.

We walked back the Motzartplatz and are sitting facing the Residenzplatz which has the sun setting just below the roof of the Residenz building.  It is the perfect place to people watch and we are enjoying a glass of rotwein and Reeves his only vice, eis.

To quickly recap yesterday - Last evening when we arrived, we were starving for dinner, but en route while walking to the restaurant we came across a traditional band playing the Mozartplatz and followed it as the proceeded, marking band style, through the plaza and over past the Dom.  It was such a magical evening, the perfect weather and the back drop of the city seemed like a movie set with the perfectly backlit and up lit buildings.  Everything seems is so clean and perfectly restored here – gotta love the preciseness of the Germanic peoples.

We walked down the main shopping street, the Getreidegasse, and although all the shops were closed, the window shopping was lovely.  We couldn't find the restaurant we set out for, but came across a traditional looking villa with yummy food and our own private dining room. It actually held two tables, but the other couple sitting in the room left shortly after we arrived, so we were left alone to enjoy our dinner and view of the little plaza below.

The architecture here reminds me a bit of Switzerland, but the colors of the buildings are softer with a more muted pallet.  The buildings are taller and a bit more symmetrical than Geneva, but the city is such a lovely intimate size, without being too small for lovely cathedrals and palaces.   And they even have a Hermes boutique to boot! 

I think we had the easiest car buying experience, ever......

Today as Reeves was walking home from the SPAR on the corner, picking up some bread and juice for me to make breakfast, he happened to cross over the street and walk by an used car on the street the BMW dealership had parked there to move around their inventory (which seems like a daily occurrence).

Since it was a 3 series station wagon (one of the cars we have been considering) he thought he just might see if it was an automatic transmission, which is harder to find than a dry day here.  Confirming it was auto, he didn’t think he could possibly be as lucky to discover it has a/c as well.  Peering through the rain-soaked window, there it was, the tell-tale snowflake – it had A/C!

Not believing his luck, he came in and called to talk with the sales manager to ask why it was such a good price to boot. Everything checked out and it had just been on the sales floor for a couple weeks, so wanting to move it, the price had just been reduced. Since Reeves was home because we were expecting our new replacement fridge to be delivered (yes, we haven’t had a working fridge yet) we couldn’t go over till 2 pm.  We took a test drive and by 3 pm, we had a new (used) car!  Since the price of the car was so resonable, we only haggled down once and even at that price, it was almost half of what we were going to spend on a new Jetta we had begrudgingly decided to buy.  (scary huh, cars here are insanely priced for new and NOTHING is “standard”, you even need to pay extra for armrests and cup holders!)

So the car is a 2001 318 wagon in black (the only color we really didn’t want, but beggars, etc. etc.) with grey cloth interior and a tape deck, how quaint!  The car had only one previous owner, a full service record, taxes paid through the end of the year and a full one year warranty, good through out Europe!  (just as a note, most every new car here only has a 2 year warranty, nothing like the US and their 4 and 5 year ones)

We still can’t take possession of the car since we don’t have insurance, and getting car insurance means getting a provisional Irish drivers license, which we are hoping to do over the next week or two.  Thankfully, with the dealership (and their service center) being right across the street, we can have them hold the car for us till we are ready to take delivery.     

This is one huge weight lifted off us and with the great price, we can even take a driving trip over to England now without guilt!!  Hay-on-Wye here we come!!!!

I can't believe it has now been a full month we are here.  In some ways it feels like forever since we were in San Jose and others, it can't possibly be a month since we moved in....very weird state of being.

It has been a couple weeks since I posted here for a couple reasons…

1)       We just got broadband access as of Friday (after 'borrowing' our neighbor's unsecured wireless access until they left on vacation and turned off their computer, the nerve of them! :) )

2)       Amy was visiting for 2 weeks and we spent time in Scotland while she was here

I will start putting up some more posts soon, but today, after spending almost 6 hours online looking for jobs, I am a bit exhausted with the computer and will post more about the past couple weeks in the next few days.  

However, here is a link to some of the pictures from Amy’s visit.

I LOVE getting postcards!  It is one of those things in life which gives me an un-explainable giddiness when I find the little treasure among all the postal spam.  I received a postcard today with some beautiful art from the British Portrait Gallery from my friend Amy and her recent trip to England. 

I guess one of the reasons I love postcards so much is the little visual and mental escape you get when reading the happy personal message and gazing at the exotic scene.   What a fun tradition!

…however do you want it, however do you need it”…..ok, so I admit, I really like this song and pretty much can sing it on cue, but as embarrassing as that is, it is so appropriate this week!  After being away for what seemed like a decade, I am getting back in the swing of things. 

R and I returned on Friday evening to a very happy puppy that was glad to be home again. She actually seemed to grow stronger over the week we were gone so I guess it was a good thing she went to the kennel (although her guilty parents almost break down every time we have to leave her).  Her back leg and muscles since her last ‘episode’ seem to have taken much longer to adjust, but I really hope I am that spry at 14 ½ dog-years!! (what is that, like a million people years or something!)

Saturday I had my Archives and Manuscripts class all day – one of the few classes I feel like I have actually been challenged in so far.... (and I am more than ½ way through the program) My professor, Lori Lindburg, is very inspirational and I wish I had even a ¼ of her energy – she is currently a PhD student (about to defend her dissertation this fall), full time SJSU faculty member, full-time paid archivists, and a wife and mother of 2!!  I don’t think she could possibly have time to sleep!!!!

On Sunday I ran our annual Society of American Archivists Student Chapter meeting.  In addition to preparing for the meeting for several hours, I had to trek to campus to conduct the meeting.  Should be a good year, we had several enthusiastic people volunteer for our executive team – always good to have people around you which want to be there!!

Monday was my very first day at Stanford – this is where I am doing my internship for school.  I am working at the Hoover Archives doing Library of Congress Subject Heading classification, as well as short summaries, of audio tapes from the Commonwealth Club of California.  The tapes go back to the 1930s, but I am starting with 1970.  I really am going to learn my CA political, social and economic history!!  The archivist for whom I am working, Lisa, is really great – she is going to be a wonderful mentor and I think I will learn a great deal about the ins and outs of the archival industry from her.   I will be working there every Monday for the rest of the semester as well as a handful of other days to make my 135 hours for 3 credits of class work. 

Wednesday night we celebrated Dick’s Birthday at the House o’ Prime Rib  in SF– what a fun evening of laughter and high-jinx.  We were the table every waiter dreads – in addition to our decibel breaking laughter, we had a table full of comedians which took pleasure in making the waiters fulfill all our ‘special requests’ including my “warm” pecan pie. (which was fabulous I have to say!)  I really wish we lived closer to the city, but until then, a short drive is very little cost to enjoying our good friend’s company.

Reeves and I are right now staying at the Ahwahnee hotel in Yosemite valley for a vacation with his parents which were in town for the wedding of Nancy (Reeves Cousin) and Chuck, which took place in Sausalito on September 4, 2005. We are here from Monday evening to Friday morning enjoying the beautiful hikes and yummy food of the Ahwahnee hotel and the Yosemite Lodge’s Mountain Room.

The wedding was beautiful – the ceremony was in the quaint Presbyterian Church across the street from the Alta Mira hotel where the reception and dinner were held (and we were staying).  The previous night, Saturday, we went their rehearsal dinner in Tiburon at Sam’s Anchor club - a fun, all be it rowdy façade to the back dinning room.  Many of Reeves’ family were there and it was fun to catch up with them.  Some of them we had not seen since our wedding 10 years previously.

Speaking of our anniversary – we celebrated our 10^th wedding anniversary on September 2, 2005.  We had a lovely day and enjoyed the company of Reeves’ parents and Cousins Kathy, Charlie and his wife Laurie at dinner that evening at the Boulevard restaurant in San Francisco.  We stayed the evening at the Palace Hotel and woke to a lovely morning and yummy buffet breakfast at their famed dinning room. 

We are still here at the Ahwahnee for 3 more days and I have to say I am not ready to return to the realities and responsibilities of real life till then.

Friday, and the first event was to stand with our student poster and answer questions from anyone who stops by….it was a long hour. J  The posters were set up on easels in the expo hall where there was a breakfast given by the vendors – so actually, there were quite a few people around.  The next sessions were not till after lunch, which, not wanting to spend the money for more hotel food, I had to buy an umbrella to walk to the mall as it was pouring rain again. It is always amaizing to me that the rain here doesn’t make it any cooler, just more humid!

My evening was terribly exciting including another trip to the gym followed by another walk to the mall attached to the hotel. I have to say the food options around the hotel are not especially great and I had the terribly healthy dinner of fried oysters and French fries as the only other options were scary looking Mexican food and sushi which was being served by non-Asians, never a good sign. I also can’t get over how expensive things are here – I know I am in a hotel(tax on the hotel room is 13%!!), but even the sales tax is 9%! Add that on top of standardized pricing at all the chain stores (Gap, Body Shop, etc.) and I don’t know how people afford it here with lower wages. 

Thankfully, after several restless nights I collapsed in bed by 10 pm and got almost a full night sleep – always a challenge with me and traveling.

Saturday morning was an early one again with the first session at 8 am.  After the first session, which was part 1 of 2, I realized I was really not getting anything out of it so I ditched the second and walked to the mall for lunch again.  In killing some time I found a couple really cute boutiques.  The first, Mignon Faget, was actually recommended by my friend Amy – I had no idea it was going to be so close to my hotel!  I picked up a necklace and bracelet in sterling silver which I am very excited about.  The second boutique was Francesca’s Collections – a fun and eclectic accessories store highlighting inexpensive jewelry with a decidedly New Orleans Flair. 

I am now just getting ready for dinner with my Mom, Don and his two kids, Lyle and Leanne…

I arrived at my conference for the Society of American Archivists on Tuesday evening, a weary and frustrated traveler. The airline had cancelled my Dallas to New Orleans flight then lost my luggage. I am complaining about it first, but it did all turn out ok, just made for a long day.  The up-sides of the day included the fact that I realized my 5:15 pm flight was cancelled, but noticed an earlier flight was still available, since too was it was delayed from the weather.  Since I was in the terminal 3 hours early, I was able to get a seat on the earlier flight before all the other people on my cancelled flight realized (or were even in the airport) what was happening.  I even got into N.O. before my scheduled flight, even with the delay.  The next good thing was my luggage did arrive safe and sound the next morning, but I had a fitful night waking almost ever hour to see if the light on my phone was lit, signaling my luggage was at the bell desk.

After a shaky start, I had most of Wednesday to acclimate and get my poster ready for the conference.  I actually had quite a lovely day.  I used the hotel gym for an hour, walked around the mall attached to the hotel, put my poster together, and then the highlight of the day….a massage and facial at the Ritz-Carlton spa!  It was a wonderful relaxing treat to take the stress off from the earlier day.  I was lucky to get in on 24 hours notice, so I think my travel-karma was still in tact.

Thursday started early with the opening session at 8 AM.  The speaker was the dynamic Andrew Young, former UN Ambassador under the Carter administration.  He gave a very compelling talk (for 60 minutes, without notes!) about the value of archives and how they have increased America’s collective knowledge through research and access.  Additionally, how we, as a professional group, should strive to maintain said free access to all researchers and public alike while emphasizing the collection and accession of marginalized groups whose communal knowledge is under threat of loss.  He gave examples throughout history of marginalized individuals and groups whose knowledge has cured illnesses, averted wars, and changed the social and political direction of American policy.  He also believes it is thought the rediscovery of forgotten or misplaced knowledge and records we will find a cure for AIDS – via archives and their preservation of traditional customs and medicinal practices.

The rest of the day was filled with conference sessions including:

• Three working Models of Digital Archives
• Developing Standardized Metrics for Accessing Use and User Services for Primary Sources
• Communities of Records: Re-Setting the Boundaries of Context

In the evening I did another hour in the gym, did some room services while I took care of e-mail, ordering books for my fall classes and send some physical mail.  I was then feeling some cabin fever so I took about an hour walk down to the French Quarter – I could only stand it outside that long because it was so humid, you could see the air – I have been in gym/spa steam rooms that were not as steamy as it was outside!!

After a severe hiatus, I am back to the blog!  I have to say that once my finals hit with spring semester, I didn’t little but sit in agony, starring in vain at my computer hoping my papers would type themselves – when all was done, I realized I had completed over 100 pagers of research in 4 papers (in addition to the 2 finals I took)….yay me I got out alive!

A day after I completed my finals, I was off to NYC to visit Amy again – we had a blast including 4 museums, a trip to our friend January’s new country house and plenty of shopping.

Home again with just enough time to finish laundry and organize the house before my summer school classes started. 

My class this summer is Records Management, which on the surface sounds incredibly boring, but in reality touches every business and organization and is an integral part of information technology.  I really am enjoying all the theoretical and conceptual research around the future of information management and how private industry is impacting the field.

The next event was dinner with Leslie’s new fiancé!! Jason was in town for our inspection, and I have to say he passed with flying colors!  We really look forward to getting to know him better and spending time with both of them before (and after!) their wedding next year.

It was then time for Amy to come visit us here in California! I picked her up from her Uncle and Aunt’s house in SF and we were off to Napa Valley.  En route we stopped at Domaine Caneros, one of my favorites for its sparkling wine and views of the Caneros valley.  We had a lovely afternoon snack on their balcony while enjoying the warm sun and beautiful weather.  We spent the afternoon walking around the cute boutiques at St. Helena.  Our hotel, the Rancho Caymus Inn was a very nice little place attached to the restaurant La Toque – a 4 star restaurant I hope to come back and eat some day. That evening we walked next door to another restaurant – a casual one called the Rutherford Grill – great for a laid-back evening and the corn bread is to die for!!

 Our second day was started by walking around Calistoga for the morning. We proceeded down the Silverado Trail to the Rombauer Winery which consistently has one of the best Zinfandels out there, including the case I purchased. J We then visited Clos du Val and were greeted by the swallows nesting in their rafters (you get a free wine tasting and wet-wipes if you get hit with bird poo!) and the resident Black Standard Poodle ready and willing to play fetch all day with anyone who would pay attention to him!  On the suggestion of one of the wine pourers, we decided we could treat ourselves to lunch at Auberge du Soleil. If you have never heard of it or stayed here, put it on your life to-do lists.  It was one of the best lunches I have ever had, set on the balcony overlook all of the Napa Valley – perfect! We then were off to Prager Port for a tasting – a little place which is a must visit if you are in the area.  This evening for dinner we went to the popular Mustard’s Grill – our calamari salad was excellent, but the sandwiches we had were just ok, nothing to write home about and they didn’t have on the menu the desert we had read about being a ‘signature’ item. 

The third day we headed back to San Jose, but our trip back was anything but ho-hum.  We drove across the Napa Valley via Sonoma and Santa Rosa to take a lovely jaunt through the Russian River Valley.  After 3 days in 90+ weather, the 58 degree costal climate was the perfect anecdote. Lunch was in Point Reyes as a fabulous little gourmet café.  We also found the Cowgirl Creamery which makes cheese on-site and exports them throughout the region – so yummy!

Without time to pause Reeves and I were off to Vegas a day after Amy left to celebrate Mike’s 40^th Birthday.  We had such a great time celebrating everything Mike! We stay at the great Venetian hotel, had a amazing dinner at the Delmonico Steakhouse and saw the slightly naughty Cirque du Soleil show called Zumanity.  Additionaly, we learned to play craps and I think I am hooked!  We shared the weekend with Dick and Trina as well as Omar and Lora.

Next is New Orleans in about a month for the annual meeting for the Society of American Archivists – should be quite the party!

Time flies when you don't have time to look at the clock! Only three weeks till the end of my first year of grad school!

Not much new here but homework, homework and more homework – in the next three weeks I need to (start and) complete a 20 paper on the history of a CA library (mine being the Palo Alto PL) a 10 page paper on the use of Community Analysis and Knowledge Management in the archival field, with specific applications in the local history field, 2 finals and a quiz – needless to say I am freaked out and in a bit of denial of how many hours I will put in studying and writing in the days to come. 

There is a very good motivation for me to finish on time however, (beyond not failing my classes!!) I am going to visit my friend Amy in NYC again the day after finals are over! For the past 4 years I have been to NYC between 2 and 5 times a year and I have to say the city does have a mysterious and exhilarating draw (not to mention the wonderful company of a great friend!)  We have a very busy 6 days planned with a trip upstate to visit our friend January’s new country house. (and of course, via the Woodbury Commons outlet mall, a.k.a. mecca as well as several antique stores)

While Amy is at work for a couple of the days I hope to visit the J. Pierpont Morgan Library as well as the NY-Historical Society’s library.  I have been to several exhibits at the NY-HS, but never officially visited the library.  Both have innumerable amounts of books from the past 500 years of printing as well as many incunabula pieces and irreplaceable manuscripts.  Books contained in these special collections rarely see their way to the West coast so as a student I am fortunate to be able to see them on the East coast.

But, until May 18^th , you will find me for about 12 hours a day with my nose in the quickly growing stacks of books obscuring my seemingly shrinking desk!

I have been pretty frantic this semester with school and my new Chair position with the SAASC, but sometimes it really does seem like I am on the right track, especially after weekends like the one from which I just returned.

I attended the Western regions Archival Associations meeting in Las Vegas.  As a member of the Society of California Archivists, this was a prime opportunity for me to meet many members and introduce myself to the new President of the SCA. (I was also able to get my book signed personally by the SAA president, Randall Jimerson – I’m such a geek!)  Association connections are important as they are the real life link to my future career possibilities, something that keeps me up at night!  With about 250 people at the conference from all the Western states from about Colorado, west, there were plenty of people to chat-up about how they got where they are now and where are they going. 

There were some great talks including the key note speaker, Wole Soyinka, who is the 1986 Nobel prize winner in literature.  He was an elegant speaker and his melodious voice was divine!  You can listen to him here.   

Other sessions addressed various subjects and challenges within the archival discipline including the issues of Archivists as Historians.  I am still wrestling with my desire to do research and how I can balance the two or incorporate the two into one career, which may mean a second masters in history. (poor Reeves, I don't know if he could handle me taking another few years to finish school, my stress may kill him! ;)

I went to the conference with a new friend, Sarah, who was the former Chair of SAASC and who now works at Stanford in a couple different archival positions.  We had a good time and did manage to get away from the conference long enough to walk around the strip and spend about $10 each at the slots!

This was just the first conference of my archival career (although I did quite a few with Gartner - very different A-type people at those however) - the next conference looks like I will be going to the SAA conference in New Orleans (in August, yuck!) – this is the ‘biggie’ conference of the year and our chapter (i.e. me) will be presenting a student chapter poster at the conference.  So much stuff, so little brain power!! :)

What a week away from reality!  We had a fabulous vacation in St. Thomas at one of the loveliest spots I have seen.  The house in which we stayed was a three level Mediterranean-style home with 7 well-appointed bedrooms and a great open style living/dining/kitchen which was conducive to a reconnecting family of 8 adults and 6 children.  Off of the lowest level was a deck the width of the house with a nice sized pool, hot tub and built-in grill. The best part about the house however was the location.  The house was set into the side of a hill that looked West across Magen’s Bay.  The deck of the house, with a gazebo for the hot afternoon sun, was set far enough above our private white-sand beach we could watch the sea turtles and rays swim in the waters just below.  The color of the bay ranged from cerulean to turquoise bleeding into sapphire near the center of the bay while the white sand bottom created an ethereal translucent quality to the water. 

In addition to the tranquil surroundings, we had many fun outings and events, including…..

• Meeting friends from NYC for pool-side libations at their hotel, the Ritz-Carlton, who were coincidently visiting St.Thomas at the same time
• A pair of jet-skis which we had for a full day to speed around our bay.  They were delivered right to our beach!  We had an inner-tube to tow the kids, although a few adults took a turn.
• Snorkeling right from our beach.  I don’t think anything will ever quite compare to snorkeling in the Red Sea, but we did see a few pretty fish and many sea cucumbers!
• A boat trip over to St. John for a bit of touring and lunch. 
• Tour of the historic Fort Christian which was begun in 1672. It was actually used as the local jail until 1983!!!
• A little bit of shopping around Charlotte Amalie – it was less quaint and local than we like, although they had lots of great name-brand deals.  (no duty or taxes on items and almost everything can be bargained down from the US retail price)
• Several great restaurants including the Blue Moon Café which was looking over a small bay on the east side of the island, The Old Stone Farmhouse for an adult evening out, and Cuzzins, an island-inspired Caribbean cuisine, my personal favorite.
• And of course, many hours relaxing by the pool and the beach!!

It is hard to believe it is already over and we really hope to return to the Virgin Islands some day.

It has been a very crazy semester and with spending anywhere between 6-9 hours a day at my studies, the energy to blog is usuall lost by my 'free' time.  However, now that I discovered my laptop sits nicely on top of the stairmaster, it gives me a bit of ‘free’ time to do things like surf the web and type this! 

So, to recap a bit of my school thus far….

Currently, I just finished Sunday at 10 PM a paper for my History of Books and Libraries class – it was a 10 page study on a printed book (published pre-1900) of choice – really interesting paper as I learned a bunch about the origins, publisher, printer and method of  a book I had purchased in 2001 when Reeves and I visited the “town of books” of Hay-on-Wye in Wales.  The previous paper for this class was a 10 page study as well on an original manuscript, pre-1501.  This paper gave me an opportunity to use Stanford’s archives and spend an aftern