I just realized that as of this week, I will have been living in California 10 years!  Wow, that is almost 1/3 of my life...and it feel like yesterday!

Time however feel like it has stood still for the past three weeks - too much homework, but it is all over today.  I take one final tonight and turn in my last paper/final tonight after I edit it a little.  Hallelujah!!!!

Then it is off to NYC to have some well-earned fun and relaxation.  Although, both Amy and I are quite the planners, so I have no doubt we will have an action-packed week! I am sure this week will go all too quickly....

Time is a bizarre thing

After the past year of being tied too many hours to my desk studying, with little physical activity, except walking from the computer to the living room, I decided about 5 months ago to do something about my sluggish lifestyle and expanding waist line.  While I have incorporated about 45-60 minutes of physical activity into my day, almost everyday,(and losing over 20 lbs so far) I have just begun (well, over the past 2-3 months) to truly change my eating habits.  In that process, today I went to the USDA’s website because I wanted to see what the “new pyramid” was all about.  I don’t think I have ever actually looked at the report before, but in spending about 45 minutes reading and skimming the 90 some pages, I realized all anyone needs is this one free report to be fit and healthy!  I used to dismiss the pyramid as something you saw on elementary school walls as an outdated and ignored poster, but the verbiage, for the most part, of the report is down-to-earth simple advice.  I strongly recommend reading or at least skimming all the “Key Recommendation” sections.  Your kidneys, colon and heart will thank you for it – so, too will your loved one’s when you lead a longer, healthier life!!

FYI – don’t give up that glass of wine, coffee or olive oil – they are all part of a daily lifestyle, but like everything, in moderation.

I have had a convertible for about the past 3 years and one of my favorite days of spring is the first day the top goes down…and that was today!!  It was a perfect 73 degrees out so I took my homework with me at went to my local Mexican food place and sat outside for about an hour eating my burrito and reading about the early history of American libraries.  I also ended up doing a couple errands that really didn’t need to be done today, but I felt too guilty ignoring my homework for just a spin around the city! J

Last evening was a wonderful excursion into the culinary delights of Hawaiian fusion at the restaurant Roy’s in San Francisco.  We were there to celebrate not one, but four birthdays including Trina, Shan, Rob and Sharon’s.  The choice of restaurants was Trina’s as this is one of her favorite spots.  Indeed the food was wonderful!  I had a tasty Mahi-Mahi in a lobster butter sauce and the bites I had of friend’s Butterfish were divine!  The chocolate soufflé for desert was a decadent oozing pool of warm sauce surrounded by creamy cake.  In addition to their wonderful food the bar menu was equally impressive.  Several of us had a creation called the Big Hawaiian which when poured is a layer of Blue Curacao and a top layer of orange juice which eventually mixes to form a lovely share of grass-green!  Capped off with a garnish of pineapple and maraschino cherry and you have you self quite the girly-drink! (although Mike enjoyed it just fine!)  

Good food and fine compay led to a fun eveing had by all!  

I was thinking of all the events going on this year and thought I would list all the benchmarks happening in 2005:

1) Trina’s 35^th birthday (which was yesterday and prompted me thinking of them all)

2) Lora’s 30^th Birthday

3) Mike’s 40^th Birthday

4) Reeves and my 10^th Wedding anniversary (holy cow!)

5) Dick and Trina’s Wedding

6) My father-in-law, Rob’s, 70^th Birthday

I am sure I am forgetting something….anyone?

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!! :)

....after a very stressful and busy midterm session with school, I think it has paid off.  So far I have received all A's on my paper, quiz and 2 mid-terms.  I am just waiting on one more grade...... 

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.

If you guessed the Stairmaster, you are right!  Since I have been working out almost everyday I have come to crave the exercise and feel like a slug if I don’t.  Now, I just don’t want to lose my momentum.

I have also found this is a good way to manage stress.  I use my 45-60 minutes for ‘me’ time to just let my mind relax and wander.  Especiallly since t-minus 4 hours till my mid-term!  (side-note, I think it is appropriate that there is a severe storm/wind warning that starts in the bay area at the same time my mid-term is supposed to begin! =)

This weekend I worked very hard so I could go out and play with my friends, and it was well worth it.  We had cocktails at our SF friend’s place near the Castro and then had great conversation and cuisine at Cote Sud, a French Bistro near their house.  The evening was capped off by a rousing game of Cranium and we found out which of us were the kids in school who ate the paste anyway when they were told not to!!

So, after today’s exam, only a quiz and mid-term left till a week of relaxing – yeah!!