Ho-ho, doggies!

Got a message from a fellow 14.1 LEEP'er on Facebook today asking me if I'd seen the link to the new GSLIS Community Forums on the main Moodle page... he said I was "famous"...

DUDES! That's me!

Furthermore, there is a link to THIS blog once you sign in to the Community Forums... so I am guessing I better start bringing my A-game to "The LEEP Years"... you know, like writing an entry every couple days as opposed to every couple months... I'm in the big leagues now, you know?

If you're new to this rant and coming from the Moodle, welcome... thanks for stopping by. If you are a "longtime" reader, you're in for more updates, I can tell you that.

I'm FAMOUS!

Parking Violation UPDATE

VINDICATION!!!

Elizabeth,

I am not quite sure why you got this citation as you did purchase the day meter permit. I will speak with the issuing officer but I will also void this citation as a courtesy to you as you did all the proper things that we ask.

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Carol J. McShane
Assistant to the Director
Facilities & Services
Parking Department
1110 W Springfield Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801

And all is right with the world. Thank you, Facilities & Services - Parking Department. You've done much to restore my faith in humanity.

LEEP Weekend Quotes - Guest Blogger, Laura Blankenship

Here are some of the highlights of the weekend's one-liners, as recorded by your very own Laura Blankenship... and put in context by your good pal, Liz.

"Day Eleven!"
... keeping LEEP time, our friendships had been frozen in time on Day 10...

"Why is it that I get to Champaign and
I'm instantly fugly?"
... Laura bemoans her transformation into an on-campus version of herself...

"You can't fly with one wing."
... Charlie, on the necessity of returning the favor of buying a round...

"That didn't really have the "Mike and Carol Brady" effect you hoped for..."
... Allison, to Meredith after she turned off the nightstand lamp on her side and the room remained brightly lit...

"You still have to be on your parents' insurance to be on Green Street..."
... Allison, considering whether to join 14.1 at Legends or the Blind Pig...

"Did you sleep on your neck wrong?"
"No. I'm just lazy as $*&t."
... Liz explains why she can't turn her head to carry on a conversation in the lecture hall...

"Yeah, go ahead. Crack a book."
... Sarah encourages her group members to feel free to contribute to the brainstorming session...

"Spotted cow?"
"No, that's an ice cream shop by your house."
... Liz informs Allison that her guess is not correct...

"HO-tel, MO-tel, Holiday Inn... Express!"
... sung by some very happy HIE LEEP guests... often...

"I'll trade you for Blankenship."
.. Blankenship goes on the block...

"I think my uterus just constricted... no, it inverted."
... Laura explains her feelings about having children at this point in her life...

"Liz, you're not *that* white."
...Carla assures Liz that she has what it takes to contribute
to the 14.1 vs. 14.2 dance-off...

Fall '09 LEEP Weekend Redux -- Day 2

Up and at 'em at 6:40 for one of the most precise showering schedules I've ever been a part of:

Allison - 6:00-6:20
Laura - 6:20-6:40
Liz - 6:40-7:00... err... 7:07 (DUDES, I was the ONLY ONE with straight hair that needed to be dried and managed with a flat iron)
Meredith - 7:07-7:20

We hit the FREE BREAKFAST in the lobby and headed out to the 501 meeting in the Psych building with Meredith trying to steel herself against what the rest of us thought was a balmy Midwestern morning.

We were among the first to arrive and got our white envelopes with graded papers (for those of you who have not had the great privilege of serving society as educators and grading the written work of students, allow me to enlighten you to the fact that Linda Smith is FRICKIN' AMAZING for getting THAT many papers back to THAT many people THAT quickly). I was also impressed with the "Liz" on my nametag since my Elluminate self is "Elizabeth".

Sat NEXT TO Meredith (people who know me know that I am not usually a sit next to sorta gal) and listened to some awesome presentations by archivists and conservationists - JUST KIDDING! Everyone (now) knows that conservationists save trees; CONSERVATORS save information. Quote of the panel? Referring to the instrument collection at the Old Town School of Folk Music:

"Those instruments are in JAIL!"

Yes. Yes, they are. It's about ACCESS, people.

Followed the rest of the locusts over to GSLIS to grab a sandwich, stuff it in my face, and run over to the Main Stacks to swoon... I MEAN get material for our final project in 501. Okay, seriously. Is there a topic UIUC's Main Stacks DOESN'T have a bajillion books on? After a quick refresher on how to navigate through the call numbers, we were running around the East and West stacks, cellphones in hand (because WE TEXTED THE CALL NUMBERS TO OURSELVES -- AWESOME) grabbing pamphlets, books, reports -- and cracking ourselves up along the way with references to Being John Malkovich and the masochism that must have accompanied studying in the dungeon style "cage carols" throughout the building. And get a load of the awesome new lockers!

Class ended for the day at 4pm and I headed over to GSLIS to discover than Academic Libraries *may* not be for me. Not that the presenters (including Meg Edwards' DAD!!) weren't fabulous... I just don't know if academia is the place for me.

Dinner at the "Y" was served at 6pm and the locusts struck again. Allison, who was now aware of Baby LEEP's desire for red sauce ended up getting a piece of the last piece of lasagna by the grace of Devin. I grabbed us a seat next to a familiar face with a "Here's someone who looks like she could use some friends!" - figured she was in one of my classes... until she started to be joined by her friends and they started to look familiar, too... FROM THE UPPER LEFTHAND CORNER OF THE GSLIS HOMEPAGE. Turns out I was suggesting to Dr. Carol Tilley that she "could use some friends". AWESOME. Open mouth, insert foot.

So who *couldn't* use a drink after something like that? Headed out to Legends on Green St. and met up with a ton of 14.1... hilarity ensued. What sort of hilarity? I'll give you two awesome examples.

1. Laura does the "jerk" - to the amusement of the undergrads sitting behind us...
"It's just skipping backward... in place."

2. Daylily insists we all gather together, head over to Murphy's and challenge 14.2 to a dance off.
She is serious.
She wants us to be "The Jets".
Yes.
Westside Story-style.
With snapping.

Called it a night at 10pm - because we are old now, our meter was expiring, and we wanted Bambas.

We did a LOT of living on Day 2 (or Day 12, depending on how you're counting) of LEEP.

Fall '09 LEEP Weekend Redux -- Day 1

Can't believe that LEEP Weekend is in the books... went by way too fast.

Drove down to Shampoo-Banana on Thursday evening. I left about two hours later than I had anticipated I would but arrived around 9:30... pretty good time was made despite the cruddy weather. Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Urbana (highly recommended) at a GREAT rate thanks to knowing the right people (what's up, Cabaj)!

Decided right away that business travel was never in the cards for me because I do NOT like being alone in a hotel room. As I said at some point during the weekend, me and silence don't really get along. As the best reading material I'd brought with me was Ramona Quimby, Age 8, I hit the sack relatively early.

The first of my two on-campus sections met at the Union. I had a former student of mine who is now a junior at UIUC procure me a day permit for the Block-I meters and had no problem finding a space in Lot D-10 (remember this for later), right in front of the Natural History building (which is directly next door to the Union).

The "classroom" for the 403 session was... HILARIOUS. We basically ended up in what I like to call "Granny's Attic", complete with random ceiling angles and floral upholstery wallpaper. I was quickly reunited with 14.1 friends Nicole, Carolyn, Esme, Ben, Jason, and Rina... so fun to see familiar faces. Familiar voices, however, can be a lot more freaky. When a VERY familar voice asked "Is this 403?", my head whipped around to see our professor, Debra Mitts-Smith, who we had never laid eyes on over the course of the first half of the semester. How weird to be aquainted with someone's voice but not be able to recognized them! It's also funny how I felt like I "knew" some other people because I'd seen their pictures and read their posts and chats. I got a chance to sit with Erica and Lisa - new "familiar" friends... and total crackups.

The seven hour class FLEW by, especially because my afternoon break was SO AWESOME. I met with my former students, Molly & Mike, right in front of the Union for what was supposed to be a brief reunion hug and what turned out to be an hour long trip down memory lane. As I have long since left their elementary school (and they have, too), it was fun to hear what they'd been up to. I complained to them that the undergrad girls of UIUC have let themselves go even FURTHER than when I was here... sweatpants, the aptly named UGGs and messy almost completely to the front ponytails seem to be all the rage - and ladies, you are a HOT MESS. But, maybe that's what they're going for.

At 5pm, I headed back down to my car to give Jason a lift to the Urbana Free Library reception and meet Allison at the HIE... and what awaits me on the windshield of my perfectly legally parked car? Yep. $20 parking ticket. I HAD A PERMIT PEOPLE.

So I took a picture of the permit and the ticket and emailed it off to the NOW CLOSED Parking Department. Stay tuned...

Reunited with my 1 of my Boot Camp BFFs and quickly learned that her unborn child (heretofore referred to as "Baby LEEP" --> Laura [for the other BFF] Elizabeth [for me] Estabrook [for the force that brought us together] Patricia [for the "P"]) wanted Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. I *knew* I loved that kid. Waited for BFF #2 to arrive from the STL area and away we went.

After dinner, we welcomed the Good Doctor (Meredith) to the party that was HIE Room 201... and promptly hit the sack.

And I'm officially a liar...

Well, hello, Blog.

I said I'd visit you weekly and I haven't. To be frank, I have no idea what I was thinking when I said that would visit you weekly because I a) don't really have that much to say and b) really don't have enough time to say what little I have to say.

There. I said it.

But new days are for new beginnings, are they not? So here I am. New day. New beginning.

We are officially in Week 8 of the semester, approximately halfway through the material. I will be leaving on Thursday night for LEEP weekend... and I am really looking forward to it. I have sessions on Friday (Kiddie Lit) and Saturday (501) but will be in Shampoo-Banana until Sunday, because why rush home? That, and the Digital Libraries advising session on Sunday from 11-12.

Grad school (all two classes I've been taking) has proven to be a bit more stressful and time-consuming than I had originally planned. As a result of my class schedule, my once flexible work schedule has become rigid and my "days off" have become close to non-existent. My propensity for putting off until tomorrow what can be done today has led to assignments being turned in within seconds of their due date/time and the two LARGE group projects that were once specks in the distance are now charging toward me at alarming speeds.

I am - believe it or not - enjoying myself, however. I am really looking forward to getting to visit with friends from Boot Camp because I just met some amazing people in those 10 days. I am also hoping to meet a few more awesome people from 403 and 501... that's exciting, too. I love being a student again and a student at UIUC again to boot.

So I'll sum up the first 8 weeks of my first semester of grad school this way: an adjustment that I am still making that appears to be well worth it.

Hope to have pictures and stories to share from LEEP Weekend '09. :)

Fall 2009, Week One -

Holey donuts, kids. Where to begin...

Okay, so I am taking two classes this semester: 403 & 501. This was NOT the original plan. The ORIGINAL plan was to take ONE class; sorta ease into it. The federal government, however, does not want to fund that sort of plan and demands at least six credit hours to qualify for their loans. SO, what was supposed to be a 501 only schedule became a 501 & 403 schedule.

It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

403 is a class I'm affectionately calling "Kiddie Lit". My class meets Mondays from 4-6 and is taught by Debra Mitts-Smith. Our first class was low-key... no readings due, syllabus walkthrough, small group discussion. During the course of this... well... COURSE, I will write three book reviews, lead a book discussion with a webpage handout, and create a read-alike website (with a group). I am totally pumped to have a published children's author and an elementary school teacher in my group. SCA-ORE, people.

501 is a bit more technical. Taught by Linda Smith, this class was, uh, HARDCORE. We'd already been assigned four readings and people were posting TRULY thoughtful things in the chat while I was all, "Uh, dudes? Who's Bietl?" Yeah. I am much more intimidated by the assignments in this class. Oh, and I need to spend a LOT more time on the Moodle.

How could I have forgotten already that the Moodle is a LIVING DOCUMENT.

In SUPER COOL news, I got word today that I was awarded a grant from the Secretary of State!! According to the website, up to 15 grants are awarded each year to first year library school students. We were supposed to be notified by August 1, but due to funding problems (heh), notifications were withheld. I had all but forgotten about it when a friend "whispered" to me in the text chat, asking if I had gotten a letter. I usually check the mail by that time, but it was raining today. As we were in the middle of 501, I called to my husband and asked him to run and check the mail. He came in hootin' and hollerin' - that experience alone literally made my semester. :D

And here's a statistical anomaly for you - I know *two* other recipients. This is a STATEWIDE application process with literally hundreds of applicants and I know two other award winners... they're in my class. NICE!

So yay for my first week of library school... I promise (basically MYSELF) that I'll post weekly to keep a record of this kooky journey.

Peace out.

Allison-ation

Thanks to Allison for coming up with a hilarious list of "ation" words from LEEP 14.1's boot camp experiences... feel free to add your own in the comments. :)

LEEP-ations...

1. Libation
2. Deprivation
3. Carpal Tunnel-ation
4. Overweightation
5. Shower Shoe-ation
6. Caffeination
7. Frustration
8. Shermanation
9. Second Class-ation (for all the school media specialists in the hizz-ouse)
10. Sign-ation
11. Facebook-ation
12. Urination
13. Estabrookation
14. Discussionation
15. MOODLE-ation
16. Ellumination
17. Team Awesomeation
18. Swearation
19. SHARE-ATION
20. Over-ation

So, technically I'm done...

It's 12:36 am and technically speaking, I'm done.

Mill... done.

Tracking paper... done.

Group presentation... done.

Group Process paper... done.

Final exam questions... mostly... done.

Participation... almost done - one more lecture in the morning.

I set out to blog this experience each day, but it just wasn't possible. It would appear (and this is seriously news to me) that I am a slow and deliberate writer; when I've written in public here, I am ALWAYS the last one done. Didn't leave a lot of time for leisure writing, you know what I mean?

I understand that some people have been sending their spouses here... their siblings and friends, too. All I can say is that this experience is not something you'll ever be able to understand (well, unless your LEEP'er is a bit more "chill" than I am) and it's best to let them bring it up when all the feelings come rushing to the surface.

For now, I'll leave you with more pictures and captions from the stay and promise that I'll be back for LIS 501 in the fall.

Liz :)

The Creative Commons pizza makes its debut on the Quad...

...where apparently there are some co-eds who just need to see the rules in pink-and-concrete.



My husband and I lived on campus when one of the early Toyota Priuses (Priui?) was being driven around here. I seriously hope that the Twike doesn't take off in quite the same way.



Yogurt with the ladies... so glad Garcia's pizza was forced out to make room for this deliciousness.

Heeeeeeerrrrrree's Blankenship!

"Things I Learned in Boot Camp"
by L.M. Blankenship

1. No one should stay in a dorm room past the age of 21.
   
   
2. European hostels have better bathrooms than Sherman Hall
   
   
3. The syllabus is a living document
   
   
4. Tracking paper = the most time you’ve ever spent on 6 pages
   
   
5. There are a whole lot of ations
   
   
6. You must engage the text!
   
   
7. It all goes back to Mill
   
   
8. Four-eyes are better than two
   
   
9. Post it on the Moodle
   
   
10. Boogle = Google Books
    
    
11. Foogle = F*ck Google
    
    
12. We are part of the On-LLINI
    
    
13. Jill, Karla and Matt really are Team Awesome
    
    
14. A 31st birthday is better known as the 10th Anniversary of your 21st
    
    
15. Not only is strawberry vodka terrible, but you can’t drink it in the lobby
    
    
16. Air conditioners must stay on so you can be cryogenically frozen at night
    
    
17. Diagonal crosswalks are all the rage
    
    
18. By day 3 your eyes become a permanent shade of pink
    
    
19. I’m scrappy
    
    
20. The toilet paper at U of I has the unique dual qualities of being transparent and as rough as sandpaper.
    
    
21. Assignments are not assigned – they’re revealed
    
    
22. Group projects can be awesome – especially when felt is involved
    
    
23. Gang signs are for librarians
    
    
24. My best resource for getting a job is rubbing a nose
    
    
25. Since I haven’t committed suicide or dropped out, I must be doing ok

Slacker...

Hey... how's it going? Good, good.

Hey, look. I'm REALLY sorry about not showing up for the last couple of days - I've been *really* busy, I swear.

I know I've been a real slacker, I'm on semester break right now, so I am going to catch up as best I can.




It was my birthday on Monday. People were EXTREMELY cool about it. I thought (initially) that it was really funny to think of it as the 10th anniversary of my 21st birthday - but then I realized that I didn't want to think of my 21st birthday as been a full DECADE behind me now.
Going to Murphy's and grabbing a burger with these guys did ease the pain a bit.


(l-r... Laura, Ted, Arpi, & Allison)

***

Since it WAS my birthday and I seem to be on a gastronomical tour of this town anyways, Laura & Allison also accompanied me out for dinner at an old favorite on Prospect Ave...



It was yummy - especially the Xena, Warrior Princess cake
that Allison picked out for me.
(The menu said Xanga... I thought Xena... it was DELICIOUS)



Dessert fit for a Warrior princess...




Best part of dinner? TIE.

1) Being carded after ordering a margarita on my 31st birthday...
and
2) Allison's phone slipping into a blackhole in her car where we could HEAR it ringing, but could not for the LIFE OF US figure out what direction it was coming from or how to retrieve it.



Blankenship looking PRE-TTY jazzed about the search for Cabaj's phone.



Photographic evidence that it took me calling the phone SEVEN times
for us to figure out where in the funk it had gotten to.

***

After dinner, trip down memory lane...

Oh, hey little guy...

Ya missing something?




Don't worry. UIUC has a GIANT one you can borrow.




Getting a Masters' degree in LIS...
with no intention of EVER returning to a school...
ah, the time and energy (and money)
I wasted in this building. :)




I think some of the out-of-towner LEEP'ers thought we were kidding....



... but we got MAD love for the Morrow Plots, yo.
We don't cast a shadow on this corn, no sir.

Last, but not least...



It's pronounced LIB-rary... like LIB-eral, right?

Fallen Brother

My mother and father, having both been born and raised in Ireland and Irish Catholic households of 8 and 13 children respectively, had a good deal of respect for Frank McCourt and his book, Angela's Ashes.

"It was, of course, a miserable childhood: The happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."

Rest in peace, now, Teacher Man.

My Kingdom for some Marriott Points....

Sensing a theme here - my posts will be a day late and a dollar short. :)

Day 3 was another LONG day of LEEPin', but I didn't take any photos of the day's activites. I don't really dig text-only posts, so I've decided to take you on a tour of my prison cel... I mean, dorm room.

We'll begin at the beginning. These are my keys. The orange card is a swipe card that gets me into Sherman after they lock the doors in the evening for security reasons. I love it because I can never get to it without some sort of struggle, mainly because I refuse to wear things with pockets (or at least it would appear that way). The gold key you see here opens the door to my prison cel... I mean, dorm room and the adjacent bathroom. It's also awesome because it has the added security feature of having my room number printed right on it; you know, in case I drop it and some shady character would like to deliver it directly to me. While I'm asleep in my bed.

Using that lovely key, you open the door onto this magical kingdom.
I believe the dimensions are 3'x5'...

The spacious closet is lost on me, with the exception of the obscene number of shoes I brought. Apparently I wanted to repeat the wearing of my footwear only ONCE during this 10-day stay.

The other side of the closet houses a pair of shoes I didn't think I'd ever have to own after I graduated in 2001 - the shower sandals. I don't wear them because *I* have any foot fungi and I hope not to offend my bathroom buddy, Julie, by wearing them because I doubt *she* has any foot fungi, but I'll say it again - "Good shower sandals make good bathroom buddies".

Speaking of the bathroom, check it out. It's pretty utilitarian, but it gets the job(s) done.
Eww. Sorry about that.

I couldn't get the picture I desired to demonstrate just HOW small this shower stall is - mainly because I couldn't get far enough away from it to get a better angle. As I write, it's 12:24am - and I don't know how happy Julie would be if I knocked to ask if I could stand inside her cell to get a better picture.

In case you were worried.

No storage in the bathroom means that this gets housed above my desk. It takes a lot to keep me looking... well, decent enough to show my face and hair in public.

Located directly above that, you'll find my academic/recreation shelf. Those two binders house all the readings for 502 (single sided) separated by color coded tab. I've had some pretty hilarious reactions to the binders, but that's just how I roll... TA Chris says I'm no archivist. :)

I did say that this was my academic/recreation shelf. Here's what I brought with me in the event that Leigh and the TAs lost their minds and didn't assign any work. What part of "Most past students said they were most surprised by the amount of work they did" did I not understand?

Below those shelf is my desk. This is completely staged. Don't get me wrong, I use the computer, the highlighters, the pen, the readings, all that jazz - just not at the same time... and also not in a complete Illini color-scheme. (Why, yes, that IS a LaBamba's cup).

Next to my desk is the kitchen. I have the pictures I drew and words I wrote for my son on my legal pad before I left hung up on the fridge... helps me feel like I brought a piece of him with me.

Inside the fridge you will discover how I keep
in my current shape (round).

Last, but not least, is a very important piece of furniture - the bed. Looks all sweet and innocent there, with my favorite flannel pillowcase from home and one of the fleece blankets I made when I was feeling all crafty...

But another angle reveals the ugly truth.
Since I didn't bring my pole vaulting equipment and they ran out of step stools at the front desk (SERIOUSLY), I have to grab the far side of my "mattress" and use all my upper body strength (please stop laughing) to haul myself up onto the bed. Once I'm there, I usually immediately start crying because I realize I have to get down and repeat the process because I've left the lights on.

Well, that's all, kids. It took longer than I thought it would, but thanks for coming. I'm going to haul myself up into that bed now because I have to meet up with the LEEP'ers at 9:30 tomorr... I mean *this* morning.

I hope I'll remember to turn off the lights the FIRST time...

One of the Lucky 40%...

Day 2 was... well, technically it was yesterday. :)

Woke up at 7:10, got ready and hustled over to the lab at GSLIS for Moodle/Elluminate training. Met Matt Beth, professed Potter/Hobbit/Twitter-phobe, and learned about "whispering" in the world of distance learning, all while sitting behind these lovely ladies.

Also took a "big important quiz". See why I *heart* the Help Desk? If you answered a question "incorrectly", the quiz would chastise you with, "Rick Astley would *never* do that to you!" - which was AWESOME. I could seriously hang out with "Team Awesome" all day... wondering if that's some sign I should be paying attention to with regards to the future of my career?


Back to Sherman to drop off some weight (namely, other people's laptops) and check out how the other half live - at least the ones who live in the other building... in triples... on the 10th floor. Good views, I have to say...

Next up was the tour of the Undergrad and Main Library buildings. I, being the ocassional dope that I am, left my camera in my backpack (which is not allowed in the main stacks) and am hoping that Nick will email me the pics he snapped with his nifty iPhone - otherwise, I am going back tomorrow sometime and staging pics. Loved the tour - not because I *wasn't* familiar with the place, but because I *was*. I was so lucky to have fellow Illini Allison with me to gush over nerdy things like the smell of the books and the study "cages" tucked on every floor.

Back to the Undergrad to learn more about conducting research via the online catalog - so cool to learn that we'll be able to order books and have them delivered to our homes/offices AND that we can basically keep them for the rest of our graduate careers!!! (highly discouraged)

Ran to Jimmy John's for lunch to gobble up a sandwich before hitting the first of many optional sessions I will be attending - this one on finding articles through LISA, Lib Lit, and LISTA. Had the unfortunate experience of having to sit on the floor for this one, but definitely felt that I was "among my people" when a session on finding scholarly articles was a standing room only event.

Had 30 minutes to kill before the first 502 lecture and spent them wrestling with Chip, the printer in the lab in GSLIS. Wanted a set of slides to take notes on... took me more time than I wanted to spend and probably more printing quota than I wanted to spend, either, but I got sweet printouts thanks to the slides being in Keynote as opposed to PowerPoint.



First lecture was... not what I expected. Began with some ponderables about how we were presenting ourselves in this unusual social situation (i.e. being thrown together by LEEP). Leigh's sociology background definitely shone through here. :) No discussion on Mill (you get no complaints from me) but rather a broad overview of the course and its origins.

Once the lecture was done, TAs took over. Questions were asked, questions were answered. I'm not sure I followed. :/

On my way out of the lecture hall, got recruited into a presentation group - very happy about this as I suffer from that "last kid picked for dodgeball" syndrome. Back to Sherman, put on a sweatshirt (apparently Chambana didn't get the "IT'S JULY" memo, either) and went out to Murphy's for a quick bite. No camera... which is just making it more and more obvious to ME that I desperately need an iPhone. :D Tonight was "Bacon Cheeseburger w/ fries for $5" night - memories.

Walked back to Sherman and encountered LOTS of folks hanging in the lounge. Retrieved some Puppy Chow from the freezer, left my camera in my room (sensing a theme here??) and had a GREAT time laughing it up with my LEEP peeps. Conversation was varied and sometimes raunchy (thanks, teachers!) but it was not to be missed.

When I got back to my prison cel.... I mean, ROOM, realized the Moodle had been on FIRE while I was snarfin' snacks and giggling with my pals. WHOA.

Sleeping in tomor - er, today... first session at 10:30. New stressor - policy tracking paper.

Welcome to LEEP Day One... Don't Blink!

Hole-y donuts... that was a day for the record books. I don't think I've been that "productive" since... ever. The day started with my cellphone going off at 6:50... and me hitting "snooze" so many times that the alarm just turned off. I woke with a start at 7:10, slid off my bunk, and walked hesitantly to my shared bathroom door. I slowly pulled open the door to find...

Julie slowly pulling open the door! Turns out my "bathroom buddy" (we can hardly call one another "roommates" as we only share the bathroom) had just arrived this morning and was checking out the "digs". She went to unpacking as I hopped in the shower (with barely any room to turn around) and got ready for the day.

First stop - GSLIS. Located directly across the street from our dorm, the travel time was great. :) We walked up to the office, picked up spiffy nametags, filled in our I-Card applications (surprised Apple hasn't sued about this name yet), and headed up to the GSLIS Tech Help Desk. Super friendly staff helped us mount printers (which is not as dirty as it sounds) and answered all sorts of various and sundry techie-type questions.


Next up - Illini Union Bookstore to get an I-Card. I actually had to turn in my I-Card from my undergrad years *SNIFF!* - they cut it up and gave me the picture back (gee, thanks). I have to say, I am MUCH happier with the new pic, but there is something sad about giving up an ID I've had since 1996...

Back to GSLIS for a whirlwind morning of introductions and overviews. I have to say, this is a group of VERY funny folks... lots of members of "English Majors Anonymous". Part of my introduction was revealing that one of my LEEP classmates was also one of my junior high classmates. We didn't run in the same circles at all back then, but she looks SO similar to her junior high self (and believe me, this is a compliment) that there was no mistaking her. She, however, has not figured out that I was referring to her yet... stay tuned...

At lunch, met some more LEEP'ers and headed to Zorba's. YUM. I did, however, smell like a gyro for the rest of the day.

The session back at GSLIS after lunch was PAINFUL. Not because the content was so bad (we got spend some QT with Jill & Karla from tech - so funny), but I needed a NAP.

Somewhere in this time I also discovered that I am sorta tardy in applying for financial aid. Ooops.

Walked downstairs to do tech stuff (surf the web, check email, update Facebook/Twitter because I'd done the mounting already). :)

Back upstairs for "LEEP Unplugged" - a panel of current and former GSLIS students answering our burning questions. I couldn't even ask mine out of sheer embarrassment ("How hard should we work on this 500 word Mill paper?") - but hear great questions and answers about how the LEEP'ers past had discovered their LIS calling, where they see LIS headed, and how they went about designing their own courses of study.

Ended the day eating pizza and bemoaning the fact that I still had 400 words left to write on how the tenets of Mill's "On Liberty Chapter 2" applied to a contemporary issue in LIS.

Our rooms are like jail cells, so here I sit, in the lobby of Sherman Hall, where I finally finished my Mill paper only minutes ago. Wanted to get as much of this day typed out as I could before it was lost to my memory... due to the space being needed for readings.