I am so tired! But I keep staying up late, doing one thing or another (usually school related), and not getting enough sleep. I think that after graduation I just want to take a week off and not do anything. Except sleep.

The second reader has asked for some minor revisions on my portfolio (a matter of a few paragraphs here and there, as he put it). Turns out it's Trent Hill, one of my former teachers in LIS560 - he's a great teacher and I'm glad to know that it's him I'm dealing with. But still, I'm kinda bummed even to do a few more paragraphs. It's just one more thing I have to add to my list of things to do.

Oh well, it's almost over.

The Mt. Baker Theater couldn't pay H enough to help them with one of their workshops (she did a barter with them last year), so now she has next week "off" from having to do that. And not enough people registered for the parenting class she was scheduled to teach at the Bellingham Technical College, so that's off too. But she did "pass" her audition at The Up Front and is now considered a regular member of the pool of improv actors there. Which is pretty cool.

The kids are excited about a friend's birthday party this weekend.

First reader passed!

Stuart signed off on my portfolio (the Producer presentation is currently freezing on IE for some reason, so I need to fix that) so now it's off to the second reader. More waiting, but I'm stoked that it's through the first hurdle.

I'm at my second day of residency and everything's going smoothly. Hung out with Jim and Dan K. last night, which was a lot of fun.

Welp, I submitted my portfolio today! Now I just have to wait for it to pass both readers...

I'm glad it's out of the way, but now I get to experience the stress of waiting to see if there are any problems with it...

H has laryngitis and can barely speak right now. It's kinda sad, but strangely quiet. Though the kids are making up for it.

Discovered a new leak in the basement tonight, no thanks to all the rain that's been coming down lately.

Classes have started - I'm taking 536 Indexing and Abstracting, as well as 544 Information Retrieval Systems. Both classes are off to relatively slow starts, with the residency happening in the second week of the quarter for the first time this year.

Working slowly on my portfolio - I need to turn it in to Stuart by mid-week next week at the latest (my own deadline). It needs to be approved by him by Jan 23....Hopefully it will all go smoothly. I'm trying not to stress about it too much, but I can feel the stress level rising anyway (evidenced by over-reacting with the kids tonight at bed time).

I really can't wait until the portfolio is out of the way...

Still need to get working on the Katrina article too. Paul and my conference presentation proposal was accepted - we're going to Hawaii this June! Now I've got to try to get some funding for the trip.

We moved all the kids into one room and all the musical instruments into S's vacated room. Seems to be working out OK, though not all of the kinks have been ironed out yet.

Raining hard tonight.

I'm a little frustrated that I haven't heard back from my advisor about my portfolio components yet, but I've been so busy with end-of-the-quarter papers for both 521 and 531 (one was due yesterday and one on the 1st), that I haven't really had much time to think about it. Or write on this blog.

But now that I do think about it I realize just how frustrated I'm getting - or maybe it's impatient. I don't know for sure, but I'd like to have some final word from him before Winter break. Besides working on the Katrina article I want to get all my portfolio pages finalized before the start of Winter quarter. Which I'll do regardless of whether I hear back from him or not.

Just saw Jarhead tonight - had to get a night out - good flick, reasonably well adapted from the book, well acted. I appreciate the cynical realism about war and being a soldier too.

Saw Henry Rollins last Sunday at The Nightlight - good show. It was great to finally see him do his spoken word stuff. Really gave it to the Bush mis-administration too. Pretty much a punk crowd - sold out seats - to see him.

Just sent my Portfolio components off to my advisor! I know it's a minor thing, but it's a weight off my shoulders to finally have the process moving forward. Plus it felt good to get it written up. As long as he approves of everything it shouldn't be too difficult to finish it...

Went to the Washington Association of Library Employees (WALE) conference in Lk. Chelan last week - saw Julia from SPL, got my own hotel room, went to some interesting presentations and tried to keep up on my schoolwork.

It's midquarter now and I'm tired. I'm also starting to stress out about my portfolio - I need to get it whipped into shape ASAP. And I need to apply to the NC fellowship ASAP. Sigh.

What I really need is more time. And more sleep.

Apple Fest yesterday - had a fun time, lots of chess/music/beer and conversation with friends.

And H suprised me with a 10 yr anniversary present: she got Feed & Seed to play in our basement!

Today we spent recovering/cleaning after Apple Fest - went to breakfast at the Old Town and saw Wallace & Grommit and the Wererabbit with the kids.

Missed seeing E as he was up for a conference in Redmond from L.A., but just couldn't figure out a way to get down to Lynwood to see him today. We didn't even do any grocery shopping this weekend...

School work is going steadily along - grades are 4.0 so far. I think I will apply for that N.C. fellowship afterall.

Saw Mark Ribot tonight at the Nightlight - great, inspiring show. Wot a guitar player - brought me close to tears...

Saw it with Paul after playing chess with Isaac (1-1).

Asked Paul to sell me my Ovation back, which I miss for sentimental reasons.

Another late night - went to see a Thelonious Monk tribute show - jazz quartet. Pretty good, especially the sax player.

And now to my school work.

Took the kids to see H doing improv tonight. It was fun, but makes for a very late start for my schoolwork....in fact, I only have 15 minutes of "official" school work time left for tonight!

But the kids and I enjoyed ourselves, and H was having fun on stage. And it was nice to just hang out with the fam.

I'm in the thick of it now. School work is eating up my sleeping and recreating time, but I'm getting a pretty good handle on the subjects this quarter (reference services and cataloging).

We've set up a workable schedule with the kids - after 9pm I'm no longer available. Then it's school time (from 9-11). The only other time I have for schoolwork is my lunch hour. No more chess...

What else do I have going on?

I've got to finish up a report for the usability group I'm involved in at work.
I'm working on another article with Paul - this one about information use and breakdowns during Hurricane Katrina.
Paul and I have submitted a proposal for the LOEX conference next year in Hawaii.
I'm going to the WALE conference in a couple of weeks.
Apple fest is in two weeks.
I've got to figure out how to help Windward High School with their library and maybe do an Information Literacy workshop for them.
I'm considering applying for a fellowship with UNC.
I'm still thinking about a Fulbright fellowship.
H and I are looking at Vancouver, BC much more seriously now as a place to live.

Speaking of which, we just celebrated our 10th anniversary up there over a three day weekend, which was a lot of fun. Saw a premier at VIFF, ate some great food, and slept in a lot.

Well, I guess that's enough for now. I've made this blog my home page to encourage myself to post to it more often. Hope it works!

That's it?! Summer's over?!?

Oh well, it's been a fun one. I've been happily slacking off (as is apparent by my lack of posts), but school starts up again in a few weeks (thankfully I only have two more quarters left!), and I've got several projects to finish....

Not the least of which is a Newsbreak article my editor called me about writing this morning on how the blogosphere is reacting to hurricane Katrina....which is due this Friday - so I've been working on that and should have it done on time.

I'll try to post some more stuff here soon.

The quarter is almost over now - just three more rather large projects to go, all due on June 5th (!) and then I'll be done for the summer....

Can't wait to catch up on my sleep.

Racing in the road bike leg of Ski to Sea on Sunday. Really looking forward to it, though I know it's going to be a crazy scene.

H is hard at work almost every night on the scripts for her kid's plays.

M&N&S continue to do their thing - playing, reading, fighting, eating, learning, growing, running, falling - being kids.

About half way through Spring quarter.... Feeling tired every day and looking forward to Summer break, and then only one more year to go!

It's been hot and sunny all week and I've been outside every lunch hour. It's felt real good. And the bike rides have been nice, though I did have one foggy morning ride and one super windy ride home.

H has been working on the garden a lot, doing some new stuff in the front yard. Her improv classes are going well too.

The kids are all in various stages of colds right now. I've been playing a lot of Pokemon battles with them. It's fascinating to relate to them on the level of game-play, especially their games.

Guess that's all for now.

The quarter is off to a roaring start! Got test pages up on the web server for 543 and will start doing PHP scripts soon. 560 is moving into Information Literacy, and I have a paper due on Sunday about the ARCS motivational model.

H is working on a barter deal with the Mt. Baker Theatre where she would help manage one of their summer programs in exchange for the use of their space for Kids At Play performances. It's a great deal and hopefully will go through.

I'm on the transfer list for a reference position that's opening up at WWU - it would be a step in the right direction career-wise and I've been encouraged by Paul to go for it. He hasn't steered me wrong yet so I am.

Allen and I continue collaborating on our Crime Doctor story over at the Mandala Press blog. It's a lot of fun. My chapter is due this Friday.

The kids have had a couple of rough days but seem to be on the mend, though we continue to be plagued with negative sibling interactions. On the other hand they are super enthusiastic about learning, and are especially jazzed about doing their learning in a more structured way, i.e. with "textbooks" and other educational materials. I think they like having the process/product dynamic right in front of them, and surely feel a great sense of accomplishment and self-worth when they can see their learning result in tangible products.

Bought Popcorn DVD writing software, and with MacTheRipper was able to make a copy of Playtime. Much easier than having to remake the whole movie. We also bought a Porsche-designed Lacie 250gb hard-drive with which we've backed everything up on our two computers. *And* I bought myself a 60gb iPod Photo. It's sweet. I've been listening to a lot of music. I've got about 20gbs of music on it so far...

What else? Went up to Vancouver last Friday with Andrew, Dave, Ken and Dean to play darts. We took the train up and back. It was a hoot, though I drank a few pints too many. Speaking of which I finally bottled my super hoppy IPA. It went from an OG of 1.050 to a FG of 1.010, making it around 5% alcohol. It tasted great too. Can't wait to try a bottle in a couple of weeks. I'm down to my last few bottles of stout. Will have to brew something soon, and get started on that Lambic....

Just finished my residency for Spring '05. Should be a good quarter - 560 looks interesting and 543 will be a good challenge. I have schoolwork to do already, though I don't feel like starting in on it quite yet...

Celebrated Jim L's 40th yesterday and AnD's house, which was combined with a Hotluck they were hosting and was a total surprise for Jim. Had fun with the kids there and played lots of guitar with Brian and Shannon. Got home late, though, and I'm still pretty tired.

Set up my new 250gb hard drive today and am currently backing up my music collection on it.

Spring Break!! Yay!

It's been nice going to bed early, not having to do any school work. But it all starts up again next week...

Got good grades, all A's, last quarter. Good classes, and I'm looking forward to my next ones.

The play H is in won the regional competition - now they're going to Nationals in Kalamazoo, MI, in June!

The kids are visiting their Grandparents and cousins down in Oregon, so H and I have a few days to just be with one another. Its been nice, going out to movies and dinner, just being together.

But I'm missing the kids too and look forward to seeing them this Friday.

Brewed an IPA over the weekend - it's bubbling away in the stairwell as I write. Hope it turns out good. It should be nice and hoppy.