Bicycle season is over

On the last day of September, we had our first snow: wet, messy and not ideal for bicycling home at 9 pm. Since then, I have traded my bicycle and messenger bag for a backpack and good walking shoes. This Wednesday night, it snowed again. And more on Thursday night. And all day today.

As of 6 pm, there's about 4 inches of snow on the ground, and it's still coming down. Last I checked, it was 18 degrees. It is supposed to be 8 degrees tonight.

But this is Wyoming, which means it will probably be 70 degrees in a couple of weeks. Or days.

See the hazy blotches in the photo? That's snow falling sideways, blown by the wind.

With the change in seasons, there are some good points, hunting season being one. No, I haven't taken up a shotgun. But Wes is getting some use out of his arsenal. He especially enjoys bird hunting and also enjoys trying new recipes. In the last week I've eaten blue grouse kabobs, sage grouse stew, duck in plum sauce, and wood duck and sausage stew. I could get used to this. In fact, we've struck up a trade deal: I share my homemade bread and he shares his wild game. Works for me.

Another fringe benefit of the colder, stormier weather is the decreased temptation to abandon my homework for outdoor fun. Of course, now there are the temptations of hot drinks, blankets, good books and movies. I must resist!

This weekend, for example, I must:

• Take a three-hour online midterm, worth 40 percent of my grade (it's not multiple-choice), for my Tuesday class.
• Study for said midterm.
• Read (skim) several articles and a textbook chapter, totaling approximately 200 pages, also for my Tuesday class. This is not light reading.
• Research for a 50-page group paper due at the end of the semester for my Thursday class. My group has a meeting Sunday night, and we'll all have notes to share.
• Write my usual weekly assignment — again, for my Tuesday class. (Are you seeing the pattern?)
• Read another 100 or so pages for my Thursday class.
• And, if I have time (hah!), read through my research and begin writing another paper for my Thursday class

I'm probably missing something. But in order to determine that, I will have to begin. And as I've eaten my supper (wood duck and sausage stew, with homemade Italian herb and garlic bread) and just put my laundry in the dryer, I should probably get started.

However, as a disclaimer, I will say that graduate study is not all tedium. I am reading some great things and, most important, learning a lot about the history and context in which libraries operate. When I step back and consider what I have learned so far, it starts to make sense. But reading article after article about FRBR, metadata, authority control and whatever else...well, that's tedium.

Comments

[Courtney]

FRBR is a holy subject reserved solely for cataloging librarians. I refuse to think about it. ;)