Where did the time go?

Wow - Sorry everyone! It has been a long time since I've posted anything here!
Seems not to long ago that I was on my way to DC for my first ALA conference.
The conference was amazing! Though I kept getting sucked down into the void that was the vendors - so many free books! I ended up sending home 3 boxes of books. I know, I know...it's a sickness and no, I don't need therapy..
I was able to go to ALA on a program called Student to Staff - I had my conference fee, hotel and a stipend in turn for my time working at the conference with one of the offices. I ended up working with the Press Room - which was alot of fun! I gave the registered press their passes and sometimes doubled as an information desk... I met some authors - such as Holly Black! EEee! :D
I met a few other student to staffers - one of them ended up putting together a short skit for the DEMCO book cart drill team - ALA student to staff kids. Yes, I got myself involved and yes I had fun! It was based on a book one of them had created, though he said there hasn't been a publisher that's picked up his book yet.
It wasn't much after ALA, that August was upon us and it was Graduation for me. I had moved all my stuff back up here a couple weeks beforehand and I turned around a couple after to go to Graduation for the weekend.
Graduation was HOT! Well, a hecka lot warmer than I would have liked it to be. I'm soo glad that I had a swimsuit underneath my gown. It was cooler but still way to hot for this Northerner. After the ceremony, we took off back up north. We as in me, Jarrett and Carly. Carly is one of my friends from Alabama. She stayed with us for a week up here. We had fun - visiting random places, especially the libraries. :)
Speaking of libraries - I found a job up here in Fargo at the Fargo Public Library, where I am the Acquisitions Librarian - essentially, I buy things for the library. Quite possibly one of the best things is, having to go to Barnes and Noble to go buy extra copies of items. :D Win! I've been here for a few weeks now and I've really been enjoying it!

ALA!!

Well I know it's been awhile since I've posted here. Needless to say I've been busy...here there and just about everywhere.

After I completed my internship at the Chester Fritz Library, I went straight into doing a few days of Annual Training for the Air Guard in Fargo.

Oh but it doesn't stop there - that following Saturday, I drove out to Indiana to Camp Atterbury for NESA. I was on staff for the Basic GSAR school (Ground Search and Rescue) as a FTA (Field Training Advisor. SOO MUCH FUN!!! :D It was the first time I'd ever been to NESA ... (I really don't know why I didn't go earlier...) I got to do things such as run the Land Nav courses, help out with some of the classroom things, and other random tasks I was assigned to do. I really wasn't liking life on Monday morning when I had to go find all the points for the nav course and most of the woods had standing water... I was sad that I had to leave though. The other FTAs were fun to work with, but I had to leave because week was more Annual Training for the Guard and leaving for ALA.

As of right this very moment, I'm sitting in the MSP airport waiting for my flight. Oh the joys of standby and cxled flights...

More to come later.

Internship at the Chester Fritz Library

Hey Y'all!

I have started a blog separate from this one about interning at the Chester Fritz Library at the University of North Dakota.

http://lcsreturntocfl.blogspot.com/

With this 150 hours of unpaid awesomeness, I am going to be doing things such as:
advanced/original cataloging and reference.

Why? You may ask?...because I can. :)

Please feel free to check it out!
Comments are welcome! Spam-bots aren't.

Library Cat

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

May Day!

It's already May! Wow! Summer is pretty much here, the semester is almost over - it's a great feeling. *happy Snoopy-like dance*

I only have a few more things to do for my classes - pretty much submitting a few last things for my classes.

I'm amazed that I was able to stay up with everything for my 5 classes this semesters - even with having to go home for my Grandmother Elaine's funeral, and then being stuck up there a week longer after Spring Break due to being on State Active Duty for the flooding.

I realized that I haven't done much with blogging

here last month - well to be fair, I've been pretty busy playing catch up - doing homework and staying busy with CAP (either with the squadron or the wing).

Last weekend was really busy for me - I helped out with a conference that was held here at the University of Alabama - The National Latino Children's Literature Conference. I wasn't there long, but I helped set up for the conference and then presented my poster, whic

h was about Pura Belpré. Oralia Garza de Cortés was a keynote speaker for the conference and is also the co-founder to the Pura Belpré Award. She took a look at my poster and asked if it could be used at ALA this summer!! :D Yay!

After the conference, I was down in Montgomery for WESS - Alabama Wing Emergency Services School, where I was participating in the Ground Team Leader School (GTL) - which I finished and graduated. Yay for being a re-qualified GTL!!

Today is my last day of class - It's pretty exciting to me actually. In less than a week, Jarrett will be flying in and will be here over the weekend, where there will be UA's spring graduation and Tuscaloosa's Airshow.

One last cool thing - I found my 1st 4-leaf clover today after lunch. :) We'll see how many I find this year.

Back to the grind...

Well I have returned from ND and I'm back into the swing of things with school. I left Sunday afternoon after I spent the morning with Firestarters. Lunch was awesome. (I loved the pulled pork sandwiches David (Jarrett's dad) made...drool....[I love that they can cook since I can and will manage to burn the simple things such as grilled cheese....] but I digress...)

It was nice to be back up north, even though most of it was spent doing National Guard things. Even though I wasn't able to get as much school work as I had liked to do while I was up there. I did manage to get out an application for a librarian position at NDSU (North Dakota State University), which is pretty much a step away from my hometown.

The position looks like alot of fun to me. It's the Educational Services Librarian, where they: (from job description)

Subject librarians provide general and specialized reference and research services for the NDSU Libraries; provide instruction and information literacy services and support; are responsible for assigned subject collection development; act as liaisons to academic departments; actively engage in professional development and other scholarly activities; and complete other projects and duties as assigned.

I ended in the library one of the days I was back. I think it was the last day I was doing Guard stuff...not entirely sure at the moment...my days started to run together after awhile...

I was working on my Reference notebook for LS 507 and was going to leave the library to meet up with Jarrett at the university archive, when I decided I should ask the reference librarian if she happened to know more about the Educational Services librarian position.

Turns out that she did! It was actually her old position. She ended up moving up in the library structure. She talked more about what she envisioned the position to be since she's going to be overseeing it. (I was alittle shocked and alittle upset with myself over the fact that I might have smelt like jet fuel and was dressed down in a AF hoodie, and jeans....) But then again it might have gone really well. We talked about the position, other library things and other random things for like an hour and a half. I had to leave so I could meet up with Jarrett since he was done for the day at the archive. (He's doing something extremely awesome - for his Archival Photography class, he gets to go through a collection, sort them, make a finding aid and put the photographs in plastic sleeves. He was working on the collection of (uh can't remember the first name, but his last name was) Steele, who was in WWI, I believe, and was a commandant for the Army ROTC program there at NDSU back in the day.)

Jarrett was very proud of what he was doing. I felt bad that I missed getting there in time before the archive closed. I did end up seeing what he did the day later though. ...still feel bad though...

But anywhoozers, I need to get back to my schoolwork. Hard to believe that theres pretty much a month of this left!

ND State Active Duty

For the last week I have been on State Active Duty in North Dakota for the flooding for the last week. While on State Active Duty, I have been tasked with sandbagging and dike patrols. My shifts have been 12+ hour shifts, which perhaps goes without saying that some days seemed longer than they really were...

I have enjoyed doing what I've been doing for the last week. The food from Services is awesome! I was especially glad that I didn't have to break open those MRE (Meals Ready to Eat)...if you've ever had to eat them...you know what I mean...

The Salvation Army, community members and our 1st Sgts definitely were there for us walking the dikes with sandwiches and snacks. (Having spoons for those Snack Packs is important!) One of the days I've been out patrolling the dike, I let my mom know where I was and she brought some homemade soup. She was so excited about coming out that she took one of the neighbors with her. (For kicks, I let her see the humvee we were driving that day. She loved that!)

The community of Fargo seemed to like that we were out there patrolling and watching the river and getting people out where there was a need for sandbagging or watching the integrity of the dikes. The dikes have been doing well - there have been a few leaks but they have been taken care of. We were prepared if it turned into something like last year where part of the dike broke in north Fargo near Oak Grove high school. (The photo is of Mikelson Park, which is near Oak Grove school, yesterday.)

Aside from patrolling the dikes and sandbagging, I have had 3 separate interviews about what I was up to. I was interviewed by the public affairs people from my unit, Eye Witness News, Channel 5 in Minneapolis, and KVLY, Channel 11 which is a local news channel for Fargo. I have found 2 of the 3 interviews online so far. Check them out! (One is one YouTube from the Guard and the other is linked through Eye Witness News).

It's that time of year again!

For flooding! ...in the Red River Valley of the North anyway.

I had originally planned my spring break to be doing Annual Training for the Guard, Monday through Friday(15th-19th) this week. Well, as we all may know, things can change, be it personal circumstances or Mother Nature.

In my case, it's both.

It all started Sunday evening when I when I came down with the stomach bug. (Oh it was horrible!) I was laid u

p for a couple days with those friends we may affectionately call 'Chuck' and 'Ralph'.... (I am so blessed though to have had Jarrett take care of me. He even laid out a sleeping bag not far away from me the first night of having this bug,

cleaning out the bucket and cooling a washcloth for my forehead. He's the best!!) I wasn't feeling better until Tuesday afternoon.

While I was laid up with the stomach bug, I did get the bases automated recall phone messages about the state active duty. They hadn't activated the entire base, just yet, but were in serious need of personnel. By this time, I had missed 2 of the 5 days I had originally planned for Annual Training. I was in contact with my shop and let them know what was going on there. Wednesday morning, I went in to find out what could be done.

They said the best course of action was to cancel my annual training orders and put me on state active duty orders. They said being on state active duty orders I could expect to be on them for about a week...depending mostly on what the weather does actually. (That usual blizzard or winter storm out of no where tend to mess everything up further.)

Though the flood waters aren't going to be as high as they were last year, it is still expected to about 3 feet from last years crest. The crest in Fargo is expected to hit sometime this weekend. I suppose we'll see.

The first day of State Active Duty, I ended up sandbagging. Let me tell you, sandbagging is one of the best, roughest workouts one could ever get. Basic training looks more joyful than a day of sandbagging. Throwing around 30+ pound sandbags all day long definitely makes one very tired and very sore, even before lunchtime hits.

(Lunchtime there was pretty awesome though! The Salvation Army and the homeowners of whose houses we were sandbagging had food for us. The food was amazing! Lasagna, hot dogs, sandwiches, brownies, chips, fruit, an soooo much more!) It was pretty amazing to work along side other volunteers for that.

There were high school students, even as far as St. Paul, MN out helping, a

s well as neighbors, homeowners, City of Fargo works, Firefighters, and many more I'm sure I'm forgetting or didn't know were there in that particular neighborhood anyway. I love this community!

Day 2 of State Active Duty, I was tasked with dike patrolling. Jarrett, who is also in the Air Guard with me, as a crew chief, ended up with me walking dikes all day. [Photo above of me walking on the dike is from the 119th ND National Guard site.] We were on about a 6 block stretch of dike in Fargo (from Main Ave to about 6th Ave S). We were given a humvee, other supplies and told to pretty much watch the dikes for leaks/cracks or people. We need to watch the dikes to be sure that there isn't any part has water leaking out or cracking. They also dont want people out there walking on them in the event of an unstable dike or them slipping and falling down the dikes into the freezing rushing river. Even though it d

idn't seem like much, most of my day was walking up and down the dike and then kicking people off the dike. Its pretty amazing to me that even though they have announced in on the news, newspapers, have signs posted or have heard of those from last year who were arrested for doing that very same thing, are still wanting to go and walk out on the dikes... yea... evidently they must not think it applies to them? even though its for their own safety?

Aside from patrolling my section of domain and getting people of the dike, the news media was out and about. I ended up being interviewed by the public affairs people from my unit, as well as, the local news, KVLY, channel 11. At this time, I couldn't find the interviews or many pictures that were taken of me today, but I'm sure I will later one way or another.

More to come when I can update! For now, I need to get some rest and see what State Active Duty brings for me tomorrow.

Half way there....

It's hard for me to believe that the semester is pretty much half over. Taking 5 classes this semester hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be...or at least that's what I keep telling myself. As far as I know, I'm doing well in my classes but I'm ready for a break away from here.

Yay! Spring break!

Spring break is already upon us! Am I going somewhere warm? Well, that's a matter of opinion...

I will be going back to North Dakota over Spring Break and doing some Annual Training days. I have been watching the weather these past few days and see that it is getting warm up there - well above freezing (32 F). Which is nice - it means its getting to be spring up there. However, above freezing = flooding. So...Flood 2010? (Well, I got the automated recall from the Guard that they are gearing up for personnel.)

I've heard that it might be another bad flood year, due to all of the snow and moisture up there. Oh and the Red River is one of those rivers that flows North....

Last year when it started to flood, it warmed up over spring break week. This year, its the week before spring break.

What does that mean for me? Hard to say at the moment. If it starts to flood as bad as they say while I'm up there doing some annual training days, then I might be up there for a little longer than I'm planning to.

Neil Gaiman himself!

A couple weeks ago, I was able to go see one awesome author do a reading here in Tuscaloosa. Yes, Neil Gaiman himself! It was the first time he had ever came to Alabama. It was a great night, in my opinion, here in Tuscaloosa at the Bama Theatre.

Tickets for the show, even though they were free for students, they were sold out within like two minutes. (And publishers said there's no one in Alabama that would come to see him....) I some how got a ticket though! I was trilled. My first reading encounter of Neil Gaimen was actually Stardust. (Yes, the movie where Robert De Niro wears a dress...) I did get one of his novels that was for sale, Anansi Boys.

It was a very enjoyable evening with other SLISers. Even though he wasn't able to do any book signings...(well kinda). It was a lot of fun to hear him read new things. My favorite was one called "Orange" - it was a short story about dialog, where it's one sided, but you can figure out what what kinds of things were said on the other side, if you will.

As for book signing, Carly was able to get a couple of books signed. After the crowds had mostly left, she saw him exiting out the side door and was able to get some books signed.

I actually did get my newly acquired Gaiman novel signed though. (EXCITEMENT!) Again, Carly came to the rescue and got him to sign my novel. The following day, there was another reading on campus that one needed a ticket for. She was able to get him to sign there.

It's pretty exciting me to have a novel signed by the author. Come to think of it, I think it's my first novel that I OWN that is signed by the author for me. I still haven't had a chance to read the novel due to all the other readings and what not for my other classes. I will start as soon as I can though. Even though Spring Break is coming, doesn't mean I'll be able to read what I want to...

I want to be a librarian....

Awhile back I had seen this YouTube clip somewhere in my travels. Too good not to pass along...
This looks like soo much fun!!
Enjoy!



I have also found the music video to the song: Librarian by Haunted Love.

Vast Expanse

I found a video of Jarrett's band, The Vast Expanse, for the song "Missing the Stars".

He's the bass player. :)

Neato!

I found an app for my iTouch that allows me to write something for my blog. This is really neat!
It's like texting in a way for me. Also knowing that I only have the touch and not the phone- I will need to be sure I have wireless access when I post.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Haiti Project Poem

So, I must have some mad, awesome reference skills. The poem that was chosen was the one I found. I actually found this through serendipity after spending sometime in the stacks in the PQ 3919's...

Title:
Laraque, P., & Manno, R. (1988). Camourade: Selected poems. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press.

This item has a collections of poems that were translated from French. They have the English translation next to the French poem.

Poem:
Night and Day = Nuit Et Jour

we are coming from beyond the shadow
to tell of the great meadow in the night
the peasant and his fear
alone in the savanna
with the sweet potato plant
like a man who's been buried alive

open for me
master at the crossroads
open the gate for me

immense palace of glass from the rain
that the sun radiates and breaks with its fires
a young black girl is kneeling in water
covering herself with her hands
bringing one down upon the other

hide it hide it well
keep it tight

the dust of desolation from the plains
the bald gloom upon emaciated chests
poverty is woven into a matting of ignorance
it's the end of hope's candle inside cabins of despair

we're coming from beyond the shadow
and the volcano of our implacable voice splits earth and sky
liberating a thousand candelabras of light for our task
a thousand wild beasts drinking at the source making friends
a thousand flowers from stars snakeskin of hard diamonds
black like the first night of love
and a rainbow rises fro the people as comrades

SLIS and Book Arts Program join forces!

In light of the tragedy of Haiti, our programs here at Alabama have came up with a way to raise money.

From Dr. Elizabeth Aversa, Director of SLIS:

Intensive SLIS and Book Arts Collaborative Project
to Benefit Rebuilding/Recovering Haitian Libraries

SLIS has a unique opportunity to contribute something to benefit the
people of Haiti. MLIS and MFA students are invited to work together to bring to life
a Handmade Broadside featuring poetry by a Haitian writer and accompanying art.

This project can involve students with diverse interests: those who are interested
in papermaking, printing, art, poetry, international information issues, and sales
and distribution of information products and services. There is a place for all
interested volunteers in this project!

The prints will be sold to help rebuild and recover Haitian libraries. SLIS faculty
members Elizabeth Aversa, Anna Embree, Steve Miller, and Jeff Weddle represent the
faculty spearheading this endeavor.

Here are some ways YOU can help:

By February 17th 2010 we need 5 lbs of 100% cotton fibers, light in color,
donated and cut into 1” squares. The squares will be used as fiber for
making the paper for the broadsides. Bring them to the office and we’ll
keep them until papermaking time. (This will keep your hands busy
while watching reruns of Law & Order!)

On February 19th the rag paper for the broadsides will be handmade in
SLIS’s Lost Arch paper mill by SLIS students. Twelve SLIS volunteers are
needed for two kamikaze paper making sessions (six MLIS students per
session, working with MFA students). The morning session will be from
8am-12pm; the afternoon session will be from 1pm-5pm. Ever wonder
what goes on the paper mill? Here’s your chance to learn!

On March 5th MLIS students will have an opportunity to letterpress
print the poetry and artwork for the broadside. Six SLIS volunteers will be
needed for two printing sessions (three students per session). The
morning session will be from 9am-12pm; the afternoon session will be
from 1pm-4pm.

The completed broadside will be unveiled on April 1st at the Edible Book
Festival.

After the broadside is unveiled, there will be additional opportunities to help
send information about our SLIS project to other library and information
science programs in the hope that other schools will take up their own
projects for Haiti. Although the immediate need in Haiti is for funds
for food, water, and shelter, we can assist in raising funds to recover and repair the
country’s cultural record. We will work with the international LIS community to
see that proceeds from our project get to the right folks.

This is a rare opportunity to be involved, to create a new work in the
Book Arts studios, and to raise funds for a very worthy cause.
Due to limited space please sign up for only one spot
so many SLIS students can participate. A sign-up sheet is posted by
the elevators on the fifth floor; remember that space is limited in the
papermaking and printing phases of the project. Students, including online
cohort members who cannot be onsite, may volunteer to assist with the
business aspects of the project by contacting Dr. Aversa by e-mail.

Please sign up, mark your calendars, and join our SLIS effort to assist
Haiti in a meaningful way. You will hear more about this project here on
SLIS-S!

Elizabeth Aversa and Colleagues

A librarian would do this....

Elise's Dewey Decimal Section:

624 Civil engineering

Elise = 52995 = 529+95 = 624

Class:
600 Technology

Contains:
Health, agriculture, management, public relations, buildings.

What it says about you:
You are creative and inspired to make the world a better place. You can work hard on something when it catches your interest. Your friends have unique interests in common with you.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Elise's Dewey Decimal Section:

397 [Unassigned]

Elise's birthday: 4/14/1983 = 414+1983 = 2397

Class:
300 Social Sciences

Contains:
Books on politics, economics, education and the law.

What it says about you:
You are good at understanding people and finding the systems that work for them. You like having established reasoning behind your decisions. You consider it very important for your friends to always have your back.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Elise's Dewey Decimal Section:

119 Number & quantity

Class:
100 Philosophy & Psychology

Contains:
Books on metaphysics, logic, ethics and philosophy.

What it says about you:
You're a careful thinker, but your life can be complicated and hard for others to understand at times. You try to explain things and strive to express yourself.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

My friends personal librarian?

Well, I'm back to the grind of my classes. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be catching up (though I still feel alittle behind). Thank God for fellow SLISers! :D

I came to realize something, or perhaps its just a random though of mine at a late house and coming off of a coffee buzz... that in some ways I fulfill the role of a librarian for my friends. As I was working on some of the homework and readings for my classes, I left my Facebook open, with the chat activated tonight. I was surprised to see the amount of message traffic coming to me from friends (not just here in AL, but on other parts of this country) wanting to know if I knew where to find something or if I knew about something. Maybe the article, 'Information-seeking behavior of basic science researcher: implications for library services', made me think of this. Or maybe I'm realizing how much better I am becoming to finding information.

Regardless, I'm loving it. :)

(Now exit, stage right to the elevators to go home!)

Turbulence

This semester has started for me. I'm still trying to figure out what was I thinking, but then again I think I'll be alright. I am taking 5 classes this semester:

LS 502 - Research Methods

LS 507 - Reference

LS 533 - Special Libraries

LS 560 - Information Technologies

CIS 620 - Advanced Programing for Youth

Well the good thing about it all is that I'll have all my required classes done with. :) At this rate, I should be able to graduate in August, which will be nice. I miss North Dakota/Minnesota. Despite the cold, I love it there. I like Alabama, don't get me wrong, however, I have found that this is not where I want to end up. (Funny, that no matter how far you go away from home - you find that's where you want to really be.)

It's been a little crazy this week already for me. I started classes this last week. Then Sunday morning got the call from my parents that Grandma Elaine died. It was kinda expected but I didn't think she would leave this fast. She had some health issues, but I know that she's in a better place and with Grandpa Runyon again.

So I am flying home today and will be back home in North Dakota until Monday. It'll be nice to see home again (even though I left there a little over a week ago), but not under the best circumstances I guess.

New year and six weeks later...

Wow...it has been awhile since I last updated this.... 2010 already, can you believe it?

The last six weeks since I last updated have been pretty good for me. I was able to be up North (or what people would probably currently term is the land of the frozen uninhabitable tundra...)

I spent a chunk of my time making up guard drills at the fuel shop. I initially made up to Januarys guard drills. (But I ended up with an extra months drills due to AL football.) I definitely had a lot to catch up on with training and what not. Whats extra fun is getting caught up on the online version of our AF 623 tasks (TBAs=online personnel record of the tasks in our AFSC and aircraft) and then finding that the site decides to go down...[I usually get farmed out to the other back shops to show them how to use the program online...I guess it helps to be going to school to be a librarian] I enjoyed it though. I miss all those maintenance guys and working on the airplane.

It was pretty even

tful other than updating records and turning wrenches. They finally decided to fix the heat in the shop for the first time in 3 years or so. When it got to -20s (plus whatever the windchill) and the 'heater' was pumping in unheated outside air....it got pretty dang cold in there! Well that didn't go without some sort of drama - involving stoves and people finding out really quickly that its not a good idea to yell at others for something they had nothing to do with...Ah well they learned and now get off their duffers to physically check the buildings.

I also was able to visit people at the Chester Fritz library - though I didn't get to see everyone. I visited with as many as I cou

ld though. It was soo good seeing people there. Caught up on the happenings of the library. Another time I was up in Grand Forks, we hit up a Fighting Sioux hockey game. They won! 4-1! Hey Sioux Sioux!

For other than stuff that was going on, I spent another large chunk of my time with Jarrett and Firestarters, well mostly Jarrett. With Firestarters, caroling the one evening in Ottertail was soo much fun! The other days getting together with them for the Christmas party, Talent night, and New Years was more than I expected. Its just amazing the types of things going on out there in Ottertail at the old Creamery building. I always felt so refreshed, alive, safe, loved out there with their meetings on Sundays and Wednesdays.

With Jarrett, there was a lot of fun as well- we went out for dinners, shooting, hunting, Gun show, movies, hung out with friends and family. Brunchs at the Permann house are amazing! (So blessed that Jarrett and his dad can cook! [Though I did manage to not burn my grilled cheese sandwich the one day - which I think was a fluke!] I was laughing about that I can get that signed off on my 623s for cooking.) His dog, Annie, who actually just had puppies on Wednesday, was just huge in the weeks prior. Shes a German Short-haired pointer. The puppies are adorable!

Speaking of dogs, on a kinda sadder note, I had to put down my dog, Nala a border collie mix, of 15 years. She was having quite a bit of health problems from arthritis, going deaf and blind and what not. She was the coolest dog ever! She loved to play with pinecones and when she was younger, she would chase airplanes. I miss her and it was very hard to do, but I know she's in a better place. As for now, I guess the other furry black and white long haired mammal in the form of a cat named Tequila who will play fetch with you, will help. Who said my animals had to be normal.

So classes started this week. Classes would have normally started last week, but since Alabama was in the Rose Bowl, the university dismissed classes. We followed the game from Fe

rgus Falls (Still surprised they did that - UNDs big this is hockey and they never cxled school for the Frozen Four...hmmm) Oh well, it was nice to be able to stay another week.