T (not tee) giving

This year was the first time that Ian and I had ever hosted Thanksgiving, and needless to say, the prospect can be quite nerve-wracking for first-timers. We knew that there had to be a turkey involved, but what next? Lucky for us, Epicurious provided us with full menu listings for the big day; though many of these dishes were a bit advanced for the feast-making novice, we were able to pick and choose a few tasty culinary delights. On the menu...

Hors d'œuvres: cucumber slices w/ salmon pâté and sprigs of fresh dill
celery sticks filled w/ cream cheese, topped w/ green olive slices and paprika (a childhood favorite of mine)
Brie with assorted grain crackers
Greek and French olives
Shrimp with cocktail sauce (brought by my mum)

The main course: turkey (a no-brainer for the omnivorous)
homemade herb stuffing mashed potatoes w/ chives autumn roasted vegetables
yams with molasses-ginger butter
Greek salad with olives, feta and tomato

Dessert consisted of a blueberry pie (brought by my mum), vanilla bean ice cream, and Amish friendship bread. Everyone seemed fairly delighted with the food - especially me! I was pretty nervous about tackling that turkey (I've never cooked one before).

Earlier this month, I practiced by roasting a small chicken (also a first for me). That came out reasonably well, even the trussing. Since we waited until the night before Thanksgiving to go grocery shopping, we ended up with one that was way too huge - over 18lbs.! We had wanted to get a fresh turkey, to avoid all of that annoying thawing business, and only gigantic turkeys were left by the time we skated into Stop & Shop at 9:00pm.

I stuffed the turkey with the delicious herb stuffing that Ian put together and ended up cooking the turkey for about 4 and a half hours total.


I couldn't have asked for a more delicious bird! Honestly, I can't believe that we actually pulled it off.. I didn't eat much meat at all (mostly fish) for years, and only recently started reincorporating poultry into my diet (per a nutritionist's recommendations). Yes - that is my hand you see there in that raw turkey. Ugh.

And this was my face while I was stuffing that turkey...............

But in the end, the deliciousness was worth it.

in the clear?

Just when Ian and I were getting accustomed to having heat (yes, our furnace was repaired), and coping with residual oily/gasoline/chemical smelliness that had been left after the repairs, our refrigerator broke.

Apparently, the compressor decided that it'd had enough, and ended its brief life (actually, I think that this fridge has been running since the mid 70's, honestly). On Tuesday morning, we awoke to a sizable puddle in the kitchen, and thawed frozen goods. We rushed these thawed goods downstairs to our neighbors' freezer (we had just stocked up on frozen meats/seafood/ vegetables), and gave the landlady a call. It took 2 days to get the fridge repaired.. meaning we lost many valiant, delicious soldiers in the battle. Not everything was a loss, but unfortunately, a prime candidate was the large amount of tasty chicken korma leftovers that Ian had stocked us with for the week. He'll be testing one of these today for spoilage (my thoughts are with him)...

In other food news.. some delicious pictures from the Halloween party! Everyone seemed to be absolutely thrilled with contributions from the Baking Queen of Queens, who delivered a scrumptious torso-shaped cake (including all anatomically correct organs). These butter cream frosting-covered treats were sealed with something dubbed as 'mutant alien baby goo' buy the baker.. apparently fondant is similar in molecular structure to the Blob. Though an experimental recipe, this medical miracle was a dizzyingly delicious treat. Another huge hit was a homemade concoction cobbled together by Ian and myself - the meat head!

Taking an interesting suggestion from Make Magazine's Halloween issue, we started with a clean human skull resin replica and coated it with a purple sticky substance; the author of the article suggested a gelatin-based mix, but we decided to go with a few servings of a failed grape jelly recipe from my mom. When jelly is cooked just a little too long, it starts taking on the properties of leather.

Warmed, it makes a fine goo.

Once the base is applied, deli meats (we chose salami and pastrami - the more 'muscley' looking meats) are then added in layers to resemble raw muscle covering the head. The finishing touches are of course the eye balls, which are suggesting to be made out of cocktail onions. For a more realistic look, we decided to go with hard-boiled eggs for the base, and green olives for the iris/pupils. Everybody at the party was really grossed out at first, but every(omnivorous)body just had to have a taste of the meat head. I highly recommended this delightful snacking item for any party, especially one around Halloween.

A fairly delicious holiday is rapidly approaching, and I have the pleasure of having my moms come to our place in CT for a Thanksgiving feast. My first turkey ever, I will be sure to post a play-by-play.

p.s.

Cold Symphony

This past Saturday evening, Ian and I had the pleasure of attending a dinner at the University President's house intended for new faculty (that's me), which was followed by Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf and Stravinsky's Petrushka performed by the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra. I hadn't heard Peter and the Wolf since I was a kid.. it was really quite pleasant. I still find Stravinsky to sound slightly discombobulating when you're not in the mood (which I don't think I was), but it was still pleasant. The dinner preceding the symphony was entirely enjoyable; from the pleasant conversation to the delicious food to the tour of Waldemere Hall, everything was well planned and well attended by new and veteran faculty members. Once I got past the typical nervousness that I initially experience at most social/professional gatherings, I really enjoyed myself.

In other news, chicken is wonderful. I hadn't eaten meat in years, but finally got
back on the stuff per the recommendation of a nutritionist that I was seeing.
Ian made the most delicious chicken korma last night.. so good that I couldn't
wait to have the leftovers for lunch today! We were really excited about being
able to find all of the necessary spices for the dish - thank you, Edge of the Woods!

I was recently recommended a web comic called Basic Instructions by a coworker. Just when I was starting to gain some of my concentration back... *grumble*. Really, this addictive comic definitely rivals xkcd as one of my top favorites.

So.. our oil tank has been replaced. Only then would we be able to discover that the furnace is broken... so still, no heat. Good thing I have plenty of hats and scarves to keep me warm!

the big chill.. and bursting

Nobody enjoys, nor has the patience for long posts. It's been a while. I'll try to keep this brief.

It's gotten a bit more brisk since June. I've mostly settled into the new job, though I still don't know my way around campus. Considering that I frequently have trouble maneuvering myself out of a paper bag, this is not so surprising, nor is it particularly troublesome. Since my last posting.. hmm. Been to NY, ME, VT, NH, RI and several seasonal Halloween outlets. CT has an outrageous number of these, for some odd reason... at least 8 on a 3ish mile stretch of Route 1. In preparation for our first (4 annual at this particular house) large Halloween party together, Ian and I stocked up on necessary supplies, and enjoyed a surprisingly non-ruckular (not encompassing a ruckus or multiple ruckuses... thanks, I just made that one up myself, actually) evening filled with friends, a spectacular torso cake, meat and fantastic/hilarious/creepy costumes. If living/location/things in general permit, it will be a repeat performance next year. Due to lack of time in preparation for the event, my only jack-o-lantern carving resides at my mother's house in Maine. For some reason, I got a horrible blister from carving this. It was all worth it, however, upon hearing my mum exclaim how much she loved the 'ghosties'.

Since August, Ian and I have been harboring two furry little friends named Baxter and Sylvia. The background :

In a previous relationship, my partner and I acquired two delightful cats together. When the relationship ended, he kept the cats (we agreed it would be a more stable environment for them, - I was still in graduate school and financially/geographically unpredictable).

He and I are still great friends, and I had agreed to take care of these little guys for a few months, while he was stationed at a university across the country (as visiting professor). Well, we have them here until the end of November... *tick* *tick* *tick*... time's almost up! I've enjoyed my time with them so so much, but they're not helping to ease my impending separation anxiety at all, especially with the chillier weather - they're super snuggly right now! Always in my lap while I'm at the computer (even now), on my belly/side when I'm sleeping.. always greeting me when I get home.. wanting to be picked up and snuggled. I sure will miss these guys. *sniff* Ah well. At least it'll give all of my nibbled on/devoured houseplants a chance to recover.

And speaking of chillier weather.. we had oil delivered the other day (150 gallons to get us started).. and our tank burst! Mmmm.. delicious oil all over our storage unit in the basement, and the fumes have been choking us for the past few days. Ugh. We've been able to clear them out for the most part, but that means having the windows open! brr. We're supposed to be having our oil tank replaced, but we'll see how soon that happens *grumble*. Ah, the thrills of New England. Only here would one still be dealing with the archaic system of heating by way of oil. Why don't I just start a fire in the middle of the living room? Or maybe I should just start fur trapping/wearing animal skins? Eating suet? bah.

One week down

Just give me a moment to blot my brow; after the whirlwind week that I've had at my new job, as well as the first week in my new apartment, I've been run slightly ragged. The work week started out with a slue of meetings, with the entire public service staff, the reference department, and then with human resources. I've been assigned to work with a team of reference and instruction librarians to come up with curriculum outlines to present to the university faculty, as well as the deans and provost.

One of the wonderful things about the University of Bridgeport is that the faculty here are eager to incorporate information literacy learning into their own lesson plans, taking on the role of the IL instructor, within their own classrooms. Now, we're just left to create a product that they can use. This includes lesson plans using evidence based medicine techniques, exercises, and student assessment tools. The timeline for this project is approximately 6 weeks, at the end of we will be presenting theses materials to the entire univesity faculty, deans, provost and president at conference held in the Dupoint Tower Room in the Arnold Bernhard Arts and Humanities Center (the 'ABC' building). I'm going to be focusing on the assessment tools, mostly, including everybody's favorite - rubrics!

RILA 2007 Annual Conference -

This year's Rhode Island Library Association conference (RILA), Libraries : Network, Socialize, Transform was held at the Rhode Island Johnson and Wales campus located in downtown Providence. I attended Thursday's session as a volunteer (thanks to Karen McGrath!) and was able to make it to 3 of the 4 sessions offered for the day. During the first portion of the conference, I was entrusted with the duty of manning the 'Party Bus', which shuttled arriving attendees from the J&W Harborside campus parking lot to the main library on Dorrance Street in downtown Providence. Oldschool bus + balloons + free chocolate + librarians = one wild time, let me tell you!

The first session that I was able to attend was the 11:00 with Rhonda Trueman of Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rhonda's talk, Second Life : A Virtual World Even Librarians Can Love covered the basics of the virtual reality program created by Linden Research, Inc. This program, considered a 'game' (though no gaming construct is present, unless it's user-created within the virtual world) by many, has multiple RL (Real Life) applications, including library services.

Lori Bell of the Alliance Library System helped to create the first virtual library in Second Life - the first of many that appear in the virtual environment. Several of these libraries that have been created appear in areas such as Info Island, Cybrary City, Eduisland I&II, ALA/Arts Island, Health InfoIsland, Imagination Island, Renaissance Island, and the Eye4You Alliance.

Rhonda went on to explain the advantages of virtual librarianship, listing a series of benefits including the easy access of information regardless of geographic/physical limitation, the ability to ask anonymous questions, the freedom of creativity, and the limitless options of material representation. Rhonda also explained the concept designing your own avatar, showcasing her own 'Abbey Zenith', and went on to describe the construction of SL environments using prims (primitive objects).
It was good to finally get a chance to meet Rhonda in person, having collaborated with her as a part of a consortium of librarians working on the Johnson & Wales Virtual Morocco.

Now that I have finished with my graduate program, I plan to dive right back into the collection development for the library in Casablanca, as well as the construction of objects for the library. I go by the name Jeet Hykova in Second Life, if any other avatars out there care to get together in virtual Morocco!

The next session was presented by Ben Vershbow of The Institute for the Future of the Book. The avid if:book blogger spun fascinating tales in a far-too-short amount of time.. the concept of the book as a transition from print to a work in progress through time; Vershbow also made a statement that I am in 100% agreement with - he hates the term 'ebook'.

Ben discussed the e-presence of books as a work in progress, using examples such as Mitchell Stephen's blog on Without Gods, which promotes discussion on philosophical and theological issues, as well as on basic editing techniques - all of which will be used toward the final revisions of the book (still a work in progress).

Another example of this type of collaborative online work, or 'networked' book is McKenzie Wark's Gam3r 7h3ory, which began as a collaborative wiki (version 1.1), created with The Institute for the Future of the Book. This wiki allowed users to comment on book content and layout, as well as provide original ideas and contribution. Wark also used this social networking editing and collaboration technique to revise and eventually publish his book Gam3r 7h30ry with Harvard University Press in April of 2007.

One of the issues that must bee contended with, as one could imagine with this type of social collaboration, is the issue of copyright and intellectual property. As the amount of library material offered online becomes more expansive over time, this issue is constantly being debated and discussed. Basically, there is no answer to what belongs to whom (as of yet) in these types of situations. Intellectual property right can span across literature into photography, and could potentially raise issue in collaborative image projects such as Microsoft's latest brainchild, Photosynth, which creates large-scale collaboratives using potentially thousands of digital images gathered from just as many user-based sources. Digital copyright is always a juicy issue, one of which I am sure will continue to present itself in this forum.

The last two sessions I attended today were less satisfying to my curiosity, though productive to some, I am sure. The first, Dealing With Difficult Patrons, presented by k. Carey Baker, addressed the issue of dealing with patrons that act out, either verbally or physically toward you in any situation. Have been a therapist in my former life, I found much of this information to be simplistic.. though surprisingly, there were many people there who seemed to legitimately take much of this session to heart, which is a good thing. Learning how to deal with people on an emotional level is important, even outside of library service!

The second session, Teaching and Learning Online : Skills and Tools, presented by Vivienne Piroli, was again, intended for a specific audience - of which I was not a part. This presentation covered what online tutorials were, why you should create them, and what benefits they have. So I'm left thinking - "what's next?!" Again, it seems as though this session barely skimmed the surface of what should be a very familiar topic to librarians at this point. I would like to have seen some in-depth coverage of using programs such as Captivate to create interactive tutorials. Again, just my humble opinion.. but I think that a great deal of underestimation of the preexisting knowledge of conference attendees may have been present in certain situations.

All in all, I took away a good deal of information (and great tote bags!) from the first half of this conference, most of which was delivered by Ben Vershbow. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the second day of the conference tomorrow, since I will be making a partial move into my new apartment in Connecticut (as well as signing the lease - finally).

Starting Gate

Here I come, fresh out of library school.

I'm an academic librarian (receiving my MLIS from the University of Rhode Island in May 2007), with intention to teach information literacy.. this intention is to be played out at the Magnus Wahlstrom Library at the University of Bridgeport (starting June 18th) in Connecticut. As one of their newest hires in the reference department, I am to be a part of nothing short of a veritable troop of new librarians, that will be involved in the complete reconstruction of the library's physical and intellectual structure. Along with reference service in the library, we will also be providing information literacy instruction to faculty members. Part of this blog will be devoted to the goings-on at the university, and the development of the new information commons.

Another portion of this blog will be devoted to updates on professional conferences, workshops, and special topic courses that I attend. I can typically be found skulking around such gatherings belonging to the ACRL (New England Chapter), ALA and the SLA (again, New England Chapter - Rhode Island specifically, at the moment). I'm also wont to attend local chapter library conferences, including RILA (I'll technically be a Rhode Island resident for another whole week) annual gatherings, of which there is one that I will actually be attending later on this week in Providence, RI.

Other items that may end up stumbling into this blog are those that are related to librarianship, library instruction, information technology and the lot - all of which I find at least moderately interesting and worth a note. One of my intentions is also to continue to cobble together a meeting place for new ideas, intentions, and inventions. A fresh commons.

Keep it fresh.