And fall goes on: of fish and faculty.

[lunadelcorvo]

Still unpacking. Urgh! If I have to step over/on/around one more cardboard box, I'll..... well, remind myself to unpack it eventually is what I'll do. But I am taking the time to do things right, and trying to sort out a log of stuff as I go. Unfortunately, this equates with stuffing a helluva lot of stuff into the basement until some mysterious, fictional time in the future when I will actually deal with all the heaps of heaven-knows-what-all I haven't a clue what to do with. I need to grow a spine and rent a dumpster..... alas.

Back on track to finish this semester! Yay! New topic, new committee, new format - it's like all the crap last spring/summer never happened. Well, sort of. But it's forward motion, and I am pretty jazzed about the new topic, so all is good! Classes are proving to be enjoyable and relatively stress free, which is a big plus. I am working with all new profs, even in fairly new departments, which is odd, but all things considered, a good thing.

I don't see much of any of the faculty I used to, aside from the chance passing in the quad and such, but again, for the present, perhaps that's for the best. I'm not entirely over my sense of disillusion and betrayal yet, but I'm getting there. Or at least, I'm leaving it behind, which will suffice for the moment!

We have added to the residents of our "Conservatory" (what my son calls our sunroom). The Conservatory houses all the house plants, the original 29gal fish tank, a newer 20gal tank, and now, a 5.5gal with three hermit crabs! And now my son's class is looking to adopt out a few anoles, so we may end up with a few of them as well.

I never thought I'd add 'zookeeper' to my list of job titles, but I must say, it's quite rewarding. Although, I do wish the mollies would stop already! We are on our fifth batch (spawn? brood? clutch?) of molly babies, and even though we have given away about 35 or 40, we currently have something on the order of 75 mollies! This is sustainable when they are no bigger than this---> • but gets to be a problem when they get to be regular fish-sized....

I think it's time to round up all but one or two of the last brood and take them to the petstore. Unfortunately, I think the gold male has been making eyes at the big silver female, so I am sure we have not seen the last population explosion by a long shot! (Is it dastardly of me to be considering a fish that tends toward the carnivorous? Those babies could keep an Arowana happy for a good long time.... Maybe our home is not the best place to teach the Niblet how the food chain really works....)

Anyway, off to read, cite and write! Cheers!

P.S. We've begun the spookification of the new digs! Whee! I do love Hallowe'en!

Comments

[cyranothe2nd.livejournal.com]

What's the new topic? Also, do you use Zotero for citations? I've just downloaded it and am trying to learn it and ugh!

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

The topic is basically the prevalence of "Crusade" language, symbolism & ideology in the post 9/11 religious right. Sort of combining contemporary issues with medieval studies! LOL

I don't use Zotero, though I think I fiddles with it once. I have oodles of PDF articles already stored locally, and it doesn't seem to like working with things it doesn't download itself. I use a very "high-tech" method: I make a separate document, and type out quotes I think I'll use, with a note and page, and then copy and paste in as I write. I go back and footnote/biblio later. See? Cutting edge.... *facepalm* What the heck, it works....

Let me know if you find the 'Zen of Zotero' - I never got it.

[cyranothe2nd.livejournal.com]

That is so weird because I've been thinking of doing a similar thing with Homeric language of empire and the post-9/11 religious right.

I do what you do with citations but Word can't seem to get the hang of hanging indents. :( I basically just fiddle with it until it works but I'm not going to have time now. But I dread learning another program...

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Doesn't Word do footnotes automatically? If you're on Mac, Pages does them beautifully. The bibliography format I have set as a style. And I have styles set up for not only footnotes, but headings, captions, long quotations, etc. I think Word has the same ability to define styles for different setups.

I can export a template to Word format and send it to you if you like.....

[cyranothe2nd.livejournal.com]

It will do footnotes but I cite in MLA, not APA. It's the hanging indents in the works cited that I have trouble with.
Yes, please, if you have a template of MLA citation, send it to me...

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

I messaged you for an addy to send to. I use Pages, but can export to Word. It should translate the styles to Word format as well, or at least it has when I've done so to Word on my hubby's Mac. I use Chicago, but vis a vis format, I believe it's a matter of the order of the info in the Biblio/works cited, and in the footnote references, is it not? Or, if you use in-text citations, then it's just the bibliography. ANyway, let me know where to send!

[samuraiartguy.livejournal.com]

Oh WOW. Way cool. Even as a New Yorker, I have not been at all happy with the noise and thunder coming from the Right post 9/11. The using of the tragedy to spew some VERY inflammatory hate-laced religious war rhetoric has been excruciating to listen to.

So it's not just Me, is it?

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Nope, not just you at all! Ironically though, all the articles and papers I have seen so far on the whole Bush/Iraq/Crusade! business seem to be apologists, clarifying that no, it isn't connected to medieval Crusade ideas, because it's not about spoils (ORLY? Haliburton, anyone?) and it's not religiously motivated (yeah, right...). So there is a lot of material out there, but very few folks actually making the case that we are tending ever more towards a sort of neo-medievalism, and not just in regard to the Middle East. Good stuff!

[samuraiartguy.livejournal.com]

"this equates with stuffing a helluva lot of stuff into the basement until some mysterious, fictional time in the future when I will actually deal with all the heaps of heaven-knows-what-all I haven't a clue what to do with. I need to grow a spine and rent a dumpster..... alas."

Oh GODS. Only TOO right. Still trying to shovel through the aftermath of Mother's passing and the "three piles" – Heirlooms, Junk and "Stuff" "Stuff" being the hardest. Do we need it? Want it? Throw it out? But it's still "good!". Arrrrrrcgh. Not to mention having a house with a Designer, a Crafter and two Teen Age Boys. Definitely a "Mad Scientlist" or "Absent Minded Professor" ambiance. Better homes and Gardens, Architectual Review, you boys best move on.

I am very glad you're moving on from a rather distressful episode of Academic fukkery. The ivory tower is hardly immune from nasty little political baboon troop dominance games. Happy you're moving on with a new situation and not bailing.

Banzai!

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

LOL Funny thing is, I would have sworn we divested' in the LAST move.... It grows when you leave it in the dark, I swear. Like a mold. A mold colony of records and papers and trinkets and mismatched china and.... augh! LOL

And thanks - I half considered bailing, honestly. Then I got mad. Sometimes, getting pissed off is the only thing that gets one back on track.... :)

Banzai, indeed! :D


(P.S. vis a vis the icon: only until you have to move them!)