Mummy!

So this morning I took the day off from APS and went to the Library Company of Philadelphia to do research. It was a strange commute. I've spent three hours on a train and walked for forty-five minutes to get to libraries. I've biked for half an hour to get to libraries. I've walked five minutes down the road (2 minutes spent at stoplights) to get to libraries. I've even had days where I just walked into the other room and got books from my own personal library.

Somehow, talking the exactly 12 steps (yes, I counted) from the Cassatt House to the Library Company of Philadelphia was far stranger than any of these. I felt like I was going somewhere. But I wasn't.

To make the day even more surreal, the lady who was also working at the same table as me requested - and was brought - the hand of an Egyptian mummy. By a librarian who (for Halloween) had red plastic devil horns on her headband.

I took the afternoon off to finish my proposal statement for the fellowship I'm applying for. One paragraph left. Only the hardest one, of course.

Research accomplished today:

1) Pulled copy-specific information out of 7 arithmetic textbooks.

2) Found all sorts of cool provenance information about the LCP.

3) Had a fun discussion with one of the librarians about whether or not a dog's claws could have caused the damage on one of my arithmetic books. Isn't history great??

Phillies

Apparently, even B.F. is a fan of baseball...

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock

If you've ever watched the Big Bang Theory, you know exactly what the title of this post refers to. If you haven't, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iapcKVn7DdY

You can take the girl out of the math department, but you can't take the dork out of the girl!

Research accomplished today:

1) Read a lot of almanacs, including several that exist nowhere else in the world and one that ESTC doesn't believe exists!

2) Promised my advisor both a revised dissertation proposal and a chapter of said dissertation.

Um, I think I might be blogging a bit less in the upcoming weeks!

Creature of Habit?

So when I went into the Wawa this morning to grab lunch on my way to the library, the lady behind the sandwich counter just left my sandwich for me to grab when I was done going through the line. Considering that every other time I've been in the Wawa, they've held my sandwiches hostage until I turned over the little slip, I have a sneaking suspicion they've come to recognize my ordering habits. At least no one's offered to let me be president of their fan club, or started lecturing me on how to manipulate the Icee machine to cancel the defrost cycles, but still...

Deciding that perhaps I've been too much of a creature of habit lately, I went to Olive Garden for dinner instead of Potbelly's. (I know, the extravagance!) This led to the unfortunate discover of a Border's, a mere 2.5 blocks from my house. No good deed goes unpunished!!

Research accomplished today:

1) Read through the last of the 1682 almanacs.

2) Started reading the 1697 almanacs. 28 of them! In one book! For comparison, most of these compilations have no more than 15-20 in one book, and at 20 they're already becoming too unwieldy to read easily. So imagine 28... holy cow...

Filthy Lucre

So I realized today that I've got a little over two weeks to write a chapter of my dissertation in time to submit for a dissertation-writing fellowship. Maybe I should spend a little more time dissertating and a little less time blogging if I want to bring home the filthy lucre....

In other news, my newest house-mate is also working at the APS with me. Yea - I'm no longer the only one!

Research accomplished today:

1) Read another half dozen almanacks.

2) Got started on my Folger homework assignment: figure out some primary source of mine that might me useful for my assigned partner's own dissertation. Hmm... anyone want to read some fun account books??

Duck Tales (Oooh, oooh)

So today I decided to play tourist in Philly by taking a duck tour. It was a blast! Captain Fred quacked (err, cracked) me up - "If we need to evacuate, I'll go first to make sure it's safe. Yeah, a captain goes down with his ship, but this is a duck! And have you ever heard a captain goes down with his duck? I didn't think so." Either he was really that funny, or I was so sleep-deprived he seemed far more amusing than he really was - I leave you to ponder.

The duck criss-crossed the historic square mile, going past a lot of sights I've walked past but not paid a lot of attention to, as well as taking me to parts of town I hadn't gotten around to visiting yet. Note to self: South Street contains a lot more than the Trader Joe's....

To round off the evening, I'm watching the Angels-Yankees game. Not because I particularly care about the World Series, but I'd kind of like to know who the Phillies fans are going to be burning in effigy outside my house come Halloween. And I wouldn't want to accidentally wear the wrong colors to work next week...!

Tipping It Down

It's tipping it down outside! Or, to use a more American euphemism, it's raining cats and dogs.

So I carried around my umbrella and rain coat all during my trip to D.C. because they were forecasting rain. Nothing. Zip, zilch, and maybe even zanada (I was inside part of the time, so maybe it rained when I wasn't looking). I was starting to wonder if I'd brought it all for nothing, when I hopped the train back to Philadelphia.

I get to the door of the train station, open it, and am immediately grateful for the overhang because it is POURING rain. I head back inside and ask the security guards if I really HAVE to go outside to get to the trolleys. After all, there are "SEPTA" signs all over the inside of the station and I knew the trains stop there. The guards (and their gorgeous German Shepherd) assure me it's really the only way.

So out I venture into the rain! I've made it about two steps before I have to hold onto the edge of my umbrella to keep it from flipping inside out. I make it maybe two steps more before I start having to slog through puddles. Puddles that go up to my ankles. And remember folks, I'm in two inch heels!

Finally I make it to the station, which is only across the street, but I have to wait at a stoplight. I'm soaked from the bottom of my jacket down, despite the umbrella (which, to be fair to it, was keeping my laptop dry - we were in agreement on the priorities there).

Having lived in good ol' Colonial Williamsburg for many a year, I knew just exactly what to do. Off go the heels and on go the shower shoes (flip-flops). In true William & Mary fashion, I then take the trolley to my stop and proceed to wade through all the puddles without concern. As soon as I'm home, off go the shoes and on go the warm slippers. There really is nothing that says "Hurricane Season" better than a classroom full of college kids in their fuzzy slippers...

Research accomplished yesterday and today:

1) Read an almanack which was annotated by a husband-and-wife team, with extensive discussion of how the wife and daughter(-in-law?) managed the family finances. Sweet!

Surviving Public Transportation (In Heels!)

So today's the day of my monthly Folger seminar in D.C. I was up at 5 A.M. determined to make it to D.C. without missing a single connection.

I only had to ask for directions 5 times. Bleh, but I hate walking around cities before the sun is even up! The SEPTA trolley was bizarre – it's a trolley, all right, and it kinda looks like a bus (single compartment, driver up front, bus doors, even the little pull cord to let the bus know you want a stop) only... it's underground! What's with that?? And let me tell you, the labels on the station were awful. Signs, people. Please!

The 30th Street Amtrak Station was all pretty with high ceilings and column out front – the kind of place that would look right at home in downtown D.C. – with the natural side effect that it was so echoy you couldn't hear a word of the announcements. Brilliant planning. I miss Paddington station! Especially since "watch the gap" just isn't nearly as catchy as "mind the gap." Sorry. :-)

With all of that, I expected the train to also falter in comparison with my (perhaps now rosy) memory of British trains. THERE I was wrong. Nice clean interior. Not much leg room, and certainly no tables for people to work on – have to go for the snack car for that – BUT it did have power strips for my poor laptop so I was guaranteed power my entire trip. On the whole, I think that stacks up favorably.

We had a beautiful sunrise on the train. Red in the morning, sailors take warning.... If I'd been driving, I would have pulled over to get pix. Alas, one can't just ask the train's conductor to stop for a moment, to satisfy a photographic urge. And my poor camera just can't focus at 90 mph (or however fast we were going to keep up with the traffic on I-95).

To make sure that I haven't come down too harshly on Philly, let me assure you I got completely lost in D.C., too. I came out of Union Station, foolishly went to the sign that said "First Street" and ended up on the WRONG "First Street." Me and numbered streets apparently just don't get along. After walking 15 minutes (in heels!) I figured it out and went back to the station to pick up the right First Street. And finally limped into the Folger 15 minutes later.

Lessons learned:

It doesn't matter how formal an occasion you're going to that evening. Just wear your hiking boots and tell anyone who looks at you funny to deal with it! :-)

First the G20, Now Baseball

So I kinda knew there was a baseball game going on in town last night. But so what? I mean, yeah, big crowds, getting out late, overloaded public transport system, but that wasn't affecting ME - I was walking home from work and going to bed early 'cause I've got to be up at 5 A.M. tomorrow and I wanted a bit of extra sleep.

The screaming started around 11 P.M.

I tried to ignore it.

Then people started honking car horns.

Still trying to ignore it.

Next came the fireworks.

Rolling over in bed and burying my head under the pillow.

Then someone starts throwing freakin' metal trashcans at my house. Yes, that's right. Bang, crash, like lightning hitting the tree right outside your bedroom window.

That's when I got up and started to watch the riot - err, sorry, celebration - from the windows at the front of the house (but from the safety of the 3rd floor). I have since learned that the only thing worse than winning a game such as this, is LOSING it. Then they break into local stores and set them on fire. And throw cars. And pull down stop lights - oh, wait, they did that last night, too.

At midnight, one of my housemates finally got home, having been detailed and prevented from coming down our street, despite the fact she lives there, because the police are trying to keep people from rioting.

About 1 A.M. there were apparently still 1000 people crowd-surfing a block from my house.

Circa 1:30 A.M. at least the trash-can throwing died down enough that I could try to sleep.

First I'm there for the G20 riots in London, now this! Oh, and apparently the whole World Series thing doesn't have the good taste to happen on a weekend, either. (Laugh at me at your own peril, baseball fans! I have a cell phone and I'm not afraid to use it... at 2 A.M... on a weekday.)

Dear UVA undergrads, who I might or might not have laughed at for thinking that weekends start on Thursday and for getting a little rowdy after a football game... I have been properly put in my place. Charlottesville is not Bagdad - I mean, Philadelpha.

Research accomplished today:

1) Read a half dozen almanacs.

Short & Sweet

I'm keeping today's post short & sweet:

Happy American Archives Month!

(Brought to you by the Society of American Archivists.)

Research accomplished today:

1) Read another dozen almanacs.

2) Spent far too much time reading over an account of all the earthquakes in 1692. :-)

Bloggers of the 17th Century?

So I'm reminded that blogging when you're tired is probably a bad idea. Like last night, when I ascribed an almanac marginalia to an arithmetic textbook. Oops. So what do I do today? I once again wait until it's really late to write my blog.

As I read all these almanacks, I've come to the conclusion that almanack writers are kinda like the industry bloggers of the 17th century. They publish, on a regular basis (once a year), what amounts to half-informative, half-personal running commentary on whatever strikes their fancy. E.g. the validity of the Copernican hypothesis, surviving their midlife crisis, random frauds they encountered in the streets the other day, that sort of thing.

And then, between long bouts of philosophy and even longer justification of their existence as almanack-writers, they sometimes stick their foot in their mouth. Okay, the time frame is a little off (no instant responses here) but they still end up having to frantically backpedal and declare that of COURSE they believe in witchcraft and weren't implying anything at all heretical and yes, they didn't really mean to criticize the monarch, and yes they're quite loyal citizens....

Have I ever mentioned I love my job?

Research accomplished today:

1) Read a dozen or more almanacks - I lost count and at this hour am too lazy to go check my notes.

Reading Room Ghosts

So I always wonder... what kind of ghost would haunt a library reading room? Some long-dead author whose books and manuscripts are held there? Ex-staffers who vanished mysteriously in the stacks? Or maybe graduate students who spent one Saturday too many in there....

Our reading room lights flickered randomly on and off today, right around lunchtime. I think said ghost must have been reminding me to take my lunch break. The ghosts at the Huntington Library always used to flicker the lights right around 4 P.M., especially on Saturdays - a reminder that it would be time to go home soon?

Of course, the fact that the reading room was almost warm today - none of those subarctic temperatures we had all last week - kinda blows my ghost theory out of the water. According to Hollywood, ghosts always seem to make a place colder, not warmer....

Research accomplished today:

1) Read many, many almanacks.

2) Read the APS's copy of Welspring of Sciences, and wondered why the owner of said book was so determined to figure out (literally) when Richard II's reign ended and Henry IV's began...?

A Bit Of Fun

For your viewing entertainment, here's a word cloud of my recent blog entries. Who says grad students don't know how to party on a Friday night?

Now back to our regularly scheduled productivity...

TGIF!

I swear, there's nothing longer than a 4-day work week. 6-day weeks fly by, but the ones that are FOUR days long just take forever!

So to celebrate TGIF, here are some other things I was thankful for today:

1) The sweater and scarf Patty gave me. Brrr, it was cold today!

2) My mom convincing me to bring the waterproof jacket to Philly, since it's been raining for two days.

3) Waterproof boots that let me truck right on through the puddles everyone else has to walk around.

4) Fingerless gloves that let you work your iPod, but still convert into mittens when you get too cold.

5) Sidewalks that are wide enough you can walk on the far side and not get splashed by the cars driving by.

6) Tea in the fellows' common room at the APS.

7) Driving rain which drives 99% of the smokers off the sidewalks - I swear, Philly has more smokers than all of the countries of Europe combined!

8) Not having to ride my bike in the rain, because I'm close enough to walk.

Research accomplished today:

1) Read two almanacs

2) Read through the W&M Quarterly.

3) The internet was down today at APS. Lacking internet (and thus the ability to order new books) I decided to read through the card catalogue. Don't worry - it was just the section with the 1500-1700 books!

It's Raining, It's Pouring, At Least Work's Not Boring

So it was a drizzly, windy and cold day in Philly. And it wasn't much better inside the reading room, either! I had to buy myself chili for dinner on the way home, it was one of those days.

On the bright side, the staff at the APS is awesome and keeps coming up with new and interesting things for me to look out. Really, what more could a freezing graduate student ask for?

Research accomplished today:

1) Read some cool secondary source publications of the APS

2) Read more almanacs, including some that aren't available on EEBO. Take that, electronic age!

3) Have a list a quarter mile long of all the places I need to look to see if there are any cool sources hiding away and just waiting for me to discover them...

Go Home Scared

So this morning, as I was walking by the building contracters who are picketing a construction site, I discovered a new twist on the age-old picket-line. Today, they had a nine-foot tall inflatable rat which repeatedly told me (and every other commuter on Walnut St) to go home scared! Yeah, I was scared :-) But I was still going in to work.

This afternoon, they had a talk at the Cassatt House. It was very strange, having my home "invaded." On the bright side, they brought free food and shared it all around. On the amusing side, I ran into another grad student from UVA who's actually a fellow here in the area and is sharing one of the offices in the Cassatt House... two doors down from my room!

Research accomplished today

1) Read some almanacs

2) Read some secondary stuff on measurement systems

The American Philosophical Society

So I got up bright and early yesterday morning for my first day at the APS... and got lost walking to the library. I turned north on 5th street instead of south. Oops.

Eventually I did make it in. Everyone at the APS is very nice. The building is right across from Independence Hall (now I will always be orientated!), which reminds me of being in good ol' Colonial Williamsburg. They recently remodeled the inside of the building and there's a brand spanking new fellows room which a chalkboard, whiteboard, fridge, microwave, and lockers - you know, all the comforts of home AKA what a gal needs to make tea.

It's fascinating being surrounded by people who mostly do American history. They've introduced me to some cool new resources I didn't know about before. Most of it's American-related, but you know America WAS a British colony for a little while!

Research accomplished yesterday:

1) Looked at a bunch of secondary sources.

2) Realized I probably need to just sit down and read the entire Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London pre-1700.

They Didn't Have Graduate School In The Middle Ages

In the timeless words of Philip Daileader:

"They didn't have graduate school in the middle ages, but they had monasticism, which is as close as you can get."

Another Suitcase, Another Hall

My blog lives!

One might infer from the silence in this blog that the past couple of weeks have not been incredibly productive with respect to the dissertation. One might be more-or-less correct. But that's all over with now, as I have started up a new research fellowship in Philadelphia!

Today was move-in day. The only people who own cars and live in down town Philly are clearly 1) Rich 2) Insane or 3) Both. So my parents dropped me off at the Cassatt House, which is a townhouse for the fellows of the Library Company of Philadelphia (which happens to be next door.)

I, however, am a fellow of the American Philosophical Society, which is a mile away. Um. Yeah. But the rent's cheap and public transportation seems to be everywhere! Besides, a mile's practically nothing when you've spent hours slaving away conditioning your beloved old hiking boots so that there's the distinct possibility they'll actually last the whole month you're in Philly.

Research accomplished today:

I found the local Wawa, that count?