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July 02, 2001
A hiatus from the hiatus?
I got a ton of homework done this weekend. It's a tiny bit, compared to what I have to do over the course of the semester, but I feel good about it -- I got a large chunk of my first HTML project done. I'm relieved, as I knew I would only have this past weekend and this coming Friday to work on it. I started off not knowing any HTML at all, to speak of, and now I know the bare basics -- essentially, what I'm working on is just a paper, but it has to be handed in as a web page. I think I was so afraid of the coding itself that I was convinced I would never get the project done -- it isn't finished yet, of course, but I can wrap it up Friday.
The homework was difficult over the weekend, though. Saturday was way too hot -- I went to class, and afterward couldn't stand the thought of going home to my sweltering apartment. It was in the 90s outside, which meant it was a sauna in my living room. I went to the mall and wandered in air conditioning instead. I dragged myself home at around 4, and settled down to work... and then wasted an hour or so reading email, chatting online, and playing on 3WA. Then, once I finallt got settled down to work, a large and scary thunderstorm rolled in. I like thuderstorms a lot, but not so much when the lightning is actually hitting the ground in my neighborhood. I shut the computer down and unplugged it, then ran around closing windows (making it even hotter in my apartment) and then sat and read and comforted the cat -- she hates bad weather. Once the storm rolled out, my homework momentum had worn off, so I fiddled around a little bit and then gave up. Most of the work got done Sunday, in between more large, scary thunderstorms. I'd get started writing, then have to shut everything down, then I'd start again once the storm seemed to be ending, then would have to shut down again... at one point, I decided, like the very smart girl I am, to sit in the living room chair and read while the storm passed. the chair is right under the window. Have I mentioned the lightning hitting the ground? I settled in, got comfy, and started reading and scritching the cat, when BOOM! A big blue flash, a huge crack of thunder, the cat bolted and hid under my bed, and I yelled "Holy shit!" and fell off the chair. I think a tree very near my house must have been hit. My ears were ringing, and the hair on the back of my neck was all standing up and tingling. Once that storm passed, I spent a few more hours writing, and finished for the night at around ten, feeling very pleased with myself.
Work is very weird at the moment -- we are switching circulation systems, and our old system has been shut down. The new one (which no one really knows how to use) isn't ready yet, so we really can't do much for people. We can check books out manually, but we can't look anything up, or renew anything, or put holds on books... luckily, people have been fairly understanding so far. I'v only had one person get angry because I couldn't look up the book he wanted for him.
And now, I am tired... must go off to bed. Maybe I'll update again soon, maybe I will go back to the hiatus... I'll surprise you, how about that?
Posted by Mary Ellen at July 2, 2001 10:25 PM