Last friday, I had a travel nightmare. I was flying on Northwest from a smaller regional airport to Detroit then to Boston. Well, the incoming plane we were supposed to be on never left Detroit, so we were told to go race downstairs to get in a cab to drive us to Detroit an hour away. We were also told that there were only 15 seats available to about 50 or more people who were originally booked on the flight. So I rushed ahead because I wanted to make my plane but clearly this whole practice was not fair to everyone. The people on international flights were given priority.

In the end, I missed my connecting flight and got put on the next one out which was just two hours later. So I did what any traveler does in such a situation, goes to Chilis Too (Why is it “Too”) in the airport and have a salad and a margarita…

After my margarita, I strolled around and finally got on my plane, landed in Boston, got a cab to the hotel, slept, got a cab from the hotel to the conference ($22.00 later seriously), took the T back to the hotel, took the T to the train station, got on a train back to Penn Station, and then a cab to Brooklyn.

Now I wonder why I would be anxious to fly again this Friday back to the Midwest to look at potential homes to move into once I start school in August. Yeah I have a lot to do !@*#&$^*%$#**$$.

Maybe I’ll have another margarita…hmmm.

is going to change considerably from commentary on randomness (politics, pop culture, feminism, mormonism etc.) to more personal, hyped, in full panic mode posts about preparation for the great beyond AKA grad school.

Of course, except to see some pop culture posts from time to time.

Sincerely, Ms. Rose

Was browsing some blogs when I came across the Religion in American History blog and this hilarious list You might by a graduate student if…

Some of my favorites:

…you’ve ever traveled across two state lines specifically to go to a library.
…5:00 p.m. Friday means you are now scheduled to work for the next 48 hours.
…you find the bibliographies of books more interesting than the actual text.
…some of those continuing education classes sound interesting.

And to think I thought I *really* understood this when I was finishing my M.A. Yeah right! I’m in for a real treat!

Its time to get ready for grad school and that means getting on top of my reading.  Earlier this week I started to read Race, Gender & Work by Teresa Amott and Julie Matthaei. I was actually assigned to read this book before I started my MA program in women’s history but I never did.  Well, I am very glad I recently started to peruse it.  I am only about 100 pages in but so far I have read about Native American women and Chicana women.  It certainly helps me with my conceptualization of race, gender, work and the idea of “place.” I really want to learn more about the history of Mexico and Mexican colonization prior to the US - Mexico war.  I have a book on my shelf about that. Need to do some digging around for books about that.  I have also ordered some books by some of the professors whom I will be studying with next year. I am very enthused to say the least.

Also in preparation for next year, I need to investigate my memberships for the

American Historical Assocation

Organization of American Historians

I joined them last December but never really figure out how to login.  One of them sends my information to my parents house. Must correct address forward soon.

Since I have made up my mind to attend one school over another, we can officially start the “pre-move” moving stage. It is time for me to assess my belongings and

- go through my stuff at my parents house, throw a lot of it out and donate stuff I don’t use.
- Pack up the remaining books at my parents house and take them with me.
- Ask if I can take my bookshelves from there with me.
- At my own apartment, get rid of clothes, books, trinkets I WILL NOT USE!
- Sell some stuff.
- Go down to the dreaded storage unit in our building and go through it.

Then of course we have to make real concrete decisions about how we are moving our stuff, where we are moving to and when we want to do this by. This opens up two whole doors, do we rent or buy? Do we throw our stuff into storage in our new town or move into a new place right away?

I also need to ascertain some new items before I begin the odyssey of graduate school

- A new laptop. I dropped mine (again) this morning. It still works for now.
- A real desk with drawers. My ikea desk isn’t making it happen for me anymore.
- Filing cabinets. Tall glorious filing cabinets.

Alas, I have to figure out my new methodology and practice as a graduate student. It’s been four years since I was in school last and A LOT has changed both in academia and with my personal life, skills and habits.

I MUST

- get a decent planner and stick to it. I currently use a hybrid of google calendar, personal calendar, two notebooks I carry with me and email to remind myself to do things, keep appointments and stay on top of tasks. This is one is very important.
- Figure out what kind of notebooks I like to use.
- Work on my note taking and my penmanship.
- Marking up texts. I use to love highlights but now I am more drawn to using mechanical pencils. I have more respect for the shape of a book but how long will this last when I have hundreds of pages due by tomorrow morning!

More lists and questions and hopefully answers to come!