Delinquent - but with photos!

I've been very delinquent in posting, but I've begun putting all of my digital pics online.  So, enjoy these (which I will link to frequently) while I get around to updating my posts.

Photos

IAW 2004 Continued

Monday
Tony DeMarco - Intermediate Fiddle - morning
Peter Fitzgerald - Beginner Banjo/Mandolin - afternoon

Stopped by Suzanne and Colleen's room to ask about their fiddle classes and the level of play. I learn the New Road from Suzanne's class. We begin hanging out and Scott and I have dinner with them at the Pizzeria.

Tuesday
Scott's in the morning Advanced Concertina class with Michael Rooney. I decided to go to Suzanne's fiddle class, and we get all the bowing for the New Road. I talk to Colleen (who is in Tony DeMarco's afternoon class and decide to go back. They are learning Monihan's Jig, A Bunch of Keys, and a few other things.) Scott and I hit the diner next to his concertina class for lunch and for dinner so that he can conquer one of those IQ puzzles where you jump pegs over other pegs until you only have a few left. He finally figured out how to beat it. I would not recommend the diner for its food. Suzanne and Colleen are having dinner with Arbo at the summer house of one of the members of They Might Be Giants. We meet up later at the concert, and Suzanne tells me it was the house of John Linnell, and says that Arbo wants to have dinner in again tomorrow. I tell her I'll cook. [Back in the day, Andrew was a big TMBG fan. His freshman year, we stayed out all night camping in line for Rent in Chicago with Willard. Then, we went to the show in the afternoon and then hit the concert that evening. That was a pretty exhausting day, I tell you. It is not easy to sleep in the freezing cold on a major Chicago street. That was before Andrew and I knew each other really well, and he didn't share his sleeping bag with me.]

Wednesday
Went back to Tony's morning class. I learned an aire. We did indeed have dinner at John Linnell's House. We made guacamole using what we remembered of Rich's family recipie, and vegetarian burritos with beans and rice. It was some good eating. Much better food that what we could have bought in town. Instead of going to the concert, we went directly to the session afterwards. This is an effective strategy to get a good seat. We hit Erin's Melody for the intermediate session and then went off to Darby's later to catch the session/CD release party. This was the night that Scott first got hit on by Alice, a drunken flute player. He escaped by ignoring her advances of grabbing his concertina laden hands and instead turned to a somewhat pudgy soprano saxaphone (defensive he was) player that he'd seen in the bathroom.

Thursday
That night, it was back to the pizzeria for dinner. We opted for sandwiches this time. We got there at a somewhat later hour and discovered that the service is much worse when you get there with a much fuller house. They forgot that we were in the back room, and then it took forever for our sandwiches. We all saved half for later. We headed to the Shamrock House to catch the ceili (dance) session, where I expounded on the wonders of Northwestern University for Dan, the 17 year old accordian player who's already cut his first CD. Colleen and I did some dancing/hopping around for fun. From there, we went to Gavin's for the Listening Room to catch Michael Rooney (concertina and harp) and Dana Lyn. And then, we hit Darby's again. This time, there was a group of Dempsey's regulars playing outside who we joined for a little bit before the bugs drove us inside.

Friday
This was the best night by far. We stop by the grease shack for fried popcorn shrimp/fish and chips. After our classes, I headed to the special 10 year anniversary Fiddle master class taught by Brian Conley. Then, we had an impromptu learning session for the Hare's Paw at the Weldon House. Scott dragged me away to go to dinner at Darby's to meet Scott and Clarissa who were coming down from Albany to visit us. Afterwards, we snuck Scott and Clarissa into the concert, where we meet up with Suzanne and Colleen who'd been taping that evenings concert for us. Scott, Scott, Clarissa and I took off early after catching a glimpse of the boy band to head to Stack's to get good seats for everyone for the intermediate session.

After getting their fill of Irish music, Scott and Clarissa took their leave of us, and Scott and I headed to Furlong's where Scott was supposed to meet up with other Chiff and Fipple (Internet) people. They were not there, unfortunately. Suzanne and Colleen did catch up with us, and we drove back home, where we left the car for a big party at Erin's Melody that we'd gotten wind off.

Erin's Melody was awesome. It was a big party with dancing and tons of performing. Real performing instead of people stuffed into a session. This night alone made the whole week worth it. We'd also noticed that they'd increased the prices for all the drinks... I did some fast waltzing with Scott and some hanging out with the "Next Generation" aka boy band members. They told us that they were heading to McKenna's afterwards. So, when Erin's Melody closed at 3 am, we headed there, where all the people in the know had been gathering late at night. We hung out there for a while, played some tunes, but mostly chatted with people. At 6 am, we drove back to the Weldon House, where we got some great pictures at sunrize at the top of the hill we were on.

Saturday
Scott and I pack up to leave. We decide to leave on Saturday instead of staying until Sunday because I need to drive back to Princeton after driving back to Binghamton. We loaded up the car and then Suzanne made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. At the concert is a Tribute to Andy McGann who'd passed away this past week. Scott also finished Suzanne and Colleen's name drawings and asked for the URL for Suzanne's webcam. (Just kidding!) Colleen got two hugs and Suzanne got one (from Scott). After the rain, Scott and I took off to drive back to Binghamton. We stopped by the Wegman's in town and made some pasta for our late night dinner. What a week.

Photos are here!

More Brooklyn!

I was bored this week, so when Suzanne invited me into NY again, I decided to try my hand at driving into NY. I've driven into Staten Island before to buy my mandolin, but never into NY proper. I was understandably nervous. I'd pictured going around 6 pm as this horrible, rush hour crush, but it wasn't bad at all. Surprisingly it took about 1 hour ~ 45 min. depending on how you look at it.

Suzanne, Magda, and I had some cheap and delicious Thai food in Brooklyn at Joya, before we headed over to another session in Smithwick's. It was a good time. Photos available here!

That night, I drove back to New Jersey. Unfortunately, the Goethals Bridge was closed, so I had to navigate myself home. Everyone should always have an atlas in the car with them.

Dempsey's

Tuesday night, I headed into the city to go to the session at Dempsey's. I got to hang out with Suzanne. I left my car in Trenton and took the train to meet up with her in New Brunswick. I then got to experience a commute into NY city and see what it's like when you drive around a place instead of just walk.

We got to her apartment in Brooklyn and made this Brazilian Shrimp Stew. It was so delicious! I can't wait to make it again. Aftwards, we headed to Dempsey's where I met up with Regina and Jeffrey, and they got to see a trad Irish session. We wandered around the city a bit more after we were driven out of the session by an oblivious pipes player (chicken tonight) and stopped by another bar with some people jammin'. I stayed the night and caught a ride back to New Brunswick the next day with Suzanne. It was a great time, and I can't wait to go back.

Feel the Irish Music

I got back yesterday from Irish Arts Week. It was such a great time.  I'm so glad I went.  I never realized how many people were on the Irish music scene.  My fingers are recovering, but I have a badass set of calluses on my left hand now for my mandolin. 
 
Friday, July 9. 
I have an interview that afternoon with the Assembly Dems.  They have a few research jobs open, and I'd love to work there.  After my interview, Scott and I take off for Binghamton in our respective cars to move all the stuff he has in Princeton up to his new apartment. 
 
Saturday, July 10.
Spent the day shopping and looking for furniture.  The big furniture places in Binghamton are Olum's and Raymour and Flanigan's.  Scott found a dining room table he liked, which we wrote down in the wishlist.  We walked around the south side a little bit, and I found a nice coffee shop where I asked the owners all about the town and the Binghamton scene.  I'll have to go back there.  They spent probably 45 min. talking to me and I didn't even bring any money to buy a cup of tea.
 
Sunday, July 11.
The drive up to East Durham is uneventful.  We check into our room at the Wheldon House and the nonstop music begins.  We start off at the Shamrock House for an impromptu session.  Scott starts off the week well by reminding me of the Chiff and Fipple "I'll be seeing you" sign from the Prisonor.  A mother notices, runs up to her daughter, points out that Scott's making funny hand gestures, and that he must be one of those "Internet People."  Scott also got green ink all over his hands.  We take off to drive to find out where the Durham Ambulence Hall was and to check out the Ireland store. 
 
We hit Erin's Melody that night for another impromptu session and walk to Darby's for a drink, which becomes a nightly ritual.  I always have a glass of cider and Scott gets one of the many good beers on tap. 
 
By this time, we've noticed several people that seem to be our age (twenties/early thirties).  Two of them are female fiddle players.  I decide that they're probably one of my classes, and I should meet them tomorrow.

Irish Arts Week

I've been gone at Irish Arts Week for this past week. Look for lots of updates when I get back.

Cousin Reunion

After my night on Lake Michigan, I was able to find a friend's place to crash at for the evening in Evanston. I'd neglected to find accommodations for the evening, but luckily, Dave L. came through for me, even despite my late arrival time. The next morning, it was time to head up to Crivitz, WI for a cousin reunion at Wausaukee. Rich was already up there, having arrived several days earlier with his parents and grandfather. They left the day we came up, and Rich stayed to do some more fishing.  Jen and I got there, and then Margaret, Elizabeth, Philip and Michelle got there the day after.  The club has a new chef so all the dinners are fancy and you have a choice!
 
He caught a huge bass in Lily Lake.  He's very pround.  None of the bass are fed.  It was 19.5 inches and 4 lbs. 
 

Boat Invite

The day I got back to Chicago on June 30, I headed downtown to meet Julie and Brian for some sailing. The same people who do the wine bottling also have a few sailboats on Lake Michigan. Since I knew I was coming back to town, I emailed Paul to set up a trip for me and my friends on the boat. It was a clear and cool evening, and a lot of fun. Thanks, Paul! I also got to see Viren and Zoli.

Librarian Conference

I'm back online! I spent this morning catching up on all the news I've missed in the past week and a half.

To resume...
For this conference, I've decided that I am most interested in the Information Freedom Council (OIF) and the Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT). Other committees I plan on seeing are the Office of Legislation and the Office of Information Technology and Policy (OITP). Librarians and public policy do go together! On Friday, I get up early so I can hit the IFRT business meetings. I am glad that I have done the legwork to comb through the ALA Annual Conference schedule as well as hit all the websites for all the different divisions. I've also emailed people to get the schedules for these meetings. By attending these meetings and being so young and still a graduate student, I've given myself some visibility as well as scoring some appointments on the IFRT.

The keynote speech is given by Richard Clarke. He gives an excellent account of his reign as the anti-terrorism czar as well as an explaination of current events. Most of the librarians I have meet seem to be left-leaning, hate the Patriot Act and censorship. We give him a standing ovation. Also at the conference, they are screening Fahrenheit 9/11. Lion's Gate and Michael Moore have donated this screening to benefit the ALA's efforts to protect the First Amendment. In order to give us the screening, they have had to convert the film to HD video and Conference Services has had to order special HD video players to show the film. Luckily, the player arrive and are operational. The movie leaves many people in tears, and people are openly sobbing during the footage of Iraqi casulties.

The last day of the conference, I arrive at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando to see the departure of the ducks. Every day, the ducks march in at 11 am to sit in the fountain, and march back out at 5 pm. It's quite a spectacle and people come to the hotel lobby just to see the ducks on parade. That evening, I have been fortunate enough to be invited by one of my professors to attend the Inaugural Banquet. Dr. Turock is amazing. She introduces me to more people than I can remember as well as giving me some incredible connections. I learn that the Committee on Legislation and the OITP take an intern every year. These committees are usually appointed, and it takes a while to move up the food chain to become well-known enough to be appointed. An internship is a huge step in the right direction. I need to evaluate the goals of each committee to determine which one I want to try to get an internship on that furthers my interests as well as my future career goals.

Going to this conference has been great. I've met lots of great people, students and professonals alike. I plan on keep in touch with a lot of the student staffers I've met, and I'll start scheduling a reunion for us next year when the conference is in Chicago. We'll have a lot more options for food and entertainment than we did in the tourist area of Orlando.