The View From Kalamazoo

So my boss is one heck of an Anglo-Saxonist (SUCH an understatement. Any Anglo-Saxonist reading this is yelling obscenities at their monitors) and he’s teaching a course at the Newberry, again (Fridays, as it so happens).

So last Thursday I’m able to make his whole day by running into the news that “the tomb of an East Saxon king containing a fabulous collection of artefacts has been unearthed..”

I make copies of the brief BBC report for his class and dig up a host of other reporting Monday for him – from the Scotsman (above), History Today, MoLAS, Guardian, Ananova, and the Museum of London site (which has some dandy, well-organized FAQs).

It’s nice to be an office hero. And I’m not even an Anglo-Saxonist, so I suppose this earns me a special place in heaven. (actually, I’m just the office geek who blogs and obsessively checks for News of Interest as a medievalist…so I suppose it’s part of my job description, right after ‘makes sure the boss’ Windows and Norton are updated weekly’…*heh*)

Great big Mom, smaller Dad sleeping peacefully in queen-sized bed.

Great big Mom, smaller Dad awakened by screaming, crying 7-year-old with nightmares.

Great big Mom, smaller Dad joined by 7-year-old with propensity to kick and thrash no longer sleeping peacefully in Queen-sized bed.

Great big Mom, smaller Dad awakened by inconsolable, unarguably spoiled toddler.

Great big Mom, smaller Dad joined by still crying toddler in addition to 7-year-old with propensity to kick and thrash no longer entertaining any hope of sleeping peacefully in Queen-sized bed.

Great big Mom, smaller Dad along with no-longer crying toddler cheerfully trying to wake his 7-year-old (with propensity to kick and thrash) sister not sleeping in Queen-sized bed.

5:30 – Alarm sounds.

Great big Mom, with no help from somehow-managing-to-sleep smaller Dad, trying to avoid waking finally-back-asleep toddler while reaching over 7-year-old with propensity to kick and thrash to turn off alarm somehow a foot farther than remembered from Queen-sized bed.

Great big Mom, with aid from smaller Dad avoids smooshing or waking finally-back-asleep toddler and knocking 7-year-old with propensity to kick and thrash on to floor to quit Queen-sized bed.

And people wonder why I seem so tired in the morning.

First – might anyone know if there’s any plans to translate Valerio Evangelisti’s Eymerich books into English?

Followed by the brief and boring MFA update: made it to the gym last Mon. and Wed., but not since. Friday I had to get all things ready for the Grandpa-and-Grandma-want-to-see-the-bebbes visit, and this morning…well, read previous entry. Maybe tomorrow. It would be a Good Thing, at any rate, even if I put it off til Wed. Mom was impressed by my small, but visible, biceps this weekend (so I’m not imagining it all – I really am gaining muscle). Payday is tomorrow (Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya tomorrow!) so I can stock up on fresh fruits and veggies again. Today made the comforting, but not diet-wise, choice of pierogis at the campus caf. And they weren’t even that great – I make better. (and they tried to serve them with marinara! What the heck were they thinking?!?!)

Bah.

Da Vinci Invented Natural Plastics?

…The successful reproduction of Leonardo’s natural polychrome plastic proved
that the Florentine genius created the first man-made plastic
long before Alexander Parkes invented parkesine (an organic
material derived from cellulose) in 1862 and Leo Hendrik Baekeland’s
bakelite in 1909…

Missed Pickup Means 30 College Students Lose Chance at Fellowship

FedEx missed a pickup of 30 Fulbright applications from UC-Berkeley grad students. The Department of Education has now denied the validity of the applications, so the students are out in the cold.

Day-um!

The hidden power of proven spellcasting is within your reach!

What do you want? NOW you can have it! Patience! Wealth! Revenge! Love! Health! And ALL from the convenience of your PC!

What a load of crap. Good GRIEF. I think I’ll be a Buddhist.

New on TLC! Can wicker baskets and the Clean Sweep crew help a bunch of inmates?

“Welcome to the City of Detroit, where you will discover a vibrant, diverse and cultural city on the go. Detroit offers attractions for everyone, from our zoo and museums to our exciting restaurants, nightlife, festivals and events. We look forward to your visit to our great city.” You know, as much as I enjoy the DIA, I’ll not be planning any trips to Detroit and it’s newest string of (12!) shootings (and this in addition to 17 shootings {and let’s not forget the fatal beating!} in 6 days reported just a few days ago) in the near future. Mmmmmmyeah. Coooool, Jennifer, coooool.

Only a geek would notice this.

ok, but clearly the Borg hardware isn’t the only implant in the picture!

Really, I don’t want to be assimilated…really. (I’m glad I don’t wear designer corsets that, er, “malfunction”..)

So I get this email from someone I just can’t say no to…and, for a conference to be held at Michigan State University titled: “Esotericism: From Europe to North America,” to be held 3-5 June, 2004, at Michigan State University, she is organizing a session titled “The Medieval Esoteric: Hermetic, Neo-platonic and Magical currents before 1500.” (the conference is the doing of The Association for the Study of Esotericism) She has two papers…might I have something, oh say, Arabic and Picatrix-y for a third? Oh, and organizer info is due in days…

Hmm. A month post-Congress…think I can manage it without internal injury, and can’t say no, anyway…So here goes nothing:

From Esoteric to Exoteric: The Translation of Arabic Magical and Scientific Works in the 12th and 13th Centuries

whiplash.

Are dragons real?