Snowy day

[auntiemeesh]

We're having our first real winter storm of the year, a bit late this year but I'm not complaining. It's not terribly bad - it's been snowing all day and we have a couple of inches on the ground in town (I'm sure it's much worse outside the city), the roads look disgusting and slushy but traffic seems to be moving okay. Despite that, my afternoon class was cancelled. Yay! This means more time to get caught up on all the work I haven't done the past week and a half, as well as finally get started on the paper I have due next Tuesday.

Finally got myself to Financial Aid and found out about GradPlus loans. Hopefully, this will be the answer to 'how do I not drop out over the summer?'

"The Island of Lost Maps," by Miles Harvey, is an interesting book. We read it for class this morning (well, I got about halfway through and intend to finish it when I have time). Harvey tracks map thief George Bland on his spree through most of the university special collections libraries up and down the east coast. Bland stole hundreds of maps by razoring them out of books that were hundreds of years old and often one of only a very few copies still intact. One of the problems with this sort of theft is that it's often not noticed at the time it happens and may go undetected for months or even years before the same book is looked at again and the missing map is noticed.

In the course of following this thief, Harvey tells a very entertaining story about the world of collecting in general and map collecting in particular, as well as getting inside the head of the people who collect, and steal, these items. He really romanticizes everything from the librarians (Keepers of the Books) to the thieves themselves, depicting them in the same light as explorers crossing forbidden boundaries (sometimes it's hard to tell if he deplores or applauds these acts of theft and destruction).

It's not a straightforward telling of the story - there are many side trips into Harvey's own experiences, the history of maps and collecting, the psychology of stealing, etc, but I'm finding it a very engaging read.

Okay, on to the real work of the day, now.

Sorry, Lyda Pearl, I stole this icon from you

Comments

[eve11]

We've already got at least 4 inches up here with no signs of stopping. I was down at work for a bit this morning and begged off around 10:30. Getting up my driveway (and, um, my road) was an adventure. I shoveled some tracks and laid down salt, and it still took three tries to make it up.

I think I'm going to work from home tomorrow...

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

It seems to have tapered off for the moment, although the last time I thought that, the clouds promptly started spitting ice out. I can't wait to see what it's going to be like in the morning.

[ani-no-mouse.livejournal.com]

I thought the icon WAS lyda_pearl when I first saw it, and was very confused! Then I saw the red hair! I guess this gives me some sympathy for the Allegheny College student who saw me and LP together one cold snowy day, both of us dressed in caps down to our upper eyelid, scarves up to our lower eyelids, parkas, gloves, jeans and boots, and said, "Are you sisters, you look exactly alike!" At the time I thought, "Yeah, the two of us who happen to be sisters and every other unrelated person out in this weather!"

[ani-no-mouse.livejournal.com]

Speaking of LP and snow. She told me last evening that they were expecting something like 3 feet! But I know she made it to work this morning, so I hope she didn't have to shovel her way out of that beforehand!

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I'm glad we didn't get any 3' snow storms while I was there last year (although it would have been a good chance to go out and make a snow fort such as I haven't had opportunity to do since I was about twelve or thirteen).

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

There is a certain anonymity in the winter, especially on days like this, when everyone is bundled up to avoid the snow and all you can see is the tip of the nose and maybe some loose hair, lol.

[lyda-pearl.livejournal.com]

you're welcome to the icon since it is you after all. No snow yet here but they keep saying it's coming....

[westwindschild.livejournal.com]

We've had snow all day - I think we might have about 4" by now. I went to work early and ended up staying til 5:30 or so. I probably would still be there if I hadn't had to make the UPS box by 6:15 (my last bi-weekly time sheet reflected 124.5 hours)! Fortunately it's pretty good road all the way between home and work, as my all-weather tires clearly did not envision snow as part of the "all weather" package they would be facing, let alone the ice that is currently pelting the highways. *worries hard about hubby, who is probably on his way home about now*

[melilot-hill.livejournal.com]

I think winter is late (or very mild) in most places this year. We even had some days that felt like spring in the last month.

[topaztook.livejournal.com]

Sounds like an intriguing book. I need to get back to reading one someday that's sitting on my shelf (with a bookmark in it, no less) about a similar rare book thief. (Am currently blanking on the title. The book cover is black with gold curlicues on it, though.)

Hope you got some things done, too.