I seem to be thwarted in my attempts to acquire coffee this morning, leaving me rather disgruntled. I caught the early train /shuttle bus combo down to school this morning and actually arrived at the library BEFORE IT OPENED. Now, I have closed this library on many occasions, but I believe this is a first for me. It�s eerily quiet and deserted. Blissful, after the noisiness of having a three-year-old around.

I�m here today to try to find a printout of an article that I�d like to include in my conference handout. I got a copy from the archive, but the original is in such bad shape that it�s practically illegible. So I get to play with microfilm this morning. Afterwards, I really will need to find some coffee, as I have not one but two language exams (German and Latin) to take today before I can leave, both of which I am in serious danger of failing as I have neglected to do any serious kind of grammar revision. Still, since I have two hours and a dictionary to translate less than a page of each language, I feel it�s worth a shot. Perhaps I�ll get lucky.

And to make my lack of caffeine even more poignant, I am toting around a suitcase full of overdue books. The stereotype of graduate students as 98-pound weaklings is grossly misstated. My suitcase weighs over 100 pounds and I was still able to haul it onto the bus without giving myself a hernia. Weight-lifting is the new requirement for a Ph.D. From school, I head downtown to pick up my interview suit from alterations and sprint for the train in hopes I make it home in time to put AJ to bed.

And now, to the microfilm readers!

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