It’s been a while since I’ve written here, mostly because the semester has been pretty hectic! ALASC did a lot of great events and my classes were fun, but I’m glad to be done. I just finished my final project of the semester for my Maps and GIS class. It’s a collection of maps and information related to the treaties and lands of the Shawnee. Check it out here - Shawnee Lands - and let me know what you think!

Summer classes begin on Monday (so soon!). I was dreading the idea of spending the evenings with a warm laptop in my lap, plugging away at notes and assignments. There was a warm snap in April and I would come home and stare at my computer, knowing that I should get some classwork done but dreading the idea of just how hot my computer would get. Around 9pm, it would get cool enough that I could stomach the possibility, but by that time it’s kind of late to start writing papers.

Don’t get me wrong - I love my laptop. I just replaced my ThinkPad R51 (which went to my boyfriend’s sister) with a ThinkPad R60. I’ve been very happy with them, overall. Compared to the laptop I had before, which was a little like holding a just-out-of-the-oven glass pan on my lap, the ThinkPads run much cooler. It’s just that you can only stand so much heat when it’s already warm out!

Of course, I could always solve my problem by using my laptop at a table. But where’s the fun in that? I’d rather sit on the couch. It’s more comfortable than our chairs, and also means that I can watch TV at the same time. So to address the heat problem, I ordered one of these: Kinamax Notebook Cooler USB-Powered Quiet 3-Fan Laptop Cooling Pad.

It was delivered yesterday. Ahhh. It’s so refreshing to be able to use my computer without the threat of a burnt lap. I’ve only been using it for a day (well, less than that, really), but so far it’s wonderful. I can’t hear the fans running, meaning it’s no louder than my computer already is. It just sits under my machine and powers its 3 fans with a USB cable. Hopefully, I’ll still be singing its praises in June and July when it warms up even more.

One of the definitions of divine is “to have perception by intuition or insight; conjecture”. When I decided to start a blog about library school, I thought I should have some catchy name that related to libraries or being a librarian. Maybe something like “the geeky librarian” since I am into technology, computers, and programming. Or perhaps “the Devine librarian”, since Devine is my last name. I wanted something simpler, though, and my last laptop was dubbed “deviner” by my boyfriend. I found that amusing, so I borrowed his play on words to use it here.

I’m not sure, yet, what all this will be. I just finished my first semester of library school, and I’d like to write about that. I also would like an easy place to put information about genealogy. I started a genealogy blog probably 3 years ago, but it was short-lived as I didn’t update it past the first couple weeks and only told maybe 3 people about it. Hopefully, having it here and easy to update will make it more likely for me to add info (it helps that I’m taking a summer class on genealogy, too).

Whatever it ends up being, I’m sure there will be plenty of conjecture. Maybe even a little insight, too!