The goal was a chapter draft per month, and using those standards I should have a draft of chapter four completed by the end of this month. That's not going to happen. I've got about 45-50% of it done, but I'm struggling with the motivation to really dive into it. This week that is compounded because I'm sick. I also need to spend some time on the microfilm reader at school, but I don't think I could be too productive at present. This summer when I was in Ireland oftentimes I spent upwards of 7-8 hours per day going through microfilm. Last Thursday I went up to school and went through 5 reels in 3 hours and was totally bleary-eyed. I have no idea how I managed such feats during the summer.
One of the other annoyances deterring me from making greater progress is a lack of secondary material. I'm waiting for a specific book from Interlibrary Loan and who knows how long that will take. I had the book via ILL last semester and now I need it again, but a second request such as this is sure to take longer because, I believe, that the previous lending library is not obligated to fill the same request a second time within such a short time span. Normally I would just pony up the money for the book, but with a wedding in 3 weeks that's probably not the best idea.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Ambling along
Chapter four is coming together a bit better now. I kind of had an epiphany the other day. I was struggling over how to structure this chapter because I've spent the previous three charting the establishment of the culture of commemoration surrounding WWI in Ireland and this chapter covers almost fifty years and looks at the fragmentation and decline of that culture. One of the problems was that a number of the lenses that I used for the first three chapters changed and no longer carried the same weight that they did in the interwar period. This means that I have to switch my focus to the new media and cultural forms that replace them. But before getting there I figured it would be prudent to bring the subjects from chapters 1-3 up to speed as quickly as possible. So right now I'm trying to compile a condensed chronology for chapters 1-3 in the period 1939-1986. Once I complete that I think it should be a bit easier to get into some of the newer cultural forms relating to the memory of WWI in Ireland. We'll see how it goes.
I've also realized that I'm running a bit thin on sources for this section so I'm going to need to remedy that situation at some point.
Finally, I got the new issue of Perspectives today (the monthly publication of the American Historical Association) and there was an interesting article about the commodification of history PhDs. Today when people ask me/assume that I'm going to teach with my degree I tell them that that is the ideal, but probably won't happen. The article does a good example of explaining why. One of the most salient problems is that universities operate on a business model that isn't really conducive toward retaining permanant full-time faculty. The serious over-supply of history PhDs is only part of the problem. So while a teaching job is still the ideal and I'll try my darnest to get one, I'll be realistic, not hold my breath, and actively pursue employment outside of the academy as well.
I've also realized that I'm running a bit thin on sources for this section so I'm going to need to remedy that situation at some point.
Finally, I got the new issue of Perspectives today (the monthly publication of the American Historical Association) and there was an interesting article about the commodification of history PhDs. Today when people ask me/assume that I'm going to teach with my degree I tell them that that is the ideal, but probably won't happen. The article does a good example of explaining why. One of the most salient problems is that universities operate on a business model that isn't really conducive toward retaining permanant full-time faculty. The serious over-supply of history PhDs is only part of the problem. So while a teaching job is still the ideal and I'll try my darnest to get one, I'll be realistic, not hold my breath, and actively pursue employment outside of the academy as well.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Bachelor Party
So this past weekend was my bachelor party. I must say that I had a good time and I even remember about 90% of it, which is pretty good for me. We spent the day Saturday in Grand Rapids, but me and a couple of my friends left Friday evening, stopping in Kalamazoo to take in the grandeur that is Bell's. We crashed at my buddy Adam's house near K-zoo so we were able to sleep in a bit before meeting everyone else at the hotel in GR since it was only about 30-40 minutes of driving by that time.
We all met at the Courtyard Marriott, a stone's throw from the local arena and downtown area of Grand Rapids. John had procured an 8 passenger van from work so we all piled in an made the drive to Holland. Starting our tour of western Michigan microbreweries at New Holland Brewing Company, most of us got some grub and tasted a variety of their offerings. I got a sampler of six different beers, and would have to say that I thought the "Dragon's Milk" was the best one. A dark stout with a milky aftertaste. Very good indeed.
Then we made our way back to GR to meet up with the a late arrival and were back off to Schmohz Brewing Company. No samplers there, so I tried their stout. It was probably one of the more interesting ones that I've ever had. It seemed to almost have a hint of citrus in it that made for a somewhat weird aftertaste. I can't say that I really liked it, but it wasn't terrible. I tasted the cream ale they made, and that was pretty good. The venue itself was a little weird. There were the standard bar games and the Wings were on (not to mention free popcorn and peanuts), but there were almost as many kids under the age of 15 there as there were beer drinking patrons. This weirded us out a bit so we moved on to the next place.
The Hideout Brewing Company was probably my favorite place. They had three stouts on their menu and I tried two of them, both very good. I also had their pilsner which was delicious as well. They had bar games upstairs, fooseball, shuffleboard, darts. Mike and I played Adam and John at fooseball and came out victorious. I would assume we spent a couple of hours at the Hideout because when we left we headed back to downtown GR for a bite to eat and the hockey game.
We went to eat at a place called Hopcat, which has 44 beers on tap. I had an O'Hara's red. It's an Irish microbrew from Co. Cavan. I had had their stout a few weeks earlier at a bar in Chicago, but before then I hadn't had either since my buddy Joe's wedding, which had both. I got some delicious mac and cheese for dinner. By the time we were all fed the game had already started, so we quickly made our way to the arena to catch the rest of the game.
It was the Grand Rapids Griffins versus the Rochester Americans and the score was tied at 1 in the first period when we got there. By the time the game was over, the Griffins had won 8-4. After every goal, once the arena died down and it was sufficiently quiet, my buddy Bill would yell "OH MY GOD!" as loud as he could. It was really funny, especially after 10 goals.
After the game we went to Founders, where there was a live blues band playing. I had the Russian Imperial stout there, which I was kind of disappointed with, and I think I had the scotch ale as well, which wasn't bad. We stayed at Founders for a while before heading back toward the hotel. Now there was a typical bar/nightclub across from the hotel that we went into for some reason. We stayed there for a few rounds of Labatt's Blue, but once John started to fall asleep we headed back to the hotel. At least that's how the story goes.
It's at this point that my memory starts to fade. I remember there being a hotdog vendor outside the bar, but that's about it. I don't think I got one since I'm not a big hotdog fan. My buddy Joe had brought a bottle of Jameson (the only whiskey I'll really drink) and apparently once we were back at the hotel we cracked open uncle Jaimoe and it got MIB'ed. Bill tells me that I proceeded to order pizza and buy a bunch of candy bars (which I found the next day in my backpack).
I woke up the next morning and I believe I was still drunk. Most of the bottle of Jaimoe was gone, and I hope that I didn't drink most of it, but judging by what happened Sunday it's entirely possible. I think Bill said I threw up the night before and that was a theme that continued for the rest of the day. I slept almost the entire way back to Chicago (stopping to vomit in the sink of a McDonald's bathroom of course) and couldn't even hold down gatorade and water for most of the day. Oy vey!
Fortunately I woke up Monday feeling about 90-95%. Needless to say I had a really good time this weekend. My brother did a great job of putting everything together and it was great to see all my friends and to hang out. I could have done without the hangover, and I was almost there (evidenced by my memory surviving intact so late into the evening), but as the song says "Whiskey You're The Devil." In reality though, it was everything a bachelor party usually is and should be and I was glad it went off so well.
We all met at the Courtyard Marriott, a stone's throw from the local arena and downtown area of Grand Rapids. John had procured an 8 passenger van from work so we all piled in an made the drive to Holland. Starting our tour of western Michigan microbreweries at New Holland Brewing Company, most of us got some grub and tasted a variety of their offerings. I got a sampler of six different beers, and would have to say that I thought the "Dragon's Milk" was the best one. A dark stout with a milky aftertaste. Very good indeed.
Then we made our way back to GR to meet up with the a late arrival and were back off to Schmohz Brewing Company. No samplers there, so I tried their stout. It was probably one of the more interesting ones that I've ever had. It seemed to almost have a hint of citrus in it that made for a somewhat weird aftertaste. I can't say that I really liked it, but it wasn't terrible. I tasted the cream ale they made, and that was pretty good. The venue itself was a little weird. There were the standard bar games and the Wings were on (not to mention free popcorn and peanuts), but there were almost as many kids under the age of 15 there as there were beer drinking patrons. This weirded us out a bit so we moved on to the next place.
The Hideout Brewing Company was probably my favorite place. They had three stouts on their menu and I tried two of them, both very good. I also had their pilsner which was delicious as well. They had bar games upstairs, fooseball, shuffleboard, darts. Mike and I played Adam and John at fooseball and came out victorious. I would assume we spent a couple of hours at the Hideout because when we left we headed back to downtown GR for a bite to eat and the hockey game.
We went to eat at a place called Hopcat, which has 44 beers on tap. I had an O'Hara's red. It's an Irish microbrew from Co. Cavan. I had had their stout a few weeks earlier at a bar in Chicago, but before then I hadn't had either since my buddy Joe's wedding, which had both. I got some delicious mac and cheese for dinner. By the time we were all fed the game had already started, so we quickly made our way to the arena to catch the rest of the game.
It was the Grand Rapids Griffins versus the Rochester Americans and the score was tied at 1 in the first period when we got there. By the time the game was over, the Griffins had won 8-4. After every goal, once the arena died down and it was sufficiently quiet, my buddy Bill would yell "OH MY GOD!" as loud as he could. It was really funny, especially after 10 goals.
After the game we went to Founders, where there was a live blues band playing. I had the Russian Imperial stout there, which I was kind of disappointed with, and I think I had the scotch ale as well, which wasn't bad. We stayed at Founders for a while before heading back toward the hotel. Now there was a typical bar/nightclub across from the hotel that we went into for some reason. We stayed there for a few rounds of Labatt's Blue, but once John started to fall asleep we headed back to the hotel. At least that's how the story goes.
It's at this point that my memory starts to fade. I remember there being a hotdog vendor outside the bar, but that's about it. I don't think I got one since I'm not a big hotdog fan. My buddy Joe had brought a bottle of Jameson (the only whiskey I'll really drink) and apparently once we were back at the hotel we cracked open uncle Jaimoe and it got MIB'ed. Bill tells me that I proceeded to order pizza and buy a bunch of candy bars (which I found the next day in my backpack).
I woke up the next morning and I believe I was still drunk. Most of the bottle of Jaimoe was gone, and I hope that I didn't drink most of it, but judging by what happened Sunday it's entirely possible. I think Bill said I threw up the night before and that was a theme that continued for the rest of the day. I slept almost the entire way back to Chicago (stopping to vomit in the sink of a McDonald's bathroom of course) and couldn't even hold down gatorade and water for most of the day. Oy vey!
Fortunately I woke up Monday feeling about 90-95%. Needless to say I had a really good time this weekend. My brother did a great job of putting everything together and it was great to see all my friends and to hang out. I could have done without the hangover, and I was almost there (evidenced by my memory surviving intact so late into the evening), but as the song says "Whiskey You're The Devil." In reality though, it was everything a bachelor party usually is and should be and I was glad it went off so well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)