On the Road

New entry over at the writer blog

http://jenelcope.wordpress.com/blog/

Happy Easter...at Home!

I am ridiculously relieved to be home from my trip, and this morning after eleven hours of sleep, I'm feeling downright human again.  I also had a few hours of clarity yesterday to put the finishing touches on my talk for Sacrament Meeting today.  There's something about giving a talk on Easter that gives it extra significance and a little bit of extra pressure, so I'm both nervous and really looking forward to it. 

So Happy Easter everyone!  I hope this day finds you just a little wired on chocolate eggs or bunnies, and in the mood to ponder about the miraculous real reasons we celebrate this day.

And did I mention I'm GLAD to be home!

More Princeton

Ok, here's proof that I officially quit being a research/motel room potato, for two hours tonight, and went to look at something. 

Oldest building at Princeton - Nassau Hall.  It is officially historic - it was shot at during the Revolutionary War.

Building Envy

With apologies to the History Department's shiny new building at the U, I am having some serious building envy. Apparently, this is where the history department lives at Princeton...

Though I must say, noticing the window unit A/C in the bottom left, having a new building definitely has some perks.

In other interesting tidbits, I had decided yesterday that other than better food at the campus cafe, being at Princeton didn't feel wildly different than being on any other campus.  However, I overheard a fascinating conversation today (from a group who were clearly students, and most likely undergrads)  about various ways one can use to get out of paying large amounts on your taxes.  They sounded like they were speaking from experience.  Not something I had a problem with as an undergrad.

Better Than Yesterday

Normally the process of travelling doesn't really bug me, but yesterday was a doozy - three and a half hour flight delay, turbulence, airsickness, lost while driving...yeah, not fun.

Today was better though.  I found my way to the library easily enough, and though the day was kind of uneven in terms of research results, I did find one really great thing.  Here at Princeton in 1971, one of their centers had a conference about the FBI, and one of the conference papers was co-presented by someone who worked in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.  The paper is about how the Bureau responded to civil rights complaints.  Definitely a great find for my topic.

I also have a great hotel, that miraculously provides both hot breakfast AND dinner.  I had potstickers, rice, salad and cream puffs for dinner.  Huzzah! They even have peppermint tea in their "free 24 hour" beverage station.  Also, there's a cute little campus cafe in the building right across the street from the archives where I can grab lunch.  Normally I have to figure out where a local grocery store is to get by when I'm travelling, but I'm not even going to bother this time.   It's a real luxury.

So here's some pictures.  First, because I can't seem to be able to help myself from taking pictures of trees...

And second well, because it's Princeton, of course....

Dealing with Writing Advice

Just put a new post on my writer blog

http://jenelcope.wordpress.com/blog

Scary New Jersey

I have to go to New Jersey next week for research and I have to admit I'm not entirely looking forward to it.  Most of my doldrums come from the fact that once again, Tracy is staying behind.  However, there's also the fact that I have to do a lot of driving on what I know are infamously busy roads in a place I don't know at all.  Last summer when I went to D.C. it was so nice to feel like I knew where I was going and to already know how to navigate a bit.  Even Oregon didn't seem this scary because the driving part was so straightforward, get on the freeway, get off the freeway, done.   Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the opportunity, but the gratitude doesn't seem to have much effect on the nerves.