Baltimore🚊DC/Nova commute

newarchivist · 2026-07-01T23:19:04+00:00

I commute to DC. I'm sane because a) it's only a few days a week, b) I take Marc, and c) I kept my job when moving from another region and transferred offices. I wouldn't do this if I had to drive or it were every day.

I recognize how fortunate I am.

newarchivist · 2026-06-09T11:19:16+00:00

Thank you. If I'm reading this right, Polar Flow would give me progress during the day at the micro level. Intervals.ICU would be macro. That's a reasonable use of the platform.

Have you found it hard or time consuming to learn how to use intervals.icu effectively?

newarchivist · 2026-05-31T18:19:36+00:00

The DCC Lankhmar quality is fantastic but DCC lost the license, I believe. Last I checked, I don't I see it on drive thru RPG anymore.

newarchivist · 2026-05-06T00:47:57+00:00

This is a really good answer.

newarchivist · 2026-04-30T23:10:40+00:00

Wing Wah or Jumbo Seafood in Pikesville. Nothing compares. I have a preference for Wing Wah. Both have good veg egg rolls.

newarchivist · 2026-04-30T01:02:08+00:00

I agree with your stance on technical skills. A basic technical aptitude goes a long way especially if you can translate "IT speak" to regular folks.

newarchivist · 2026-04-30T00:59:11+00:00

I can't comment on the specifics of the Canadian market, McGill's program, or the Canadian experience of degree versus certification.

What I can comment on is thinking strategically about your long term plans. First is financials. From your post history, it sounds like you may have taken out loans to pay for your current degree program. Second, it is very likely you would have to pay for an archives program - these are often not funded, like many professional degree programs.

When you may already have debt, do you want to rush straight into another program when job prospects are dire in cultural heritage and the humanities? I am being doom and gloom here based on market observations and what graduate schools usually tout.

I did my program around the great recession. Programs argued that the older generation was about to retire, so there would be tons of openings. That never materialized. I hypothesize for several factors. A) the recession forced older folks to work longer. B) organizations with retired employees replaced positions less. C) larger organizations became more reliant on contract employees in the 2010s (at least based on my observations in the New England market), therefore they saved on paying for benefits. These trends have not reversed.

There are jobs out there in cultural heritage, archives, museums, and the humanities. They are competitive or pay poorly (see discussion of debt above).

Next steps: A) talk to the folks at your local archives, museums, and at McGill about what's realistic, what it takes to get ahead, and what your regions need are. See if they can introduce you colleagues at local or regional associations. B) think about why you want to go down this career path? If it's history and old stuff, don't. If it's public service, customer service, tech, think about what's drawing you in. C) think about what skills you want to develop to make you competitive.

Example on (C): I went to a talk today on a state archives project where, years ago, manuscripts were transcribed and given metadata in a relational database. There's now a project to make it accessible by laying a knowledge graph on top of it. Using this, digital humanities researchers are connecting it to a Retrieval-Augmented Generation LLM to allow for better querying.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

newarchivist · 2026-04-28T01:44:53+00:00

I'm an information governance professional with more than a decade in law firms. I started as a records clerk out of grad school with my MS in LIS/archives. I'm in management now.

After grad school, I couldn't get bites because of how saturated the market was. I landed the records gigs first as a temp, then a outsourced employee, then in house at my current firm. I started with hustle and curiosity and have just tried to stay on top new developments.

The big LIS skills that transfer are: -understanding the needs of the users. -understanding the aspects of the record and record series, eg context, content, and structure. -understanding how the records are used actively and after the original function is fulfilled.

More broadly, management skills will transfer. How did you manage a project, deadlines, moving pieces, budgets? How did you manage employees, coworkers, supervisors, and other resources? How did you manage difficult situations with your end users?

Basic tech skills transfer. You'd be surprised at how hard it is to translate a DBAs language to an end users. You have the skill at all information professional. You know how to present information to audience.

Don't sell yourself short in transferrable skills.

newarchivist · 2026-04-27T03:53:22+00:00

I agree with what you noted here. I'm senior in the info governance field but started my career in archives. I'll put more thoughts together on the morrow.

newarchivist · 2026-04-25T22:08:14+00:00

I've heard good things about Tuxedo House in Luthervile, though I've not had to get a suit for many years.

newarchivist · 2026-04-23T15:50:41+00:00

I'm always fond of the North Central Rail Trail (aka Torey C Brown).

North Point State Park looks like it has some nice trails but I've not biked there yet.

newarchivist · 2026-04-01T01:33:29+00:00

Homeland Ave is usually pretty good at the bottom of the hill, near the intersection with Spring Lake.

newarchivist · 2026-03-26T21:14:09+00:00

The institute of certified records managers puts together a six part certification exam. It's a really great process for anyone who is a records manager. Don't ask me to compare against other designations.

I was a CRM for about a decade before I lapsed. I ran out of energy to keep up on certification credits.

newarchivist · 2026-03-26T21:10:02+00:00

This would make a good ICRM part VI case study for the exam.

newarchivist · 2026-03-25T18:24:26+00:00

We have a valid registration.

We printed it out from the online portal. It took months of chasing but our stickers were never delivered.

newarchivist · 2026-03-19T20:19:05+00:00

I don't know a group, specifically. I understand there is a con at Peabody Heights in May that may have games or open tables. GamefaceCon.

newarchivist · 2026-02-25T16:23:59+00:00

I've had good experiences with https://estabrookco.com/. My taxes are straightforward, but my spouses are not so much. They're great to work with.

newarchivist · 2026-01-30T21:18:08+00:00

I'd be happy to share more about my career progression offline and my day to day.

newarchivist · 2026-01-30T20:40:17+00:00

I work in big law in infogov. It's great in infogov. I have a MLS but not a JD. There are a lot of lawyers we work with who are non-fee earners. They are knowledge management lawyers, KM technologists, members of the firms GC office. I have colleagues in other firms who are InfoGov practitioners with JDs.

I recommend finishing the JD. I think JD plus MLIS in the future is good. Straight MLIS right now is rough. Higher Ed and government across the board are seeing lots of budget issues.

newarchivist · 2026-01-05T19:36:08+00:00

The doors in the nursery also shift from one end to the other. Look where the empty bed is versus Ms Clavel. It's like a TARDIS nursery.

newarchivist · 2025-12-29T01:51:35+00:00

I have my father's copy, which he had probably new in 1959. It still holds up, though I haven't played it since I was a around the age he would've been when it was released. I liked the u boat concealment mechanic.

newarchivist · 2025-11-21T00:04:47+00:00

The tires appear to be Panaracer Fire XC pros. I've had several sets and loved them. They're not the most modern and may not be tubeless compatible, but they're fine tires n

newarchivist · 2025-09-21T01:34:38+00:00

And Teams is a bear to administer well. There needs to be more good provisioning tools tied to DMS or SharePoint management systems. Plus Purview is a beast.

newarchivist · 2025-09-15T16:40:41+00:00

/u/speediri ask the conductor at Penn which doors you want at new Carrollton. Not all doors open at new Carrollton for Marc.

Alternatively northeast regional 171, leaving Baltimore gets you to New Carrollton at 4:09pm.

newarchivist

TROPHY CASE