Johnson 2004 - CDLI - UCLA

adopted me, taught me Japanese, fed me strange food and otherwise kept sane during my
stay in Japan, not to mention Christmas in Beijing.
When I returned to UCLA in 2001, the department welcomed me back and Bob
Englund had a position in the newly founded Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative waiting
for me upon my return. Special thanks to Diane Abugheida who was invaluable in
providing advice and calm reassurance during my doctoral exams and the preparation of
this dissertation. Thanks to the Kinsey Administrative Group, the Institute for Social
Science Research and the staff at the Young Research Library, particularly those who
have dealt with my interlibrary loan requests.
During my years at UCLA, I have been blessed with a wonderful group of friends:
Lynn Dodd and her husband Ted have been giving me advice, inviting me over to their
house for dinner, reading manuscripts, and helping me out in a hundred other ways for
nearly ten years; my old friend Mel moved down to LA with me, shared an apartment
with me for several years and has always, always, always been there when I needed her;
Alessandra’s exuberant desire to know made me want to know too and then in the end,
she also taught me that knowledge is not the most important thing in the world; Jess and
John and Brian and Emily made sure that I had good sashimi at least once a month. Yoko
and Adam have done so many things to help me and have stood by my side at all the
crucial moments. My fellow Assyriology students, Jennifer Rashidi, Adam Johnson, John
Lynch and Jeff Szuchman have always been wonderful and generous compatriots and the
Hebrew Bible students in the department always made me feel welcome and one of them
even married me.
xi