What I Did This Week

The weather has finally warmed up, thank Heaven, more or less for good. All the sure signs of spring are in the air . . . bradford pears, dogwoods, daffodils, asparagus for $2 a pound, and reasonably priced strawberries. Yay! I had an asparagus and onion fritatta for supper tonight, my first of the season. I really do think fall is the prettiest season in Virginia (the colors work really well with all the brick) but there is an awful lot to be said for spring. For one thing, the food is much better.

I went for a training run tonight, as the 10K is next Saturday. It must be all the iron the doc has me on, but running isn't nearly the struggle it used to be. Having red blood cells transport oxygen as they're supposed to must be helping. I'm hoping to work in a weight session tomorrow morning to get used to doing things early. I've always found my energy levels are way higher in the afternoon, but most race organizers seem to be sadistic early-bird types. I've been preparing to be out of town/out of town/sick a lot this last month, so I won't be setting any records, but I think I'll be able to run the whole way.

Easter is in two weeks, y'all! I don't have an Easter dress or anything. What's more worrisome is that I haven't gotten to a Lenten Lunch at St. Paul's at all this year. I'm hoping to remedy that situation next week, preferably on cheese souffle day.

Ummm . . .

Well, it's been a while, certainly! I've been out of touch for a bit, owing to a trip to Alabama, the week preparing to go to Alabama, and the week recovering from having been in Alabama. I picked up some kind of icky cold or something (for which I am blaming Suzanna) and am just starting to really feel better. A bit sniffy and headachy, but otherwise much improved.

Not much to say, weather's been lovely the last few days, and it was a good thing because there was a wreck right in front of my building and I stood on the corner waiting for the bus for, like fifteen minutes. The bus was right across the street and it just couldn't get across all the congested traffic. Other signs of spring: cute little birds eating discarded sandwiches at City Hall, daffodils, and I believe I saw a dogwood starting to bloom this morning! This is excellent news, especially for my heating bill! (Last month, fed up with being cold and sick, I decided to be warm and sick. The power bill, predictably, went up by a good fifty percent.)

School is fine - same old thing. The motivated students are doing extremely well, and the less motivated have quit showing up. Oh, and my next trip will be an Easter weekend in Charleston to see the girls and celebrate CSD's 30th.

Finally . . .

The weather's started to warm up, the days are getting longer, and I'm beginning to feel like the long cold winter is over. I'll be in Alabama next week visiting the baby (oh yeah, and Kerry too), so there is much to do, ie., getting laundry done, cat box changed, cleaned and organized.

Also school has been unusually irksome what with having to plan ahead for next week's lesson so the lovely Cindy can sub for me. Additionally they are in the middle of re-accreditation, so I've been having to compile mountains of inane paperwork for the auditors to ignore. Also midterms were due this week. Kids, in order to pass you have to occasionally, you know, do work.

But! Things are being crossed off my list in good time, and I've even had time to work a little more on the sweater I started for Mckenzie. Sadly I don't think it'll be finished by the time I leave Virginia, but maybe I can finish it up in Alabama?

Etc.

Lots of randomness:

1. I have a new niece! Molly Mckenzie, born 13 February. Lots of black hair.
2. I finished a cute little hat for Mckenzie. Purple and hot pink. Also started on a little baby sweater for her.
3. Valentine's Day! Got flowers . . . will try to figure out Sprint photos and post pics.
4. It's cold!
5. Went to Baker's Crust with Kristin and had the best potato chips ever . . . called "tavern chips" and feature bacon and cheese.
6. Went to Cancan with Liz and friend. Lots of croissants.
   
7. Marzie has taken to hanging out on the right side of my desk, which must be the warmest spot in the house.

Very very cold

We had a fire alarm at work today, which would have been a pain anyway, but it's freezing cold outside, and more to the point, I was on desk so had to decide: Is it worth the risk to dash back to my office to grab a coat? (And I should note I was lucky in that regard; many of my colleagues have offices on another floor and had to go out in the sub-freezing temps coatless.) In the end I decided the risk of hypothermia was greater than the risk of being smoked alive, so I was relatively warm. However, I regretted my decision to wear my un-sensible magic pointy shoes today.

In further cold-related news, I had to wait for twenty minutes at the bus stop tonight. Fortunately I had my warmer shoes on as well as hat, scarf, gloves, etc. The heat has been running continuously since I got home, and the cat has very sensibly buried herself under my covers. Also, I just checked the weather forecast and they are predicting a low of 11 tonight. E-LEV-en. (For those of you keeping score at home it's 23 right now with a wind chill that makes it feel like 13. Lovely.)

My favorite show . . . season begins tomorrow night!

Which 24 Character are you?

David Palmer
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School is starting already!

It really does seem it just ended, but my first night of class this semester is tomorrow! I've spend several hours tonight getting things up-to-date (the syllabus will have to wait until next week, I fear) and playing with my new course blog, which I've linked here. Just an experiment.

Kerry and Kenny, have you switched over to the new Google Blogger (or whatever)? It's so much easier to edit and format . . . no need to learn silly html.

It pains me to say it, but go Gators! What a blowout . . . you make an SEC girl proud. I'm hoping I'll get to recount Christmas stories tomorrow night or Thursday.

All right, New York first . . .

So, the weekend before Christmas (this would have been the 15th, 16th, and 17th) RP and I took the train from Union Station to Penn for a New York adventure! We got in around 8:30 on Friday night and went immediately to get food at a Korean restaurant. I had bibimbap, a delicious rice concoction. I have a new favorite cuisine - if Richmond had any such places, I would be several pounds heavier and many dollars poorer. We then went to Rockefeller Plaza to see the Christmas tree and ice skating, and walked to some of the department stores (Saks and Macy's come immediately to mind) to look at all the ornate display windows. The wonderful but exhausting weekend ended when we took the PATH train to lovely Hoboken where our hosts live.

It was a lovely time in many ways, not least of which is no one had anything really pressing to accomplish, so we didn't feel a bit bad about our late start the next morning. We walked along the Hoboken waterfront, which has lovely views of Manhattan, then took the train back to the city. We walked around the NYU/Washington Square area (apologies if I'm getting the geography wrong - I don't have my tour book handy) and had lunch at a restaurant devoted entirely to peanut butter! The Peanut Butter & Co Sandwich Shop, which is in Greenwich Village, had a truly fun menu (pictured here) of sandwiches and other treats featuring PB, and they have a line of gourmet peanut butters I've seen in Ukrop's. The Cinnamon Raisin Swirl is my favorite.

We walked some more (we did a lot of that!) along the lower west side (?) and had cupcakes at the Magnolia Bakery. I found them good, but a bit on the dry side. Thus fortified, we went to lower Manhattan, Ground Zero, Wall Street (also pictured here, decked out for the holidays), the financial district where our hosts work, then took the Staten Island Ferry, a free boat ride that provides wonderful views of New York Harbor as well as a good thirty minutes of sitting-down time.


Then it was off to Chinatown, Little Italy, and supper at an Australian restaurant, where I had a sausage roll (good), a meat pie (ditto), Brussels Sprouts (also good) and salad. (I should say that after all that walking I was starving, so cardboard would have been tasty, but the food at this place really was good.) Somewhere in there we happened upon a "new designers exhibition" in a school gym where young designers were selling clothes, jewelry, and accessories. I was very pleased to note that some of the knitwear was similar to the hat I'd knitted myself and had on.

The next morning we slept in (again), feasted on blueberry pancakes, and took the train back to DC. We had mostly daylight so we got to see some lovely East Coast cities in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. After a two hour car ride from Union Station (actually slightly more owing to a wrong turn I took that put me in a very dodgy part of Pennsylvania Avenue) I was back in Richmond in plenty of time to get ready for the next weekend's trip to Alabama.

Teaser

No time to write up a summary of the New York trip tonight (maybe later!) but I did want to post this lovely picture of us at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. It's ironic that angel wings appear to be growing out of our backs; shortly after this picture was taken, one of New York's finest asked us to get off the bench we were standing on.

Test

Experimenting to see if posting a Google doc to the Web and then linking it to an entry will work for class purposes next semester.

Five Points Rubric

Merry and Bright

Well, I'm beginning to see the end of things. As indicated in my last post, I've been phenomenally busy with end-of-the semester school ickiness as well as trips, holiday activities, and the normal everyday things that begin to seem abnormally difficult when your schedule is suddenly packed to the gills. I managed to cross everything off my list last night and am on track to do the same tonight. Yessss!

I had a lovely trip to New York last weekend which I hope to detail tomorrow night, complete with witty observations and links to places visited. However, I did want to post the two photos you see here from my October trip to Tennessee. (See post titled "Nothing, uh, stinks like a Big Orange" for further details.) One is of me and RP at Cade's Cove; the other is of the two of us at the game. You can tell the game hasn't started yet here because we can still move.

So so busy right now and looking forward to Christmas simply because it means all the busy-ness will finally be over.  In the next nine days, I will have to finish all my grading for the semester, get grades calculated, post grades to new computer site, and submit physical grade sheet and supporting documents.  Also submit "teaching portfolio" with copies of all manner of miscellany:  syllabus, schedule, tests, major assignments, samples of A, B, and C level work.  Also they decided they want an updated resume, so I have to update my resume (after finding it) and submit that.  Oh, and you know, the full-time job demands attention.  And a blasted Holiday Breakfast on the 21st for whch I am preparing sausage and potato casserole.

And I'm going to be out of town this weekend.  And as I will be leaving for Alabama on the 22nd, I will also have to throw together a suitcase for that as well.

Or, better idea, I'll just go and lie in a dark room until it's over, ok?

Well, the semester is winding down and I'm taking a break from grading papers.  The weather finally warmed up a bit this weekend and I took advantage of it, going up to NOVA where I wish I could say I did some kind of outdoorsy thing.  Nope.  But we did have a lovely brunch and watched "The Big Lebowski," which I'm sure must count for something.  

Also fully appreciated the effectiveness of the HOV lanes, which were (unusually for a Sunday) open going into the city rather than away from it.  It was far and away the least congested drive I've ever made up there.

And quick congratulations to my old high school, the Prattville Lions, who won the Alabama State Championship (6A), 35-21 over Hoover.

Quick update . . . Has it really been two and a half weeks?  Such a busy time including a Thanksgiving trip to Orange Beach with the family (see Kerry's blog for pictures) and a cold that's lasted well over a week now.  That's odd for me.  I've been through two boxes of tissues, nearly a whole box of Tylenol Cold, and have been taking all sorts of Vitamin C-Zinc supplements that are drying my skin out. 

The beach was excellent, a nice time to see extended family, eat, and take nice long walks along the Gulf.  As always, Suzanna was particular fun.  Her vocabulary has really gone into overdrive since the last time I saw her, so I got to hear such gems as "my peoples sippin."  (By which she means her parents are sleeping.)

Had today off work on account of having worked Saturday, so I did some power shopping; between Amazon and Stony Point, I was able to cross most of the people off my list.  

Not much to say, very little time

It's been a busy week (surprise) but I did want to give a quick update on my activities. Students turned in their papers and I've been faithfully grading several each night. Sadly there is no way they will all be done by Thursday . . . I may have to take two weeks for this one.

Spent last weekend in Alexandria and got to see RP's band play. (The band used to have a Web site, but I can no longer find it, so no link. Sorry.) I went to have my eyes checked this morning at a real eye doctor and then got annoyed with the little twit at Walmart who refused to give ne new contacts because they didn't do the exam. Don't worry, ma'am, I won't be bothering you or your business ever again.

Hoping to get down to Chesapeake this weekend to see Meme and also to pick up my camera.

I believe I promised Dallas Deets

Sadly (well, not really in my opinion) it was not a terribly exciting weekend. Charlotte and I both flew into the monumentally confusing but ultimately cleverly designed DFW late Friday afternoon. We fortunately met right up - the baggage claim there is unlike any I've ever experienced - and were picked up by Sheryl, who'd spent the last two hours of her schoolday without electricity. Entertaining highschoolers sans power isn't something I'd relish, but she'd taken it in stride . . . to the point of letting one of the girls braid her hair into cornrows. There's a reason that look hasn't really taken off among persons of pallor.

We had supper at Chuy's and spent the night chatting. The next day Sheryl's husband Steve was off to work on a Habitat house and we went to a mall in some suburb or other (Dallas is huge!) where we ate out collective weight in pizza. We then had a quiet evening at home before heading off to church the next morning.

As it happened, Steve was installed that Sunday as a deacon at New St. Peter's Presbyterian Church, so there were various parents and in-laws there, always fun. We had dee-licious fajitas and a laughter-filled lunch before heading back to the airport (it claims to be the size of Manhattan, and I believe it) for our flights. Lots of good girl time, and I'm looking forward to Charlotte's 30th even more.

What I Did This Weekend

Ha! No, I didn't go to the Grand Canyon! Instead I visited Dallas with my canyon buddies, Charlotte and Sheryl, pictured here on either side of me last September. More weekend deets later . . . I'm very tired and confused what with all the falling back and time zone changes

Nothing, uh, stinks like a big orange.

Huh. Well, the weekend in Tennessee was lovely. It's a beautiful state, at least the eastern part is . . . full fall colors all over. The drive there was just stunning (central and western Virginia are really pretty now too) and we stayed at a lovely house in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg region. If you're familiar with the area, it may interest you to know that it was near - no kidding - Boogertown Road. Seriously. I can't make this stuff up.

So we took a drive through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the Cade's Cove area and saw lots of scenery and lots of cars. Apparently it's their busiest time of year. We also saw some real, live bears in the wild! A mother and at least two cubs . . . even though there were plenty of people between me and them, I didn't want to get too close. Also took a stroll through the wonderfully tacky Gatlinburg, which always makes me feel like a paragon of taste and class.

The game was not as bad as possible. The score was pretty close most of the time, and it was a beautiful day. And the river is very nice. On the other hand, the seats were tiny and we were shoehorned in like so many cattle. (Have you ever wondered how they fit so many people in that stadium they're so proud of? Make the seats about twelve inches wide. It ain't pretty, folks.) Obviously the less said about the fans the better. They aren't pretty either.

And to top it all off, two solid hours of the drive back to Virginia were spent just getting through Pigeon Forge along with everyone else in creation. I figured we were entitled to speed through the rest of the state to make up for lost time, but the driver didn't agree with my logic there for some reason.

Ah, the end of a nice, lovely weekend.  (I worked on Saturday and therefore Sunday-Monday is my weekend . . . but if you're reading this, you are undoubtedly already aware of this scheduling quirk.)  Went to the National Folk Festival here in Richmond with RP; we got to hear some fun bands and eat cool ethnic food.  Especially the florentine treat, which was sort of like chocolate-covered almond brittle.  What's not to like about that?

I had all sorts of things planned for today but nanaged to accomplish very little.  I did, however, go to Walmart and get some yarn for the Suzanna afghan I've been planning for her Big Girl Room.  Pretty bright colors . . . pink, purple, yellow, lime green, and aqua.  I got started on it today and am pleased to say it's shaping up to be a pretty fast, mindless knit.

KG, PH, and RP

What an insane couple of weeks it's been! And not likely to improve, either. Exhibit A is the fact that the photo to the left was taken before Labor Day and I am just now getting around to posting it. Sad. (The PH in question is an actor portraying Patrick Henry at the St. John's Church re-enactment. Good fun for anyone who visits Richmond, and free too, though the weekly performances are only in the summer.)

I fortunately had the day off today (long story) because I had to spend time in the car repair shop to get my trunk latch fixed. (Another long story.) They "adjusted striker on deck lid" which set me back $2.50 for the adjustment itself and $40 to figure out what was wrong. Plus an hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back. Bitter? Not me. (Okay, it wasn't so bad, I went to Ukrop's and consoled myself with breakfast pizza while they were working on it, and got some tests graded too.)

Also I went and bought some new running shoes today on account of (1) I've had my current shoes for nearly three years now - the salesman looked at the model and said, "Wow, we haven't sold those in a long time!", and (2) I think the broken-down nature of the current shoes may be contributing to my hip aches. The new ones are nice: Cushiony and supportive. And they're pink!