It’s been a while

I have not blogged in quite a while.

It’s not as much fun as it used to be.

Right now, I have a student who is SO down on herself because she made a B on a paper. A paper that is worth 5% of her grade, and she’s making herself sick over it. She’s comparing her paper to another student’s; she’s “working harder” than the other student; she bombed a midterm in another course.

It’s exhausting.

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Tomorrow

Tomorrow we start the drive. First stop, Colorado. Our plan is to take pics beneath every state sign. Mit Molly, of course.

More when we get on the road. 

Send good wishes. And don’t drink all the wine.

So Not Ready

I only have one course planned out.

I need to plan two more. And, I need to get them in the LMS.

Maybe tomorrow. (See the name of the blog … )

 

🙂

Brave New World

I have taken care of bereavement stuff today. Oddly, all online. The funeral home has flowers, gifts, and cards that you can send online. We sent some fruit and cheese.

Now, I’m not one to find this tacky or offensive. It’s a way to preserve the old traditions and to welcome new technology. And, since I (we) cannot be there in person to express our sympathies and to share stories, I can look at the online guest book to read about Stacey, and see how she touched other lives.

Also, a friend of ours is gathering blog posts and facebook comments to create a Stacey book.

I also have a strange compulsion to buy a purse–in honor of Stacey.

At a Loss

We lost our friend, Stacey, over the weekend. Scott has a wonderful tribute to her. but I need to write some things.

*She made Oscar parties fun (we used to bet on the winners)
*She was a fabulous high school teacher. Her students were always prepared for college writing.
*High school kids! I could never do that!
*After parties, she’d have beer booty. I would shine a laser pointer into her window from Scott’s apartment (she lived across the quad), she’d call, and I’d invite myself over for beer.
* She loved her cats, especially Spencer, her first kitty.
* We used to meet on Fridays for tamale lunch at a local cafe.
* She loved purses.
* She worked very hard and lost a lot of weight–and kept it off.
* She taught her students about community service with <a href=http://www.emptybowls.net/></a>empty bowls.
* She always had a smile, a hug, and laugh.

Rest in peace, Stacey. You made the world a better place. We’ll miss you.

Low Rent Vegas

As in Wendover.

We are headed west on I-80 to go to non-Vegas.

*It’s a place where you park in Utah and enter the casino in Nevada.

*It’s a place where you can get a real beer, while playing video poker.

*It’s a place where you can throw dice and sometimes they give you money and sometimes they take money away.

*Oddly, it’s rather quiet. It’s not filled with drunken college kids. Rather, the demographic is slightly older. And, many of the slightly older folks arrive on Le Bus from SLC.

*It’s a place with surprisingly good steaks.

*It’s a place where it’s 72F all the time (unless you *want* to endure the blistering heat).

Too Fast

The summer is half over.

 

I still have SO MUCH to get done before the fall semester starts.

*Update the program’s web site

*Update syllabi

*Create an online course (I have the materials, I just need some instruction about how the new platform works.)

(No transition here)

The animals are doing great. ‘Lissa (blind kitty) is just as normal as ever. Doug (big tom kitty) loves going outside, so we let him out. He’s fairly responsible while he’s out. He doesn’t get into trouble or drive drunk. If he’d just text me about when he expects to be home, that’s be awesome. Molly is doing wonderful, but it’s been HOT here, and she does not like the heat. (It’s actually kind of funny.) So, mostly she’s a bored boarder collie.

Now to my problem child. Maxx (cockatoo) has been doing great coming to me and snuggling. BUT! Since we have remodeled the bathroom, she’s is being a pill. See, she likes to shower–LOVES it really. But, she HATES changes. So, I’ll put her on the shower rod, take my shower, offer to bring her into the shower, and she just looks at me like “Are you fucking kidding me?”

I took her in the shower with me about an hour ago; she’s still on the shower curtain rod.

AAAaaaaaand the guys just showed up to put in the custom glass on our new shower. Sadly, I had scare her to get her down.

She’s chillin’ in her cage now.

The Power

The power of Twitter amazes me. I tweeted on Monday (I think), that I called bullshit from Jeep because they have my Liberty since 1/31/12.

Not two hours later I was being followed on Twitter by Jeep, and I had a direct message from them. I explained what was going on and provided them some information about the dealership and service department. (This exchange went on most of the day.)

On Friday, I got a call from the Jeep dealership, they wanted to work with me on a buy back deal. We went in today and drove some ’05s and ’06s … then there was the ’08 Patriot, with fewer than 35,000 miles on her. She’s fire engine red, leather interior, sun roof, heated seats, 4-wheel drive …

So, basically, I got a Jeep that is 4 years newer than my old one, and it has fewer miles on her than my Liberty.

Oh, I noticed a crack in the windshield and mentioned to them (I thought they’d fill it or something); they are putting in a *new* windshield.

All of this started because a tweet. 🙂

 

65 Days

Well … the Jeep has been at the vet for 65 days. She went in on 1/31/12.

If we look at this in health care terms, I’d owe hundreds of thousands to the @Jeep place just for keeping her under observation.

 

Well, That Happened

So, I went to a meeting today about a photo shoot of my classes–the U is updating publicity pics.

They are showing up on a day that I am conferencing with my students, so at least they will see me interacting with them.

I got a ticket, while I was in the meeting with the dean.

I’m going to appeal.

I’m still in grading jail.

The Liberty is *still* in the shop. They finally gave me a loaner Friday. I may not have her back until early March. Bleck.