San Francisco, Sun 12/10

Sunday in was a mixed bag of a day - we started the day early in Alameda at Ole's Waffle Shop, a place that's been around since 1926. After having tried the waffles, I can see why!

We then went down to San Jose to The Tech (more on that in my next post) and then back up into SFO, once the weather cleared.

San Francisco on Sunday was wonderful. The rain had - for the time being - come to an end, leaving us with temps in the 60s and (finally) no wind. We took another pass by "Postcard Hill" to see if we could get a nice shot there (seen here) and then went back to the wharf area, for a wander through Girardelli Square, then over to the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park. For all the times Mitch and I have been in the area before, this was the first time we'd ever ventured in. Ethan loved it, and had a great time working the pulley and bucket demo to learn about leverage, seeing a working shipwright's shop, the giant paddle wheel from an old boat, walking through a houseboat, and seeing the old ships up close. He also enjoyed seeing a cat that seems to have taken up residence in a rowboat on the site.

We finished out the day with dinner at Tarantino's, overlooking the Bay.

Marin Headlands & Sausalito

I'm FINALLY on break from work (2 weeks - yippee!), and have time to blog about our trip to the Bay area. I'm going in reverse chronological oder here because the weather went from crappy to quite nice as the trip progressed, and so my best pics come from the second half of the trip.

Last Monday, Mitch had to work most of the day, so my mom, Ethan, and I were on our own. We started with breakfast at a great little place we'd found in Pleasanton earlier in the trip, called Dean's Cafe. It's right on Main Street, and is one of those quintessentially small-town, diner-feeling places with FABBO food. The menu has 300+ types of omelets, and the two I had on the trip were certainly worth the drive. Oh how I love the power of Google to help us find less-than-obvious places to check out :-)


After breakfast, we went up to Mill Valley for some serious window shopping and general hanging out downtown. It started to rain/mist heavily, so after a while we deiced to move north a bit, to Sausalito. Of all the places in NoCal I've been, I think this is my favorite; nestled by the Bay and just gorgeous, I know I could be happy there. Mitch and I have been to Marin several times, but I'd never spent an entire day there before - it was great to have a chance to do that. The pics here are of Sausalito. We hit a few galleries, enjoyed the little shops, and loved the weather, which was finally beginning to clear. It was warm(ish) and dry at last!

Finally, we went up to the Marin Headlands, where I took the pics at the beginning of this post. I've been to the turnaround point on the opposite side of 101 before, but had never been on this side. Now that I've been here, I don't think I'd ever need to go back to the other spot - there were hardly any people there when I climbed the giant hill, and the views, as you can see, are just spectacular. I'd love to get back there in the spring or summer sometime to really explore the area properly.

Finally, some Christmas pics of a square area in downtown Sausalito. Ethan, of course, was thrilled to see the civic use of elephants.

Old MacEthan had a farm

Ethan loves animals of all likes and, for some reason, has been totally into farm animals this week. LAst night he was going into great detail about all the animals that are on his farm. He told me where they lived, what they ate, etc. All seemed pretty standard farmy stuff (for a total city kid, at least), until he got to his cows. He says he has three cows, Bessie, Frank, and... Killer. LOL! Apparently Killer earned his name by "killing a grumpy elephant last Monday." And to think, that day, we were just wandering around Mill Valley and Sausalito, completely unaware that a Killer was on the loose!

It's grading time again

A student has told me:

I've learned that women are consider "ugly" if they age or if they are female.

Hmm... I wonder what kind of women aren't female? Other than Eddie Izzard, I can't name a one.

A funky holiday

Mitch has often worked with cool people - all sorts, from all over. Right now, he's working with a guy who used to be a backup guitarist for Pink Floyd. I don't know about you, but, if you're like me, when you think of Pink Floyd, you think of three things:

1. Bob Geldof and the nipple scene in "The Wall." (yeesh!)

2. The general weirdness (yet coolness, too) of the band

3. Laser light shows

In the spirit of #3, I suppose it's only fitting that their former cohort has done this to decorate his home for the holidays. As you drive by, you can tune your car radio to hear the music as the house does its thing.

All too honest

We are back from SFO, where a great time as had by all. I'll blog about that tomorrow, hopefully, meanwhile, I've got 5 days of work to catch up on before we all go on holiday break this weekend. So, I'm going through some discussion questions I' assigned and came across this all too honest reply:

The students were asked to read a sample APA-formatted paper and then evaluate it, including telling what they would have done differently had they written the piece. One student said:

If I would have wrote [sic] this article it would have been short and the APA format probably would be little messed up.

LOL! I have to give her credit for honesty! :-)

If I had $1 million

OK, sure, I'd buy dijon ketchups, a monkey (haven't you always wanted a monkey?), and all the Kraft Dinner I could want, but, for $70 mil? I'd buy this.

90 or 95%?

Whaddya think, does this passage have 90 or 95% too many words?

The effort of many different views on the issue that has taken place was needed to get to the point where we are right now in dealing with the consequences of drinking.

All I Want (and Do Not) Want for Christmas

I know that people can be hard to shop for around the holidays. So, as a public service, I present here a list of things I do not want for Christmas (and a few I'd be happy to accept).

FELT TREES to decorate the table and hide bottles of things like wine and ketchup











A CERAMIC STAND for umbrellas in the shape of a Roman gladiator’s foot, by Fornasetti, for $625 from Bergdorf Goodman















Painted WOODEN CUTOUTS – weird, weird, weird










A FLOOR LAMP made of resin is as large as, well, a horse. By Front Design for Moooi, in the Netherlands, for $4,100. Paging Joey Tribbiani... For that price, I will buy a real horse and strap a miner’s lamp to his head.

















THE 16-INCH CUBE TABLE by Mario Marsicano, a New York designer, is made of Plexiglas, though it would be worth considering if the thing could be turned a la Rubik












MOROCCAN POUFS, 22 inches in diameter, that come in a variety of colors, for $225, or silver and gold for $285; from John Derian Company in NYC. Just WTF are these, anyhow?












Actually, I kind of like these SILVER BELLS, 14 inches high, with masklike faces, but doubt I will ever own them.











I also like this GLASS VASE from a new collection of 10 designed by Michele De Lucchi, a member of the Memphis design group in the 1980s, but not its price: $3,150















I would also enjoy this juicy price of property at 19 Avenue Kléber in the 16th Arrondissement, Paris.

Oklahoma is not OK

THANK GOD we don't live in OK anymore. Here's what's happening in Tulsa, as I sit here in NC, 75 degrees, with my office window open:

Winter Storm Warnings Continue. Ice, Sleet, and Snow will be likely across much of the area today with significant accumulations likely. Cold air will remain for the next 6 days.

TODAY: Periods of ice and sleet, then becoming all snow by midday. Total accumulations from 4 to 10 inches possible for some locations along and northwest of I-44. Sleet,Ice, and Snow from 3 to 5 inches may occur in southeastern OK. Temperatures in the mid 20s to upper 20s northern OK to near 30 in southeastern OK. North wind 20 to 35 mph.

(Props go to KOTV 6 weather for the copy and picture of the airport.)

More wisdom from my students

A lot of the majority of folks that want marijuana to be legalized are folks that use it for their personal entertainment.

The term “medically prescribed” is simply a way to stop a means to an end.

I've got 8 more papers to grade, so watch this space!

NEW:
The issue will bring a lot of diverse opinions that the students in the U.S. do not have a need to learn a foreign language since in the U. S. English is the national language.

Continuing the theme...

This article is fun for the Worst Band Names Ever. Glad to see U2 was given a pass ;-)

I Love Covers

Anyone reading this should stop and immediately click on this link to discover some fabulous tunes. Be sure to check out the "Better Than the Originals" section! Who knew a Paula Abdul song could rock? LOL

Small world

I had a weird little moment in the car today. I'd dropped Mitch off at the airport, the headed around town to do some mundane errands (buy gas, pay bills, etc). I am an NPR junkie, and was listening to one of the popular shows on WUNC, The Story, With Dick Gordon. It's an hour-long interview show that features an in-depth "story" each day. All kinds of topics are covered, you never know what will be on. Today's show was about a guy from Kansas City who'd been sent to Iraq as a JAG last year and his perceptions of what is happening there. After his story was done (45 mins or so), Dick had a "Your Story" segment, wherein a listener who'd had some sort of revelatory moment could contact him with their own story and he would air it. I rarely hear the end of this show, so this Your Story section was, essentially, new to me. I was expecting something OK, but not compelling, good enough to drive to, but not one of those sit-in-the-garage-with-the-car-still-running sorts of things.

As my mind began to wander, however, I was instantly pulled back. I heard the name "Calin Buiya" and knew I had to listen. As it turns out, Calin is a friend of mine, and his story was on the air! Calin is a physicist studying at UNC who I know because he is also a member of my stepdancing group. I think he is, most likely, the only Romanian immigrant stepdancer in America. He's a cool guy and loads of fun to be around - he's terribly enthusiastic about nearly everything, and just fun to listen to and watch dance. His story was very cool, all about the smallness of the world amid apparent (and literal) isolation. You can listen to it (all 5 mins or so) if you click the link in this paragraph. I had a similar experience once, in Paris. I was with friends waiting in line to enter the Louvre when who did I spot across the crowded lobby (it was a Sunday, the free day at the museum, so crowds were extra heavy)? None other than my 9th grade history teacher, Ms. Loper. I'd not seen her in years, but she looked exactly the same. I think we were all just mystified to run into each other - who'd a thunk it? Calin's experience was like this, only weirder. And mine, today, seemed like a demi version.

Christmas is coming!

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving, Christmas is basically starting now, in our family. My mom and I took Ethan to the Raleigh Christmas Parade last weekend, and we had a great time. It was Ethan's first Christmas parade, and he really enjoyed himself.

Here he is waiting for it to begin:

He loved the floats (Esp. the train, quelle surprise!), balloons, and marching bands. Some of the other more unorthodox groups also caught his eye. He was very impressed by Winnie the Pooh and the Star Wars cast appearing (not together), but didn't quite know what to make of an outlawed Chinese cult (who says Christmas parades are all the same?!?). I found the marching librarians with the Christmasy book carts particularly fun. We all enjoyed the giant food bank shopping cart too.









Santa, of course, was a great hit as well. We'll be visiting him in the next few days, I am sure of it.

Rain & the Weekly Reader

I'm killing time in a major way this morning. I've got two new sections of Intro to Research and the first assignments pertaining to the students' research papers are killing me. I die a little bit inside every time I have to send a note to yet another student telling them that, even though the Weekly Reader's articles do come up in search engine results, they are college students and therefore it's not an appropriate source for their work. So, in an effort to hide from these people, I'm finally pulling he artwork together for my office. I now have an inspirational view to gaze upon whenever the classes are just driving me crazy. If these guys can't make me feel better, I'm stuck. ;-)

When not putting holes in the wall, I've been monitoring the creek behind the house. Normally the creek is about 4 inches deep, with banks about 4 ft high. Today, it's nearly full. I've not seen it this busy down there since Ernesto this summer. Here's the view from my office window.

WaWaWeeWah!

How could I pass up chance to post this glorious photo of Kazakh hero Borat, fresh arrival into Oz with pet wallaby, animal not found in U S and A? High five!

I have nothing else to say - I'm home after nearly 2 straight hours of treble reels. They're great fun, but my treble reel muscles are aching now... For any dancers reading this, if you don't already have Ouch Pouches, get some. Then get yourself a Really Big Tip so that, if Colin Dunne &/or his masterclass causes your big toenail to die a horrible death, you can still wear your hardshoes.

Pining for Pepper's

It's a cold and rainy day here today (after a record high of sun and 80 yesterday!), and Mitch is in Tulsa on business. Although I know he's working his non-butt off, I still can't help harboring some jealousy that he is within mere miles of Pepper's and all that is Good and Holy about the place, namely, their salsa.

I am the treble reel queen, I can do anything

Apologies to Lizard King Jim Morrison, but it feels true :-)

Yesterday the adult dance company performed at Raleigh's International Festival, a gig we've done for several years that, while nice, is not really a big deal. This year we were all willing to do it, of course, but not over the moon with excitement. We'd initially planned a hornpipe number, followed by a new choreographed reel we learned in September. Then, about a month ago, our teacher decided we were ready to be brought into the crown jewel of the school's show numbers, a big treble reel featuring all the prizewinner dancers. We've known this reel for ages now, but never really felt ready - and certainly not as a group - to do it publicly. We've been messing around with it a lot lately though, and so Meighan (our teacher) decided to take a leap of faith and turn a good portion of the number over to us. We knew we could do it in practice at the studio, but could we do it in front of people?

Everything went as planned, and even better. No one one freaked out on the hornpipes (which tend to be one of those numbers where we all know it so well we're prone to just blanking out. thinking "this can't be so easy," and then flubbing), and the reel went beautifully. The treble reel loomed, however.

So, we got onto the stage, all 40 or so of us (adults plus older teen prizewinners), and got into position. We were dancing in the Dorton Arena, at the fairgrounds, which, for those who've not been there, is a large, ugly building, but one that can hold a decent amount of people. The International Festival people had dozens of booths set up around the outside of the floor area, with a large stage abotu 5 ft off the ground and seating in the front (there's also seating all along the walls of the area, of course). As we danced, most people there were paying attention (from what i could tell), but it was still a typical festival atmosphere - people wandered around a bit, talk to their neighbors, etc. As we began the treble reel, this was what was going on. What no one in the audience (maybe 350 people or so) knew though, was that the dance begins with a huge, simultaneous STAMP from all the dancers, as we do this really dramatic turn to the left. It goes something like STAMP (long pause) very fast step, STAMP (long pause) very fast step, and then the dance begins in earnest. I can tell you, when we did that first giant STAMP, the arena echoed with the sound of our shoes, the stage literally shook, and everyone stopped talking, milling about, etc. We had their full attention from that point on, and each of us nailed our parts. It was SUCH fun! The dance begins with a group of call and answer type sets of steps, between the adult company and prizewinner company, then breaks down into solos and duets, then ends with a big group section, a big jump/kick combo thing, and hands in the air. I wish I had a video of this I could put here - must see what I can do about that. It was just THE MOST FUN I've ever had dancing - the crowd was into it, lots of clapping along and stuff from them, and those of us on the stage knew we were doing a great job.

As soon as it was over (which was all too quickly, if you ask me), we were all ready to go back out and do it again. What a sense of relief! Knowing now that we can do treble reel solos and 2 Hands in public and not make fools of ourselves is quite a feat ;-) Now I'm just anxious for the next event to come along.

Spooky delight

This has been the best Halloween ever. Ethan is finally old enough to really "get" it, the weather was PERFECT (70s for the high, and in the low 60s @ trick-or-treating time), and we finally got on it and decorated. Best of all, Mitch is home to enjoy it with us.

Ethan, as I've mentioned before, went as Mater from "Cars." Though he'd practiced and perfected his Mater voice with several Halloweeny phrases, when the time came, he was not so brave. He was fine with going up to doors and saying trick or treat, but always wanted one of us there with him, and he totally forgot his silly voice. Nevertheless, he was the cutest guy out and about this evening.

We kicked off our festivities with pumpkin carving. We just did one, with a simple smile, but saw some truly amazing pumpkins when were were out in the neighborhood. There were lots of silly and scary pumpkins around, but my fav, perhaps, was the one of the Linux penguin, LOL

Ethan LOVED going door to door, but one house in the neighborhood really outdid everyone else. There were 3 or 4 people at the end of one driveway, with fires going, torches, a cauldron of...something bubbling, and more spookiness than you could shake a stick at. It was way cool, but a bit intense for Ethan. When the people realized they'd truly frightened him, they seemed surprised and like they felt bad (I am basing this on the 2 handfuls of candy the one guy gave E for his trouble). After we left, Mitch and I reminded told Ethan that he shouldn't be scared, it's all pretend and that the people were just dressed up and having fun. Ethan replied, "I think that was too much fun." I hope they're still doing this when he's 15 instead of 5 - he will love it then!

Need I say he got a great haul? And, ever the sorter, he came home and organized it right away.


Happy Halloween, everyone!

It's working!

Can you see me rubbing my hands together with glee? My nefarious plan to create a grammar pedant of my very own is working!

Yesterday, Mitch's grandparents sent Ethan three new Magic Treehouse books (numbers 16, 17, and 18 if you're keeping score at home). So, he sat down to write them a thank you note. My mom helped him find a cool blank card to use (a puppy on the front), and then he told me what he wanted to say ("Thank you for sending me the books. Love, Ethan"). I wrote out the words for him to copy onto the card. His penmanship is getting more and more legible and he LOVES to write things, so I was happy to do this. I was very focused on writing the words clearly for him to look at as he wrote, and didn't think anything of punctuation. He copied it, doing a fine job, I must say, and then said to me, "Oh, you forgot to put these," and then began putting periods at the end of sentences and commas after "Love." He took another look and said, "We forgot to tell who it's to! I need to write "Papa and Grandma" at the top." So, he added that, complete with the comma after "Grandma." Mind you, I've not said a word to him about punctuation (except for that conversation we had one day about semicolons and their uses, but I really didn't think he was paying much attention then).

As Mitch said when I told him about it later, "he gets it from me." When I see him use an apostrophe for the first time and - please, God - put it in the correct location, I'll know my plan is a success.

Begging time again

It's that time of year again, when my students wake up after several weeks and realize these grade reports I've been sending them actually relate to them and their academic futures. I had one class end a few days ago and four more end this week. (Thank God!)

In the class that has ended, I was very speedy and efficient, grading all their finals and returning the final grades Monday. I've already had one student write back saying she didn't understand why she'd gotten a D on her final. Never mind that I'd sent along a detailed grading rubric when I sent her grades. I was kind enough (I thought) to write back with a more detailed summation, but she still doesn't get it. It's OK though, she wrote back and said she'd prayed about it and that "God will take care of it." I'm not sure if there was a threat in there or not ;-) As I see it, God gave her a brain, and she should use it. So far, I've seen no signs of divine intervention changing her grade.

Other students are a bit more conventional - I've gotten the begging pleas for extra assignments, requests for me to grade their finals "before I grade them" so they can fix them and get a 100% the "real" time I grade them, etc. Others simply mystify me, asking what their grade it in the class, even though they get an Excel spreadsheet every flipping week with all their possible and earned points laid bare for them. Apparently, if I don't write a big red D- on the bottom of the page, they can't tell they have a 61%. Is the art of long division dead? Whither the calculators? (This, from me, a non-math person!)

Many of my students are really good people and are truly trying their hardest - those people tend to get better grades, quell suprise. Even those whose marks aren't stellar still seem to realize they must take ownership of their work and performance in the class. Why can't they all be like this?

Is it the nose?

Ethan looks different today, but I'm not sure why. Do you think it's his nose?

Rocket man

Ethan has a cool room. He's always had a cool room, but now it's even cooler - today we finally had both the time and presences of mind to finish decorating it, after only 8 months inn the new house :-)

I'm also in the process of finally outfitting my office completely. In the next month it'll be done. Maybe by our 1-year anniversary in the house, it'll look like we live here!

Deep dish

I love a good dishy Project Runway interview. This is, perhaps, one of the best I've ever come across.

Disgusted, but not surprised

Needless to say, I'm disgusted with P-Run's choosing Tattoo Neck as the Season 3 winner, but then, I'm not entirely surprised. There was waaaay too much manufactured drama, demonizing, and redemption from the editors for it to go any other way, I'm afraid. Oh well, this tends top put me in a pattern of not preferring the winning designer each year. Last year (and still), my heart belonged to Daniel V and Uncle Nick, while this year Uli, Michael, and Laura all won me over. Hell, I even cared about one of the models (Nazri), and had opinions about another (motormouth Amanda). LOL - when Heidi says "remember, models, this is also a competition for you," I typically snort derisively and wait for them to auf one and get on with the show, but this season they actually did things to make the clothes hangers interesting. Who would have though this was possible?

Thank God LOST can still be relied up on to amuse me on Wednesday nights! (Though I'm already missing it on account of the upcoming several weeks with no show.)

Fields of Gold

It's no secret, I love Sting. I've been a huge fan of his work, both solo and with The Police, for as long as I can recall. In fact, the first 45 (!) I ever bought was for "Every Breath You Take," purchased at the Peaches record shop (later known as Buttons, then Sound Warehouse, and then, I think, Blockbuster Music before shutting entirely) at 51st and Sheridan in Tulsa, OK.

Something has been in the back of my head for years - like 15 of 'em - and I am only now getting around to Googling out the answer. I'm not sure I've got it, but would love thoughts of those reading (Gillian, this means you, in particular!)

Does the lyric for "Fields of Gold" remind you of anything?

Here's Sting's song (one of my all-time top three Sting tunes, I'd say, btw):

You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold

So she took her love
For to gaze awhile
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love
Among the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold

See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold
I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in fields of gold
We'll walk in fields of gold

Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold

It's a gorgeous, gorgeous song, but has always nibbled at the back of my mind - where have I read this before?

So, there's a Christopher Marlowe poem:

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of th purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love

is this what Sting was inspired by when writing Fields of Gold? He was an English lit teacher for several years and anyone who could write a concept album inspired by The Canterbury Tales would certainly know Marlowe forwards and backwards, too.

What about this, though, by John Donne?

The Baite

COME live with mee, and bee my love,
And wee will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and christall brookes:
With silken lines, and silver hookes.

There will the river whispering runne
Warm'd by thy eyes, more then the Sunne.
And there the'inamor'd fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swimme in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channell hath,
Will amorously to thee swimme,
Gladder to catch thee, then thou him.

If thou, to be so seene, beest loath,
By Sunne, or Moone, thou darknest both,
And if my selfe have leave to see,
I need not their light, having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legges, with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poore fish beset,
With strangling snare, or windowie net:

Let coarse bold hands, from slimy nest
The bedded fish in banks out-wrest,
Or curious traitors, sleavesilke flies
Bewitch poore fishes wandring eyes.

For thee, thou needst no such deceit,
For thou thy selfe art thine owne bait;
That fish, that is not chatch'd thereby,
Alas, is wiser farre then I.

But, here's where I need help. I remember way back in French IV, Mme Anderson had us reading all sorts of great French works, and there was one by Rabelais, "Pantagruel," that for some reason I'm thinking also has similar language to this. I can still remember sitting there in class and reading it for the first time thinking, 'This is like "Fields of Gold,'" but, alas, since this was 1992 and pre-internet (for "regular" people), cross-checking it was not so simple. I'm not sure why it's taken me 14 yrs. to get around to looking for more on this - God knows I think about it every time I hear the song. Does anyone out there know what I'm talking about? I have a feeling this will drive me crazy until I know.

While being driven there, I'm loving Sting's new CD "Songs from the Labyrinth," which features, incidentally, a remake of Fields on the lute. Absolute perfection...

I have hay in my shoe

I have hay in my shoe, I said to Ethan and my mom this past Saturday. I don't think I've ever said those words, in that order, before. We'd taken Ethan to Hill Ridge Farms, in Youngsville, NC (about 20 minutes north of Raleigh).

Most Octobers, we are in NY and visit a fabbo place in Muttonville for pumpkins, but this year, with Mitch in CA right now, the NY thing wasn't happening. This place, I must say, was even better, when you consider all the cool stuff they have.

We took a hayride to the farm's pumpkin patch, where Ethan wasted no time choosing just the right one for him. Then, we were off on a train ride, through a literally short maze (over whose walls he towered, thus eliminating the difficulty of the thing), and an 80-foot slide. They also had a pond, where we could "feed the hungry, friendly fish," Ethan assured me, though we didn't happen to have any fish food on us. We even got to see a combine (Frank?) at work, something E and I had only previously seen in the movie "Cars."



The weather was perfect for such a day - crisp and cool, with bright sunshine.

I am so glad fall is here!

Conversating is my speciality

There favorite way to conversate in Spain is in a foreign language Castilian.

Oh, the things my students teach me...

I heart Borat

It was like Christmas in Khazakstan when I opened my mailbox this afternoon to find Borat staring out at me.

I am really looking forward to Borat's movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, in a few weeks. I'm loving seeing all the press it's getting. Last week Newsweek made my day with this article, and now, Entertainment Weekly has won me over once again with Borat on their cover.

I've' been a Borat fan for a few years no - I'm no bandwagon jumper! - I just hope the thing is taken as it should be, and does well to boot. If only Borat and Louis Theroux could get together, I'd be in heaven!

BTW, whenever people ask me what one can really do with a history degree, I now have an answer. Sacha has one from Christ's College, Cambridge.

Shocking news

I'm still in shock, Laura Bennett doesn't live in a doorman building.

What more can P-Run throw at me?

Buenos dias, Señor Cleaver. ¿Donde esta Wallace y Theodore?

I'm going with Ethan's kindergarten class to Ganyard Hill Farm for a field trip on Thursday. I was been told this afternoon that I'll be in charge of three boys: Ethan, a child who speaks only Hmong (I think), and another who speaks only Spanish. The above is ALL I can say in Spanish and, well, it's about all I can say in Hmong, too. Given that the volunteer background checks included a box where we were to tell all foreign languages we can speak (Russian and French for me), you'd think they'd get a Spanish speaker to help out with the Spanish-speaking kids.

It should be interesting!

The Hmong boy, btw, is one of two in his class whom Ethan has identified as his "best friend." They sat together at the Blue Table for the first month of school, which I suspect cemented their relationship - that and the fact that the other kid had no way to tell Ethan to be quiet and leave him alone ;-) E, btw, feels VERY important for being charged with teaching his new friend to speak English. He must assume the ESL teachers are recruiting him to serve as their intern...

What I learned today

Did you know that it's most appropriate to use left-justified text when writing to "the poor"? I didn't either, but one of my students told me this today in no uncertain terms.

It's amazing what they choose to skip in the grad school curriculum these days.

Any poor people out there who'd like to comment on this? Do you prefer left-justified text? Why?

Nanci

PS - This blog entry is left-justified in of the spirit of economic inclusion.

Enjoy the Silence

OK, so the DM song title isn't totally accurate, but I can't think of any other cool song title off the top of my head to adequately express what a fabbo few days it's been.

Last week was the week from Hell, work-wise. I'm teaching (more than) a full load right now, and all but one of my classes had large assignments due. I have a week to get everything graded and the work plus weekly grades back in students' hands, and normally this isn't a problem. But, oh, last week was different! The grading went well, but there was just so much of it!

In the middle of this, Mitch came home from CA (yay!) and so my attention was distracted, to say the least :-)

Long story short, I did get the grading done, and then had a great long weekend. It was the first weekend that Mitch and I were in the same state since before my birthday, so we went out for a post-bday dinner and movie. We went to one of our favorites places, Michael Dean's, and then to see The Illusionist. Why aren't more people talking about his film? I absolutely loved it. Granted, Edward Norton can basically do no wrong, but he was far from the only good thing about it. I loved the story, thought the acting was great, sets and costumes really beautiful, and the filming itself was really interesting. Lots of nice, unexpected things going on, cinematographically. I'd def. like to see this again, and will pick up the DVD when it's out.

Today was the first teacher work day we've had since Ethan started kindergarten, and it was great having a long, bonus day for us to all hang out together. We slept late, stayed in our jammies too long, then went out for some mall time, had lunch, took naps, etc. All around, a really nice, low-key day. This was just what I needed after last week! Ethan and I even finished reading >The Mouse and the Motorcycle at his bedtime. Somehow this Beverly Cleary gem escaped me when I was small. I think I may have enjoyed reading it as much as Ethan did hearing it!

Now I plan to take the rest of the evening easy, curl up and pour over my new copy of U2 by U2, and then watch Studio 60.

Life is good...