Trip Pics and Such

To avoid making this a mile-long post, I’ll just hit some highlights: 

In order to deal with the mild terror I felt driving through road construction on the way up Going-to-the-Sun Road, I decided to have a little fun at one of the pull-offs near Heaven’s Peak… 

 
Yes, I made my mother climb up here. We had [...]

Another St. Patty’s Day…

…and I have no urge whatsoever to go out and revel with masses of people and large amounts of green beer or Jameson whiskey. This is QUITE uncharacteristic of me, as some of you may well know. Maybe you even remember the St. Patrick’s Day I fell down, while the sun was still up, within [...]

Quotes, Sherman Alexie, miscommunication and other things making me happy today

I just read an entire novel in two sittings. I started it last night and fell asleep 30 pages into it (it was either the long week or the strong drink that made me fall asleep — NOT the book); then when I got up in the morning I decided to read some more… and [...]

Pretty Good Year

(*yes, that was a conscious reference to the Tori Amos song. :))
Well, here goes: the first annual Year In Review post.  Oh-seven has been a year of drastic changes and events, so I figured it was worth it.
                 mid-late Winter - went to Las Vegas with girlfriends, where my purse went for a swim in [...]

I am so psyched for The Golden Compass…

… movie to be released tomorrow. I hope it’s good… the book is absolutely amazing. It’s so full of symbols and it’s such a unique story. More later. Time to go to work.
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(please ignore the gibberish stuff up there; it’s just something I want to put [...]

Ms. N totally geeks out over teaching Beowulf

I had a good day today. My students were mostly engaged, with the exception of the few that I’m still working on reeling in. My seniors are on Beowulf’s final battle in the epic poem of the same name, and I used the movie Rocky Balboa as an example: should Sylvester Stallone have come back [...]

The cost of teaching (sans whining)

Bravo to my city’s newspaper for publishing an article on the front page of the metro section entitled “Teachers spending with little return.” It was about how teachers, new teachers especially, typically fork out between $300 and $800 per year on school supplies, instructional materials, classroom “stuff”, etc. I myself typically spend about $300 at [...]

I just finished reading…

…Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez, in a single day. Granted it’s pretty short as far as novels go, but still… I enjoyed it and recommend it. After finally finishing the Writing Project last week and getting (most of) my stuff moved to my new apartment, I stopped in at my new [...]

distracting myself….

Ok. This is one of those times when I am so predictable. I have a 30 page paper due on Wednesday. It is Saturday. I have to have it done by the end of this weekend because there are so many other things I have to do. This semester of grad school will be over [...]

so it goes.

Kurt Vonnegut’s books are awesome. I was sad to learn that he died this morning.
It’s also the one-year anniversary of my Grandma’s death.
And it’s my dad’s birthday.
No wonder I have been feeling weird for the last few days.