Fighting the crankies.

It’s that time of the semester when I can’t do much more than complain about grading, be tired and wait impatiently for finals. Instead, this is an exercise in thinking about happy things.

Happy thing #1: President-elect Obama.

Happy thing #2: Living in a newly blue state.

Happy thing #3: Thanks to Scott, even though I’m overloaded at work, there’s still food to eat and a clean house.

Happy thing #4: Cancun. We have booked 4 days of cheesy resort vacationing as soon as the semester is over.

Okay, I feel better.

 

Rest in Peace, Betsy

My sympathies to my dear friends, Kathy and Vance, lost their dear dog Betsy to a brief illness this week.  She was a sweet dog and a good girl who was afraid of thunder and liked to cuddle.

She will be missed.

 

Another run

I ran in another 5K yesterday.  Scott hurt his calf last week, so came to cheer me on and take some pictures.  I’ve decided that I should always run in 5K runs that are paired with longer runs (there was also a 10K).  The longer race skims the really good runners out of my race, and I feel all the more impressive at the end.  In this case, out of 60 or so runners, I finished 15th overall, and was the fourth woman across the finish line.  I only took about 40 seconds off my time, but I’m proud to say I didn’t walk at all.

At the beginning of the race:

At the 2-mile marker:

And at the end.

 

Hell weeks

I’m at the beginning of three weeks that I expect will be tough.  I co-teach our intro class, which means that each of us teaches for three weeks of the semester.  My three weeks starts today, which adds four hours of classroom time to my schedule.  The math is not as straightforward: four extra hours of classroom time also means another four hours of prep, and another two hours of grading each week.  On top of that, for these three weeks, I am getting to my office at 7am to prepare to teach at 8am for Monday-Thursday.  In short, I’m tired and a little cranky.

Scott’s doing his part to make things better, in his own special way.  Not long after we moved in, I got an envelope in the mail filled with “Welcome to Neighborhood” coupons.  Better than normal coupons, the bunch included coupons for free things from several local merchants, like a free pizza from the place around the corner (which we redeemed right away), and for a free bouquet from a local florist.

Scott planned on getting the bouquet when he “screwed something up.”  I convinced him that if he screwed something up and got me free flowers, he would have screwed up twice.  I advised him to use that coupon as soon as possible, so that when he screwed something up, he could get me not-free flowers to make up for it.

So today, at the beginning of this most hellish week, I left the house in the dark and came home to flowers and a dinner plan (sausages and pan-fried potatoes, plus roasted brussel sprouts).

What a pretty picture.

 

Separate vacations

I’m just back from a very nice trip home to see everyone in Illinois – what with all the traveling and moving, I didn’t make it there this summer. The special treat was that I got to be at a birthday party for my oldest niece and nephew. It was a surprise party, but they were totally not surprised.

I got my niece to feign surprise afterwards.

They’ll really do anything for cake.

While I was in Illinois, Scott took a trip up to Maryland for a car rally. I’m hoping he’ll post about that. Now he’s staying up there for a few more days to deal with tenant issues and visiting his boat.

 

A new goal

This may be part of an early mid-life crisis for me, but as I’ve mentioned before, we’ve both been doing a lot more exercise. I’m at the gym usually 2-3 days a week, Scott’s going almost every day, and on the weekends, we play tennis (badly on my end, but still having fun).

Our big adventure last weekend was running in a 5K race (a fundraiser for our local domestic violence group). We were both pretty out of practice – I ran in my first and last 5K almost four years ago in Orlando. I did stop to walk a couple of times, but I think it’s because I didn’t pace myself very well, because I still finished in a decent time (just under 29 minutes), and Scott finished a couple of minutes ahead of me. We both placed in the middle of our age groups.

We’ve got another race planned in a couple of weeks. Scott’s thinking about trying the 10K. I’m sticking with 5 until I can run it straight through.

I’m heading home to Illinois tomorrow for the long weekend – looking forward to some quality family time. (See you soon, Dad!)

 

The big mayo

In case you were ever in Costco and saw the one-gallon container of mayonnaise, and wondered who bought it…

That would be us. And no, we’re not planning on a party or opening a restaurant. Some of you know that Scott is a bit of a mayo-maniac (mayo-niac?). We bought the 1/2 gallon size about a month ago, and it’s almost all gone. (I have made a couple batches of coleslaw, but still.) So we hope this one will last a bit longer.

Since there’s a chicken roasting in the oven right now, I think I’ll tell you about it. Drawing on the wisdom of others, I’m finding that butterflying the bird works really well, and that the combination of butter under the skin and olive oil on top of the skin is delicious (if not terribly healthy). I also figured out a great little trick of my own. I was having some trouble doing the seasoning of the chicken under the skin and thought I’d try smooshing all the seasonings in the butter before putting it under the skin. This works great – you essentially make a compound butter, mixing in whatever you want. I used dried onion, tarragon, garlic, salt and pepper. When the chicken cooks, the compound butter turns into this great season-y crust under the skin.

We have a plan to turn leftovers into a chicken cake sandwich later this week. This was a sandwich we had in Baltimore recently, the same recipe as a really good crab cake, but using chunks of chicken instead. Topped with a generous smear of mayo, of course.

 

Not a lot to say…

Except that I am pretty swamped.  I’m sure most of you are not surprised that this blog falls pretty low on my list of priorities.  But since some people also use it as a way to see if I’m still alive, I should probably post just a little today. So here are some updates:

• My first two weeks of classes have gone well, but are pretty time consuming since 1) these are classes I haven’t taught before, and 2) giddy with the thought of small classes, I’ve assigned way too many essays to my students.   Grading, anyone?
• We went to watch our first home football game of the season yesterday.  I thought it would be fun and it seemed appropriate since about 1/10 of the team is enrolled in my classes.  It was a nailbiter, finally lost in triple overtime, in 95 degree heat.  I still have the longstanding question, “How is it that a school with only 1200 students manages to have a roster of 100 football players?”  But we realized that sacrifices have taken place – there is no college marching band.  Instead, the local high school band plays at our games.
• We also saw the first half of one of the women’s soccer games, since about 1/4 of that team is in my classes.  They got their first loss of the season.  Maybe I am bad luck?
• I bought a new bike – it’s a sweet ride.  A 2009 Giant Cypress ST.   I will be riding it to work tomorrow (wearing my helmet).
• I have discovered that I am not entirely slothful.  Given a short commute and a nice gym at my workplace, I’ve actually been working out 3-4 days per week.
• We learned this week that the BK Steakhouse burger is kind of disgusting.  We will stick with the Whopper.  (Clearly, I have been less than 100% dedicated to the diet.)

 

Crash

I commented yesterday under my last post about having a good first day of work, when not much later, on my ride home, I got hit by a car.  Spoke too soon?

Yes, really, I got hit by a car.

I was biking on a usually empty side street, and a driver heading towards me turned left into his driveway.  The sun was facing him, and he just didn’t see me, until I hit his windshield.  There are lots of ways I was lucky:

• He wasn’t going very fast, and neither was I
• I shattered his windshield with my shoulder and not my head…
• Even though I wasn’t wearing my helmet (never again, I don’t care how small the town is)
• I got to be tied to a back board, with a neck collar, and taken away in an ambulance. Excitement! And I was conscious for it!
• After tests and x-rays, I was confirmed to have only bumps and bruises, nothing broken.
• Scott is up in Maryland for a few days to celebrate his Dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday!), but my good friend Kathy came to meet me at the hospital, and kept me at their house for the night.  She and Vance also fed me shrimp tacos, wine and listened to me say, with wonder, every 10 minutes or so, “I got hit by a car!”

Today, I’m a little sore, and I can see where I’m going to be black and blue in a couple of days, but I feel mostly okay, and extremely lucky.  And my students found the story more than a little entertaining.  Describing the importance of attending class, and my attendance policy, I got to say “I got hit by a car yesterday, and I STILL made to an 8am class today.”

On the down side, my bicycle did not make it through the ordeal.  I fear what my neighbors thought when the police came and deposited the pieces in my driveway.

My coffee cup holder, some of you might be interested to know, also did not perform well in the crash test.  The coffee mug flew out and onto the curb.  I’ll have to rework the design when I get my new bike.

 

Welcome to the family

Classes don’t start until next week, but the madness has already begun. Of the many types of jobs I’ve had, academia stands alone as one that truly sucks up your life.  The understanding is that it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle.  And at a small school like the one I’m starting at, one is immediately socialized into the all-consuming institution like a new family (or cult?) member.

My week so far has included a full-day orientation, a full-day retreat, and tonight I have a dinner at the Provost’s office.  On Saturday, there is a cocktail reception at the President’s house, and Sunday night, a matriculation ceremony to welcome the freshmen.  Then, finally, once I’m totally exhausted, classes start on Monday.  Yes, on Labor Day.  Don’t get me started.

And the invitations are not just for me – spouses and partners are invited to most of these events as well.  I’d like to minimize the demands I place on Scott for these things, and I have some desire to keep my private life separate from work, but I also appreciate that he will keep me company at these anxiety inducing events.  He’s being a very good sport about it.

On the one hand, it is nice to be so thoroughly welcomed. I’m in a new place, and these events have provided me the opportunity to meet and be social with many more people that I would have met otherwise.  On the other hand, this is the type of week that makes me wish I had a regular job.