Last Day of Fellowship 8.8.8

Had a wonderful send off from Cambridge by Pale Ale, No Banana, et al. We went to a nice restaurant in Easton (West of Cambridge) that had an oven! Brick that is. Whiskey-Ginger said "I even like musicals now, like I want to see Pippen, I don't know what it's about". KJ's reply? "Perhaps it's about Scottie". Pippen that is. No laugh. There was a chuckle from BirthdaY BoY, but he admittedly was laughing about something else. So to all of my miscommunications in the land of Science! I had a great time and am honored to have had this opportunity.

Olympic Eve "Made In China"

Photo KSL
Great show on PBS last night about China. On the eve of the summer olympics opening ceremonies, I remember the energy and excitement I felt that winter in Salt Lake 2002. The entire world watching our city, the world symbols of the torch and the olympic rings on the mountain I would watch as I drove to my first year of teaching job that winter. I do not miss driving in snow (MD teachers usually get the day off for snow:) but I do fondly remember driving over the highway with those rings glowing and the torch flame. I also remember the feeling to "wake up and find out that you are the eyes of the world". And I hope that the eyes of the world look upon China, they have 1 B more people than us, increasing their middle class faster than the 50s here, AND have absolutely ZERO environmental legislation. I will be using China as a theme for the environmental classes this year to compare to US. So take a deep breath of not so clean air and enjoy the commercial event of the summer, while buying China made products from Evil Mart. I will. Mostly so I don't have to watch ESPN yammer on about F**ing Brett Fn Favre (JETS??? jets jets jets, you jest)

Answers blowing in the wind, Eyes squinting in the sun

The answer to question below is that perhaps hypothetically I would have been surprised at one's revulsion of hypotheticals. Hey another great example of past being prologue (or frequently repeated sayings being frequently repeated:)

The lab went to lunch today it was beautiful on the river. The experiment worked again today,I had 12/16 seedlings float in two trials outdoors and 3/6 indoors. Hooray! Been a Veg for 48+hrs. May have to consume chicken for dinner, I don't want to be rude or let it go to waste (yet to my waist!) Pierce (PS) be careful here big daddy.

Depends on the time zone

It may have been late night for you, but the sun was coming up here. I only have one question... What if we had met now and not 15 years ago? (Gasp at length of time) "Now that we're all wise and sh*t"

Mr. Bigstuff, Who do you think you are?

Heard this song on the way down here this morning "Oh Yeah! You're never gonna get my love". Hopefully I still have a roomate when I get done with this fellowship.

OK well, I have been an official veg for 24 hours +. I was almost a vegan until I remembered I had my very last quad grande white chocolate mocha latte from starbucks Monday morning and THEN my roomate at the Marsh house brought a cheesecake. Even though I declined her delicious smelling chicken curry for a veggie burger, before I knew what was happening, I had eaten the piece of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake factory deliciousness. Oh well, let them eat cake :) Nice diet.

Don't Laugh

Health has been on my mind of late with hospital visits past and those scheduled soon... I'm officially on a diet + walking. It is official because I have blogged about it, so it has to be real :) I will talk about it here and it may be boring, but I need to do something, and it may actually help me cook instead of wait till I'm so hungry I order from 33 pizza or go to Chick-fil-a or (my personal favorite...) go to dinner with wine and club sandwiches. This is not in keeping with my philosophies (however very much in line with my last 10 years lifestyle) nor cool like other bloggers who are always talking about buying local and their farmers market finds. With help from the 40 year old Vegan, and Vanillabasil's new vegetarian masterpieces, I am going to give this a go.

Peanut Butter Jellyfish Time in the Sunday Times

(NYTIMES, 2008)
I do enjoy reading the Times online.

The big plan was to go to Boordy for a concert with Big Daddy and Teachers. This was cancelled in route due to possible thunderstorms feared by Superman Teacher and his girl (not quite lois lane like, probably wouldn't smoke and eat cheeseburgers like lois but I did win a bottle of boordy on the null hypothesis of their possible engagement). So went to the Irish Pub instead, had a nice time. T was being T but I didn't take it to heart too much. Roomie and I are working on the issues, but it still is a little weird, also not taking it to heart. They are both nuts. Southern Belle called which cheered me up immensly and she and Southern Beau are on my team and want me to come visit soon. I am still worried about Little Hands. I hope she can play scrabble online with me soon.

It could be a twin thing

My head hurts. It is probably directly correlated to the KJ consumption, but I feel terrible that Little Hands feels unwell. I may be having sympathy inflammed meninges. It may be too soon to joke about but she should change her blog name to little hands big meninges. Lets hope she feels better real soon, and gets some much deserved rest. I swear she does more in one hour than I do all week. This is when it is the hardest to be away from home.

The sources of angst and hair that roomie has solved by putting all the couch cushions perpendicular? Luke, Leia, Han. Leia actually has many names like the Other Cat. Mama, Vamp-panda, Who'stheBaby'sMama, and Mean one. Han also has a few names, Hanz, Baby, Tiny, and recently added My Straw (everytime he sees a straw in a glass of water, he knocks it out of the glass). Oh, and Luke is just Luke with a mighty cool hand.

notes to self

When sluffing work remember sunscreen. When at beach wear hat and sunscreen. Take camera in case of dolphins. Take iPhone charger everywhere. Focus on strengths and build upon weaknesses. Past may be prologue and perception is reality but who percieves your past is your business. And lastly proofread everything.

thanks for the roomies

perhaps it is a bit unfair of me to compare apples and oranges. I am very glad for all of my roomies this summer. If it weren't for vanillabasil I wouldn't have found my way in solomons or how to love the iPhone and blogging with such passion. If it weren't for southern belle I wouldn't know who to wave at, where to buy wine, or how to drive in Cambridge, or that life is best served with a smile on the porch and revenge is best served cold. If it weren't for K from Colorado I wouldnt have learned the cool lesson plans and remember the mountains. If it weren't for storm I wouldn't know how to get pics from camera, be glad for the arctic tundra, and compare photos of niagara, lily pads, and the second yummiest spaghetti in the world. If it weren't for lab roomies I wouldn't have songs to laugh about or teacher roomies to share coffee and chocolate but not at the same time mrs. B. AND if it weren't for main house roomie, I wouldn't be laughing instead of crying most of the time. M S "just wants u to be happy". Dont worry its on the list.

past is prologue

How terrible am I? Second time in 345ish days I've been told this on the phone by people who lived with me (for a few hours a week anyway) "It has not just been recently, I've felt this way for a long time, you were like this before, even before (fill in blank with summerish things like fellowships and rings) I can't live like this. I was talking to soandso who says you need to do thisandthat... You should have known without me telling you. You need to get your life together. What will the neighbors think?"

So. Sans the cheese knife toss but still about animals and their dung. Perhaps I'm growing. How terrible am I? Feeling very very so.

Mondays

Do we celebrate birthdays of those that are dead to us?

Team iron horse watched the sunrise this weeknd. Nap time needed again. Met roomie and his brother in town from Atlanta at the neighborhood bar. Also talked for awhile with a woman in the bathroom named gigi and I don't know what shocked me most, her toothless smile, the actual sound of her hitting her wooden leg with her cane or her offer of a Xanax which I kindly refused.

Heron Haiku

Herons are awkward
flap wings oddly when landing
speak with a loud bark
.
Dinner and walk with friends from lab

New Friends New Puddles

I have made a new friend from Baltimore by way of Tanzania. I will call him Cest Bon.
We have watched a few movies together at the Marsh House, and then we went to town Monday to get a bite at the restaurant by the river. They have a crabcake club that is out of this world. Cest Bon goes on safaris every other year to the ngoro ngoro (sp?) crater.

I met my new roomate from Baltimore by way of the Philappines. I will call her Stormy because of her first night in Marsh House.


Stormy and I went to the Evil Mart to get a flashlight for my experiment and a bandaid for her thumb she slammed in the car door. (ouch). Then we went to the grocery store to get supplies for dinner. We decided to grill. I have never lit a charcoal grill by myself. (Actually I still haven't officially because Stormy had to come help my after I lit 2 entire packs of matches before being successful.) I grilled ribeye's and asparagus as the skies darkened rapidly. Stormy made a shrimp, onion and broccoli masterpiece meanwhile helping me light grill and marinate steaks. The rain started as I pulled off the steaks, the asparagus got some rain on them. Then we saw hail, then much lightning and thunder, then loud roll across the roof from large branch, then much much much rain. It was a great storm. Then, her horn in her honda started honking and upon investigation her window had been left down and her car was flooded. The horn would stop if you pressed it again, but then start up again whenever it felt like it. Stormy and I unplugged her battery (thanks to her emergency tool kit) and then soaking wet finished our delicious dinner, watched TV, and ate popcorn.

When I woke up this morning after sleeping (thanks xanax) I got in my car and noticed MY window had been down as well. Water Everywhere!!!

insomnia

who sleeps from 9-12? Who can't fall back asleep? I watched 3 episodes of homicide, now dont have any left. I counted zanichellia leaves to fall asleep but I should just wait til tomorrow in the lab. I worried that my graduated cylinders started floating and spilled ok the flume generator in the main lab. I can't figure out how to get the seeds from the bottom without destroying my set up. I am wondering why I bought all the stuff for tacos but not tortillas. I think I missed my dentist appoi tment this week, now my tooth hurts. There is a strange bug talking up a storm out the window, my stomach is talking too, perhaps I'll have more Ginger ale. Maybe I'll finish my book. That will make me sleepy, reading, I really should do more of that instead of TV. Perhaps otterbutt shouldn't have reminded me about lecturing I. Your sleep because now I'm behind on that too. Ha ha. I should have known about husband 2 because he never drank milk at my house but drank a gallon the first time I met his parents. I can still see his face when he came home that morning for his socks. He really had anger inside. Now am pretty sure I'm dead inside and shouldn't I be getting over this? His parents were weird and phony, who are they? Walmart shoppers? I should talk I spent an hour there for two days in a row! I should have said something else on the phne last night (tonight?), I talked to many people but didnt say what I wanted to, like "sorry I stole both lighters" "I have always gotten you, but I could never get you to do anything" and "I need the job even though I dont want it"

Best Maryland Day Ever Hon

I will have to explain this day in 3hour incriments.

9-12 am lunch and swimming on Assateague with me, my towel, water bottle and book. Sea sun sand and solitude was delicious. I was scared of the rip tide so I swam only a little.
Assateague Horses

12-3 drove to Parkville. Most expensive 3 hr part of day.
Gas Prices

3-4 nap with cats and shower without cats.

4-7 art scape
"the sweltering horde
clings to beers and scraps of shade
for the art of it"
Written by Captain Hops

with team iron horse
Saw the gays
and the other gays
it was hot and the art was minimal.
I liked the tree stumps and the pottery best.




7-11 team iron horse went to the Orioles vs. Tigers game whcih was tied 10-10 in the 10th inning with a beautiful home run by Luke Scott. It was the most fun filled Maryland Day of all time. I hope I dont run out of gas driving home. AND I'm blogging from the light rail.

Sunrise Sunset

I feel that 100% participation for the AP exam is silly. I will try to make my students understand this is part of the course, perhaps they will try harder...

Measuring Zanichellia morphology and biomass is silly.
Watching germinated seedlings float and sink is silly.

Taking pictures of the sunrise and sunset from Marsh house is not.

Divine Secrets of Teacher Hood

I forgot to blog about TNT's party for Big Daddy's 60th. It was so fun to see everyone from the old OMHS crew that formed as the coolest science dept around and now, now we have ALL moved on to become dept. chair(s), country clubbers, retirees, navy doctors & navy wives, married toe ring wearers, or happy healthy tan earth science roomies... I'm so glad we have all remainded so close and actually, become even closer. The party was fun, I made mushrooms and big Costco trip of food items, spilled red wine on the white table cloth (promptly washed by big daddy and then respilled upon by said big one), got mooned by the Old Man Beefus, coordinated switzerland boundaries (with one major slip up) and got to sleep in my princess bed (that came with presents, thanks Monroe)...

I went with navy wife to the Great Falls and had a wonderful brunch made by navy doctor. Then we went to dogfish brewery for the best sandwich. There is now a tie for the crabcake club and that is the Mahi mahi club with avocado and bacon. So yummy! Navy wife and I used to hike together weekly and we have a great time talking and walking and laughing at the east coast. Maryland being so small compared to TX and UT. Then I came home and watched "Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood" (yes I cried) and then talked with Southern Belle about the trials and troubles of teaching AP Environmental Science. They eased my mind about being the worst teacher in the world (remember our first years everyone we all struggled) and I wrote an email to principal and dc to be proactive on Maestra's advice.

Probably should go do some research now, talked with the other Teacher research fellows this morning on an internet video conference which was interesting. Perhaps, Otterbutt, we may one day teach entirely from our porches!

P.S. Happy Bday to the Kindergarten Teacher (who actually made her first year look like she's been doing it forever!) wish I could be at your BBQ tonight.

glory

Assateague island is a sandbar below ocean city that has wild horses running free on it. It was the most beautiful place I've ever been in Maryland. Of course it was East Coast crowded, but when you looked East all you could see was the sea. Sun swimming and laughter all day followed by an excellent ice cream cone, fantastic talk with Maestra, "val" college spaghetti, Shiraz, and movies "glory " and "perfect storm". I may reschedule my entire week and go back to the island on Saturday. I went with some wonderful ladies from the lab who will be known as Pale Ale, Banana, and Geologist; I haven't laughed so hard in awhile and I haven't been in the ocean since the Galapagos because I dont thing I got in the ocean in St. Johns.

test scores

Well. My students did not do well on their AP exam. 14 passed - 17 did not. AND my boss man bing emailed the scores to everyone! Humiliated. Guess I could find a more suitable career like middle school or research scientist. Turns out they have happy hours too. I measured and counted Zanichellia morphology most of yesterday so happy hour was necessary. UGH test scores

Dear Prudence

My attitude has changed. I know what to do. And I really think two things changed my 'tude of late. I was without my computer, and I had never eaten dinner at a restaurant by myself. Now that both of those things are fixed (and I got to eat Mussels)... love songs are now song to myself, Uncle Walt's Poem "Song of Myself" replays in my head, I have found "self" and will take this opportunity to tweak myself into the person I want to be. First and foremost, proudly standing firm against the wind with roots instead of floating like a feather.

Coming up this week...Assateague Island, kayaking, boating, scrabble tournament, Orioles Tigers game, Artscape.

The iPhone has also changed, perhaps in tune with Apples "new" iPhone debut tomorrow... iPhone says its saga/drama was imaginary and it is over.

Like sediment through the hourglass

I've been weighing and cooking bay sediment in what is called a Muffle Furnace to determine the percent of organic sediment in the samples from Cape Charles. Not to mention having dinner on Charles Street across from the Charles Theatre. It's very very quiet down here, prompting a text from BIG in Japan that said "Are you hunting with Elmer Fudd" ha ha ha. "It was on 7/27 in 1940 that Warner Brothers released A Wild Hare, the first cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The first lines of each character have become timeless..."

Elmer Fudd: Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits.
Bugs Bunny: Eh, what's up Doc?

Forgot to commemorate my 100th post

This is good. Saw it in the times today. Matt

MIKE your phone is at berthas

Roomie lost phone must send smoke signals (he has no email...who would answer the house phone?) I am watching Canadian geese lounge around the sturgeon pond this morning. Loved destination wedding 3 post by little hands. Went to dinner after drinks on the porch with southern belle and southern beau from Tennessee/Georgia last night. Finally got some mussels and they were great sitting by the drawbridge on Cambridge Creek. Came home, slept well, dream filled. Will visit Black water wildlife refuge and Assateague island, the place with the wild horses...yeah try to drag me away.
Recommended Listening...
The Entire Album "Raising Sand" Robert Plant and Allison Krauss (a little slow all at once one at a time perhaps with the below songs interspersed),
"Gone Gone Gone" "Please Read the Letter" "Let your loss be your lesson" "your long journey" "Trampled Rose" "Fortune Teller" "Killing the Blues (Ubiquitous heartbreaks... it happens)
"Weather Report Suite" Grateful Dead
"Stormy Monday" Allman Brothers TBone Walker
"Red Hill Mining Town" U2
"Thorn in my Pride" Black Crows Old Album
"Can you stand me" (1)Black Crows New Album
"Come Pick Me Up" Ryan Adams
"Sheen" The Low Life
"Home" Alexi Murdoch
"I Guess You’re Right" The Posies
"Go it alone" Beck
"Float On" Modest Mouse
"

No Mussels, No Muscles

Lovely afternoon in Fells Point. Listened to some excellent blues music at the Cats Eye and then headed to Bertha's for, No Mussels! So forced to have crab cake sandwich and roomie and I shared the Escargot, delicious! Also, I have lost ability to do 10 pushups that Lt. Green Hornet asked me to do before a smoke, that was a muscle bound plan, will resume. Lovely lovely day at the Point. Also watched a movie about the Wetlands Preserve in NYC, cool jam band venue in tribeca in the 90s. Very cool, many bands were the ones I saw in the 90s, and yes, it means they make nostalgia movies about my oldness. And last bit, announcement... I had to cancel premium channels today on cable. No more HBO.

It's Not A Date!

This is a little story about way too much wine. Roomie and I went to Zodiac for dinner, unfortunately, again, overcooked fish in the city by the bay. Maybe they think everything from the sea has a hard shell outside that has to be cooked forever with Old Bay. I had the salmon, he had the halibut, and we sat and watched the people on Charles Street pass by and go to the Charles Theatre. Lovely time, except the Hess oil spill with 5 cop cars and 2 fire engines. Then we went to the neighborhood bar for a drink, and then I invited us over to The Family Porch just in time to see some fireworks and kids whose hair has grown and their legs have as well. I can't believe Leo and Kapricorn are 8 & 7!!!! Awoken by roomie who served me watermelon in bed to cure my hangover and trying to find my motivation to go kayaking.

Good luck to Otterbutt and family on their move to the desert mountain town, and to Little Hands for her travels from the state of wine wedding of champions.

Things I Missed and Didn't Plan On Missing

First of all, I missed Fourth of July. Slept right through it from 2-8, then felt disloyal to pajamas to change to go out for the fireworks. However, this may seem a tad on the lame side, I haven't been home on a Friday night in three weeks. Enjoyed lunch of roomie's spaghetti aka Gonad stew served to me with two meatballs, one sausage and a sprinkle of parmasen cheese in a funny location *note not adding picture here. Things I missed about my house during my travels that I didn't notice until I got back... my blue coffee cup, the tiny cat Han laying on my hip, my fancy gold sheets, the back porch, my computer (sorry iPhone).

Peanut Butter Jellyfish Time

On the Choptank River the research team collected samples of Zanichellia and sediment with snorkels while I wrote down the water depth and plant height in the boat. Saw many many many jellyfish so I didn't swim. Many many many jellies. And herons and fish and turtles. Collected Heron Feather and Big Oyster Shell. We took the boat to a little cove at low tide and measured the current with a cool probe. Had to wait until high tide for six hours so we got to lay in the sun on the boat. Then drove west with the windows down at dusk listening to my new collection of songs. Glad I came home because roomie and I had wine and I swear the best 33pizza of all time and we sat on the porch for a lovely evening.

Also I may have to change my blog name to "Feetbook"

Sweet potato queen and sweet potamogeton perfoliatus queen

According to my new southern belle roomate at the Marsh House, you need 5 men in your life. You are very lucky if the 5 roles are filled by the same man, or they can all be different men but only 4 can be gay. Chuckle. One to talk to, one to laugh with, one to dance with, one to fix things, and one to ... A woman claims the title of Sweet Potato Queen if she has them all.

Research group and I went to sushi. I had a dynamite roll and saki. It was fun. I was late, but that's ok down here people arrive at what the southern belle calls "ish time" and so do I now (hopefully this trait doesn't stick around because I hate lateness, for example am glad certain things are monthly-ish).

Potamogeton perfoliatus is a seagrass called Redhead that I will be researching as well as 4 others... You say potato, I say Potamogeton. So if you have 5 seagrasses in your life you must be...

UMCES ESEP CTRF HPL

University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Enviornmental Science Education Partnership
Chesapeake Teacher Research Fellowship
Horn Point Lab

WHEW! Now I know where I am and my names we're all set for the experiment.
Website
Research Question:
Do submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) native to the Chesapeake Bay have a Phase II (secondary) dispersal mechanism after germination that is caused by light quality or light duration that influences seed buoyancy due to photosynthetic gas production in the laccuna?

Hypothesis:
If we expose germinated seeds (9 days) to full strength sunlight (1800 µmol photons m-2 sec-1) then the seeds will become buoyant allowing for a secondary dispersal method to colonize another environment. The null hypothesis is seed buoyancy will not be influenced by light.

Research

Does light quality and duration effect seed buoyancy on five brackish SAVs found in the Chesapeake Bay?
Doing research in the library. Miss my computer and my dog, and dear iPhone no service in the building.

good bye

Indy,
I named you after the film "Raiders of the Lost ark" so i could be like Marianne and scream "Indy!!!". There are very few things in my life that have been next to me no matter what and for fourteen years you have always been there for me. I will miss our walks, playing fetch, and the sound of your feet on the stairs. I will always remember your first swim, the day you had a kid land on your head, the way I looked at you coming home from dads funeral and sobbed. You were a very very good dog. Thanks for not making me take you to the vet too much. But I am not going to be home for the summer and I know you haven't been eating and sad I'm not home. So go travel well my pup. I was blessed to be ur owner and friend

Party Palace

Birthday Bash is today! I'm spending the morning straightening up, making appointments, paying bills. Then it will be time to head to the Super Sweet Sixty Party for Big Daddy. Spent yesterday at the palace helping get ready for the party, TNT made dinner and we had a nice time. However, BIG in Japan and I were very exhausted but roomie carried the evening with fun conversation. His car did get broken into however, does paranoia fit into this perspective is reality thing? I'm not sure. epiphany in Baltimore has left. LEFT his blog to start another. Who does that?

Home for a few

Wow! Chesapeake Bay Teacher Research Fellowship. Orientation week at Solomon's Island was so much fun!
Today I got to...
:Hold a sea squirt
:Catch a white choker fish with my bare hands
:Smile at a comb jelly through a microscope
:Dredge for oysters
:Trawl for fish and crab
:Dissect an oyster heart
:Identify Diatoms
:Watch a Barnacle eat
:Photograph a Sea Anemone
:Dig through mud from the bottom of the Patuxtent
:Remember invertebrate zoology and phyotplankton classes
and lastly
Nerd Alert~:Collect DO, temp, salinity, and depth with the coolest probe ever.



Lesson Idea #1
Compare water quality and sedimentation between streams Upper Bay, Middle Bay, and Lower Bay.

geocaching!

Spent most of the day in the lab. SAVs turtles oysters and fish labs. Had so much fun. It was interesting and fun. We had a great dinner on the pier with Italian wine and linguini con vongole. Yum. Then we went geocaching for the first time! Can't wait to do it again!

Its a date!

Interesting lesson in the morning on mapping and remote sensing, gps and gis. Then we went kayaking! Restored estuarine meadow on the patuxtent river. Near a nuclear power plant that paid for the restoration. After an oil spill in 2000. I really have found a new and fantastic hobby. I met the coordinator of the lab I'll be working at for the next seven weeks and she's an awesome kayaker. Learned a few secrets of paddling etc to make it easier. So beautiful , peaceful, and fun! Then we met a turtle man who talked about the interestiing long life cycle of a diamondback terrapin. They live for a very long time if they dont get run over by a speed boat. For some reason I was scared of the turtles. Biodiversity study of plants with the hoola hoops :) and a slight sunburn. Folowed by seining for fish and it was crazy how many fish were there. Comb jellies, Crabs, anchovies, perch. Glass of wine, dinner of overcooked salmon, and movie "Chesapeake a twilight estuary" I show to my classes so was tired, but the film maker was there and some of the people in it were too.

I left iPhone home today but took my camera. 31 hope ur arm and rib feel better and thanks otterbutt for the blog comments! George Carlin texts and a few emails to ask...Dog sitting anyone? He'll be outside today so drop him by some water if u can...

Engagement and Exploration

The 5E Lesson plan. Yesterday morning was all about the 5e lesson plan and how to engage your students. Floating can, crushing can, balloon on an erlymyer flask. Who was erlymyer anyway? The Chesapeake Biological Lab is in the oldest building on the island and used to be a laundramat. I'm the only one without a computer! But luckily roomate and I both share loves of iPhones , cooking, and teaching. Also she has a food blog and can't wait to add her link.

Afternoon was spent on the St. Mary's college campus where we did a stream survey and leaf pack experiment will be cool to do next year. Ticks, leaches, and frogs oh my! Caught some different invertebrates than I'm used to seeing probably because it is mid summer and I'm usually stream surveying in the spring or fall. The t own is 300 years old and we saw an Indian reservation, the first church of maryland 1667 and archeological dig of prehistoric firepit! Everything is built on top of oyster shells.

Fancy dinner at a martini bar, I had the chicken. The hummus to start was delicious. Also they had , drum roll please, Kendall-Jackson. Upon 3rd glass, everyone raised their glasses and said "and we have to wishes Adam a happy anniversary today" and I said " no way! Me too" followed by my life story that was something like we got married in niagara falls last year and then when we got home from honeymoon "he went out for comic books and never came back". Creative non fiction?

Also real roomie says the dog hasn't eaten in two days. Oy vey!

12 Hours home and on the road to the bay.

Well everyone. It has been a year... I'm speechless

BIG in Japan, forgetting how to fold a paper crane at Hiroshima! I'm speechless.
http://www.krentzk.com/blog.html
Kudos to Team iron horse for picking me up and hanging on my only night in Charm City.

Home for twelve hours and I have a few more things on my list to do before I can head down to Solomon's Island. I need to be there by 5:30 at the latest. Hello Humidity, my old friend, I've come to sweat with you again. Putting on the deet bugspray, while my head and arms get cold and damp. And the vision, of teaching summer school fades... I'll stop there.

iPhone was amazing on the airplane (with a very nice "good bye" text feature, must be a new app). Figured out the damn thing was set on repeat song so simple of a solution I couldn't figure out in the Prius. But last night after the Raven Inn... let iPhone rest and said hello to my computer.

Plans?

©2008 Douglas Pulsipher
As I'm preparing for my departure, I remember what I did last Thursday when I walked off the plane, saw the mountains, and smiled. I laughed a little at how happy I was and how it felt like the mountains were actually hugging me and welcoming me home. Then I couldn't wait to run into them, crawl on them, make a few footprints in their trails. And today, I feel I need to sneak under the shadow of these mountains, sneak away before they notice I'm gone. I'm always shocked each time I come home that the jutting edge of the granite cliff of Mt. Olympus hasn't changed yet, or the one tree on that one tree hill is still there, lonely, or the red butte, the snake rocks, or the hippo have not changed form. Unlike me, they remain here, remain unchanged, remain solidly blocking the view and impedeing the path to the east.

Thursday was spent doing normal summery type things. Naps, tans, swimming, movies. I liked Breech and Oceans 13, perfect summer movies. I went to Gramma's again and then met my sisters for a quick glass of wine before Otterbutt went to reading and Thirtyone went to work wedding "reception, glass of wine in her hand". I sat on the back porch with DiscGolfer watching the kids swing and enjoying the weather. Very lovely. Then went out on the green with Econtrario, who contrario to popular belief, may actually not be dead inside.

Friday Maestra and I (when the party from the night before actually ended) went up the canyon to do some shopping and a little lunch and a big bottle of KJ. We had a wonderful time and I spent a little too much on kayaking clothes, but it was fun. It was so sad to be standing in a TJ MAxx parking lot where I used to look over my favorite meadow at the base of Park City. A little sad I didn't buy a plot of land there in 1976 and a little sad that it is gone, replaced by malls and parking lots. Immediately back to nap mode, I actually slept during the day for 1.5 hours. Thought someone was with me when I woke up, but nope.

Then went shopping with Z and Otterbutt, made 7 layer dip for the family party. Sat on the porch with family, minus the men plus the cousins, and laughed and drank port after the sun went down. Cried a little too much or too little.

The iPhone would like to remain silent due to self incrimination. But I could mention that the iPhone is cool because it can send emails, photos, text, google, and make calls.

Sad to start packing

Please forgive me dear iPhone... I did not mean to be disrespectful yesterday. Thanks...

Benefits

Hooray for Iron Chef Mushroom! I cannot describe the smells, the smiles, and the smattering of mushrooms that fell upon Thirtyones house last night. It was fantastic. See her Thirtyones blog for the menu. I wish we could cook like that every day, ha ha wallets. But it was divine. A Divine Day. Even with kids falling down on slides and off beds, a spattering of dimpled chads lost in the state of Florida, and an unofficial election resulting in burning of ballots! What fun! Otterbutt used her inlaws beautiful kitchen or it may have been a little tight with only four burners, but we shared and presented some lovely meals. I learned so much from my sisters on how to cook last night. I also learned about why we each are so different despite our tripletness. Approaching each project in our own way we can sometimes collectively display an air of simplicity and delight. I am proud to be a part of it. (not apart)

Thirtyone's fancy plates and simple scallop changed many peoples minds about scallops, including mine, so I declare her the victor on that note but also give nod to Otterbutt's risotto having each and every element you want to order in a risotto, including the desire you could eat the entire bowl. Both these chef's made their meals on the cuff in two hours without consulting a recipe. I did need to read about 50 recipes for 4 days and memorize a lot of things, however, liked the lamb. Gramma said repeatedly a movie quote today "He's vegetarian? So I'll make lamb".

Early morning tv with Thirtyone followed by hiking today with Otterbutt = a lovely morning. Neff's Canyon. I swear, they said in high school that canyon always had snakes... Anyway, the river was running so fast and despite my totally improper east coast outfit, I managed fine.

My massage with Diana Troy the empath demon fixed me more than even she helped me last time. She yelled at me, made me cry, said thank you when I said thank you, and said "you're amazing" when I said "you're amazing"! I don't think I can really explain what happened in the room today, but I know she knows. And I know she fixed me. At one point she said, what are you thinking about, I said "Going to Grammas". She said in the gentlest voice "we don't all have to have a baby." And then I cried, and she let me stay for an extra hour as she washed my feet again. And I SWEAR she fixed me.

And Gramma had some wonderful advice. She didn't tell me I needed a baby or a man. She just told me about her children and her men. It was quite the story. It is not her perception of me that made me stress, it is my perception of myself. This may ruin my argument for perception vs reality. Oh Well.

So iPhone saga people. 3 sports score texts, One clear straight forward phone call rejection, one email with response, and... delightfully, 2 hours of the iPhone turned off while I was blessed by a healing goddess.

Three

"Eat, pray, love" I have been reading for the last three days. Mostly because I have seen this book on the night stand of all of my friends and it was at Maestra's BnB. The author talks a lot about the significance of 3. And she goes to Italy, India, and Indonesia for a year. Then I read an article about the top 3 things you must do. Then I went out to dinner with my sisters and we discussed the best trip we could each take. So naturally, we should make a list of the top 3 places we would visit if traveling for a year with unlimited funds, perhaps by some person who pays people to blog about their travels, and then you would need to find a theme for your travels so it could be a book...

Speaking of 3's... We made it 3 days without fighting.
It took me about 3 minutes this morning to put my (sober) foot in it. I actually was trying to apologize about being short and rude. Perhaps we should follow 3 new rules in this family...
1. Only respond to what people actually say about how they feel, not what you assume.
2. Our family deserves at least as much energy and kindness as our friends and colleagues. This may look phony, but maybe we need it.
3. Separate checks (this will occur if we follow rule 2).

These rules are up for negotiation. I have heard an alternate solution that includes not speaking. Perhaps a 3 drink maximum. Also an ellipse has 3 periods...

iPhone is mostly getting in trouble with music, "Are We Family or What" Tragically Hip. It has played this song 3 times.

BIG in Japan

A portion of Team Iron Horse is leaving for Japan today. The rest of the team is jealous that we're not going. I don't know if I could handle the 13 hour plane ride. But I can't wait to hear about the trip. Unfortunately, he doesn't have an iPhone to blog and email about the trip...

Team Iron Chef has been postponed. Crazy! I still have to look for the proper protein item now because I have a couple extra days to look. Econtrario has now volunteered to be a judge, he says he TiVos the show which I found shocking.

Kayaking was awesome. So was the porch. So was the Wii. So was the steaks by the stream. So was the green. So was the stay at Maestras BnB.

iPhone ...
1 text, 3 phone calls, 1 unannounced visit, 1 announced. 0 emails.

Kayaking Day

First we're having a picnic and kayaking at Little Dell... Then it is Thirtyone, Otterbutt, and KJ's Iron Chef Cook OFf with the secret ingredient being Mushrooms!~ I'm so excited.

Yesterday, Maestra and I went for pedicures, lunch at TGIFs, grocery shopping, then I went to Thirtyones to make Red Snapper with ginger lime sauce, quinoa and baby artichokes. It was a small meal but I think everyone enjoyed it. They probably ordered pizza when they got home.

Played the Wii with nephew Crash. Indiana Jones game was fun.
The Girls had fun swinging and with balloons. So Cute!
My toes are painted the shade "Niagara Falls".
I finished reading 1 book.

iPhone saga continues...
2 emails of questionable reasoning sent, 1 good call from roomie, 5 good mushroom recipes saved, 1 facebook message, 1 picture of the kayak on the jetta, 2 unanswered texts.

Whether the Weather Floods the Iowans

"Is your family safe and dry?" Not that I particularly care, but it seems nice enough to say.

And the flowers on the side of the mountains are...
Cutleaf Balsamroot and Blue Lupines. However they blue ones could be Blue Penstomon.

BIG Day out... asleep by 9 (11 EST)

Woke at Maestra's Beautiful BnB. Coffee with nectarine, soft boiled egg, and toast. Drove the Prius to work. Called my Grandma. Then went to the 7 at the base of big cottonwood canyon for a bottle of water, and hiked up Fergeson Canyon. It has been 20 years since I went up this canyon for the first time. The river was flowing quite rapidly compared to the slow Maryland streams I am used to jumping in of late. The spring wild flowers were out in full force, I once new the names of the yellow ones and the blue ones, but that will work for now. Possible research later.

Then I went to grocery store and iphone store. Home to lay out by the pool. Then a lunch with the pretty rich people thirtyone knows. Very fun, but I did start feeling a little out of place. They actually laughed when I said my friends only spend 20 and then have to leave a bar, you could tell they thought this was an impossible task. The wild salmon with sauteed veggies in tarragon butter was absolutely exquisite. How funny that the city by the sea can't make salmon, but the salty desert town has it down pat...

Then to Green street to sit on the porch on the most comfortable first day home. KJ and Maestra created some tears, home in one song in the Prius... Asleep in my clothes by 8:55-to 3:00 mountain standard time

Evidence from iphone...
5 unanswered texts, 5 drunk dials to teachers and desperation, 3 calls and 1 message to roomate, and 1 message from team iron horse that we won trivia tournament...

BIG night of fun

at airport without glasses or cash. I swear I must have been robbed. Last day of school recap... Breakfast margaritas at chilis 11:00 with my bio girls. Packed. Big daddy picked me up to meet my boys at padonia station, 2 iced teas. Screamin freeman retirement celebration with all who came to Canada minus Karen plus tim. Free glass of wine for teacher appreciation day! Home for a costume change and to get luggage for 7 weeks. Owl bar next for wine, absynthe, and the worst salmon ever with mom dad superman leprechaun and his girl. Then Walked to mid town yacht club but they didn't have karaoke on Wednesday night but saw creepy guidance counceler. Then to the gay bars with team iron horse where we got out of immdiately because no gays go out on Wednesday it was like Sunday in Provo! So onward to 13th floor. Beautiful view of the city and the best espresso martini ever. On to the waterfall bar by the lyric for cosmos. Followed by a 3 hour tour of the city due to iron horse losing the car. Big daddy picked us up at 2 on the corner of Maryland and pratt. Slept at the mansion, woke by big daddy at 6 to throw rocks at iron horses window to go find his car, my luggage, and get to airport...

5 texts unresponded to from pga, 4 glasses of water, 3 unanswered phone calls from number one, 2 calls from roomie in the am, and one very very empty wallet

summer revised

Ok. It was too hot. It wasn't that bad because a lucky cold front came in and caused a cool thunderstorm of the ilk from the west. I saw actual lightning. I'm glad I have a room with ac but it is crazy still. The principal gave a 10 minute talk of quotes and inspiration. He's new, he's mathematical, he's about the pennies. But his first quote was "Preach the gospel; and if need, use words" he defined this as leading by example. I, who am the number one new principal fan, was offended. In Utah, that would have been sacrilage in a faculty room. Now, I understand, he was making a point. But he was mostly preaching that good teaching is good teaching to a room full of good teachers, so the fact that he displayed his religion (irish catholic JFKesque) so out there... I was perplexed.

Then I went to a scrabble game with the girls and Mrs T's who's husband just passed. My two mom's in baltimore and my best friend had lovely cheese and crackers and wine, with me partaking more in both. We were celebrating two new jobs and a new retirement and a new fellowship. We had a great time. Coach p came and joined us after for a couple games of scrabble. Then he and I went to meet roomie and his new life guard friends. It was nice. Met new girl, she seemed nice and a tad on the anne frank side. However, may be really nice, and roomie looked happy.


PS That was just today. Summer will be full of fun blogs... If apple figures out how to let people blog on the iphone, it freaks out with the typing in blogspot for some reason... Work on it people, your new version will not be bought by the one's who have sold iphone's and dressed as them for halloween.

Summer Almost

This is a great time of year. It is going to be hot this week to close out the school year. Going through drawers and cabinets reflecting on notes, drawings, promises, and work from the students. My favorite folder is one called memories, filed under M mysteriously, and has at least something from each of my 7 years teaching. I also like planning my first week of lessons and change them all summer long. It's like I spend 3 months on 3 lessons that is all. This may be a bad use of my time, I haven't even graded the juniors exams yet. And I have to move all the stuff in my room to a secure location because summer school is in my room. This includes moving 9 computers which is a pain.

On the summer plans... I'm excited to go to the city of salt and play with the fam. However, I am a tad apprehensive for the fellowship. I got my itinerary in the mail and it will be fun, hot, and a little boring. Kayaking, boating, fishing, oystering...that's all on the first week! I also have to room with someone which makes my snoring and recreational habits quite scary.
http://www.esep.umces.edu/index.php?area_id=3#

Roomie is apprehensive for the pet sitting. I hope Indy doesn't make too much of a mess, but he probably will. He's been so good since October, really, only a couple of accidents. When the Green Hornet was here he had an accident every day. But it is still pretty gross.

I'm also very reminiscent of last June to my peril. I've been rotating friends for happy hours all week, each ending in some long speech about how I must forget number 2. Yes, yes I should. But I'm a little slow. K took me to a bull roast last night for county school coaches. I didn't know anyone. Again I ruined a pseudo flirting situation with mentioning Canada. It was not my fault, the guy was a hockey player -eh.

I should be cleaning the house, doing laundry, buying supplies, and getting ready for my summer away. One of the coaches last night said of my apprehension, "We always ask our students to step out of their comfort zone, and now its your turn! You will make great friends and remember it forever". Ok, maybe I should coach, these people really know how to make a sound bite... Do I challenge my students? I don't know. It was very nice of Senior Presidente to mention me at graduation, it means the world to me, and I am sad I missed it, but hearing every ones congratulations and versions of events has been quite flattering and nice.

Well that was quite the ramble.

book list

From Otterbutt's post "The top 100 or so books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users."

Bold the books you have read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary **Opera
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion is this
There is Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everythingZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield

morning

This is a very interesting morning. To be green I have been carpooling and lost my car today. So I'm trying to come up with a public transportation plan to get to work without driving. I have found that I do not even know where to look. How would you know the bus schedule if you didn't have the internet. This reminds me of being 15 or so taking the Cottonwood Hills Bus (is that the right name?)to the crossroads mall, we would have a pamphlet with the bus schedule. Anyway the bus plan is a little intimidating. I could get to the city on the bus or light rail pretty easily. There is a light rail but the stations are close but not close enough to my home or school. Other green options include...don't laugh, a bike!

Probably will rely on the kindness of my peeps for a ride back to my car sometime today. Until then, I am going to make some breakfast type items followed by lunch type ones and maybe even dinner type later. Chicken Osso Busco and perhaps an artichoke. If I am spending $60 for each tank of gas, I can afford an artichoke $2.50 a piece (but I have to walk to the store to get it) I have already misplaced the recipe for chicken osso busco sp?. I'm off to the store on foot

new

have ever walked through a parking lot
and then the wind blew

Almost done)

A and A's baby is due on Friday. Seniors are done with finals on Friday. My grad school is over on Thursday night at 10 (practically Friday) I have 2 work happy hours to go to on Friday. And the last opera of the season, Madame Butterfly, is on Friday at 8:00. I fear writing my list of things I have to do again, last springs was quite a bit longer. But the main thing I should put on my list is that I have been procrastinating. I did make bread and popovers. I"m planning a blueberry coffeecake for tomorrow, and perhaps blueberry muffins to take to work friends on Monday. Have to finish two major grad school finals. Decided today was not the day for that and have spent today watching movies (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Bottle Rockets) and reading a bird book to identify the owl that wakes me up each morning. Well, it is not an owl, it is a Mourning Dove. Oops. And I always thought it was a morning dove, not mourning dove, but they both fit for my mourning mornings of late.
Spent the afternoon with A getting pre baby pedicures and shopping for last minute stuff. She left school on maternity leave yesterday. I got a little sad about babies and husbands perhaps a synonym in my world. Baby husbands. Invisible baby husbands.

Make the Carbs May

Next month, I am going to bake my own bread. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/whole-wheat-bread.html
I;ll let you know how it goes. Stating May 1st all carbohydrates have to be made from scratch hopefully from local products. Pizza dough, rolls, cinnamon buns, sandwich bread, pasta are on the list of soon to be tested recipes.

letter

the last time I was sitting near this river was two days after you came home to get your things. Six months ago. When my sadness became a large suitcase I lug around like you carried boxes of socks and DVDs from our home. Sitting by this river in the dawn of spring I see choices mistakes,missteps, misspokens. I am slipping this sadness gently into this river like launching a canoe. I watch it disappear floating onto the horizon where the great blue heron will come nest in the summer, she will pick up this bag and fly it away. Ten months have passed since the Niagara river leapt over the falls. You fooled us all here and maybe even those on your side of the big river -the Mighty. It must have been easier for you to set your sadness afloat down the river. Pieces in my luggage folded like shirts and skirts; the spot on your chest where my head would rest, long emails, your whispers, our bed. Reasons you left me crumpled and tucked shamefully in the bottom corner of the bag; cheese knives and your daily lies. Chess games and bleeding mistimed. Your big mighty river probably swept your sadness away a long time ago. I have set the sadness to sail along the gunpowder river. I am sure it just whispered to me that it didn't know if I would make it through the winter like a misplanted bulb in the fall unable to take root or bloom when the earth spins toward spring. It has sailed away and I will not wilt.

Developments

I'm pretty sure I'm ahead of the game for about 1 more hour when I drop my paper off at grad school (33 pages with Works Cited). Of course my usual blog with a list of things to do is starting; but I finished a couple hours early on my paper and could be revising it, instead I'm taking a little nap before class.

I am excited for the fellowship. yes teaching summer school would be the best thing to do but it will be boring and annoying. That is why it will be so much more money. The money thing does matter so much, but I have a room mate now and have never worked in the summer before so some money is better than no money.

But I will be on the beach, in the sun, on a boat, collecting bugs and chemicals and setting up fish tanks etc.. As Econtrario puts it; growing brine shrimp. It is sort of all coming full circle. Here I am with no life plans bumming around with my new room mate, first in years, and receive word that I'm going to Cambridge for 7 weeks. Sound familiar 1993? But it should be worth it for another opportunity to live in a dorm, do science, and plan lessons... right up my alley. Hopefully other things from the Cambridge, England trip, do not occur on the Cambridge, Maryland journey like... getting a D in romantic poetry, roommate moves in with sister and husband 1 (weird), MSG ridden Chinese Food at a B&B in scotland, watching Chariots of Fire, reading William Blake, or discussing Empericist Philosophy over a cup of coffee with some stranger in a restaurant. I would keep from England: country gardens, dining halls, and riding bikes.

Been reading and researching a lot about science as inquiry in the classroom and methods of learning and teaching. Sometimes it just makes so much sense and then in practice seems so impossible. I'm considering getting a SuperNanny Naughty Rug for my classroom. They are literally regressing to 2nd grade hitting and throwing paper.

4000 in 5

4000 Americans
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/us/25dead.html?th&emc=th
Masters of War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muQRIUVd6Aw
Soldiers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh6mk8f0HdU&feature=related
Cold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acn3fwwNH00

Spring without a Revolution

I used up all of my fun before the week of spring break. Now I face a few days with nothing to do but grade and clean. This weekend will be fun with A's baby shower. Ug and grad scbool. ugh and charley has created this feeling of conspiracy in my paranoid brain
yes I have a great support group. But it feels like the first time I've been alone in while. Maybe I just miss "the Wire": one is never alone with cable I suppose, my true love, HBO. That's ok, maybe I'll marry it and I'll change my name to Mrs. K.J. HBO.

I love the John Adams series. I know I'm supposed to be in love with In Treatment, and I am, but John Adams is so interestin.g Econtrario talked about Thomas Jeffe rson for an entire summer and I am actually kind of shocked about how much I know about it. The cast so interestingly portrays this part of America. Also, they were comparing Obama to Jefferson on Bill Maher the other night. Politicians who rise above their times and see the ultimate government ever created for what it really is. or what it really should be. I thought Bill Maher was a little defensive, thinking he could joke about the race issue and then realizing his panel was so serious about it. I actually couldn't keep watching the entire thing because the woman professor was so intense.

I complain about how I couldn't afford to travel this break, and then watch people 200 years ago having to take a boat across the Atlantic to gain support for their revolution! Leaving their wives, children, and fellow countrymen to die while they go dine with the silly French. I complain about my silly chores, when I don't have many rows to hoe as they say. Have to clean my house, but not scrub it in fear of small pox.

What strange lives we lead in the Information Age.
I will just enjoy spending the time working on my work that I have put off for so long, and clean this house that has caused a bit of a headache this week. I will chat with sisters and email mom.

Speech

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords

Slug or Sloth

The beginning of March has been quite unproductive. I have made significantly large piles of assignments, lab equipment, dishes, mortgage forms, bills, bottles, ashes, clothes, and a sticky mess of chocolate mint syrup spilled by unknown cat in smelly basement. However, today, I have cleaned up said syrup mess and thought about the above mentioned piles and prioritized them.

My students may have changed their minds about me, I may actually have a little more energy and a lot more jokes in the classroom this quarter. We are always laughing. Field trip next week and it always the part of the year that the kids start to make connections with all the lame assignments I give all year and how they apply to the actual environment. We also have a good time. It is supposed to rain, but we won't melt. They also just had sports night, where the classes (Srs, Jrs, Soph, Freshies) compete for silly games. They sit in areas in the gym and chant taunts at one another. They played crab soccer, bat relay, rope climbing, blind volleyball, etc. The dance team are the referees. It appears the most important thing was how much of your belly you were willing to expose to write your class on the belly 2008! Some of my students started out with one letter on each of their shirts to spell out SENIORS. By the end of the evening they spelled IRS ONE! I thought this hilarious.

Also, team ironhorse has the 9th highest score this year from our trivia league. But we did lose quite dramatically last night being tied for 2nd at halftime and then bombing all the remaining questions. Science teachers lost on Xyphoid process ? and Einsteins birthplace ?, English teachers misspelled aneurysm (aneurism is wrong).

Heading to a colleagues 40th bday party tonight with a "Casino Night" theme. Ice luge for shots, a tornado of cash, roulette, poker, craps, deep fried turkeys, etc. Should be fun, but it is in PA.

End of long post, it appears the mid of march has turned things around a bit, and no matter how often I wash them, my hands still smell like chocolate mint.

new roo mates post

so we're living here in towson town
where they're tearing all the college buildings down
out in bethelehem their tearing up forms standing in line

so our forefathers fought the world warz
and all your mothers are world class whores
why would we care and who wants INDY (thats kendeall-jackson's dog by the way)
She likes him very much?

new

They tore down all the old houses in Towson.
You can see from Burke to the Circle.
The library sign glows red in the distance.
They tore down all the old houses in Towson.
They used to be boarded up.
But you could see the keg parties on the porches on the duplexes front porches
and the kids playing in the backyards of the mansions
and wonder about their large lion gated front steps.
The old houses in Towson that they tore down used to block the view.
Now it shows the drive thru starbucks all the way to the starbucks by the mall.
They tore down all the old houses in Towson.
Now we wait for the new condos/townhomes/single family homes that will block our view again.

snow days

The shallots I sauteed in butter still resonate in the kitchen. There may be an infestation of small flying things in the potato bin in cupboard. The fridge full of food all inedible. The pants stay unfolded in the laundry bin, iron is on, but will not press. Newly painted fingers and toes wait to dry. Snow in Maryland seems to freeze time, inside and out.

Switzerland

So Divorce club is going well, who knew that my little disease is contagious! I've been helping four friends deal with their divorces. TNT said I should teach remedial divorce 101, especially for those that failed the marriage HSA. Hilarious! I must be careful to not take sides, or to make anyone feel that I'm not there for them. I also should be careful how many drunk texts I send to ex#1.

I've been working on how I teach a lesson. The presentation, expecting questions, socratic questions, increasing participation. I know that the students have noticed. It may have come about from my education classes at grad school. It has been awhile since I have focused on the art of teaching instead of the content. This is much more fun than molecular biology or animal physiology. To analyze how I teach instead of what I teach is making my job more fun and actually easier . Except the grading, which I just keep in a pile.

Thank goodness for these few days off in February (today is an ice storm day off! yesterday off for the obama day!). I'm going to go to NYC for the weekend.

Obama

Mr. Epiph and Sr. Econtrario both have the same Obama video on their blogs.

Obama Video
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/semr?source=SEM-register-yahoo-obama-search
Yes, we can. I'm in all the way - hope this isn't another of my life altering heart breaking Bavetta moments when I get crushed. I am completely an Obama supporter. Putting myself all the way behind something... dangerous. Like "When John Stockton passed the ball to Karl Malone, Michael Jordan stole the ball away and dribbled to the front. Guarding him was Bryon Russell, one of the Jazz's best perimeter defenders. Jordan drove inside the 3-point line, crossed over (while apparently pushing off[1]), took a jumpshot from 20 feet and made it to give the Bulls an 87-86 lead with 5.2 seconds left. After a time-out, Stockton's three-pointer hit the rim and bounced away, giving the Bulls their sixth NBA title in 8 years." I was crushed. 2000 election heartbreak, electoral put not popular vote...crushed.

Let's go Obama team, win this one for the dogs...As goes the superbowl.

P.S. I watched this game again 9 years later in a cabin in Vermont.

Older

Best bday present was my iPod fixing itself. I dropped it and it turned from sad pod to playing music!!! I have saved all the songs on computer #3 and it is very calming to have all the music back. A missing section of myself is back. Quite nice. Many friends, food, and flowers at the Friday night get together.

So I will spend this weekend planning lessons, cleaning house, and I have a couple of lunch dates and even a movie date (??).

We'll see. Now I just want to listen to music all day and so I shall.

Song of the Day "You've Got Her In Your Pocket": The White Stripes

New year

Resolutions, tend to turn out as successfully as my vows I guess.
Things I did in 2007 I will not do in 2008... anti-resolutions (anti-vows)

• Exchange vows or fall down at any weddings.
• Go on vacation 8 times to 12 places
• Move to different house (unless forced by bankrupt bipolar bears)
• Procrastinate housework
• Watch movies in lieu of reading
• Murder a computer
• Sing Karaoke

Things I did in 2007 that I will keep doing

• Instant Messaging & Blogging with my Family (more than weekly :))
• iPhone iPhanatic
• Refrigerator magnetic poetry
• Is my hair really brown?
  

Nine things I learned from my unhoneymoon...

1. Waves really do sound like someone breathing. This is relaxing.
2. Walking on the beach with your toes in the sand is better than a pedicure.
3. If you stay in your room past check out, they don't send security until 7.
4. Canadians... Say a few things too often, Niagara Falls -eh?
5. The iPhone is iPhantastic and one can change a flight, email a lesson plan, and call the dog sitter without leaving the beach.
6. I have spent way too many vacations being nervous about roles and judgements from strangers. This is something I will try to never do again. I have always turned into a freak when traveling with a man. ?
7. No matter what you're going through, someone else in a hot tub somewhere is going through it too.
8. News heard near the ocean is often less shocking.
9. Relationships come and go, but friendships come and go and come back (like waves).

seven things

     1. I got a D in Romantic poetry at Cambridge University.  2.  i tell people my favorite band is Led Zeppelin but its really Aerosmith.  3. I ran away when I was 13becausse I heard Springsteens Born to Run.  4.  I am a computer serial killer.  5.    I once went skinny dipping in high school and accidentally came home in someone elses underwear. 6.  I copied Scott Robinsons homework everday in sixth grade 7.  I am the 2011 class sponsor at my school which means iI will help organize proms and read their names at graduation.

good grief

iI m making funeral potatoes jello salad and meatloaf for the wake tonight.   Am trying to fit meatloaf into container and its too big so i have to eat some.  Delicious. I want to serve completely from Tupperware.  n   iam  also grieving the other less discussed loss.  quite the ritua l want to buy a spray if flowers but probably conserved funds.  going to dress like Jackie o for the wake.also lost grammer rules and the use of a mouse with iphonehandicap.

computer wake

this is a little challengng blogging from the iphone   however  the national blog month revealed by econtrario suggests i must suffer and blog within the 5stages of death about my computer.  grief alone.

4 months

I don't want to have to live like this. I want to be fat for a reason and for my vows to count. But I will do it, I must. The tears are a bit less salty, and the sobs less loud. I still see the ghosts, but I'm starting to see my real self in the shadows. Otterbutt's novel saved the weekend. Thirty-one's brunch did much the same in the city of salt. Many thanks to them both. My students spent 40 minutes looking at soil under the stereoscope saying, Ms. Dub come see this bug. I ran to look. Ran home to not hear clunking army boots up the back stairs.

No epiphany here

I am staring at an entire weekend. I have a pile of grading, my house is a pile, besides reading back issues of New Yorker and missed episodes of Mad Men, I have no plans. None. Well, there is a bottle of KJ in the fridge = A Date! The last episode of Mad Men, of course, ends with someone sitting on the stairs listening to Don't Think Twice. I once thought that song was the meanest break up song in the world. Now I just cry when I hear the first chord, wishing I could play the guitar. I also find myself crying on the stairs very often. Stairs to the basement, Stairs to the bedroom, the crazy crooked creaking Stair in TNT's back staircase, Marble Stairs into TNTs where I sat this morning with my boys drinking coffee, picking up my car in the same clothes as the night before. The example of Entropy Stair on my front porch. Things fall apart.

The Louise Gluck poem "Marriage" in this week's New Yorker is about me, I swear. http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2007/10/22/071022po_poem_gluck
It made me plan a trip to the ocean "Down the shore" as they say here in MD. Instead of driving to the ocean, I'm sitting in my pile avoiding the stairs. Epiphany in Baltimore makes me seem ridiculously lazy.

Ironic Irony

In tribute to econtrario haiku autumn... with editing by otterbutt

Her ex man came back
with dad, bro, camera, cop.
Herman the crab too.

Bipolar Bears

Police man, video camera, dad, brother, friend, and him. 7 am. they came to get his stuff. I got to look into his eyes. At least. I feel dissected.

oh yeah

I forgot to mention my students. Teaching... it's what I do.

Friends of "Toxic Ross"

Sundays have been the worst. But I must make a shout out to all of those people who have quite literally "been there". For always letting me cry, and for listening, reassuring, distracting, laughing, and really being there for me, I must say thank you.

Big Daddy and Marilyn Monroe for Irish Bars, City Walks, Opera.
The Coaches for new nicknames, book fairs, and fair sunrises.
Cotton for being mad for me, and grading with tea, and listening to me AGAIN...
Red for staying over the night he left, and rationale advice on the phone.
The Prince and the Princess for scrabble , pizza, phone calls
Drinking bud-ski for falling over, falling down, and falling up (almost).
N. Lion for holding my hand for an entire pint of Guinness and for winning at Trivia.
Econtrario for playlists and Casablanca texts.
Thirty-one flavors for making the iPhone ring, Charlie Brown comics, the marriage horserace.
Otterbutt for advice, proofreading, and writing a novel for me to read. And her house.
Maestra for making me know I'm strong enough. Her sister for the same.
Mom one and Mom two in Md, for brownies, turkey sandwiches, and hugs.
Dr. Tweed Jacket for being sound and interested.
Dr. dr for my xanax.
L.B. and T.F. for being in the rooms next door. And for making me stop reading "The Bell Jar"
The three new hermit crabs in room 218 (I hope we find #4 Herman before he smells)
Comcast for my favorite hobby, watching movies and The Ravens... except they have turned the ball over twice today already.

molecule

See that small part of the river at the bottom of the picture.
Right before it falls, over the falls
unknowing.
But expecting, wanting, following.
now crashed on the rocks below.

Three weeks

Um, will someone please tell her he's gone.

Movies I was too dumb to avoid in the last three weeks.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue (highly recommend this one Chuck)
Ordinary People (highly recommend this one Truce)

The Awful Truth (Cary Grant...What's that divorce?)

Legends of the Fall (I will wait for you as long as it takes, and then marry your brother)
Casablanca (are my eyes really brown?)
Fargo
Number 23
Sleepless in Seattle
You've got mail
Singles (I couldn't make it past the miscarriage part)
Clueless (in GR)
Superman Returns (ummm... the title alone!)
X-men United
The object of my affection (Jennifer Aniston falls for a gay guy...who doesn't kill himself or leave her)
Picture Perfect (Jennifer Aniston pays a guy to fake their relationship to get a promotion)

Mr and Mrs Smith (liars)

Brokeback Mountain (why can't i find a way to quit you)

I probably shouldn't admit many more, because I was supposed to be at work!

Destination therapy is my route this week. Plus, I get to use the word axiom a lot.
I wonder if destination break-ups are as popular as destination weddings.

Thanks Otterbutt

Otterbutt and fam...
Thanks so much for the wonderful hospitality. And the wonderful food. I can't think of another place in the world where I would have felt as comforted and supported. The late night chats and the fancy cab were really special. In case anyone ever has a need for a recently or soon to be divorced weekend menu.... I highly recommend.

Pasta vongole w/ spring salad and fresh toms.
Cheddar, apple, and apricot dessert.
Fruit crepes with Alton Brown Bacon.
Broccoli cheddar soup with rustic bread.
Mustard crusted pork chops with grilled peaches.
Brunch by Reeds Lake.

Travel

At the Detroit airport I almost bought a ticket to the city by the river. Just to see him. To sit on the porch until they come home. To face them all, to let him know I'm still interested. But then, I just put one foot in front of the other, got the rental car. Where he is, safe, away, protected. I realize on the 2 hour drive from Detroit, that I have been cut out of his life, like a tumor. I reviewed my behavior. Even though I know it can't really be all my fault, but my behavior could have been better. The ipod keeps playing. I'm torn. Like a line is drawn down the center of my body. Left side, protect yourself. Right side, forgive him.

There was once a time when I was spontaneous enough to have gotten on the plane to the quad cities. There was also once a time when I would just fuck his best friend and be done with it.

It has been two weeks. Feels like one long day.

Split.

48 hours. Plus 36 hours. Plus...
If I were you. Looking at me. I would say.
You've been dumped.

If I were me. Looking at him. I would say.
I've been duped.

Counting 36 hours

Since last email.
Check mail every 20 minutes.
Patsy Cline's "Crazy".
Grocery store with drinkin buddy.
Movie. About a guy who goes crazy and kills his wife. Number 23
Consoling guests, stopped by to cheer me up even though they put their dog down at noon.
Made guests appetizer.
Played scrabble. Words like mad mind liar sex I avoided.
Made ravioli, pesto, and salad. Did the dishes.
Patsy Cline's "Crazy" again. This time in Coal Miners Daughter. at 4 am.
Dream of skiing, forgiveness, a kiss.
Woke up crying.
IM session with the sisters.
Phone call from mom

Space

Bull. shit.
Alone again. Again. Bull. Shit. This post.

Anniversary

each response I've made has been incorrect. My ipod knows what to play, my car knows the way to work, people have been bringing me food. My family calls. My co-workers express concern for my odd expressions. My dog looks sad. The cats like food. The piles pile up. Work Is coming. So much work to do. My body doesn't sleep. My husband doesn't call.

What is the difference between two months and ten years.

After

Green Hornet's nest
Tea Pot
Mad Man.

Come home.

Odd sad similarities

Damn! I knew when I first saw blood. I tried to talk myself out of it, but I knew that 10 years ago this week the same smear appeared. The same tears. I'm embarrassed. I know exactly what is to come, the Oh I'm so sorry's, the sympathetic smiles, the hugs with pats on the back, the pain. The disappointment from grandma's and in-laws and the of courses from friends who think I live poisonedly. I've missed an entire day of seeing my family because we spent 9 hours in the hospital. Waiting for a shot. One shot.

The cool desert air calmed me. The shadow of the mountains feels safe. Somehow the familiarity of disappointment, the emptiness, fits like an old shoe. I thought I lost those shoes. Recycled wedding present perhaps?