Happy New Year

We are having a quiet day today, just hanging about the house (although I am still grading) and making cookies for tomorrow's dinner. The rest of the family went to see Apocalypto last night (I declined, not having any appetite for gore at the moment) and gave it a so-so review. I stayed home, ate popcorn, and watched my hockey team win.

I was having a problem with Firefox hanging a lot, and it was driving me nuts. Tried a bunch of things with no relief, but I think I've finally found the solution. I created a new profile, renamed the old one, and made the new one the default. Voila! Everything loads fast and easy, just as it used to. Yay!

If only grading these assignments was that easy. So many of the students just didn't think about what they were doing. Granted, they are having to take the user into account for what's probably the very first time, but hey--when you have 400 instances and one attribute has 312 unique values, that should give you a big hint about how to handle that attribute. Several had results where an algorithm gave 100% correct predictions, and never questioned why that happened. Anyway, I have 20+ to slog through, still.

One thing I wish our course management software had--a mailbox for each student. I don't want to clog up my e-mail account with files sent back and forth, and I don't want to kill a forest printing out their homework papers. So I did the next best thing. I made a restricted discussion forum for each student so I can post comments on their homework. We'll see how that works.

Mama Kitty has taken to biting my sweater now instead of just my buttons.

Oh good, very nice, and oh crap

Oh good: No cavities, and the dentist said I am doing a good job flossing. BUT (there is always a but) I need to do better. Sigh. Never good enough.

Very nice: I liked We are Marshall very much. Matthew McConaughy's very quirky mannerisms are a bit hard to take sometimes. But the story moves along nicely; there are very sad parts, very funny parts, and some inspiring scenes. Spouse and I were trying to remember if we had ever even heard about the Marshall plane crash, which took place when I was a junior and he a senior in high school. I don't remember it at all. Random note: the popcorn at this theater was absolutely the best movie popcorn I have ever had.

Oh crap: I was supposed to meet my sister for breakfast this morning, and I forgot entirely. She is ticked off, and I don't blame her.

On the annoyance front, I spent an hour yesterday waiting at the doctor's office for a duplicate blood work script. I had called ahead to ask if they could give me one, as I've lost it somewhere between the condo and here. They were exceptionally busy yesterday, which is the only reason why I waited so long. When I got in the car to drive away, I put the script in the book I was reading. That's when I noticed they only wrote it for one test, and left off the thyroid hormone test part. ARGGGHHH!

Today is another busy day. I have to go to the condo, take in the mail, look for the original blood work script, change into nice clothes, then go to my dad's church and help my mother set the table for the appreciation dinner they are hosting tonight. After the dinner, I need to upload the solutions for the uncollected homework I assigned my stats class over the break, finish grading the second homework assignment for my data mining class, and do some laundry. Tomorrow is Youngest Daughter's skating lesson, then we come back to HomeCity for the rest of the break.

Kitty Son keeps drinking the Christmas tree water. I guess he figures he can, since the tree isn't drinking any. I yell at him because I don't want him sick. But it does give his breath a fresh piney smell...

It's been six months ALREADY??

I have to go to the dentist today. I hate going to the dentist. My whole day is going to be spent waiting to go to the dentist because for some stupid reason I made an afternoon appointment. Usually I want to get it over with early, but NOOOOOOOOOO I had to get one for 2:45. Yuck.

Also, I can't find the script for the bloodwork I need done. I *thought* I grabbed it from the condo when we packed up to come back to HomeCity for the week, but apparently I didn't. So that means I have to call the doctor's office and get another script. Fortunately, the office is on the way to the dentist.

Kitty Mama escaped outside twice yesterday. Spouse said she is re-establishing her territory. At the condo she never tries to get out; but here, she is waiting for some unwary person to be a little bit slow shutting the door--and then she's out! It was cold last night so she didn't stay out very long.

Tonight we are going to go see We are Marshall and then get some ice cream. I love football movies, and I can't wait to see this one.

Christmas trees smell wonderful

and ours still does, although it doesn't seem to be drinking any water. It looks wonderful too.

Eldest Daughter left this morning to fly back to the City Too Very Far Away. She and her tin of Christmas cookies made it safely through security (we remembered to put some cookies aside for the hard-working TSA dudes) . She says the cookies were a hit at her workplace, even the ultra chocolate Deer Droppings, ha ha ha.

I miss her already.

But we had a marvelous time yesterday shopping for new clothes for her, having lunch with my friends A and N, and visiting with P and her family later in the afternoon. Then last night we got to see the Sabres annihilate the Capitols within the first 11 minutes of the game. Pretty cool.

So, what did I get for the birthday/Christmas haul?
McCullough's biography of John Adams
Steve Tasker's book
Marcia Bartusiak's Archives of the Universe
Biscotti-smelling oil sticks
Slipper socks
Nail care set
Christmas teapot
3-tier server with red-rimmed plates
Hershey bar
Gift certificate to Cracker Barrel
Hand-crocheted scarf
Hand-cut paper scene
Tickets to see Rocky Balboa with my Favorite Son
Tickets to see We are Marshall, and get post-movie ice cream, with my Favorite Spouse
Gift certificate to Barnes and Noble
Blue lapis heart pendant
Cashews
Set of towels for the condo
Godiva chocolate bar
Starbucks card
Teacup ornament

Of course ab~NMHHHHHJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJsolutely the best present of all was having my three kids home for the holidays (spazz attack there thanks to Mama Kitty, who walked on the keyboard en route to her usual perch on my chest, where she purrs, kneads with her sharp Mama Kitty claws, and bites my buttons).

Blogging on my birthday

It's rainy and grey and not snowing, darn. Looks like we will have a green Christmas this year. Double darn. Although that does make it easier to travel.

So today is my birthday. I was thinking this morning that at this point in my life I sort of expected that finances would be easier, I'd be established in a job for a while, I'd have a relatively nice house, drive a decent car, etc. Instead: I'm in my second year of my first full time job since 1983, and finances are still tight, especially around this time of year. Once again, we are crossing our fingers that we have enough money to last until the next paycheck and still get presents for everyone we need to get presents for. That doesn't leave much leeway for Christmas birthdays. We are going out to dinner tonight with my parents, and Spouse was calling me "Scroogette" for not wanting to invite my sisters, my brother, my friend and her parents, his sister and brother-in-law--but we just can't pick up the tab for that many people. As it is, we are paying for seven. I had told him I didn't want presents this year, that I would just rather put the money in the bank or pay off stuff. I hope he listened, because there's no room in the budget for extras.

The best present, anyway, is having my kids together for the holidays. I don't need anything, and I don't want more stuff. I have gotten to the point where I really don't have a problem walking in to boutiques and interesting stores and walking out empty-handed, saying "Wow, they had some neat stuff." As a matter of fact, although I still enjoy going to the big arts and crafts shows around here, my MO is that if I have to dust or clean an item then I won't buy it. I haven't bought anything in a long time!

We're heading over to my parents' house to see my niece and grand-niece, then getting supplies to make Christmas cookies, yum! Youngest Daughter has skating lessons this afternoon, then it's off to dinner. After dinner we'll go back to HomeCity and finish baking and decorating the tree. Lots to do! Eldest Daughter wants to take cookies back with her, so we need to find a secure way to ship them. Gluten-free cookies tend to be a bit fragile. She wants the green almond spritz Christmas trees, chocolate and vanilla pinwheels, and the chocolate-cinnamon-clove cookies we call "deer droppings". Spouse came up with that name as a way to keep more of them for himself, as the squeamish would be grossed out by the name and not want any.

My best friend and her family are in Cambodia for the holiday. I don't know how she finds these vacation deals, but she does!

And here a miracle occurs...


As we were driving into the campus, on our way to move Son out of his on-campus apartment, my phone rang. I handed it to Eldest Daughter to answer, since I was driving, and also because I thought it was Son. She answered with "Whatup?" and then laughed and handed me the phone. It was Financial Aid lady, telling me they had talked with their director and decided that they would reinstate the 10K.

God still answers prayers, and there are still miracles at Christmas.

So we are not moving Son (good, because it's cold and raining) but he is still graduating at the end of this quarter. That will save the uni some of that 10K after all.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

Eldest Daughter got here safely, yay! It is so good to have her home. We bought the tree, got it set up, and put the lights and garland on. We'll wait for Son and Youngest Daughter to help put the ornaments on. Actually, some ornaments are already on--the Star Wars and Star Trek ships that light up. Those are connected to our light strings. When we turn the lights on, all the sound effects start up and it's a very amusing cacophany.

The tree looks and smells wonderful and makes up some for the financial aid debacle. Still have not heard from them.

So tomorrow we leave HomeCity early in the morning, pick up my Dad's truck, and move Son. It's going to be a long, long day.

Being proactive

We've decided to take pre-emptive action with the Uni and do a couple of things to reduce the 10K deficit. We are not going to wait for Financial Aid to decide our fate.

Son is moving out of his on-campus apartment Friday and into the condo with Youngest Daughter and me. He is also all set to graduate at the end of this quarter. His adviser and his department administrator have been fantastic (by the way, Dr. B--I am not a swearing person, but your superbly profane rant on behalf of my son was very much appreciated!) and have assured him that they will make certain everything is in order.

The five of us will descend on the apartment Friday and clean it out by COB so he can turn in the keys.

I think it's safe to say this uni will never see one red cent from any of us. Customer relations does not seem to be their strong point.

On a lighter note, I have brownies, courtesy of YD. They are yummy. And, one of my co-workers gave me a beautiful business card holder for my birthday. That was so nice!

Well, that didn't go well

They are insisting that it was not a "mistake," it was a "miscommunication," and that they don't understand why we can't pay the extra money since now we only have one student in school and not two.

The amount of money we make is immaterial. The fact is, they are now telling us we have to pay an extra $10,000 over six months. I don't know too many people who can handle a sudden 50% reduction in income and still pay all their bills.

So supposedly they are going to "discuss it" and let us know by the end of the week.

That's going to leave a mark

Merry Christmas to us. It seems that the Uni Financial Aid office, may it fall into the pit, made a mistake in calculating Son's monthly tuition bill. A Ten Thousand Dollar mistake.

So now they say we owe almost $4000 in back tuition, and must pay, for the next six months, Five Times The Original Amount they said we would pay per month. This new amount is More Than One of My Paychecks.

We have several scenarios in mind to deal with This Problem, most of which involve blood, gore, mayhem, siege engines, and general unpleasantness. Tomorrow I shall confront the Bursar in its Den.

Wish me luck.

Oh, and prayers for Lady Eleanor, who has had a heart attack and is not doing well. She is a young 80 and we need her around a little longer.

Jaw-dropping student follies

I met a woman last week who teaches at a local CC. She was telling me about some of her students, who seem to be as bad (if not worse) than mine. One student, a woman coming back to school after being laid off from a local company, called my friend over to her desk after receiving her third quiz back.

Student (points to list of quiz grades: Quiz 1 = 92, Quiz 2 = 88, Quiz 3 = 74): Do you see this? Do you see what's going on here?

Teacher: Yes, yes I do.

Student: Well, what are you going to do about it?

Teacher: bursts into laughter and walks away

I am in awe.

My own students are proving to be mostly diligent, mostly paying attention, but there are always a couple...one, in an online class, has supposedly had difficulties accessing the Internet. Guess what? Dropping out of sight for a week in a 10-week quarter is guaranteed to cost you grade-wise.

Only two more days until Eldest Daughter comes home! I can't wait. We'll buy the tree when she gets here. She was thrilled to hear that. Because Spouse is congenitally unable to travel from Point A to Point B without stopping at Points C-Z in between, that means it could take longer to travel the two miles from the airport to our house than it would take to fly from her City Too Very Far Away to Home City. This inability to make a beeline home is a source of irritation or laughter, depending on if we've avoided getting roped/trapped/connived into driving with him or if we are stuck in the "just gotta make one more stop" hell with a bladder close to exploding. I've made four trips home from the hospital: three after C-sections, one after a thyroidectomy. Not one was a straight trip from hospital bed to home--we always had to stop for something.

Kitty Mama keeps monopolizing my comfy chair for her naps. She has serious claws and a tendency to be easily irritated, so we generally leave her alone when she is sleeping. I got all excited that she was vacating it, and was ready to plop into it, when I realized she only got down to vomit all over the rug. Niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Excuse me, Ms. Oblivious

Yes, I'm talking to you. The one who plopped a pile of jackets, gloves, and hats on the step so no one coming from this corner of the rink can get down the stairs. Did you not notice that the place you dropped your stuff is concrete, not wood, painted grey, and has a yellow stripe on the edge? See how it looks like the rest of the steps? Doesn't that tell you something?

Oh, and please stop your kids from going on and off the rink through the side door. There's a reason that door is shut. When your kid slams her own or someone else's fingers in that metal trap, don't say I didn't warn you.

Excuse me, Mr. Albatross Hot Pants Man? Yes, you. You in the ultra short denim hot pants that show everything when you do a one foot glide and stick your leg up in the air. You are scaring the children. No men should EVER wear hot pants, definitely not on the ice, and definitely not at your age. Actually, you are scaring more than the children. And please have someone videotape you when you are doing spins, and watch those videos. Tell your coach to help you find some more normal arm positions. You look like a crane--or an albatross.

Um, young man? Yes, you, the one who thinks it's funny to stagger all over the ice and fall right in front of people. You are either going to BE an accident or cause one. If you are unsteady on your skates, move to the wall. Don't stumble and flail your way across the middle of the ice where people are trying to practice spins and skating backwards.

Oh, and I don't want to forget you, Mr. Oblivious Dad. Those young ladies were practicing one-footed turns. Letting your little girl waddle her way right in their path, and not steering her away, was not only rude--it was dangerous.

Last, but not least, may I talk to you, young bubblehead girls? Yes, you. There's a convention that everyone skates the same way around the rink, and the middle is reserved for figure skaters practicing their moves. That's so people don't bang into each other. Don't be idiotic and skate the opposite direction. That goes for you too, Mr. Oblivious Dad. Skating backwards in the wrong direction is also a bad idea.

Glad we could have this talk. Have a good skate.

Yup, got yelled at

But not too badly. He was nicer this time, too, despite the stern warnings about weight and blood pressure. He wants me to check my BP several times over the next two or three weeks, and bring him the readings. Dang. Homework, and over the holidays too. Even *I* am not that mean! He also wants to recheck my thyroid levels to make sure the weight gain isn't from a lack of thyroxine, so that means bloodwork. I think the only thing he didn't frown about was my temperature. Thank God for small favors.

I stopped at the HomeCity house to pick up some stuff, and was totally grossed out by three things: the crumbs all over the dining room table, the nasty butter dish, and the tub in dire need of scrubbing. I know what I will be doing tomorrow.

Came back ravenous, because I completely missed both breakfast AND lunch. Answered 15 emails, including typing all three homework questions for a student who does not yet have the book (not his fault). Took a very short nap.

Now it's time to take Youngest Daughter for her yodeling--I mean voice--lesson. Tomorrow EARLY I have to be back at school for a graduate holiday breakfast. Seriously, why? And am I expected to dress up, or can I come in jeans and a sweater? After all, it's SATURDAY! After that, we have skating lessons, then back to HomeCity for the weekend. Busy times.

Tomorrow is my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday! I think we should celebrate our birthdays with another trip to Dutch Baby land. But maybe it would be a good idea to go after I go back for that BP check...

Off to the doctor's, probably to get yelled at

Last night I showed a really cool video to my class. Had a hard time getting the thing running, but it finally started up.

Youngest Daughter and Son went bowling together and YD got a "pseudo-strike"-- the computer gave her credit for a strike even though all the pins didn't fall down.

Got the departmental OK for a course in asset management that I've been working on. If it sails through the college's curriculum committee, we can run it in the spring. That would be great, because I think it's a good elective for a couple existing programs.

Today is payday, thank God. Now I can actually start Christmas shopping!

Take these evaluations, please!

The rest of my evaluations are ready, and I don't want to see them! The department is sending them over to my office tomorrow. I think I will shove them in a drawer and forget about them for, oh, maybe a decade. Youngest Daughter says I'm being a wimp. Yes, I am.

The other icky is that in the next month I need to meet with my chair and go over my plan of work for 2006, evaluate how I did, and write my plan for 2007. I did way more teaching than I had originally planned, and way less research as a result. I don't like the idea of rating myself, so I think I am going to leave that out.

One of my online classes is being really reticent, not posting much in the way of discussions. I need to light a fire under them, because this is not an engineering course and discussion is central to the class. It's only Wednesday. If I don't see some action by tomorrow night, I'm going to have to say something to get them moving. I have given them minimum requirements for discussion postings, but they need to do a lot more than the minimum to get the most out of this class.

My on-campus class is going really well so far, fingers crossed. Their first homework assignment is due tomorrow night, and so far eight have submitted their papers. My other online class has had some problems with the software, but hopefully things are fixed now.

Research-wise, I'm working on a couple of white papers. One is for my alma mater, one is for my current school. I'm hoping to get to the CUSUM paper soon, and do some data generation for that so I can get it submitted somewhere. I really need to get cracking on papers. I can't get up to Lisa's pace of one a month, but I ought to be able to churn out one every 4-6 weeks. It's a matter of focus and discipline, something I'm usually pretty good at but not so much lately.

Youngest Daughter and I went skating today, to try out her new skates (aka my Roomba). We both lasted about half an hour before our feet gave out. We'll try for 45 minutes tomorrow. My right skate has been bothering me, and I thought it was the skate--but today I had a sharp pain in the ball of my foot even though I had a hard plastic shield and a foam insert between my foot and the blade plate. Maybe it's not the skate, maybe it's my foot. That would be bad. But it got better as I skated, not worse as it did before I put the shield in. The skate is really tight with all that stuff in there, but it worked well enough that I could put in a half hour of solid skating.

One week until Eldest Daughter comes home! Yay!

Oooh, a present!

Today was our departmental Christmas lunch. Those of us with December birthdays got cards, and we all got black Polarfleece jackets with the school initials and our department logo on them. Really nice, warm, beautiful jackets!

I would like to fit in mine better, she says as she eats yet another brownie...

I just want to say

that these floaters are driving me nuts, and that sometimes I feel like I'm seeing through the bottom of a faceted water glass. I find myself reading with my left eye shut.

I sure hope this gets better with time. It's danged annoying. Then again, I spent most of last year wanting to tear my head off because the thyroidectomy scar itched and stung and was generally irritating, and it's much better now. So maybe there's hope for this eye thing and it will become less of an annoyance. Because reading is my Very Favorite Thing, and right now it's real hard to do.

Busy Sunday

Last night's banquet/performance thingie went okay, except that I played for 45 minutes and not the 30 originally planned. People came early!! I was to be the "background" music for a Nativity scene, and so I played just about every Christmas Carol known to man. Found out my limit for continuous playing is about 40 minutes, because the last five--wow, those mistakes were piling up like snow in Buffalo.

But, they seemed to not notice or at least were generous enough to not notice, lol. A good time was had by all.

Today is church, then bringing the xylophone home, then getting lectures ready to upload by midnight for my two online classes. Need also to do some laundry and vacuum the living room. My football team is blacked out today which means I will have to listen on the radio, except I have no radio. Hmm. That could present a problem.

Week Two of the quarter starts tomorrow. So far I've been inundated with emails from students who apparently don't read syllabi. I do hope that's not an indication of how the quarter is going to go...

Youngest daughter

is wearing my Roomba on her feet.

She has new skates, and wow---it took two hours for the fitting and molding and sharpening and waterproofing and the thousand other things that needed to be done to get her set up. It cost a bit more than I expected, but hey--she's worth it, right? Right??

I found a cool little music store in the neighboring town, and picked up another set of mallets (40% off! Neat!) for tonight's performance. I didn't think my yarn mallets were going to be loud enough, and the rubber ones too bright-sounding. The new ones are also yarn but around a harder core. We'll head over to the church early to try them out.

Just FYI, it's difficult to type with a cat draped over your hand and arm and lap and keyboard.

Oh duh

Just found the "moderate comments" thingie.

Oh well.

Anyway, Dad came with another guy to take my xylophone to the church for tomorrow's festivities. I told him to watch out for the resonators, and to drive carefully. He did, but just as they were turning into the church parking lot the xylophone fell over in the back of his truck! The resonators came out, the keys came off, it was a mess! Poor Dad, he thought he broke the instrument.

We brought it inside and got it put back together, good as new.

Then I ran to Uni to drop envelopes off for Son to give to his profs. He didn't have cash to buy stamps in the on-campus post office, and neither did I--but, I had all sorts of coins stashed in the ash tray in the car. I grabbed a handful and counted out enough to buy the 10 stamps he needed for his reference letters, got the stamps, and got everything to Son in time for his 2:00 meeting with his prof.

Since I was done with that, I thought it might be a good time to take Youngest Daughter to buy her ice skates. We drove about 20 minutes east of here to the skate shop, only to find out that we needed an appointment with the fitter first. That would have been good information to know ahead of time, ya think? Came back to the condo and took a nap. The fitter just called, so we will meet him tomorrow at 10. He suggested 8 a.m., but I thought YD would be less than pleased about that early a time, lol.

Tonight is her voice lesson and, afterwards, grocery $hopping with $on. Will be certain to EAT FIRST

Bright and shiny day

with about an inch of snow on the ground. The maintenance crew has already been by and shoveled my walk. How nice!

Got in about 40 minutes of practice on the xylophone for tomorrow night's Christmas banquet thing. I have to play for 30 minutes, so I think I've got enough material to keep going that long. The problem now is the bunch of floaters in my left eye, which makes it hard sometimes because I see notes where there are none, and the ones that are there get obscured. I haven't yet gotten used to the new fuzzies in my field of vision enough to null them out. Grrrr.

Anyway, now I am waiting for my dad to call and tell me when he wants to pick up the xylophone.

Yesterday was Pearl Harbor Day. I didn't blog about it, but I thought about it all day. Spouse and I were talking once about how Pearl Harbor Day seemed very real to us, although we were both born over a decade after it happened. One of my engineering school friends got married on Dec. 7th, and I remember being surprised that they chose that date. But to her, it wasn't a big deal, I guess. I have this thing about dates--when it came time to have Son, I refused to choose March 15 for his birthday because it was the Ides of March. I mean, what mother would CHOOSE that date? It's one thing for a natural birth to take place then, but to choose it....I just couldn't. But I digress.

The pictures and film of the attack at Pearl Harbor still fill me with anger and sadness. Someday I want to go to the USS Arizona memorial and pay my respects to those brave souls who died there. To those who were at Pearl, my undying gratitude for your service. May we never forget.

Semi-traumatic day with a decent ending

On Saturday I started seeing little flashes of light in my left eye. At first, I thought it was a reflection off my glasses, or off my contact edge (I am due for new contacts). It didn't happen all the time, and there were no other symptoms.

Monday night on my way to the jewelry party, the flashing came more frequently but calmed down once I got to A's apartment. I went up to her place and was sitting in the living room looking at the jewelry catalog when I saw a big floater in my left eye. Over the course of the next half hour, I watched in fascination as the floater broke apart and dissipated (mostly) over my field of vision.

So Tuesday morning, first thing, I called my optometrist. He wasn't in, but his receptionist gave me the numbers for two ophthalmologists. I called the first one, and made an appointment for today, hopefully getting done in time for my appointment with my regular doc at 3:15.

I got there, waited, waited some more, got my eye dilated, realized I wouldn't be done in time for the second appointment, and called the doc's office to let them know what was going on. The lady who answered the phone was less than nice.

Fortunately, I do not have a torn retina. Doesn't mean I *won't* have one down the line, but right now I'm okay. I have to go back in three months to see the eye doc again, and he told me what symptoms to watch for. If those symptoms show up, I've got 24 hours to get to him and get my eye fixed. It's a nice side effect from 1) being severely myopic, and 2) being old. But thank God, I'm okay.

My appointment was for 1:40. I got there at 1:30 and left at 4:00. Went over to the regular doc's office and made a new appointment for next week. Good, because I am running out of thyroid hormone pills.

So eight hours later, I'm finally home. I have to answer a bunch of student emails and take out the garbage. Then I'm vegging in front of the television for the rest of the night.

Speaking of student emails, I got a page from one student that merely said "I need a course book. Thanks." No name, no salutation, no explanation. Does this person think I sell the books? Weird.

ACED IT!

Son absolutely OWNED the GRE!! He got a 660 on the qualitative part and an astounding 770 on the quantitative part. I am so proud of him!

My own personal GPS system

I went to a jewelry party tonight at a coworker's apartment. I don't usually "do" these things, but thought I should make an exception because I've missed a lot of departmental after-work social events. I had a nice time, got a chance to just chat with my coworkers.

Afterwards, I jumped on the expressway to head home. It had snowed and the road was slippery, but I'm a seasoned winter driver and wasn't worried about it. About half a mile after I got on the expressway I saw flashing lights ahead. Then more flashing lights. Then the traffic narrowed down to one lane. Then we were squeezed right off the expressway and onto city streets.

One problem--I didn't know where I was! I am not familiar with the city my Uni is near, and wasn't sure which direction I needed to go because I've always used the expressway. Called Youngest Daughter but she didn't answer the phone. So I turned to my faithful GPS system, Eldest Daughter, to get me home.

She quickly figured out where I was and pulled up a map to see where I needed to go. Thank God for ED and for speakerphones (driving while phoning is not allowed here)! She got me back to familiar territory and I got home safely.

Son will be in need of prayers, vibes, and good thoughts tomorrow around 1-ish, when he takes the GREs. He has been studying very hard and is very anxious about the results.

And, sad news from one of Spouse's fraternity brothers--his wife died last month from complications of diverticulitis. This poor guy has had a rough time over the years. I feel so badly for him.

Snow!

It's cold and snowing, and I swear it's cold enough in my closet to snow in there too. We're just getting a dusting, though, no biggie.

Made an appointment to see the doc Wednesday, mostly to get a prescription renewal for my thyroid med, but probably also to get yelled at for various and sundry sins of omission. Fun, wow. I don't think this guy likes me, but it could just be his manner.

Classes started today, and my online ones are "live" but no activity yet. It's too soon, of course. My calendar is filling up though, with committee meetings. I'm on two this quarter, the liaison committee for the new dean search, and the scholarship committee. The scholarship one is a temporary position; our usual department representative is on leave this quarter, and I am filling in for him.

Time for more tea, and to get back to work.

Are they MAD?

Tomorrow starts the winter quarter at my uni. I am teaching three classes: two online, one on campus. What I usually do is put the online materials up every Sunday night and set them to "turn on" at midnight. I have one online course uploaded and ready to go, and I'm finishing up the lecture for the second course.

I've gotten TWO pages--not e-mails, pages through our course management software, similar to an IM--from students in the last hour wanting to know if the course materials are available yet. One is a new student who is very excited about starting grad school. I told him that my best advice, based on years of experience as a grad student and a professor, was to relax and enjoy the evening. I hope he listens. As for the other student, I hope he has the same enthusiasm in Week Six. CHILL OUT, DUDE! ENJOY THE LAST EVENING BEFORE THE QUARTER STARTS! Not that *I* am enjoying it, I am working!

In other matters, YD has progressed sufficiently in her skating to need "real" figure skates and not the recreational ones she has been wearing. The coach said we should be able to get her into the lower end Rydells for $100-150. That's not too bad. The coach also said she should just fly with those, so I am anxious to get them for her. She is doing so well, and I get such a kick out of watching her skate. Pretty doggone cool.

On the paper--it is nearly done and needs a few additions here and there. Should have it to my co-authors by midweek. Yay!

Oops...


They've done it again.

You know it's cold in the house when...

the cat sleeps on top of the digital cable box that is precariously perched on the television.

But the reality of the dual household hit hard yesterday with the arrival of my power bill for November. I realize that it's a tradeoff--I either pay for this place in UniTown or I pay for commuting between HomeCity and here.

Stay in UniTown pros: Close to work. Don't have to live out of a suitcase, or impose on my parents. They were disappointed that we are not staying with them, and that makes me sad, but last quarter I taught two night classes--which meant that I was on campus three evenings a week (for one class, I adopted a blended model--an online component to take the place of the second class meeting). I had to spend most of my week in UniTown, which essentially meant that Youngest Daughter and I would have had to move in with them for 10 weeks. Living out of a suitcase for 10 weeks is really not a good situation, and also not fair to YD. Even though she is home-schooled and can study anywhere, she needed some stability--not to mention access to voice lessons and skating lessons. Additionally, my parents often care for my grand-niece and have her overnight fairly often. There's only one extra bedroom in their house.

Stay in UniTown cons: Paying about $1000 a month in rent and utility bills, money that I could use to either pay down debt or save for a house somewhere between HomeCity and here.

Commuting pros: Save some of the money I spend on rent and utility bills.

Commuting cons: My car is older, has a lot of miles on it, and is starting to show the wear in higher-cost and more frequent repairs. Even if I stay at Mom and Dad's a couple of nights, I'd still be putting at least 200-300 miles on the car each week. So if I kept commuting, I would have to buy a newer car, which means a car payment. Gas prices last year were horrendous, and I am still paying almost $40 a fill-up. Tolls have also gone up. Winter here can be brutal, and a 60-mile commute in a snowstorm is not a really exciting proposition. The time spent commuting really adds up. Plus, I can't even say that weekends would not involve a commute to UniTown, because my college sometimes schedules events on weekends, and YD's skating lessons here at UniTown are on Saturday afternoons.

So, the lesser of the evils, at least to me, is to rent a place in UniTown. Which brings me back to the cat on the cable box. I've got the heat turned way down in an effort to save some money. YD complains, but I tell her to put a sweater on over her tank top. She wears my bathrobe and wraps up in an afghan. It's not THAT cold!

Why not buy a place in between UniTown and HomeCity? Good question. Our house in HomeCity is nearly paid off, but because we live in a declining neighborhood actually IN the city, its value is barely above our original purchase price. Spouse's job is firmly entrenched in HomeCity, with retirement a good 7-8 years away. He can walk three blocks and be on the subway, with a 15-minute commute to his job. Moving farther away means he will need a newer car (his is getting close to its last tire tread) and while my commute would shrink, his would increase. I would still need a newer car as well. Also, there's no way we would have a mortgage payment anywhere close to the low amount we pay right now, so we'd have two car payments plus a mortgage higher than what I pay in rent at the moment. On the other hand, the neighborhood is not getting better, and the house is going to need some major work if we decide to keep it.

There's one other "city" halfway between HomeCity and UniTown, but frankly, I am tired of living in the city. I'm tired of dealing with the stress of living so close to other people. I want some space. And a barn. Also, MidCity is not an attractive place at all, with the same problem of declining neighborhoods we have in HomeCity. Spouse admitted there are only a handful of streets he would want to live on in MidCity. So why buy there? Why not find a place in the surrounding countryside? Well, Spouse is a city boy, born and bred. He cannot imagine living in a house that has a septic system or well water, or both.

So, we are at an impasse over this one. To add another roadblock, Spouse thinks we should wait until I find out whether or not I will get tenure. Since a tenure decision is at least five years away, I am not thrilled at the idea of either renting or commuting for that long.

Anyway, although it's chilly in here I still need to stop spending energy trying to figure out better living arrangements and get this paper finished. Despite my self-induced distractions, it's coming along fairly decently and I think it might actually get done today! Wow!