29 January 2008

Fact check?

I tried to listen to the State of the Union Address last night. Unfortunately, when I hear his voice I cringe and have to change the channel. Merely the sound annoys me. I did however toast to this being the last one.

This morning on the way to school I caught up with the BS he spewed over some NPR.

Check out their Fact Checking of the Speech. The big guy said a lot of stuff that a lot of people will believe unless they look at the facts. List list of topics is down a bit but includes the areas he touted as doing really well in this nation -- such as education, the economy, and climate change.

I know, just hearing those words would not lead someone to believe that they were applauded as currently doing well, but we aren't the ones giving the speech, right. His writers can really make anything look good. Especially when they have him talk without giving data or without talking about the negative things.

23 January 2008

Amazing!!!

Just finished Weeds Season Two. Awesome. Crazy cliff hanger. Can't wait for season three to come out. You really have to love a show that has a lady pull up next to a jeep, in a hoopty, and blasts The World, from PRI. By the way you should listen to the weather in Yakutsk that they talked about yesterday on the show. Gets down lower than -49F. So cold that your medal glasses frames could pull of the skin on your cheeks and ears.

Now I can hopefully get to bed earlier. And maybe be more productive in the night time.

At least until the latest season of Curb Your Enthusiasm comes out next week. There's just something about that show that makes me laugh. Perhaps it is his super sloppy way of dress, or his super dry humor, or his ability to get himself into some really crazy situations.

22 January 2008

Immunity, hens, and sisters

I have a good immune system. I rarely get sick. Even with all the nasty, stank kids I am around all the time, I manage to wash my hands often, turn my head away from their sneezes, and straight arm them away if they get to close when they are ill. But I have been sick before. In college I had mono. But I guess it wasn't too bad; I managed to continue running track the whole time - even had some of the best times of that indoor season - of course the coach was not too happy to find out I had been running the whole time, but she didn't find out until I was fully recovered and knew she would not sit me out. I had to stay home from school a couple years ago due to major migraines. I think I even left early one of those days, and missed track practice, which many times in the spring, is the highlight of the day -- standing outside in the sun, often having a lot of laughs with coaches and athletes.

But no time when I have been sick have my parents come to visit me with bags full of food.

Sunday the parents went down to Cape to see Kid Sis III. She was sick with some kind of cold a large part of last week. Missed her track meet on Saturday.

A cold. Maybe the flu.

The parents packed up their stuff, my other sister, some good, home cooked food and went down there.

I must admit, that for the better part of the morning, when I thought about it, I was a bit peeved about the whole situation. It always seems that the parents are more into stuff going on with the younger kiddos. Rarely bothers me, since I really don't need any one all in my non-platinum grill, but it's the thought that counts.

Well, all changed when I talked with the non-sick sister as she was sitting in the apartment of sick-sister. I was a bit upset that she wouldn't be back in time to see The Kite Runner movie with me, though maybe it was a sign that another mad man would have attacked us in the lot, or in the stairway on the way to the lot. But then she said that the parents had stopped off at Wal-Mart on the way down and picked up a ton of frozen stewing hens.

Let me tell you about my mother and her hens. Once a year my parents head to the Lake for a week long vacation. They fill the entire back of the car with stewing hens on the way back. She has bought an extra freezer (totaling three refrigerating devices in their house) for the basement because of the stewing hens. I don't know when the last time there has been adequate room for some ice cream or the old school freeze pops in the freezer because of some stewing hens. For whatever reason, they can never find those birds in the surrounding area, and therefore it is a once-a-year mad rush to get as many as possible. They even have to call in about a week in advance to make sure the store in the area has enough for her to fill her yearly binge.

I guess it might be a bit terrible that I was happy to hear that the trip to Cape was not just to see the ailing sister. Perhaps it's that old school sibling rivalry picking back up in me. But it really made me happy that perhaps there was an ulterior motive; that maybe it wasn't all compassion for the youngest sibling - their little baby, the cause of their empty-nesting.

I laughed out loud. I got said sis on the phone and made sure she understood what was really going on. I called other sister to make sure she knew as well. All the well sisters enjoyed a good laugh at the little one's expense. Fortunately, she also found the situation funny.

20 January 2008

A good week

For once I honestly enjoyed, well not completely enjoyed, more tolerated without angst, an entire week of school. I do not know what happened, but the little kiddos were actually almost normal -- at least as normal as that bunch can likely get. I did not leave at the end of the day with, what's come to be, the normal rush at 3:18 (three minutes after the dismissal bell), I did not feel that sense of animosity toward any students. Don't get me wrong, it is not normally like this with all the classes. My electives are usually tolerable. African Studies had some rough times last semester, but at least I feel like I have reached some of them in profound ways. Even got an email from a student who wasn't in the class about diamond issues this week. Asian Studies this week was full of awesome conversations where the students were able to look at burqas and hijab differently after reading some articles and discussing a bit. Maybe all the little tykes are starting to mature -- or maybe it was a glitch in all their systems and they will be back to normal next week. Until then, I will continue to enjoy a much deserved, much acknowledged three-day weekend.

I am really digging my hair. And apparently others are as well. In the past week+ I have had about six random people tell me how they are feeling the look. One example -- I walked into the post office around 6:30 (thank goodness for the ones that stay open late). I always like to give a nod or a hello to the brown folks, even though they may not acknowledge me, for whatever reason. This man said good evening, walked by me, and then let out a strange sound. I turned around. He was all "Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not trying to hit on you or anything, but your hair is amazing. There are a lot of women lately that cut it short, but very few have the right head shape or the right disposition when they carry themselves." Then he went into a description of the right head shape, and made another compliment, apologized for keeping me from mailing my letter, and walked out the door. Strange, yet happy-making. I have really considered growing it out. I was talking with another natural-haired lady, this one with 10 years of lock growth, about how we both love the afro puff look. Think it is so beautiful when pulled back in a slight ponytail (as much as afro hair can be pulled back into one). But, I have had this one problem with my hair for the past 15 years or so: I can't stand it when it is in some sort of in between stage. I like it to either be long, or short. When I cut it to about 3 inches back in college it was so hard to let it grow back to shoulder length. I kept trimming it and then finally had to convince myself to let it grow. And it did. My hair grows pretty quick. Now I am not sure I want it to be in that mini-afro. I just want it to suddenly grow to about 6 inches. Do you think they have a pill for that?

If you haven't seen Weeds on Showtime (or Netflix as I have), you are seriously missing out on an awesome show. And it's not all about getting high. There is all kinds of drama to suit every one's taste. Each episode ends with some kind of pretty major cliff hanger, which is what has kept me up super late every night I have watched it. For a moment I was mad that I had Netflix since I thought I would have to actually wait 24 hours to watch the rest of season one, but KBO came to the rescue with the entire seasons one and two for lending. Even remembered to bring them the next day to feed my habit. Thanks home skillet.

With the newly acquired addiction to Weeds, I have been fairly tired during the work day. But have found some optimum opportunities for some sweet power naps. The best I have had since back in the day when I would wake up, shower, eat, get my sister up, take a power nap, and head off to drop her off at school in the morning -- all in a one hour period. They used to make fun of me for taking power naps, until recently when they have started to find doctor's news articles promoting the idea of said naps for better health. So, although I am not exercising, do not eat enough fruits and veggies, and have other bad habits, I at least am in good health regarding my power naps. Hopefully that does something to keep my heart ticking adequately.