Back to school

The fall semester is back with a vengeance.   Classes started on Monday for it seems like every school in town, including the university where I work and the community college where K works.    We’ve both been very busy, him trying to get into a new routine and me just trying to keep up with everything. 

K has 3 classes this semester, after taking on an extra one since he thought his second class wouldn’t make since it had low enrollment, he now has 3 maxed out classes, giving him a total of 96 students…good thing he likes grading...  

One of his classes is an 8 am class, so he actually leaves the house before I do.  This week we’ve been getting used to the new routine.   I love getting to see him awake before we both head off to work!
 
Leading up to the new year, Beloit College puts out a ‘mindset’ list each fall.   I love reading it to see what differences there are for the students starting college each year.  This year's class includes my cousin.  It was started to help professors know their audience when they put together lectures.  For example, one of my profs used the gas shortages in the late 70s as an example for something, I said we didn’t remember them because we were babies or not even born (Delena, remember?) I don't remember what he was trying to explain to us, but remember that his 'remember when' didn't ring true to me.


Even a few years can make a difference - I've seen that with Kevin and I being only 3 1/2 years apart in age - so a generation or more can be an entirely different world.

Kevin had his realization of how he and his students have different mindsets in his last week of his summer class..   He was talking about 9/11 and one of his students said she was in FIRST grade!   We’re not that far off from students not being old enough when it happened to remember it at all, and already they don't remember a world before it.

My favorite from this year's list: #55 Mr. Burns has replaced J.R.Ewing as the most shot-at man on American television.  


Completely unrelated, but in cooking we've made a discovery that I doesn't know why it took us so long to make - breakfast for dinner, or as K calls it 'brinner'.    We don't have time most mornings to make much for breakfast and when we do have time sometimes I'm just too hungry or don't feel like it.  But breakfast for dinner makes an easy weeknight meal.  We had it tonight!

Rural juror

More accurately I am an "urban juror", but I couldn't resist quoting that phrase from 30 Rock...try to say it out loud, harder than in seems.  I am in the assembly room now, hoping I don't get picked to serve... I do love that they have wifi!

Purge

I love my new office furniture!    Its been a bit crazy having to clean out everything in my office and put everything very briefly into boxes.  Now I can say it has most definitely been worth it.   This will be my first full week getting to use it, and already its much more functional.
 
No one is used to the new furniture yet.   I can tell whenever anyone pops their head in my door to talk to me they are looking where I used to sit expecting to see me.   I am surprised every time I walk to my office, I've realized I'm still expecting to see my old furniture - thank goodness I don't.

I have less storage space than I had before and did that purposefully.  There was too much furniture before and it gave me lots of storage, but not useful storage - it became places to just hide stuff away and forget about it.  A lot of stuff I got rid of was there when I started (almost 5 years ago), and since I haven't needed it in all this time, I'm very confident I won't need it.   Its very cathartic to get rid of stuff.

I realized that my desk is a better set up for me as a lefty!  I have more space on my left side and my phone is on my left side so I can easily grab it.  Very appropriate to realize since today was the annual Left handers day!

This summer is the year of cleaning out.   My sister and I have also been cleaning out our childhood bedroom.  Way overdue I know.....We keep finding the most hilarious items -- fanny pack anyone?  Its odd to realize that things that meant so much to me years ago are now just junk....I do specifically remember begging to get items that I now am like, what do I do with it?   I also found some things that I don't have a use for but that I want to hold on to...yes I am a packrat.....

tidbits

Halleluejah, my work travels are finished for a while.....I went to Waco Thursday and came back yesterday.   They were good meetings, we got a lot done...I'm just glad to stay put for a while - I've had a trip a month since April!  As of now, I have no more work trips until the conference in February.

The Olympics wrap up this weekend and I have to admit I'm glad.  I enjoy watching it and learn about sports and other countries during the coverage, I also stay up too late to watch the coverage, which of course they put at the end of the broadcast - they know what they're doing when they put the coverage together, its all tape-delay but they make us wait til the very end for the big sports....

With two weeks of coverage, they have a lot of airtime to fill and so they show all sorts of things you've NEVER wondered about.  A few of them were interesting enough to me to share, especially the ones that answered questions I'd had..

- How do the horses get to the Olympics?  (this was a question I had)

They are FedExed!  I couldn't believe it, but they are.   They each get their own shipping container and they go by airplane.   They suffer from jet lag too and have their own Olympic village.


- Did you know that they have someone score and record ALL of the national anthems?  I had no idea.    Some of them might never get used, but they are ready for them!

I know there are other facts I learned, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind.

Hard to believe, but K's summer class has only one more week  and he's already set for 2 classes in the fall!!    I also can't believe that Texans football starts today!

Have a great weekend and stay cool!

Wordless Wednesday

Its almost football season again, wahoo!   Kevin's already trying to figure out how he can cheer on his team and keep his voice so that he can lecture the next day.   funny problem to have!

Fall tv

I've started seeing more and more ads for fall tv shows - they are going to start before we know it!

I  must admit, I haven't seen many new shows that I'm interested in and I may just see which ones make it a few weeks and then jump on the bandwagon.  I sometimes give too many shows a chance and then I'm sad when they get cancelled (though I know exactly WHY they got cancelled), cases in point - Perfect Couples, Alcatraz.

The few I do want to check out:

Revolution  -- another JJ Abrams show?  yes, we'll give it a try.  here's hoping it lasts longer than Alcatraz..

The Mindy Project

I want to want to watch Go On, but from the commercials I've seen it looks terrible.  Chandler, why can't you do a show that will last?!?!


Returning shows I'm excited about

Grimm -- its starts NEXT week!

Fringe

Related, we are loving HBO's new show, Newsroom.   We found it only because its on after True Blood, and I find myself more excited to watch Newsroom than I am to watch True Blood.  I love seeing how they treat the historic events that they cover and the drama behind the scenes.  The episodes take place so far apart in time - 7 episodes have covered a year in time, but they fill us in on the high points.  The most recent episode was when the President announced that bin Laden had been killed.  I remember not knowing what he was coming on tv to tell us, and all the speculation...  I cannot believe the main guy is the same guy from Dumb & Dumber!

Monday Monday

My office furniture was delivered on Friday.   The first set of furniture put into my office wasn't actually mine, it was similar enough that i didn't notice..luckily the person we'd ordered through stopped by and realized the mistake while pieces were still being brought in.  It took most of the day Friday to get it set up and then get my computer set back up.  I still have some unpacking and arranging to do, and I already love it!   It makes the room look much bigger and just works better for me.  I hadn't realized it, but this set up is better for my left-handedness too!   I will post pictures once I get it set up how I want it.   The wall art I have in the room looks really strange now, it was put up based on where open spaces were on the walls (it was almost wall-to-wall furniture) and now they look like they are just floating.   one thing at a time.

You wouldn't know it from this blog, but we are still cooking and always looking for good, healthy, easy recipes.    We tried a recipe from Pinterest this weekend and its a winner!    I made this Mexican Chicken casserole and stuck to the recipe pretty closely - only changes, chiles and onions were blended, and I used part of the block cream cheese since we already had that at the house.   The dish was creamy and flavorful.  I'd intended to make it for K to pop in the oven today but we had a change of plans, and I think it worked out better - going all the way through a recipe the first time is better in my opinion.

I have to admit, Pinterest is overwhelming to me.  I am almost never on it, and cannot take it all in when I do get on it.   I am amazed at the ideas on it, and hope to find some more winners.....one day I'll get ambitious and attempt the wine cork crafts....

Chaos

Hello August!

Chaos is my word for this week.   I like to feel organized, even amongst my clutter, and hate not knowing where to find things.   For this week I've just had to accept that I'll be out of my element.

Chaos cause #1 - I broke down and replaced my phone.   I'd cracked it a couple of weeks ago and debated just using it like it was  - it did still work!    It needed to be replaced, so I went ahead and got a new one and am still learning how to use it, and probably will for several weeks...   I had my phone just how I liked it and knew how to use it to do what I needed - I know there were things I never used it for.  I even tried to replace it with the same phone, but they don't make it anymore :(   (I was resisting change)    Small miracle - my contacts did all move over, thank you Google!   If I accidentally call you or am not on social media for a while its because I can't figure out my phone (and i'm trying to avoid Olympics spoilers).

The second, bigger cause of chaos is something I'm excited about - new furniture at work!!   Its been ordered for several weeks now, and I found out on Monday that it was in and I just needed to set up a time to get it delivered.  Its getting delivered tomorrow.   To get the new furniture I had to clear out the old.  This was a big task since some of the furniture was full of stuff when I got here...I always thought I'd go through it, and some of it I did, but flash forward 4 1/2 years and some of it I'd just never looked at.   I felt like a modern day archaeologist, unearthing floppy discs, including the big ones that really are floppy..Does anyone have anything that will read those anymore???    My staff members were really helpful in letting me take over some of the bookcases and file cabinets temporarily so I didn't have to box everything up, and doing most of the moving of files.   I packed up the rest of my stuff yesterday (and the last of it today as the guys got there to take my furniture away).   I did it as late as possible since I needed some of my stuff to get my work done and was already hunting through bookcases for things I'd moved over and needed to do my work.   The furniture and my computer got taken away today (the computer will come back once the new furniture is set up), and I'm all set to get the new furniture in the morning.  I cannot believe how big my office without the furniture in it.   I spend a lot of hours in that office, so I'm really excited to some furniture that will work better for the space.

Here's hoping for less chaos the rest of the month!!