Booking Through Thursday: Celluloid

1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie?

I don't know about "best;" I suspect if I thought about this long enough I'd come up with a lot of possibilities. So I'll go with the first thing that popped into my mind, the recent War of the Worlds. Now I know a lot of people hated that movie (I liked it), and there were some important differences between it and H.G. Wells' wonderful story, but I think the spirit of the book was captured in the movie, as well as in the amazing technology.

Another recent example that I remembered: The Freedom Writers Diary. I thought the movie The Freedom Writers did a good job at capturing the book. (And Hilary Swank even resembles Erin Gruwell.)

2. The worst?

Again, I'm not sure about the "worst;" and since I almost always think the book is way better than the movie, there would be even more possibilities for an answer to this one than there are for the "best" if I thought about it for a while. So - the first thing that popped into my mind: The Firm. Oddly, that is also a Tom Cruise movie!! Not that it's a classic novel or anything, but the changed ending in the movie irritated me so much! Why can't Hollywood leave such things alone? Or is it that movie audiences couldn't handle how the book ended?

In the interest of having two and two - another example of "the worst" adaptation that I am thinking of is not books and movies, but plays and movies. I just have to mention it because I think it really was "the worst." I thought Phantom of the Opera as a movie was so bad they should snap every DVD of it in half, and erase the master. What an abomination.

3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference? (Personally, all other things being equal, I usually prefer whichever I was introduced to first.)

Yes, in all three cases I'd read the book first, and I saw Phantom on the stage before seeing the movie. I agree that whatever you are exposed to first probably seems best, although I'm trying to think of an example where I saw the movie first and liked it more, and I can't! Maybe because I almost always read the book first, and in most cases, may or may not see the movie. Even in the case of the two movies I listed as "best," I didn't like them more than the books - I simply thought the movie versions were respectable adaptations.

Added 1: OK, I came up with one. I didn't see the movie first, but I think I enjoyed it more than the book: Last of the Mohicans. James Fenimore Cooper's books are great - but they are also kind of difficult reads.

Added 2: Here's another great book to movie adaptation: The Scarlet Pimpernel. Though I still liked the book more, and so much had to be left out, the 1934 movie was very good (the 1982 TV movie wasn't bad, either).

Added 3: For a hilarious take on James Fenimore Cooper's writing, read "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences" in How to Tell a Story and Other Essays by Mark Twain (1897).

How bizarre. But there's no doubt he'll have a license before I do.

Wow, it is hot (and humid) here! I had my first swim of the season on Saturday. I also went swimming on Sunday. The water temperature was in the 80s, the pool is crysal clear, and it was lovely. The flowers and veggies are thriving at both houses.

I visited the State Museum when the exhibit that this book is based on was on display. Powerful, interesting, sad stuff; good that it will be published.

I've been meaning to link to two stories from the Times Union. First, from July 4, these three essays on what it means to be an American. Impressive writing, especially considering they are kids. I am using the piece in my class, since right now we are discussing the meaning of culture.

Then, this bittersweet essay. Sniff. Reminds me of all the dogs I love (Sophie, Sam), and have loved (there have been so many! Rudy, Penny, Howie, Hobo, Pud, Pepe, Duke, et al) but especially Howie, since he was half-Schnauzer, lived to be 15, and he was the first dog I got after moving away from home.

Unrelated, but something that occupied some time this week: last week we had a terrific thunderstorm that must have struck near my house in Samsonville. It zapped my mother's ethernet card, and she thought it killed her monitor too. She was unhappy with using her old spare, so I got her a "new" one (really it is used, but it is a decent 17" Dell, amazing how cheap they are). When I was there last weekend, I replaced the NIC in her computer, and discovered that her monitor is fine (luckily my nephew needs the used monitor I bought), but that the lightening also burned out my ethernet and on board video, and it ruined two of the ports on my router. It's an old machine, but since I have a wireless laptop and the desktop is for light use only, I didn't want to buy an entirely new computer. So I took the CPU back to Castleton, and earlier this week I replaced the NIC and video card. Luckily, that worked, since I hated the idea of spending too much on that old machine. I also learned that the router is still under warranty, so I will be able to get a replacement. Luckily the wireless and two remaining ports are working, so we are still in business there. We both had surge protectors, but they aren't foolproof, so from now on my mother will unplug everything when there is a storm.

Booking Through Thursday: Great _____ Novel

What, in your opinion, is the (mythical) Great American Novel?

Since he is my favorite author, it just has to be one of Mark Twain's. I know the standard answer is Huck Finn, and that is a great novel for sure, but my vote would be for An Innoncent Abroad. It is laugh out loud funny ("but is he dead?"), and so American.

Tell us where in the world you are!

New York, USA.

From my button collection.

Since I have more time this summer, I thought I might try a new meme. But when I Googled to find some to sample, I wound up spending a lot of time reading this at Wikipedia. I finally did get around to checking out a few memes, but never chose one. Instead, via Sya, I'll try this one, at least for today:

Booking Through Thursday: Desperation

What’s the most desperate thing you’ve read because it was the only available reading material?

That would have to be magazines in the waiting room at the dentist's office, or the hair stylist's.

If it was longer than a cereal box or an advertisement, did it turn out to be worth your while?

Any of the popular women's magazines that I've read in those circumstances: Absolutely not. But sometimes Hudson Valley is available, and that is great (I just subscribed yesterday, in fact).

This column in the Sunday Troy Record bothered me. I only read this columnist's writing occasionally. The few times I have read it, the focus has been on being pregnant and having kids, subjects that don't interest me. I'm not sure why I read the column this week, but last time I read it was when she announced the naming contest for her second baby. Readers won't actually be choosing the name; they will be recommending what she should call the baby in her column. I see she is referring to the baby as "Thing 2" in this column, which I guess is only the placeholder until the contest results are in. Still, it strikes me as dehumanizing. But maybe that shouldn't be a surprise. This column is about her anxiety over the baby's health shortly before he was born, since there was a chance he would have a chromosome disorder. You'd think that would be deep, but in what I suppose is an effort to be funny, instead it comes off as trite.

She writes that she'd been sent an article from the New York Times that "claimed that roughly 90 percent of mothers who are given this information early on abort the fetus." I remember reading that article and thinking "how sad." Does everyone in society have to be the same? It is as scary as the movie Gattaca. The Record's columnist writes "It makes sense, but it also does something else. It changes the face of our society. With fewer children born with Down syndrome, there will likely be implications such as fewer services available to those individuals as well as a shrinking social circle." She believes "it makes sense?" (I guess she is living in the plastic, shallow 90 percent world. Once again, I think "how sad.") Her only thought was about the fewer services available to people with special needs since most are now aborted? Faced with the prospect and the article, she must have something more philosophical, more thought-provoking than that to say. She continues "I'm not sure which made me more melancholy: that we could have a special needs child in a few hours or that this child's circle of support would be shrinking from year to year." Melancholy? Is that really an apt description of the emotion? Maybe so, in the land where going to the mall is a good way to spend Sunday, watching TV is a good way to spend every evening, WalMart is a good place to shop, and fast food is a good thing to eat.

Added: One more thing from this column is bugging me. She writes, on the subject of the uncertain health outlook for the baby, and the fact that her new furniture hadn't arrived "...the lack of furniture doesn't rise to the level of "bad" anything. (Unless of course the dresser or bookcase falls on you, and then THAT WOULD be bad.)" That rubbed me the wrong way, so I did a little hunting around. "From 2000 through 2005, CPSC has reports of 36 TV tip-over-related deaths and 65 furniture tip-over deaths. More than 80 percent of all these deaths involved young children. Additionally, CPSC estimates that in 2005 at least 3,000 children younger than 5 were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms because of injuries associated with TV tip-overs." I'd say that is more than just "bad." And it certainly is no joke.

I'm steamed. And not only because it is hot outside. In answer to the question I posed last week about whether it was better to just forget about it - or to expend energy: "just forget about it." I called the collection agency listed - a legal firm. All I can say is this interaction did nothing to reduce my hatred of lawyers. Well, that's not all I can say. The agency is in the most plastic town in the capital district, a northern suburb that I hate. This interaction did nothing to reduce my hatred of plastic 'burbs, or of that particular plastic 'burb. The creditor is a medical group. This interaction did nothing to reduce my hatred for the medical model. The nasty woman I dealt with (and who else but a nasty loser would work for a collection agency run by lawyers? One that probably specializes in collecting medical fees, I'll bet) eventually said there is nothing I can do about it except pay it. She said it goes against me that I have never contacted them before. I protested, you've never sent me a letter! I have never received a bill! She insisted they had sent me numerous letters. What could I do to combat such untruths? Suffice to say the call ended on a very unpleasant note.

I then called the credit reporting bureau (only TransUnion has the items listed) to see what I could do. Essentially, nothing. Oh, they are opening a dispute, but if that no-good collection agency in the plastic town says the charge is true, it's tough luck. He said I should do whatever I could to dispute the charges, but he wasn't willing to tell me exactly what that means. Write to the attorney general? Think bad thoughts about the scum law firm and jerk of a doctor who fabricated the charge? I could tell the guy on the phone at TransUnion wondered why I cared. It is only $153 combined for the two charges, and they will drop off in a year. There is nothing else negative on my report, and it certainly hasn't hurt my ability to get credit. Big deal, right? But it is the principle of the thing!! At the end of the call to TransUnion, he tried to sell me identity theft protection! I said, no thanks. I wish I never received this credit report. Ignorance was bliss!

I'm off to go strawberry picking! That's the best thing about June. It's been a few years since I've gone, it was too rainy last year and I don't remember why I didn't go the year before that. I can't wait.

I probably say this every year, but my garden and flowers have never looked better.

More pictures. Too cute for words. The bottom one is Edna, unfortunately she does not like to pose and always moves shortly before the picture is snapped. I tried three times and this was the best I could do.

Yesterday, as I was paying my credit card online, I noticed an $84 charge for Hoodia! When I called to dispute it, the customer service representative said they have had many complaints about this company recently. So check your bills!

Somewhat related, a few weeks ago a salesperson called me to hawk identity theft protection. He spoke so fast, I was busy, and somehow I guess I wound up buying it. So I called yesterday to cancel it. Today they sent me a copy of my credit report, and there are only two bad things on it: both wrong! From 2001, they are from a health organization I have never visited, and they are now at a collection agency (that has never contacted me). I don't know whether to say, "so what?" because in one more year they will drop off, or whether to expend the time and energy to have it fixed now.

To Delight and to Instruct has created a great compendium of posts about the many aspects of going to graduate school.

The day we went to Springwood (FDR's home in Hyde Park) happened to be the day a statue of Winston Churchill was being unveiled:

Here's the beautiful view from the house, looking toward the Hudson River:

And, in keeping with my interest in all things dog, here is the sundial in the rose garden where Fala is buried (the big monument marks FDR's and Eleanor's graves):

The site is a lot more organized than I remember from my earlier visits. I also don't remember the visitor's center. Our tour guide for the house was a wonderful park ranger. She had the patience of a saint. Our group was very large, maybe too large. Then there was a couple there with two young children whose behavior was just awful. Why would anyone think a baby and a toddler would be interested in a historic house?

It would take much longer than a day to go through the house, visitor's center, and library. Something I noticed, and I can't remember whether this was true in the past, was that there were many exhibits that attempted to address internment during WWII, the conspiracy theories surrounding Pearl Harbor, etc. Although I'm not sure, I suspect this is a reflection of contemporary sensibilities and criticisms, and it was not there on my last visit. I also noted that while they still mention it, they seem to be a little gentler on the subject of FDR's mother and her relationship with Eleanor than they did in the past. Or maybe it was just me and I focused more on that when I was younger.

It's hard to tell where one dog ends and the other begins! That's Sam with the teeth, and the other is Freedom, his pal who is a guide dog:

Rather than flower pictures, here's one of my pre-mulched garden in Castleton (none post-mulch, and none of Samsonville yet):


And here's one of my new shed for garden tools:

I've been busy and not on the computer much. Spent Thursday-Sunday in Samsonville and did a lot of socializing. Yesterday was mulching day for the garden there (it was hot!), and that was today's task in Castleton. I was sore last night and this morning, but seem to have worked it off today.

On Friday we went to FDR's house and library in Hyde Park. I've been there before on elementary and high school field trips, and I also went many times with my mother and grandmother. I took some pictures that I will post once I download them. I also have some new flower pictures.

The pool is not quite as disgusting, but it is still cloudy. I had to order a new part for the filter and I hope that does the trick. Swimming weather approaches!

Sya links to this post, which invites comments here. So I posted this from 2004.

Two things that are constantly in the news that I don't care about: Duke Lacrosse Team and Paris Hilton.

Here is a PDF file that I created based on my October speech on One Room Schools. It is an adapted/expanded version of the One Room Schools virtual museum that is on the Gully Brook Press site. The attachments are not included. I may eventually create a booklet, and offer it for sale on the publications page.

Interesting and kind of creepy, reminds me of AI. It's sort of cute, but Haley Joel Osment was a lot cuter. Put some clothes on that robot!

This story reminded me of my master's degree graduation ceremony. At that time, the university had commencement at the Knickerbocker Arena - or was it the Pepsi Arena by then? Not sure (it's now called the Times Union Center). Unlike now, it was a combined ceremony, undergraduate and graduate students at the same time. Only the doctoral students got to go on stage when their names were called. I believe the dissertation title was read, also.

The ceremony was already a bit controversial, because some Turkish official was receiving an honorary degree and there were people who were not thrilled. I remember being cornered in the office by a woman who worked with me. She was a strange lady, claimed to have some sort of chronic or terminal disease and she always had a nurse/companion with her who was equally odd. But that is another story! Anyway, she demanded to know if I planned to boycott the ceremony, or at least turn my back and join a protest against the Turkish guy. At the time I was a graduate assistant, so the power differential made her behavior even more inappropriate. But I held my ground and said, "if you think I am going to disappoint my parents who have been waiting for thirty years to attend one of their children's college graduations, you are crazy."

Well, that was a bit of a tangent. Back to the ceremony. There were quite a few doctoral graduates that day; it took quite a long time for the names and dissertation titles to be read, for each student to be hooded on the stage, shake hands, and for the audience to clap. To be perfectly honest, it is a large school, it was a very long ceremony, graduate and undergraduate commencement don't mix that well, and the whole thing did get to be mind numbing. So after quite a few names, the graduating seniors, who were seated in the back and had been batting around beach balls, somehow collectively devised a different response: they all clapped at the same time, but only once. There was this thunderous clap as each doctoral student was hooded. It was hysterical, in an embarrassing sort of way, although if I was getting my PhD rather than my master's degree, I may not have appreciated it. But then again, maybe I wouldn't have minded. It was a happy day. Nothing could spoil the experience. And the undergraduates were just being exuberant.

Later there were lots of letters in the Times Union criticizing the university and the undergraduates. I am not sure that the ceremonies were ever held together again.

About the linked story, I can't believe the school district was this stupid in the first place. But then high school is really mostly about control, rules and authority, isn't it?

Judge Sophie reacts: "how dare she! Lock her up and throw away the key!"

At 12 students, my summer class is the smallest I've ever taught. Most years I get enrollment in the low 30s, which is enough for me to get the large course incentive. This year, I changed the schedule from a 6 week intensive to a 12 week all summer, and I knew I wouldn't get that many students because they have to register for it almost as soon as spring classes end. But I thought there would be more than 12! Of the 12 students enrolled this year, two are nonresponsive (which in an online course means they have done no work and do not answer emails but for some reason stay registered).

I had grown dissatisfied with the intensive format; a number of assignments were not possible at all, and the workload was extreme. A lot of students wound up taking incompletes, and some of those students never bothered to finish and get a passing grade.

Unlike my experience with on campus classes, there is always a lot of adding/dropping in an online course, so it is very hard to predict enrollment and arrive at a class size that is "just right." Luckily, the official enrollment stayed above 10 (dropping below that number before the class started would cause it to be canceled). That was a relief. I am not sorry to miss out on the incentive, but I didn't want to lose the course entirely!

I suspect next year I will have to go back to the 6 week intensive schedule, though. Twenty less students is a significant amount of tuition dollars for the university to forfeit due to my experiment in changing pedagogy. So I am going to enjoy what will probably be my only summer of spread out, minimal work.

Now, what will I do with my extra time?

We opened the pool on Saturday. That's the earliest we've ever been able to do it. To our dismay, the water was disgusting!! Lots of algae. Green water. Yuck. It has never looked so bad. So Bob dumped in a ton of chemicals and we got the filter going. Unfortunately it has some sort of a problem. It works, but there are leaks. My father will figure it out and let me know if we need to buy new parts. Swimming is fun, but pools are expensive, and a lot of work.

Here's one of the window boxes.

My prediction about being done with planting on Wednesday was optimistic...and inaccurate. I worked Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and until 2 pm today. (As well as Saturday in Samsonville.) I'm done!! Lots of comments from passersby when I was working on the window boxes and flower beds in the front of the house. The sunflowers are a big hit. And the geraniums are something too. I'll put up a few pictures eventually. My mother reports that the cukes and zukes are up in Samsonville. Hopefully the weather will hold and we'll be able to open the pool this weekend.

Busy weekend! Got in the Samsonville garden on Saturday. Now working on the one in Castleton; should be done tomorrow. No complaints from students about Spring grades! This really was a good year. Summer session class starts today.

I finished with grades at 7 pm last night! Since I made several changes this semester, it was a lot easier. I did have to work 10 or 12 hour days, but there were no late nights and this past weekend, I only put in a few hours each day. They become available to students at 12 noon today. Hope I don't get a lot of complaining emails. The last thing I have to do is email feedback and the breakdown of their grades to all students, but that will keep for a few days.

My summer session class starts 5/29. It became accessible to students yesterday, and I had it ready last week. So now it's on to other endeavors. Cleaning inside a bit for one, but more importantly: Gardening!! I'm psyched!

The lilacs are coming!

I came across this post and remembered that recently I was thinking of my driving (or rather, non-driving) again. I did a search of the Gully Brook Press archives to see if I'd written about this subject, and all I came up with was this quote from February 2003: "Certainly there are way too many angry drivers on the road; this became more apparent in my quest to get a license. So I gave up. I think I’m just not mad enough to drive." That sort of sums it up.

I've taken the written test to get my learner's permit three times in my life. Every time I got a perfect score on it. I am a walking manual of driving laws. The first time I got my learner's permit was when I was 16. I wasn't all that interested in driving, but learning to drive is expected at that age. I practiced a few times in an old Jeep my parents had, and later in an old car that my father bought. I never got up to the point of going very far from the house, mostly I drove around in the church parking lot next door to where we lived. The situation was complicated because a friend of mine lived with us and my parents didn't really feel like teaching her, so she would have resented them doing it for me. Then, shortly before I turned 17, I went off to college and abandoned driving. I think permits were only good for one year at that time.

I took the written test again several years later, but never bothered to practice driving at all and it expired. My final attempt came seven years ago. I was graduating with my PhD, figured I needed a new goal, and decided that I wanted to try to get my license before I turned 40 in 2001. I've received a lot of pressure over the years on this subject. People think you are crazy if you don't drive. They can't comprehend how you can function in modern society without a license. It always embarrassed me. So once again, I took the written test, but this time I made a serious effort to learn. I practiced all the time, and even took one lesson to sharpen my parallel parking skills. The end result: I failed the road test. Four times. Once in Kingston, twice in Troy and once in Delhi. Three times in a car, and once in a truck. Every time it was for a different reason. Twice were automatic failures, twice because of too many points.

Although no one at New York State motor vehicles will vouch for this, I am actually a competent driver and should have had no problem passing the test. But here's the thing: I hate driving. I have never felt comfortable in a car, whether as a driver or as a passenger, even when I have complete confidence in the driver. One thing my last attempt taught me was that I am not concerned about my own skills. Before that, I was always afraid I couldn't control the car in an emergency, was certain I'd hit deer and other critters and I couldn't cope with that. But I discovered that isn't a problem at all, my observational and reaction skills are fine. Other people, all those people who have had no problem sailing though the road test hurdle, just scare the crap out of me.

Unfortunately, the awareness of how truly dangerous driving can be only increases with age. It's a crime really, what a bloodbath our highways are and no one bats an eye. We advocate about diseases and protest war but act like getting killed in a motor vehicle accident is not the much greater threat. It's just a fact of life. It is a much better idea to get a license when you are young and naive. Even with a ton of practice, I had to psych myself up every time I got behind the wheel and practically wanted to kiss the ground when I arrived at my destination. Driving never felt natural to me. I think this is the real reason I failed four times at my age. My demeanor makes my feelings obvious on the road test. It isn't simple nervousness, because in truth, I was not that nervous when taking the test. I just know I could never pass it.

My learner's permit was good for five years this time, and it expired in 2005. This time, I made peace with it. Decided that driving is just not for me. What I thought in the past - that if I practiced enough I'd get comfortable - isn't true. It would take years not behind the wheel but on the couch to get the courage to pass the road test, and I don't care to invest the energy. And that's OK. I don't get nearly as much pressure as in the past; everyone knows I tried hard and it isn't in the cards. While I was searching for old posts, I came across this one. Could that be the seed for my driving phobia?

The Spring 2007 semester comes to a close! Yesterday was the last day of classes. I had a funny experience in the cafeteria. The cashier said to me "you certainly look happy." I responded, "yes, it's a beautiful day, and it's the last day of classes, and that's always a good thing." She replied, "are you graduating?" I laughed, and said, "no, not graduating. Actually, I'm a faculty member." So she said, "you're a professor? You look so young!" How flattered I was! It's been a long time since anyone has mistaken me for being that young, I have far too much grey hair. But maybe my casual dress yesterday (I held class outside) threw her off?

Last night we saw Five for Fighting and Chantal Kreviazuk at the Egg. Awesome concert, I basically agreed with this review.

While we were waiting for the locksmith to come today, a good samaritan called - he found Bob's briefcase! So even though it was an expensive episode (still had to pay for the service call and a stop payment order on the checks was already in), it restores our faith in humanity.

As the semester draws to a close (classes end Tuesday), I am looking back on the 2006-07 academic year with satisfaction. This has been the best year since I started teaching. I had wonderful classes, and seem finally to have learned how to intervene in a negative class and make it better. Two really good additions this semester were the book lesson plan and presentation assignment, and Just in Time Assessment. It has left me energized, even as I face the enormous, ridiculous, anxiety-producing workload of the end of the semester! This summer, I am converting my summer session class from a six week intensive to all summer, twelve weeks, almost just like the fall and spring sections. In the fall, I am changing some of the required books in all of my classes.

Yesterday Bob was at an all day meeting in Albany and during lunch he left his briefcase in the WWII memorial park next to the state museum. When he realized it and went back it was gone. He reported it to the Empire Plaza police, lost and found and museum front desk but so far no one has turned it in. It had less in it than when his briefcase was stolen out of our car last year, but one thing it had that wasn't in there last year was his key chain with the car and house keys. There was a checkbook in there too with our address so now we have to have the locks changed. And of course the briefcase is a loss again, I'd replaced the one he lost last year with a new one that was the same from LL Bean. Luckily I had a copy of the car key, so I took the bus downtown to meet him and we were able to get home.

The forsythia bush is looking good.

There are a lot of things I don't write about here, for various reasons. Some because I don't subscribe to the "emotional vomit" type of ejournaling (or even paper journaling). Some because I don't like to reveal too much about students. And some because of privacy.



Something I haven't posted about this past year is my grandniece (or is it great niece?), Grace. She'll be 1 on Friday. She had a (very) difficult start, but is doing great now. She is such a happy little person. Yesterday was her christening, truly a joyous occasion.

We went to see The Namesake at the Spectrum on Friday. Great movie, worth seeing. We had a delicious meal at My Linh before seeing the movie.

It was a strange night. We were seated in front of a large picture window in the restaurant, and witnessed three young men going through a wallet and tossing it in front of the window. They disappeared for a short time, and returned with a woman's over the shoulder briefcase. They were digging through the contents as they walked by. Bob found our server and told her, and she told the owner, who went out (wearing gloves! How CSI) and picked up the wallet and its contents. She called the police, and we spoke with the cop.

While we were talking to him, a couple came in and asked whether the officer was there because of the car parked nearby. We said "no," and they went away. We finished our dinner, and when we left, we saw the couple again, standing near a car that was parked on the street, still running, with the front passenger's door open. After we chatted, and explained about the stolen wallet and briefcase, they called the police. As we were having dessert at a cafe next to the theatre, the cops came back. I don't know the outcome, but I wonder if the two events were connected, and where the driver was.

85 degrees today!

Finally, a beautiful, sunny day! I even noticed a couple of leaf buds on the lilac bush.

I scanned another image of St. Augustine's. It's a postcard, with an illustration by Ethel Adams. I'm not sure of the year, but it appears to be before the building of the house next door that I grew up in (which I think was 1968 or 1969), where my nephew now lives.

I finished the taxes, and mailed them yesterday. I was actually done figuring on Friday, but I waited until Monday to fill in the forms. Since Monday was Patriot Day in Massachusetts, and that's where my federal taxes are processed, we get until the 17th to file both the federal and NYS forms.

We had a surprise 80th birthday party for my father on Sunday. It was at the height of the nor'easter! Only 12 people canceled, but 5 others came whom we weren't expecting, so we had about 52 people there. There was no electricity, luckily my brother had a generator. Here's the fabulous cake (I wanted to get a better picture but there were too many people crowded around admiring it to make that possible):

The campus shootings at Virginia Tech are so upsetting. Last week, a woman I didn't know who was wearing hospital scrubs came into my classroom, looked around, sat down in the front row nearest the door, and then after a while, got up and left. I nervously joked with the students after she was gone, trying to guess what her intentions may have been. I know the odds of something horrific happening aren't that high, but in 1994 we did have a gunman hold students and a professor in a lecture center hostage. He was eventually overcome by a group of students. One student was shot during the struggle. The case was the subject of this PBS documentary. I've never received any training on what to do in any sort of emergency situation on campus aside from the once per semester fire drill in my building. I'm pretty calm under pressure, but I think some sort of guidance would be a good idea.

The hard drive in my computer on campus was dead when I got there yesterday morning. The computer support guy was able to recover the documents I had saved (I usually use the network to store documents, but for some reason this spring semester I made a folder on my desktop and have been saving there lately). But what a hassle not having a machine! What is there to do in the office with no computer? I had to go to the student lab to check my email, and I also had to ask someone with access to my network drives to print my class rosters. The computers in the lab must have a ton of spyware, they are so slow and the mice are all jerky. I managed to find old handouts from a few semesters ago to adapt for the group exercises I had to assign. The copies were kind of messy, but it worked out OK. I am hoping the hard drive has been replaced by tomorrow, when I am on campus again.

Otherwise, I am good shape as I go into the end of the semester. The changes I made really have evened out the workflow. Today I worked on the taxes, and I'm almost done.

I'm freaked out by the pet food recall. So there is rodenticide (according to NYS) and melamine (according to the Feds) in the wheat gluten. It seems like the plot to a bad science fiction movie. Is someone trying to kill off our pets? It makes me really glad that I feed my animals a homemade diet. I also wonder about the possibility of human grade wheat gluten being tainted too. I think it is totally plausible.

On a brighter note, I finished half the journals for two classes (the rest will be done on Monday) and all the midterms for another. Wednesday will be devoted to the taxes. Right now I'm making apple pies for Easter. (This minute I'm typing, but you know what I mean.) Sophie is driving me crazy, wanting the peels - or preferably, her own apple. Or several apples. Even the entire bag, if possible. (Sam wants apple too, but that's only because he's imitating Sophie.) The pet food manufacturers can shove their products, as far as she is concerned. But bring on the apples!

Yesterday, we went to Hartford, CT to the Mark Twain house and museum. I've wanted to go there for years. It is about 100 miles from here, and it took under 2 hours to get there. There were two separate tours of the house, one of where the family lived, and the other of the kitchen area where the servants spent their time. It's a lovely brick Victorian house, built in 1874. Mark Twain lived there from 1874 to 1891, and sold it in 1903. He wrote many great books while living there with his family. Most of the furniture was sold off in 1903, but his one daughter who survived him was still alive when the house became a museum in the 1960s and she donated the things she had inherited. There also is a visitor's center on the grounds, with a great museum shop (I spent $146 in it!). I think I may have known more than the guides, although I kept my mouth shut because I hate it when people act like know-it-alls at Cherry Hill. Next door is Harriet Beecher Stowe's house, but we didn't go there.

On the way back, we stopped in Lee, MA and ate dinner at the Salmon Run Fish House. Great place, this was our third time there.

I sponsor a little girl through CFCA. That's a reputable organization if you're interested in becoming a sponsor. The girl lives in the Philippines and will turn 13 on April 15. On Saturday, I got a heartbreaking letter from her; a typhoon struck not far from where she lives and her family lost their house. She included a colorful Easter card that she made and a new picture. So, I sat right down and answered her. This is one of the pictures I sent, from October 2006:

Here’s something that sparked my interest. Certainly the Ladies in White have a clever business idea. I dreamed up this business (although I’d never actually do it), so I understand seeing an opportunity to exploit the way our society handles death. But after reading the article, I am left wondering why this market even exists. Must we subcontract everything in our lives? As I mention in the linked post, I’ve heard from florists that on Mother’s Day, they get a lot of orders that are delivered to cemeteries. These customers don’t actually visit the cemetery. I’m not passing judgment on whether people should visit cemeteries, but why are they bothering to have flowers delivered?

I do know a few people whose ashes have been sprinkled in a wilderness area, scattered into a body of water, thrown out of a plane, or sadly, misplaced (to maybe wind up in a landfill). However, most people I know who choose to be cremated have friends or relatives who either 1) keep the ashes in a decorative container in a bookcase or on a fireplace mantle; 2) bury the ashes in the yard and plant a tree; or 3) buy a cemetery plot for the ashes (actually two cremains will fit in one standard grave) and put up a monument.

As it happens, I do visit cemeteries, including some where no family or friends are buried. I have always loved cemeteries. Many are so beautiful. I’m a trustee for Mt. Pleasant Rural Cemetery, and Mountain View Cemetery is behind my Castleton house and that was Rudy’s favorite place for a walk. My brother lives next door to Bushkill Cemetery, and a little section containing Ashokan Reservoir removals borders his house. As a history buff, I believe the cemetery plus monument route is the best, regardless of whether the grave contains cremains, or remains.

An aside, Ladies in White reminds me of this.

Here I mention the posters that are everywhere on campus. They put up new ones recently. The last ones were shades of electric blue. These are fuscia. They say something like "Did you know 65% of students report that they don't drink until they are impaired*" (at the bottom, it lists that the * means .08 BAC). What are they thinking? Obviously not about the 35% the rest of us are focused on!

Howie knew "speak" and other tricks. Penny never cared to learn any, since she always got a treat when Howie performed. I taught Rudy tricks as well. His favorite was "speak." Sophie would get her reward when Rudy did the requested act, but she too had no patience for formal learning - although she wasn't as nice about it as Penny was. Sophie let us know in no uncertain terms to stop that foolishness. So now we are trying to teach Sam the repertoire. He is still so babyish, even as he gets near to two years old, and so far we haven't had any luck. The other day, as Bob was trying to teach him "speak," Sophie was there, perched on the stairs, waiting for her treat. Finally, when Bob said "speak," she let out a little woof. Both of us were shocked! She learned just from watching Rudy all these years, but would never show us what she knew until now. I guess Sam's resistance has been frustrating, and so she decided it was time to step up. We've tested her several times at this point, and she does it every time. So precious.

I know being 45 and childfree raises suspicion of being a kid hater, so I hesitate to write this! But this is one of those days when I am tempted to open a window and yell. A group of kids often rides downhill in the neighbor's yard after school when it is a nice day, and there is enough snow. The hill behind our houses is perfect for sleigh riding. Whatever dogs I have had, this results in nonstop watching out the window, while barking. Howie, Penny, Rudy, Sophie, Sam: two dogs barking at once, without missing a beat. It drives me insane. What compounds the irritation is that these kids don't even live in one of the houses on our hill. The neighbor does have a grandson, but it isn't him. These kids are much older. I know the kids are having fun; sledding was something I loved to do, also. But Daylight Savings Time means that there is another hour of daylight while there still is snow this year!

The day after we got the car back from the body shop (it came out beautiful), we are clobbered again with snow! But this time the car is safely tucked away in the church parking lot.

On campus, recently there have been very attractive posters put up here and there. My reaction has been the same as many of the students quoted in this article. The one that says "Did you know 88% of students have never been involved in an alcohol-related fight" is prominent in my building. I couldn't help but think of the 12% who reported that they had!

When I wrote the post before this one, I copied and pasted it from a word processor. I usually type right in the blogger interface, but lately - either because of the blogger upgrade or because of some other change I have made recently in my computer (and there have been many), when I write a long post, all too often the machine crashes or freezes and everything is lost. I suppose one thing I've learned (but haven't consistently done) from blogging during the past five years is that it's safer to copy/paste. However, the line breaks are irritating. I fixed some of them, but I probably won't bother to spend the time correcting them all, even if it looks crummy, and my detail-ish-ness is peeved over it.

I'm so irritated that daylight savings time has been extended this year. Why did they do this? Who benefits? Certainly not me. I am just going to let the time be wrong on my computers. It isn't worth trying to patch.

I've been meaning to write something related to this topic, but when I started yesterday, I got interrupted. Then today I had to write a midterm for one of my classes (and for some reason it was an agonizing experience this semester). After that I had papers to grade from my other class. It seems lately I mean to write about things here, but never get to it.

Actually, what I want to write was sparked by the linked topic, but really has nothing to do with it. The story reminded me of an incident when I was a doctoral student.

I was taking a required class one semester. As I recall, the class was rather large for the doctoral program (maybe 20 students?). I never had the professor before (or again), but he was nearing retirement, and although very nice, he was not very inspiring. One day he was reading out loud from a text - it was something on
organizational theory (or it may have been Weber), and he used a fake German accent. I was surprised; I thought it was a silly, tacky thing to do (and I also thought reading the text verbatim was a boring method) but what happened next was way worse.

Perhaps encouraged by the ridiculous reading, a student in the class raised his hand and made some disparaging remarks about southern Europeans, and people of southern European descent. It had something to do with how they don't care about educating their children. At a prior class, he had made some negative remarks about women. I'm sorry that it has been so many years that I can't remember exactly what he said.

This guy was always the fastest hand in the west, constantly participating. Today, as an instructor, I know how much that is appreciated, how you'd do anything to cause a ripple in the sea of blank faces, but my recollection as a student is that students who are loud mouths tend to stifle other, less glib students. That was the impact this guy had on the class atmosphere. I remember looking around at the few classmates I knew well (this was when I worked full-time and took one class per semester, so I was something of an outsider) and if they cared, or were even listening, it wasn't apparent. Now, or even then under the right circumstances, I would have taken him on, but having had this guy in several other classes I didn't want to mix it up with him. I believe I and maybe one other woman spoke up when he made the derogatory remarks
about women, but I think I let the southern European descent ones slide. Regardless, our protest was meaningless - he became very animated, angry and even louder when challenged.

I do remember suffering through the first three or four classes of the semester with
him always having something obnoxious to say, the professor allowing him to dominate, and leaving class when it ended, feeling offended. I also recall that I knew a woman who was not in the class, but was in another required class with him that semester (that I had already taken), and that we commiserated about how awful he was behaving. As I mentioned, I'd already been in a few classes with him before, and he always had something to say in those classes too, but if it was particularly offensive or inflammatory, I didn't notice.

After several classes, I concluded that the weekly aggravation wasn't worth it. My job was very demanding, and I was at a very low point in my interest in the doctoral program. I went to my advisor, and informed him that I intended to drop the class. During the conversation that followed, he tried to convince me not to do it and I explained that I just couldn't take sitting through the excruciating comments for the
rest of the semester. But he asked me to give it another chance, and so finally I agreed. (I now know how much risk there is when PhD students take a break...they may not come back.) And the offending student never made another remark like that again. I assume my advisor spoke with the instructor, who then counseled the student. Or maybe my advisor spoke directly with the student, but that wouldn't be the usual academic protocol. Regardless, I have always been grateful to my advisor for saving me from running out the door.

I wrote "more later" on my last post but then didn't bother writing anything more. What I was intending to do was write up some thoughts on five years of blogging. I guess I didn't find that inspiring enough.

The alumni event was great! It wasn't in Oneonta, it was at the Parker Inn and Proctor's in Schenectady. At the Parker Inn, we had a private room with appetizers and drinks, then we saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Proctor's. It was a package deal, $50 for the whole thing and it even included wine. The seats were great and so was the show. It was way more enjoyable than our trip to NYC all around. Cheaper for one thing, and the show didn't leave us feeling depressed. Our seats were so much better, Bob had legroom, and the audience is more polite at Proctor's. In NYC, someone's cell phone went off for a long time during the performance and there were about 30 high school students sitting near us who were text messaging each other, fidgeting, and complaining how boring it was. Spoiled.

Anyway, about the Proctor's show, I read the part of Genesis that it is based on, and it actually follows it pretty close. Amazing they can do that and made it modern at the same time. It is one of those shows from the '60s/'70s, like Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell, kind of hippyish, a collaboration of Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice. I think Donny Osmond played Joseph when it was on Broadway, at least it is him singing on the CD I bought. The seats alone would have been more than $50 I think. An alumni was in the cast - he played Jacob, Joseph's father. He came to the reception and after the show, he came out and signed our programs. I think there were only a few alumni besides us though, the majority were Oneonta faculty and staff. All very nice people, we had met many of them at other events. But there were only 2 other men there besides Bob!

There are never any alumni who graduated with us. I guess most people don't care to go to alumni functions. Or it could be that only donors feel comfortable! (We have moved up from the lowest level "Red Dragon" club to the next one, the "Centennial Club.") Two professors from the speech/theatre department came to see the show too. One of them has recently retired, and he was there when we were students. Neither of us had him, but many of our friends did. I chatted with his wife for a while, very nice woman who reminded me a bit of Aunt Ital. They still live in Oneonta and mourn the loss of Bresee's. She says they now have to go to Albany to shop because even though there are more stores on Southside, there is nothing to compare to Bresee's. Bob ran into the weatherman on our CBS channel and talked to him. He was sitting right behind us, but he wasn't part of the alumni group.

This is the fifth anniversary of Gully Brook Press. More later.

Staying on the historical theme, here is something Mimmie wrote.

The Old Hinkley House on Whispell Road

The cottage in the vail, as Elwyn called it. When we moved in this house the window glass was all broken. Some of the window frames were missing. The cellar wall was down completely on one side. Porch on back was falling down, the flooring on porch was gone completely. Some boards was missing on front porch. The windows that where missing where covered with roofing paper. Plaster was off walls in many places upstairs and down. Wallpaper was falling off in living room and bedroom. All room where full of old newspapers and magazines and other junk. There was 2 ton of lime in the kitchen and some other farm implement which was very large. In the living room was a large broken piano and an old organ. For one whole day we burned newspapers and magazines. The first week we managed to remove the lime, old piano, organ and othe things. The door knobs where all gone and some of the doors where off. It wasn't possible to get any water from the well as the pump was off and some parts missing. No outhouse or toilet of any kind. After the first rain the roof leaked and the cellar filled with water all most to the floor. The first summer we fixed the cellar wall, porches, pump and built the outhouse. Tarred the roof and papered all the rooms downstairs. After we fixed the plaster, the walls that where on when we came all had to be washed several times as they where covered with many coats of kalsomine to which paper will not stick. In the fall we fixed one room upstairs. The following year we fixed the second room upstairs.

Buddy put on a new roof and put a new porch on front by the kitchen. Next he put the water inside. Finally we had it wired. The next thing Buddy did was put hot water in and a toilet. One of the improvements was a cellar drain which kept the water from coming up to the living room floor when it rains. The rooms have been painted and papered many times to make the place look livable. Buddy also fixed the walk to the kitchen as there was an old porch there when we came on which the flooring was so broken that it was dangerous to walk on.

The old place became very dear to us and I was very grieved to move out after Elwyn died. I moved November 28, 1977.

I decided to see what Elwyn said in his diary on some of the years, and in a strange coincidence, this was his birthday.

1926 February 23 Tuesday - Clear, cold, moderate northerly wind. Clear & crisp tonight. Run the mill sawing mostly oak logs, sawed _____. Sent 640 ft bridge plank to Cold Brook bridge by Ed. Hudlers team. This is my 36th birthday. Aunt Cornelia made my usual soft chocolate birthday cake.

1932 February 23 Tuesday - Blustery, squally, pretty raw day. fair, glorious clear moonlight and cold. Thermometer 7 above late evng. My 42nd birthday and Aunt Cornelia made my usual soft chocolate cake. Started cutting ice at Hesley’s. The thickness runs from 7 to 8 inches. Lauren Hesley has rigged up a power ice saw on a frame with a Chevrolet engine on one end and a saw mandrel with circle rip saw on the cutting end. It sawed but was hard to steer straight. Due to its cutting so deep, a cake of ice broke loose and I got a wetting in the pond PM.

1933 February 23, Thursday — MY 43rd BIRTHDAY. Light rain early this AM – but broke away. Strong westerly wind, inclined to be a bit rain squally. Mild and clear tonight. Got the sawing outfit set up and sawed Aunt Cornelia’s wood, Pa & I, Charley Hesley, Boney VanDemark and Harold Constable. Mrs. Moore and Genevieve spent the evening with us also Aunt Cornelia for a little birthday celebration. Aunt Cornelia made me my annual soft chocolate birthday cake. Funeral of little Jean Coffey held at Phoenicia Baptist church, burial in Binghamton.

1934 February 23 Friday — My 44th birthday. Blustery, colder, more or less snow squally. Near zero tonight. We sent a home eats box to Mariam. Busy with chores etc. At home all day. Aunt Cornelia made me my time honored plain soft chocolate covered birthday cake. Wrote up Freeman copy evng. Donald came early evening from Oneonta. Cornelia did not attend high school.

1936 February 23 Sunday - My 46th birthday. 10 above this a.m. 10 tonight. Lovely bright crispy day, northerly winds. Cornelia, Mariam & I went to Phoenicia to see noon snow train from NY arrive at ski slopes Snyder Hollow switch. With the crowd that came with the Friday night snow train Phoenicia was swamped - 1000 cars were counted this p.m. We called on Mr.and Mrs. West and her sisters. Ralph Longyear and George Kessler came fro our turkey birthday supper & spent the evng. Mother made my customary soft chocolate birthday cake as was dear Aunt Cornelia's custom sure I was a boy.

1937 February 23 Tuesday. My 47th birthday. Mild and sunny AM became cloudy and raw PM - snowing this evng. 1 inch. The Benders did not come yet today. C.C. Dunham delivered me 1000 ft of 8" spruce novelty siding AM @ $50 per M - less 5%. Mr.and Mrs. Henry Winchell had planned to have birthday dinner with us - but she was ill & unable to come. Daisy made a freezer of my favorite chocolate ice cream & mother my time honored plain soft chocolate cake. Did chores & split wood altho feeling pretty grippy.

1946 February 23 Saturday 20/7am, 14/11pm
Bright sunny cloudless day & evng. Winds northerly. Cleaned out granary this am - spread load manure on meadow behind barn, as road was slippery. During pm drawed out with dray firewood oak top logs at Ollie's. Today is my 56th birthday & mother made my annual time honored favorite plain soft chocolate cake. Had lovely chicken pie supper & mashed potatoes. Too tired to go to lodge tonite. Rec'd box cookies from Kay also greeting cards. Ruth Pleasants & Clifford S. Inghram married in United Congregational Church Bridgport, Conn.

1953 February 23, Monday — 20 degrees at 7 AM, 23 at 11 PM. Partly cloudy, crispy, light raw northerly wind. Cleared beautifully evng, brilliant moon, freezing quite sharp. This is my 63rd birthday — Turn backward, I pray thee oh time in thy flight. Mother made me my time honored plain soft chocolate cake. This AM I cut a dray load of yellow birch pole wood over in woods behind barn & neighbor Will Davis (up for the holidays helped saw it up) I took him 4 PM to the Boiceville bus.

1975 February 23, Sunday — 39 at 8:30 AM - 47 at 8:00PM. Light rain in night this AM damp and foggy, murky, sun came out briefly at 2:30. Cloudy dismal evening. Daughter Cornelia called up from Florida. Wishing me a happy 85th birthday. (Its foal time again as Dear Grammy called it. Only birthday callers was winsome friend Mrs. Charles (Carol) Davis, she gave me a fancy small corner festooned pillow, had a few ½ glasses of tawny port. My days libation 2 snorts of 4 roses & soda. Only exercise ½ hour late PM house walk. Ollie rested considerable on her couch. We had delicious supper boiled taters & cooked kraut & Mrs, Beatrice Ducs fancy birthday cake, green lettered Happy Birthday Elwyn.

We got a little more snow last night. I wonder if the wooly bear was accurate in predicting this winter? I can't remember.

The appraiser came on Wednesday. This is estimated to be a $1,300 repair:

The mourning doves weathering the height of last week's storm.

After a (mostly) snowless winter, yesterday we started to wonder when it would stop. I don't know how much is out there, but it is a lot. Maybe two feet? Classes were suspended on Wednesday, and resumed today at 11:45. Since Winter Break is next week, and Thursday is the new Friday, my classes would have been half empty anyway, so I had no idea how many students would show up today. Ten were missing from my afternoon class. Wonder what will happen in the evening class? The parking lots are still a nightmare, but at least they have plowed one small path between most buildings.

At 7:30 pm last night, some guy from the firehouse (where he was probably enjoying 10 cent beer night) went out of control in front of our house and smashed into our car! Bob was out there shoveling, and it was a good thing he wasn't standing right there when it happened. The damage isn't extreme (broken right tail light, bent bumper, scratches and small dent over the rear wheel) but still, we are sick over it. That car was mint. I'm hoping the guy's insurance company doesn't give us a hard time since the car is old. We don't want a car payment on a new Prius! The guy's truck is probably totaled, very badly damaged, he could barely drive it away. The Lincoln is like a tank. It is probably fortunate it was in the way, because otherwise he may have hit the house, or gone through the flower bed and fence, over the retaining wall, and down the hill!

I think the pop quiz thing is working! Discussion is going well.

The #1 excuse in recent semesters for why students miss class: having to go to court for speeding violations. Reported in a matter of fact way, as if it is a totally legitimate, justifiable, sympathetic reason. If only they had a clue how little respect I have for people who drive too fast!

My classes, especially the evening sections, are very quiet so far this semester. Maybe the cold weather of the Spring semester has an impact? Not sure. Last night, I gave my first ever multiple choice quiz. I decided to add pop quizzes into the class after a handful of excellent students over the past several semesters have suggested that I should do something to "encourage" more students to come to class prepared for the discussions - prepared meaning that they have done the reading. I am not really a fan of this type of assessment, and I don't know how it will work, it is too soon to tell.

I finished Team of Rivals (I was sad to have it done, it was so good), and have started Margaret Atwood's Lady Oracle. So far, Lady Oracle is shaping up to be as good as her other books. On the entertainment agenda, we saw Children of Men over the weekend. It was a good movie, although maybe not as good as the review I'd read suggested. We also got tickets to see Ordeal by Innocence at the NYS Theatre Institute, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Proctor's. The Proctor's show is an Oneonta alumni event, with a mixer before the performance at the Parker Inn. An alumnus is in the cast. During Spring break, we are going to NYC to see Les Mis.

Since it was spared in the Diocese reorganization, the congregation has been inspired to do things to fix it up, and I've been doing some research on the history of the church I go to when I am in Samsonville. It is the one I attended when I was growing up in West Shokan. We lived next door, and now my nephew lives in that house. The original church structure was lost when the Reservoir was built, and there was no Mass in West Shokan for more than 40 years. Once it was re-established, Mass was held over a general store, and then, after a major fundraising effort, a new church was built. Here's what I came up with so far, it is a PDF document with some photos and maps.

For Better or For Worse is my favorite comic strip, so this pending change is making me sad. I liked how the story line followed real time, even though Farley's death really upset me. But I certainly can understand being burnt out. I guess I'll just have to see how it works out in September.

I just spent some time searching and adding labels to old posts. I think some of them are not perfect fits for the categories I created, that is the problem with going back and doing this quickly. Oh well. The new posts will fit better I guess - and over time, as I go through, maybe I will be able to clean it up a bit.

The Registrar moved two of my classes, and I was able to secure technology for the other one - so I am finally all set. All the rooms are far from my office, but that is OK. I could use the exercise. My online class is too big this semester, though. Last semester I had only 14 students. This semester I have 30 and students are still asking to get in. I've never seen so much late registration generally and late applications to the graduate program (yes, another of my duties). Anyway, it is always hard to predict enrollment in the online class because of the large number of students who panic and drop in the beginning. I will manage, but small groups will wind up being a misnomer. My Thursday night class is the same size as the online one, which is OK. The other two classes are smaller, 20 and 26 students, respectively.

Last night, after my evening class, as I was packing it in, a student comes up, introduces herself, firmly shakes my hand, and then procedes to say that the material is challenging, her day is long, she had trouble at the end paying attention, and could I please break it up? I wasn't offended or anything, but I'm not sure if it was what she said or the straightforward way she said it that surprised me. I always give a break during the class, but last night, since we switched rooms, which involved walking across campus and took up a lot of time, I didn't bother. I let them out a little early instead. The class was no longer than usual, it just started later and ended earlier. Another complication was that when I got to my originally assigned room, all the students were waiting outside. The door was shut, the instructor and all the students from the earlier class were still inside. They were watching a movie. It was "Shane;" I heard the little boy yelling it at the end. The class should have been over at 4:05, and it was 4:20. My class should have started at 4:15, and it was at least 4:25 before that class ended! What is it this semester? I'm glad to have changed rooms, hopefully it won't happen in my new location.

I got a thrill yesterday. My quote is on the back cover of this book. I was a reviewer, and I did like the title a lot.

I am up to the end of 1864 in Team of Rivals. When I got to the summer of 1864, I was curious about the exact date and other details of my great grandfather's enlistment in the Union Army, so I went on ancestry.com and did some searching. Since genealogy research is an interest of mine, I've had a subscription for a long time, but it has been a while since I last searched it. The search utility, and access to the original documents has improved a lot. They are always adding more databases. After I discovered he enlisted in October 1864 and did some reading about Company F of the 15th NY Volunteer Engineers, I decided to search for a few other folks. My paternal grandparents died when my father was a kid, which of course was long before I was born. I had seen them in the 1920 Federal census for Philadelphia a while ago, and more recently I had located the ship manifest for when they came over to the United States from Sicily in 1913. But a few days ago I found my grandfather's WWI draft registration, it must have been newly added, or at least was only made easily searchable recently. This has us all very excited. The information is interesting - including his exact birthdate, address and that he worked at Hog's Island shipbuilding facility, but what seems to be most touching to all of us is that his signature is on it. His handwriting was nice! Aside from a few pictures, we have nothing this tangible. Seeing something so personal from nearly 89 years ago makes him more real, more vibrant.

How sad. RIP Barbaro, another casualty of a disgusting, evil "sport."

One really annoying thing this semester is that I didn't get even one "smart" room for my classes - usually I get at least one, if not two of the three in a smart room (meaning there are a computer and desktop projector). Over the years, I have made powerpoint presentations for almost all of my class sessions, and making overheads is a real hassle. Plus, I demonstrate some things on the web in a few classes. But when my class is in my building or the one next door, and you land a room with no technology, we have a computer guy who will bring a computer cart with a desktop projector to the class, and you can schedule it for the whole semester.

So while it isn't as good as a smart room, it works OK. However, when your class is in any other building, you have to go through the campus audio visual department for a computer and projector. This semester, I have no classes in my building at all, and only one of my classes is next door - one is two buildings away, one is across campus in Siberia. So not only do you have to go through audio visual, but you have to pick the cart up and return the cart yourself (which means going to the lecture center area where the audio visual office is located, and wheeling the cart from there through the tunnels to the classroom. This includes having to take the cart down and up a "hill" in the tunnels since you can't use the stairs), and you also are only able to schedule to have the cart two weeks in advance. The audio visual folks are nice enough, but what a hassle! Since I am always running late, I have no idea whether this will work for me. You'd think the university could use some of the budget to wire more rooms! Or at least hire some student assistants to schlep the carts around.

I am trying it this week, but I am afraid that I may have to go back to overheads. Here's why. I don't give my posts titles, but if I did, call this "a lesson on how not to be collegial."

I got the computer and projector from audio visual yesterday for my afternoon class. When I got to the building, the class that is in the room before mine was still in session. It was early, so that is not unexpected. So I waited, and waited, and waited. The class is supposed to get out at 1:05, and mine starts at 1:15. Well, the instructor opened the door shortly after 1:05, but the students didn't leave. They were all crowded around his desk, and he still had the overhead set up. I couldn't even get the computer cart in the door, and my students could not get in to sit down. So forget being able to get set up and test everything in advance.

Finally, at 1:15, I shoved the cart in the door, but the crowd of students didn't budge and the professor acted like I wasn't even there. He was youngish (30s), long, bushy hair and beard. Stereotypical sociology or anthropology type professor. Seemed nice enough, but extremely disorganized, and still going over details with the students crowded around him. The overhead he had up had a tiny font and was a complete page of words, like he printed a word document of lecture notes out on a slide. Finally, probably about 5 minutes into my class, he got his stuff together and said, "sorry. First week of class and everything. Do you need the overhead projector?" I said, "Umm, no. I have a computer cart." I wanted to say "can you spell O-F-F-I-C-E H-O-U-R-S?" But I was pleasant instead.

After he left, I asked my students who he was, and they told me, also his department. I was only curious, not planning to do anything with the information. (Not that I could even if I was so inclined.) Then one student volunteered, "he will do that every class." Great! Well, after a nightmare of getting everything set up and one call to audio visual when it wasn't working right, I finally got started. Then, at 2:32 (my class ends at 2:35) I dismissed my students so I could unplug everything, erase the board, and get out of the room and not be rude or clueless like the guy before me.

The minute the door opened, the students from the next class poured in, and so did the professor. She flung her briefcase on the desk, even though my stuff was still there, and stood nearby, acting very impatient! She began to do housekeeping stuff with the students that had already arrived, even though I was still snaking the electrical cords out from between the desks and rolling up the ethernet cable (one other irritation is that there seems to be only one working jack in the room and it is...in Siberia). Anyway, her class doesn't even start until 2:45! Unbelievable. So needless to say, the experience confirmed my suspicion that I will have to use overheads instead, because that will take less time to set up and break down, except for on a select few occasions when I absolutely must use technology. At least I can avoid the "hill" in the tunnels.

To top it off, I got to my evening class, the one in the building next door...and no computer or desktop projector had been delivered. At least I remembered to bring a marker (despite the absence of technology, the room has a white board rather than a chalkboard).

But it is kind of funny for the afternoon class to be scheduled in a room after a professor who is so laid back, and before one who is so uptight. That's me: ultimately middle of the road.

A very happy announcement. After years of whispers, and appearing last year on the diocese's closure list, our little mission chapel will remain open with no change of status!

Classes started yesterday. I was feeling very "blah," mostly because I was tired. My owl tendencies resurface when I don't have to go to campus for a long stretch, and I find myself staying up way too late, reading. So I'll have to stop now that I'm back on a schedule.

To combat the "blah," I wore a suit yesterday. That is something I have not done since my days in administration. It didn't do much to perk me up, but I think it got students' attention. The two classes I had seemed OK, hard to tell this early.

For the evening class, there was a typo on the schedule. It said "ED" instead of "ES," meaning that the class was in Earth Science, when I thought it was in Education (my building). So I was about 15 minutes late! Once I figured out the mistake, I thought Earth Science was only two buildings away, but when I arrived...it turned out to by Physics. Turns out that Earth Science is across campus. I didn't take my coat, so I had to use the tunnels to get there, something I usually avoid. Hopefully my blah + suit + lateness won't cause the students to drop!

We got a little snow today. This usually wouldn't be worth mentioning, but it has been a snowless winter. As always, it reminded me of Rudy. I imagined him dashing outside to roll in it. I have been thinking a melancholy thought: that the lack of snow this winter and last is because he isn't here to enjoy it.

Thursday Threesome
::No California Oranges this Year!::

Onesome: No California-- drivers allowed! Do you drive and talk on the cell phone? Come on, fess up...

Well, since I don't drive, and I don't have a cell phone - the answer would have to be no.

Twosome: Oranges-- and Apples and Pears, oh my! Do you have a favorite fruit?

I like most fruit, though especially apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, pineapple, and bananas.

Threesome: this Year-- I'm going to _______ (go ahead; fill in the blank. No, it's not a resolution !)

Hmm. Not sure! Let's see what 2007 brings.

Long time no post! I spent several days in Samsonville. Threw in the towel on the wireless and just used wire instead, and it works great. That is a relief. Hopefully, Staples won't give me a hard time about taking the stuff back. It has gone from unseasonably warm to unseasonably cold. Classes start Thursday, and I still have some things to finish to be ready.

Thursday Threesome
::College Bowl Games::

Onesome: College-- playoffs? Yes or no? ...or 'who cares?' Is the current BCS system something you think works or would prefer things a bit more 'tidy'?

If I am restricted to those choices, I guess "who cares?" I don't even know what is BCS. I am not a sports person at all. Now Sam, on the other hand, is completely a sports dog. I don't know how that happened, but he's my first truly athletic dog.

Twosome: Bowl-- of cherries? Chips? Tofu? What's on your snack list during a game. ...or a favorite show?

Gee, is this a TV oriented question, or what? See Onesome, above. I think my TV would stop working if I put on a sports program. Favorite show, hmmm. I try not to eat while watching television, and I don't have a lot of favorite shows. But I guess cookies and milk are favorite snacks of mine. Both dogs (Sophie especially) love them too (my cat Edna loves milk), and sometimes their demands are what sparks me to get the snacks. I also like Polar Old Fashioned Golden Ginger Ale. That's the only kind of soda I enjoy at all. I like Culligan water a lot too, and usually that's what I drink when I watch television or a movie.

Threesome: Games-- within games: if you're a sports fan is there any sort of 'inner game' you like to watch during the contest? I'm thinking in terms of line work in football or post play in basket ball. ...and if you're not into sports, how about something similar in your favorite pastime?

I don't have any clue what this question means. And since I don't know what is line work or post play (aside from the generic meaning of the words), I have no idea what to compare it to in my favorite pastimes. Reading? Maybe examining the dust jacket or reading the chapter notes at the end? Gardening? Digging up the soil in preparation? Watering afterwards? Browsing in a garden center or buying seeds? Really, I haven't a clue!

**********

I haven't made much progress on anything work-related during the break. Which means I have to update syllabi, my online class, my WebCT pages, write new assignments, and send emails to all students in my last semester's classes with a breakdown of their grades. I thought I might have done all of this already, but instead I have been cooking, sleeping, surfing, and reading. I am about 1/3 of the way into A Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I got it for Christmas (2005!) and it has been waiting for a year. She writes well and it is a fascinating book, especially for a history buff like me.

Yesterday, we went to the governor's inaugeration concert at the Times Union Center. Performers included Natalie Merchant, Ben Vereen, James Taylor, and Jimmy Fallon was the MC. The arena was only about 2/3 full which was a shame. All the media was saying that it was a "free concert" and technically that was true, but the average person couldn't get tickets. Bob tried in early December and the website wasn't working right. You had to be connected to an organization like the legislature or a labor union or something to get a ticket. Which was too bad, because I'm sure there were ordinary people who would have loved to go if they could have. Probably a lot of people who got tickets through their jobs blew off going once the day arrived because they didn't feel like it or were hung over from New Year's Eve or something. My nephew had 7 tickets and he only used 4.

It was great, overlooking the political BS. I mean I like Spitzer and everything, and I'm glad he is governor, but I can do without all the insulting and unrealistic hoopla of the speeches about him being the savior of our crappy state! Give me a break! Also, Jimmy Fallon seemed totally unprepared at times - I'm not sure if he didn't prepare enough jokes or what but it was almost embarrassing. One group was late coming out to the stage and Jimmy Fallon had a hard time filling up the few minutes while we were waiting! Now what MC wouldn't prepare some material in case that happened? Or be able to come up with something off the top of their head? Ben Vereen and James Taylor were both great. Natalie Merchant is my favorite of all the performers, but it was really obvious that she is totally ignorant. At one point between songs, she was making some compliment about Spitzer's election and she said something about the next 6 years. She didn't know that the governor's terms is 4 years! Wow, and they think we should listen to celebrities about political stuff, eh?

From my button collection.

Yesterday the phone was dead. (It may have been out before yesterday, but we weren't here.) The DSL continued to work until yesterday afternoon, but then it went out too. I did everything possible in the house, disconnecting and reconnecting phones, and Bob checked the box outside, but we had no luck. So Verizon arrived today at 9 am and they restored the service at about 12:30. There was a problem in the wire a few streets away. After the phone was working, I had to spend another hour talking to a representative from Verizon DSL to get that running again, and then about another half hour on my own, getting the router figured out (although I didn't have to call Netgear). But now I am back in business.

What to do without the Internet? Yesterday I made a pot of homemade tomato sauce, and eggplant parmesan. I suppose I used to accomplish a lot more things like that in the pre-wired days. Speaking of wires, my nephew's roommate is throwing out a perfectly good computer - so my nephew has taken it for my mother. It will be a big improvement over what she has now, and I am hoping that it will help me to get the wireless working there. Goodbye Windows ME!

Christmas was good, if tiring. We went to Samsonville on Saturday, made a round trip to Long Island on Christmas Eve, got back just in time to go to midnight mass, had dinner at my sister's on Christmas, and came back to Castleton on Tuesday evening.

Anyway, the computer glitches prevented me from posting what I wanted yesterday; so they appear on the post above this one.