Sad news yesterday. Heidi, my parents' GSD, has cancer. Sounds like it is kidney cancer, which is what Rudy had. I thought he was young (9 at diagnosis, 10 when he died), but Heidi is only 5. They got her from German Shepherd Rescue two years ago, shortly after their 8 year old GSD died - of cancer. Mandy was also from GSD Rescue. They've had three dogs die too young from cancer in the past seven years - Hobo, a Doberman who one of the best dogs to ever live, died in 2004 of bone cancer when he was 8. He was diagnosed at age 7. Six years ago, my Rudy died. Why are all these dogs getting cancer and dying too young?

I was thinking they've had three dogs in the past seven years, when sometimes you can go twice that long or more, having the same dog. My Penny lived to be 16 1/2, and Howie lived to be 15 1/2. Sophie is 12 right now, the upper range for a Basset (and she's doing great since her surgery in November). It's kind of strange, but in both Sophie's (especially) and Howie's cases, I have and had to fuss over them their entire (long) lives, because they were sickly - while Rudy was the picture of health, energetic and shiny almost right up until he died (too young) - hardly a moment of worry. But that was true even more of Penny, and look how long she lived.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

This morning, I received official notification of my grant. Yay!

Just now, I took some soda and seltzer to the conference room where I will be having a meeting this afternoon to put it in the fridge – I decided to put it in the crisper drawer – as I was fitting in the last six pack, one of the cans of ginger ale came loose, hit the floor, and as in Murphy’s Law, it opened up and sprayed me in the face, all over my pants, shoes, socks. I am soaked with soda, as if someone hit me with a hose. It only went on my shirt a little, but my pants are ridiculously wet. 

Thankfully my pants are black, if they weren’t I think I’d have to go to Stuyvesant Plaza and buy a new pair. But I am very sticky!! Ugh. I hope once it dries it is not so uncomfortable. Why couldn't it have been a can of seltzer?

As I was attempting to blot it up with paper towels in the bathroom, all I could do was laugh.  Spring semester 2011 ends with a flourish!

My last day of classes for Spring '11. The evening class applauded me! So I applauded them. It was a good semester. Tomorrow I am back on campus, no classes to teach, but a full day of meetings. Then...grading, grading, grading, straight until May 16. Ugh. Stay tuned! I will "steal" time here and there, I promise.

One aspect of not reading the newspaper or watching TV news is that you can be out of the loop...last night I was reading Mark Twain's autobiography, and didn't go on the computer or check my b'berry either so I didn't catch the info. on my fb feed. Missing such big news isn't making me reconsider my moratorium - it really doesn't matter that I didn't know about OBL until this morning.

After the battery recharged yesterday I did manage to get the weed whacking done, and also a little yard clean up. However anything more will have to keep until after grades are done :-(.

A day of pet peeves!

1. As a result of Bob's nearly endless surgeries, two years ago I took over the job of cutting the grass inside our fenced yard. (We have a landscaper cut the area outside the fence.) Bob is well now and could resume mowing duty, but he doesn't seem inclined. Maybe he knows how much I like doing it?

So today I ventured out for the first time this season. I have a sweet little Black and Decker battery powered weed whacker that I love, it works like a charm. It takes two batteries to finish the yard, and I always have one fully charged and installed, and the back up one in the charger, ready to go.

I did the pre-mowing poop patrol. Not the big job of the season, I did that early this year - back in March when there was still some snowy patches here and there. We had a warm day. No words can really describe the job, but if you are interested for some reason, you can read more about my annual spring task here. Since that post was written, I resolved to never let it go again, I would brave a blizzard. But that's an easy resolution during a mild winter. So that went by the wayside, I wasn't able to keep up with it, and it was an awful job this year.

I collected the toys Sam has left out in the yard recently. I fished my weed whacker out of the shed, and fired it up. Of course, after a winter of sitting in the shed, the battery still had some juice, but not much. No biggie. Normally, I would put on the fresh one from inside, and start re-charging the dead one.

Guess again. The charger had been unplugged and moved at some point since last fall - probably to plug in the vacuum cleaner or radio, and that battery was also almost dead. I managed to edge around the patio and mow maybe 1 foot of yard. What a disappointment! Now it will probably rain for a week.

2. Since good weather has arrived, we've been taking the dogs for a long walk in the cemetery behind our house a few times per week, time- and weather-permitting. This is something that we haven't done in two years, (again) due to those endless surgeries. I can't handle both dogs at the same time. Sam can be a handful - he likes to move right along!, Sophie likes to go very slowly and sniff every inch, and with my bad ankle, I'd surely fall as I was pulled in two directions.

They love it, and it's good for us, too. We always take along one or two Stewart's bags each (is poop the theme today or what). I don't ever throw anything on the ground, and I certainly would not leave behind dog crap. But it seems to me that the other folks who walk dogs in the cemetery do not share my perspective. I don't remember this being true in the past. At first I thought it was because of the winter, maybe people were more careless in bad weather, and once the spring clean up took place, everyone would be respectful. That isn't the case. I see fresh loads all over (and so does Sophie!). Clean up you slobs!

3. I wouldn't leave the poop but I am going to leave the theme! Today church was very crowded. There were some kids who made their first communion. That's wonderful, it is always nice to see the little kids all dressed up and excited.

I knew immediately that something was going on because when I opened the door, it was very noisy. Every spring, this event is celebrated at Mass, but for some reason this year, there were many more extended family and friend guests there to witness it, and it seemed as if the majority of these people either had never been inside of a church before and had no clue what was going on, or if they had, they resented being there. Either way, they talked constantly, didn't lean forward or pull down the kneeler so that others could kneel, fussed with their kids, constantly going to the bathroom, switching places in the row, etc. I didn't notice any smartphones, but after a while, I was kind of numb from the din and the camera flashing. I know we're supposed to be as welcoming and nonjudgmental as possible, and to be happy that newcomers attended. I am - or I guess I try, but it is hard sometimes. Instead I just aim for being tolerant.

It isn't that I want to judge people who don't attend regularly or at all, or who have different religious traditions. It's that when you go to a religious service, even if it is unfamiliar and/or you are a nonbeliever, it is important to follow the behavior norms. You don't have to say the prayers or sing the songs or give money. But you should sit quietly and not disturb others. I've been to many different services that were not from my own tradition, and I have always tried to behave politely. I mean, it isn't as if you are forced to go. If it is going to be torture for you, if you must chat constantly, smart phone, run around the aisles, etc. then decline the invitation and stay home. Maybe just show up for the luncheon afterwards, the way people sometimes do for wedding receptions.

Anyway, I have joked to Bob about having lecture center type seminars for children on various subjects. For instance, for kids who are TV addicts and can't sit still in school, just show continuous Dora or Baby Einstein videos. I am not being serious, naturally, but we have fun laughing about it. So today, I told him that I have an idea for a new seminar, but this one would be for adults: "How to behave in church."

4. This made me glad I canceled the "paper."  With friends like this, who needs enemies? Yeah, thanks TU. We'll take it from here.

"Big day" went well! Yay.

End of the semester is always a rush. The Thursday night class is over. Well, all except the final and the evaluation, that is.

I've been playing around with prezi. My goal was to make one before the semester ended, and I did: Educational Technology. It's an interesting process. I think simply converting from powerpoint is not a good idea. You need to completely re-think.

For some reason, the second video link (ABC News) doesn't work right, even though the url is correct; it must be a glitch in prezi. Here's the link: Too Much Technology?

So hot tonight. Winter to Summer, no need to pause!

Machines fried in S'ville again. Sigh.

Big day tomorrow. (Actually I guess it already is tomorrow, but I am burning the midnight oil as usual.) Wish me luck!

This is awesome! I worked across from that building for nearly 10 years. At first the store was in business; every time I went in there (more than you might think considering it was an electrical supply) I would think, "what a charming old space." Then it went out of business and was vacant, and I kept hoping something else would open up. A museum far exceeds my expectations :-). An Irish heritage museum is perfect for downtown Albany.

I'd never been to Holy Thursday service before last night. It was very serious and ritualized. Not that I expected anything else, but for a religion that is already quite ritual intense, that's saying something. The experience lingered on my mind for quite some time afterward. Glad I finally went. Happy Easter.

I've been working on some qualitative analysis, and have been having fun with wordle. I decided to see what I was writing about in March '11:

And nine years ago, in March '02, when I started this blog:

I know I should crop the images, but I'm pressed for time at the moment and it isn't that important.

Going to triduum service this evening...it's a long time coming. Two years, to be exact. In '09, this was the first day of Bob's illness, and although we planned to go to the service that night, we instead spent the night in the emergency room. Last year, there was Bob's fourth surgery.

Finally - this is great news! What an incredible business success story. Go Chobani!

So excited and happy!! Found out today that I am getting a grant!

Next Spring, If I’m Alive
Original draft April 5, 2003; latest revision 2009

Outside the living room window, there is a pussy willow tree that is just beginning to bud. It is now encased in a coating of ice, as is everything else. It looks like it might be January out there, except that in January there were two feet of snow.

Ten years can seem like a long time ago, or a moment. On this day in 1993, my maternal grandmother, Mimmie died. When I think of the things that have happened in the past decade: graduate school, job changes, building a weekend house, the growing up of nieces and nephews, adopting pets, getting published for the first, second, tenth time, it seems like a lifetime. But when I think of Mimmie, of the other people who have passed on, and the animals who have gone over the trail, it seems like yesterday. "Next spring, if I'm alive," she would say every year, when she talked about gardening plans. So I guess her leaving in the spring was somehow appropriate.

One of my most prized possessions is a gorgeous antique bookcase that was Mimmie's. In my lifetime she used it to store utility items on the back porch. It was painted green and sat next to the springy wooden screen door that creaked when you opened it. The porch at the old place had the fragrance of mildew mingled with cats. It may seem strange to choose the word "fragrance" to describe the odor but in my memory it wasn't unpleasant. My front porch here in Castleton smells much the same way, which could be another reason I like this funny little house. But open my front door and the scent of "hound" may knock you down; this wasn't the case at Mimmie's.

Ma remembers that Mimmie cut the bookcase in half during the 1940s, so that it would fit in the living room at the house in West Shokan where they lived at that time. The woodstove may be what happened to its other half, sacrificed for an apple pie and a pot of baked beans. In the 1970s, a couple of years before Mimmie moved from the old place to her trailer, my mother stripped the green paint away and revealed solid oak. My growing collection of novels replaced the paint cans on its four shelves.

It sits now in my living room, and holds my finest books. The top two shelves are devoted to Mark Twain, and should he need more space, the others will be gradually evicted. There is one shelf for a set of his complete works, and one shelf for miscellaneous copies of his books. I've never formally studied Mark Twain. His books were not assigned in high school, and I never took a college class that included his work either. Regardless, you might say I'm enamored with the subject. Just some examples of my collection: I have six copies of various editions of Life on the Mississippi and four copies of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; one of those copies of Huck Finn is from 1948. I have A Horse's Tale from 1907, A five volume set of his more popular works from 1917, A 2001 copy of A Murder, a Mystery and A Marriage, and two versions of his two volume set autobiography from 1925.

The bottom shelf houses The International Cyclopaedia (1892); the third shelf contains various hardcover books, including Lincoln by Gore Vidal, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, some Georgette Heyer novels that were gifts from Aunt Jean and have been worthy of a place in the oak bookcase since it became mine in high school, several dictionaries, and books about Mark Twain written by different scholars.

From my later studies I know this handsome furniture is Federal-style. Sometimes I notice the still-rough end and I lament that Mimmie sawed this piece in two. Then I assess the size of the room and realize that it wouldn't fit anywhere if it was still intact.

I suppose the cold weather will be gone soon enough, the pussy willow will thaw, and my thoughts will go from reading and books to outdoor pursuits. Looking ahead to late spring and early summer, I eagerly anticipate strawberry season. Mimmie didn’t like to go many places, but she did enjoy strawberries picking; in fact, she even liked it more than she feared snakes. In my mind’s eye I can see her, wearing sneakers and a house dress, carefully navigating the rows, carting quarts of perfect berries, making sure that she didn’t step on any plants. She looked frail, but somehow strong at the same time. Mimmie never gave into temptation as the rest of us did, by sampling the berries while out in the field. That was due more to the fact that insects may have been on them at some point, than to a concern about pesticides. And if she discovered later that a bug had gotten into one of her quarts, she’s have to throw the whole thing out.

“Next spring, if I’m alive,” she’d say afterwards, her blue eyes sparkling as she looked off into the distance, as if she could see all the way until the following June, “I’m only going to pick medium sized red-orange ones, instead of ripe ones. They’re rotten by the time you get them home.  And the big ones look nice but they’re tasteless.” In my memory, no matter what berries she used, Mimmie’s strawberry jam was never tasteless.


Added 2011: Recently my mother acquired a chair of Mimmie's that had been stored in a barn since the 1940s. Nearby items had been damaged by the passing of time and a leaky roof, but this chair is still sturdy. It's also quite plain; my mother and her brother called it "the electric chair," and that's a pretty good description. They would sit in it and act out getting fried. This is probably because Mimmie was fascinated by true crime, and told them about cases where the perpetrator, such as Chester Gillette, got the death penalty. The electric chair is painted the same green that my bookcase was!

While browsing around in some folders I rarely use on my main PC's desktop, I located this document that I assembled when I was doing research on my alma mater's founding. A couple of days ago a FB friend created a private group for alumni from every year, kind of ironic. So many people are popping up in the feed. Anyway, I created this from Elwyn's diary.

1949 JANUARY 12 Wednesday  16/7am 32/12pm Mostly cloudy, wind light.  Cold raw weather.  Moderating at evening, with light snow flurries. Did usual chores, sent Ulster Co News copy to Lewis Bell, Cornelia.  This pm mulched Ollie Burgher's strawberry patch with 3 dray loads pine boughs, also brought home load green firewood. Tonight I took Mort & Mary Roe & Ollie to Parish Hall in Phoenicia for Centralized School meeting vote on the purchase of 34 ¾ acres of land owned by Leonard Colange for Onteora Centralized School site at Boiceville - Big crowd present.  The vote was 272 in favor 87 against.


1950 APRIL 14  Friday  26/7am 32/12pm Arrived snowy and ground white (7 1/2" fall reported in Schnectady)  The ground was white with heavier fall up the valley, continued along rather blizzardy toward noon, then broke away & sunny pm.  Raw cold day northerly wind.  I went to Phoenicia this am with Joe Steinlauf, Lester S. Davis & Joe Winkler as bearers at Catholic Church funeral 11 oco for the late Gene Lohrs sister. Interment in Allaben Catholic Cemetery - only 3 members of the family made trip up from city.  There was about 3" snow on cemetery.  This pm I took load wood up for Ollie. This evng I took Mort & Mary Roe, Ollie to the $1,850,000 bond issue vote at Phoenicia Parish Hall, for the Onteora Central School at Boiceville. Proposition heavily carried - 968 to 231.  After voting we saw the picture, a musical comedy, Nancy Goes to Rio


1953 January 5, Monday — 16 degrees at 7 AM   22 at 12 PM. Pretty cold night and a cold raw day with PM snow flurries & southerly wind. Starlight and later moonlight evening & stilled. Did daily chores & odd jobs. The West Shokan Fire Dept had an early PM call to dangerous chimney fire in the nearing factory room addition at Peter Bitterman's residence, the former Abram B Winchell place. An over heated coal fire cracked the flue entrance to chimney and caused rustic log effect siding to take fire.. This evening Ollie and I went to Phoenicia & saw Stars and Stripes Forever, vividly depicting the musical career of the famous band leader John Philip Sousa. The cafeteria at the Onteora Central School opened in charge of Mrs Lester Barringer.

I am cold today (not complaining). So I was curious about the weather in various years:

1920 April 16, Friday — Cloudy –  threatening, squally this AM & evng. Run the mill, sawed 3304 ft.


1934 April 16, Monday — Another dismal drenching rain nearly all day. While I was writing news this AM Daisy was doing the chores and in throwing hay for the horses in Aunt Cornelia’s barn fell in the hay chute & hurt her side badly under right arm. She had a hard day and night. Rec’d card Mariam, also wrote one. Harlow McLean & Will Jordan called. I wrote another Freeman copy tonight. Rebekah box party evng at Mr & Mrs Ayers at Brodhead.


1941 APRIL 16  Wednesday. Partly cloudy- Continued summer weather - Winds westerly to north.  Gave my car a good washing am - Daisy and I strung fence wire pm.  Mother attended Ladies Aid at church - This evng in company with Arthur Trowbridge and his car, Will Gordon, Frank Booth & Harlowe McLean, attended annual session of I.O.O.F. Ulster District Grand Comm. At William H. Raymond Lodge No59, Saugerties. Ernest Shirmer of Catskill Mtn Lodge No48 named District Deputy. I was re-elected Sec y but salary cut from $50 to $25 annually. Second anniversary of M J Every's funeral

1956 APRIL 16 Monday. Rainy night and continued till 10am. Very dark this am but brightened and warmer - followed by intermittent downpours. Sun broke thru briefly early pm & thermometer went up in early 70.  Thunder shower banged around south east. Did chores & finished splitting & piling up the slab wood under shed.  Rec'd letter from Mariam in Brooklyn - she & Bob had been cleaning out the house basement - with its memories.

1975 April 16, Wednesday   43 at 7 AM   50 at 9 PM. Continued chilly with variable cloudiness. Sun shone warm, continued PM. Hazy starlight & growing crescent moon over south mountain evng. Finished a letter to Mariam. Buddy Eckert came PM & cut up the rest of the hams. Then took Ollie and I to Boiceville to hardware store where I bought parsnip seed and ------?  114 paid,. also got case Town Port at Al Higleys pkg. store $15.00 paid. Later Buddy & Marty Warnes came & fired off my old flint lock rifle, also Marty’s 357 magnum colt revolver. Ollie & I had good supper first & then to bed at 9 o’clock. I also roto tilled in the garden till hands got cold.

Lots of variety in the weather! It's easy to get lost in reading the diaries, something like doing a google search! Before you know it hours have gone by. But I just have to include this wonderful piece that I ran across, written by Elwyn in 1934:

Record Cold

This generation has not experienced such cold as we have seen this winter. The memories of our oldest inhabitants and the records of the United States weather bureau agree that 34 degrees below zero is something worth remembering as no such figures are on the records or in memories of our people. Last week Cooperstown’s official weather bureau thermometer hit 34 below. At the Beatty farm in Hurley it was 33 below and from all sections of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain area figures approximating these reach us. In the effort to heat houses many homes were destroyed by fire. Hospitals in all sections had victims of frost bite and some of these were serious, a few requiring amputations of fingers and toes. Water pipes generally were frozen. Coal men were kept jumping and oil companies busy with fuel oil deliveries as the weather exacted a heavy toll from the fuel supply. At White Lake a large home was destroyed by fire. Many fires occurred in the Catskill mountain region and at Palenville one of the most disastrous fires in its history ravaged a large section. In Delaware and Greene and Sullivan counties fires were numerous. Kingston city’s fire department last week was busy with four or five calls a day although none were sizeable.


This is a winter to remember. It comes after a series of mild and temperate ones during which men worked out doors much of the time and the river has been open with ferries running. This winter has seen a tie up of ferries at Poughkeepsie and Catskill and Kingston and the Newburgh ferries have had the battle of their careers as ice almost 20 inches thick had to be cut through. Yes, we have had a real old fashioned winter such as we can talk about a few years hence.

Using the " tool in a post always screws up the formatting in other ways, but here goes...

Great news for Chenango County! Also for agriculture in upstate New York. Chobani is simply the best yogurt, whether Greek or regular. The trouble right now is that demand is so high that there is a shortage; both Hannaford and Price Chopper often have empty shelves or at most, a limited selection. This is true nationwide. Apparently they are working 24/7 to try to keep up, but they are going to have to expand (which I guess is in the works). You go, Cho!

This is outrageous. Why is this still the plan? This story bothered me when I saw the original report yesterday, so I'm glad the victim is not advocating for euthanasia. Now she should sabotage the trap when she gets home. Here's one place to save money in the DEC budget: Leave the bear alone!

I promised more to come about the Pinocchio and Geppetto picture, but didn't write anything. Those two marionettes belonged to my sister and brother. Geppetto was hers, Pinocchio was his. I loved them, though, possibly more than they did.  Not sure, because they are dear to us all. I'm guessing they are about 45 years old, give or take a year or so.

Pinocchio was my favorite book. My father would work the puppets, acting out the story and other adventures, making up dialogue between them, he even made a wooden puppet stage and other props for them. I remember how I protested when they had to go to sleep in their shoe box home at night, to have their strings untangled the following day.

In this picture they have just had a bath, and are waiting for string detangling. At some point, Pinocchio's nose broke off, and my father repaired it with plastic.

Over the years those two acquired some peers: a pair of puppets my brother got in Mexico, and a space man complete with green light bulb head that my father made as part of a Halloween costume. The puppet who wanted to be a real boy and his woodcarver father expanded their repertoire and came to America. In the company of the new marionettes, they made a few appearances on a cardboard stage that once was a washing machine box, taking part in a parody of a show on the Nashville Network.

 

I saw this on facebook and just had to post it here. It's great!

Spring break has started for me. It's really ridiculous that we have a week off and then there will be a week and a half of classes, followed by finals. I don't see the point in having it so late this semester. I have a long to do list, and as always I resolve to not be in bad shape with grades when the semester ends. So far, so good,  I have been very much on task, which is why I have not spent a lot of time writing here.

I had to clear my plate so I could do the taxes on Wednesday. I finished, printed them yesterday, and mailed them this morning. As I was addressing the envelopes last night, I discovered we actually have until Monday. It's a good thing I didn't know that Tuesday, or I surely would have procrastinated on doing them until the weekend at the earliest. May even have let it slide until Monday and pushed the deadline. So it's a relief to be done before the 18th.

It is such an unpleasant task every year. I had to clear out the office somewhat to do it, but that actually is a benefit. It was long past due, and so it was good to be forced to get organized. Then, it isn't the math and forms that I find unpleasant. I actually enjoy analytical tasks (provided they don't go on so long that my head is numb and my vision is blurry*); it's the realization of how much is paid in total. It isn't just confronting income taxes (which are extreme). It is also the real estate taxes that you add up to see if itemizing is necessary, the rest of the taxes (such as sales, excise, motor vehicle, utility...) and the fees for Medicare and Social Security (luckily I am getting old enough now that I think I just may see some benefits if I ever get to retire...as a younger person I was a little afraid that would not be the case but it looks like us tail-end boomers might just be safe...with the increased retirement age, of course) that aren't a part of the tax calculation but inevitably jump to mind during the process of eating, sleeping, breathing taxes for an entire day. It boggles the mind.

I appreciate many common goods (I'm a product of public education, love the public parks and who doesn't benefit from roads?) and have devoted most of my life to the public sector, so I'm hardly an anti-tax advocate. I know firsthand that there are many good works and hard workers. I'm not much of a materialist, but my running joke is that my job is practically volunteer work. (At the same time, I don't claim to be anything but privileged and I'm grateful.) But it is hard to deny that between all the people getting hand-outs (deserved or undeserved), all the people who cheat on their taxes (understandable or criminal), all the loopholes for some (quasi-legitimate or not), and the various wasteful and unethical things that politicians and government at all levels do (which I have seen), it's such an enormous burden for the rest of us who don't qualify, won't cheat and can take advantage of very few loopholes.

*The actual paperwork has improved a lot with the advent of PDF files that could be filled in and saved. Bravo! But the instructions for each line remain (choose one): A) cryptic B) esoteric C) vindictive D) all of these.

Pinocchio and Geppetto, two beloved marionettes from my favorite story. More to come, stay tuned!

In the past week or so I've had inspiration for two terrific fiction story ideas. (Both science fiction, which is odd since I rarely write in that genre.) I also have a nonfiction story brewing, and in fact, the research and pitching will take priority over either of the fiction stories. There is some time pressure involved with the nonfiction piece, and also, it is a sure sale. I might even be able to sell it to a market that is a reach for me (although I am still leaning toward going with the comfortable place that has been good to me over the years). Summer break approaches - that's when I have some time to write. Hopefully I can get in all three stories this year. As well as finish the Mark Twain book! But right now, my other obligations are calling.

Just what we need. I've written a couple times over the years about the posters the vandalism is satirizing, and recently, about Kegs and Eggs. If the vandals had printed up flyers and tacked them on bulletin boards, I would laugh and say "very clever" (even though I understand the reasons for canceling Fountain Day and have never really been a fan of it). But spray painting a bunch of columns on the podium? That just brings more negative publicity to the university (it gave the TU an excuse to link to all the bad articles they published over the past month), and makes students look like disrepectful jerks.

There is a strange vibe on campus this semester. What is driving it? Bad publicity? Cancellation of Fountain Day and that weird student protesting? Long, hard winter? State budget cuts for SUNY? Price of gas? Struggling economy creating fears of entering job market? Japanese earthquake and tsunami? Middle East unrest and Libya?

I mentioned it in class yesterday. I've had some feedback that there are students who are not comfortable sharing in discussion this semester, in both of the upper division on campus sections. The tone is different in each class, but it is kind of a common thread. I changed the online discussion component this semester quite significantly, and I wonder if that has had an impact. It is quite a bit more intense. I generally perceive that as a good thing, but if it inhibits some students then I have to do something to change the atmosphere.

Then, a student committed suicide in a dorm on Saturday, that's the second freshman this semester to take that action. I was giving out numbers to contact for help. (I didn't do this in my upper division classes after the first incident in February, although I did in the lower division class since there are so many freshmen in it, but the feeling right now is that even students who did not know the person may be affected.) I don't know that the unsettled atmosphere I sense had anything to do with it, probably not. The pressure of school work, perhaps grades lower than expected, homesickness, a broken heart or other personal issues are more common causes, I suspect.

I noticed this in today's newspaper. No evidence? Or is the AG not looking very hard? Maybe no one is talking? They sure weren't too careful a couple of years ago, when I was in Empire, browsing the NYS wines. I asked a man who worked there (not one of the young clerks, based on what he said he must have been more involved in the business, perhaps the manager or owner) whether they carried one of my favorite Finger Lakes wines, Fox Run?

He said no, and he wouldn't be carrying it ever because the vintner supported changing the law so that wine can be sold in supermarkets. He said why shouldn't liquor store owners punish them for that position by refusing to sell their wine? The way he said it sounded like he expected me to be sympathetic, which I am not.

I love Fox Run, have even visited the winery. It is extremely hard to find in the Capital District, and maybe that's why. It makes me mad to think that some type of orchestrated effort on the part of store owners is harming Fox Run.

I would also really like the convenience of wine in the grocery store. I'm sure it would generate tax revenue, and be good for the agricultural sector. I think it is a win-win all around.

I said nothing to the guy at Empire, but I was extremely uncomfortable. It seems so inappropriate for a store owner to spout off politically to a customer. I happen to know that liquor stores mostly make a fortune. And while I might be able to gin up some sympathy for a mom and pop operation on Main Street, I feel not a bit of concern for a behemoth like Empire. Sure, it is extremely competitive both in price and selection. Efficient place, hard not to be impressed when you go there.

But it is doing to small local stores what big boxes did to smaller retailers - weakening them, putting some on the verge of going out of business. So why would I feel bad if supermarkets competed with Empire? What goes around comes around, if you ask me. The icing on the cake is that it would benefit the NYS wine industry.

So I don't buy that there was no evidence. Something else is going on, likely something borderline unethical. The liquor store lobby is more powerful than the wineries. That's too bad.

Busy! Very steadily - keeping up with it.

I switched my cumbersome, time consuming, draining assessment process to an online data entry tool. So students will enter a few pieces of data each, saving me from entering it for 100. I'm excited and nervous at the same time - excited to save the time and be more efficient, nervous about whether it will work - and how well.

Some other stuff going on too, teaching-wise. It will keep.

I saw this link on the homepage of the TU and wondered what perspective it would take, and also whether it would mention this opposing view. Well, the answer is, "big fan," and "no." I wonder whose viewpoint is more worthy on this subject, the arts and entertainment editor, or the executive director of the humane society?

Poor Vesta. Why can't she sleep wherever she wants?

I think if you have ever had the experience of a heavy heart, while stroking your beloved elderly pet and begging him or her to eat just a little more, you would feel nothing but joy when your enthusiastic, happy dog or cat eagerly takes his or her bowl.

"In his live show, however, he takes that criticism further by indicting all American culture. Growing up in Mexico, he said, he never knew about Santa Claus, but arriving in America, he saw dogs waiting in line for Santa.

“Dogs in Mexico are skinny,” he said, “but they don’t have psychological problems.”

What an unbelievably offensive remark!

First, mentioning malnourished dogs as a throw away remark is acceptable, as if it was of no importance compared to dogs who are taken for a picture with Santa? What was his take on a couple of other things that are more common in Mexico - say, stray dogs? Or homeless litters of puppies? But oh my, the horror of a dog who barks at visitors when they arrive! Why isn't "it" chained to a coop and cowering in fear as you approach with "its" daily ration of kibble?

And just so you don't think I am only about snoozing on couches and squeaky toys and wagging tails, I consider barking to alert me about things to be part of a dog's job.

Second, I'd say he's done pretty well by American culture, wouldn't you? Despite having no credentials, he is on a television show where he is paid wheelbarrows of money for lecturing people about how to exercise a power trip over their dog, and I am thrilled every time mine greet me when I arrive home from work. In fact, to maximize excitement, I say "I'm home! I'm home!" while calling out their names as I unlock the door. Who is the more egregious example of disgusting American culture - me or the celebrity?

There are rumors of "rogue" Fountain Days popping up (how can it be FD without the fountain?) and now this. LOL. He surely was only after publicity, which he got. It's all over the papers and on television too. I hope this dude never enrolls in one of my classes.

On a completely different note, there are no words to express what I feel about this, but I'll try: Heartbreaking, heroic, and scum.

Great cartoon.

I believe a protest is planned for tomorrow. Here's what I wrote to students who were commenting on Fountain Day's cancellation in our online discussion forum for class:

Earlier today I received a follow up email from the provost, asking faculty to dialogue with students if the issue of canceling Fountain Day came up, so here goes.

I can understand the disappointment of students over this, especially among seniors for whom this would have been the last Fountain Day (although I understand that it will be the last for a while anyway, since the large fountain is going to be renovated for the next few years). I can also understand, after the very severe winter we've had this year, that Fountain Day may have been more anticipated than usual.

I have to do full disclosure a this point, however, and tell you that I have never been a fan of Fountain Day. Not because I am shocked by the antics of students (I am not), not because I am "square" (most definitely not, quite the opposite, in fact), and not because I always promote the "company line" of administrators (I certainly don't).

But I do remember it from '04, the last time it was held on a weekday, in the year when UA was designated #1 Party School by Princeton Review. It was a fiasco, almost on the level of Kegs and Eggs, and resulted in very bad publicity, injuries, and hospital visits. There was no point in holding class, it was so noisy and chaotic and everyone skipped anyway.

I have never attended it on a weekend, but my sense is that it has calmed down somewhat.

My understanding from the provost's email is that the cancellation is not intended as punishment for the majority of students who did not participate in Kegs and Eggs at all, nor for most of the participants who were bystanders and did not smash cars or televisions or throw litter and mouth of to cops, and not even for the jerks who did commit vandalism and get arrested.

It is intended to send a message that the university takes responsibility for what happened, even if it was off campus and attended by some who were not UA students (although I think we all know that many were UA folks), and it is also to avoid additional bad press. Fountain Day this year would be covered even more extensively than it has in the past, with the media and onlookers documenting and widely publicizing every single offense. That's the last thing UA needs right now.

While it is true that I thought the reaction of some to Kegs and Eggs was overblown and hysterical (figuring this too shall pass, in terms of the negative PR), the provost's email is quite persuasive:

"It is important for all of us to be aware that since March 12, the University has received an overwhelming number of e-mails and phone calls from individuals including alumni, community members, parents, prospective employers and admissions recruiters. Unfortunately, there is a general misperception that UAlbany students indulge in excessive alcohol consumption and are not responsible citizens. While we may know this is not the case, Fountain Day places the University at risk of feeding this misperception because of the contingent of students who use the day as an excuse to engage in irresponsible behavior. This behavior compromises everyone's safety, tarnishes our reputation and diminishes the value of a UAlbany degree." 

It will be interesting to see how many protest. I won't be on campus tomorrow, so keep me posted. Considering a war in Libya, a tragedy of massive proportions in Japan, and looming State budget cuts that will undoubtedly impact the university, it is important to put things in perspective. What I mean is there are many worse things in life than Fountain Day being canceled.

The university has canceled Fountain Day this year due to Kegs and Eggs. Then, in 2012 the large fountain is going to be renovated, so it may be a couple of years before there could be another Fountain Day. I think it is probably necessary to cancel it this year, even though it would have been the last one for a while. Not really as punishment - after all, the majority of students did not damage cars, mouth off to cops, litter the streets and throw televisions out of second story windows - but more as a message to the community that the university is serious about taking responsibility for the irresponsible behavior, even if it was off campus.

Fountain Day used to be a weekday - it was so out of control that there was no point in holding class. One year there were so many injuries and alcohol poisening incidents that required medical attention that they moved it to a Sunday and made it more "official." That was a big relief to me - I hated it when it was a Tuesday.

That semester - Spring 2004 - stands out for me, since my afternoon class was terrible. I couldn't stand it, was so happy when it was over. I resolved never to write a letter of recommendation for any student who was in the class, and surprise, surprise - no student ever asked me, so I didn't have the satisfaction of refusing.

This past Fall was the next time I had an afternoon class that I would consider "less successful" than usual. There were many better students than in Spring '04, but there was a large enough number of irritants to make me glad when the class ended.

I was also involved in a couple of other classes that Spring '04 semester that were large sections, team taught. There were some issues with them, but it would be hard to blame it all on students with less than serious attitudes. The team teaching structure, the large size were probably bigger factors.


Finally, the only other semester that stands out for me in that same way as Spring '04 was Spring 2006, although it was my Toleration class that time around. That semester, there was a large group of seniors within the class who did not take it seriously at all. It had the atmosphere of middle school.

I don't feel that way about this semester, so far it is going well, but the Fountain Day / Party School / Kegs and Eggs fiascos are making me wonder if there is a similarity between the time periods? (In attitude of students - they vote for the party school label, it isn't some sort of scientific survey, after all.)

Added: Bob thinks it is the bad economy. Our college experience was during the late 1970s, similar times to now in that sense. I think he may be right.

Doing to kegs 'n' eggs what I mentioned Oneonta did after the Halloween revelry. I hope it has the side benefit of improving the Spring academic calendar. This year the stretch between winter break and spring break is too long, and it is ridiculous that there is only a bit more than a week after Spring break before classes end for the semester.

One more post that has to do with the kegs 'n' eggs fiasco. Last night it came up in class. The students had a much more insightful, close and nuanced view of being a bystander and diffusion of responsibility across a mob than ever before. Another example that social aspects of school are very influential. (Food for thought.)

I know it's a day past St. Patrick's Day but I had to link to this by my favorite Capital District writer. There will surely be a few appreciative Sound Off calls over it.

It's been a couple weeks since my print subscriptions expired, and I miss the Record more than the TU. I've subscribed to Dear Abby, Annie's Mailbox and a few comic strips, so aside from the "experience" of reading the morning paper, I'm not missing those. (Admittedly, there is something tangible and material about paper with A.M. coffee that the e-world can never replace.) 

In terms of content, Sound Off and John Gray's Wednesday column are two of the reasons I miss the Record more, but there are a few others; the website of the TU is much better, so it is an (almost) exact replacement (and it is a lot more expensive to subscribe), I love the size of the print Record, the comics layout is better in the Record (and it is in color), and finally, the TU's articles irritate me more.

That didn't start out to be the object of this post! My recent posts have (mostly) focused on students and the media acting foolishly over an event that was sparked by St. Patrick's Day (kegs and eggs). I'm inspired by the linked column's proud take on heritage to write about my connection to being Irish. You'd never know it, but I'm 1/4. Mimmie was 100%.

It's funny, but each of my grandparents had an impact on me. I write "funny" because I never knew my paternal grandparents who immigrated from Sicily and Italy, they died long before I was born, when my father was a small child. But I have my grandfather's surname and my grandmother's looks. Then, my maternal grandfather died when I was 9. I was born when he was 88. But I do have some memories of him, and I grew up in his hometown, West Shokan. I am a member of the eighth generation of his family to live there.

Still, my maternal grandmother was the most influential of all my grandparents. She died when I was 31. I spent many, many nights with her when I was a teenager. All four of her grandparents immigrated from Ireland. She was proud of her Irish heritage, and had no patience for tired jokes about being Irish and drinking.  Her mother, she said, would not touch birch beer or root beer either, just because of the word “beer.” On the card for my 18th birthday she wrote:

“Want to wish you Happy Birthday for Tuesday.  Hope my card gets there on time.  Eighteen is a lovely age to be isn’t it.  Just think you are now your own boss.  Have a Happy Birthday Tuesday and don’t drink too much (champagne).  Suppose that is spelled wrong, but guess you will know what I mean.  That horrible tasting drink that they always have at weddings.”

Irish Soda Bread was being sold at the Kiwanis Club barbecue at the firehouse last weekend, and Teagan's served it with dinner last night. I was not really familiar with it, so was wondering if Mimmie had a recipe for it. I looked, and couldn't find anything. (Guess that's why I am not familiar with it!)


As a newlywed, Mimmie started writing recipes in a spiral-bound notebook. On the cover is taped an illustration of a kitchen by Maxwell Mays that looks much like Mimmie’s at the old house. At some point she labeled this notebook “Old Book.” The stained pages inside are written in fountain pen and long ago started to crumble. At one place, they were sewn by Mimmie to the binding, and the thread remains intact. This old book begins with a recipe for Irish Wedding Cake. She wrote on the page: “I started this cookbook in 1926. My first recipe was given to me by Gladys Fox.”


Irish Wedding CakeFlour    2 cups
Baking Soda    1 teaspoon
Butter    1 tablespoon
Cinnamon    1 teaspoon
Cloves    1 teaspoon
Egg    1
Molasses    1 cup
Boiling Water    1 cup
Sift dry ingredients, add remaining ingredients and beat all together. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes in loaf pan, or recipe can be used to make layer cake. Use white icing.

Last night Bob and I shared Irish Apple Cake for dessert. Here's Mimmie's recipe; this one is not from the 1926 notebook, but from a later recipe file box that she used:


Irish Apple Cake
Flour, sifted    3 cups
Sugar    3/4 cup
Salt    ½ teaspoon
Egg Yolks    3
Butter    1 cup
Lemon Rind, grated    from one lemon
Applesauce    1-3/4 cup
Cinnamon    ½ teaspoon
Cloves    1/4 teaspoon
Mix flour, sugar, salt, egg yolks, butter and lemon rind.  Divide mixture in two parts.  Press one part in bottom of pan.  Mix applesauce, cinnamon, cloves, and spread over mixture in pan.  Sprinkle rest of mixture over applesauce.  Bake at 350 degrees in a greased 9x9x1-3/4-inch pan for 40 to 45 minutes.  Top with whipped cream, if desired.

This is almost too good a story to be true. I assumed the students involved were juniors and seniors, 20 and 21 years old, but based on his age, it seems as if this kid is a freshman. I appreciate that he turned himself in (although it took the pictures in the paper and I suspect his dad's insistence to achieve that result).

Regardless, taking responsibility, as well as the consequences, are important. Maybe this will be the wake up call the young man needed. I hope so. I sincerely wish that it doesn't turn out that he gets off with no consequences, and learns that dad and a sharp lawyer can make any repercussions magically disappear. I don't want to be cynical, but I take a hard line on cheating for that very reason. Parents can be enablers. They think they are doing the loving thing, when really they are just spawning monsters who lack a moral compass. Maybe that isn't so in this case, but I've learned that the "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" cliche contains a lot more than a grain of truth.

However turning himself in, especially setting an example by being the first to do it - good sign.

Today as I walked to class on campus (outside for a change. What a beautiful day!) I overheard a few students on the podium talking about someone who was pictured coming forward. Maybe it was this specific student, but it could have been another, perhaps less famous? I didn't want to obviously eavesdrop, and I was in a hurry anyway, but I believe they mentioned something about being made an example?

Something else I've been meaning to write about: this yogurt. It's awesome! High protein, delicious, and made in central New York! I have been the company's facebook friend for a while, and have won three cases of it to date. Now that they are advertising on television, the friend list has expanded astronomically, and it isn't as easy to win. But no matter! It's still the best yogurt on the market. Go Chobani!

I've been meaning to write about this for the past few days, and have had this post in draft since yesterday...but no time to finish it. So here I am, at almost 1 am. 

On Saturday a bunch of (mostly) UA students participated in something called "kegs n' eggs" which apparently is some sort of annual event. I'd never heard of it before, but it is the morning of the city's St. Patrick's Day parade. I'm sure there is much partying every year, but this year it got out of hand, and the students damaged cars, threw televisions and other junk out of second story windows and harrassed some police officers, all the while taking pictures and video with their ever-present smart phones, and then plastering them all over the Internet. Dumb.

I didn't know this happened until Monday, when an email appeared in my in-box from the university president. Naturally, after I read it, I googled for video, and came across this site. But I hardly needed to surf, because I discovered there was extensive coverage in the Times Union, and not just news articles, but pictures, video links, and a large number of blog posts (including the ASP's). As usual, the bloggers couldn't resist this story, some even posting more than once or twice, and the comment community jumped on the bandwagon too - most ripping into the students (some way over the top), but a few defending them (generally for all the alleged money they bring into the economy). Plus there was this article today which is masquerading as news, but strikes me as an editorial. What gives?

I've received several emails this week that have left me shaking my head. First, there was the official one about the "riot" or whatever label is appropriate. Next, the Student Association emailed, asking us to mention in class this week's rally advocating for SUNY at the Capitol. It said that students might be coming around asking for a few minutes of class time, so they could recruit participants. I decided if a student appeared asking me that favor, I would say OK, but first you have to mention this event:

Alas, no one came, I should have known apathy would rule. Then, there was an email about a Community Day that was also scheduled for Friday. (I thought really? Is that the best timing?) Then, one about our annual April campus clean up day. (Again, is this good timing? Not for the event itself, but for the email announcing it?) There were emails about graduation and Fountain Day volunteers (are you kidding? That had to be moved to a Sunday because students got out of hand. When it was on a Tuesday, there was no point in holding class.) Today one arrived announcing the Community Day had been postponed, so that faculty and students could participate in the neighborhood clean-up. Someone finally got a clue!

All I can say is that we certainly partied hearty when I was in college, so I am not particularly shocked by all of the behavior. My observation is that many of my peers could drink today's lightweights under the table. "Locals" or "townies" or whatever they were called didn't like us much, either, although their biggest complaint was that we played loud music. And I think some students did puke in the streets on the way home from the bars (18 year old drinking age tends to keep partying more bar than house party focused...and no money for cars leads to a walking while drunk culture, not to DWI. Was "back in the day" better or is that old person talk?). 

There was one Halloween where a mob of students really got out of control and did vandalism to the campus bus. I did not participate in those antics, but I was downtown that Halloween. It created a big controversy, and after that, I believe the college had a break at Halloween, which completely stopped the foolishness. I am not sure why fake holidays such as Halloween and St. Patrick's Day cause such nonsense, but for some reason they do. The bus incident was bad, although I think the students who did it believed the bus to be "ours" and the acting out was directed at the college, not at the community.

They didn't overturn cars or throw televisions out of second story windows or mouth off to cops. (At least not when I was a witness, anyway.) And no one was stupid enough to be photographed or taped! Today everyone has a smart phone camera. You'd think the students would have enough sense to keep their faces off screen, or at least to delete what they captured afterward or only share it off-line. But today everything has to be documented on youtube and facebook and go viral, memory is just not enough.

Last Thursday, when the subject in one of my classes was ethics and academic dishonesty, and I cover the plagiarism episode in the student newspaper (see here), I mentioned some posters that have been distributed on campus for the past few years. I believe they came out of the effort to combat the image the university had after it won the Princeton Review #1 party school, and that's the reason I discussed the subject with students; the plagiarized story was about an alumni and student group's disgust with the party school label. 

Several messages are printed up every semester on posters, and pinned up all over the place on campus. They are statements that are based on the results of surveys of students. The current one says something like "70 percent of students report drinking 0-4 alcoholic drinks when at a bar." Whenever a new one comes out, the faculty with whom I chat laugh and laugh at the ridiculous messages. I've had students in my classes over the years tell me the statements are not supposed to be positive or negative, nor are they intended to be examples of good research - they are supposed to be dialogue starters. I am not sure the office that produces these posters realizes they are only wasting trees - they are not accomplishing any worthwhile discussion.

I could be wrong, but I have a sense that for many students who participated (maybe not as vandals, just those who were there partying in the crowd), it is a badge of honor. They are kind of proud, as if it gives them some sort of street cred. It's a pseudo-event; one of those incidents that goes down in school history for the next several years, it takes on a life of its own and becomes an urban legend, until the last participant has finished graduate school. The tale is told to new freshman every year, older students brag "I was here when the St. Patrick's Day riot happened" and the younger students lament that kegs 'n' eggs is now so tame or has been discontinued entirely. I felt the same thing after the party school ranking, and after the Fountain Day debacle too. It seems it is a lot cooler to imbibe too much, act like a jerk, have your photo taken as evidence and have it then make the news, than it is to be on the Dean's List or to volunteer at the soup kitchen.

This is not related, but another email I received was about how the university system is adopting that ugly logo I mentioned here.

Added: I'm not sure why the post starts out light and changes to a darker typeface. Too late to fool with it any longer!

I hate springing ahead! Seems we do it earlier than in the past...and wait longer to fall behind. Ugh. DST is fine in July. In March and November, not so much. Give me my hour back! It will take me weeks to get used to it.

I must have picked up another cold on campus last Thursday, because by that evening, I felt like crap. Friday I had unpleasant sinus symptoms. I'm still not sure if it was a cold or just my sinuses acting up, but since so many students on campus are sick, I'm leaning toward a cold. We didn't let it keep us from going to Samsonville. It was the first weekend we'd been there since Martin Luther King day weekend. The ride home on Sunday was a h-ll ride, pouring rain which turned to ice just as we arrived in Castleton. Monday was spent shoveling - the most difficult of the winter, believe it or not. Thick ice covered by heavy snow. It was like cement and had to be broken up first. It was cold and windy, too. What a winter! It is beautiful though.

I'd like to write more here on the subject of education. I share as much as I am comfortable with writing publicly. Sigh. Once again, I think about the paper journal of days gone by. Since 2002, when I started this blog, from time to time I've thought about trying the private approach again for some subjects, but I have not done it. The positives of this site are that I have continuously maintained it for nine years, and I think the longest break in posting has been a week. That's amazing.

I have never successfully done that with a private journal, whether paper volume or word processor document. I've kept a journal for various reasons and using different approaches throughout my life, until age 40, sometimes intensely writing regularly, while other times there would be long silences. In 2002 I started this blog, and since then the only private journal I have kept are from class observations (brief notes on student presentations and performance in my classes, and notes from my consulting about K-12).

The downside to this approach is that it is self-censored. So are private journals to some degree (at least after the age of 20 anyway) but it isn't anywhere near as much. It's funny because my audience is not large. Yet it still requires censoring.

There used to be a debate on blogs about whether the public nature was stifling, and if so, whether self-censoring was a good or bad idea. Was it necessary to do it? Did it stomp out "truth," however defined? Should a pseudonym be adopted? To me, then and now - that it is stifling is a no-brainer, but that can be both good and bad. Even when I wrote a private journal, I would ask myself if I was comfortable with someone finding it and reading it someday. While I definitely had more freedom to be expressive on all subjects using that tool, I did start leaving behind the teenage angst pretty quickly after considering the question. That was good. No one cares, not even me.

Stifling out voice, though, is another issue. That's bad. For instance, not writing on some subjects in education because of my professional responsibilities. This is similar but not quite the same as censoring details when writing a short story for print publication, to avoid hurting someone. Changing names to protect the guilty, so to speak. With the story you can craft it and claim fiction. That's not the case with a journal.

The debate seems settled at this point? I think most people have concluded good or bad it is necessary to self-censor, and that using a pseudonym is no guarantee of anonymity.

Have to write a midterm! Lots to do.

The subject in class this week is philosophy of education. I told one of my semi-tangent stories in class when I was explaining the Socratic method. I didn't talk about the Memorial Day parade or the band, I told them of not taking instrumental music and so landing in the feared and hated general music in junior high.

I also spoke a bit about inclusion. It isn't really part of the philosophy of education area - I cover inclusion during sociology of education. But it has been on my mind lately because I am observing elementary school classes. Educational research supports it, law requires it, and it is the company line. It does seem fair, when properly implemented (and incredibly misguided when implemented on the cheap).

Last night a student posed the question, could we be harming students' self-esteem with constructivism? The question captured what I have been thinking this week. Do inclusion classes need more structure? Is constructivism fair to kids with special needs? Is a disruptive atmosphere fair to the regular education students? What is the proper mix in terms of (so-called) "special" v. "regular?" How are the regular education students selected for placement? Randomly? Because they are nicer? Because their parents are more supportive or less involved? And the biggie, which is about philosophy (and sociology, and economics, and history, and policy)...are we replicating or changing society?

Yesterday was my first day back on campus after winter break, and since I rarely write posts when I am on campus, it passed by without my acknowledging that it was the ninth anniversary of this blog...or ejournal, as I've always preferred, while admitting long ago that the "b" word had won.

I seem to be having a relapse. I heard that was one of the downsides of using zinc. The cold subsides for a while then comes back. I have never been able to really try it before, since the pills make me throw up. This time I used Zicam, which made me nauseous, but not as bad as doxycycline - so I sprayed it four times. Seemed to work like a charm. I think I will never use it again! Better to tough it out immediately, than have it diminish the symptoms so quickly, only to have them linger for longer.

Anyway, I have been trying to do a few non-academic things during this break. That is made easier by being sick, because I feel less guilty. I still have some work that I must do. I have been chipping away at it, and I will continue to do so. But I refuse to spend the entire break on it. I have been reading - yay - and also, inspired by this post of Elaine's, I decided to try working with plarn, something I have wanted to attempt for the past few years.

Besides grocery bags (which for some reason I still collect even though I have mostly used re-usable shopping bags for the past few years), the bags I most often have on hand are from Stewarts' (our local convenient chain) and from the campus food service. Both are high quality, much better than grocery bags. 

I sorted them and made two skeins of plarn:

Then, using the Stewarts' skein (on the left), I crocheted a granny square:

The skein made the above square and about half of another. I haven't used the food service skein yet, because that will become the trim. I am going to make place mats consisting of two granny squares each and trim. Unfortunately, I am out of Stewarts' bags! So the project will have to wait until I have accumulated more.

I'm having fun working with it. It is different than yarn, hard to describe; it can be frustrating at times - mainly because I find it difficult to count the stitches and I always forget how many I have done :-). [Insert favorite old age joke here.] I am getting the hang of it, though. The result is very sturdy. Eventually I will try something with grocery bags. I would like to have more color, but since I rarely go shopping at places that use colorful plastic shopping bags, my options are limited. Bob said, "go and ask if you can have some bags," but I told him that defeats the purpose!

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around this. Is it alleged that he is receiving communion? Or is this just calling for him to be denied communion? There are a couple reasons I have a hard time understanding the story. I am under the impression that he would have to have his marriage annulled for this even to be an issue that could be raised? Is that not still true? The next reason, in my experience, people who chafe over the rules tend not to attend Mass regularly. I don't know any Catholics who would take communion without going to confession first, even if it's only occasionally, much less go up when they have been divorced. But I've never seen a priest play arbiter during the ceremony. Some people don't go up to communion; they decide, whether following church tradition or for another personal reason.

I'm not going to link it here, if you are wondering you can google it - but if anyone who reads this is a Daily Show fan (I am not, I can barely tolerate most television, including "real" news, so forget Comedy Central, I'd rather stare into space and do nothing than waste my time watching it - on second thought, they are the same thing...) please contact them to express outrage about the camel stunt. What moron thought that would be funny and clever rather than cruel? I also contacted animal advocacy organizations, as I always do when I see something that warrants speaking out.