Reading Lists

So far 2011 hasn't been that kind to me and I started it the way I finished 2010, sick. Yesterday was my first day back to work in 2011, today was my first sick day of the new year. I probably should have stayed home yesterday, but after 16 days of vacation, I was anxious to get back to work and see my coworkers and hear about everyone's holiday, oh yeah and to get back to work. But as the day went on I could feel myself getting weaker, and I'm pretty sure no one appreciated the fact that I was hacking up a lung all day long. So today I stayed home, I slept till 11:00. Boy did that feel good! And I have spent the rest of the day cozied up in my recliner reading.

I've finished 2 books already in 2011. Granted I started one of them in 2010 and was almost done when the new year rolled around. The first book I finished was "The Good Thief" it is probably not a book that I would normally pick up, but my city has chosen it has an all city read and I actually had it on my bookshelf, a gift from my sister in law from 2009 that I had not gotten to yet. Set in 1800 New England this was a fast moving story that reminded me of a lot of Dickens books.

My second book "In the Neighborhood: The Search For Community One Sleepover at a Time" was my book clubs selection for the month. Based on a true story of a murder/suicide in an upper class neighborhood. The author begins his own sociological experiment of trying to get to know the people in his neighborhood. It was a good start, but I believe more ideas will be brought out in our book club discussions than were talked about in his book. It did make me realize however how thankful I am to be living in the neighborhood that I am. I do know my neighbors and they know me. There is a lot of comfort knowing that you are surrounded by good people who look after one another.

I received a Kindle this year for Christmas, and I am wondering if it wrong to love an inanimate object? Probably, but I really am having fun with my Kindle. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before but I like immediate gratification and the Kindle provides that for me. See book, download, start reading. As quick as that. Amazon offers lots of free books (Just like the library) my friend Gale pointed out. But I get to keep them! I pointed out to her and I don't have to wait. Immediate gratification.

More Holdiay Fun

I'm back home now after spending the last 6 days celebrating Christmas at my parents house. I think six days is really too long, but we did have a wonderful time together For the most part. There was what will now go down in family history as the Scrabble incident.

I arrived there on the 23rd and was immediately told by my parents that they would like me to pick up my brother at the airport. His flight arrives at 10 p.m. Neither one of my parents like to drive after dark, but I was expecting at least one of them might like to accompany me to the airport. No such luck they were quite content curled up in their pajamas watching the hockey game. Happily Matt's plane arrived on time and we were both back home a little after 11. Although everyone was exhausted we stayed up until 2:00 in the morning, chatting and catching up. I really hate that I only see my younger brother a couple times a year.

Matt initiated a Scrabble game on Christmas eve, just the two of us head to head. We are both pretty competitive but I did not realize how competitive my brother was until we started playing this game. Now let me say for the record I prefer playing Scrabble online, it adds up the points for you which is for me the least favorite part of the game. Things were going along swimmingly until I put an S at the end of a vertical word and used that S to create a new horizontal word that ended with a triple word score. According to my brother THAT was an illegal move? "WHAT are you talking about?" I asked. "How is that an illegal move?" "You finished a word with an S, that was your move, you can't make two moves in one turn." Matt argued back. Clearly NY rules and IL rules of Scrabble are very different. I looked at him in total disbelief knowing that I had played this way for years and had never been challenged. I'd love if some of my blog readers would chime in on this one.

We pulled out the very small rule book and both argued our points, he continues to insist that if my letter S was in the middle of my horizontal move it would be okay but not at the beginning? I had never heard such crazy talk in my entire life. At this point for me it really was no longer about winning the game but educating my brother on the rules of Scrabble. He did not seem interested in learning. After a few more moves it became evident that in order for harmony to reign for the holidays we should stop playing. So we did, in the middle of the game, we folded up the board and put it away. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The rest of the holidays were consumed by one family gathering after another 4 days worth! I arrived back home yesterday afternoon and have been enjoying the quietness of my own home. I've got a stack of books to read, a new Kindle and far too many Christmas cookies that my mom insisted I take home with me.

A Tale of Two Weekends

Last weekend was insane, this weekend was wonderful.
Last weekend I had to get up early, teach a 4 hour class, clean my house, do laundry, and finish all the paper work to refinance my house

This weekend I celebrated Christmas with the girls in my book club, I slept in this morning, met a couple of dear friends for coffee, finished my Christmas shopping and wrapping. I now have 2 weeks to relax and enjoy the holiday season. My weekend would have been complete if only I had run into this man. And his sleigh.







These pictures were taken last year with my cell phone camera. Today, I had my real camera with me and was hoping to run into this jolly old man who seems to have taken it upon himself to bring cheer to the shoppers in the Rochester area. Unfortunately today he was elusive.

Rude Student Behavior

For the last two Saturdays I have had the privilege of teaching adult students in one of our non traditional programs. Now I realize that the freshmen college students I teach are also adults but sometimes some of them really do not act that way. I've got two classes left with this group of freshmen. I've really enjoyed them but some of their behaviors are beginning to bug me. I realize what I am about to say will not surprise anyone, but why must students send text messages during class?

I set my standards the very first day of class, you do not need your laptops for my class, they'll be no Facebook or Solitaire on my watch and there will be no texting. I've had to occasionally remind a student of these rules, but this last Thursday one of my students nearly sent me over the edge.

She was sitting directly to my right when during the middle of me leading a class discussion she pulled out her phone and began to send a text. "Put that away there is no texting in my class" I said to her quietly. I actually do not like to embarrass students, perhaps that is part of my problem. She put it away and then 5 minutes later she pulled it out again. "Put it away" I said this time a little louder and I thought with more authority. She rolled her eyes at me and stuffed it back in her pocket. A few minutes later she pulled it out a third time, once again I told her to put it away. Now, I'm really pissed! If your texting is more important than what is happening in class than please don't come to class. I glared at her and she once again puts it away. I am being 100% honest when I say that after a few minutes more she pulls it out one more time. This time her hands and her phone remain underneath the table, as if I am an idiot and really don't know what she is doing.

In the meantime, I'm trying to lead a class discussion on Men, Woman and Biblical Equality. We're also discussing the idea of Ordaining Woman and a woman's role in the church. It is a great conversation that my class and I are having. Yet while I'm leading this discussion Ms. text-a-lot is busy working her thumbs. She is close enough to me that I could kick that darn phone out of her hand and sending it flying under the conference table I think to myself. Yes, that's what I'll do I'll kick it out her hands. Wait is that appropriate behavior for a college instructor? What if I break the phone? I really don't want to break her phone but I really wish she'd stop texting. It is so distracting to me. Yes, I'm going to kick it on the count of three, 1,2, Oh wait I'm trying to listen to another student share her thoughts about woman in ministry.

Ultimately I did nothing. I'm a little disappointed in myself. I kind of wished I punted it out of her hands. But then again if I had, I might be cell phone shopping to today and I really did not have time to do that.

Things that arrived today..

December 1st and the first real snowfall of the year have both arrived. That's just swell. Every year when the first snowfall arrives I ask myself over and over again "Why do I live in this part of the country?" I am not a winter enthusiast, I wish I was, but I'm not. Here's the problem, I love being outside and as soon as the first snow falls it reminds me that for the next 4 months I will be trapped indoors. Now I will say that the snow is quite pretty, but it's also cold and wet and slippery to walk and drive in and I just don't like it. Someone recently asked me if I had any winter note cards to sell. I have pictures from every other season besides winter. Proof that I really, really do not like snow.

I have completed all my Christmas shopping, my list this year was much, much smaller since my family this year decided to draw names instead of all of us buying for each other. I'm not sure why we didn't do this sooner. At any rate, my online shopping is done. The beauty of online shopping? Well the first is obvious, never having to step foot in a crowded shopping mall. The second? Multiple deliveries from the UPS or Fed Ex man. I can't help but get a little giddy when I see these trucks turn down my road and wonder if it's for me. One gift arrived today.

The third thing to arrive today? What I thought was a used book I ordered turned out to be paperwork as thick as a book. I've decided with interest rates being as low as they are to refinance my house. I'm psyched about the money I will be saving and the fact that I have taken 5 years of the life of my loan. I am not so psyched about the load of paperwork I have to do.

Questions

I've had a couple of very interesting encounters this week. By interesting I mean strange and perhaps a bit disturbing.

Encounter Number 1 - Let me set the stage for you, the freshmen class I teach was involved in a service project at a local church. They were hosting a banquet and we volunteered to help set up, serve and clean up. An acquaintance of mine was in attendance and while we were cleaning up, she pulled me aside and quietly asked if she could ask me a personal question. "Sure" I said weakly, "I think you have a problem with your thyroid" she said bluntly. Okay,first THAT was not a question and second, how rude! After I got over my initial shock, I did share with her that I am in fact being treated for thyroid disease. "Well" she said "you might want to get your levels checked because your eyes are bulging and your right eye is a lot worse than your left." Thanks for that! I spent the rest of the night staring at myself in the mirror and judging the size of my bulging eyes. Here's a picture of me and my left eye. I'm so ashamed of my bulging right eye I've decided to wear a patch and refer to myself as Ahab.




Encounter Number 2 - I'm sitting in my office and my assistant Kathy shares with me there's a dad on the phone who wants to talk about career counseling for his daughter. I don't particularly enjoy phone calls from parents, I consider college students to be adults and feel that if they need my help they should ask for it themselves. So dad explains that his daughter is not a student, nor a an alum of the college, but that they live close to campus and that his daughter really needs some career counseling. I explain that my plate is full, he then goes on to tell me that his daughter really needs career advice and that she will be in town over Christmas. "She doesn't live here?" I ask. No she lives on her own, she's 48 years old. What? I think dad is the one who needs help.

Tradition, Texting and Taco Soup

Better sit down for this one folks, I have a major announcement to make. I cooked again today. Yeah that's right I cooked. Well if you count throwing cans of vegetables into the crock pot cooking. But around here, that is about as good as it gets.

I love traditions and for several years my friends and I had the greatest tradition going. Homecoming weekend at the college we would pass on all the college festivities and just show up at my friend Lisa's house, sit around her dining room table talk and laugh about all our college memories and eat taco soup. It is the most perfect soup on a crisp fall day. Unfortunately that tradition ended about six years when Lisa and her husband decided to flee the chilly northeast for the south. I still have not forgiven them for leaving, but I'm working on it. I still show up at their old house on homecoming weekend looking for taco soup. Fortunately for me the new home owners are also friends of mine.

So this morning I decided that I know how to use a can opener and a crock pot, I'll make taco soup. Of course I wanted to let Lisa know that I was thinking of her and making her famous soup, I sent a text message to her husband (Lisa refuses to keep up with today's technology) The text message was simple "I'm making taco soup, you should come over" The response text from Chris just minutes later "We'll be there in 17 hours."

Lisa and I did chat later today, she wanted to know how the soup turned out and to tell me that they received my text during church service. Shame on you Chris for texting from church! The soup turned out great and the chat reminded me just how much I miss my sweet friend.

I believe that Lisa and I along with two of our other friends Eileen and Karine have started a new tradition, a gathering of the 4 of us over Columbus Day weekend. I realize that in order for something to be a tradition, it needs to happen more than once, I think I can safely say that the experience the 4 of us shared was so energizing, uplifting, and valuable that it something we will want to continue for years.

And if anyone is interested in trying Lisa's taco soup, come on over there's plenty.