Various: Holiday recap, winter quarter
It's been a little while since my last post. Nothing extraordinary has occurred, which is perhaps why I haven't bothered writing. Still, I've built up enough minor things that I feel like I should list them.
My holiday break was quite enjoyable. First, I spent a few days down in Rock Hill with my dad and stepmother. We had a huge joint Christmas dinner with another family down there who they're good friends with. There was both a turkey and a rib roast. Quite a feast. Then I headed back to my mom's place in Pennsylvania. My step-sister Hope was in town as well, which was nice. I hadn't seen her for a while. Too bad her brother David couldn't get away from his new job training to come down with her. Hope and I are now Facebook friends. Exciting! I showed them all "Howl's Moving Castle", and gave my stepdad a "Battlestar Galactica" set, since he'd enjoyed the episodes we watched at Thanksgiving so much. While in PA I also got to visit with my brother for a little while and see Mileah, one of my dad's former students who has become a friend of the family. She and I ate at my favorite pizzaria, Capri Pizza in my hometown's dying mall, and talked about school and politics.
I was a little aprehensive about New Years at Stately Obs Manor -- last year's party here at my place was a lot of fun for me despite how crowded it was. I was worried, though, that being at a big multi-day gathering at somebody else's place might be hard since I wouldn't be able to shut myself away to recharge the way I can at home by just going into my own room. But, we were there for a short enough time, and there were few enough guests (half as many as last year) that it didn't become an issue. I was apparently quite allergic to the dog, such that even drugging myself up I was still feeling pretty phlegmy by the end of the visit. Also, the dog really hated me. Well, he hated me -- and only me -- on the first night. The next day he didn't seem to care at all. It was strange. Anyway, we played Wii and paper telephone, and watched Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (Graham's copy -- my old students Beth and Jean still have mine, seemingly having not watched it yet, the fools!). The basic stuff. Maggie yet again tempted us with the offer to swallow fire -- she even brought her torches -- but didn't follow through. What a tease. Pfft.
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I got some good stuff for Christmas this year. Dad kicked in a bunch of the money for the brand new laptop computer I'm using to make this post. I'd been kind of wanting to get a laptop for a little while now... It's not powerful. I just wanted something with wireless internet for travel, use in the living room (now David and I can both sit in the living room, watching the Daily Show together and still both be online!), and for the occasional presentation I have to give for school. With rebate, the cost was only $500, which seemed pretty reasonable.
From mom I got a bunch of video games, and, most exciting, a blender! Now I can make smoothies and milkshakes at home whenever I want. I'm still figuring out the right balance of ingredients for the smoothies... and I may need to figure out a way to buy fruit in smaller batches, since my strawberries turned gross before I used more than half of them. But it's fun. And the milkshakes are delicious. I've even come to accept that every time I blend something I have to wash four or five different pieces.
I have started reading John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise which David got for me. When I put it on my list, I wasn't sure if I wanted the audio book, which has the benefit of John's amazing verbal delivery, or the paperback which has more material in it, but opted for the actual book instead of the recording. I am finding the book to be so entertaining, though, that I may well buy the audio book as well just so I can enjoy it in that format as well. There's a new interview with Hodgman up on cracked.com which is pretty good.
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This quarter I have a new teaching assignment -- I'm in charge of the lab portion of the course, with (essentially) no faculty member as my boss. I'm not sure that I'm doing any better than adequate so far, but it's still nice to be given a "promotion" of sorts and get to be involved in a different piece of the course infrastructure. One drawback, of sorts, is that to make up for the extra work I've been given one fewer lab section to teach, so I only have three now instead of four. About a quarter of my students are repeats from the fall, including a couple of my favorites, so that's nice. And then there's a bunch of new guys!
I am sort of plodding along on some research, but I'm actually making a little progress. Perhaps not enough yet... but it's something.
My holiday break was quite enjoyable. First, I spent a few days down in Rock Hill with my dad and stepmother. We had a huge joint Christmas dinner with another family down there who they're good friends with. There was both a turkey and a rib roast. Quite a feast. Then I headed back to my mom's place in Pennsylvania. My step-sister Hope was in town as well, which was nice. I hadn't seen her for a while. Too bad her brother David couldn't get away from his new job training to come down with her. Hope and I are now Facebook friends. Exciting! I showed them all "Howl's Moving Castle", and gave my stepdad a "Battlestar Galactica" set, since he'd enjoyed the episodes we watched at Thanksgiving so much. While in PA I also got to visit with my brother for a little while and see Mileah, one of my dad's former students who has become a friend of the family. She and I ate at my favorite pizzaria, Capri Pizza in my hometown's dying mall, and talked about school and politics.
I was a little aprehensive about New Years at Stately Obs Manor -- last year's party here at my place was a lot of fun for me despite how crowded it was. I was worried, though, that being at a big multi-day gathering at somebody else's place might be hard since I wouldn't be able to shut myself away to recharge the way I can at home by just going into my own room. But, we were there for a short enough time, and there were few enough guests (half as many as last year) that it didn't become an issue. I was apparently quite allergic to the dog, such that even drugging myself up I was still feeling pretty phlegmy by the end of the visit. Also, the dog really hated me. Well, he hated me -- and only me -- on the first night. The next day he didn't seem to care at all. It was strange. Anyway, we played Wii and paper telephone, and watched Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (Graham's copy -- my old students Beth and Jean still have mine, seemingly having not watched it yet, the fools!). The basic stuff. Maggie yet again tempted us with the offer to swallow fire -- she even brought her torches -- but didn't follow through. What a tease. Pfft.
---
I got some good stuff for Christmas this year. Dad kicked in a bunch of the money for the brand new laptop computer I'm using to make this post. I'd been kind of wanting to get a laptop for a little while now... It's not powerful. I just wanted something with wireless internet for travel, use in the living room (now David and I can both sit in the living room, watching the Daily Show together and still both be online!), and for the occasional presentation I have to give for school. With rebate, the cost was only $500, which seemed pretty reasonable.
From mom I got a bunch of video games, and, most exciting, a blender! Now I can make smoothies and milkshakes at home whenever I want. I'm still figuring out the right balance of ingredients for the smoothies... and I may need to figure out a way to buy fruit in smaller batches, since my strawberries turned gross before I used more than half of them. But it's fun. And the milkshakes are delicious. I've even come to accept that every time I blend something I have to wash four or five different pieces.
I have started reading John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise which David got for me. When I put it on my list, I wasn't sure if I wanted the audio book, which has the benefit of John's amazing verbal delivery, or the paperback which has more material in it, but opted for the actual book instead of the recording. I am finding the book to be so entertaining, though, that I may well buy the audio book as well just so I can enjoy it in that format as well. There's a new interview with Hodgman up on cracked.com which is pretty good.
---
This quarter I have a new teaching assignment -- I'm in charge of the lab portion of the course, with (essentially) no faculty member as my boss. I'm not sure that I'm doing any better than adequate so far, but it's still nice to be given a "promotion" of sorts and get to be involved in a different piece of the course infrastructure. One drawback, of sorts, is that to make up for the extra work I've been given one fewer lab section to teach, so I only have three now instead of four. About a quarter of my students are repeats from the fall, including a couple of my favorites, so that's nice. And then there's a bunch of new guys!
I am sort of plodding along on some research, but I'm actually making a little progress. Perhaps not enough yet... but it's something.