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Showing posts from April, 2009

yin and yang

on the bright side, the indian cauliflower curry stew turned out pretty well. very tasty; this is a recipe i'll be making again. it's the healthiest thing i've eaten in weeks. on the other side, the new phone i got less than two months ago appears to have some faulty wiring, since the screen has died. i just went through the frustration of having a phone with faulty wiring (because the new phone replaces an old phone which had a screen that died), so you'd think i'd be mentally prepared for this type of thing. but instead, i just feel doubly frustrated. sunuva!

book of life

"Five principal enemies of students: phlegm, black bile, coitus, over-eating, and sleeping late." - Marsilio Ficino, fifteenth-century Florentine doctor of philosophy, as cited in Bean's "Nine Themes of College Student Retention."
I feel like I should have something to say but don't. Riverton yesterday: All in all a good trip--not an exceptional meeting but not bad. Discovered on the ride back that I probably shouldn't be driving the university vehicle since maybe my "defensive driving" training is expired. Had great dinner at Su Casa in mighty Sinclair on the way home. Gained an increasing appreciation for many of my colleagues. Grading today: Finished, finally. Depressing. Signs of much procrastination, and little time built in for extended reflection/analysis of the work. A shame too, since so many did pretty good research but rushed through the process of making sense of the stuff. Sounds like the story of our lives: a lot of great experience but too much rushing from here to there to really appreciate the great stuff we've got. --- On the bright side, a little accordian always makes things better: she wakes when she dreams sleeps when she wakes now sleep my sweet girl and dream

My small sad contribution

I couldn't find chords for "If it's the Beaches" but I finally found a good enough youtube video that I could watch and figure it out. This took me about ten times as long as it would've taken somebody who actually knows something about music. In any case, here it is--it's not perfect but it's a workable start, especially the timing for matching chords to lyrics. it's such a beautiful song; I wish I weren't a butcher. "If it's the Beaches " The Avett Brothers [Capo 5] Intro: C Am F C V1 Don't say it's [C]over Cause that's the [Am]worst news I could [F]hear I swear that [C]I will Do my [Am]best to be here [F]just the way you [C]like it Even [Am]though its hard to [F]hide Push my [C]feelings all a[F]side I will [C]rearrange my [F]plans and change for [C]you V2 If I could [C]go back That's the [Am]first thing I w

cold and calculating

it's past bedtime, but two random things on this snowy night: 1: 9 -- hours of driving between Laramie and Des Moines $27 -- cost of ticket to the show 6/26 -- date the Avett Bros play Hoyt Sherman Place 2: 1 -- friend who's gonna jointhecycle.com $25 -- donation cost for a jointhecycle t-shirt 7/17 -- day the group is sposed to be in ft collins okay, that's all.  goodnight, world.
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Here's a photo of one of the tulips I planted last fall, finally coming up. This picture's from a couple days ago. Hard to believe that it's now under about three inches of snow, and lots of big flakes still coming down. Soccer game got cancelled tonight on account of the road conditions, too. A news story on the TV reminds me that it's been 10 years since Columbine. Which reminds me it's been ten years since Germany, which reminds me that a decade ago, I was just a kid. Really, just a kid, just starting to figure it out. Looking back on it, it feels like, maybe, I dunno, "bright new world" or whatever, a land of possibility.... Or not.

glass half full

If I had a wine glass of wine with my fried egg sandwich, I'd feel a bit mismatched. But I find that a juice glass of wine goes well with nearly anything! In other news, next Friday has been tentatively set as lasagna day. Quincy thinks we should all bring a pan of lasagna, but i find her proposal a bit overwhelming. That's a lotta lasagna.

chuck norris / springtime again

it still makes me laugh when I google "find chuck norris" and hit the "i'm feeling lucky" button. hee, hee. in other news, i'm excited for kendall's birthday party this weekend. i can't believe she's already a year old. and despite having been on the road a lot, lately, i'm excited to get out of town. i'm not really sure why--i think i'm feeling a bit un-fit lately. out of place or out of time or something. must be spring again, those old feelings of uncertainty about a place to live and a summer job and half-formed summer plans (camping?! a motorcycle trip with dad?! a summer job and a rent-free apartment in scenic bloomington?! hiking Med Bow with uncle rich?!) and wondering whether i'll wake up in the morning to snow or sun or thunderstorms. ah, the sweetness of spring.

box

The long weekend has been pretty uneventful, in a really great way. Yesterday I spent most of the day in K's garage, working on a new box. My outdoor gear is outgrowing the cube I made a few years ago, so I'm building a bigger one. Still too small for the snowshoes, but at least it'll give me room for hats and gloves and such. I think it may also be big enough to store the new basketball I've decided to buy next time I'm at a store that sells basketballs. I hung out with Paul at the gym for about twenty minutes today, hoping somebody would show up with a ball, but no--despite the fact that most of the regular crew had told Paul they'd be there today. Maybe the Easter egg hunt took longer than they expected.

If I could go back

I like the Avett Brothers more and more, especially this song (and, of course, "Murder in the City"). If I could go back That's the first thing I would do I swear that I would Do my best to follow through Come up with a master plan A home run hit, a winning stand A guarantee and not a promise That I'll never let your love slip from my hands In directly related news, I'm not a big fan of songs that have recorded messages inserted into them. The version of the song I bought from amazon has what sounds like a scratchy, poor-quality voicemail message thrown in during the amazing interlude, effing it all up. The interlude, seriously, wow. The youtube version I link to above is so much better than the album version, I gotta say. In much less related news, I'm thinking about making some pork chili tonight, in advance of the guitar jamboree with Julie and Melissa and Hayley and Steve. I can think of much worse ways to spend a good Friday.

farm house sensibilities

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A big part of the reason I love Wyoming is that there are so few people here. On the other hand, a big part of the reason I like visiting other places is for the sense of history they have. Old buildings are pretty inspiring. I remember in Germany seeing 500-year-old churches and trying to imagine what it must have been like when they dominated the landscape rather than just fitting into a modern-day skyline. I didn't expect Indiana to feel so old, but W. Lafayette and Crawfordsville and Greencastle and Remington all felt, well, like they'd been around a while. Lots of old brick buildings, lots of old farmhouses, lots of old cemeteries. I'd like to go back there, some other spring, and have a long weekend just to look around, wander the streets, look around in the alleyways behind old brick storefronts, stroll around the fields around farmhouses and barns. Also, water. I'm so unused to landscapes where there is actually water under the bridge. The saying "it&