chairitable

Where is everyone?

2012-01-30T20:18:00.002-07:00

Where are my commentators? And what happened to Alison's daily blogging pledge? And mum, what have you been up to lately?

Sam and I are reviewing the horrors of the French Revolution. Catherine and I have to finish the horrors of the FAFSA; for which Craig had to plumb the horrors of our 2011 taxes. We are all suitably horrified.

ha ha

2012-01-26T19:49:00.001-07:00

http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2502

Oh, so I am not the only one

2012-01-25T21:49:00.001-07:00

Recall cryptic reference to difficult colleague demanding unearned perks.... Here's a gem from said colleague's fall course evals:

1. strongly suggest new line of work. prison guard? 2. the. worst. ever. why is this "perfessor" teaching university, esp. req. course? not enough space here to say how unprofessional. ugly cloud over classroom for 14 wks. why bother with survey like this? she said in class that she's tenured and could not care less what anybody says thinks or does. disrespectful, dishonest, deliberately hurtful,screams insults at students,students crying during class, mandatory unscheduled saturday 8 hr. class to make up for the wasting time during semester, classes went pass deadline, slutty attire. perhaps needs professional help? issues with father, mother? god only knows. pathetic.

Saturday

2012-01-21T09:30:00.003-07:00

Happy Saturday! I survived the end of the week. Meeting on department future Thursday afternoon was pretty awful. Some of my colleagues really have no institutional memory, suggesting solutions which they rejected just a few years ago. Their plan for curricular reform merits a metaphor someone used at a summer seminar a couple of years back: "its the equivalent of a bad combover." My friends, the head is still bald.

By contrast yesterday's meeting to talk explicitly about the Language Center rocked. We had excellent presentations from people outside the department and there was a level of energy and excitement that I have found missing within the department for a long time.

It is a rainy, weirdly mild day today. We seem to have England's weather and we would like ours back whoever has taken it. There has been a dearth of snow. I have yet to ski this year.

Just in time

2012-01-19T10:12:00.002-07:00

Rachel sent me an absolutely fantastic T-shirt which arrived yesterday. Shall I wear it to the bound to be contentious faculty meeting today?

tick tock, when am I no longer chair?

2012-01-18T20:08:00.003-07:00

Things at work are coming to a head; unfortunately I cannot post much that isn't terribly cryptic because I wouldn't want to get myself into trouble. One of my colleagues at another school uses the acronym: FBB (faculty behaving badly) and I can just say that there is quite a bit of that going on. My favorite was someone taking umbrage at us for impugning her integrity, after she had tried to leverage her famous husband's position and grant money to get something out of us she didn't earn on her own merits...

I momentarily misplaced my straight face.

Two big meetings tomorrow and Friday that will reveal a little more of how the department and language center will move forward.

I should provide pictures

2012-01-14T17:25:00.003-07:00

Today Ellen and Zack came over to hang out while stuff they needed to be out of their house for was happening. While I made tabouleh for Craig to take to a jam session this evening and Zach watched Monster Trucks, I could tell Ellen was itching to tidy. She has "the gene" as Daniel calls it. I was teasing her and she said she didn't want to offend me but.... So I said have at it. And now our kitchen looks unlike it ever has. She cleaned out two whole cupboards in addition to washing dishes, cleaning countertops, washing out the thing we keep spatulas and spoons in, etc. You get the idea. Heaven.

new term, more fun

2012-01-11T16:42:00.003-07:00

Perhaps some beginning of term vignettes to paint a portrait of life in the chair's office.

1) New meaning for TMI: checking in on faculty member off last term for prostate cancer treatment and I receive this email.

dear jane:

thank you for the e-mail asking me about my situation.

i hope that i will be fine. i still have problems such as feelings of urgency, frequent urination and occasional bladder spasm (you do not want to hear all about these). despite the side effects, i am positive that i will be able to perform the duties.

2) Continued interaction with student who believes there are FBI spies in her Arabic class.

3) Asked colleague who needs to go out of town for family meeting to make plan for elderly mother if there is anything I can do to help. Response: "place pillow over my sister's face."

So, all in all, things are off to a rousing start.

MLA

2012-01-10T10:31:00.004-07:00

Back from four days in Seattle at the MLA convention. It was a wonderful trip. Seattle was fabulous - and like Portland, food just beyond delicious. What is wrong with food in SLC? Here is a picture of me delivering the award for outstanding service to John Grandin. Nice, bland conference room surroundings and I have my eyes closed, but proof that I acted in my 'presidential' capacity.

Seattle was gorgeous. I managed a walk before leaving and here are a few pictures:

Walking downtown.

On the waterfront.

Flying home the pilot took us this close to Mt. Ranier.

Dream + questions

2012-01-05T11:12:00.003-07:00

I dreamt that there was a decapitated mouse running around our house. Apparently I was responsible for its headless state, and I felt terribly sad and remorseful but as none of us could bear to look at it decided we had to put it outside. Obviously this was to consign it to a certain death. I let him go and watched as he found a stuffed animal some child had left out and snuggled up to it.

So, my dear readers: who is the mouse? who is the stuffed animal? Am I beyond redemption?

Viewing

2012-01-02T11:42:00.003-07:00

I shall follow the good example of family members who have resolved to blog more in 2012.

Went to see Melancholia on New Year's Eve afternoon with Ellen. Stunning visually and thematically haunting. I 'enjoyed' particularly the portrayal of depression which rings painfully true for anyone who has experienced it.

Yesterday afternoon Craig talked me into The Muppets. Mildly embarrassing to be sat there when a colleague shows up, but she has children with her.... I only have Craig....

Our evenings of late have been cozying up to Netflix for MI-5.

pictures from xmas

2011-12-27T10:41:00.001-07:00

The walkers.Visiting Temple Square to see the lights.
Craig and his Dad warming up at Temple Square.
Self-portrait on Temple Square.

The xmas fun begins

2011-12-23T10:12:00.001-07:00

I thought it good hostess behavior to enquire about guests' food proclivities. Here is my email exchange with Oliver. Holy shit!

> Hi Oliver,
> just checking in to see what i need to know about you and
> Sophie and food. must and mustn't haves?
> Jane

His reply:

Sophie's vegetarian, except for fish and shellfish. I try to eat only humanely raised animals, if I can help it.
I like lactose-free milk in my coffee, if I'm going to have milk at all, and I don't eat pork or shellfish. There's lots of vegetables I'm avoiding or trying to partake of minimally,which I do according to too complicated a scheme to describe. A non-tomato-sauce, non-onion, non-cabbage option would be swell, but don't sweat it--it's no biggie. Thanks for asking and coping. Looking forward to seeing you!
- O

>

promised pics

2011-12-19T18:02:00.002-07:00

Dinner at our place after seeing the live broadcast of the National Theatre production of The Collaborators.Catherine and Keziah after 'decorating' K's car... imagine loud Christmas music accompaniment.

The tree described in the earlier post.

exercise

2011-12-16T12:07:00.003-07:00

This is what I am doing on Tuesday and Thursday evenings these days. Torturous fun. More pics of other things coming shortly. Trying to be a more visually interesting blogger...

On Speaking Russian

2011-12-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

"To speak Russian involves a contortion of any English-speaking person’s mouth. We must make ourselves conscious of what have become reflexive actions. We can feel the errors of our mouths as surely as we can see the lack of precision in our drawing. We hear the wobbling, sloppy pronunciation as surely as we see our shaky imprecise hand when we sketch a work of art at the museum. That vowel that one of my Russian tutors called "61" (an idea that helped me with my handwriting of it — forget about the loops! Write a miniature 61 and you’ll have the Russian vowel pronounced from the back of the throat and with pursed lips: “ih” [ы]). I don’t have the vocabulary or oral-agility to spew Russian, so I must slow down the way I would were I relearning a baseball swing or basketball jump-shot. My mouth can handle the move this way and that, but certainly not in and out and over there. And so I study Dina’s mouth — she has good teeth; I peer into Albina’s — she’s wearing lipstick today!; I notice Katya’s wearing dangly earrings! I watch and I imitate, even though I can’t see my own mouth. I feel it.

"Say something in Russian," my friend Jose told me when I got back from a trip to Russia. I am accustomed to speaking Spanish to Jose’s wife, but as I wound up and twisted my mouth into the delivery of an easy Russian phrase, Jose laughed. 'Everybody, look at Bob’s mouth!'"

the personal side

2011-12-08T21:37:00.002-07:00

A few tips.

1) do not have microdermabrasion on your face right before hugely stressful and important meeting. The first time I had it I was CALM and my face just glowed. Today, i looked a little like a burn victim. Maybe outside mimicking inside?

2) don't trust your dreams. I woke this morning buoyed up by a dream in which I had been fearlessly interacting with a very large cobra. I naturally read cobra as curmudgeon faculty and felt a little more confident.

3) don't think a klonipin will 'take the edge off". When the edge is that precipitous, probably only heroin will do, and I don't think becoming a drug addict will actually solve any problems.

update on motto

2011-12-08T21:28:00.002-07:00

oh my can they interrupt! We had our meeting today to unveil the Language Center and the troglodytes were out in full force. I think most painful was the admonition that "this proposal could have garnered support but we were never consulted." And I sat there making a mental list of the things on which we have consulted over the last four and a half years and the consul tees' miserable track record:

1) requiring study abroad: discuss, discuss, discuss, vote in favor..... and then REJECT in practice.

2) curriculum meetings: attend, atte... oh, not so much; why would we need to discuss that?

3) departmental governance bylaws: draft, draft, draft, discuss, discuss, --- oh, did I mention that we are still only discussing the introductory paragraph... (big raspberry noise)

4) graduate studies brought in line with national best practices.... oh, please, do we have to? we want to be insular and mediocre.

5) required departmental courses: sure, ok... do I have to teach them, oh, ok.... do our students really have to take them? oh, 'required'? but, well they aren't really useful, are they....?

Stay tuned for the part where I take my sabbatical next year and then transfer to the Linguistics Department....

Change is painful

2011-12-07T12:59:00.002-07:00

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it!

This is my motto -- we are creating the language center here at the U and detractors, step aside!

"It looked better on the lot."

2011-12-05T18:33:00.006-07:00

"It looked better on the lot." That was Ellen's comment this morning when I asked her how their tree looked once they had got it home and up. Ah, so we were not alone. I suffer from bouts of romanticism especially in December and had gotten it into my head that instead of buying a tree at the grocery store which we normally do, we would cut one down our very own selves. What I was really after was the back-country experience where, having secured a permit from the forestry service, we would tromp into the woods with a saw and a flask of hot cocoa. We would emerge later with rosy cheeks dragging a big, freshly cut tree.

I got on line and discovered that other people want to do this too and they are more organized. All permits had been sold by mid October. Plan B. I investigated Christmas tree farms. Once again, these seemed to cater to the early bird and most were open one weekend only, the one right after Thanksgiving. But I found one that was also open this past Saturday and agreed with Ellen that we would both head up there with children to pick out our trees. Sam, who had initially liked the tree cutting idea, backed right away when the word "farm" was added to the outing. Not adventurous enough for him. Craig, who until he met me, had always had a fake tree, looked at me indulgently and firmly and did not even pretend to be momentarily interested. So, it was me and Catherine. We drove and drove and finally after about an hour ended up in what was pretty much a subdivision with large lots. The "farm" owners had obviously decided to turn their tract of land over to xmas trees at some point. We piled out of our two cars at the end of a cul de sac and tromped into the wild forests of spruce around their otherwise manicured suburban lawn. The trees were pretty picked over but I was determined and Catherine was generous, trying very hard to find something acceptable about each strange tree we considered. Finally we found one that seemed good (or less "not good") and we cut it down, heaved it onto the roof of the car, tied it down, and headed for home.

The next day after it had overnighted in the garage, a temperature controlled way station, we brought it inside and the trouble began. What had looked charmingly erratic in the field, now refused to conform to the tree stand. We managed to get it in, but it promptly fell over. Too heavy? Too bushy? Too something. But I was determined and told the children in my most jolly tone that this was a problem that a bucket and bricks could surely fix. Their grandfather, I told them, had never owned a tree stand and every year the tree stood up, a triumph of pieces of broken brick and my father's determination to make do with what was at hand. They looked dubious. We found a bucket and some bricks and I kept telling them how fantastic this was going to be. Catherine, who cares very much about Christmas and nice decorating, looked appalled at the empty cat litter pail. I assured her that we would drape some nice red and green fabric over it the feat of engineering would be our little secret. Except the bucket didn't work either and the tree just fell over more loudly. Even I began to feel defeated and we left it lying across the living room floor hoping Craig would have an idea when he got home.

Bless him. For a man who is more humbug than ho ho (partly to do with suffering his entire childhood with a Christmas Eve birthday), he set to work. First he announced that another few inches of the trunk needed to be sawed off. This to deal with the first of the trunk's several deviations from the straight and narrow. Once that was accomplished we got it into the stand and now the lowest whorl of branches was sitting right on the edge of the opening, providing just that extra needed support. We stepped away gingerly and it stood. Catherine came back and moaned in dismay, "But it's not straight." Which, to be honest it wasn't. Craig, retorted that, what it was doing was all you could expect from a tree with scoliosis. In addition to it not being straight, it also has a curious yellowish cast to its long extremely prickly needles. We looked for the Christmas lights and Catherine finally remembered she had lent them out to a friend for some school club event so 24 hours later, the yellow giant still lurches naked in the corner of the living room. It drinks a lot of water.

from a student homework assignment

2011-12-01T11:43:00.002-07:00

They were asked to do an observation connected to Deborah Tannen's work on male and female conversational rituals. One student wryly wrote in a footnote about students who sit behind her in class:

"...they spent five minutes debating whether or not 'linguistical' is a word. They all agreed that it sounded like it should be a word, but they couldn't figure out why it wasn't in their computer's dictionary. They concluded that they were just smarter than the computer because they knew a word that it didn't know. My opinion might differ slightly from theirs."

Ahhh, Russia

2011-12-01T09:55:00.001-07:00

Starting to work on next summer's study abroad program and I get this tip from the group leader based on past experience.

"I also think this year we need to leave some money for bribes when we purchase group train tickets. Maybe around 50-60$? It is mafia who operates train ticket sales. They sell only 4 tickets at a time, so last year I had to stay in several lines. This time maybe we can bribe someone there and they will sell us the necessary amount of tickets."

Now, how to square this with our university accounting rules....

End of the long weekend

2011-11-27T17:17:00.005-07:00

Feeling lethargic and weirdly pathetic. Today was a gorgeous day but I have been fighting off a nascent cold and so ended up sleeping/dozing all day. Finally roused myself because of the **bloody*** marking that just hasn't gotten itself done. Am trying the timer method-- ten minute bursts with the red pencil. There are only two more weeks of term so the end is in sight but I feel like I actually quit the race and forgot to let anyone know... On Thanksgiving day I ran a 5k and there was this tempting moment when the course was looping around and the unscrupulous could have cut down a side street and shaved a mile off the whole thing. I didn't do it, but am looking for the academic equivalent this week.

Craig flew off to Reno this morning for a few days of tax court. He has already texted me two pictures, one of his toilet and one of the view from his hotel room window. Not sure which he is more excited about.

Some new pictures

2011-11-26T19:07:00.002-07:00

Here we are on Thanksgiving which we celebrated with Ellen and family.Craig and I got out the snowshoes a week ago and took a beautiful hike up Mill Creek Canyon

on a more cheerful note

2011-11-02T17:56:00.002-06:00

Life around here is very different since a magical day almost two weeks ago when Catherine got her driving license. There was a bit of drama with the test - she failed the first time because she couldn't parallel park (but, really, how many teenagers can?) and she did not look over her shoulder sufficiently when turning and changing lanes. On the second go she did brilliantly although by then she was 'shoulder checking' so much that she looked like she had Tourettes. Todd has handed down his subaru outback so we are back to having three cars at our household - but the most excellent thing is that she drives herself and Sam to school now. SLEEPING IN!!!! Yes, my friends with young children, there is an end in sight. Very distant sight, but in sight nonetheless. She also lends the car to Craig for his gigs and he, in turn, puts gas in it when he uses it so they are both happy.

my patience is running thin

2011-11-01T20:49:00.003-06:00

This chair thing can't end soon enough--or at least that is how I am feeling today. Allow me to share a couple of lines from emails I received in the last 24 hours. Admittedly these are out of context, but trust me, in most cases they are even more horrifying in situ. Still to protect my ass, I will edit down to choice phrases:

Response to scheduling conflict of the writer's making:

"You and Fernando set up the system, now make it work."

Commenting on the required course that yours truly teaches:

"but let me remind you, the L2020 is NOT part of the curriculum. It is not a prerequisite for any other language class or program, meaning that it does not clearly funnel into any particular course of study and therefore has little pedagogical application to the language major courses."

I feel so worthwhile....

On the same issue, from someone else:

"I think it's absolutely outrageous to ask a student not to take a required major course for a departmental course at the 2000 (!!!!!) level."

The only bright spot, is that the full text of one of the above, duly forwarded to relevant higher up on campus has gotten me the green light to "write the person up" for unprofessional behavior. Yippee. There go another couple of good hours.

So, here we are in our last months of leadership making some sweet enemies.

Sorry so grumpy.

update

2011-10-31T11:39:00.000-06:00

I am not dead. And I promise a nice big post later today.

Student quote of the week

2011-09-13T09:42:00.000-06:00

"Unlike Polia, Dasha is not so flatulent with her emotions."

Well meant

2011-09-09T10:41:00.001-06:00

The following event is upcoming on our campus:

Event: The Imposter Syndrome
Date: October 6, 2011
Time: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Location: Guest House Meeting Room C

Description: How to Feel As Bright and Capable As Everyone Seems to Think You Are: What Every Woman and Man Needs to Know About Competence, the Impostor Syndrome, and the Art of Winging It

Now, I am thinking that if you are a person who suffers from said syndrome, the last thing you are going to want to do is enter a room full of unknown people and reveal yourself....Or is that just me?

The plagiarist sues

2011-09-07T18:50:00.002-06:00

For anyone following the scintillating story of our now fired faculty plagiarist, Sunday's paper carried the story that he has filed a suit in 3rd district court. The suit is against a history professor named Peter Sluglett (I kid you not). Sluglett is vintage, unreconstructed Englishman of a certain type which, if you read his quotes in the article, you will have no trouble conjuring up. Here is the link:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52514204-78/bakhtiari-sluglett-plagiarism-suit.html.csp

Incase you don't have time to click over to the full version, my personal favorite Sluglett-ism in the piece is:

"After all, I didn’t write these things," he said. "He wrote them. I am no more responsible for his plagiarism than I am for starting the first world war."

It is official.

2011-09-07T18:48:00.002-06:00

I am old. Sometime during our time abroad one of the pop stations on my car radio presets became an oldies station: 'Rewind' they call themselves and their version of oldies is to play 80s music. So just like my mum listened to her oldies stations when we were growing up, Catherine now rolls her eyes in the car when yet another Go Gos song comes blasting over the airwaves. I, however, am a pretty happy camper.

Sunday morning in Utah

2011-09-06T21:05:00.003-06:00

One of the secret pleasures of living in Utah is the fantastic obituary tradition. The culture here is to publish lengthy and detailed accounts of a deceased's life and accomplishments, not just information on the where and when of the funeral. Sometimes, the lack of editing renders up such gems as this from Sunday's paper:

"X passed away on August 29, 2011 from an accidental drowning due to a head injury from a fall."

I am trying to picture the chain of events....

Later there is the sentence: "Eagerly learning to swim on his own by one year old." No irony intended.

Lower down the page we read about someone who "enjoyed hunting, snag fishing and art." Which made me learn what snag fishing is. So it is educational as well as amusing to spend time with the obituary section of the paper.

Rejoice! Undergraduate writing assignments are coming in!

2011-09-02T10:23:00.001-06:00

Because I know you love them: here is an exchange between colleagues on the latest undergraduate writing gaffe:

Professor A

Homework answer: "Women bust learn to make full use of their rights and

to stop being timid or diffident."

Professor B
I never thought of Russia's social problems being linked to women not
making full use of their busts' rights.

Boy, this could revolutionize the place!

Professor A
Busts of the World, Unite!

A tale of two pictures

2011-08-28T21:16:00.005-06:00

Recently I put a long ago purchased in Russia painting into a frame and hung in the hallway outside our bedroom. It looks like this:

Craig said it gave him the creeps but it wasn't until one of his fellow bandmates saw it and reacted so strongly that I learned it had to go. It turns out, my Russian subject bears an uncanny resemblance to Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism. Here is a portrait of him:

These two middle-aged former Mormon men told me in no uncertain terms that I just couldn't have a picture hanging in my house that EVERYONE IN UTAH will understand to be Joseph Smith. "uh huh" I kept saying, but didn't actually take the thing down. I didn't realize how dire this was until today I found my Russian in the garage. Craig felt compelled to take matters into his own hands.

Back to school

2011-08-22T21:07:00.002-06:00

is always exhilirating (how do you spell that?). I think the kids had an ok day. Sam was exhausted as evidenced by the napping on the couch he was engaged in when I got home from work. We just got back from a marathon school supply shopping trip so each of them is now sufficiently bindered and dividered for at least a month...

They actually have a class together -- ceramics although they are in different levels. I don't know if this means they are strictly relegated to opposite sides of the room or whether there is actual sibling communication. Perhaps I will learn something as the semester goes on.

I had a great first day. It feels good to be back in the routine of teaching and just generally having the school year structure.

we are back

2011-08-11T22:55:00.003-06:00

Back at the ranch - aka Salt Lake City. Good to be home although we had to put Sadie down on Sunday. I like to think that she waited for us to return before she took her final slide downhill. I think she really did. Craig said she was in terrible shape and then we got home and she rallied, going up and down stairs and eating a couple of meals after days of only broth. But by Sunday it was clearly all over and we are now dog-less which is odd. Today, hunting for 409 I found three spray bottles of pet stain treatment stuff for carpets. I am not sad those days are gone...

The big excitement of the last two days was the arrival of "the bins". In Salt Lake City proper there is a big garbage window when you can put all your large items out on the curb and they are eventually collected. In Salt Lake County where we live, it is more circumscribed. The county delivers dumpsters (skips, for my English readers) every block or so and they sit there for exactly 24 hours. During this time you can cram as much junk into them as you like. I got home yesterday and called Craig with the rallying cry "the bins are here" and he rushed home. We dragged out the mountain of tree limbs we had pruned and then threw in glass shower wall and door and so on. During "bin time" the streets are driven by latino guys looking for scrap metal and any other salable items. We got rid of an old exercise bike, weight bench, computer monitor, gas cans, and enormous, heavy old Sony television. Excellent.

The arm

2011-06-24T23:56:00.001-06:00

Sam broke his arm today. In a splint till casting on Wednesday. There goes his holiday swimming.

My first race

2011-06-18T07:53:00.002-06:00

I ran my first proper race this morning!!!! 8k down (operative word) Mill Creek Canyon. Ellen picked me up a little after 5am and the race started at 6am. Home already after a bagel and coffee at the finish and no one else in my household is up.

Trying to lead the good life

2011-06-07T20:42:00.002-06:00

On Sunday Daniel and I were having one of our leisurely weekend chats and I mentioned that we had bought a new lawnmower and how great it was to be able to start the mower myself. His response, "I have one word for you, Jane, 'gardener'" So, in addition to the fact that we only recently moved to a modest flat screen tv, the whole grass issue highlights that I am still woefully behind my little brother in leading the good life. To rectify this, I thought today I would finally use the coupon I bought weeks back for 5 super duper car washes. Again, while I am sure that Daniel and Michelle regularly have this cushy experience, it was a first for me. I am not quite a wash it in the driveway with a bucket person, but have only graduated to the self serve car wash where you do it all on your own, or splurge to go through a really lame automatic wash, but still get out and do your own vacuuming. So, today was a huge step up. It was one of those places where you exit your car so that a swarm of guys can clean its interior within an inch of its life. I was loving life, being the sort of person about to drive off in my 'looks almost brand new' car. Mild panic when I realized I should tip but had no idea how much. I was about to pull out of the lot when I realized that the little compartment for sunglasses next to the gear shift was open. And guess why. Because they managed to break a tiny piece of plastic essential to the close function. I did not just drive away and put up with it but backed up and had a chat with the manager. Of course, they will pay to have it fixed, but I have to bring them three bids. So, cushy car wash now turns in to schlep around town to insult mechanics by asking them to bid a tiny plastic doohickey.

Back to research

2011-06-06T14:40:00.003-06:00

In between the arrival of summer holidays and playing out my fantasies of being a prosecutor, things are also moving forward on the electropalatography research project. We finally got IRB approval and last week had a team meeting with the guy from Completespeech which makes the palate devices we are using. I now really understand collaborative research. It was so much fun to listen to the incredibly smart (I think 'smart' because I had trouble following) questions from my colleagues. Things about frequency and how various electrodes map to the excel data sheet...

We are in the process of getting our first two Russian speakers fitted and will be able to start collecting their data soon.

Boot camp

2011-06-02T11:33:00.001-06:00

This is what I couldn't face getting up for this morning. Picture from last week. I am second back doing an excellent side plank with arm raised!

This is the view if you look east as we work out.

School's out for summer - almost

2011-06-02T11:04:00.003-06:00

This is the last week of school for the children although why anyone bothers I am not sure. There was a four day weekend so no school last Friday or this Monday. They had already handed in all of their textbooks and cleared out their lockers. By yesterday evening it was 9th grade promotion party for Sam and 'yearbook stomp' for Catherine. I drove Sam and three of his friends over - had to roll down all the windows because of the asphyxiating amount of cologne they were all sporting. Here is a picture:

Today they are all at our local amusement park, Lagoon, for the day. Catherine and her friends went up to the university to watch the senior class graduation.

Craig and I had a quiet evening in last night watching an episode of Damages on Netflix. Our peace punctuated by phone call from Sam "How late can I stay out?" Followed by text "Spending the night at Quinn's." Catherine appeared briefly to collect stuff for an overnight at her friend Karli's - "Hi mom, just getting some stuff. Do you want to see Karli's belly button piercing." How could I resist. Not sure if Catherine was there while she got it - it was all of 20 minutes old.

Could not make myself get up for bootcamp this morning.

The birthday evening

2011-05-30T09:46:00.002-06:00

Last night was supposed to be the Adele concert - tickets to which at vast expense were my birthday present from Craig. Got there only to discover it was cancelled due to illness. Now comes the long wait where you hang on to the tickets and hope she reschedules at a time that actually suits. So there we were all dressed up and no place to go. Decided to catch a movie and ended up at Hangover Part II which was hilarious but verging on too raunchy even for me. There were two tween age kids sitting in front of us with what I thought was their mom, until head turned and I saw full beard. Seemed like way inappropriate movie for them, to which Craig said "visitation." Midway through the movie a woman squeezed past us and plopped down in one of the two vacant seats next to me. She had an enormous bucket of popcorn and within about 30 seconds began agitatedly looking for her "bag". Very distracting. Then she began to talk to herself. Even more distracting. Craig and I got the giggles, speculating that perhaps she had gone out for a popcorn refill and had ended up in the wrong movie. She stayed to the end though, muttering a lot and then when house lights came up, crawling around on the floor looking for the bag which once found looked alarmingly like one of those tied closed bags of dog poo you see people with when out walking the pooch. Woke up to snow.

????

2011-05-30T09:44:00.001-06:00

This has gotten ridiculous. This is what was on the grass this morning. SNOW! It is May 30th. We are still running the furnace.

Guess the native language

2011-05-25T14:40:00.001-06:00

This could be a fun game for linguists. You get something like this in an email and you have to figure out what the writer's first language is.

"I do not think I can make any difference if I try to talk to him because
I already did and he is just like someone carrying two big melons and has
lost balance."

PS- It is Arabic

Birthday Party

2011-05-21T22:07:00.002-06:00

The Bieber party is still going on chez nous. After five straight days of rain, today was perfect. sunny and 75 degrees - which Catherine assured me it would be. The certainty of youth. How could the day not be perfect? I'm having a party.

My morning started early with the arrival of Ellen's son Zack. Ellen is in Norway and Jerry was off to 'enjoy' some 100 mile bike ride so we had Zack for a chunk of the day. My hat is off to all you people with three year olds... We were full speed ahead until Dad returned at a little after 3. Super lucky for Zack that the company brining the bouncy castle with velcro wall had to drop it off a couple of hours early so he got to bounce his little heart out before heading home.

The party was joint with Catherine's friend Gina who also has a May birthday. We contributed the venue and bouncy castle and Gina's Chinese parents arrived with trays and trays of homemade Chinese food. The girls decorated like mad - balloons, fairy lights, tea light candles. Now that it is after 10pm they have gathered every sleeping bag we own and are camped on the lawn about to watch the Justin Bieber movie on the projector I borrowed from work. Catherine is still saying it is the best party ever so I'm happy.

maintenance

2011-05-19T19:28:00.002-06:00

One of the things I love about being an academic is never having had to give up the rhythm of the school year. I always loved the excitement of late summer and some new clothes and shoes, but best of all school supplies, and then the weeks at the end of May anticipating summer. Being a professor is much the same except the end of the school year has also come to mean physical maintenance. All the necessary things that have been put off I try to cram into the month of May while the children are still in school. The teeth get cleaned, a visit to the doctor - blood work perhaps - revisiting medications, some attention to the lady parts, and this year I dragged myself for a mammogram having not gone since I turned 40. That was this afternoon and I still feel a bit squashed and tender. I even decided to have a brow wax and that turned out to be a big mistake. Fine for about four days afterwards and then suddenly I broke out in random dry patches or bumps and just generally looked even more ill kempt than I had prior to my attempt to be better 'kempt'. I've also been for a kick ass 90 minute hot stone massage by our lovely masseuse Michele (Alison may have a cleaning lady, but we have a masseuse...).

The joys of having teenagers, really

2011-05-15T10:10:00.003-06:00

This is the card I got from Sam on mothers day. He gave me $11 to buy two perennials that we planted together in the piece of the garden we have been working on for the last two years.

Catherine used my ipad and the next time I opened it....

Bieber fever continues around here

2011-05-14T10:07:00.003-06:00

Catherine and her friend Gina are having a joint birthday party and here is the invite they made...

Some pictures

2011-05-07T10:48:00.003-06:00

Sam setting up new chess set from Granddad.

Post-op Sadie. Growths and several teeth removed....

This is what post boot camp looks like....

Ta Da

2011-05-06T22:42:00.002-06:00

Birthday eve

2011-05-06T22:24:00.002-06:00

I am sitting at the dining room table, writing and listening to Catherine and her friend next door in the kitchen making my birthday cake. There have been shrieks of delight and despair, much giggling, and just now something that sounded alarmingly like the steam function on an iron. "Are you two ironing in there?" I asked. "We're just using the steam from the iron..." From what I have been able to glean the cake involves fondant and has necessitated repeated trips to check clips from some show called 'Cake Boss'. Now I am hearing things like "basket weave" and "save enough to make a star." Happy 48th to me.

Pet peeve

2011-05-02T14:36:00.002-06:00

Heavy breathers in yoga class. Honestly, there was a woman today who was just ridiculous. There I am trying to find inner peace and she is letting out these gargantuan groaning exhalations that were just so rude and inappropriate. I'm sure she thought she was the epitome of "breath work" but I beg to differ. I think the instructor agreed because towards the end she approached her and asked "Are you alright? You seem to be breathing very loudly." But of course, people who can let themselves sound like a gale force wind are not ones likely to respond to subtlety. She was "just fine." Apart from an ingrown toenail which she felt the need to tell us about...

An actual May day post

2011-05-01T20:12:00.003-06:00

Its been a super weekend here. Today we bought a new lawn mower which Sam and I can actually start on our own. The previous one was old and temperamental and each time one stopped to empty a bag of clippings, Craig had to be located to get it going again. I decided that we were worth something a bit more user friendly. The grass is freshly mowed for the first time this season (thank you Sam) and I did some pruning and weeding today since the sun was finally out. Yesterday we had snow flurries...

On Friday night I got to go with Catherine and her friends to see the Justin Bieber movie in 3D. Now that was a good time! Oh to be a teenager again - ok, not really. It was very sweet of them to let me come with them, and even let me sit with them... For my part, I did put up with driving them home with the windows rolled down and them all singing his catchy "Baby, baby."

This week is the final real week of the academic year. We have graduation on Friday and once that is done, it is over. The countdown to sabbatical can begin in earnest as there really will be just one more round of chair things to do: one more set of grant/leave support letters; one more round of retention, tenure and promotion proceedings; one more faculty retreat; and so on.

I've put in for a couple of conferences - one in France in early September and one in Iowa in October. The latter more professionally interesting; the former, well, in France so say no more. I continue to collect suggestions for remote, desolate, windswept places to spend a few weeks during fall 2012.

Happy may day

2011-05-01T12:15:00.000-06:00

apologies for dearth of posting

2011-04-19T20:21:00.002-06:00

It is end of the semester and CRAZY busy. Some highlights.

1) handling a plagiarism charge. the student in question has the surname "Cleverly"...

2) Eric is marking papers so I get the occasional gem in my inbox: "Anna and Vronsky leave at the end of part 4 for Italy. This is significant because Italy is the city of love and they are escaping in the name of love."

3) Had a brush with a big administrative job which I did not get. At first upset and then so not upset! Part of that due to the magic of "The Work." Began with the thought: "If I were worthwhile I would be getting the job." Came out the other side with "Because I am worthwhile, I am not getting the job." Sweet.

4) Am still doing the 5:30am boot camp. Love it.

TIer One day

2011-04-11T16:25:00.003-06:00

Sam and I played a little hookie today. It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we headed up the slopes. Here are a couple of shots. None of Sam, since skiing with your mom is not acceptable.

Where is spring?

2011-04-10T19:54:00.001-06:00

These shots were taken today up at Catherine's friend Tessa's cabin. The girls did some snowshoeing and hot tubbing. Sweet.

Hope springs eternal

2011-03-31T21:33:00.003-06:00

Craig went to Costco, and now our bed has been reconstructed yet again. I have to admit that after a week on the bed at Nancy's condo which was way to firm for me, I have a little more sympathy for his nocturnal discomfort. However, I LOVED our current set up so I hope this new development doesn't ruin things for me.

A yard we saw on the way to the airport in San Diego. Isn't it fantastic? Doesn't it make you want to pick up your pruning shears?

You know you are on vacation when

2011-03-25T21:14:00.002-06:00

You watch Craig drink a really tiny beer with his lunch. And then, late afternoon, you go to a restaurant and just have the creme brulee, because it was so delicious the other night.I never tire of the birds of paradise.

I also got to spend a glorious hour in a bookstore that specializes in, among other genres, mysteries. We spent the afternoon snoozing and walking on the beach at Carlsbad. After rain this morning the weather was heavenly.

Torrey Pines State Park

2011-03-25T12:33:00.000-06:00

The Finisher

2011-03-23T20:42:00.002-06:00

Since I will never run a marathon, thought I would proudly post the shot of my brother Daniel at the finish line.

Our toes in the sunshine

2011-03-21T21:45:00.002-06:00

But first, we woke up to ferocious hail. This was the plant area in front of the condo.Then the sun came out and we walked and walked and admired the views.
And late in the afternoon, we warmed ourselves on the sand.

on a beach

2011-03-20T21:23:00.003-06:00

Thanks to Nancy we are enjoying a fabulous spring break in Solana Beach. This picture was yesterday when it was quite sunny and beautiful. Today - overcast with rain threatening so we decided to drive out to the desert to see the wildflowers. Went to Borrega Springs, stopping in little towns along the way. It was all gorgeous. In B.S. there was an art fair with the usual jewelry, pottery and paintings - none too wonderful. As I was walking along, I heard English voices and turned to check out the brits far from home. Lo and behold there stood Mary and Charles - old family friends who some reading this blog will know. We were all amazed and after chit chatting a bit, gave Daniel a call to see if he had survived his marathon. The rain was torrential, but he finished.

we're poor and we show it

2011-03-16T13:57:00.001-06:00

Instead of wrong and right side of the tracks, we have upper and lower campus. Upper campus is where the med school is. There was a talk up there by an historian of medicine and French cultural studies so some of us made the trek. We revealed our lowly status by gasping at the pile of delicious, free box lunches available for attendees....

More on aging

2011-03-15T19:40:00.004-06:00

Last Thursday Kim (Craig's brother's partner) was working at home in the afternoon when there was a knock at the door. He opened the door to find Craig's father standing there. Not much chit chat or explanation, just "do you have a copy of the yellow pages I can take a look at?" Remember that Craig's parents live in Colorado, a five hour drive away from here. Turns out Lou had nipped across state lines to acquire a dog from the Salt Lake Humane Society, but having made it to the big city, wasn't quite sure where the Humane Society was. Ever since the dearly departed Delilah, well,.... departed, Lou has been keeping his eye out for a suitable successor. He and Renee are partial to dachsunds and other small breeds. The story goes that he saw the dog in question on the internet and was smitten. Of course, this story was a little odd since Lou does not to anyone's knowledge know how to turn on a computer let alone get on the internet. It later transpired that Craig's sister in law, Carol, had facilitated the internet viewing the night before. When Lou gets an idea he is like a dog with a bone and so he got up the next morning, called to make sure the dog was still available and told the caregiver he was "going over to Salt Lake to get a dog; be back by six." Alarmed the caregiver called over to Carol. It was getting on for lunch time and unless Lou is superhuman he wasn't going to make a ten hour round trip and be back in time for dinner....

Back to the front doorstop, yellow page round up. Kim suggested that he make the trip down to the Humane Society with Lou and meanwhile alerted Craig that dad was in town and determined to get a dog and head home. Between the two of them they talked him into coming over to our house once the dog was his and spending the night. No use driving five hours after dark at his age. Everyone showed up around 6. Out of Lou's hearing, Kim said he hoped the dog has lungs of steel because just a half hour in the moving ashtray that is Lou's car had about done Kim in.

We had dinner and looked at the dog who turned out to be a dachsund shitzu mix. I will leave that to your imaginations.... suffice to say that Catherine pegged it when she whispered to me "That is one ugly dog." It has a ferocious underbite - think eel.

We all went to bed and I was first up at 5am for my boot camp exercise regime. Went to pull the car out and noticed that Lou's was gone. Apparently, he had hit the road at midnight. You can't teach and old dog new tricks. He made it home in the early hours after shredding one tire to bits on rocks by the side of the road. Fortunately some big hearted highway patrol guys changed it for him.

Reports are that Renee loves the dog who is a good little snuggler.

spring

2011-03-13T17:40:00.003-06:00

Today everyone is in t-shirts and shorts and there is not a speck of snow left in the garden. Utah is a thrill a minute. I spent some time raking up leaves that we failed to get up before the first snow last fall. The crocuses are up here and there and the clocks changed last night so it feels very much like spring.

welcome to spring

2011-03-09T08:35:00.005-07:00

On Monday morning Sam remarked that it felt very springlike and then yesterday we woke up to this:Which gave me cause to fall in love with my car all over again. I got up at 5am to go to boot camp and just popped it into 4 wheel drive and navigated the unplowed side streets with no problem whatsoever. When I got back from furious exercising at the crack of dawn I put the icing and sprinkles on this:
What is it you ask? Why, it is a 'king cake' - something they make down in Louisiana at mardi gras time. It looks like a large bagel and must be sprinkled with those three sugar colors. You are supposed to bake a plastic baby doll inside and whoever gets it is "king for the day." We didn't have a plastic baby. Oh, and we didn't eat it. Catherine took it to school for extra credit in her French class.

potpourri of activities

2011-03-06T13:52:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was a varied and excellent day. It began with some skiing up at Alta with friends. I dashed back down to meet up with another friend to watch a broadcast of the National Theatre's production of King Lear with Derek Jacobi among the fabulous cast. Afterwards we had middle eastern food and then I came home and Craig and I watched Sunshine Cleaning on Netflix. At some point in the car I listened to an interview with Lisa Kudrow and they mentioned a series she has been doing on the internet called "Web Therapy" where she plays a therapist who has "limited patience for other people's problems." She limits her sessions to a few minutes and does them over the web to minimize contact with actual patients. Brilliant. I highly recommend checking it out Ali and Sian!

What your 14 year old has been up to....

2011-02-28T22:29:00.001-07:00

I keep on my teenagers by tracking their netflix viewing. Witness the following from my inbox;

You recently watched Big Cat Diary: Season 3: "Episode 4". To help us ensure a great experience for all members, would you take a moment to tell us about the picture and audio quality?

A beautiful Sunday

2011-02-27T22:24:00.002-07:00

I managed to get Craig to join me on a snowshoe hike today in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Here we are taking a self-portrait:

This is how deep the snow was if you ventured off the trail.
Me slogging up a hill where we hoped for a better view than we actually got.

Instead we parked ourselves and enjoyed a granola bar in the sun.

From my inbox

2011-02-17T10:23:00.001-07:00

Shall I frame this? When will I ever be so addressed again?

Dear President Hacking,

2011 ADE-ADFL Joint Seminar Midwest, hosted by Northwestern University, will take place 9–12 June. The ADE/ADFL will sponsor the cost of your transportation to the seminar. The MLA/ADE/ADFL strongly prefers that all association-sponsored air travel arrangements be made via our contracted agent, MacNair Travel Management, since reserving your tickets through our agent will result in significantly lower fees for the association.

BYU curriculum

2011-02-16T12:25:00.001-07:00

A student applying for a scholarship took these courses for his first semester at BYU...

Strengthening Marriage & Family
World Civilization from 1500
1st year Japanese
Volleyball, beginning
Intro to the Book of Mormon
Sharing the Gospel

Zoe

2011-02-15T22:49:00.002-07:00

While I was away in Canada Craig put Zoe to sleep. It has been really strange to come home and not have her black shaggy presence in the house. Apparently she had missed a couple of meals and was moaning at night in her sleep from pain. She also fell more drastically coming down the stairs so he decided that it was time. She was around 16 years old which is no small feat for a dog. The vet came and put her to sleep and then took her away for cremation. I must admit that I cried when he described the whole thing to me.

My job part the umpteenth

2011-02-11T07:54:00.003-07:00

For those of you who have followed or listened to me bemoan the Middle East Center and its politics here at the University of Utah. Or for those of you who can imagine the administrative fall out pending something of this magnitude, check out the latest:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51222181-76/baktiari-piece-tribune-region.html.csp

Cuz I know you all love them

2011-02-10T09:43:00.002-07:00

Another email from my colleague with a stellar example of undergraduate writing:

"Westernizers were very pro west people. They considered Russian to be backward and wanted Russian to be Europeanalized. That the only way Russia will ever united was through the imitations and ideals."

And yes, he is a native speaker of English.

trying to get caught up

2011-02-09T22:25:00.006-07:00

Lots has been happening. I spent two full days in Portland reviewing a department at Portland State. My first trip there and I was so impressed. The city is a real city and it is gorgeous. And the food.... Every meal I had there was beyond delicious. Here was my first working lunch. The salad was perfectly dressed, and the quiche...simply perfect pastry. Yum.

Catherine flew in on Tuesday evening and we flew on up to Vancouver for our college tour. The plane was late and we were exhausted. The car rental guys talked us into "upgrading" - how could we resist. Boy how I wish we had. The car is a behemoth. For those of you who know your cars... it is a Lincoln Navigator. Totally enormous, but what pushes it over the edge is the ski rack on top. Checked into the hotel and realized part way into the underground garage that we were "oversize"... Managed to park and then saw that I had ripped part of the ski rack off... Today when we got to UBC for our tour, I headed towards the recommended garage and then, YIKES - we won't fit here either. So I had to back out which of course was mortifying for Catherine. I have used super glue and duct tape on the ski rack and am hoping I can slip it back to the rental people without them noticing.

Here is the beast - up at a local ski report which we had to nip up to and check out.

A really sweet local resort that I can picture Catherine boarding at.

More importantly though. We both loved UBC. Here are a couple of pictures from the campus.

This is what they call the "million dollar view".

One of the first year dorms:

One of the many libraries:

everyone behaving badly

2011-02-02T19:18:00.003-07:00

From today's inbox. Forwarded email exchange between faculty member and student. Faculty member concerned that student might "follow up".

Hi ___insert faculty member's first name____,

I believe i am suppose to contact you about meeting with you (or another faculty member) and filling out a tutor recommendation form. Please let me know who i can contact or when i can come by, the sooner the better.

thanks

__student___

Dear __student___,

Is this for tutoring through the department or through the library? If you are a Spanish Major/Minor, then I suggest that you get a recommendation from one of your current Spanish professors. If not, then I suggest that you come to my office during office hours (10:45 – 11:45) in order to determine your level of proficiency in Spanish. Additionally, please leave the recommendation form and a Curriculum Vitae/Resume in my mailbox at the front office beforehand so that I have an idea of your experience in Spanish.

A piece of constructive criticism: I suggest that you proof-read your emails before sending them out—your message contains grammatical and punctuation errors that reflect poorly on someone who intends to get a job as a language tutor.

-______insert signed Prof. _______

faculty first name again,

Thanks for getting back to me and taking the time to proofread and inform me of my grammatically incorrect email. However, i think you may have misunderstood the intention of my email, in which i was ONLY asking for help to get my recommendation filled out and not for the editing of my email.

However a piece of constructive criticism: If you think you might offend someone, keep your criticisms to yourself. You're email contain comments that reflect poorly on a Professor of language.

student

A good florist really makes a difference

2011-01-24T20:25:00.002-07:00

Ellen sent me the most beautiful flowers as a thank you for help over what we are calling her "spell".

Our bathroom

2011-01-23T15:51:00.002-07:00

For awhile now we have known that we have a problem with our shower. We joke that each day might be the day that one of us ends up in the garage while toweling off. I don't know how you decide that today is the day when you have been talking about the need to "do something" for months (or even years) but last night that moment arrived and we spent some quality time on demolition. We figure that if we have to replace rotting studs and moldy tile, we might as well just rip the whole bathroom out and get rid of all the dated and ugly gems the previous owners chose. Peach tile - going; hideous shower with fake stain glass decals on the door - going. We will also redo the whole sink area and the floor throughout the bathroom. One of my serious pet peeves was their idea that carpeting in front of the sink area was a good idea. Of course, being do it ourselvers... we expect to be showering elsewhere in the house for months....A satisfyingly large hunk of the peach tile.

two pictures

2011-01-18T07:53:00.004-07:00

Catherine and friends trying to cheer themselves up during a crap day on the slopes. As the paper said today: "eastern snow conditions" which means icy.

I took this off facebook - one of Sam's friends snapped them on one of their evening rambles through the neighborhood. Snow is just a memory at the moment. We have been hit with positively balmy weather which feels odd.

A tale of two habitats

2011-01-13T07:32:00.002-07:00

Last Sunday Daniel, Nancy and I went to Descanso Gardens and it looked like this. Temperate walking through camellia bushes and then koi ponds.
A few days earlier I snapped this picture of Ian and Judith trekking in Millcreek Canyon up the road from me.

Firsts

2011-01-06T16:32:00.003-07:00

I realized yesterday that I have never actually rented a car by myself. Now I have. Also, I have never used a GPS, and now I have. I am loving that for LA driving. It is very reassuring to have someone tell me exactly what to do. As for LA, I know it is much maligned, but I am enjoying my visit so far. It is so temperate here. As I write this I am sitting outdoors in a courtyard at the Pasadena Hilton.

It must be a slow news day when....

2011-01-06T11:36:00.001-07:00

all university employees receive and email that begins:

Meaningful and exciting changes have been made to the way W-2 forms
are now available to University of Utah Faculty and Staff.

Photo cop out

2011-01-04T08:44:00.001-07:00

In lieu of an actual post, here is a lovely picture of Catherine last week in San Francisco.

Long time no blog

2011-01-01T14:51:00.004-07:00

A few items to catch up on:

1) The kids left for California on Sunday and that evening Craig and I checked into a hotel downtown that features real tempurpedic beds. My little empiricist determined to try out a possible replacement for our perfectly fine bed. The next morning we awoke and agreed that we had had a legendarily uncomfortable night. But my little empiricist decided a second night was needed to be sure and we needed to bring our own pillows. I suggested we bring our own sheets and blankets for the best controlled experiment but we stuck with pillows only. Morning two after another uncomfortable night and I am safe in the knowledge that we do not have to invest a few thousand in that new bed.

However, at that point I noticed that we had been sleeping with these two folks staring down at us and began to wonder if anyone could sleep well under these beady eyes.....

2) We had a lovely new years eve dinner over at Dave and Val's and talk turned to the bed problem. Another guest and Dave introduced Craig to the idea that he should convert to being a back sleeper. So, he gave it a try last night and seems to like our bed better now.

First day of xmas holidays

2010-12-23T21:39:00.001-07:00

We're not cold; we are just enjoying lunch.Sam and Lars on the slopes together after a few years hiatus. They had so much fun, especially when stuck on the broken lift for 45 minutes listening to the people two chairs back singing Christmas carols to pass the time.
The view at the top when the fog cleared for a few precious minutes.

Winter Solstice

2010-12-22T10:49:00.004-07:00

I threw a Winter Solstice party which was a bust in terms of guests-- only three people came, but fantastic content wise. We did a snowshoe hike which was supposed to be by the light of the full moon, but it was cloudy. Still, very gorgeous. Then we came back and ate the white chicken chili I had made. Pictures:

The night sky. Those are not stars but snow on the lens. That blob in the middle is the full moon.

movie

2010-12-18T22:20:00.002-07:00

Catherine and I went to see Black Swan. Dementedly fantastic. More cleaning and purging today. All trash and recycling bins packed to the brim for the Monday pick up.

what to do on a day off

2010-12-16T21:35:00.003-07:00

After a balmy few days we had snow two nights ago and yesterday I took a mental health day. I went back to bed after the kids were off to school and finished a mystery novel. Cleared out another carload of stuff for the goodwill and then did a little Christmas shopping. Apparently mum and Alison have a deal going beginning on new years where they reward each other. Mum will give money and Alison will give decluttering help. If only I could get her here. I think we would make her day. Mum's problems are chump change compared to what I have been contending with. I am not a neatnik. No doubt there. I accept that it is a challenge for Craig to live with a person who begins things and doesn't quite finish. Vacuum cleaner abandoned where last used and that sort of thing. But, my god, does that man have clutter. Quick, look up the word 'packrat' and you will see Craig's smiling face. He has every note taken in college and law school - boxes upon boxes, he has numerous old hard drives that "have stuff on them I want". I found not one, but two sets of rabbit ears to plug into a TV. I know my kids think our TV is that old.... but actually, we do have cable. If I suggest getting rid of them...."you never know when we might need them." I did get rid of a bread maker, a second toaster, coffee grinder, mini-cuisinart, clock radio, ancient laptop (weight about 20 lbs), mac computer from Malcolm's old company that we could never break the password on, bags and bags of clothes, etc. etc. etc. Maybe, one of these days I will find the missing Christmas lights....

After these exertions, I took my snowshoes and went up Millcreek:

beds

2010-12-16T21:31:00.004-07:00

I mentioned that Craig has been mumbling things about beds. Here is a picture of something he tried - thank goodness it only lasted one night.... He promised that if it 'worked' he would saw off the bit sticking conveniently out to fell one on the way to the loo in the middle of the night.

Holiday parties

2010-12-13T20:40:00.004-07:00

Almost fell into my previous posting drought, but home nice and early from Craig's work holiday gathering... When the guests are predominantly mormon, there is no wine and people seem committed to getting in and out with efficiency. This is not to imply that it wasn't lovely, because it was. The food was delicious. We each bring something and his boss does the turkeys. They set nice tables and after eating and imbibing some caffeine free soft drinks it is time for the white elephant gift exchange. We made out rather well this year. Craig got, and held onto, a plug in mug warmer and I ended up with something called "fire sparkles" which may need to be regifted to Sam for Christmas. Apparently you sprinkle a tablespoon onto a roaring fire and "enjoy the colors". There was a blessing over the food so we should all be fine in terms of food poisoning. You never know how long someone's "covered dish" has sat in the car. To contrast this to events connected to my work, add massive amounts of drink and no blessings.

Last night we got the tree and put it up. Couldn't find any lights so did our part to boost the economy and rushed out to buy more. There was a bit on Science Friday this week about how to keep the needles on your tree for as long as possible. The bottom line, useless advice, was to buy a tree that has been properly handled from farm to selling point. Useful advice though was to use only white lights which are best at encouraging continued photosynthesis. Do not turn them off at night. I like it when I learn something genuinely new.

Other news: Craig is murmuring things about new beds... Zoe has taken a turn for the better so we now think she "had the flu". The children are in school until the 23rd which sucks for them but is quite nice for me.

photo

2010-12-05T20:32:00.003-07:00

I promised a photo with Sam's debraced smile. Here is one from our Christmas picture taking session this evening. Ryan came for dinner and we learned how to use the timer on the camera and voila. You'll be receiving one with all of us with your Christmas letter. I have promised mum I am going to attempt the genre this year...

One more post

2010-12-04T20:38:00.003-07:00

Friday afternoon Sam and about 12 of his friends (i'm not kidding, they travel in a horde) came over and hung out in our downstairs family room. I came home and knew that it was the "Friday of the fake babies" because this is what I saw by the front door. For those of you who don't recall my post about Catherine and Ryan's fake babies, suffice it to say that ninth graders in a particular class get a doll with a computer chip that they have to look after for a few days. It cries and carries on at random times and can only be soothed with a key that the teenager has had attached to his or her wrist. Three of the horde came with babies which were all being assiduously tended to in between bouts of FIFA 2010 on the xbox.

Teagen and someone's baby.... I had thrown the horde out and they were off to terrorize the neighborhood.

Boarding part 2

2010-12-04T20:32:00.003-07:00

So, apologies that I can't figure out how to turn the video clips in the previous post....

Here are some pictures from today. Those I can manage to get the right way up.

Tessa and Sam chillin'

Catherine, Keziah and Tessa have graduated from the bunny hill to Majestic Lift.
Sam and Catherine riding the chairlift.

Check out the progress

2010-12-04T20:23:00.003-07:00

evening in SLC

2010-12-01T21:08:00.003-07:00

Tonight I made dinner (like I do most every night) and it was vile. I don't know what exactly went wrong, but let's just say there was toast made midway through to help us out.

Craig is back from his jaunt to Mexico, just in time for another precipitous decline for the much beloved dog Zoe. On Monday evening she collapsed on the kitchen floor and was completely unable to stand up. Sam and I ended up carrying her upstairs to my room to sleep. It was clear that was where she wanted to go, but each time she tried to get up she ended up splayed on the floor. The next morning she was alright again. Today she didn't come down for breakfast and late afternoon manage to make it to the top of the stairs to be sick (left that for Craig's cleaning pleasure...). Craig has asked me to get the info from my friend at work for her vet who will come to your house to put your pet to sleep. Apparently not only is this nicer for the owners but is also helpful for any remaining dogs who are otherwise traumatized by an unexplained departure. This way they can sniff the departed companion and it is supposed to be easier for them. I will keep you posted.

Vegan? No thanks.

2010-11-27T20:25:00.002-07:00

I feel that I have demonstrated a true act of friendship having made and delivered the vegan onion soup. First, I looked at the French recipe and realized that the gobs of butter and beef bouillon were not going to work. Actually, I was already up to speed on the latter and had bought mushroom broth, but butter is so essential in my world, I was flummoxed. I stopped at Albertsons and pondered the butter like substances, but they had nothing that met my criteria. So I went to another supermarket and found something that is lactose free, gluten free, soy free... you get the picture. Came home and made the batch of soup for our friends and then set out to deliver it. Got within striking range and realized that I don't actually know where they live. So there's me driving up and down very Salt Lake streets (i.e. they are called things like 3045 south) wondering if I will ever find the house. Eventually had to call someone, who called them (I don't have their numbers as they are more Craig's friends than mine) and me and my now very mushroomy smelling car pulled up and made the delivery. I assured them that "it is the thought that counts" and if it is inedible, they should pour it out straight away.

Then came home and put the finishing touches on our batch that had beef broth, butter and loads of lovely french bread floating on top under a melted swiss cheese. Yum.

Saturday in SLC

2010-11-27T08:28:00.002-07:00

Sam and I are up and getting ourselves ready to head up for skiing. We got him new boots and skis yesterday at this great place a block from our house. They do consignment as well as new equipment and clothing. We got a great deal on his gear and I left two outgrown pairs of skis there for them to try and sell. Craig took the camera to Mexico so no pictures today. When we get home, Sam is going to make French onion soup from the copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking I have had since my teens. His dad got him his first Le Creuset pot yesterday. We are also going to make a vegan batch for our friend who just had a double mastectomy and has gone vegan since his diagnosis. All in all, a lovely Saturday.

Let down

2010-11-24T20:16:00.003-07:00

What a let down. We had a few inches of snow and the university was open today. I think the word blizzard got used because we did experience a radical drop in temperature and high winds. All day today it barely hit 20 degrees F. Sam and his friends have built an igloo over the last few days which they intend to sleep in over Christmas break. Fortunately it is at someone else's house so I won't have to contend with half frozen teenage boys at 3am. Looking forward to a few days off. We are invited to Val's for Thanksgiving dinner which is even better. No wrestling a turkey for me. May try out the cross-country skis tomorrow.