Utah Public Radio: A Voice You Might Recognize

While we were in Utah, FD did an interview on Utah Public Radio.

Fast forward to a little over half way.

I hope he doesn't kill me for posting it, but I'm proud of him!

Two Less Specific Reviews (My Airplane and Trip Reads)

I read Flannery's The Weather Makers for the BGSU Common Reading Experience Committee, and I think it's a great book selection for the Common Read--and one that I would recommend to readers interested in the environment.

Like Field Notes by Kolbert, this book tackles the issue of global warming by providing background info, but Weather Makers is much more personable. Flannery gives his own impressions on global warming and its history AND proposes possible solutions to global warming. Kolbert's Field Notes was a saturation of scientific support for global warming, whereas Weather Makers takes scientific facts and makes them very real on a human level.

I wouldn't say this book is a page turner, but it is a lot less overwhelming to those not all that scientifically-minded than Kolbert's Field Notes and it leaves one feeling less saturated too.

I vote for it as next year's common read, and I think it's an important book to read generally speaking.

Four out of five environmentally concerned Hello Kittys.


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Miranda July's No One Belongs Here More Than You is good, but not as special as I thought it would be. I was expecting something like the works of Sara Pitchard or Aimee Bender. My expectations weren't met. The stories were readable, but after a while I kind of got bored with the first person point of view. And the quirky-ness. I felt like the stories were projecting hipster-indie writing, but they weren't really all that new or fresh. They were different...different, I feel, for the sake of being different.

Maybe I'll back to this book some point later in my life and like it a lot more. But for right now, I felt this collection didn't live up to its hype.

3 out of 5 mildly amused Hello Kittys.

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The best bookstore we visited in Utah: BYU's University Bookstore. They had the BEST selection of contemporary poetry I have EVER seen in one location.

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More deets on the trip coming soon!

Very Short Hiatus

Back from a great weekend.

Which I still haven't found time to post pictures of yet.

So is life, right?

And I'll be away for a few days. More details on that when I return.

Until then, enjoy this!

For the Love of Zappos!!!

Katherine just sent a link to this Consumer Review of Zappos.

And I thought they showed love to me.

I think it might be the ONLY place I buy shoes from when I buy shoes.

Which won't be for awhile b/c I'm so content with my Zappo purchased discounted Campers*.

(*Upon looking for the link to my comfy Camper shoes, I found they are no longer offered...God does take care of me...)

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On another note, I write my blog posts usually on Mimi the Mac.

My blog looks so much prettier on her.

On my campus PC, it's not so pretty. What to do about that...

Yo, Yo, Yo! Check These Out (or Not)...

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert is awesome book that made me really think the history and evidence of Global Warming. I just wanted it to be more personable. It's almost too full of facts and journalistic writing that sometimes I couldn't help to get bored or tired. Yes, Global Warming exists. Now I want to see a book that makes Global Warming more "human." In other words, I want to see a book that meshes the scientific evidence of GW to human life. Anybody know of one?

3 out of 5 environmentally aware Hello Kittys.





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Honestly, I was more intrigued by the all the research Kate Greenstreet did for case sensitive than the actual writing itself. The narrative, at times, for me, was too disjointed--to the point that it became experimental without any real intention other than that. I comprehend that this book is working with associative connections and extended thinking and it's all about ideas and how narratives overlap (--I get it!--), but I believe writers need to work these experimentations into the writing and that the writing should bring out these things. Ultimately, the writing should come first and be the best aspect of a book, in my humble opinion, not the research. And in my opinion, sadly, that wasn't the case with this book. I reallyreallyreally wanted to LOVE this book because I think the idea of it is utterly amazing. It just wasn't for me.


2 out of 5 disappointed Hello Kittys. 5 out of 5 satisfied-to-have-thought-that-much Hello Kittys, though.

Two for Tuesday

Do you all remember?




OR

Emmitt Otter's Jug-Band Christmas?

(I guess that's 3 for Tuesday if we count the Melrose theme music...)

Quick & Easy

For dinner I made French Fried Onion coated Chicken, Annie's Mac and Cheese, and salad: Quick & Easy.

I used Flickr Uploadr to post pictures of our recent visit with Mom and My Sister:
Quick & Easy.















I needed a laugh and watched this YouTube video that KLA shared with me awhile ago:
Quick & Easy.






I made to-do lists for our upcoming trips: Quick & Easy.

And, yes, I've already thought of several dirty jokes that go with "Quick & Easy."

If...

If I didn't think it is unprofessional (for me, not others) to blog about students, I would post something. Something really good.

But I can say this:

Have you ever had a day where you've been around, like, one or two people who you can't wait to get away from?

I had one of those days. Actually more like one of those 1hr and 15 minute classes. Make that an hour class after I said, "Just leave."

Ughhhhh!

What bums me out is I have sooooooo many totally rad students who are motivated, work hard, put forth great effort, and think critically. I should be focusing on them--my angels!

But it's so hard to think positive when all I really want is to punch something.

God, for real, where is my inflatable Weebl Bop Bag from childhood? Seriously.

Or my boxing gloves.

Yes, Pops bought my bro and I boxing gloves so we could "have it out--safely."

Wait, I think I know where my boxing gloves are.

I should take up boxing.

I've always admired honesty in folks--true, bleeding heart honest--so I figure why not be honest with you, my readers.

It's not Always Sunny in Bowling Green.

If only I was Charlie in the Green Man Suit. Then it might be Sunny. And I might be Sunny.

(OK, I tried to find Charlie in the Green Man Suit on YouTube, but this will have to do:

So wrong, but so right when I need a laugh...)

The Mini-Vaca of Fall Break

As some of you know teaching full-time (face-to-face and online), doing university admin work, developing an new online course, reading, writing, housekeeping, and participating in online communities can be exhausting. Thank God our university (BGSU) acknowledges the mid-semester burn-out and rewards students and instructors with a Fall Break.

I needed it more than I thought I did.

Of course, I worked during Fall Break--revising lesson plans, developing my next semester's online class, housekeeping, etc.--but I managed to sneak a little bit of fun.

Thursday afternoon after some much needed vegging FD and I drove down to Findlay to buy some fresh veggies at the Farmers Market.

My only regret is that we just now found about this locally produced heaven. We got tasty heirloom tomatoes, fragrant basil, a perfect cauliflower, crisp peppers, just-dug-up potatoes, a ziploc baggie of very sweet lettuces, an gorgeous eggplant, delicious zucchini bread, homemade granola, a mouth-watering mini apple pie, awesome goat sausages, freshly ground turkey, and some jams.

Needless to say, we've been eating like royalty for the past few days.

There's nothing like getting food straight from the farmers, not some refrigerated, fluorescent-lit supermarket. Honestly, we didn't pay much more than grocery-store prices. And if we did, I'd rather support local farmers than Kroger.

Sadly, though, the Farmers Market's last week is this Thursday. FD and I teach during its 4:30-6:30 hours, but come May we will be visiting it all summer long. I can hardly wait, even though I'm dying for fall to get here.

(90 degrees in October...And there are still freakshows who think Global Warming does not exist!?! WTF?!?

In addition to our Farmers Market trip, my parents came in for a visit, which was super-nice.

We hung out at the house for awhile, grabbed a nice lunch at Biaggi's, and then looked at a mini-storage unit. (Yes, I got my masterful multi-tasking from my Pops. In addition to his work addiction. Pictures do speak a thousand words--one cliche that totally accurate.)

FD and I caught up on some movie watching too: The Last Mimzy (totally AWESOME--a family version of Donnie Darko in a way--5 out of 5 Hello Kittys) and 300 (rad camera work that slowed down footage so sequences replicated frames in a graphic novel--too bad the ending kinda sucked--4 out of 5 Hello Kittys).

We got a bike ride or two in and lots of reading.

Goodbye, Fall Break. I'll miss you until next year.

Hello, Final Drafts of Essay 2 and a very, very busy week.

Ben Winkler Cracks Me Up (aka One of the best TV ads ever [aka I can't stop wondering about my little Karen Cleo--What happened to her???])

What I'm Singing To Myself Today

Just for street cred, I want to clarify that I liked this song well before it became part of the iPod Nano commericals...