APB: Seeking Good Mojo From the Blogosphere!

Okay, folks - TD comes for his campus visit and job talk this evening! Tomorrow is THE DAY. He didn't sleep at all last night because he was up working on his presentation. I just Skyped with him and his little face on the video screen looked so tired, nervous, stressed, you name it. He feels like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders and he doesn't want to shrug.

So, what I'm asking you is if you'd take a moment over the next couple of days and send us some really good thoughts, mental incense sticks, prayers, cosmic bribes, whatever! This could be the end to all the uncertainty that has been a part of our lives and relationship (either implicitly or, lately, damned explicitly!) for the past 5 years.

I'm picking him up from the airport tonight, feeding him and giving him a drink, and then taking him to his hotel so he can get to bed by 9. Then tomorrow it all starts for him at 8:30 am and doesn't stop even for a second until 8-9 pm. I'm happy they're wanting him to meet as many people as possible, but it's stressful.

Okay - that's all! I'm going to teach today and then go back to grading jail without passing go.

"I'm Graaaaaaaading! Graaaaading! Graaaadiiinnnggg......."

And it does feel like someone dropped a house on me!

Reasons to be Happy

1) I am now back at Chez Bloggez Moi - no harrowing experiences on the ride home - just safe and sound. Travel joy.

2) I don't think these furballs can get any healthier. Seriously, I came home and they both ran to me and jumped into my arms. Perfectly fuzzy, chubby, etc. They have their winter coats now, so their fur is even more fluffy. Furball joy.

3) My senior colleague/awesome mentor has read my article draft and said that it was good and my writing is elegant! She's got a lot of suggestions for clarification, places to flesh out or pursue an argument, etc. But I'm so happy she thought the draft had good bones. It makes me feel like I *can* really write an article from scratch and have it be cogent and interesting. Research joy.

4) I taped all 12 of the episodes of my favorite decorating show during a marathon on Saturday. I can't get this show where I live, so I have my fix when I'm at TD's place. But the marathon was on, so I taped all of them. Decorating joy.

5) I only have 3 days of actual teaching left for one class and 4 of another. After that, I give exams. Teaching joy.

6) This Thursday, TD comes out for his jobtalk at Awesome Neighboring U - I will post something separately on this later in the week! But suffice it to say that the excitement and tension has reached "DEFMEDWOMCON 5: Holy Shit, We Might Actually Pull This Off!" Husband Joy.

Gobble, gobble: Part Deux

Tom Turkey is safe from us. I do not cook turkey because a) I don't like having to deal with a carcass and b) I don't like having to eat the same thing for 10 dinners in a row. I am, however, making a hum-dinger of a roast tonight and oven roasted potatoes, green bean casserole (my nod to the traditional) and blueberry crumble pie!

So, I'll soon be curled up under the table, sucking my sticky little blueberry thumb and dreaming away in my food coma.

However, I blog also to tell you about my trip to Chez Dutchman yesterday. Flying on Black Wednesday = A BAD idea, I know. So, I was annoyed and pissy for a lot of it (Delays? Cancellations? Off with their heads!!). However, the last leg of the journey was the worst. It is a very short flight in a small-ish prop plane (thank you Mesaba Airlines working with Northwest - kiss my tush). So, I was properly loaded up with Clonazepam and ready to rock - even with a rain storm making things bumpy. But I sat in front of the family from hell with 3 of the most obnoxious urchins ever to pop out of a woman. I wanted to kill the boys - the girl was just whiny and could have been sedated with something alcoholic (okay - I'm just kidding - I'd never really give a kid alcohol, but this is my fantasy...). We're just up in the air - the scariest part when it's the bumpiest and the kid behind me starts talking about "CRASHING" at the top of his lungs. If the little guy had been scared, I could have dealt with that. But he was just asking questions like any stupid child: "Dad, what if we crash? Will we burn up first? What will happen to the wings? Will some people get sucked out into the air like on (some movie I've never seen thank god)? Would it hurt? What if one of the propellers becomes detached and cuts into the side of the plane? What if both props catch on fire?"...you get the drift.

I was able to handle this for about 10 minutes (with the dad just saying, "uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh") until I finally turned around and shot lasers beams out of my eyes at the father and said quietly, but menacingly: "Some of us don't like to fly, get it?" His eyes bugged out (because of the searing heat no doubt) and he muzzled his child somehow (gag? apple in the mouth?). By the time I got off the little contraption they call a plane, which had been bouncing around the bolts of lightening in the clouds, I was ready to see the Dutchman and have a stiff drink or four. Of course, TD complied and we spent the rest of the night cooing and re-declaring our love for one another before I passed out on the couch from too much excitement and beta blockers.

Have a Great Thanksgiving! See you on the flip side...

Gobble Gobble...

Anyone want to lay bets as to how many students show up for class tomorrow?

I'm betting around 15 out of 40...

"Psst".....(glances pointedly to the sidebar)...

Look to the right.

No, your right, not my right.

Over there on the sidebar.

See the word counter? Did you notice that it had been creeping ever farther up?

Just like Pinocchio's nose.

It has reached a plateau at the moment - I have another 6 pages to write or so, but I've given the draft as is to senior medievalist colleague hereabouts and I'll get her comments after turkey day.

Oh the joys of hitting the ball into someone else's court. I really hope she doesn't think it's crap. I don't want her to think her new colleague is a dolt...

And now, to the bath!

Beowulf the Dud...

For a really fantastic review of Beowulf the Movie and the sometimes inspired, often discouraging adaptations of the poem, go to Chez Bloggez Dr. Virago.

As a life-long member of Team Aniston, I will never be able to stomach a movie where Angelina Jolie is computerized, naked and dripping, speaking in a Transylvanian accent and messing up the character of Grendel's mother.

But, see Matthew Gabriele's review comments here. He liked the movie a bit more than Dr. V, but felt the depiction of women was spot-on. Thanks for sending me the link!

Sniff! I go back to writing deep thoughts.

I'm better....but my ficus isn't

I'm definitely on the mend with just that nagging bitchy little cough hanging in there (but I've opened up a can of Halls whoop-ass to beat it into submission).

However, I can't say the same for my ficus tree. It's in a pot in my dining room. It's not lookin' too good - but no ficuses (fici?) look good this time of year, right? Hmm. There's little fluffy, white, cottony stuff on a lot of the branches - right at the point where many of the leaves depart from the branches - i.e., in the little nook. It's worse on the dead branches which are inside. There doesn't *seem* to be any visible bugaboos on it, but what the hell do I know? I don't over-water, in fact I kind of underwater some time. Does anyone know what this is? Medieval Mom says I should trim a branch and take it to my local gardening center. She said it might have to "be destroyed." !?! Like it's a level-three biohazard or something? This makes me just want to put it on the sidewalk and leave it there, but that would be ficus abandonment.

A plea to the internets.

P.S. If anyone's really interested, I'll take and post a picture of the offending matter in situ.

in quarantine until further notice...

sick.

feel gross.

grubby students.

germs.

head stuffed with cotton.

achy.

theraflu.

sleep.

vitamin c.

sick......

Le Freak: C'est Chic??

Stress.

Party last night was delightful - started around 7:30 went until about midnight, which is just fine by me (although I still sometimes have that party standard in my head that says things should start at 10 and end at 3...).

I leave for a conference (at which I am thankfully NOT presenting) on Thursday night and I need to get some stuff together for that.

I have, oh, about 85 job applications to skim before next Monday for our First Vetting.

I completely forgot to pay my rent this month and my landlord finally called today to see if I was okay and not sick or dead. I felt like such a schmuck. It looks like I'm actually going to have to write down on my calendar that I need to pay rent on the first of the month - if it isn't written down, it doesn't exist for me.

Article, article, article...

Life's Little Chicken Nuggets of Joy...

The Dutchman arrives tonight! Yay!!!

My hair has been highlighted and looks good (I'm growing out the funky cut).

I have a big-honkin' blogger meet-up planned for next weekend (including Tiruncula, What Now, heu mihi, and Flavia-Flave) - any predictions on how much trouble we get into over Indian food, drinks, and ???? (What happens at Blogger Meet-Up stays at Blogger Meet-Up...)

I love my department. Yep. I said it. I love my job (crazy students notwithstanding). I've *never* been at a place with so much support at every level - from immediate colleagues to the most vaulted administrative positions. Recently Renaissance colleague and I worked on a junior-faculty oriented proposal. It was proposing something that's kind of a big deal and we weren't sure what kind of response we'd get. We did our homework and worked up a good one - we were pleased. Well, we've been hearing about its reception at all levels of faculty admin. and it's totally taking off! In fact, it's been taken out of our hands so that the powers that be can do the necessary research and number-crunching to make it happen.

And I've made some lovely friends here - really - I feel very at home. We're having a party tomorrow night and lots of great people are coming.

I had lunch today with senior medieval colleague and she's excited about reading The Article That Never Dies (if it's ever done - Morgan, I know I owe it to you!!).

Sorry to ooze happniess, but it's one of those days when everything is great. TD becomes more and more excited about the prospect of the position at Awesome Neighboring U (more than he's letting on - I think he feels like too much enthusiasm will jinx it). I love the thought of staying here and making my career here. After such a long journey to get here, I know this is the place for me.