Oh….and I happened to catch the Oscar nominations on the Today show this morning.  What a joke those things are.  Let’s take the movies that somehow represent whatever agenda the Academy most prefers and give them an award which we’ll claim is for “good acting” or “good directing.”  Seriously, the only ones that could even possibly be legit are the ones for screenplay and adapted screenplay, simply because they would actually have to be well-written (even if the director modifies it before the filming ends).  Anyway, I like engaging culture and all that stuff, but sometimes I hate that our society functions on the assumption that I’m stupid!

I have a number of things to do today, but we’ll see what actually gets done.  I have some grading I should do, but there’s no rush on it, so I may not do that today.  I also want to clean my bedroom.  I’m tired of the clutter, and I’ll have to re-iron the pants that Eric piles up on the desk before I hang them up again.  He admitted last night that he could start hanging them up when he takes them off!  I do have a good bit of writing that I need to work on, too.  And I usually like to give myself at least one small errand out of the house just to liven up the day! 

I can’t believe that today is the last day of January.  That’s just crazy!  Still…being sorry that the days fly by doesn’t keep me from being glad that school is also moving that quickly!  My goal is always just to make it to Spring Break.  If I can manage that, then I can totally make it to the end because the second half is always faster (and has more breaks).  The first half is just long and unbroken.  So I guess we’re just that much closer to the halfway point.

So we just a meeting for our school (dept. of Bible, Communications, Music, & Lang/Lit).  We passed a couple of curricular items and then we listened to a presentation on Intelligent Design.  It was somewhat interesting in places, though I got pretty lost in a couple of his explanations.  It just seemed odd to be talking about science in a meeting for the faculty of humanities and fine arts!

Eric and I watched “Guess Who?” last night.  It was the movie with Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac where AK is the boyfriend who’s visiting the future in-laws for the first time.  It was a surprisingly good movie.  I really enjoyed it, and it was pretty funny in places.  I’d recommend it.

I did get my ironing finished yesterday, and I got a lot of little errands/jobs done, too.  I made taco casserole for supper, first time I’ve ever made it.  Eric seemed to like it, so it will probably be added to our list of meal options.  Of course, he’s not at all picky, so I guess that makes life easier!

This weekend I need to clean up my house a bit.  It’s really in good shape, but we’re hosting the small group stuff on Sunday, so I need to dust and vacuum, etc.  It won’t take too long, but it’s something to work on.

I actually don’t have so much to do today.  I feel like I’ve caught up for the most part.  Of course, now I’m not sure what to do to fill my day, but we’ll see!

I actually got to exercise outside today.  It’s usually too early (ie dark) for me to go outside on a normal day.  Or it’s raining or something on days that I can go later (ie lighter).  So, today I decided not to use my treadmill and walk in our neighborhood.  It was a very nice change!

Eric had a bad headache yesterday so he didn’t go to orchestra rehearsal.  He was actually in bed resting when I got home from work!  I couldn’t find him at first, but I could hear his voice.  It was kind of funny to walk into the bedroom and see him buried under the covers!  I guess he felt better today because he did go to work.  Hopefully, he won’t come home with a headache again!

Okay, I can’t think of anything more interesting than that to write.  Maybe I’ll find something later…

It’s still snowing in Cedarville.  And it’s cold and windy.  And tomorrow it’s going to be near 50 again.  What is this?!?

Eric’s chiropractic appointment went fine yesterday.  I knew there was something out of place that was kinking his muscles.  And until it was put back in place, I couldn’t massage the kinks out of the muscles.  So, he wanted to do a check-up next week to make sure it’s set, but we’ll see if Eric goes back.  He had trouble really seeing the guy as a “real” doctor.  He kept referring to the whole thing as a type of quackery.  But hopefully, that will help him some…

Today is just the usual classes.  It’s a lesson I use every term in Comp, so it always goes well.  And I have a test to give in Basic English.  Nothing too exciting there.  I did get lots of my “stuff” done yesterday, though, so I feel a little more on top of things now!  We’ll see how long that lasts.

So Saturday night Eric and I went to the Columbus Symphony to hear Mozart’s Symphonies 39, 40, and 41.  Number 40 is Eric’s favorite.  This year (actually this week sometime) is Mozart’s 250th birthday, so the Columbus Symphony is doing a Mozart series.  Since Eric is a big fan of Mozart, I bought him tickets to a couple of the concerts for Christmas.  He really enjoyed the performance I think.  I, on the other hand, had a little more trouble enjoying it, primarily because of the gentleman who sat in front of me. 

Inevitably, no matter how many open seats exist around me, someone sits directly in front of me, always tall enough to exactly block my view. Also, he or she will typically be a fidgiter, meaning that I will constantly have to move to see around them.  This gentlemen fit all of the above requirements.  But the bigger issue was that he also had some sort of disease (I’ve never seen anything like it) where his entire body, from what we could tell, was covered with bumps.  They looked like growths, ranging from small to the size of large grapes and covering his face, the back of his neck, his hands.  They were even all through his hair.  It was, honestly, somewhat repulsive.  Then, of course, the Holy Spirit reminded me that Jesus loves this man and that he must spend most of his life dealing with people staring and reacting to his looks.  It was a good reminder for me, since I tend to be overly critical of how people look anyway, and I eventually got myself trained to ignore the bumps as much as possible.  But it was not a typical visit to the symphony!

Anyway, on to today.  I have a long list of to-do’s today.  Eric and I went out to eat (Tim Horton’s) and then to Home Depot last night.  I did get the laundry folded and put away before bedtime, so that was good.  And we bought some really nice wood for Eric to use to build us a nice TV stand to replace the crappy one we have now!  And the wood was on sale, so that was a nice surprise!

But today, I now have to do many of the things I didn’t get done last night.  I have some writing for church I need to do and grading/prep work for classes.  I need to finish the laundry (I haven’t washed the dress clothes, which then also adds ironing to the to-do list).  I need to prep for Drama meeting tomorrow night, and I think I’m going to make an appointment at the chiropractor for Eric for tonight, so that will shoot the evening. But if it helps his back from constantly bothering him, it will be worth it.  So anyway…on to the list!

What a long day.  Right now is really the first time I’ve had a chance to write.  My schedule makes me feel as if I have to stop and start something new just about the time I get into a rhythm with what I’m doing.  I’ve discovered that I don’t work well with interruptions!

I think it was a somewhat productive Monday, anyway.  I still have some grading to do.  I may try to do that before I go home tonight.  That way, I can just relax when I get home.  No wait…I can’t relax.  I’ll need to get dinner on.  I need to finish the laundry I started this weekend.  I need to clean up the kitchen.  I need to prep my drama stuff for Wednesday night.  Well, at least I’ll have Tuesday to do some of those things…so maybe I can relax a bit after all.  I hope! 

So yesterday turned out better than I expected.  My trip to the BMV took only 20 minutes total.  There was no line!  I also got my oil changed at Walmart in about 20 more minutes.  It was crazy!  Then the dinner, though not what I would call exciting, was good and we got done early, so I did get home before Eric was in bed.  That meant that we did get to talk a bit before we went to sleep.  So overall, the day went much better than I thought it would!

Today is supposed to be 55 degrees.  The weather guy called it “balmy.”  Boy is it going to be hard to go back to frigid temperatures again!

I’m so glad today is Friday.  I have my classes, and I have to meet a girl for lunch.  I’m really having trouble adjusting to this semester’s classes.  And with other meetings and such, not one day has been like another yet.  So hopefully, I’ll get caught up soon!

Today I have to run errands in the morning (DMV, oil change, dry cleaner) and then I have to go back to CU in the afternoon.  I need to meet with a student who’s asked for a meeting, and then I have that dumb dinner tonight at 6:00.  I’m not really excited about it, but I’m trying to have a good attitude.  And maybe I’ll leave early!

Eric left earlier than usual so he could get a seat at the quarterly Battelle Pancake Breakfast, so I only saw him when he came to say goodbye.  And he’ll probably be in bed by the time I get home tonight.  So it’s probably going to be tomorrow evening before I get to really talk to him again.  That’s annoying!

Oh…and I found my missing sock!  The poor lonely sock on my dresser has a mate again.  The match was hiding in Eric’s underwear drawer!  So I guess that’s where socks disappear to when doing laundry!

So I realized that I have to come down to CU tomorrow for a dinner thing that’s supposed to be from 6-9.  Since I don’t teach on Thursdays, that means that I have to make a special trip down, not get home until 10 and be up at 5:45 on Friday morning to be back down by 9:00.  And I don’t care if it’s a free dinner…it’s still not fun!

I only have time for a quick update (although Karen got off school today, so everyone should harass her if she doesn’t get on!). 

My drive to CU took over an hour this morning.  The interstate was actually very nice, so I was making great time!  Unfortunately, Clark County refuses to clean off their roads, so from 70 to CU on 72, life was not so happy.  And just below Springfield (we’d just passed the 55 mph sign…not that I was going anywhere near that!), a tow truck had traffic stopped in both directions to pull someone’s car out of the ditch.  I must say that I don’t believe 8:15 am is the best time to be doing that sort of thing.  If the car isn’t on fire, leave it until after most people get to work!  Anyway, we sat there for 15 or so minutes so I was rushing to get ready for my 9:00 class.  I hate that!

Anyway, I have some other papers to read before my noon class.  Such fun…