Feeling out of whack

We have had a very strange winter around here- no measurable snowfall yet and much of December was in the 40s and 50s. I don't love the frigid weather- or shoveling snow- but it makes me confused about what month it really is. We got our first "wintry mix" last night, which means everything has a thin layer of ice over it this morning. Thankfully, I don't have to drive anywhere until later today.

December and Christmas were also strange for me because H was out of the country for a research trip for almost 4 weeks- he left the first day of finals and didn't get home until the Friday before classes started. D and I stayed here because we didn't want to spend the money to go to my mom's or grandma's (after our international trip in the summer we're feeling pretty strapped). My sister-in-law was supposed to spend the holiday with us, but she ended up heading to Very Distant Country at the last minute (she comes home today, actually).

I'm getting into the swing of the semester but next week will my first week with labs and a full schedule- plus a PhD oral exam, dentist appointment, and other things. I'm hoping to have a relaxing weekend, although I should really do some house cleaning. The mood has not struck me- I'll blame it on the weather.

Parenting question

D had an early dismissal last Friday, two snow days this week, and today they had a two hour delay. I don't live in the part of the country that's had the crazy snow, but we've now got about a foot on the ground- which is quite a bit for Small College Town. These snow days aren't a big deal for us, because I work at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and H is home on Monday and Wednesday. D is 10 now, so she is pretty self-sufficient. She gets her own breakfast and makes her school lunches, but we always get her lunches at home for her (our microwave is above the stove, so it would be dangerous for her to even warm something up and risk pouring scalding food on her head). We have never left her home alone (except for 15 minutes once or twice in an emergency). I'm not sure what age I'll feel comfortable leaving her home alone for any extended period of time, but I can't see doing it before she's 12 or 13.

I'm really curious to know how others feel about this- it's not entirely clear what is even legal age for being home alone (and it probably differs if the child is alone or is watching younger siblings). I'm asking this because a colleague of mine stopped by the other day and asked if D was home alone (it was one of the snow days). I said that H was home with her (he would have been home anyway). He said that their daughter (who is D's age) was home alone for the day. I don't know that I have a problem with that, but I just can't imagine leaving D like that. I know that our parenting tends to the over-protective end of the spectrum, but I don't think we are completely out of the mainstream either. I know some of you don't have kids or have much younger kids, but maybe you remember from your own experiences- when were you old enough to be left home alone? I don't plan on changing my mind about this, but now I'm kind of wondering if I am just way outside the norm.

Where Addy complains about the weather

OK, so I don't like hot weather, but this weather is just a little crazy. It's not even December yet, but it was 12°F this morning. That is just wrong. I was really enjoying fall and I'm not ready for winter. Luckily it's supposed to warm up this week.

That is all.

500!!

Wow- it's my 500th post! And I have nothing interesting to say. I am killing time at Chicago Midway waiting for our flight to Desert City. We have about two hours here waiting for our next flight, so I thought it was TOTALLY worth paying the $6.95 for wireless access. We were in this exact airport on this exact day two years ago.

Look how D has changed (these will likely expire later):

*poof* I'll put them on Facebook!

That time we were on a trip to Seattle (we drove all the way to San Diego over two weeks). This time, we are headed to Alma Mater City, which is also D's birth city. This is just a quick trip, since H is teaching summer session.

If you know me on Facebook, you know that we've had some wicked storms over the last few days at home and we lost electricity two nights ago. It was out for 13 hours, then when it came back yesterday, it wasn't quite full strength. That meant that the microwave wouldn't really work (after 2.5 minutes my Smart Dogs were still cool!), the A/C worked some early on, but quit later. Before leaving the house yesterday, the power was surging on and off every five minutes. It was annoying and the house was HOT because it was 90 and HUMID outside. We have a neighbor who is house-sitting, so she is going to check on things, but I hated to leave the house in that condition. What a pain. 

Anyway- I just wanted to check in and say hooray! 500 posts!

Short, whiny post

I am feeling incredibly sleep deprived, since I stayed up until around 11:00 watching political stuff, then had to wake up at 5:00 in order to shovel snow off of my driveway (to make it my 8:00AM class). I know- six hours should be enough, but I feel like crap. I also have a headache, now. I will probably go to bed when D does tonight and know that I'll feel MUCH better in the morning- especially because this irritating wintry mix will be GONE. No more snow until at least Tuesday. I don't usually look forward to spring, because summer is right behind it, but this year I can't wait! [end of whine]

Random Bullets of Crapola

Self explanatory...

• I'm glad Halloween is over. Around here, there are no less than THREE opportunities for children to trick-or-treat. There's the campus dorm trick-or-treat sometime the week before Halloween.  There is the Small Town business trick-or-treat and parade. Then there is the NORMAL October 31st deal. And this doesn't include the class party where other parents send in even MORE crap for them to rot their teeth with. Sheesh. I am also sick of these kids who show up at our door, don't say 'trick-or-treat' (or even 'hello') take some treats*, then don't say 'thank you' as they leave. No wonder we live in such a rude society.
• I am giving myself a crash course in Mac usage. I think I have figured out the most critical issues so far- such as the no-right-mouse-button issue. I also watched part of a tutorial on Leopard on the Mac website which showed me how to use Spaces (very cool!) and other fun Mac things. I am posting this using Safari (although I am still using FireFox mostly). My PCs may be sitting lonely! Later tonight I am going to use Parallels to migrate my fresh install of XP from the laptop that died the other day. I hope it works! ETA: I got an error trying to create the image on the old machine (twice), so I'm going to try my office machine tomorrow, which runs Vista. If that fails, I have to get an XP disk and just do a new install....
• It is so freakin' cold around here. I took D to lunch because they have Election Day off and every time we ran between the car and stores the wind was just awful. I was enjoying fall, but am NOT ready for winter yet!
• My classes are almost ready be on auto-pilot for the rest of the semester! I have presentations scheduled for BOTH classes for the last two weeks of the semester (right after Thanksgiving). This means I should be able to get some badly-needed research done. I first have some labs and other things to get organized, but it should be smooth-sailing after that.
• I am making my favorite Butternut Squash Soup right now- it has curry spices, coconut milk, and kale in it (thanks, Moosewood Cookbook!) It's such a fall recipe- I love it.

OK- time to go eat. I just wanted to check in. I hope you are all doing well and the semester isn't getting too crazy for you.

*I hand out healthy treats like fruit roll-ups and granola bars

Dewds...

I know this is blurry, but I was in stop-and-go traffic (at one of the few places that this occurs in Small College Town). Check out the temperature:


This weather is just the worst. On campus, they've had to leave the library and rec center open for students with no A/C, so they can sleep!

When will it end?

... Heat advisory in effect from noon today to midnight EDT Friday night...

I'm soooo sick of summer.

Oh, how I've longed to see these words on my weather forecast...

Tomorrow is forecast to be Much Cooler than today.

Hallelujah!

Of course, in this case "much cooler" means 88 degrees. The dewpoint will be dropping, so that is the best part. I still can't believe how it's much hotter here than lots of places out west (it's even cooler in Tucson!)

Why I hate summer...

On the forecast page for my area this morning:

Excessive heat warning in effect until 6 am EDT Friday...

(It's only Tuesday!)

cold + dreary = no motivation

What happened to the sun? And the warm weather? Oh yeah- I don't live in Southern California, even though the last few days felt like it! It's only reaching the 40s today and it's raining and dark. blah... H left early this morning for a conference, so I'm on my own for the last few days of spring break (since D is in school this week). I thought this would be a great time to crank out some work, but I am feeling tired and unmotivated this morning. It must be the weather. I hate it when it's unseasonably warm, because the inevitable return of "normal" weather only feels that much worse when I was wearing flip-flops and cropped pants the day before. I guess I need a list to hold myself accountable for something today...

1. read articles/chapters for conference research
2. shower
3. pick up music from D's piano teacher
4. stop by post office to mail job application
5. look for that student letter in my office
   
6. have lunch with friend from work
7. more work on conference research- look at data? more reading?
8. try to ignore dirty house and resist vacuuming until this evening or tomorrow
9. pick up D from school bus

I'm sure items #1 and #7 will be mixed with blog-reading and possibly napping (I tossed and turned all night and got up early with H). Can you believe March is half over already?? When did that happen?

ETA: Completed items are in green italics. Do you notice a theme here? I did everything that was NOT work-related! I also made an easy list, because most of things were not really hard or even requiring much effort. #3 is only partly finished because I need to go buy some sheet music tomorrow (one piece was missing). I took the afternoon off and watched Bob Roberts. I also sent off the final revised version of the paper. Tomorrow will have to involve some work on #1/#7, because it is sadly the last day of spring break. I also need to start working on some of the teaching tasks that I've been putting off all week... sigh.

Spring Break Update

Of my original list, I have accomplished everything I was supposed to do on Monday. Revising the paper was much more time-consuming than I imagined. I ended up doing additional analysis, then I wrote all the response to reviewers comments, etc. My co-authors are really on the ball, so we'll probably send in the revisions tomorrow (less than a week after getting the acceptance!). So it's certainly time well spent for a spring break! I thought I would be spending more time on the new research (for the conference next month), so that will be my plan for tomorrow. I am also going to have lunch with a friend, send off that application (I finished that one last night), and stop by my office to find a letter from a student (I hope that's where it is!)

I haven't been too productive in the afternoons, but I also don't feel like I've actually had a break- which is bad. Maybe if I am productive tomorrow, I can take Friday afternoon off and watch (or see) a movie. Or something. We'll see.

It's so warm here the last couple of days that I've got the ceiling fans on upstairs! Crazy March weather- I hope it doesn't snow this weekend like they're predicting. All of my bulbs are starting to emerge- I hope they bloom before I leave town for the conferences!

Thanks to everyone who posted comments about my job decision. I am feeling at peace at about now. I was explaining to one of my colleagues how the job would have meant that I was 45 minutes from my grandma's, a 6-hour drive from my mom's, and a 6-hour drive from my brother's. He said "and a 4-hour plane ride from your husband." That pretty much sums it up. I am still holding out some hope for dream job, but it could be the same agonizing decision all over again if I get an offer.

Don't worry- I'm OK.

I don't have it in me to be depressed for very long- I am thankful that I am like this, too! I'm feeling OK about the prospect of spending my career here in Small College Town- it's certainly not the worst place to be. Here are some good things about NOT getting job offers:

1. We don't have to move.
2. We will be financially better off (the cost of living is pretty reasonable around here).
3. We will move closer to Major City once we (hopefully) get tenure.
4. I will (hopefully) have only one more year as an assistant professor.
5. I can try to start some research in Adopted-Home State & make more frequent trips out there.
6. Maybe life will be a bit less stressful as an associate professor (that is- IF I get tenure!)
7. H, D, & I all have each other!

We had a nice trip to the Indian buffet for lunch today, followed by a stop at Trader Joe's. It's been snowing off and on, but not sticking to the ground. I sure hope spring arrives sooner rather than later- I've been freezing this winter! I'm still feeling a little bitter- we will be attending a conference in one of the cities where I interviewed next month. I wonder how agonizing it will be thinking that we could have almost lived there! ;( ... and it's an awesome city.

ETA: See comments- Dr. Brazen Hussy brought up a few good points & I responded!

Some Art Saturday (& more SNOW)

I missed last week, since I was on my way home from the interviews. Today, I am posting another photo from my History of Photography book. The photo is everywhere on the web, and I can't remember where I got this copy. What could be better than cats flying through the air- although I feel sorry the one getting wet!

Dali Atomicus
Philippe Halsman, 1948

In other news, it is snowing here yet again: 1-3 inches this time. I don't think I need to tell you that I am REALLY tired of it. I've been back home for one week now and it's snowed about 4 of those days (and it snowed while I was out in adopted-home state, too). It would be nice if I knew that this was my last winter here! I still have at least another week before I could hear something from either place...

Frozen Trees

Yesterday, the trees were crackling in the wind, because they are covered in ice. Man was it COLD out there this morning. I lost feeling in my fingers in less than 5 minutes!

Where Addy complains about the weather (some more)...

OK nobody can control the weather (other than changing the climate through human activities), but it seems INSANE to me that the public schools here in Small College Town are closed for the third day in a row. They are now going beyond the allowed snow days for the year, meaning the schools will have make-up days in June. It stopped snowing/icing late Tuesday night, but this school district is geographically large and includes a lot of rural back roads. Now, I can understand that this makes it difficult for the buses to get in to pick up kids, but is it really reasonable to make the entire district shut down? Aren't the Township Trustees (the people responsible for clearing roads outside of city limits) doing their jobs? I can't believe that it's impossible for them to clear these roads. This is the Midwest. It SNOWS at least a little bit every winter- you would think that provisions would be in place to deal with it. I'm not sure if it's the road conditions closing the schools today, or that fact that it's 0°F out there. We're actually having freezing fog, so the trees look beautiful (I'll try to post a photo later).

So, why would I want to leave this place? Trade snow for traffic, frigid cold for smog? Because it's warmer there and my extended family is nearby. Oh yeah- and the jobs look AWESOME, too!

I hope it's warmer where YOU live.

Just a quick post tell you that I am writing an exam (OK- picking questions from a test bank!) for my freshman course and I can hear the window screens and siding rattling. It's currently snowing sideways, the temperature is 16°F or 17°F (we don't have a weather station here in Small College Town), and the windchill is between -1°F and +2°F!!! AND IT'S the MIDDLE of the DAY!! Why did winter have to show up for real??? I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere, except dinner at a colleague's house later- unless D doesn't feel better (she has a tummy ache).

yuck. why, oh why do I live here?

Priceless Produce

Those of you planning to buy 10 pounds of peppers will be stopped at the door!

taken with my cell phone

More crazy weather

This picture was taken by my blog-less brother, who lives in Tucson. They had an inch of snow last night! Doesn't it look gorgeous??

Somewhat random midweek non-bullets

The days are getting away from me and I really don't like neglecting my blog this way! My schedule is vastly improved over last semester, but there are enough extra things going on that I still feel a bit overwhelmed at times. Tonight, H and I are taking a break and watching TV. I have plenty that I could be doing, but I'll put it off for now!

My Google Reader list was so long that I basically skimmed most of the blogs and had to leave it at that. I subscribe to a couple weather blogs and they've been full of interesting weather all over the place. I know that 'global warming skeptics' like to use any cold spell as a sign that there is no human-induced climate change going on, but what they neglect to realize is that global warming will lead to generally unpredictable weather. Average global temperature will keep increasing, but specific weather events can still go the other direction- even heavy snow may be more common in some places with warmer temperatures.

I cannot do the random call-on-students thing. I picked out one guy in the back today to answer a SIMPLE question that anyone would know and someone else jumped in with an answer. I'm just not going to be able to do it. The whole thing was too awkward and I just don't feel comfortable singling people out. Oh well. So sue me.

I need to get back to getting up at a ridiculous hour. I don't get much done in the evening, so I'd be better off sleeping early and just doing the work in the morning like I used to.

OK- that's all for now... I just wanted to check in. I hope you are all doing well out there in the blogosphere.