A Perpetual Student

This week has been hard friends.  Really hard.  No sleep.  Big projects due.  Emotional instability.  On top of it all I caught two students plagiarizing and just failed them out of my class.  They don't know it yet, but they will soon.  I'm not looking forward to confronting them and dealing with their tears and excuses, especially since what they did was so blatantly wrong and disrespectful.  Let's just say that they copied each other and a web site and lied to my face when they handed in their papers.

*sigh*

In other news, today I figured out that I'm in 18th grade.  :)  It makes me giggle just thinking about it.

A Baby!

It's not mine, folks.  (None of you seriously thought it was me for a second, though, did you?)

I just found out one of the people I go to school with is about to become a father.  1) I love him and his wife, and they will be great parents.  2) Oh my, he's lucky he's graduating in May.  :)  I don't know how people do kids and grad school.  I know lots of people who do/did that.  How?  They must be super-human.  Yes, super-human.

The Good and the Bad, a summary

Let's start with the bad.  This bear used to stand upright instead of slouching backwards.  My honey was crystalized at the bottom of my honey bear.  So I put that bear in the microwave...and forgot about it.  Instead of 10 seconds, he was in there for about 45.  So yeah.  Molten honey melts plastic.  I am beginning to think this blog is going to turn into my kitchen mishaps.

The good.  This is our new humidifier.  I'm thinking it needs a name, but none have really stuck.  Anyway, isn't it cute?  I had to choose between a penguin, a frog, and this elephant.  I loved them all, but you can't always have everything you want.  The trunk sprays a super-fine mist into our air, which is very necessary, since it's really dry as the weather turns colder.

Another good.  La and I hung out yesterday night.  So fun!  We also took a bazillion pictures in an attempt to properly document the experience, but they are all on her camera.  I'll let her decide which of the dorky pictures of me goes up online instead.  We did some knitting, and La finished her scarf.  :)  Congrats!  

I'm not sure that this is totally good, but it isn't bad.  My paper proposal for a conference in February at UCLA has been accepted.  I'm going to talk about my thesis (that I'm writing next semester).  Oh wow.  Here's the deal:  they've got some crazy stipulations.  1)  I found out I can only write 6 pages.  6.  Um, how am I going to condense my argument to 6 pages and 12 minutes?  I don't have a clue.  Not the faintest idea.  Oh well.  2) They sent this long list of things on which I have to sign off.  Ridiculous!  Here are some examples.  

"As a member of a graduate student panel, I agree to submit my completed paper to the moderator of my panel by 5PM on Friday, January 28, 2011, in order to assure that he/she will have ample to prepare to lead a thoughtful discussion, following the panel presentations."

"I agree to be professional and responsible by arriving on time to my panel and staying within the allotted 12 minute paper delivery time."

"I agree to reply promptly to all email communication related to the 2011 Thinking Gender conference."
Somehow I really doubt that people who rate higher than grad students have to agree to be responsible.  Do I need a contract to make sure this gets done?  No, I don't think I do.  

Finally, I have 2 1/2 weeks of school left for the semester.  That makes me happy, but oh what a crazy two weeks they will be.

Um hmm

Courtesy of my husband, who overheard this the other day when he was out and about:

"People reckon I'm too patronizing. OH! that means I treat them as if they're stupid. Sorry if that wasn't clear to you."

Classy.

David Crowder Band - SMS [Shine]

This is amazing and beautiful.  Enjoy!

Welcome Winter

No snow at my house yet, friends, but my husband reports that it's getting closer to our hose as I type this.  It poured rain for most of today--cold, wet, windy, end of fall rain that makes you want to drink gallons of hot tea and read good books.  In lieu of good books, it's homework for me.  (Pornography law/lack thereof, to be exact.)  Also, I furthered my research project by looking through old Catholic newspapers from Denver's early years online.  Very interesting!  Then I made peach crisp, ate leftover tom yum kai (the best soup EVER) while the chilies in it burned my mouth in the most delightful way, and decided on a hearty Hungarian goulash for supper--mother-in-law's if she calls me back with the recipe in the next few hours, my mom's tried-and-true if not.  Seriously, I need to get back into the soup habit I developed in Russia.  Soup keeps you warm, costs less, tastes so good, and occasionally is good for you.  I wish I had written down my host mother's recipe for mushroom soup.  Also, borsch is soup-my favorite one except tom yum kai.  But really, I would even settle for that strange dill pickle soup that we were served in our dorm.  Mmmmm...soup.

In it for the Long Haul

This is Iowa's Republican Senator, Charles Grassley.

Nice tie, Chuckles!  Also, check out the pocket handkerchief.  That was arranged with talent!

Iowa has another senator, too, named Tom Harkin, but today we're going to talk about Chuckles.  (Um, I just like to call anyone named Chuck "Chuckles."  This is not a political statement.)
Tonight my mom informed me that Chuckles has been on the ballot since she started voting.  My mom started voting around 1978, people.  Now here's the deal: I looked Chuckles up on Wikipedia and discovered that actually he's been a publicly elected official for longer than my mom has been alive.  Yes, this man started serving as one of Iowa's state congressmen in 1958, was a member of the House of Representatives from 1975-1981, and since then he's been in the Senate.  Say what?!
Of course, in some ways this is very good for Iowa.  Like Senator Harkin, Grassley has TONS of political seniority to spare, so he's part of some important Senate sub-committees.  He's the ranking Republican on the House Finance Committee, and he serves on the budget committee, the ag and forestry committee, the judiciary committee, etc.  (The etc. is real.  There are more committees.)
This is what I have to say about Chuckles.  Dude!  You have been in office since BEFORE my mom was born!  That is a long time in political years.  Also, apparently you've decided to keep it up, so that means that you're going to try for a near-60-year legislative political career!  Are you trying to out-do Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd?  I guess you must be happy knowing that lots of Iowans like you.  Still, buddy, what is up with your claims to be a family farmer?  You are a politician.  Embrace it.  Also, thanks for not being really crazy.