bday redux

So my birthday? It was great. We had cake at work. I went home early. I cooked, I made cornbread (2 kinds), I straightened up the house and sat outside reading (read: talked to people on the phone). Friends came over for chili and apparently it was good because there wasn't any left over. I got some amazing and a few humorous gifts, all greatly appreciated. Now I'm ready to carry on with the wonderful task of being 36.

pssst

Guess what--it's my birthday today. I am wearing my pink birthday crown, as per usual, and generally enjoying the fact that last year is over and this year has so far been great. Yay, 36!

My mom often tells the story of how I was late in arriving. They were going to induce labor in the next day or so, so she went out to eat at one of her favorite restaurants, Chicken Charlies. Just as she was about to eat her sandwich, she realized she was in labor. I think this whole timing issue has haunted me my entire life and will continue to plague me until I am on the road to oblivion.

Happily, the timing gods do sometimes smile and let things line up correctly, and all I can do is make the best of it.

no camping

So we didn't go camping due to the great fear of muddy dog paws in the tent. We did, however, go to Jane and Mr. Rochester's place for drinks and grilling. Jane made some kick butt potato salad and she also made me a birthday carrot cake, from scratch, with cream cheese frosting. Yahumm!

As you can see, we also played The Game of Life. I so almost won, but Mr. Rochester beat me out by collecting $50K every time the dang spinner wheel got stuck between numbers. Next time, Mr. R., next time!

mmmm

It's a warm drizzly day, I am full of french toast and potatoes, and I want to curl up and take a nap. I look forward to grilled portabellos and margaritas later this afternoon, seeing friends, and continuing my birthday weekend in style. Happy happy.

friday reflection

Catching up on my Inside Higher Ed this morning, I read that Laurence Musgrove thinks our students need "not more Facebook, but more faces in books". Here here! While I enjoy the way that technology can help us deliver and access information and I especially enjoy the way it lets me see hilarious videos silly people around the world have created, let's face it: our college and university students are here to learn. Everyone needs time for quiet reflection as well as stimulating discussion in order to learn. Everyone needs to take in, consider, analyze and communicate. I'm not saying "ban Facebook" or anything like that. I am not completely crazy. I'm merely saying that besides offering lots of internet bandwidth, we need to provide good spaces for quiet study, lots of interesting materials in various formats, and a gentle hand to guide our students to both of those things.

good thing i went jogging

When's the last time you had a slight tiff with your sweetie and he (or she) showed up at your house with chocolates? Never? Me either, until last night.

Mmmm, chocolates....

I am one lucky gal.

winsome

We had a fairly large group of high school students in today (70+) working on in-depth research papers. We planned a fairly loose day of instruction, free searching/retrieving time, more instruction, etc. The group was split into two groups so I am not sure how things went down in the other class, but in my room, it was like this:

Me: okay, so that's how you use the catalog. Take this time to search for some books, go get them, and make sure you're back here by 10:35.

Some of Them: okay, cool, I'm going to take advantage of this huge research library and get some stuff done!

The Rest of Them: can't we just go to lunch? This is stupid. I know how to use a library already.

I begin to realize my mistake, which was to not have a more structured approach to the day. Some classes do well with large amounts of free time and others do not. The rub is not knowing the first time around which type the class is going to be. Repeaters, now I can usually remember what they were like last year and plan accordingly. I did have some good interactions with the kids though. One girl said to me, in response to my asking her if her searches had been successful, "I figured out what my topic is going to be!" She had, and it was an excellent topic, and I helped her find some related materials.

clothings

Favorite t-shirt of the day:

Paki-Man

not serene

Definitely not who I thought I'd be...

Your results:
You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)

Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 80% River (Stowaway) 70% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 65% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 60% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 60% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 50% Wash (Ship Pilot) 40% Inara Serra (Companion) 35% Alliance 25% A Reaver (Cannibal) 25% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 10%

Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and would protect your crew from harm.

Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz

I had a dream last night that we were camping but everyone had decided to go a week early, so I arrived without a sleeping bag, tent or food. Then my mom was there and I kept apologizing for being so disorganized.

Sheesh.

Perhaps I shouldn't drink coffee in the evening, or decide it's a good thing to eat a bowl of noodles at 8:30 because I've just gotten hungry. Or maybe I am simply feeling like I need to take some time to organize my life.

All of my favorite people & dogs were at the park this morning and I was plowing around enjoying the sunrise, the birds flying overhead, and as usual keeping an eye out for bodies floating down the bayou. There weren't any, but I did see what appeared to be a big box. It went under the water before I got to it, so I will never know for sure.

poke...poke...pokepoke

I have a quick temper. That is no surprise to those who know me in "real life". I can easily be provoked, especially because I take things seriously. My motto is that things are serious until proven funny. This is all fine because usually people figure this out about me and as I get to know them better, I can distinguish when they're intentionally poking fun and when they're not. Sometimes people take advantage of this, and I can see the humor here, by making the "dude, I'm completely serious here" face and then saying something ridunculuous. Heck, I'm usually the first one to make myself into the butt of a joke.

But.

When someone who knows me, claims to like me, and yet continues to provoke me in a less and less "fun & games" kind of way, how should I respond? It's happened to me before. When I was younger, and the provoker was a guy, I assumed he liked me but didn't know how to handle it. Now I chalk it up to the person having some kind of problem with me that we haven't resolved. When people make fun, they're usually mad about something. What would you tell someone else who was in this position? Say it was someone who you supervise. Would it be different if it were a close friend?

I would say (and have said) that the person should ignore it, unless it's really harming her in some way. Chances are that folks will realize what is going on and the provoker looks like an @ss, rather than the provoked looking like a humorless prig. It's easy to give that kind of advice, but much harder to take. What if the provoker doesn't realize what she's doing? What if it starts to affect work or relationships with others? When do you advise the provoked to get help? Is there anything to be done? When does joking cross the line into creating a hostile workplace?

Obviously I don't have a lot of answers here. The last time this happened to me personally, the provoker was someone I had worked with who then started working for me. It was an awkward situation at best, but I knew the guy had a good heart and we worked through it. I can't help but think it would have been different if he'd been my boss, or been a part of my social circle. [as aside, I ran into him a year or so after we stopped working together and found out that he was an alcoholic--his behavior suddenly made a lot more sense]

Just some thoughts for a sunny Saturday. Now I am headed out to reclaim whatever is left of the day!

Update: I was just reading an article very apropos to this subject. Read it!

li'l nippy

Well, tv watching accomplished, covering plants sadly left undone. We set a new record low last night, 27 degrees. I don't care what you say, that is COLD in this here part of the world. I was so not wanting to go out that I decided I would simply buy new pepper plants after it warms up, if necessary.

sure, i could eat some pie

Yesterday went off without any crazy breakups or "hey, we're just starting this thing" valentines weirdness, for which I'm grateful. I received a gorgeous gift, along with dinner and good company. Tonight I am ready to launch into a million hours of taped television and possibly some laundry and definitely some kitty-petting time. Since it is supposed to get below freezing, I want to cover up my two little pepper plants, if they haven't already bit the dust. You see, I am just that boring and domestic.

never too many vday chocos

Last year I was actually looking forward to Valentines Day, in a small way, because I had a boyfriend of sorts and I wasn't feeling particularly bitter, but then the bf chose that day to break up with me. It seems like that should have scarred me or something, right? Here I am again, giddily stuffing my colleagues' mailboxes with farm animal valentines and looking forward to dinner at the PI's place. Despite the commercialization (blah blah blah) and overdone pink and red decorations EVERYWHERE, I still find Valentines Day sweet. When I was small, I would buy the usual store cards for my class, but I would make special cards for my close friends. I looked forward to the cards I expected from friends and maybe, just maybe, from a secret admirer. Okay, the secret admirer never happened, but I never stopped being excited about the possibility. While I am at most times a hard-hearted, Spock-like logical being (keep your groans to yourselves, peanut gallery), I hope I will always keep my mantra strong: may my heart remain open. You, too, faithful readers.

they sell caskets at wal-mart?

Another night, another movie. Last night's feature film was Employee of the Month, recommended by my friend's DH. Now, my friend said it was no good, so my expectations were not high. Furthermore, one of the stars is Jessica Simpson. We all know she is Not a Good Actress. The premise of the film was pure Revenge of the Nerds meets Clerks. That's probably how they sold the movie, in fact. It's set in a WalMart-like store and focuses on the boxboy and cashier divide. Now, I worked in a large retail establishment and can attest to the fact that this divide exists and Employee of the Month portrays it pretty well. Is the movie believable? Heck no. Is it entertaining? At times, although I fast-forwarded through bits. It is almost 2 hours long, whereas it merited 80 minutes tops. If you're bored and it's already in the vcr, give it a watch. Otherwise, you can skip it.

old timey

I finally watched The Illusionist yesterday. I'd netflixed it a while back and it'd been sitting on top of my tv for a few weeks. I will watch almost anything with Edward Norton so it was a given I'd see it, but I was surprised to see Jessica Biel hold her own. Her role was certainly a step up from that baseball movie. I'd like to say that the ending was a surprise, but it really wasn't. I almost always spot that sort of plot a mile away. That didn't prevent my enjoying it, though. The thing that struck me as odd was the way Eisenheim's character remained almost completely undeveloped. He gives a little bit of insight into himself during his conversation with Sophie (as an adult) but otherwise he remains a true man of mystery. What I especially liked was the framing of the film. I don't mean that in the sense of the storyline, but I am referring to the way they made the film look like an old picture or postcard.

general babble

I hate blogger right now. They have forced me to "upgrade", which, because I'm an early adopter, I am always loathe to do. They are currently attacking me with little IM's and generally being annoying.

Happily, I am too cloud 9-ish to care. Also I am drinking a gigantic soy vanilla latte and nothing can be wrong when I am ingesting something that fabby.

I received a lovely thank you card from Jenica in the mail yesterday. How lovely to be reminded that mostly virtual friends do have corporeal bodies, pens, stamps, and griffin flavored return address stickers.

Did I mention how happy I am right now. Mmmm, pungent Indians (snark)...

feeling pretty lucky, overall

I had a very typical-of-H-town thing happen last night and it made me shake my head (at myself, mainly) and also laugh because my friend helped me out with her quick thinking. I accidentally pulled into the wrong parking lot, which was not connected to the right parking lot. I was already running late so I took a look around for the usual "do not park here b!tches!" sign, didn't see one, and ran over to meet my friend for dinner. We walked outside with full bellies about an hour later, just in time to see a tow truck driving away with my car. She told me to jump in her car and we sped away after the truck, managing to catch them just before they got onto the freeway. I had to wrestle some cash out of the mini-mart atm but it was about half the amount I would have had to pay at the sad car jail. I was so relieved that I didn't have to spend the rest of the evening dealing with finding my car that I was joking with the tow truck drivers. Seriously, though, if you ever want to start or invest in a side business, towing's got to be pretty lucrative.

the horror

From my horrorscope:

"There is some likelihood of a slight conflict today. You may have to deal with someone who treads on your toes or runs roughshod over your gentle nature. Rather than getting upset or indignant, defend yourself with your favorite Pisces weapons: silence, laughter, and perspective. Let your adversary tangle himself in desperate justifications for his behavior."

Gentle nature? I'm not sure that sounds much like me, but the laughter part sure does. I will do my best to keep it inside today.

BTW, one of my work pals covered me at the desk while I ran up to get coffee. When I came back, she left me with her husband for a fabby conversation about opacs and subject guides.

desperately seeking joe

I'm at the desk and I don't know why. Oh wait, it's because I'm doing a favor for a friend. It's been somewhat busy, at 9am, which surprised me. All of my normal hours are in the later morning or afternoon. I am really wishing I had stopped for coffee, however. I have been out of cream for at least a week and when I went to buy some, the store was completely sold out. What, was there a run on cream? They had whipping cream, and I was tempted, but it cost a whole lot more. I cannot drink coffee without some sort of milky substance (ahem) in it, so I haven't made it at home for ages. All of the students walking past have coffee cups, big ones, and I am severely jealous. I may have to knock one over, grab his coffee, and run. Alternatively, I could beg a colleague to get me some, which might be safer. Might.

a little bit of happy

Okay, okay, a whole lot of happy. It's very interesting how all of a sudden things fit. I am not filled with questions, feelings of dread, anxiety or fear. I am calm. It's as though there is a crockpot in my belly, slowly cooking up something wonderful, something worth waiting for.

Update: I just re-read that and realized it kind of sounded like I am pregnant, which is certainly not the case. That does remind me that I need to send my cousin a "congrats on your newest" card!

lots of goofy

This has certainly been an interesting day. Work was productive and extremely strange (or should I say strained?). I also visited two of my favorite medical librarians for lunch and a medical library tour. While I don't care for the parking hassle, I sure do love the medical center. So much potential for excitement, so many weird skin diseases walking around, so many helicopters landing on buildings.

Also, my personal life is getting very interesting. I am not quite ready to report on that just yet. Sometimes it is necessary to savor before sharing.

On the home front, I took down my screen door but haven't yet replaced it. It is on the agenda. The front of the house feels sort of naked without it. I like naked, but I'm not sure the house does. It seems more modest than I.

fairies, hair and breakfast

I made a fairy last night on the Disney website. In order to do that, you have to register with your name, email address, etc. I hate it when people make me register to play, so I filled in a completely bogus name, which happened to be PooPoo Onyourbrains. I think my sister will appreciate that one. Anyhoo, I made the fairy have the same hairdo as me. Today, one of the instructors I work with called my hair "spunky", meaning my cowlicks are beginning to make it stick up everywhere. Still, I'll take my compliments where I can get them.

My classes from yesterday invited me to their breakfast. Everyone brought a dish they would normally eat in their home countries. I had the oddest combo: a stuffed grape leaf, two tiny cups of Arabic coffee, one larger cup of regular joe, a humbao with mushrooms and cabbage (oh my god, so good!), some Saudi salad with chick peas, hummus, yogurt, tomatoes and pita, a little cookie thing and some rice cake with beans and fruit. There is a good chance my office will become toxic later on!

alllllmost friday!

It has been one heck of a day, faithful readers. Actually it's been a heck of a week. Those of you who've been to Ranch Ranger may recall that the screen door is incredibly hard to wrench open. Turns out, each wrenching has put a lot of stress on the handle, and last night it snapped off. My friend was able to tie it to the post outside so it doesn't bang, but to take the door off we have to take the doorframe completely off. What fun I will be having this weekend!

Well, my classes and other obligations for the day are over and I have two hours on the desk to finish off my marathon of public service. Then I will be dying quietly at home while watching Grey's Anatomy.