Finally, a day off . . .

Kind of. I've still got some work that I need to do, but at least I've had the time and freedom to do some cleaning around here. Well, picking up, if not dusting and scrubbing.

And I managed to read most of my latest Economist. Oh how I missed real news while away. There's nothing worse than cable news channels, and that's just about all we had at the Conference Center (that and 800 channels of ESPN . . . not sure which one I find the least appealing).

At least my lack of t.v. news did give me some respite from this interminable presidential campaign. Every time I watch any coverage, I feel a bit like I'm on a death watch. It doesn't really matter who wins, it's going to be major letdown, culminating in a lackluster one-termer. The right hates Clinton so much, I wouldn't be surprised if they're already drafting articles of impeachment, just in case they get the chance to use them. And McCain and Obama keep making promises that any reasonable person knows are doomed to failure. McCain probably has the best chance of surviving his broken campaign slogans, but that's mostly because only about 5% of his supporters actually like him. The rest are just holding their noses.

Seriously, does anyone believe that we can really make it through the next four years without raising taxes? Oh, sure, we can try; let's just sit back while we create a complete and total budget disaster. And what's up with the near messianic love of Obama? He's a politician, folks, and most of what he's spewing is pipe dreams. Remember when everyone loved W? When he was a regular guy, who would bring compassion and dignity back to the office of the president? When his approval ratings were around 80%? Umm, how many months did that last? And how hard and low did he fall?

Oh, well. I should probably just gird myself for the inevitable. There will be an election that votes in someone who is supposed to fix everything, someone who will assuredly work across the aisle for consensus. And then people will slowly realize that what they thought they were voting for can't really happen. And then there will be anger and despondency. Perhaps America will "lose its innocence" again for the bazillionth time.

Maybe if we're lucky--really, really lucky--something truly awful will end up killing lots of us. That will give the president (and countless governors) an opportunity to make a stirring speech about coming together and moving forward. And everyone will be happy again, sending approval ratings through the roof.

Let's just hope that bird flu or a hurricane doesn't kill off all the speech writers. . .

Peanut Butter Jars are Falling from the Heavens

While walking back from the grocery store this morning, Nick & I were surprised by something falling to the ground just in front of us: an empty peanut butter jar.

It came out of nowhere, falling down to the ground at the base of a tree. Some enterprising squirrell must have snagged it out of the recycling and hauled it up the tree. Those little buggers are getting pretty smart.

Not long after that, just as we were trying to leave for the airport, something went thud in the car and we were left with no steering. Trying to scrape another two years out of this car is starting to look questionable. It's good I live close to the bus line.

I'm now in Virginia at the National Conference Center, which is, as they bill themselves, a "city within itself." It's pretty confusing around here: rooms have this complicated lettering and numbering system, and I'm not sure how I'll find breakfast yet. At least I had a good dinner with some tasty profiteroles at the end (not here, but at a "lifestyle center" down the road . . . this place is a sea of strip malls and townhomes. A bit too stepford for my tastes.)

Tomorrow I start with reference appointments and teaching sessions. We'll see how my advanced session goes. . . they'll be taping it. Yikes!

Well, I'm not dead yet . . .

Well, it was bitterly cold out there. While the temperature wasn't too bad (on Saturday at least), the winds were definitely fierce. We were going to camp on the hill between Long Lake and Lake Neilson, but once we got there it was obvious that the wind was charging off of Long Lake and nearly creating a whiteout at the top of the hill. In the picture at left I'm lounging in the windbreak I built on the slope facing Lake Neilson. While it did break the wind, we decided to all sleep in the parachute on top of the lake instead.

We hauled a picnic table down to the lake for cooking, and everyone spent the afternoon building shelters. There were 7 quinzes, one "bunker," and two parachutes for the 34 of us (9 adults, 25 boys). We did send one boy back before dinner due to the windchill, but the rest of us toughed it out.

When we first left for camp it was a balmy 15 with light winds and snow showers. By 4pm the temperature was starting to drop by about a degree every half hour. We had reached zero before dinner was done cooking.

Inside the parachute wasn't so bad; it blocked the wind and the chorus of snoring around me drowned out the sound of the lake ice cracking beneath us. But, somehow I managed to press the wrong buttons on my watch and I ended up thinking it was much closer to dawn than it really was. It was a terrible moment when I realized that while my watch read 7:52 am, it was actually nowhere near that late, and I'd have to continue debating whether I should risk getting up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

I decided to wait, mostly because I couldn't imagine trying to zip myself back into the bag when it was already covered with frost. Not long before dawn I could feel that the air in the parachute had gotten much colder. When I finally got up at about 6;30 it was -18 outside with winds of 30 - 40 miles an hour. It was a very bitter walk to the latrine at the top of the hill. Thank God it has walls.

Unfortunately, it didn't warm up very fast, and with windchills that were probably at -50 for much of the morning, we decided to break camp "fast." That meant no breakfast and no warm drinks (or any drinks). Most of the adults went to get the cars so we'd only have to cross the lake before climbing into a warm vehicle. Dad & I stayed behind. It took so long to get the boys up and going that I started to lose heat in my torso. Apparently three hours of -50 and no breakfast is about my endpoint. Being sick didn't help much either. I trudged across the lake and climbed into a truck and waited for the rest of the crew to finish up (2 hours later).

So, here I am, back home and sore as hell. Apparently shoveling for several hours is not the best thing when you've already coughed yourself into sore chest muscles. And my knees are unbelievably sore. I'm not sure why that is, but I'm guessing it's because I was shoveling uphill to help build a quinze. It must have been the up and down on the steep hill carrying shovelfulls of snow.

All of my pictures are from Saturday, since the cold temperatures killed the batteries in my camera. Which is good, since we all looked pretty haggard this morning. Dad had icicles hanging from his eyelashes, and my hair had sneacked out from under my hat, become frozen with my breath, and created a humorous "beard" around my chin.

Busy, busy, busy . . .

I've been taken to task for hardly blogging at all lately. There's not much to say, except I'm so busy that I'm behind on work projects, behind on cleaning, behind on French, and behind on just about anything you can imagine. I've only kept up to date on meals.

I did half my civic duty last night by going to the caucus and being part of the straw poll. The caucus site was a complete madhouse - there were cars parked up and down every street, crowds trying to push through the halls, and a lack of enough sign-up sheets. Plus, those shoe boxes that passed as ballot boxes made me a bit nervous. At least Highland Park Jr. High was somewhat organized. It sounds like Macalester was just completely beyond the pale.

I left quickly(?) last night so I could get home and do some laundry for Winter Camping. I can't believe that I've got to spend the whole weekend doing that, and then turn around for five days of work followed immediately by a flight and five days of work. Blech.

At least I did ultimately figure out whom to support in the caucus. It involved reading a lot of candidate Issues pages and then figuring out what level of stupid everything is. I almost never think they say anything good. There's just stupid pointless and stupid dangerous. And the list is getting so long I may need a spreadsheet. Personally, I'm amazed that on the two biggest issues of the campaign--Iraq and the economy--I agree with 0% of the candidates. So much for voting my conscience. I also don't like to vote for the reasons that most people cite: change, experience, inspiration, looks. I also despise the coverage of elections:

Talking head 1: Let's cut to this 3 second quip that may determine the future of America.

Candidate on screen says something banal that somehow seems hilarious because a politician said it.

Talking head 2: Ha, ha, will that resonate with voters?

Talking head 1: Well, poll results show that Candidate A has rounded the final corner, but Candidate C is now a nose ahead of Candidate B. If Candidate D hadn't lost his jockey in the last turn, this could be a very different race. If Candidate B or C comes up with few more pithy and meaningless phrases, either might just win the triple crown.

Erin: Dammit Nick, I'm so sick of this shit.

Nick: I know. Let me make you dinner.

I guess it all means I'm screwed. Oh well. I'll go back to reading debate transcripts and complaining to Nick through the shower curtain every morning.

I'm Back!

I know it's been a long time. I intended to update my blog once I got back from Italy, but it just got so darn busy. I've barely had time to keep on top of washing clothes and paying bills.

I do have a giant collection of Italy pictures up on Shutterfly. That was one thing I managed to finish right when I got back. They're all overcast, but what can you do? The weather is the weather.

Around here the weather has been atrocious. We dropped by 49 degrees in 24 hours this week, and now I'm dreading a return of the deep cold for next week's winter camping trip. Especially now that my cough has bruised my rib.

And the cold has driven the rabbits to desperation. They ate an entire rhododendron and a mock orange. These weren't tiny bushes, and now there's almost nothing left. Here is a picture of what little is left of the rhode:

Now, to top it all off, the sink has developed a giant crack across the bottom. If only we could have decided on a new counter top, the sink would have been replaced months ago. Oh well. At least I'm 100% sure I won't be buying a composite sink.

But I still have to decide between stainless steel and cast iron. And the counter? Still don't know.

And I haven't even decided which candidate to support at the caucuses. . .