Allen, TXCurrent temp: 98 degreesHumidity: 24%Heat index: 98 degrees New house in Tennessee:Current temp: 87 degreesHumidity: 62%Heat index: 93 degrees

I am a bit overwhelmed this morning with the many great things in my life right now… so, let’s review, shall we? Two weeks from today, Daniel and I will be proud new homeowners of a cute, charming house in Nashville! In fact, two weeks from today, we’ll be unpacking some of our stuff and …

I am reluctant to post this for fear its author might someday stumble upon the words here. Nevertheless, I just can’t help but give you all a glimpse into what my life is occasionally like as a community college adjunct instructor. Here’s a verbatim quote from an extra-credit assignment one of my students turned in …

On my first totally free weekend in ages, I have been a flurry of packing and sorting through the remaining stuff here at the abode on Gillespie. When the DIY projects first got underway, I packed up the easiest stuff — the books, DVDs, and completely nonessential items. So now, all that’s left is hard-to-pack …

This actually made me cry. Tim Russert was a personal hero of mine and such a joy to watch on TV. He will be sorely — sorely — missed.

I just dismissed my summer school students early, and surprised them by giving them tomorrow night off. And before you ask, YES, we really were supposed to have a class on Friday at 5:30 p.m.! I couldn’t believe it, either. This week was the first week of the first summer school session, and it has …

Yesterday, as I was driving, I noticed a car beside me at a stoplight with its windows down and music blaring, and I wondered not for the first time why it is that, especially on a hot Texas summer day, people feel like they need to share their music with the world. Is it just …

Well, dear friends and fellow bloggers! I have great news on all fronts to report. First, and most important, WE. ARE. DONE. It was two solid months of absolute insanity, but the house looks simply *amazing* — far exceeding even our wildest expectations; see for yourself at the Web site we built for the house, …

It has been a while since I’ve written — since the day we came back from Nashville, in fact — but that’s exclusively attributable to the fact that we have been working insanely hard since the day we got back trying to get our house in Texas ready to sell. In the last month or …