just call me ‘grumpy’

My class this morning was a wonderful hour-long respite and lunch with my friend Lynda a long-overdue chance to catch up, but otherwise this day has genuinely, truly sucked. I would give my left arm to take a day off. Unfortunately, I cannot (big meeting with the chancellor Friday). Doubly unfortunate is the fact that …

aha!

There are many reasons I love teaching, but the biggest gratification I get is when I look at the faces of my students and can see the light bulbs illuminate. I contend I can actually see the moment it happens, and the surge of happiness and satisfaction I get when it does happen propels me …

I thought the sky was falling

So this morning, as I do most mornings, I stumbled out of bed and beelined it to my office, where I do my lengthy early-morning round of various Internet things … check my personal and TWU e-mail, check the TWU Web site, peruse the latest on Blackboard, make my blog rounds (hey Gary, gimme something …

sometimes, I impress myself.

So, I have to brag on myself a bit here because, well dammit, it is MY blog. 🙂 Tonight I left work around 5:30 and suffered from unusually extreme option paralysis vis-a-vis my three-times-daily dilemma of what to eat. Normally I’d stop and grab something, or come home and change clothes so I could go …

LOL

LOL I’m sorry, I just think that’s hilarious. My friend AnnaLisa had something similar happen once … she was having a particularly rough go of things and so I sent her flowers. Maybe for other people sending flowers is a big deal, but I’ve always sorta thought that flowers were a relatively easy and essentially …

follow up: Posados

On the heels of my complaint to Posados last night, I got a phone call from their regional manager today to apologize (which he did about twelve times in our five-minute conversation) and to get more details. It was clear from my conversation with him that he intends to talk to the managers at the …

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern live!

Whenever presented with the chance to see a Tom Stoppard production — a play, a movie, you name it — a reasonable person jumps on it swiftly. That’s why I’ve already inked my calendar to go see one of the most hilarious looks at Shakespeare I’ve ever read (and can now see!), “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern …

when memory is a family affair

Yesterday was my dad‘s birthday, an event that inspired this (in retrospect) hilarious chain of phone calls: My Sunday call to my mom, to see if Pa Norell would be around on Monday so I could call with proper birthday wishes. My Monday evening call to Pa Norell, to wish him a happy birthday and …

it used to be my playground …

Holy crap! I was reading the Baxter Bulletin this morning and saw this story about a shooting at Old Hickory Park — MY PARK!! Man hospitalized after shooting A 29-year-old Mountain Home man was shot twice Saturday in Hickory Park while on visitation rights with his three children. Benjamin Tucker Staples, who was shot in …