Let’s see, there’s a lot to catch up on. I think I’ll start with last Friday. I had some interesting presentations from my intermediate-level classes including but not limited to: men’s fashion in the U.S. and Europe, French fairy tales, and Asian bird flu. The furnace ceased functioning late last week, so the husband and I got to spend the entire weekend bouncing from a chilly Continue reading →

Renovate. Renew. In French class I explained the difference between neuf “new” (as in brand-new straight off the assembly line) and nouveau “new” (as in new to you but not necessarily brand new) when a student (one of my foreign ones) wanted to know the difference between rénover “renovate” and renouveler “renew” because they both generically mean “to make new again” in a Continue reading →

Well, I’m at the office right now for lack of better judgement, but I needed to get my grading and my texts for tomorrow’s classes, and I thought I might try to stick around for my office hours today anyway despite the fact that none of the students slated to come will probably come. At any rate, I’ve been watching the birds outside my window–mostly the cardinals but a crow just Continue reading →

Well, I think I’m finally getting over the lung infection (finally). I haven’t had nearly as many problems breathing or with chest pains this week as last, so I’m thinking that all the rest I’m getting is finally starting to pay off. Also, work is going a bit more smoothly, and I’m not feeling nearly as irritated with the world as last week (or the previous month or six). I am irritated at the five inches Continue reading →

I feel blah. I mean, sure there’s the horrible weather with its biting winds and sporadic snow which doesn’t help especially since I’ve got SAD, but it’s more than that. I just feel disconnected from everything and everyone. I guess what bothers me the most about feeling especially blah today is that this has been an on-going issue for some time now that I’ve just now begun to recognize as Continue reading →

So I’ve finally gotten around to updating the page. Well, adding a post, at any rate. The page itself probably won’t get updated for a while though I’ve got a new layout and design already floating around my brain. But I digress, as usual. The point of this post is to catch up on the past month or so through random bits of whatever I remember at the moment. So here it goes: Continue reading →

Well, it’s that time of year again when shopping and wrapping and packing and cleaning are at an all-time, going-insane high. The husband and I are going to buy a few more gifts today–probably books–which I will then wrap upon coming home and then put under our tree. It has a respectable pile of goodies under it right now, I think. Admittedly, none of them are for us, but Continue reading →

It is now five to one in the morning. The title is neither a ratio nor gambling odds for those of you predisposed to think in such terms. I’ve decided to take a short break from grading in order to take a shower and give my brain a rest, so I decided to scribble out a post in the meantime. Random tidbits: our refrigerator has effectively frozen everything inside it including a jar of pickles Continue reading →

Damn, life sure has been hectic lately. Ever since Thanksgiving, it seems that everything is just snowballing forward and I’m getting caught up more and more. So let’s see, I wonder if I can even remember half the random stuff that’s been going on lately so I can so much as post about it! We’ll try. Maybe if I organize it by subject it’ll go more smoothly… Continue reading →

No, no TKT today. Not after grading several dozen papers and essays and then cleaning out about a hundred student e-mails, half of which were to tell me they weren’t in class because they’d overslept or mis-set their alarm clocks though I instructed them at the beginning of the year to not bother with e-mails like that, but they’re students, so what can you say? Woo, that was a long Continue reading →