Another foot or so...

The current snow storm began yesterday morning at 6:32 am. I am certain of the timing because I entered the bathroom at 6:31 am and looked out the window and there was no precipitation. Neatnik followed me into the bathroom mere seconds later and exclaimed, "Look, Mommy! It's snowing!"

It wasn't just snowing: it was near whiteout conditions.

Most schools and businesses were open yesterday morning. I saw Neatnik onto the big yellow educational conveyance, kissed Number Guy on his way to work, and made my way to the local mall for the purposes of calorie-bank withdrawal. While I was walking, an emergency alert made my cell phone sing: school was going to be truncated at noon. Thursday is my hot lunch volunteering day at the school, so I drove there immediately upon leaving the mall parking lot.

It was still snowing heavily.

Number Guy met Neatnik and I at home shortly after twelve: his work was shut down at lunchtime due to the continued worsening of road conditions. He christened the new Toroyesterday afternoon. Did I mention that this is a two-stage, 250cc monster that weighs two of me and can heft nearly a ton of snow per minute?

Why, oh, why didn't we buy one of these years ago?!

He cleared the driveway and the sidewalks and I made chicken soup and corn muffins for dinner. The mix I had made five muffins which worked out to one each for dinner, one crumbled in a cereal bowl with milk for Neatnik's breakfast, and one left over. How does one store a solitary corn muffin? Well, this is how I do it:

Notice the upside-down logo.

The snow seemed to ease up a little bit around dinner time, although the winds kicked it into high gear. By the time I was tucking Neatnik into bed, the clouds had decided to resume leaking.

We got the phone call canceling school for Neatnik at about last night. I still had to set the alarm clock because I didn't know whether or not the college was going to be operating on regular or delayed schedule or possibly closed.

At 6:15 this morning, I checked the college's web site: all classes were canceled. I checked the web site for Number Guy's work: delayed opening, all operations to commence at 11 o'clock; this was upgraded(?) to a total shut-down by half-past seven.

And it was still snowing.

Post-breakfast activity involved Number Guy continuing to play matador, Neatnik alternately reading and movie watching, and me converting a couple of Neatnik's favorite old button-up shirts into a new (reversible) placemat and napkin lunch set.

She loves the American Eagle Outfitters logo.

And the snow continues to fall...

In which trek reviews Listen

All of a sudden, there is a lot more word on the blog than wool, isn't there? That's okay by me, though: I've been an avid reader for far longer than I have been a knitter.

Today's book is Listenby Rene Gutteridge. Like yesterday, I have read previous offerings by this author but, unlike yesterday, today's author did not disappoint.

Gutteridge poses the question,

"What if your private conversations just went public?"

What a thought-provoking premise. What if you were venting about work in your own kitchen, for example, and your whole conversation suddenly appeared online for the entire world to read? More importantly, what if the people at your job or school, in your town or church, read the words you spoke, in the heat of the moment?

Listen explores just that scenario. The small town of Marlo is in an uproar because, for no apparent reason, someone, somehow, is eavesdropping on private conversations all over town and posting transcripts of those conversations on a blog. The content of those conversations begins to tear apart tranquil Milo as friends and neighbors become suspicous of one another.

Who is the blog author? What is this person trying to accomplish?

Again, like with yesterday's book, I knew "whodunnit" fairly early into the story but this did not detract from my enjoyment of Listen because I wasn't sure exactly why until much closer to the final wrap up. Also, I never found myself stopping mid-page to try to rearrange paragraphs and sentence structures.

Listen is very well-written and I highly recommend reading it. This book really made me think about the power of the words that we I speak.

I am reminded of the poem by William W Purkey,

"Dance like there's nobody watching
Love like you'll never get hurt
Sing like there's nobody listening
Live like it's heaven on earth
And speak from the heart to be heard"

and wondering if maybe the last line should be

"And speak as if everyone can hear."

In which trek reviews Storm Warning

When I noticed that Linda Hall was coming out with a new series, I was interested. I read her two Fog Point series books, Dark Waterand Black Iceback in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and as I recalled, enjoyed them. Well, I just finished the first installment of the Whisper Lake series, entitled Storm Warningand I have to say that I am not sure if I am going to continue to invest myself in this series.

The book is billed as "love inspired suspense" and "riveting inspirational romance". I'll grant the former but not the latter. In short, I was not at all riveted.

Nori Edwards' story starts out with her attempting to build a new life in a new place eighteen months after the death of her husband. Typical of the genre, she meets a handsome, eligible bachelor with a past. Just as typically, there is a secret in the small Maine town.

Strange things happen and Nori, at first, chalks them up to a kind of post-traumatic stress/grief-induced forgetfulness. Her only other options are to believe that there is a ghost haunting her new home or that she is being stalked for unknown reasons.

The story itself, while derivative, is moderately interesting - or would be if I hadn't been brought up short by the mechanics of the writing. Often, I found myself stopping to rework a sentence or a paragraph as if I were the editor, rather than the end-consumer. Thinking, "If only the author had swapped the order of these two sentences..." is just not conducive to a smooth and enjoyable reading experience.

Then there was that minor issue of figuring out a significant number of the key plot elements early in Chapter Four. That was rather a letdown, too.

In which trek sharpies

In response to the weather, I need a pick me up. Let's have a Tuesday Morning Bullet Post...

• We are currently experiencing my least favorite weather: 35°F and raining. Negligible wind. That's a plus. Means the rain is coming straight down. In buckets.



• Local meteorologists are predicting more of the same for the next two days.



• While I was waiting for the school bus on the porch with the Neatnik this morning, I noticed that Number Guy had left the passenger's side window open on his car last night.



• Someone will have a soggy seat today.



• Don't panic, though: he brought a towel.



• I suppose I should mention here that the rain is our fault: we dropped big money on a snowblower over the weekend. This means that it will not snow with significant accumulation here for the next decade or so.



• Our neighbors should be thanking us.



• I'm sure they'll get right on that, once they finish up bailing out their basements, because they are just kind and thoughtful that way.



• Maybe they will even bring me plates of baked good to show their appreciation.



• Or maybe not.



• Regardless, we are thinking of the investment in an expensive snowblower as more in the nature of a weather insurance premium than the procurement of a machine we actually expect to use.



• Work with me here. It's my blog and it's my deluded fantasy world story and I'm sticking to it.



• Towel Day approaches. Be ready.



• Speaking of cars, have you ever been on the road, trying to map out a course of errand action and thought to yourself, "Gee, self, if we just had the phone number of [insert store name here], we could find out what their hours are?" That happened to me over the weekend.



• I did have my cell phone with me but the directory assistance charges on our plan are precipitously steep.



• Why, yes, we are anticipating a carrier change in the near-ish future. Whatever gave you the first clue?



• This morning, I sat down at the computer and searched up the phone numbers for the Wholesale Club Where We Save on Vegetables plus all of those loyalty programs for which I have one of those little key tags then I sharpied the phone number of the nearest location on the backs of the tags.



• And their store hours, when I could squeeze them on there.



• I am now wondering why I never thought to do this before today...



• I have six book requests to submit to my local library. All new releases. My kayak is winter storage. Perhaps I shall swim on over there a bit later...



• Where's my wet suit?



• In my imaginary life, I have a kayak. Not so much in real life.



• In real life, I *do* have a wet suit.



• Long story.



• I had volunteer duty for Neatnik's school's big fundraiser on Sunday afternoon. One of the moms mentioned scoring a winter jacket for next year for one of her kids.



• After school and homework yesterday, I loaded Neatnik into the car in hopes of finding a next size up jacket for her. Not a coat, jacket, nor parka in her size nor even in any of the neighboring sizes, up or down.



• Oh, well. We did nab a cute little white cardigan to go with her First Holy Communion dress while at the mall and a stop at the thrift store yielded a book for a buck.



• En route to the thrift shop, Neatnik spotted a deer on a snow-covered lawn. Good eye, Neatnik!

Well, blog peeps, the tasks of the day are calling my name. Time to toss in a load of laundry and hie myself back to the mall to do some laps. If you don't hear from me soon, send the Coast Guard.

Their cutters will surely be able to navigate the local streets within an hour or so.

On blogging

I think I may have a problem here...

First thing I do when I arrive in the classroom is to write a list of assignments on the whiteboard, organized as Past Due, Due Today, Newly Assigned, and Due Next Class. This past Friday morning, I had finished posting the Past Due and Due Today items and was in the middle of writing the Newly Assigned blog post ethics topic when I had a bit of a brainwave.

The topic I had written down in my notes and on the syllabus was online file sharing. This subject is one of a handful used by most of the instructors in the department for ethics assignments. If you, like I, have been wandering around these here interwebs since the dawn of time, you will remember the whole Napster flap and resulting shutdown.

We are trying to get the students to understand that plagiarism and copyright infringement isn't ethical. I am pretty sure that, somewhere, buried deep in the dim dark corners of the college web site, is probably a disclaimer stating that if a student is caught using the college's technological resources to illegally download music files, the school will throw them under the next transit authority bus without blinking. Despite the warnings and threats of expulsion, incarceration, death, and dismemberment, students are students.

Enough said?

Which brings me back to the ethics assignment for this week. I was dreading facing another round of blogs posts wherein students attempt to claim that pirating mp3s is actually beneficial to the recording artist since it increases the band's exposure and that sells more albums and that the music industry really needs to chill out about the whole issue. As I was writing the assignment on the whiteboard, literally, as I was putting pen to melamine, I changed track, making a spur of the moment decision to have the students research the current status of the e-book market with respect to file sharing and e-piracy. I asked them to address the problems of consumers being locked-in to single content providers and digital file lending.

Upon questioning, most of the class was blissfully unaware of the existence of e-books, let alone the whole DRM issue and format war. It would have been nice if my students had had some idea that electronic books exist but on the flip side, now I know that they have to do actual research in order to address the assignment properly. This is good!

So, where is this problem which I think I may have?

It's in the blogging.

No, not their blogging.

My blogging.

You see, when I assign homework, I make a post on the blog I maintain for my students. Absentee students, therefore, have no excuse for not knowing what is due. Sneaky professor trek, I know.

If the class seems to have struggled with an idea during lab, the homework assignment post might be fairly involved, even to the point of becoming a step-by-step tutorial complete with screenshots. Usually, however, the blog post assignments have been short and straight-forward: one or two sentences to introduce the topic, a couple more lines outlining the ethical issue involved, and maybe a sentence or two about how to present their opinion. Wrap that all up with a due date at the bottom and there's an assignment post.

In my own defense (Chris back me up here), I had a short paragraph explaining the assignment and a few leading questions to get them started. I emailed a clipping of the post to Chris because she and I have been talking about e-readers off-line and I thought she would get a kick out of it.

Then I looked at the post again and thought, "Hmm, maybe I should expand upon this point, oh, and maybe that point, too." I started editing and revising and linking to some online references and posting pictures. Eventually, I wound up with a six paragraph, four image blog post containing over a dozen leading questions.

I am almost 100% positive that I spent more time on the assignment post than they will on their answers.

I think I may have a problem here...

Practice, practice, practice

Back when I first started this teaching gig, we would tell the students that they should take the practice tests. Most of the students wouldn't bother and come the first exam, they'd spontaneously and spectacularly combust during the test and then blame us for their inability to make the grade.

It was enough to drive even the most left-brained, geek amongst us to the contemplation of his/her own navel. "If a professor's lips move while in the classroom and no student is listening, does the professor really make a sound?"

We now do things a little bit differently. We have scheduled class time for practice runs of the hands-on test materials. Last class, I told my students that they were going to be taking the practice test and that this should help to prepare them for the next class when they will be taking the actual graded exam. I explained that the testing simulation software is very particular. To demonstrate the highly finicky nature of the software we are using, I gave the following example:

If the test asks you to type

Local Junior College.

and you type

Local Junior college.

or

Local Junior College

the software will mark you as incorrect.

Yes, the software is that fussy. I waxed eloquent on the need for students to read the instructions completely and to follow them carefully. I also made certain that I told my students several times during class to take the practice test again for homework. You see, on the practice test, we give them ten tries to get each task correct and, during the practice test, they can ask me for assistance. They are, obviously, on their own during the graded exam.

I received the following very excited email this week...

To: professor trek
From: Student Taking Practice Test
========================================
prof trek,

I am having a problem with the practice test!!

When I scroll to the top of the document and insert two additional paragraphs then go back up to the top and type "W" as to start Wednesday, it keeps saying that I'm doing something wrong.

Can you please help me! So I can pass the exam!!

Thank you,
Student Taking Practice Test

# # #

Well, isn't that nice? STPT is actually taking the practice test and is simultaneously engaged in phoentic punctuation. This question trips up a lot of students who engage in inattentive instruction reading...

# # #

To: STPT
From: prof trek
========================================
It does not ask you to go back up to the top of the document. Just start typing where the cursor is already located.

# # #

Wish us luck today.

Pretty and pink

Once upon a time, I found a lovely pretty pink tunic shirt for the Neatnik. It had very pretty embroidery on the front and a crocheted edge at the hem and it was on sale.

Well, that once upon a time was a long time ago in a mall not so far away.

Neatnik has grown a fair amount since that long ago purchase and the shirt really doesn't fit her properly anymore. There is a funny thing about my Neatnik: while she does not like getting new clothes that are tight or form-fitting, she will wear an old, beloved shirt until the hem tries to creep above her cute little belly button unless I intervene.

Behold this morning's intervention.

Wouldn't you want your sandwich
served like this?

Yep, I preserved the pretty crocheted edging

In which trek finds a unicorn

With the Cable and Rib Cardigan (Ravelry link) off the needles and even ::gasp:: wearable, I started surfing for a pattern for a new sweater. I knew that I wanted a pullover this time and I had already purchased a sweater's quantity of black yarn to this end.

I was leaning towards a top-down, saddle-shouldered sweater. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that a free pattern was not going to meet these requirements so I expanded my search a little bit and turned up this seamless saddle-shouldered pullover. I really liked the ribbing on the sleeves and about the theoretical "side seams".

I swatched yesterday afternoon. The pattern calls for Aran weight yarn and gauge is listed as 17 sts and 24 rows in 4 inches. I am using a worsted weight yarn and was hoping that with the difference in gauge I would be able to simply cast on for the smallest size.

Well, that didn't go precisely as I'd hoped. Gauge on the pattern with an Aran weight yarn was listed as 17 sts and 24 rows in 4 inches. I got 20 sts and 26 rows.

No worries, I can do the math. I cast on 180 stitches last night and got to work.

Ribbing: 14 rounds; body: 10 rounds
Joined second skein on last round

If I'd ever before discounted the utility of Ravelry in past, I would have been completely cured of that misconception yesterday. Several knitters had knit this sweater and come across problems in the instructions. I carefully read their pattern notes and outlined a plan of action. I shall continue to update my project page (Ravelry link), but these are my

Modifications to Date:
Gauge:
     20 sts and 26 rows in four inches
Body cast on count:
     180 sts
Rib pattern for body:
     [(k2, p2) 22x, k2] 2x
Body side rib (width): See Stitch pattern for body
     decreased from 32 sts to 24 sts
Body side rib (detail): See Stitch pattern for body
     used cables (c4f on right side; c4b on left side) instead of k4
Stitch pattern for body: *
     Round A:
          [(p2, k2) 2x, p2, k66, (p2, k2) 2x, p2, k4] 2x
     Round B:
          (p2, k2) 2x, p2, k66, (p2, k2) 2x, p2, c4f,
          (p2, k2) 2x, p2, k66, (p2, k2) 2x, p2, c4b
     Work Round A three time between executions of Round B

* The round begins in the middle of the k4 on the left side of the body. To make the cables happen properly, move the round marker two stitches to the left. This moves the first two stitches of the round to the end of the round, which allows the knitter to work the cables along the "side seam" of the body. The round marker will be restored to its proper position (two stitches to the right) when the body and sleeves are ready to be joined.

Swift stepply

I had to skein some sock yarn remnants which I wanted to skein this morning. Last time I did it with the swift clamped to the kitchen table, my left shoulder quickly became achy and sore. Fortunately, Number Guy was home and he took turns spinning the swift with me.

It was just me here this morning. Me, the umbrella swift,and the bathroom step stool.

What a wonderful pairing:
wood even matches!

I positioned this contraption next to the living room couch, placed my foot on the side of the stool, and skeined up a small box of sock yarn. Next step is to give it all a bathing and hang it in the basement to drip dry but not today: I'm avoiding a replay of this disaster at all costs and will not be treading the basement stairs for any reason today. Number Guy was even so nice as to retrieve my blue jeans for me before he left for work this morning! Thanks, Number Guy.

PS - Number Guy wanted to get me an e-reader for my birthday :o) so I am trying to do some research. Please vote in my e-reader poll in the sidebar --> and if you would like to drop me a line on what you like/dislike about your reader and/or readers in general, feel free to rant in the comments.

PPS - Please say a little prayer that the weather holds so we can go out to dinner tonight to celebrate.

On firsts

Saturday was a Very Big Day for my firstborn: she received the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the very first time and also had this done:

She picked out cute bumble bee
ones, too, for when these come out

When she makes her First Holy Communion in the spring, she will be able to wear the very first pair of earrings she was ever given.

In which (almost) a year has passed

Nearly a year after casting on, I finished the Cable and Rib Cardigan (Ravelry link). The knitting was finished back in January but I couldn't quite call the sweater as a whole finished until the zipper was installed and I was able to wear the fully finished garment. Yesterday afternoon, I finally screwed up my courage and hand-sewed the zipper to the knitting and I am right now wearing my new sweater.

I held off on sewing the zipper because my original plan was to machine stitch it but then when I worked on the blue sweater modifications, I realized that the knitted fabric has a tendency to want to stretch oddly, making the zipper look a bit puckery if you are not reeeeeally careful and I have very little experience sewing knits. This tendency resurfaced the other day, when I hauled out the sewing machine to make a couple of terrycloth napkins for Neatnik to use for school lunches. When I was top-stitching along the grain, the edges got a bit rumply; this isn't so much a concern for a (free) napkin which is going to be used on sticky fingers and faces and eventually become stained and holey and retired, but it is a bit deal when you are talking a 100% wool cardigan which represents a year's (intermittent) labor.

No, I am nearly as prolific a sweater producer as Cattywampus nor Yarnhog. :: le sigh :: moving on...

I followed Yarnhog's instructions for shortening a zipper,

used Sue's suggestion to sew the front shut,

before trying to pin the zipper,

and KnitPicks' suggestion to back stitch the zipper to the knitting.

I had to take a short break between doing the right and left sides of the zipper and almost need to have a lie down after it was done.

This is a very warm sweater! I wore it to church this morning under the thrift shop leather jacket and was able to take off my coat and still be all warm and toasty.

Lo and behold: a finished object!

Modifications:
Totally reworked the ribbing for the front panels so that the cables all flow from the ribs.

Left Front Panel Ribbing (size small):
Curly braces mark the stitches which will be worked for Charts A and B, respectively.

Odd rows:
(k3, p3)2x, {p2, (k4, p4)2x, k4, p2}, p3, {k2, p2, k4, p2, k2}, p3, k4

Even rows:
sl1, p3, k3, {p2, k2, p4, k2, p2}, k3, {k2, (p4, k4)2x, p4, k2}, (k3, p3)2x

Right Front Panel Ribbing (size small):
Curly braces mark the stitches which will be worked for Charts B and A, respectively.

Odd rows:
sl1, k3, p3, {k2, p2, k4, p2, k2}, p3, {p2, (k4, p4)2x, k4, p2}, (p3, k3)2x

Even rows:
(p3, k3)2x, {k2, (p4, k4)2x, p4, k2}, k3, {p2, k2, p4, k2, p2}, k3, p4

I also reworked the decreases for the armholes and used Yarnhog's shortrow sleeve directions to pick up the sleeve stitches and knit down from the top. Additionally, I adjusted the ribbing so that I had bilateral symmetry moving down the sleeves, eventually decreasing down to a p2, k3 rib pattern except under the arm, where I worked a k4 flowing out the side seams of the sweater's body. Oh, yes, and I decided that a 5½" fold-down collar was just too seventies to contemplate so I stopped at about 3½ inches.

Joining

I think that I've mentioned in previous semesters' posts that my college students must register for online examination accounts. The school bookstore sells the site access code as part of a textbook bundle which comes all tidily encased in shrink wrap. This is done, I am certain, to ensure that each student gets all of the materials for which they are paying.

During the first class of the semester, we, the instructors, make all sorts of Important Announcements. One of the most significant of these Important Announcements is the one where we tell the students that they will be creating their online testing accounts in lab class the following week and that they need to go to the bookstore to purchase their textbooks and to be absolutely sure that they bring the site access code to the next class.

You know, I know what you're thinking, because right now, I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I started teaching here. Why, oh why don't they listen to instructions?*

After the student creates the online account, the next step is to join my section. I have a code for each section and I write it on the board, being very careful to remind the class that it is case-sensitive and to point out that "this character is a five, not an S", where appropriate. I advise all students who have forgotten to bring their access codes to write down all of this information so that they can create their accounts later, either from home or in the lab.

And then the emails begin...

Some of them are as simple as this,

To: professor trek
From: Student Joining Course
========================================
professor trek,

I wrote down the code to join your section as DSTTAQQ343989 but the site doesn't recognize it. It tells me that the class has been deleted. Please advise.

# # #

Easy, peasy!

# # #

To: SJC
From: prof trek
========================================
You just need a hyphen. Try DSTTAQQ-343989.

# # #

To: professor trek
From: SJC
========================================
Thank you, that worked great.

# # #

Other times, they are not so simple. For example, this semester was the very first time I encountered the next issue and at least three students were guilty. I'm compressing time and text for clarity.

Note: I told the students to use their school email addresses as their login names and gave them the passwords they should use. This way, if they forget their passwords, I can help them. We don't have access to the online testing service's database and instructors cannot look up lost passwords.

To: professor trek
From: Several Students Not Joining Course
========================================
professor trek,

Every time I try to join the section, the web site tells me that I can't. I am sure I put in the right code. Help!

# # #

Hmm, need more information...

# # #

To: SSNJC
From: prof trek
========================================
What exactly is the error message? What are you using for login credentials? Did you use your school email address for the login name and the password I gave you?

# # #

To: prof trek
From: SSNJC
========================================
I just can't log in. I go to the page [insert correct URL here] and then it doesn't take the code for your section.

# # #

So, you are attempting to log in putting the sign up code in which input box? The one labeled Login Name or the one labeled Password?

# # #

To: SSNJC
From: prof trek
========================================
You have already joined the class. Just type in your email address for login name and [correct password] for your password.

# # #

To: prof trek
From: SSNJC
========================================
Oh, good, that worked.

# # #

Imagine that.

# # #

On the plus side, my early section today took their first exam and the class average was 95.5%. Go, team!

---
* Can you name that movie?

On snow and more snow

We are hunkered down here at chez trek. In honor of the second snowstorm in less than a week, I thought we should have some Wednesday Night Bullet Points - Snow Style...

• Last Saturday's foot or so of snow is still with us.
  
  
• Yesterday, I spent three hours clearing up from last weekend's precipitation.



• I finished scraping all of the areas of the driveway which we had not shoveled out over the weekend. I also removed all of the rubbly-looking mess which the plows had so thoughtfully deposited on our clean sidewalks.



• After breakfast this morning, Number Guy and I dug out about four to six inches of slushy snow. Parts of the driveway were actually layered: water, slush, snow.



• I read somewhere on these here Interwebs that if you spray the blade of your snow shovel, the snow and ice will slide off more easily and you won't have to rap the shovel against the ground to dislodge the accumulated icy residue. I tried it this morning and I can now report that it works.



• Note: if you only have butter-flavored spray at your house, you will see some yellow snow. Just sayin'.



• The snow turned into a sleety wintry mix 'round about ten this morning and I watched the weather online and the total accumulation estimates.

  6-10 inches.
  No, wait, 6-8.
  Hang on, um, just 4-6.
  No, make that 2-4...

• Temperature dropped and the falling slush changed over to heavy snow about mid-afternoon.



• Today's total snowfall was over a foot. I should know: cleared it from the driveway, the sidewalks, the front steps, the cars...repeatedly...



• Aw, nuts. I just heard one of the quintessential sounds of civilization: the snowplows plowing snow back into the end of our driveway.



• TazzMom and TazzDad loaned us their snow blower for the evening's festivities.



• We have got to get one of those!



• I tried to buy one this week. Every single store in the state is sold out.



• No, that is not an exaggeration: this is a small state and we are under 2-3' of snow with more predicted for early next week.



• It is starting to look like Canada out my window.



• Neatnik has a snow day again tomorrow.



• I'll have another day of snow cleanup since the continuing precipitation almost makes it look like we didn't clear the pavement at all.



• Well, unless you look at the six foot high mounds of snow lining the driveway and the sidewalks.



• Number Guy may or may not have a snow day tomorrow, so we shall have to arise at normal school/workday time to check the emergency closing web site.



• Snow days do not mean that my students are excused from homework: they have to turn in all of their work online.



• :: insert evil laugh here ::

Speaking of my students, remind me to tell you about their recent woes involving the online testing and homework submission software and the course enrollment procedure. Sorry I can't type the whole sordid saga tonight. I'm thinking I shall end here and go rummage in the cabinet for a handful of ibuprofen tablets: all of that snow shifting has shifted something significant in my shoulder and tomorrow is slated to be a rerun of today.

In which trek is on ice

Monday Afternoon Post-Funeral Bullet Points...

• The alarm clock did not sound this morning.



• This was not by design.



• We were supposed to be awakened by the dulcet tones of its gentle chiming. Instead, we were awakened by the not-so-sweet sound of Neatnik's bus pulling up to and then away from our house.



• Have I mentioned that the bus comes at approximately 7:17am?



• I appreciated the extra sleep.



• Due Saturday's snowstorm, my grandmother's funeral was moved back until today. I wasn't sure I could get a substitute instructor for this morning's classes, so we were going to send Neatnik to school and I was going to go to the college. I do not have the authority to cancel class and the family understood.



• Luckily, I got a late-night email saying that I got coverage. Combining that with the alarm clock glitch and not wanting to scramble to drive Neatnik to school late, she went to the funeral with me.



• Catholic schools are pretty easy about excusing absences for Rites of Christian Burial.



• It was a very good thing that I was able to secure professorial assistance seeing as how I was the lector of the day.



• I was heavily complimented on both my reading and on my singing. Very nice to hear.



• Neatnik was impressed that I got to go up on the altar for the readings. She asked me, "When grandma dies, can I be the lector?"



• Sure thing, kid.



• Note to self: don't tell my mother what my kid asked.



• We just returned home from the funeral repast and I noticed that we had mail.



• Did I mention that it snowed here on Saturday? It did. A lot.



• Did I happen to mention that I hurt my back shoveling said snow on Saturday? There's still ice on our driveway.



• I'm glad you can see where this is going because I did not.



• Which explains how I ended up on the ice on the driveway with a wrenched shoulder, bruised hip, and somewhat concussed ego.



• Whoever sent me a small envelope of Box Tops for Education, I thank you but the icicles on our eaves dripped onto our mailbox and the ink ran so I do not know who you are.



• Our mailbox is a bit leaky.



• I was very happy, however, to see that you have much greater foresight than I: you knew that the postal service lets nothing, not even heavy snowfall, interfere with their appointed rounds AND you have a firm grip on meteorological occurrences in my zip code; therefore, you wisely encased the Box Tops in plastic wrap, protecting them from the harshness of the elements.

We have another heavy snowstorm predicted to move into the area within the next 24-48 hours. Perhaps I should encase myself in plastic bubble wrap until the spring thaw.

Of ear muffs and tunes

Thank you to everyone who extended their condolences for the recent loss in our family. We really do appreciate your prayers and well wishes.

Today, I discovered a very happy thing. Back in December, Number Guy inquired as to what I might like for Christmas. I told him that I really wanted a pair of circumaural earmuffsand a new mp3 player.

He searched online and found a very nice pair of ear muffs. He ordered them in ivory to coordinate with my parka.

Chris suggested a Sansa Clip 8 GB and some nice Sony Fontopia earbuds.I liked them, so Number Guy ordered them, too.

The wind abated somewhat early this afternoon and the temperatures rose to above freezing so I decided to take advantage of the cooperative meteorological conditions and walked to the library. I was psyched to discover that the ear muffs have little slits in the liners into which I could easily insert my ear buds.

I clipped my Clip to the collar of my parka and off I went!

On eagle's wings

Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

     -- Isaiah 40:31

Good-night, Grandma.

In which trek drives by

The start of a new semester is a busy time. For some reason, even though I am fully aware of this fact, I always seem to underestimate the amount of time I need to allocate to getting my administrative files sorted out. Then there is class preparation, both lab and lecture, and troubleshooting student emails and student's problems with the online exam and homework submitting software.

Despite the demands on my time lately, I've been plugging along on the sock yarn blanket (Ravelry link), including skeining and washing half a dozen more sock yarn remnants this afternoon.

Forty squares, each one like a little milestone.