Wordless Wednesday - X Rated

An interesting wedding cake…

Uncreative Title Tuesday

This morning I borrowed my mom’s Gazelle to exercise on. I have to say, it’s probably the stupidest piece of exercise equipment I’ve ever set foot on. I say that fully admitting that I’m a young old 30 year old that is in fairly decent shape. I can see the benefits to someone that has more joint problems than I do (is that even possible?), but for me? Eh. Not so much.

So later today I went to the Anytime Fitness near my parent’s and signed up for a two week temporary membership. Then I came home and tried out one of my mom’s Cardio Dance DVD’s. That was HARD. I definitely don’t have “Latin Hips”, as the instructor was calling them. But I think I did fairly decent. I worked up a sweat at least.

I did more of substance today, I promise. I wrote up a chapter synopsis for the book chapter I’m working on. I’ve never written one before, so I sent it to my professor and co-author to look over so I don’t just automatically make an ass out of myself. I’d like to look at least like I semi know what I’m doing in front of other potential colleagues and research partners.

My days are definitely much quieter now. I give it until Thursday before I’m really bored and itching to start working on all my other projects I’ve got planned.

But tomorrow I have a date with Paige! One of my favorite things about coming home to CT!!!

No more nudity!

Ok, I wasn’t really running around naked.  But around 12pm today, my bag finally arrived at my parents house.  Upon opening it, I discovered a note from TSA saying that my bag had been selected and opened for a random screening - but considering when I packed the suitcase everything was nicely folded, and what I opened up was a big ball of clothes that were most decidedly NOT folded - I didn’t really need the note.  Thanks, guys, I figured someone had been in my suitcase.  They also managed to bend the inside frame of the bag…but my bag is here, so phew.  Hopefully this scenario will not be repeated when I go back to B’ham in 2 weeks.

I cam home to chilly temperatures here in the northeast.  Considering it has been around and above 80 for the majority of the past couple weeks in B’ham, my system is in culture shock.  It kind of sucks.  I’ve spent the better part of the day on the couch wrapped in an afghan.  Not that I mind being wrapped up (I love being wrapped in a blanket), but 50 in May?  Sucks.  It’s supposed to get warmer from this point forward.  Good thing.

Over a lovely dinner with my parents tonight, I was lamenting that I wanted to get pictures from my friend’s wedding almost 2 years ago.  My mom told me I was too late, that the orders had to be placed within a year.  I said “No, she downloaded all the pictures on to Shutterfly, remember, that’s how she made our personal books”.  My Dad said that my mom had to think young, and I made some comment about being young.  My darling Dad gave the the amused look and said “I think, chickie, you need to be very careful about calling yourself young anymore, because you aren’t so young yourself.”

Wow.  Thanks Dad.  I guess I can always count on my dad to keep me humble when I come home.  Even though I’m apparently not young anymore.

Airlines can kiss my @$$

The last time I saw my suitcase, it was 9:21am on Sunday.

Have I seen it since I left it in the capable incompetent hands of the skycap at the Birmingham Airport?  Nooooooo.

Apparently it was too much for the skycap to take my bag in 20 feet to the TSA screening area.  Instead, I checked my bag with him at 9:21am, and TSA then scanned it at 9:47.  That’s…let’s see…26 minutes later.

I arrive in New York at 1:51pm EST.  My bag does not, as it never made it on to my airplane.  How my bag could get lost when I was on a direct flight was beyond me.  Truck to the baggage complaint area in LaGuardia, wait my turn, hand the guy my claim, and he tells me that my bag was pulled and will be arriving on a flight into LaGuardia at 5pm today, and where can it be delivered to?  I give him my parent’s address, grumble, and away we go.

That man was the last person to give me a definitive answer as to where my bag is.  Last I heard, it had definitely made it to Cincinnati, but the Delta agent couldn’t tell me where it was.  It was supposed to be on another flight into LaGuardia that arrived at 7:03pm, but alas, there was no record of my bag being at LaGuardia at 9:30pm.

So talking to that manager, I basically asked her what the hell happened?  She told me the story of Birmingham, which basically means because some f**knut was too lazy to drag my bag in (because trust me, that airport was EMPTY this morning), my bag didn’t make my plane.  So she said “Delta sent it on the same route you went on earlier”…but unless I have severe amnesia, I don’t remember flying through Cincinnati today.  In fact, I haven’t flown through Cincinnati in a good 3 or 4 years.  So how they thought Cincinnati was on my route today is freaking beyond me.  Alas, my bag made it to Cincinnati, but apparently those f**knuts can’t put my bag on a plane either…because my bag is now unaccounted for, somewhere in plane land.

I don’t know about you, but this knowledge that my bag is out there, unaccounted for, makes me real damn leery, and makes me really question what exactly TSA is doing, because apparently it’s not keeping track of luggage.

As a final twist to this wonderful story, at 9:30pm tonight as I bitch to the manager about how completely unacceptable I find this whole thing of “We don’t really know where your bag is and can’t give you information”, she decides to inform me that based on my parents address in Connecticut, the bag delivery people at LaGuardia have every right to refuse to bring my bag to my parents house, if they deem it too far away.  If they do, they’ll forward the bag to the closest airport to my parents (White Plains) and then it’ll be White Plains’s responsibility to schedule bag delivery, which, of course, could further delay it.  To which I told her “Gosh, I find it really nice that you are the first person of 4 that I’ve spoken to to point out this little fact to me.”

So I’m in borrow nightclothes from my mom, had to go to Wal-Mart to buy new underwear and a t-shirt to wear tomorrow (shit, I forgot socks!), and am dipping into Mom’s toiletry stock so I can brush my teeth.

All I want is an answer to where my damn bag is.

Weekly Winners, 5/11/08

Weekly Winners this week is just a bunch of random shots I managed to snap over the course of the week! No rhyme or reason…just things I found interesting!

The Weekly Winners is the great idea of Lotus at Sarcastic Mom - click on her for the original weekly winners post, and to see more great weekly winners!

This shows how I’m getting old…brown shirt, yellow bra…I don’t get it…

Pretty flower on campus

After the rain…

Whoever says I need to have kids…well…they don’t know my boy very well

A lizard that lives in the bush next to the front door…

Do you see it?  It sees you!

Honeysuckle blooming next to the front door.  It smells wonderful.

Thanks for visiting!

Background meme

I’m choosing to do this meme because I’m flying home tomorrow to spend a couple weeks with the family!  As usual, this meme is stolen from Tense Teacher.

1. Father went to college?
Only for a little bit.  He was at Pratt Institute in NYC when there were riots going on about the Vietnam War.  The day they set the dorm across from his on fire, he left.

2. Father finished college?
Nope.

3. Mother went to college?
My mom went to nursing school, which back then was different than it is today.  She earned an R.N. degree, not a B.S.N.

4. Mother finished college?
Nursing school, yes.

5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor?
Nope.  I’ll be the first of those.

6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers?
The vast majority of my high school was upper class.  We were not.  We were fairly middle class.

7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home?
I think, at times, I had more than 50 books on my nightstand.

8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home?
If not yes, then it was probably fairly close.

9. Were read children’s books by a parent?
Yes.  Mom read to me.  Then she said one day when I was about 3, she heard me talking to myself, and when she checked on me, found me ‘reading’.  She thought I had just memorized the book and was reciting that until she gave me a new one…and discovered I could read.

10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18?
Haha. Are you kidding?  Swimming, soccer, piano, clarinet, flute, gymnastics, ballet (which was forced on me through gymnastics), voice (totally didn’t take), diving….

11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18?
Uh, see above.

12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
I honestly can’t pick out any person in the media who I think dresses or talks like me.  Thank God for that.

13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18?
No way in hell.

14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs?
My mom started saving savings bonds when she got married in 1972.  It was those savings bonds, plus scholarships, that put me through undergrad.

15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs?
Tuition.  Room and board the first year.  After that, tuition only - I was on the hook for rent, meals and drinking spending money.

16. Went to a private high school?
No

17. Went to summer camp?
The YMCA summer camp a couple of years, and then gymnastics training camp most of my teen years.  Interestingly, my old gymnastics coach from that time is on trial for raping and inappropriate sexual conduct at the camp.  Thankfully, he never targeted me.

18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18?
Yup.  Math.  For the last 3 years of high school.

19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels?
Yup.

20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18?
No - it was a mix of new and hand-me downs.

21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them?
When I first got my license, I shared with my dad.  After I graduated high school, I ‘bought’ my first car from my great uncle.  I paid $1.  It was an ‘88 Chevy Spectrum that was so basic it didn’t even have a radio.

22. There was original art in your house when you were a child?
Yeah, my scribbles that my mom hung on the fridge.  Does that count?

23. You and your family lived in a single family house?
Yes.  My parents bought the house in 1974.  They are still in it.  It’s the only home I’ve ever known with them, and the one I’ll be going back to.  It did undergo renovations and an expansion in 1994.

24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home?
Yes

25. You had your own room as a child?
I’m the only, so yes.

26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18?
Snort.  No.

27. Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course?
Yes, and had private tutoring.  Standardized tests are the devil sent straight from hell.

28. Had your own TV in your room in high school?
Snort.  (Louder, this time).  I got one when I turned 20, bought it myself, and my dad charged me the extra cable charge.

29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college?
Uh, no.

30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16?
Yup.  Flying was not that big of a novelty to me.  I had my first plane trip before I turned 1.

31. Went on a cruise with your family?
Yes.  To Bermuda when I was 13.

32. Went on more than one cruise with your family?
Not before I turned 16.  I went on a second one when I graduated college.

33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up?
Living in such close proximity to NYC, museums were inevitable.  Art galleries?  Nope.

34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family?
I had no clue.  My parents heat their house with oil. I don’t even want to know now what it costs them.  I will say though, when I go home this time, I’m going to Wal-Mart and buying a space heater. They’ve always been stingy with the heat, but I can’t imagine how bad they’ll be over the winter (and Christmas) with oil prices the way they were.

I had no idea about any kind of bills or real life living until I went out and did it on my own.

Happy weekend!  I’m going back to packing!

Fast Food Gets Worse

Just when you thought fast food couldn’t get any more disgusting…

Here’s a blog entry that showcases a Whopper…with 15 additional charges for extra bacon. That’s like, 15 extra orders of bacon on top of the Whopper.

It has pictures.

Here’s a sample.

I can feel my arteries hardening up just reading this. There’s more bacon there than there is meat. So disgusting.

Maybe someone should introduce this person to a B.L.T., minus the L.T.

Grown up finals…

Last night I took a final exam.  Not gave, took.  It consisted of going to the oldest Mexican restaurant in the city, and partaking in spirits and food.  Our professor bought us all dinner, and we had a really fun time.  I think ALL final exams should be like that…well…at least the ones that I am taking!!  I can’t imagine buying my students dinner, let alone alcohol.

I just learned that severe weather is on it’s way - conveniently, right at the same time I give my last final.  I wonder how many will skip?  Hopefully none, because time is now a-tickin’ on the semester’s end.  I figure if any miss, then I’m going to make them pay for my gas if I have to drive back down there.

I’m now officially authoring a book chapter, so I’m very exited about that.  I’m waiting to hear back on another one I proposed, and every single day I check the conference website to see if there’s been a decision on my papers.  So far, for the past week, the status has been “Reviews complete.  Awaiting final decision.”

And that’s the wrap of the semester.  I’m getting ready to go home on Sunday for a couple of weeks.  I have no idea what to pack, which probably means I should get started on some laundry!

Wordless Wednesday: Clearing up Confusion

Test answers

As I stand here, surfing the Internet while giving my student their final exam, I am also partaking in giving Brian shit on his blog for a video that he posted of Cinco de Mayo festivities in the office, and his lack of skills with a baseball bat.  Go watch, you’ll see.  After he calls me a bitch and asks if I don’t have final exam to grade or something, I tell him that I’m actually giving the test right now, and he laments that I get to screw around on the ‘Net while making my kids sweat…and that he’s in the wrong line of work.

So he decides to help out the students by giving them answers to the test:

“HEY KIDS! THE ANSWERS ARE:
1) A
2) C
3) WHO GIVES A F**K YOUR TEACHER IS HOT.”

If that were the case, every single kid better answer #3.