will you take me as I am

Oh, California,
California comin' home,
I'm gonna see the folks I dig,
I'll even kiss the sunset peak,
California comin' home.

Oh, it gets so
lonely
When your walking
and the streets are full of
strangers
All the news of home
you read
just give you the blues
just give you the blues
...


This song has captured me this afternoon. A mix between melancholy and homesick and heatstroke.

inevitable

When everyone else in the state walks by a shirt at Penny's and says, I can't wear that, it'll make me look pregnant! I end up walking past that same shirt and saying, Hey! That shirt's only four dollars! I must have it!

And that's why I have nothing to wear.

Damn you, JC Penny!

cat nap burglar

This is exactly what I was doing before the timer went off.  When I came back with my snack I found that I had been evicted.

Also, it is very, very hot and that (apparently) makes us all want to be very, very flat.

compromise

Ok, I will do the dishes and fold the laundry...

but I'm going to have a cupcake for breakfast and play loud rock n roll.

So I looked around a I noticed there wasn't a chair...

We have a new futon!  Now, we don't have to always sit on the floor!  Hurray!

I vote 'yea'

Regina Spektor:  Yea or Nay?

who knew?

gone with the wind = good.

Best Group Karaoke Song:

Hey Jude or Bohemian Rhapsody?

a day late

This link is to an episode of "this american life" from January.

"Act Two: Super Duper" starts at 27:00 and is less than 15 minutes long. It is unbelievably funny.

[don't worry, snakes won't jump out of the can]

Happy April Fools!

2 fer Messy Tuesday

I read this post today announcing "Messy Tuesdays."

so,

My desk was messier earlier today, but a few hours ago I consolidated most of the mess into the pile on the right.


This is also the fairly neat remnants of a messy mess. My office at school is constantly flooding so I brought a bunch of my crap home and then there was the explosive unpacking from my trip to new york. As you can see, it's been mostly contained to the book shelf, but there is still a pile on the floor.

New York was a bunch of fun and now I'm at home catching up on sleep and laundry.

New! York! City!

I leave for New York on Monday. I'm going to a conference and I come back on Wednesday.

This is my Do Not Forget list:



Things like tooth paste and socks did not make the list and apparently I'm out of room so that's just too bad. "Pills" got their own bulleted section. Ah, migraines, what would I do without you?

I found this list (below) of local attractions on my hotel's website. Top on my list of things to see are Times Square and Central Park. I also want to see the Statue of Liberty, but she's five miles away.

Times Square 0.1 km/0.1 miles
Rockefeller Center 0.2 km/0.1 miles
David Letterman Show 0.2 km/0.1 miles
Radio City Music Hall 0.2 km/0.1 miles
5th Avenue Shopping/Theatre District 0.2 km/0.1 miles
Carnegie Hall 0.5 km/0.3 miles
Central Park 0.7 km/0.4 miles

my posts always sound like I'm giving myself a pep talk

I'm working on my dissertation. The first step, well maybe not the first, but the first step that feels like a step, is collecting data. There were pre-steps, like picking a topic, reading until my eyes fell out, planning the study, blah, blah, blah...
but,
Today I seriously started collecting data. We went to a high school class and talked to them about what it's like to be a geometry student. We recorded the heck out of them. We had two video cameras and five audio recorders. I'm actually wishing that we had more audio recorders. The plan is to visit classrooms 39 more times. thirty. nine. before June. This first one exhausted me.
It was overwhelming because there were so many of them and they all had something they wanted to say. The hardest part was trying to keep them from all talking at once. And I had to be charming for 55 continuous minutes.
I'm glad this first visit is over. Every time we do this from now on, it will be better, and this time wasn't bad. Also, I've been pretty worked up about the whole thing. I feel relived that this first one is done. High schools kids aren't so scary after all.

If I don't return your phone calls, it's because ... well, it's because I hate talking on the phone, but I'll blame it on the fact that I'm collecting data.

I guess I don't have a point... I just felt like sharing. (that's what blogs are for, right?)

here's hoping

The doves are out this morning. I haven't heard them all winter. Maybe winter won't last forever.



also, there's this:

my spelling is *that* bad

so, I got this error message today, "there are too many spelling or grammatical errors in wendywork.doc"

the spell-checker gave up. nothing can be done.

apparently, I have a terminal case of bad spelling.

kinda like xeroxing your bum

I've got nothing to say, so here is a picture of my hair. enjoy.

you like bread and butter

It only took me one month to finish the blueberry jam that A sent for christmas. I like toast and jam.

it's a land of ice and snow

[I wrote this days ago but forgot to post it..]

today it is colder in Ann Arbor than it is at the south pole. Next week it will be even colder here. It's not really a fair comparison because it's summer at the south pole. But I like to say "even the south pole is warmer than this place!"



Today I video taped college students watching and discussing one of our animations. It's my very first video for my very own dissertation. It was fun and interesting and I'm excited.

Click here for full screen version

batty

the bat is back in the bedroom, so our bed is back in the living room.

sigh.

My throat hurts.

see?

I've been up for two hours and I think it's time to get back in bed.