junk

i keep getting weird junk mail in my school account with crazy subject lines. the weirdest one was tonight: panties response.

what does that mean? why would that make me want to open it?

ah well...time for sleep.

aggieland update

so, since some of you are aggies and might care, i thought i'd tell you about a few of the changes i've noticed while driving around town this week. all of them are restaurant related, but i swear i'm not totally food obsessed. :)

first up, new freebirds opened up on university near 6 where all the new stuff is going. there's also a linens n' things there too.

lanes has now morphed into a newer building and is called raising canes, but i think it's still chicken fingers. i haven't eaten there so i'm not sure about the scoop on that.

new c&j bbq place is opening on wellborn near southwest parkway.

deluxe diner has gone out of business. i guess their business must have dropped off after tim, wes, mike and other MOA guys left. :)

no more double daves on northgate. it turned into a bar. luckily there is a new DDs on george bush and texas.

amazingly the place that always switched between chinese food and mexican food on texas (cazadores or something) is still open! finally something has stayed in that spot.

texas avenue is still under construction. do not ever drive on it unless you want to swear at people...A LOT.

haiku still has awesome sushi. macalisters is still really busy at lunch time and they will ask you three times if you're done with your food even though you're not apparently. :)

so..some changes..some sames. overall a good trip so far which i'll get into more later. feeling ready to head back to New Mexico though. allergies are killing me and i miss my bed.

peace out ya'll!

crazy eHow

it's funny/ironic that eHow posted this tip today of all days: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Over-a-Break-Up

i think i could write this one. :) which is a good thing, right? means i know how. i know eHow.

hangin' out in h-town

had a WONDERFUL weekend hanging out with my good buddy (and oldest friend) Jeff in houston this weekend. always good times with the cool bobcat. highlight of the trip was yesterday. slept in, hung out by the pool drinking shiner and getting a tan (almost), and then went to eat dinner for 3 hours at a fantastic restaurant with drinks following there. i'm just going to link the places we went and tell you what i ate. that will give you an idea of how full i am now and how much rec time i will need next week!

friday night- star pizza we had deep-dish half starbust and half jeff's OCD blend (pepperoni, mushrooms, extra sauce, light cheese i think) on wheat crust. very awesome pizza.

drinks at dean's credit clothing - pricey for the girl from ABQ but tasty all the same. definitely a nice ambiance and fun people watching (aka mocking).

saturday night- prego excellent food! we had a lot of appetizers like the pan-roasted lump crab cake, corn flour crusted oysters, potato gnocchi, and calamari. i had the smoked duck ravioli ( Smoked Duck Ravioli with port-soaked cherries, roasted pear, pistachios and white balsamic sauce) holy shit it was good. AND we had dessert too. i chose a chocolate mousse tiramisu. there was also, of course, lots of wine. excellent!

drinks at the lounge at benjy's they have an awesome outside patio where we enjoyed a few cocktails. i tried one of their specialty drinks which was delicious. definitely try the blood orange margarita if you ever go there.

just when i thought i could not eat any more food, jeff and i met his friend (and my friend too) heather at baba yega. delicious food and WAY too much of it. luckily jeff and i burned some calories walking around IKEA afterwards.

so, i had a great weekend and i'm anticipating a fast and furious week in texas before my return home.

southland in the spring time

(for you non-indigo girls fans out there, the title refers to one of their songs. boo-ya.)

so, i'm temporarily back in college station helping with advising in sociology. it has been really slow this week, but nice to be back in the blue office. i thought i'd be rusty on stuff, but i seemed to pick up where i left off five months ago. helped a few students and i'm attempting to put out a fire i inherited. fun stuff!

it is cool and weird to be back. this is the glorious time of year when the town is pretty much empty. i've been able to catch up on my girly maintainence. got my nails done and my hair fixed up. both are very nice now. i've been to the rec a few times attempting to make up for all the meals out with friends. not sure i'm breaking even on that.

overall, it's good. some of my buddies are gone this week, which is disappointing, but it has been great to see those who are in town. i was so focused on leaving college station that i didn't realize how homey it was. don't get me wrong, i'm happy with the move, but it's nice to be in a place that's almost entirely familiar. there have a been a few changes...places closed, new places opened...but all in all i know where the good dry cleaner, nail place, salon, etc is in town. i look forward to ABQ being that familiar.

in other news, i have a phone interview for a kick ass job at UNM set up for friday. cross all your crossable parts for me. this would be a fantastic opportunity and would allow me to finally get out of debt and have benefits again. woo woo! i will keep you posted.

i think i'm good at this

today i saw quite a few students who were either making-up tests or picking up their final papers and stuff. a lot of the students who were picking up stuff commented on how much they liked the class, asked me if i'd be teaching more, and in general had some good things to say about the semester. one of them was a non-traditional student and my class was her first one. she was so excited to find out that she got an A. her first A in an undergrad class as a full-time employee and mom of a college-aged student. :) i was genuinely happy as i entered 200 grades for my intro class to see that some of the students that have been showing up and working hard all semester did well.

i also talked with a student for about a half hour today. i never knew what to make of him in class. he always had this shitty grin on his face and sat in the back, so my impression was that he wasn't taking it very seriously. i was wrong. very wrong. he told me last week that his younger brother died unexpectedly and he was thus behind on things. today, he turned in missing homework and lamented that he only got a 92 out of 100 on his last test (which he took during a stressful time). just goes to show that some students really care and are willing to bust their asses. in fact, i wish more students were like him...rather than giving me some b.s. excuse when the fact of the matter is that they are just slacking, they work through a difficult time. i'm truly proud of that student and hope he is also proud of himself.

so, even though i still have lots of grades to calculate and will inevitably hear some gripes about grades, i can say that this has been a very positive experience. the more i do it, the more i think i'm really cut out to do this. the administrator/teacher/small college path seems to be the right fit for me...just as i've always suspected. perhaps that makes me a quasi-academic...but i don't care. :)

time for bed.

quick wit

a few weeks ago i was watching the HBO show big love with a few friends of mine. the show is weird and addictive and makes me want to get hbo for sunday nights only. at one point in the episode, a group of 4-5 high school guys are driving around in a wood-paneled station wagon and the driver...for reasons that i still struggle to understand...pulls out his wang and uses it to steer the car. if i remember right the boys ended up in an accident. what i do remember was an instant barrage of jokes from me and my friends.

b: "he was a little 'cocky' with his driving skills."

me: "well, he was driving a 'woody.'"

d: "it was a 'head'strong lane change."

we were all very proud of ourselves. as i think is clear that we should have been.

:)

commense wine drinking

today was a hectic day. so hectic that instead of grading tests right now, i'm going to bust open the botttle of gewürztraminer wine i bought a few weeks ago. my methods courses starte presentations about their research proposals today. overall, i was very happy with how they did, though the transitions from presentation to presentation could have been smoother. we were crunched for time though due to course evals and had some technical difficulties. i did learn that a video project will still work after taking a dive off of a desk. it was neat though to see that the students had such good ideas and they really pulled the projects together.

my office hours were also crazy today. lots of visitors wondering about grades, a few make-up tests, and a lot of grading to do. i'm sure there are not many undergrads who read this blog, but in case there are, here's a piece of advice to you. do NOT throw away homework or tests or anything you got a grade on until after you see your final grade. with TAs and crazy instructors all trying to keep track of shit, it is inevitable that mistakes will be made. and you will be a sad puppy if you find out that someone didn't enter a test grade for you and because of your expediency of recycling paper goods, we have no idea what your grade was. get a folder and put everything in that sucker.

i'm happy and amazed that the week is half over. next week will be a mad dash to get grades in and trying to find a freakin' job still. you guys are praying and crossing your crossable parts right? maybe profs will still fund me and i could just work on my dissertation all summer. doubtful, but maybe?

love yas!

not to complain yet again...but

okay, so i promise i will post a happier entry soon. but first i have to vent a bit. yesterday was may 1st and i forgot to pop by the office of my stupid apartment complex with my rent check. didn't figure it would be the end of the world, since hey....it's not even 24 hours later. i was totally wrong. i stopped by with my check to find out that i have to pay with a money order AND pay an extra TWENTY-FIVE dollars. maybe this is standard practice and i am just naive about such things. i did have a great landlord before who was very laid back (thanks mike). but still...even my last apartment experience was nicer about rent day than that...and they were stupid about most things. you had until may 3rd to pay before they started charging you extra and they still would take a check. it was a giant pain in the ass to get a money order, but luckily the post office people were very helpful and nice. anyway, the rant is mostly to talk about how stupid the policy of not taking a check is because of one day late rent. i mean for god's sake...they would take my check yesterday?! i was bringing them a check in person. what's the problem?!! it makes me anxious to get out of this building...though i would need a job to do that, huh?

rant over.

pray for employment for me soon!