Lessons from hooters

Check out the photos and tell me what you notice.

The napkin didn’t stick to the glass! Pretty cool, huh?

Our waitress put salt on the napkin before she put the glasses down and that did the trick. I have to admit that I was pretty amazed.

Being the geeks that we are, we had to sit and discuss why. The best idea we had was that the salt lowers the surface tension of the water. This keeps the water on the napkin and the glass from sticking to each other.

I just love it that I had to go to Hooters to learn it!

(Wrote this on my iPhone with my new WordPress app! And it was free!)

Merry Christmas

Most Christmases, I hate the holidays. They always seem to sneak up on me and catch me off guard. But this year, I love the holidays. I love the traditions. I like doing things because we’ve always done them – turkey dinner on Christmas Eve, Christmas cards, shopping for gifts for friends and family. It brings a sense of normality and “All’s right with the world” that is sorely lacking from our everyday life. The expectations of the holidays are pretty much the same every year – not a moving bulls-eye.

I have a feeling it’s because I feel everything is so much more stable at work. For the first time in years, I know what the expectations are and I feel like I can actually meet (and maybe exceed!!) them. Supposedly, our job is less than 1/3 of our life, but it’s amazing how it controls and invades every part of our life.

As part of the tradition, I sent out some holiday cards. I got most of them out, but about half way through the stack, I was struck by how impersonal they are, even with a small handwritten note in them. We had been getting photo cards from friends and family and even without anything extra written on them, they were more friendly than a regular card.

So next year, I’m doing photo cards. I made one for this year, but didn’t have time to get them printed up. So this year, cards are virtual!

Happy Holidays!

I hope the jolly fat guy brings you everything you need, but not everything you want.

Christmas Shopping

Whew!

I spent at least seven hours today Christmas shopping, wrapping, standing in line at the post office (twice), and driving around. Of course, I could have spread it all out over a couple of days if I had thought to start earlier than four days before Christmas, but who’s crying over spilled milk? I had good ideas of what I wanted to get everyone, so it was more of a surgical strike on the stores, instead of the usual hunting and gathering.

Then, after dinner, I spent another hour or two working on a few more gifts. I wish I could say that I was completely done but alas, it is not the case. Most of the gifts that need to be sent out are in the mail, but a few people are just going to have to wait until after Christmas. Maybe even New Years…

The stores weren’t too bad today. The worst line that I stood in was the post office. For some reason, on the busiest mailing day of the holiday season, there was only one person working in the local post office. She was on her feet and cooking away! No time for chit chat, just grab, stamp and toss. Unfortunately, I had to stand in that line twice. I forgot my wallet and didn’t realize it until I was at the counter. I was hoping that the second time around would be shorter, but it was about twice as long. Plus, I got covered in slush on my way in. There was a van that was stuck in the ice. I helped to push her out but got a leg full of ice for my troubles. Oh well. The jeans needed to be washed anyway!

Heading down to work tomorrow for a couple of hours (and maybe to do a little more shopping!). I can hopefully get some planning done for next semester. I’ve already had two students contact me to see if there was going to be a quiz during the first week of classes. I hadn’t thought about it but it seems like a good idea to me! But that means that I need to get a review sheet together and some practice problems for them to look at sometime before the New Year. Maybe I can steal… err, borrow something from my colleagues.

In other news, I got my iPhone on Sunday! Nothing has really changed though. I still can’t hear it ring when I’m out and about. I missed all of Husband’s phone calls today. I’ve already started using the camera to take photos of books that I want read, but am too cheap to buy myself. This way, I can remember what they are when I head to the library.

I only have one app – a free version of solitaire. I check my email constantly, so be sure to drop me a line!

Hazards of working at home

Finals ended last Friday. Usually by Tuesday, I would have had everything graded already. I would have been sitting on grades for the past two days, agonizing over whether or not to bump that person from a 3.0 to a 3.3. This year, however, I didn’t do jack over the weekend. I pretty much spent Sunday sitting on my butt, watching TV and knitting.

So for the past two days, it has been a grading fest. I did take some time and leave the house to do a little Christmas shopping but not too much. I tried to run yesterday on the treadmill, but my left hip was hurting pretty good. This afternoon, the ache had spread to both hips. My first thought was bone cancer, but I realized that while possible, it was highly unlikely. More likely was the fact that I spent about 10 hours out of each of the past two days, sitting in one spot on the couch and grading.

When working at home, I usually sit in my office on the nice, ergonomic chair. But because it was snowing out and the heat from the fireplace doesn’t quite reach upstairs, I decided to move the whole operation to the den. Another hazard of working by the fire is residual snooze gas. Just check out the exhibits:

I thought cats did SOMETHING during the day. The other cats might, but Caymus does not move from the chair during daylight hours.

Indi set up camp the furthest from the fire. She is quite enamored of the tree skirt in the living room and spends a great deal of time sleeping on it. I was pretty excited to see her in the den!

While I spent the whole day on the couch, I didn’t spend the whole day grading (sorry students). Part of the reason was this little guy. Max decided that today was a good day to test out the lap.

But grading is done and the grades tentatively assigned. I’m going to sleep on it overnight and then submit everything tomorrow. I won’t be checking email for a few days so as to avoid students.

Happy Holidays!

How do I know it’s time to get an iPhone?

My cell phone battery won’t hold a charge if I’m talking on the phone. All conversations must be 20 minutes or less. Then it’s immediately time to plug it in, justin case someone else tries to call.

Oh, and I was recommended for tenure!

I got the good news on Thursday. I really wanted to go out and celebrate but I hadn’t finished writing my final. And the whole fact that the final was the next day at 8AM. It really cut down on the possibility of a late night.

But I did take the weekend off. 100% off. Friends were over for dinner on Saturday. Today, I have done nothing worthwhile, besides fix holes in socks. I didn’t even cook dinner – we ate leftovers. It has been a blissful day of nothingness and sitting by the fire.

Of course, doing nothing today means that tomorrow I have to grade ALL DAY. I have to start planning for the Christmas party and finish decorating the house. And shop for Christmas. I’m late again this year.

Oh well. It’s been worth it for a nice, leisurely, lazy day.