My old man...

2 February 2016: Unlike yesterday, which left me a bit grumpy at times, today offered lots of options for the "good thing" on any ordinary day: a productive work session at Panera, an equally productive meeting planning a cool campus event for next week, some kick-butt revising, all kinds of little things checked off the to-do list...

All of that pales in comparison to the winner for the day: My dad had surgery for a hernia today--the last in a long line of surgeries and procedures that stretch back months and months--and it went well. He's home and resting. He'll certainly be uncomfortable for the next few days, but it's so wonderful to have this checked off the list.

All hail Kelly Bishop!

1 February 2016: Today's good thing is this interview with Kelly Bishop about the Gilmore Girls revival. The part that really made me smile? When she said, "This is how I explain it to people: 'You look at a room. And then you just tip it sideways a little bit.' That’s Gilmore Girls. It’s a little tip." Can't wait for these episodes.

We're #2!

31 January 2016: Our trivia team came in second at the big tournament yesterday. We had a blast. Love these people!

Two brilliant pieces (slices?) from The Toast

This one is funny and so very true: "If Josh Hutcherson Were Your Boyfriend."

This one is quietly devastating and so very true: "The Princess and the Pea, If the Pea Were a Small Piece of Mild Criticism."

"América"

30 January 2016: I'm working a guest lecture in a friend's class. This poem, by Richard Blanco, is high on my list of texts to include. It's just terrific.

A complete draft

29 January 2016: What a great feeling to have a draft you feel good enough about to send off to a friend to read! Clicking "send" on that email on Friday evening felt so satisfying. It's not done, but we're getting there.

This face...

28 January 2016: "Don't know if you noticed, but there's a clear issue here in front of me. I'll just sit here and see if you decide to do anything about that."

Creeping towards normal...

27 January 2016: Today's good thing is a sure sign that we are on our way back to normal after all that snow. Thanks to a day of abundant sunshine, some friends were able to come over here (the most "in the middle," most shoveled-out location that people could drive/walk to) and we played Pandemic. At one particular moment when I burst out laughing, I couldn't help but say, "I missed you guys!" It's only been a bit over a week since we all hung out, but it felt longer.

Sweet freedom!

26 January 2016: The roads are still a mess here and my car ain't going nowhere. But my dear friend (also named Heidi) has a four-wheel drive and picked me up today so we could have lunch. She brought along her kids and had also picked up our friend, Cyd. Trivia was canceled tonight, the university is still closed tomorrow, and who knows when things will get back to normal. But getting out for a bit today sure was nice.

Toni Morrison and Junot Diaz

25 January 2016: Stumbled across this interview (in podcast form) about a week ago. Just got around to listening to it on Monday. It's amazing; made cooking dinner a lot more pleasurable.

Attempted larceny

Adorable little cat tries to steal cookie. News at 11:00.

Sourdough

24 January 2016: If you had asked me around 2:00 what my "one good thing" post for today would be, I would have been certain that it was this, a photo of my cleared driveway. It ain't easy to move 40.5 inches of snow all by yourself in about two hours, but I did it and I was proud as a peacock. I mean, I wanted to play the Rocky theme.

BUT...

Then I found out my sister Erin is having another baby, a little girl due in July. That's the good thing for the year.

(Right now they are calling her "Sourdough." They called Krista "Nugget," especially cute since their last name starts with a "Mc." Who doesn't love a Sourdough nugget pretzel? Thus, this post's title) 

Skyping with the Little Man

23 January 2016: Best part of today? No, it's not the 30+ inches of snow. I mean, that's just obscene. It wasn't the hour and a half of shoveling I did to clear about 1/3 of my driveway, even as the snow kept pouring down. It wasn't the time I was in snow up to my butt, fell over, couldn't figure out how to get up for a moment, and thought, "So this is how I die..."

It was Skyping with Colin up in NY. They are getting walloped, too, though not quite like here. Every story I told him--about the towers of snow, about the untouched roads, even about the fall--either made him laugh or say "Lucky!" It's fun to spend time with a kid, even virtually, and be reminded that this stuff is still joy-inducing for them.

Like chocolate and peanut butter...

22 January 2016: Let me be honest: today was a weird day for me emotionally. We are in the beginning of this awful snowstorm which just bums me out. I managed to teach 3 of my 4 classes today before having to cancel and felt so down about pulling into the garage, thinking, "When am I going to get to get out there again and see people?" But I am doing better than I usually do in these situations. I think part of the reason why is that I had this to listen to while getting ready in the morning and cooking dinner tonight. I love it when two great things come together. So what a treat it was today when Sarah D. Bunting of the awesome previously.tv and its terrific podcast, Extra Hot Great, was the guest on today's episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour. My two favorite podcasts coming together? Heaven!

"Loved the opium."

21 January 2016: This post's title comes from one of my student course evaluations from last semester. Evaluations are problematic assessment tools for so many reasons, but for now, they are what we've got at Shepherd. My are never problematic (again, not patting myself on the back--they are flawed mechanisms of evaluation), but I still have some butterflies in the stomach each time they arrive in my mailbox. Silly, I know. Anyway, this time they were completely in line with what they always are, if a bit funnier than usual. My favorite line came from a student in my Victorian Lit. seminar, the line in the post's title. Lots of opium in Victorian Lit., after all. Made me laugh out loud.