Cold Day, Cold War

We braved the (endless, freezing, blinding) snow today in order to see the sites.

First up, Devil's Tower.

Then a 3-hr drive, again with the blizzard-like conditions, to a Cold War-era missile silo, armed to the teeth with (now deactivated) nuclear warheads.

You can take a wild guess whose idea this was.

I'll give you a hint: not mine.

I managed to keep myself entertained by sending pics to the Russkie. I figured she'd appreciate the irony of it all.

G was in total and complete Heaven. We got to tour an actual missile site and go underground into the control center. It's hard to imagine that there was a time when these were all over the country, manned, fully armed, and ready to go "just in case." Do you know a missile sent from South Dakota would have arrived in Russia WITHIN THIRTY MINUTES? That blows my mind.

Anyhoo, just a couple more pics or you'll probably be falling asleep, too.

The weather was like this most of the day.

Yours truly would sit inside while King of the Nerds would hop out and look into different deactivated sites.

Bunny Mama won in the end, though. Wine by the fire! Nice restaurant! Midwestern steak dinner!

When we sat down for dinner I took my coat off for the first time since 7:00 a.m.

A wee bit more exploring tomorrow and then back home with this one!

Black Friday in the Black Hills

Hello from South Dakota!

It was a little tricky getting out of Denver in the snow this morning, but after crossing over into Wyoming, the roads and the weather cleared.

The Beverly Hillbunnies hit the road early!

We made it into Rapid City, SD early this afternoon, dumped Loo Loo Bell at the pet-friendly hotel, and high-tailed it to Mt. Rushmore. We haven't been in 10 years, since we moved back to da mainland from Hawaii.

And when I say "dumped the rabbit," I mean that it took us a good 20 minutes to get her settled. You guys have seen this process before, but let's take a minute to refresh your memory so you can fully appreciate the chaos and drama that is owning a rabbit.

Patiently waiting while daddy sets up her big cage.

Ready...

Set...

Go!

Now get outta here so I can enjoy the peace and quiet.

We made it to Mt. Rushmore in the early afternoon, just a couple of hours before sunset. There are trails that wind at the base of the mountain, allowing you to see each of the presidents' faces framed in the trees, but in the like sub-zero temperature, the thought of that was a bit much. I'll just recall whatever memories I can from a decade ago.

Visitors walk down the avenue of flags to see the monument. Each state is represented by its flag and the year of its inclusion into the union.

The stones in front are left over from blowing up the mountainside with dynamite.

Look at the detail in the eyes.

See the rim and the bridge of his glasses? So incredible.

After exploring around in the freezing cold for a while, we walked around downtown Rapid City and wound up eating Tex Mex. You can't go wrong with some spicy deliciousness.

I have to point something out. See G's fork? In the background? Poised for a bite? The poor man is trained to wait until I snap a picture before diving in. Husband points.

When we rolled back into the hotel room and face planted on the bed, G commented that it was only 6:30. SIX-THIRTY???? It feels like it should at least be midnight.

Ok, back to Virginia Woolf paper research. For like 5 minutes, who am I kidding, and then I'll be snoring away. Mrs. Dalloway will understand.

Another day of exploring tomorrow! Hope you peeps are enjoying the holiday weekend!

A Most Buntraditional Thanksgiving

We had a white Thanksgiving here in Denver. In fact, we were supposed to hit the road first thing this morning, but delayed our mini-trip for a day in order to let a snow storm pass through the area. Because we were planning to be gone, there was no food, no excitement, no craziness. Just a laid back day of much-needed nothingness, which was a nice change.

The day started, of course, with more grading. In the attempt to make the day somewhat festive, I dug around in the fridge until I found an old can of cinnamon rolls. They were each as big as my face. Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm happy to say that the grading is done. Until next week. And the next. **sigh**

Do you have plans for Black Friday? REI is making a big deal about being closed so that everyone will take the opportunity to go outside.

I think Ross, TJ Maxx, and Home Goods are opening later on Black Friday. I think business decisions like this are great for their employees; I'm curious to know how it will affect their profit/income. There's so much hype about the madness of the crowds, but do people actually spend that much money? To make it worth it for a store to be open during such unconventional hours? This Type A will be home sleeping.

And so will the furry lil Type A.

Catching Up

As you know, this semester has been beyond crazy. In the effort to keep up the teensiest bit of fun and games, we've been trying to watch one funny movie every couple of weeks or so. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but this process basically turned into catching up on all the kids' movies we've missed over the past few years.

And, yes, Lucy joins in on the fun from her Conan spot.

So far, we've caught up on, and highly recommend, the following:

I still want to see Brave, Frozen (<--from a feminist thought perspective; G won't watch it with me so I'll have to pick a weekend when he's nerding it up with his nerdy nerd friends), How to Train Your Dragon II, Hotel Transylvania II, and...what else? You guys with kids, what movies are we missing?

Repeat, Plus

I have nothing new to tell you. The last two days have been more of my 90:10 productivity plan. Plus, I've started working out again (hey, it had to happen eventually) and my poor limbs don't know what's going on. I had to hunt down my foam roller and it has replaced the good will pants as Lucy's main interest. (I took advantage of the diversion and threw the pants into the official pile. They're ready to go.)

Speaking of Lucy, I keep meaning to update you. Guess who's 4 years old?

She was somewhere between 1 and 1.5 when we got her. My, how time flies when no one is having fun.

When I get home, I always say sweet nothings to her and she glares at me. I realized the other day, when I called her "My sweet little baby" that she is neither sweet, nor little, nor a baby.

I literally have nothing else to talk about. I'm telling you, all I do is grade and read and write and sweat over these final research papers and then avoid them by grading some more. I'm trying to get so much done before Thanksgiving, and then I wear myself out and have to take a nap in order to calm down.

I'll leave you with those lil crab claws.

Ninety : Ten

Hello from Day 2 of my FALL BREAK!

My goal for today (and for the days leading up to Thanksgiving) is to maintain a daily ratio of 90:10. The ninety, unfortunately, is the work. The ten is play (read: daily 3-hr nap).

So far so good. I woke up - and got up - at 5:30 this morning, which is sick, I know. But! I got a lot of grading done! My daily goal is to grade 10 papers for my own class, and 20 for the extra job. That may not sound like a lot, but trust me, it is. If I do this for the next few days, I should finish by Thanksgiving. Otherwise, it's all reading and researching and writing and lesson planning for the last week of classes.

And doing laundry. Like, 12 loads. Lucy gets all curious about the whole process, but refuses to help fold anything.

Also, she has cankles.

Today's 10% of fun included bonding with the Russkie. Chicken cream cheese chili and fresh bread for dinner, then hours of convo. Fall break should happen every week.

Make up is not a thing for me this week. Watch as my eyes and lips gradually disappear.

Starting tomorrow - and hopefully continuing until sometime in about late February when next semester drags me down - the exercise becomes a daily routine again. Time to knock off the next 10. But more about that after the chili left overs are gone...

Maintenance and Our Lil Butterball

Hello from Day 1 of my FALL BREAK! (<---- Yes, I'm totally counting this weekend.)

Today was all about maintenance. For me and my car. It included a very important oil change and hair appointment. If you know anything about my complicated hair maintenance, then you know that it basically took the whole day.

Waiting to pick up my car. Too tired to stand on my own. Too brain dead. Need DDP.

And the necessary Sonic run, obvs.

As much as I would like to curl up and sleep for the entire week, alas, that's not a possibility. I have to grade papers for 4 classes (2 of my own, 2 for the vacay money side job). In total, that's about a thousand papers. Plus, I have to re-write a paper for the American Novel class and research for my last two papers of the semester. Before Thanksgiving, so that I can truly enjoy the day.

My students had presentations all last week. I went all out and bought donuts for them, only to realize that I also had to give them my semester evaluations (where they get to evaluate my class). I was like, "This is so not a bribe," and they were like, "Riiiiiiiight."

It beez what it beez.

Donuts & evals. That's how I roll.

We are getting our little Butterball all prepped for Thanksgiving:

She is neither festive nor particularly thankful.

Ok, these papers aren't going to grade themselves. I'm reaching wayyyyyy down for the motivation here, people. I'll give you all my King Sooper's coupons if you'll write my papers for me. Thanks.

TGIF, people!

Books and War

I had the most relaxing weekend of probably the entire semester (and it still included grading, reading, and writing, but it is what it is) but I didn't feel like blogging because the events in Paris just dragged me down. Dragged both G and me down.

Last night as the cold Denver rain began to turn to snow, I sat in crazy traffic on my way to one of our last Virginia Woolf classes. While I was not crazy about going to class, I couldn't wait to discuss her work. She is a writer who I can honestly say has changed my life. Not in any kind of definitive way: I don't particularly subscribe to her theories or ideologies or beliefs. But she resonates deep inside me in a way I can't fully articulate. And I will continue to read her books/essays for the rest of my life.

Timothy Keller did a sermon series on friendship years ago and I used to listen to it on my hellish commutes to my hellish jobs in Virginia. There is a verse somewhere in the Old Testament (maybe in Proverbs? Psalms? Maybe in reference to Jonathan and David? I really can't remember the context.) where Keller deconstructs some of the language used. Basically, finding a true friend is having this feeling of, "Oh! You too? I thought it was just me!" It's this serendipitous feeling of finding something sweet and refreshing in the desert. That is what Virginia Woolf has been to me.

Anyhoo, with my low spirits and grumpy attitude, I sloshed my way to class last night and it was the perfect thing. Just perfect.

What is it about books? I've often wondered why dictators, religious kooks, and tyrants of many types ban books as part of their strategy to dominate people. Part of it is to restrict revolutionary ideas, I'm sure. Part of it is to take away entertainment, independent fun for people. But part of it, I think, is to deny people the transcendent and very individual experience of communicating with others over the centuries. Books allow us to share thoughts, ideas, and experiences over time and space in a way that no other medium quite does.

One book I enjoy and have read multiple times is Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafasi.

Nafasi taught literature courses at the University of Tehran until war broke out in Iran and she was fired from the university (being a woman and all). For over two years, male and female students risked their lives to meet at her house every Tuesday and discuss Western literary classics. Like, while bombs were falling and men were dragging women off the streets, these students were talking about The Great Gatsby and Jane Austen.

This. This talking about literary themes and ideas, thoughts and disagreements and controversy and cultural issues, is one of the most revolutionary things one can do, I suppose. I'm so intrigued by this book because these students were willing to die over something that I spend most of my waking hours complaining about: Studying. Reading. Writing. But I live in a free country where I can take these very free ideas for granted.

Like I said, the terrorist attacks in Paris have been clouding things at dawrighthouse. And as I went to class last night and discussed a book by Woolf that was about dictatorship and tyranny and the role of art in human history, I was just so thankful to be able to do it. Woolf drowned herself because she could not face England going to war again (WWII) so quickly after the devastation of WWI. I wonder what she would think of things now? I wonder what she would think of a group of 15 students battling a blizzard to get together and talk about her work for three hours? While a country so close to her native land mourned so many senseless murders and declared war on the perpetrators?

What does Ecclesiastes say? There is nothing new under the sun.