Life with an old dog

Sometimes Zoe throws up in the morning. That is always a special symphonic treat to wake up to. It takes quite awhile for her to go from the noises to the actual production. Usually it is enough time for Craig (hello, she is your dog) to leap from the bed and arm himself with a plastic bag and paper towels. The other side of food coming up unexpectedly is that it is less easy to get it to go down. Now Zoe used to LOVE her food. She was an absolute whore when it came to anything vaguely edible. So, we know she is on the downward trend when she has to be coaxed to eat her food, one pellet at a time - see below. Fortunately, Craig (in the inimitable words of his ex-wife) will never love another woman as much as Zoe, so he is quite content to sit on the kitchen floor and hand feed her if thats what it takes.

The Mediator

More excellent tough love from the mediator, Terri Jo. "If someone is in your office talking about something you don't want to discuss, or talking about something for too long, it's your fault." Ouch. But so true. So she has given me some excellent boundary setting strategies and talked me through how to ask my dean for a raise. Stay tuned.

The Department

I am woefully behind but wanted to update all of you on the latest idea coming from the L&L co-chairs' offices. It needs fleshing out, but we think it will be a money maker.

Reality TV has brought you Big Brother, Wife Swap and Survivor- versions jungle to tropical island ... The half hour sitcom was revitalized by The Office. We bring you The Department: a cut throat, comedic romp through the pathos that is life in the modern academic department. Stay tuned for our first episode where a certain lecturer goes ballistic, half our files are carted away for use in a faculty instigated legal proceeding, and the female members of the department must wade through an inch of 'water' when using the restroom. You'll be hooked and won't want to miss week two's episode where a group of malcontents is forced into mediation. Stay tuned. This promises to be next season's smash hit.

PE in the 21st century

I had a load of overdue items to return to the library so when I got home I began gathering them up. Catherine was home with her friend Keziah, who was investigating job opportunities at McDonalds on the computer, albeit not seriously. Before I announced I was going to the library, C asked if I would be able to stop by the library to pick up a yoga dvd for them.... Huh? Explanation. When C got out of bowling it was a move to aerobics which seems to be actually a kind of cultural studies riff on exercise fads by the teacher. They have "sweated to the oldies" with Richard Simmons and all manner of other weird exercise fads. Keziah, C's incredibly extroverted friend, embraces all this with verve and I guess they had done a little warrior pose yesterday and wanted more. I went to the library and most of what was checked in was "yoga for pregnant women" which I thought wasn't quite the message for a couple of 16 year olds. I managed to scrounge up something labeled "Ancient yoga traditions," a pilates video and, for good measure, something dance funk high energy and not yoga at all. The next thing I knew they reappeared dressed in full on 80s work out gear demanding photos of them in their best warrior pose.

Meanwhile Sam is out at a party and just called to say that I could pick him up a few minutes later because they have embarked on the tormenting of homeowners otherwise known as ding dong ditch.

Just back from a fabulous weekend in Southern Utah. It feels like a little reprise of summer. Mum arrived on Thursday and Friday afternoon we headed out after school in the new car - I'll have to do a separate post on that. We stayed in Torrey and Saturday did a trip to Boulder and then on the Burr Trail and back to Torrey after a late lunch in Boulder. The guy at the next table was an Aussie biking from Portland, Oregon to Washington DC. He was a character - how could he not be? - and we enjoyed hearing a few of his tales from the road.

Somewhere in this photo I think you might see Sam who climbed up, up and up.

Mum and Craig.

Date night

Craig and I went out on a date. Well, not really a date since it wasn't planned or anything. Mid afternoon as he was reading a section of Wednesday's paper which was still floating around on our dining room table he decided we should try a new restaurant called Sea Salt. So we did and it was delish and then we went to a movie. The latter not so successful. The movie itself was ok (The American with George Clooney) - I think mainly an excuse for him to shoot a movie in Italy. The scenery was beautiful, the plot thin. But the main problem was that the place was full of consumptives one of whom was sitting right behind us. When she wasn't coughing and choking, she was unwrapping lozenges. I am not a germaphobe but eventually I just leaned forward because I couldn't help visualizing being sprayed with germs.

peaceful

Faculty retreat came and went without a whimper. I announced the that there would be no meetings of the full faculty this fall and no one said anything. At lunch one of our able staffers suggested that "people think you have given up and are going to let them do whatever they want." Oh, that's why there were no questions. There was just a inward sigh of relief. Well, I guess everyone will be surprised when we do something racy like scheduling classes in a way that makes sense in a big picture sort of a way, not a "but I never come in on Mondays and Fridays" sort of a way.

For the time being it all seems very peaceful.