Our 50 States... in film

Got a game for the gang. One at which Neel will excel, I hope.

Can you name a movie set in each of the 50 states? The movie must have the majority of its action take place within that state (so, for instance, you could say Forrest Gump for Alabama, even though large parts of the film take place elsewhere.)

To get the ball rolling:

Illinois: Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Nevada: Ocean's 11
Washington: Singles

Spouse goes Native

Spouse: "Have you seen my fleece?"
Quinn: "Right there."
Spouse: "No, my good fleece."

Stolen from Corndog, who rocks my world

... but not in a "want to smoke a cigarette" type of way.

Things that I'll eat today (and yes, we're doing Tgiving on Friday this year, due to work schedules):
1. Turkey. I prefer dark meat. (Now THERE'S a double meaning!)
2. Pie. Non-pumpkin variety.
3. Brown'n'serve rolls.
4. Cranberry and apple crisp.
5. The world's best stuffing. Recipe courtesy of sister-in-law.

Things that I will NOT eat today:
1. Vegetables. Apart from the potato.
2. Alcohol. I guess you don't eat that. But still.
3. Pie. Pumpkin variety. Call me un-American, but I'm just not into it.
4. Sweet potatoes.
5. That marshmallow stuff on top of sweet potatoes.

Things I'm ambivalent about:
1. The beginning of holiday and family birthday season.
2. Shopping.
3. The upcoming visit of my mother-in-law.
4. My hair.
5. Coming up with five of these things.

Things that can bite me:
1. My new cold.
2. Lack of naps.
3. Wet socks.
4. Bush's foreign policy.
5. Bush's domestic policy.

Things that I'm thankful for:
1. My awesome job.
2. The beginning of college basketball season.
3. Kyle Singler, native son and stand-out freshman.
4. Upcoming trip down south and a reunion with cousins and several members of my study group.
5. Oh, yeah. And my family.

There's a double meaning in that...

In class recently, I returned the papers to my small class of excellent, fun students. I mentioned to one student that his paper on food culture made me hungry, and I had to go for Italian food after reading it.

He replied that he intended it to make me want to smoke a cigarette, and then gave me a rather strange look.

Now, this is a student who has shows approval for my teaching methods in class. Is he, um, showing approval for other aspects of my existence in this comment?

Idle Hands

Don't want to become the devil's playground. So here's my latest project, which was a birthday gift for K-lyn.

Why Peyton Manning is Still the Best

Priceless Pep-talks, with Peyton Manning. I especially recommend the one on having a gut.

Book Review

If you have a nearly-three year old child who is obsessed with both trains and dinosaurs, then this book is for you.

Deb Lund's All Aboard the Dinotrain. WB loves it. So will you.

The Spice Must Flow...

Nerds like me will appreciate my buddy Jade's new Cafe Press apron offer. She is uber-cool, in the best possibly geeky way.

The Elusive Sari Picture

Thanks to Flyboy, I finally got a picture of me in a sari (with DQ and WB holding on for dear life) from the weddings this summer. My regular readers might recall that there was a bit of a saga regarding the "cursed sari." Hence, it took longer than anticipated to find an actual photo.

Looking back on it again, awesome wedding!

Things I learned this week:

• My students are hilarious. But then, I knew that.
  
• Having a conference with a 6'7" student should always be done sitting down. My neck hurts.
  
• The student who drives me crazy is driving everyone else in the class crazy too.
  
• My son wants to be a "startle monster" when he grows up (yes, one who sneaks up and startles people)
  
• Oregon is a serious contender for the National Championship. And my folks will go no matter what.
  
• College Basketball has started!!!!
  
• You can't please all the people all the time. And that is so true in student evaluations.
  
• Sinus infections are evil.

Competition among the pre-school set

Picking up DQ from school the other day, I run into Z and her mommy, who I know from the birthday party circuit. I say hi to each.

Z says to DQ saucily: "My mom is 40!"
DQ responds: "My mom is 40 and a half!"

Thanks, kid.

Halloween Recap

In response to requests, here are the kids in their Halloween regalia. As you can probably tell, DQ was very into it. WB was, shall we say, not.



DQ as Violet from The Incredibles.



WB as Peter Pan. Sort of. Wouldn't wear the hat or the belt. But this was far better than his previous attempt, which was that he wanted to be the Grumpy Old Troll from Dora the Explorer. And he insisted for several weeks this was the only thing he wanted to be. Until Halloween, of course, when he woke up and told us he wanted to be a T-rex. No, kid. You can wear the homemade makeshift Grumpy Old Troll costume (yellow sweats, drawn on beard and spiky messy hair), or you can wear something from your dress-up drawer. Spouse managed to get him into a portion of the Peter Pan outfit. Which evidently was better than half of the parents in his class did.

DQ was the same way at that age... she was supposed to be a pirate, but refused the hat, the earring, the eyepatch, and the vest. Hence, she was in a white blouse and black pants. (K-lyn said she was dressed as a waiter at an upscale restaurant.)

And now we shal plow through the never-ending supply of goodie bags from here until Easter.

Adjustments

Things that suck about going back to work full-time:

• No free weekday afternoons with the kids.
  
• No impromptu free weekday afternoon dates with Spouse.
  
• Wearing a bra everyday. (When I told Julie about this, she gave me the "welcome to my world" look. Sorry, o endowed amigas!)
  
• Wearing shoes all day long.
  
• Not wearing pajamas all day. Urgh!
  
• No mid-afternoon naps.
  
• No lunchtime viewing of the Colbert Report or Newsradio.

Things that rock about going back to work full-time:

• The students. They're so fun! Especially my awesome small class. They so get me.
  
• Teaching more than one class at a time. Fun to switch gears.
  
• Ability to get out of the house and socialize with other adults everyday.
  
• The paycheck. Holy cow! Adjuncting is such a rip-off!

Scheming Yarn Chick

I've finished my gingham blanket, I've almost completed the little project (still a bit to do, but it'll be done in the next week, especially with all the football I'll be watching this weekend... football and crochet go surprisingly well together!)

So what's next? Miss M's got me turned on to the idea of a Babette Blanket. And while I don't have a written pattern, I think I might put some of my scraps to use and play around with the concept a bit. Wish me luck!

Here's someone else's handiwork: