Newer car!

The parts for the radiator came in today, so I took the car back in. Didn't get as much work done since I hadn't plugged the laptop back in after working in the bedroom last night. I ran out of battery after grading one paper, but at least I got that done. I went Christmas shopping a little...more than I intended to I guess. I have been trying to find a particular present for Mary Caitlin and, as usual, I picked the hot gift for the year. I was shopping for a Nintendo Wii game system since I have heard they are fun and it would get MC (and whoever) up and moving instead of just sitting passively playing. In particular, I wanted the Wii Fit set-up. I thought foolishly that since that system has been out for a year that it wouldn't be a problem: Best Buy, sold out; Walmart, sold out; Target, sold out; Amazon.com, sold out. Finally I found a console at Game Stop and Debbie found the Fit package at Target in Atlanta. This was a multi-state effort! My back hurts. I hate shopping. At least I hate shopping by myself. If Debbie and I go out and make a day of it with Starbucks for breakfast and a nice lunch somewhere it is fun. Otherwise it's just work.

I also decorated the outside of the house and got the Christmas decorations for the inside (and the fake tree) down from the attic. While I was up there I found a box with my old CD carry cases in it. As a result, I am blogging while listening to a bunch of music I haven't heard since about 1995. I know this because that is the lastest date on any of these CD's. Just finishing ripping Jethro Tull. It will soon be in my workout repertoire. Now it's Alanis Morrisette. That girl is angryyy! Debbie really likes Alanis. That worries me sometimes. I've already been through the Talking Heads, Phil Collins, Milla, and Toad The Wet Sprocket. How's that for a blast from the past? (Laura sits staring at the screen wondering who the heck I'm talking about.) ZZ Top, Bjork and Van Halen are waiting in the wings. I know that's really eclectic. I have to think that I was on the tail end of the Van Halen stage when I bought that CD. ZZ Top now, "Sharp Dressed Man"; Debbie and I would dance to that until we were ready to drop. I think it was my black and white checkered Vans flashing in the black light of the dance floor of Rockers that first won her heart...

So, that was my day. I think I'll go watch some of Dexter, season II. Good series if you have a strong stomach.

Love you Deb. Good night.

BJ

New car!

Not really, but it may as well be. I went and got 4 new tires, a two wheel brake job, oil and filter, transmission flush, power steering flush, new air filter, etc. etc, etc. today to the tune of $1380.00. Beats buying a new car though, and the Honda should last us easily another 100K. It still runs and looks like it's new, so I guess it was worth it. Now it's ready to drive to Alabama on the 20th! I'll take advantage of the temporary low gas prices and take the big car. Maybe it won't take me five minutes to get my knees unfolded getting out of the car at the Cracker Barrel this trip.

I talked to Mom and Dad tonight. They sounded well. Dad is excited about his new laptop I think. I will get it set up for him when I get there. It would be great to get to skype in and see him and Mom every once in a while. It was really nice seeing everyone last night, especially Deb. I miss your smile my love.

I am writing tonight from my room. I abandoned the house to David and a couple of friends he brought over. They are playing a new video game in the den. It is a very active game; lots of sound and epilepsy-inducing graphics. I'm glad he brought his friends over tonight though. Half the reason we bought this big house was so David could bring friends over. I hope we can get the pool fixed before the summer so he (and the rest of us) can use it.

Well, I'm going to cut this short and go to sleep. Didn't do much today to talk about anyway.
Got the car fixed. Got a haircut, watched Kung Fu Panda with Caitlin over hot chocolate (that was probably the highlight of the day) and that was about it. Tomorrow I'll pull out the Christmas decorations and put them up. That should be fun. It will be a lot of work, but still...

I love you Babe. Hope you are sleeping well tonight.

BJ

Turkeys and physics

So how is it that turkeys get to defy the laws of Thermodynamics? If you put a frozen turkey in the refrigerator on Sunday, it should be nicely thawed by Thursday. I'm sure...absolutely certain that I read that in a text book at some point, but the laws of physics obviously do not apply to domestic holiday-fare fowl. I wouldn't say my turkey is frozen as hard as a rock per say: Perhaps as hard as a piece of driftwood, but still I can't recover the goodie bag with all the gravy parts yet, so my turkey sits defiantly staring at me with its little beady non-existent eyes while it soaks in a sink full of cold water.

I am not preparing a from scratch Thanksgiving this year. I made up my menu by going to the store last night and selecting what was left in the pre-prepared section of the deli. We are having sweet potato casserole topped with pecans, stuffing, creamed corn, cranberry relish and something else I can't remember but was available, and brown and serve rolls. And, of course, the turkey barring it spontaneously re-freezing in the sink or otherwise continuing its refusal to obey the 'thaw' command.

The housekeeper came yesterday. That was nice. I think she's magic. I didn't know for certain she was coming since I hadn't talked to her, and wasn't sure in any case what really needed to be done to prepare for her, so as a default, I did nothing. When she got here, I looked around and thought she would probably run, but she didn't. I left her with the house and went to the coffee shop to work and get out of her way and when I came back several hours later, the house was sparkling clean. I don't know what she did with everything and I don't care. There may be twenty pairs of socks and thirty towels for sale on E-bay, but all I care about is that they are not in the floor anymore. I wonder if she has a brother that does yards? I would be willing to pay. I don't need to eat EVERY day.

I can't wait for the Black Friday sales to start. Last year I camped out and got a flat screen TV. This year, I'm going for...TIRES! Yes, Sears has a sale on tires on Black Friday. How's that for a depression era Black Friday sale? Merry Christmas one and all...we won't die if it rains next week!

"Daddy...can I have shoes for Christmas?"
"Yes, Mary Caitlin, brake shoes are on sale too. "

Actually, I hope they are. I want to get everything done at one time to get the Honda ready to roll towards Jacksonville on the 20th. Since gas is cheap right now, we can take the big car. Not that there's anything wrong with the Yaris. I still get a little thrill every time I run the mileage on it and see that I'm getting 40mpg commuting back and forth to work. It gets the gas mileage of a motorcycle with A/C, heat and a radio, and I don't have to worry about becoming a projectile nearly as much. People have said, "It doesn't have side airbags, it's not safe!" To which I say, "Pish Tosh." (Not really. That's pretty much the first time I've ever said that but you get the idea.) When I was on the motorcycle I had to be my own air bag, and I think I was pretty good at it.

Well, I poked my turkey and it seems fairly pliant, so I'm going to try to get it in the oven.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm looking forward to our trial video conference later.

I love you Babe...drive carefully on your way to J'ville. Remember, just because the Beemer does 160 doesn't mean you have to prove it.

BJ

PS- Turkey is in. Nicely spiced and stuffed with apples, onions and fresh basil. See, I did do something nice for Thanksgiving after all.

Catching up on the weekend

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I actually got so busy I forgot that I ate lunch. I didn't forget to eat mind you, the act just got lost in the flurry of activity surrounding the end of the semester. Ate with one hand and worked with the other. I had students in and out all day in the midst of grading and trying to figure out what's going on for next semester. I've got to remember to get a box of Kleenex for my office. It's surprising how many tears get shed over grades. I tried telling some of them that there's no crying in Engineering, but they won't listen.

"Boo, hoo! If I get a 'B' I'll never get into Baylor!"
"Then learn to write an English sentence, Dipstick."

I wonder how my evaluations are going to look? Like anyone wants my job.

I went into one of the 24/7 labs (open to the students in that course at all hours) today and got irritated because it was pretty messy. Then I came across a table on which there were several origami tanks set out in a battlefield complete with origami rocks and a paper fortress. There was a sign on the desk that said, "Free tanks...Happy Tanksgiving." I have creative students, and now I have an origami tank!

Speaking people who don't listen, the kids are doing well I think. I took Mary Caitlin to see the latest Disney talking dog movie Saturday. It was actually funny and I enjoyed going. I can't remember the name of it right now though. We got to the theater early and went to the diner to get a snack. At first MC wanted the fried pickle appetizer, but then decided on the brownie sundae instead. When the waiter came and she ordered, he said they were out of the brownies (it was the matinee and they were already out of brownies?). MC sighed and said, "I guess I'll just get the pickles." I don't know if anyone has ever gone from one end of a menu and back again so abruptly. Anyway, the pickles were good.

(What WAS the name of that dog? Hero?, Cujo?...no, wrong dog.)

Went and bought a turkey Sunday, so I guess I'm going to cook for Thanksgiving. I'm cooking as little as possible though. The grocery store has an amazing variety of pre-prepared Thanksgiving food that just needs to be heated up and I'm taking advantage!

"BOLT!" That was the name of the movie (and the dog)! It's good. Go see it.

O.k.- I cheated, I had to look that up.


I think I added a picture to this post. I can't see it yet, but the software tells me I was successful. Guess I'll find out. The picture is of David next to the stone pillar mailbox we jack hammered apart and re-built Saturday to replace the enclosed mailbox. That was a full day, but the jack hammering was satisfyingly noisy and destructive. David did a lot of the re-building. I told him it was one the rare times that he and I had exactly as much experience with a job since neither of us had ever done such. We figured it out together, although I don't think we're threatening the jobs of any professionals out there.

Hope you're having a good day, Deb! I love you and we miss you.

BJ

Last official lab session today!

I may have actually reached a big milestone in surviving my first semester teaching the lab courses. I still have two groups that weren't able to get data yesterday that are coming back in next Tuesday, but today is the LAST OFFICIAL LAB MEETING FOR THE COURSE (this semester.) Aye...there lies the rub. Next semester is just a twinkle in my eye, which is actually just a tear forming when I think about it. I have an idea of how it is going to look, but haven't made a syllabus or put anything on paper. This semester ended up completely different from what I had planned, so I'm thinking, "Why bother?" If I set the expectations high and have to back off, I look bad. If I set the expectations low and do something spectacular, the students will complain, so I think I will go with my new theory; Null Expectations. In this, every lab session is a surprise to the student and the results are malleable. Everyone wins.

I see a Happy Hour on the near horizon during which I may fall asleep at the table. I'm exhausted. I went in to work out today, unpacked my fresh workout clothes and I had four pairs of shorts and one shirt that might fit Caitlin if she sucked it in a little. I thought about putting it on anyway, because I REALLY needed that workout, but it's not that sort of gym, so I will go back at lunch and appropriate one of the department give-away shirts. I'm a walking billboard for UT BME. I have at least two of each shirt they have ever produced because of my aforementioned penchant for forgetting workout t-shirts, and my complete inability to drink coffee and walk at the same time (coffee in one hand, blackberry in the other, wall/door/student anywhere in area = new shirt.) It's an axiom. The students appreciate the new shirts as well.

I love you, Deb! Hope you are able to get on the page today. Talk to you later.

BJ

Good Start to the day!

Got to work at 6:30 and got a parking place...RIGHT OUTSIDE THE BUILDING! That's unheard of at UT. I've been here, counting my time as a student, for almost 12 years and I think this is the second time that has happened. I'm going to go take a picture of the car. I mean, I can see my car from my window! I was here early enough to go spend a half-hour on the elliptical machine at the gym too. Burned 486 calories, which considering what I ate for breakfast, makes me almost even for the morning. I will work late tonight getting ready for tax season (my avocation). I am planning on working just enough this year to do my own taxes, some regular clients and make enough money to take the kids on a long weekend somewhere this summer. Maybe we'll go back to Moody Gardens in Galveston. I like to go to the Lone Star Flight Museum while I'm there. It's within walking distance of the hotel. Last summer, they had a MiG-21 pulled up next to the fence that they had just apparently drug in there. It was sitting on three flat tires and looked pretty beat up. I want to see if they've started on it, or if hurricane Ike blew it into the gulf.

Hey, I figured out how to put links into the blog...can you tell?

Well, better get to work. More later.

Love you, Babe!

BJ

Dan Wir Beginnen!

Thus the extent of my German, at least for tonight. It sneaks up on me though.

This blog is primarily to provide a place to keep in touch with my wife, and mother of my children while she is on her great adventure being deployed in Ethiopia for a solid year, starting as of last Monday. So...friends, family and on-lookers, welcome to a long year or so of blogging.

I'd like to feel sorry for myself, but this is only our second deployment, and the last one was almost five years ago. There are many who have it worse and believe me, my heart goes out to them. Still, I'm not exactly looking forward to a year of single parenthood. Got two you know. One is 11 and the other is 17. Got to keep one hand on the little one to protect her from the world and one hand on the big one to protect the world from him. Add to that three dogs; one allergic, one felon, and one that has the processing power of a squash, and two cats who are vying for dominance (not of each other, but rather of the whole house) and I have my hands full. Today I went to work at 7:00, left at 5:00, took one kid out to dinner, shopped for and bought a blue dress for school play (had not much clue about buying a little girl's dress, but made a good guess...I win!), picked one up at church while dropping the other off, came home, did a load of laundry, folded another and vacuumed. By the way dear, You're welcome. Maybe the house will still be standing when you come home. Then I started a blog!

I can bring home the ba-con! Fry it up in a pan...

So...Good night Dear. I love you.

BJ