Happenings 1/14 - 1/21

After returning from our long trip, we were right back in the swing of things. Classes began on Monday the 14th, and I have one class on MWF, the second semester freshman writing class. I'm trying something new with this class, having them keep a class blog where each of them has to respond to a certain topic each week or keep a little day diary. Behind this idea we are studying a little about Mass Observation, which was a movement in 1930s Britain that had ordinary people do just what I described -- minus the blog of course -- and all of their writings are in an Archive in England. I am writing a paper that draws on the Mass Observation movement, and I thought I would see how freshmen respond to it. So far, several students are excited about the idea, so we'll see.

Tuesday was the first busy day, with a full morning of teaching 2 sections of the same class, and then in the afternoon teaching a small senior-level class with people who took a senior-level course with me last semester. I was looking forward to that class all day because they are a fun group and it is a lot easier to start a class when you know everyone and they know you.

Wednesday at noon, I played basketball with some older guys from the university. Last semester I had taught at midday every day, so I never had the chance to investigate the rumor that I had heard about a noontime faculty/staff basketball game. So I asked around, and they play on MWF. But the play isn't spectacular; only halfcourt with varying degrees of talent. It would have been more fun had a couple of the guys on the other team not taken it so seriously -- halfcourt basketball with mixed ages should not be controversial, but unfortunately our group was. There was another group playing on the other side, so maybe it was just a few bad apples. I decided that once a week would probably be enough for me.

At home, the babysitter we were planning to hire came over to visit J.J. and the girls, and she should work out great. We've heard she thinks ahead and has crafts and things to do for the girls.

Our department has five new faculty searches going on, and this week the first candidate visited, which meant a free lunch for the faculty and a chance to hear about his research on Friday afternoon. That will repeat for the next five weeks, and I have been asked to take a couple of them out for breakfast but since I am not on any of the search committees, I can pick and choose events with the candidates otherwise. So on Friday I did some reading by a person whose way with words I am studying for a paper I am presenting in April. The writer is a public housing and planning expert in the 1960s in New York named Charles Abrams. I am planning this to be a long term project, and so far he provides lots to study.

Friday night I was asked to be the priesthood holder at the church for the annual stake young women's conference that our ward hosts. I was there from 6:00 to 10:30, mostly hanging out and visiting with a few people, but I also did some clerk work. The bonus was a banana split, and then I led 7 girls to our house to stay overnight because the conference included the next day. J.J.'s friend Shara was hosting some girls as well and her husband told me that she had made personalized towel bundles for the four of them, so I had to call J.J. so that she could prepare accordingly:) J.J. made me pass on the message to Shara (who helped serve the ice cream) that we had monogrammed pillowcases for each girl along with chocolates on each pillow. Saturday morning we were up early getting the girls breakfast, and then they left and a couple of hours later we all went to the church because J.J. and I taught one of the four round robin classes -- ours was "what it means to be steadfast and immovable." Our classes went well, and then we had lunch with everyone and I brought Claire and Rachel home while J.J helped clean up.

Saturday afternoon I took Claire on a shopping journey, and we endured the cold weather and cold wind walking to the stores in our outdoor mall. I was hoping to find a certain kind of sweater, but no luck -- typical that on the coldest day of the year all the spring items are ready to display. All the big stores were having clearance sales and one of them looked like it had been ransacked or was going out of business. We didn't really buy anything, but we spent a couple of hours away from the house and J.J. was able to take a needed nap. (Earlier in the day Paul asked me what my plans were for the day and I replied "All I want is to take a nap." And the good husband that he is took Claire out of the house so I could do that. If she is in the house, even if Paul is home to help her, there is no way that I get a nap. She always finds me and needs me for something.) That evening we went to dinner with Trevor and Shara to a mexican restaurant and the food was excellent and we had fun.

So, a pretty good week. Sunday was pretty normal, (normal for me in that the relief society teacher called the church phone - before sacrament meeting instead of after - to let me know she wouldn't be there to teach, so once again, I spent Sunday School trying to quickly prepare the lesson. Luckily I had read the lesson the night before because this is becoming a recurring theme for us.) except I was able to get a good nap in, and today (Monday) being a holiday, was a chance for me to get a good block of writing done on another paper that I am trying to finish, and also hang out with Claire in the afternoon while J.J. took Rachel to the doctor (to check out her diarrhea and maple syrup smelling urine - both fun issues. Everything seems to be okay and hopefully will resolve itself) and shopping for our 72-hour kit (my goal for January - so far I am doing pretty good). That's about it for the week. We love you.