News and Updates

1. How on earth did it get to be July already?  I’m still trying to get my head around June.

2. No, I’m not going to comment on the recent travesties (there were two of them, even if only one got the headlines and Facebook memes) emitted by the Supreme Court.  It has become clear that the right wing extremists have won in this country, Constitution be damned, and I’m sick of it. 

3. We are rapidly approaching the point where the distinction between “pets” and “livestock” is going to have real consequences for Lauren.  The Austrolorp turned out to be a rooster (you can’t really tell when they’re little) and has gotten aggressive toward the other birds.  Right now he’s living in a rabbit cage, but that can only last so long.  Anyone want a rooster?  He’s actually a beautiful bird – healthy and strong.  His name is Bean.

4. The online course this summer has turned into a frogmarch of grading, with major assignments due roughly every four days.  So far my students are keeping up, but this may be a self-limiting problem for me.

5. I’m trying to put together my new fall class, but it is going slowly.  My mind does not want to focus on anything these days. 

6. Today it is cool enough to drink tea again, which is a point in the day’s favor.  This summer has been more humid than hot so far, but I am looking forward to fall temperatures anyway.  You can always add clothing, but the reverse is not necessarily true.  We checked the forecasts for Stockholm and Bath yesterday and wondered yet again why we didn’t live there.

7. Every time I get behind the wheel of the minivan I cannot believe that driving so large a thing is even possible.  Yet I look around on the streets of Our Little Town and the evidence is all around me.  This is a town full of minivans, SUVs, full-sized pickup trucks, and repurposed assault vehicles.  Clearly driving something that big is no big deal, but it still strikes me as odd.  The van is a lovely vehicle for long trips, but a bit overwhelming for toodling around town.

8. The US is now out of the World Cup, after a hard fought match against a much better opponent.  They came so close to stealing that game.  We’ll still watch the rest of the matches, though – it’s the best thing on television right now by a long shot.  I’m not sure who I will be cheering for now.  Perhaps the Dutch.  I have friends there, and nobody does chocolate jimmies like the Dutch.

9. The problem with the US being eliminated is not such much the fact that they aren’t going to win the World Cup – seriously, not even their coach thought they could do that – but the fact that now all the troglodyte soccer-haters have come out from underneath their rocks to gloat about not having to care for the next four years and how glad they are we can get back to “real sports” like, I don’t know, driving in circles until someone crashes, or – in keeping with the attention span of American spectators – tossing a ball through a hoop forty or fifty times in less than an hour. 

10.  Reminder: do not read comments on news sites, as you will only regret it.