smrou

Ooh, I am so looking forward to seeing pictures of this corgi puppy. Especially interacting with the cats!

I'm hoping it will make for a very green and pretty spring.

Not exactly spring-like here due to the continued presence of large piles of snow after last week's storm, but the last two days have been warm enough when I left work that I felt comfortable outside in a t-shirt. And looking at weather.com the forecast calls for rain on 10 days out of the next two weeks, so...I guess that's pretty spring-like.

Seriously, though.

This morning was so icy and gross. I spent close to 3 hours snowblowing and shoveling yesterday and was too lazy to go out and do the end of the driveway again before bed even though I could see that the plow had been through a few more times and left some big chunks. It wasn't a lot (most of the plowing happened before I started or while I was still out there) so I figured I'd just do it in the morning. That was a bad decision because those chunks were frozen solid by this morning. I chipped and kicked away what I could but ultimately just had to drive my little car over the big chunks and hope for the best.

Oh, another favorite of mine is "I Gave You a UTI".

I'm surprised this is new to you, actually, because I recall it being a fairly popular thing back around the time I was in graduate school, so more than 10 years ago, and I've never been one to be aware of trends before they get big. I've had it, but I'm not really a fan. I don't like solid things in my drinks as a general rule. But also I found something weird about the taste of the drink both times I tried it. I don't think I have a favorite CXG song, but easily the one I sing the most is "I Give Good Parent". It just gets stuck in my head for days at a time.

I love that show. So fun and weird. And today I was listening to the latest episode of the podcast The Sporkful and the person who recorded the sign off (they have listeners do that) introduced himself as "Paul from West Covina, California" and I immediately burst into song.

I hadn't heard that either. I also voted early and really appreciated that (getting to the polling place during its operating hours on election day would have been nearly impossible for me this year) and it was definitely popular. Something like 40% of all registered voters in my town voted early (the town clerk gave updates every day on Facebook). But I wonder if it's less expensive just to allow anyone a mail-in ballot, as they do in many other places. That would accomplish the same result in terms of giving people more flexibility.

I agree completely about all four.

I haven't watched Stranger Things, though it's been recommended to me a few times. Is it scary? I am a super wimp when it comes to scary stuff. Has anyone else checked out the new HBO show Big Little Lies? I watched the first two episodes and really like it.

I've experienced applause at movies a number of times. Most recently at the end of Hidden Figures, in fact. There have been a few times I've felt compelled to applaud a movie, though not in that particular case (much as I enjoyed the movie). When I've applauded it's because I just feel really blown away and need to do something to release that energy, even though I know it's kind of silly.

I would have loved to march, but am in a fairly enormous work crunch right now (term ends next week and I'm going to be out of town all weekend, so all my grading has to be finished this week, PLUS I'm taking a class which finishes up this week, so I had a final project and presentation to do) so I couldn't afford to spend most of the day out. My mother went to the march in Boston as well as one of my sisters as well as...well, basically lots of friends and coworkers. And a handful of my friends also went to the one in DC. Looking at pictures and videos yesterday and this morning felt good for my soul. While recognizing it's just a beginning and that LOTS of action needs to follow, I find it inspiring.

At least where I am, it's pretty cold today but supposed to warm up significantly over the course of the week. I've never heard of this tradition, but it does seem like it would make for an awfully hectic Christmas Eve. However, I don't take the tree down on New Year's Day. I keep it up for at least a week into January.

I've been so on top of things with gifts this year, which is pretty unprecedented to me. We draw names and only give gifts to one person in my immediate family, and I was lucky enough to draw my sister's name because I already had a gift idea for her. So I got that out of the way quickly, and just had to get a couple of things for my girlfriend. Yesterday I did some stocking stuffer shopping, but that's easy and fun (exciting things like candy and chapstick and socks). Saturday was apparently the day that eveyrone I knew had to throw a party, so I was declining invitations left and right because I'd already committed to going to a coworker's annual party, which is always lots of fun. And then yesterday I went over to my parents' house and was surprised when my sister and niece showed up. She just turned 8 months and I don't get to see her nearly often enough. Over the summer I was babysitting her once or twice a week, but since school has started I can go weeks without seeing her. Last time I saw her (at Thanksgiving) she was crawling and pulling herself up on things. Now she walks around (holding onto things) and crawls up stairs. There's just something new every time and it's so exciting and fun to watch.