The quarter's drawing to a close . . .

. . . at last. It was a busy one (still is). I tackled a mountain of reading and grading this past Thanksgiving break. Certainly, that's what breaks are for in academia.

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All the while, I've been pressed into renovation service. The bathroom's got some new drywall installed, a repaired floor that's covered in cement board (for tile later), and some new cabinetry, all installed by yours truly. Pictures soon. It just doesn't look good right now and . . . well, frankly, I'm too tired to take pictures.

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Slowly, I'm running out of copies of my own book. Must order more.

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It snowed. 'bout 3 inches yesterday. It's starting to melt, but there's enough on the ground to make the roads tricky.

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Tonight, chicken korma. :D

Post Turkey

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our friends Caryn and Dylan. First time I've ever had sauteed leeks for Thanksgiving and they were delicious . . . especially when taken with a little bite of turkey. For dessert, our hosts had prepared four pies. Quite a feat for two busy people.

Meanwhile a state and a half away, my parents were hosting my aunts and uncles from my father's side. I'm guessing they had dim sum. Yes. Dim sum. Every year for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, my mother makes a batch of dim sum: pot stickers, sticky buns, you name it. There was usually the obligatory turkey, but the hit is almost always the "non-traditional" Thanksgiving fare.

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Now that I have satellite broadband, I also have iTunes again. I've been bad.

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My Xbox 360 has died. It got struck down by the red ring of death. I was playing my basketball game and then the dang thing froze, mid-jump shot. I am a sad panda.

What's a boy to do? Read? Write poetry? Pffffft.

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Perhaps the death of the fun machine comes at a perfect time. This is the last big push before the end of the quarter and I've got stacks of poems to "grade." *sigh*

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What do I want for Christmas? What do YOU want for Christmas?

Damn, poets are sexy

New MiPo.

Miguel. You're hot. Barb. You're hot. Reb. You're hot.

*Sizzle*


****Fixed link!!! Apologies!****

Politics are scary when Chuck Norris gets involved

Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the earth down.

Have you been . . .

. . . Knock[ed]out yet? I have.

Met Jeremy Halinen this past Wednesday. Wonderful poet and editor. We drove down to hear Matthea Harvey read at Open Books. Check out the journal. It's fabulous!

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Matthea and the folks who went down to hear Matthea with me were wonderful. We MUST do it again! Right?

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End of the quarter and I'm getting swamped with work. Thanksgiving break = catch-up time.

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I'm dying to see this.

I've been an infrequent blogger

. . . mostly 'cause there's not much to say these days. I'm busy. Truly truly busy. On top of teaching, I've been advising my tushy off. Students are trying to decide what to take for next quarter and I have to "guide" them. Mostly, I've been telling 'em directly what to do and they're grateful. You know . . . sometimes, you just need to be told what to do.

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Speaking of which, we're remodelling a 2nd bathroom. Yes, Cornshake, the bathroom you had been using is now gutted. I had to tear a hole in the subfloor because apparently the wood beneath the toilet had rotted away. Joy.

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Still, there's some respite from my hectic schedule. I get to go hear Matthea Harvey read in Seattle tomorrow. I also got my tickets to the Iron & Wine concert in December. I'm a happy panda.

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If I don't blog for a bit, you'll know why.

Just when I thought . . .

. . . it was safe to relax, life got very busy again. Students are registering for classes and as the advisor they have to come to me for "advice," so it's been a deluge.

And it's really raining. Winds knocked out the power just enough so that my clock was flashing this morning. (Maybe I need to go back to a wind-up?) Luckily I'm a very light sleeper. Managed to wake up before the alarm was scheduled to go off. I frequently wake up before my alarm clock. Today was one of those days when I'm happy for that genetic trait. Thanks mom.

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Many crazy things are happening these days. I must get approval before I can post about them. It's good news--I just have to run it by the appropriate channels.

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Got my tickets for my flight to NY at the end of January. I've got two winter flights this coming year. I was driving around Ai (yes, that Ai) in my car and she had been complaining about how much the reading circuit wiped her out. I was a grad student then, so I was thinking silently to myself that it was such a luxury to be getting paid to do readings and how much work could it possibly be? Oh boy. It's work. It's good work, of course. Quite enjoyable to be travelling and often getting paid to do what you love . . . but it's work.

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Jake has gotten into some awful stuff. I don't want to know what.

Pointer in Sheep's Clothing

IMG_0004.JPG
Originally uploaded by odelapaz.

Sometimes these people make me do things I don't want to do. But, that's the price you have to pay when you can't let yourself out of the house to go to the bathroom.