. . . there's still no baby. So, I've been busying myself with preparing for the next quarter and planting trees, shrubs, and rhododendrons. I'll tell you when he's here, believe me. :D
We're also hosting my mother-in-law, so I've been a little preoccupied.
***
Last season of BSG on April 4th. What the frak is up with that picture?
***
I'll be reading with the poet Lorna Crozier on April 5th at 7:30 in the Lucia Douglas Gallery, 1415 13th St., Bellingham, WA, as part of the Whatcom Poetry Series, so if you're local and you're reading this, come on down.
***
This weather sucks. Two minutes ago, it was sunny. Now it's snowing. C'mon now.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Weird toys
Joseph Legaspi forwarded this bizarre link:
Most Baffling Toys from Around the World
My soon-to-be-born son will not have any of these things.
The toys I had when I was a kid--clicky
****
Chilling out in my office . . . *whistles*
****
Mother-in-law is coming tomorrow. I have to clean the house. I may skip heading into town tomorrow to scrub scrub scrub.
****
A couple of poems got accepted today. Yay!
Most Baffling Toys from Around the World
My soon-to-be-born son will not have any of these things.
The toys I had when I was a kid--clicky
****
Chilling out in my office . . . *whistles*
****
Mother-in-law is coming tomorrow. I have to clean the house. I may skip heading into town tomorrow to scrub scrub scrub.
****
A couple of poems got accepted today. Yay!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Hmmmm
The Sylvia Plath Effect
****
Students are turning in finals. Yay me! I'm glad this quarter's over, and I'm looking forward to the next one. I'll be teaching a grad course on the prose poem. Right in my wheel-house.
***
Watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age last night. Not as good as the first one, of course. At times I felt like I was getting hit over the head with the romantic intrigues. Still, Cate Blanchett looked fabulous in plate mail.
***
Scary Pictures
***
The sun! The sun!
****
Students are turning in finals. Yay me! I'm glad this quarter's over, and I'm looking forward to the next one. I'll be teaching a grad course on the prose poem. Right in my wheel-house.
***
Watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age last night. Not as good as the first one, of course. At times I felt like I was getting hit over the head with the romantic intrigues. Still, Cate Blanchett looked fabulous in plate mail.
***
Scary Pictures
***
The sun! The sun!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Nothing Yet
For those of you who are wondering whether Mere's given birth, I say to you, "Not yet."
***
We're bustling around trying to get our winter quarter wrapped up. I've been inputting grades from this past quarter, and I've also been preparing the house and the yard a little bit. The house definitely needs some "Spring Cleaning" before the newest member of the house settles in.
***
Saturday, planted three rhododendrons, two azaleas, and eighteen Douglas Fir saplings. There's been much rain up here lately, which is a good thing.
Anyway, my mother-in-law is arriving on Thursday, and I think I might make her garden a little while we wait for the wee-one.
***
I've moved to the guest bedroom because Meredith is sleeping with Chet (her gigantic man-sized pillow). There's no room for me and all that fluffiness.
***
We're bustling around trying to get our winter quarter wrapped up. I've been inputting grades from this past quarter, and I've also been preparing the house and the yard a little bit. The house definitely needs some "Spring Cleaning" before the newest member of the house settles in.
***
Saturday, planted three rhododendrons, two azaleas, and eighteen Douglas Fir saplings. There's been much rain up here lately, which is a good thing.
Anyway, my mother-in-law is arriving on Thursday, and I think I might make her garden a little while we wait for the wee-one.
***
I've moved to the guest bedroom because Meredith is sleeping with Chet (her gigantic man-sized pillow). There's no room for me and all that fluffiness.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Pug Vader Revisited
Joannie tagged me.
She explains that it's from an old Hemingway bet. Leave it to Papa.
From her blog:
Here are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4. Tag five more blogs with links
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!
My six-word autobiography:
I was wicked, but got better.
Now I tag Sandra, Cornshake, Paul, Helene, and H.A..
She explains that it's from an old Hemingway bet. Leave it to Papa.
From her blog:
Here are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4. Tag five more blogs with links
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!
My six-word autobiography:
I was wicked, but got better.
Now I tag Sandra, Cornshake, Paul, Helene, and H.A..
Thursday, March 06, 2008
House A-Kilter
Chaos in the homestead. Currently, our painter friend is removing the popcorn from our ceilings and repainting our dining and living room. That means all the furniture from said rooms is in our den.
I'm generally a grumpy guy when it comes to space and space issues. I like my stuff where my stuff is supposed to be. Now, I can barely squeeze past the sofa that's blocking the door to the carport.
This too shall pass, though. The painter's going to be finishing up today.
***
By the way, I've gotten really good at installing drywall. Poets, if you need me to surround you in sheet rock, I'm your guy.
***
Poetry? What's that? I've gotten so good at compartmentalizing my worlds, but I've left little room/time for it. Such a shame. Part of the issue is that I've been putting out small fires in my creative writing program. I suppose that's one of the occupational hazards. And with the baby coming . . . ruh roh.
A grad student passed by my office and gave me writing advice, which is funny, but informs me about my current state. He has an infant daughter and suggested waking up really early to get some writing done. Of course, that doesn't leave much room for sleep, but from what I've been told, I won't be getting much sleep anyway.
Poet parents, though, are a wonderful bunch. I've been getting all kinds of advice from both colleagues and friends from the poetry world.
I do know this much . . . something will have to get squeezed out and it can't be poetry for much longer. I've been taking inventory of my day and it's kind of frightening how much time I waste. I'm a highly functional human being in the morning. Much of my blog is composed then. I also frequent the gym either at mid morning or a little after noon on days that I'm not teaching. My teaching block's roughly five hours. But it's that time around 6PMish that I piss away. My brain's wiped from grading, teaching, etc.. My guess is that I'll need to retrain myself . . . break free of my current schedule.
Anyway, things are going to change. They have to.
***
Been listening to Post Rock stuff lately. I didn't really know that the music had a category, but . . . there you go.
I'm generally a grumpy guy when it comes to space and space issues. I like my stuff where my stuff is supposed to be. Now, I can barely squeeze past the sofa that's blocking the door to the carport.
This too shall pass, though. The painter's going to be finishing up today.
***
By the way, I've gotten really good at installing drywall. Poets, if you need me to surround you in sheet rock, I'm your guy.
***
Poetry? What's that? I've gotten so good at compartmentalizing my worlds, but I've left little room/time for it. Such a shame. Part of the issue is that I've been putting out small fires in my creative writing program. I suppose that's one of the occupational hazards. And with the baby coming . . . ruh roh.
A grad student passed by my office and gave me writing advice, which is funny, but informs me about my current state. He has an infant daughter and suggested waking up really early to get some writing done. Of course, that doesn't leave much room for sleep, but from what I've been told, I won't be getting much sleep anyway.
Poet parents, though, are a wonderful bunch. I've been getting all kinds of advice from both colleagues and friends from the poetry world.
I do know this much . . . something will have to get squeezed out and it can't be poetry for much longer. I've been taking inventory of my day and it's kind of frightening how much time I waste. I'm a highly functional human being in the morning. Much of my blog is composed then. I also frequent the gym either at mid morning or a little after noon on days that I'm not teaching. My teaching block's roughly five hours. But it's that time around 6PMish that I piss away. My brain's wiped from grading, teaching, etc.. My guess is that I'll need to retrain myself . . . break free of my current schedule.
Anyway, things are going to change. They have to.
***
Been listening to Post Rock stuff lately. I didn't really know that the music had a category, but . . . there you go.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
For my birthday, I will . . .
. . . relax. Though, I have to get through this day of teaching first.
***
Am currently radioactive.
***
Listening to the following:
Dengue Fever
Aesop Rock
Madvillain
Tift Merritt
Vampire Weekend
The Russian Futurists
TV On the Radio
***
The sunny days have ended. We will now return you to your regularly scheduled drudgery.
***
Am currently radioactive.
***
Listening to the following:
Dengue Fever
Aesop Rock
Madvillain
Tift Merritt
Vampire Weekend
The Russian Futurists
TV On the Radio
***
The sunny days have ended. We will now return you to your regularly scheduled drudgery.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
---
You Are a Dash |
 Your life is fast paced and varied. You are realistic, down to earth, and very honest. You're often busy doing something interesting, and what you do changes quickly. You have many facets to your personality, and you connect them together well. You have a ton of interests. While some of them are a bit offbeat, they all tie together well. You friends rely on you to bring novelty and excitement to their lives. (And while you're the most interesting person they know, they can't help feeling like they don't know you well.) You excel in: Anything to do with money You get along best with: the Exclamation Point |
Novelty? Excitement? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So not me. For me, excitement = finishing a load of laundry
***
Had our faculty baby shower this afternoon. Lots of TOO CUTE things in the pile of goodies. Photos soon.
***
Weird series of hospital visits this week. Two shots in the buttocks. I know, TMI, but you read blogs for TMI, right?
***
Still sunny and loving it!
***
To my students who googled me . . . I see you.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
The Brunswick Inn
From the Fishouse (aka Matt O'Donnell) invited me to read at Bowdoin College this past week. Here's the charming B&B where I stayed.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Don't Forget!
Poets, it's time for NEA Applications!.
If you haven't started filling your apps out, do it now. It's a complicated multi-step process that involves registering for a site and converting a lot of your files to pdfs. There's a time-lag for the site registration, so better get in line ASAP.
I completed my application last week after much swearing and gnashing of teeth.
Mary B. puts out a call for an NEA support group.. I might join.
If you haven't started filling your apps out, do it now. It's a complicated multi-step process that involves registering for a site and converting a lot of your files to pdfs. There's a time-lag for the site registration, so better get in line ASAP.
I completed my application last week after much swearing and gnashing of teeth.
Mary B. puts out a call for an NEA support group.. I might join.
Cooper's Hawk
This guy came to visit during the party. He's looking over at our bird feeders.
Bird Seed----->Sparrows---->Hawks.
Bird Seed----->Sparrows---->Hawks.
The most patient dog, ever.
So . . . truth is, Jake's not scary at all. We put him in humiliating situations all the time.
The kid's first cup.
Suzanne and Cynthia made the cup. It's sterling silver. They took it with 'em back to San Francisco for engraving.
LUMPIA!
Lots of things to celebrate this past week:
1. Valentine's Day.
2. Our first baby shower.
3. My upcoming birthday.
****
We had a low-key Valentine's Day. While I don't feel I need a designated day to tell Meredith how fabulous she is, it's pretty fun giving each other presents which usually happens on birthdays and on Christmas. I got Meredith two plum trees and some heather to landscape the yard. The plum trees are planted and should bear fruit come summer. Meredith got me the gizmo with which I'm taking these pictures. (Mere, I'm totally happy with this camera. I'm going to take pictures of everything now. You're in trouble!).
****
We had the first of two baby showers. This past one was for our neighbors and our relatives. My mother flew over from Oregon (OR-uh-gun) and made the fabulous and perfect eggrolls you see in the picture. Growing up, they were my favorite thing to eat. Nothing's changed.
Anyway, we got a lot of cute baby outfits. One of our neighbors knitted some hats and gloves. Another got us a fabulous mobile. Babies are expensive, man.
****
My birthday'll be here next week, so I decided to treat myself to a gizmo. I got myself a new iPod. I already filled my 60GB iPod and I'm not even through my entire CD collection yet. I can't bear to get rid of music.
So anyway, I decide to go to Best Buy to purchase a new iPod. I'm looking at the 160GB iPod which, I know is huge, but I know I won't have the problem of over-filling it, plus I'll be able to store photos and my manuscripts.
Out comes rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guy. He sizes me up and asks, "Can I help you?"
I say, "Yeah, I'm looking at the 160GB iPods."
He says, "Are you looking or looking to buy?" in a sneering manner.
I'm stunned, of course. So I tell him to get me one and I'll buy it. He goes away for a couple of minutes and comes back with the merchandise. I'm not done shopping at this point, though, because I still need a case. Rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guy is looking impatient and is hurriedly fingering all the cases on display. "Here's one and here's one." "Here's another one." At this point I'm pretty annoyed and I want to get out of the store. After I select my case, he walks me over to a cash-register, but he can't see me off without making a comment.
"You know, 160GB is big. You won't be able to fill it." And I'm thinking to myself, duh, genius. I didn't really reply to him. I just wanted to pay for my stuff and go. What I should've said to rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guy was that he's a little punk who doesn't know jack about what a customer wants, and that he should go home to his momma's house after I kick his skinny little ass, and that rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guys like him are going to stay rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guys because they don't know jack about how the world works and that I feel sorry for rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guys like him because what they THINK they know ain't gonna cut it.
Really, though, I'm too nice and I "walk off" the bad experience.
So to you, rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guy, I hope your day goes better and that you can pay for a college education with partial funding from the commission I got you. Keep your nose clean and learn some manners.
***
Of course, the iPod and the camera are great gizmos and I'm having loads of fun with 'em. As I'm blogging, I'm importing a bunch of my CD's to iTunes.
1. Valentine's Day.
2. Our first baby shower.
3. My upcoming birthday.
****
We had a low-key Valentine's Day. While I don't feel I need a designated day to tell Meredith how fabulous she is, it's pretty fun giving each other presents which usually happens on birthdays and on Christmas. I got Meredith two plum trees and some heather to landscape the yard. The plum trees are planted and should bear fruit come summer. Meredith got me the gizmo with which I'm taking these pictures. (Mere, I'm totally happy with this camera. I'm going to take pictures of everything now. You're in trouble!).
****
We had the first of two baby showers. This past one was for our neighbors and our relatives. My mother flew over from Oregon (OR-uh-gun) and made the fabulous and perfect eggrolls you see in the picture. Growing up, they were my favorite thing to eat. Nothing's changed.
Anyway, we got a lot of cute baby outfits. One of our neighbors knitted some hats and gloves. Another got us a fabulous mobile. Babies are expensive, man.
****
My birthday'll be here next week, so I decided to treat myself to a gizmo. I got myself a new iPod. I already filled my 60GB iPod and I'm not even through my entire CD collection yet. I can't bear to get rid of music.
So anyway, I decide to go to Best Buy to purchase a new iPod. I'm looking at the 160GB iPod which, I know is huge, but I know I won't have the problem of over-filling it, plus I'll be able to store photos and my manuscripts.
Out comes rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guy. He sizes me up and asks, "Can I help you?"
I say, "Yeah, I'm looking at the 160GB iPods."
He says, "Are you looking or looking to buy?" in a sneering manner.
I'm stunned, of course. So I tell him to get me one and I'll buy it. He goes away for a couple of minutes and comes back with the merchandise. I'm not done shopping at this point, though, because I still need a case. Rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guy is looking impatient and is hurriedly fingering all the cases on display. "Here's one and here's one." "Here's another one." At this point I'm pretty annoyed and I want to get out of the store. After I select my case, he walks me over to a cash-register, but he can't see me off without making a comment.
"You know, 160GB is big. You won't be able to fill it." And I'm thinking to myself, duh, genius. I didn't really reply to him. I just wanted to pay for my stuff and go. What I should've said to rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guy was that he's a little punk who doesn't know jack about what a customer wants, and that he should go home to his momma's house after I kick his skinny little ass, and that rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guys like him are going to stay rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guys because they don't know jack about how the world works and that I feel sorry for rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guys like him because what they THINK they know ain't gonna cut it.
Really, though, I'm too nice and I "walk off" the bad experience.
So to you, rude-know-it-all-Best-Buy-teenager-guy, I hope your day goes better and that you can pay for a college education with partial funding from the commission I got you. Keep your nose clean and learn some manners.
***
Of course, the iPod and the camera are great gizmos and I'm having loads of fun with 'em. As I'm blogging, I'm importing a bunch of my CD's to iTunes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
