Hiatus

Semester is starting again soon and work has been absolutely nuts!

Facebook is easier for now...catch up with me there!

Eventually I will get around to posting again, but didn't want everyone to start wondering when...

People on the Move

The last few weeks have been very busy with going away parties for various friends. First, we had a "surprise" going away party for Simon on June 27. He left town this week to head back to the UK. For those who don't know Simon, he has been here teaching with the Visiting International Faculty program for the last 2 years. Unfortunately, the visa he had was only good for two years so he is off to find another job. He has a final interview in Switzerland this week, so my fingers are crossed that he gets that and I can go visit him after the first of the year!

Then, it was time for Angie and Shannon's going away party. They are leaving to teach in Shanghai for the next two years (you can check out Angie's blog about the experience in my blog list). I am sure they are going to have an unforgettable experience and my hope is to go visit them sometime next summer or shortly thereafter.

Finally. last Sunday we had a cookout here at the house for Esther. She is moving back to Virginia very soon to run several dining locations on the campus of JMU. I know we will still get to see her (and we've already told her we are going to swing by and say "hi" on our way back from New York.

This is a new experience for me. I've always been the one leaving and saying goodbye. Andy and I have never been afraid to start over in a new place, but we've been in and around Greensboro for 7 1/2 years now. That's the longest I've lived in one town since I was a small child. So, we have now officially lived in one location long enough for other people we've come to love to leave us. We are both feeling it, but I think it is also making us both feel a little restless. We're tied down here for at least another year or so while I wrap up grad school, but who knows where we might end up after that!

Facebook is a funny thing...

When I opened a facebook account in the fall I did because my friend Simon convinced me that it would be some amazing and fabulous thing...

I've never been much into MySpace, just have an account for my students to email me. It seems like too much work to keep up with a MySpace page and my blog. Plus, MySpace just doesn't seem as private or secure as Facebook, so I swung that direction.

I waited for something amazing and fabulous to happen. Simon and I convinced a few more people from Oak Hill to start accounts and my friend list grew slowly. Then, I found just a couple of people from college and high school that I had been good friends with. Next, it was people from the beach. Now I'm to the point that it seems I get a new friend request a couple of times a week. This week, I found out Eva had an account. Through her, I found Rita (who also found me on Skype). Next thing I knew, I had a friend request from Lois. You know what this means??? HOLLY- I KNOW YOU ARE READING THIS. IT IS TIME TO JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON. OPEN A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That being said, it is amazing what happens. In the last couple of weeks, two friends of Andy's from his time in New Jersey found him. They have been back in touch and Andy was so surprised to be back in touch with them. What do you think? Will the likes of MySpace and Facebook keep people from falling out of touch with others as they are apt to do? After all, once someone is your friend on one site or the other, they always know what you are up to. They get to see pictures of the things you are doing and if you are one of those obsessive status updaters like me, they will even know the mundane day to day things that you do. Will these sites change the way humans living away from each other communicate and keep in touch?

MIA...again.

So after avowing to be better at updating my blog, I have been on hiatus for a month. I now know that my new job is actually BUSIER in the summer. You would think that when schools are out of session the curriculum department would get a little slack time...not so. We are frantically revising and creating new curriculum documents. That takes some time and some real brain power to make sure our documents are communicating effectively what teachers need. However, that doesn't take nearly as much time as training does. For the last two weeks, I have worked with curriculum facilators on creating vocab lists for science and social studies, revising the lists we had already created for math and language arts, and I've been part of a team delivering four days of training to teachers on how to teach vocabulary (yes, without using a dictionary). This week, I actually get to spend most of my time in the office. Then it is back into training. For two weeks, July 7-11 and 14-18, you will find me at Southern Middle School. I'll doing the same exact training day after day for 10 days on identifying similarities and differences and using nonlinguistic representations. YAY! (note difficult to detect electronic sarcasm).

So, rereading all that it sounds like I'm a little miserable. Not so! I love my job. Getting to spend my time working with teachers who work with all kinds of students is turning out to be nearly as rewarding as getting in there and getting dirty with the kids themselves.

The major excitement in my life right now is that Andy actually has 3 weekends in a row with time off. I will be spoiled rotten by all this time together! I will make sure to take pictures of any adventures and again, get better at being a "regular" blogger.

The New Indiana Jones

Last night was date night and Andy and I went for sushi and to see the new Indy flick. We both walked away from it feeling unsure. If this movie was a stand alone film, we probably would have walked away saying it was great. But it isn't, so I don't think I can say that. The other three movies (ok, the first two in particular) were OUTSTANDING. This one, while a decent movie, pales in comparison. I was happy that while that they easily alluded to the fact that Indiana was older, they didn't get into those "I'm getting too old for this shi*t" jokes that Danny Glover used throughout one of the Lethal Weapon sequels. That would have just been over the top. And, I LOVED the return of Karen Allen as Marion. OK, that gives enough of the movie away. Despite being slightly underwhelmed by the experience, I would still recommend seeing it. The first part of the series left some big shoes to fill and I feel like this one just leaves a little space up at the toes. After you see it, let me know what you think...

Continued Excavation of Monkey Grass

Today I spent another 3 hours attacking monkey grass. My project was a little delayed by the birth of my neice, but I'm back on the wagon now and I am about halfway finished. Here is what it currently looks like.

As you can see, there are tons of roots still sticking out of the ground, but I will be working on some of those tough ones when I mix in some topsoil and start working on the planting. I'm going to have to dig around the crepe myrtle roots, as I don't want to hack away at them so much that I damage the tree.

This is what I took out of the ground today. Mind you that this is what I pulled from roughly half of the spot in the picture above.

And, this is what I still have to tackle.

I do think I'm getting better at it and the process seems to be accelerating a little. Hopefully I can get most of it finished this weekend since I have two more days left. However, I know I will have to take a break and tackle the piece of bed where I want to put in the vinca. Even though I have been taking care of them, I don't want them to stay in the flats much longer. I also have a basil and pineapple sage I need to get in the ground soon. Maybe I bit off a little more than I can chew here...

The End of American Idol???

For me, I have to say it is.

I will watch tonight to see which David takes it, but it may very well be my last time. I haven't even watched their performances from last night yet...but I will before the finale.

This year has just not done it for me. I have to admit, at first I was semi-interested. But by the time Carly and Michael were done, so was I. David Cook is really just a watered down version of Chris Daughtry and David Archuletta...well, he's David Archuletta...bubble gum and teenybopperness.

I think it is just time to give it a rest and let the show go. I think it had a good run, but I won't be disappointed if they decide not to do another season.