Thursday, July 19, 2007

Comfort Inventory 4

B een a few months since I threw down a comfort inventory. More than a year, in fact.

1. Somebody's birthday p-r-e-s-e-n-t arrived this afternoon in a U.P.S. truck. I doubt it will be a surprise, considering she had on a humongous smile and made the baby sign for "What can Brown do for Is.?"
2. I have been draftertating. I started in the hardest place--the section I understand the least. I write on it for a couple of hours each day. And then I have worrying spells during which I fret that it's mostly shit (say...65%). But I press on and write some more.
3. Ph. landed a bona fide job today. He interviewed on Monday and got the call today. Orientation in just a couple of days.
4. This is week seven of the eight-week term for the course I am teaching online this summer.
5. D. picked up a can of Static Guard for me when she was running a few errands this afternoon. Ever since the move, each time I sit down at the computer, I pass along a static shock. Fzzt! Can't be good for the delicate components. And I hear that the dissertation phase of a PhD program is an especially lousy time to have computer failures. Maybe if I could just sit still I wouldn't have this problem.
6. I have a web cam connected to my laptop. It reports to me that I look like this tonight. And I had an email from the parent of a player who was on the basketball team I coached in K.C. a few years ago. He'd Googled me. Checked out the Flickr spread with Is. and the rest of us. Know what he told me? It appears I haven't aged since I moved to Syracuse. Oh, but I have. Most definitely, I have.
7. In preparation for a Friday afternoon meeting of my program's job seekers, I have roughed together a job letter. It is unlikely that I'll apply to any jobs this year, though, considering that we're not going to scoot off to a new city for Ph.'s senior year of high school.
8. Speaking of Ph.'s senior year, they're building new outdoor athletic facilities at his high school this summer. Last night we took a call from his coach who asked whether it would be possible for us to attend a district "Facilities Committee Meeting" at the board office this afternoon. 3:30 p.m. "Yeah, sure." The whole point of the meeting: one of the nabors to the project once saw someone on an ATV stop and take a leak in the woods adjacent to the new sports complex. As a result of this act, he wants a six-thousand dollar fence extension added to protect the suburban wildlife from this sort of hooligan behavior. When asked whether anyone in our row had any comment to make, I had none. Neither did Ph.
9. Ph. netted a pair of goals in his soccer match on Monday evening. They won 6-0 even though they started the match with just six players. Not such an even match, I guess you could say.
10. Is. has a toy that plays a MIDI version of this tune.

Posted by dmueller at July 19, 2007 9:55 PM to Unspecified