Snowfest

So last weekend I went to Cooperstown to see my brothers and have fun with SnowFest 2007. Mike's gonna be up in Cooperstown for a few months, and Dave came in for the weekend. It was so much fun! Last Wednesday, Cooperstown got like 36 inches of snow, so for a few days I didn't think the roads would be clear for me to get up there, but by Friday afternoon they were driveable. It was crazy, there were piles of snow that were up to my chest, because the plows had pushed them up. Plus, it snowed some more almost everyday, not a lot, just a couple of inches, but those add up when there's already 3 feet of snow, and it's too cold for anything to melt. I took about 10 pictures of the snow and other stuff, so once I get those developed maybe I can scan them onto the computer and put them on facebook or something.

I knew my brother's wanted some guy time, so on Saturday I did fun, cutesy SnowFest stuff with my Aunt (because I knew they wouldn't want to do it). We saw snow and ice sculptures being made, a quilt show at the library, and we went to a lunch thing that benefited the Cooperstown Food Bank. Locals handmade and painted bowls, then donated them. Then local people and restaurants donated soup. Each person paid $15 for a lunch of soup and bread, got to keep the bowl, and all the money went to the Food Bank. They made 100 bowls and sold out, so the Food Bank must have gotten over $1500, which is great.

The rest of the weekend we spent hanging out, occasionally shoveling when outdoors, but mostly we stayed inside where it was nice and warm. I also learned that if you don't put enough antifreeze in your car, the water can freeze and clog the tubes, causing your car to overheat until you pull it over and let the heat from the motor melt the ice chunks. Live and learn.

Did anybody else do anything fun for President's Day weekend? Or Mardi Gras?

Happy V'Day!

Happy Valentine's/Single's Awareness Day!

Cure Your Winter Blues With an Irish Jig

Feeling blue? I know what can make you feel better: Irish music. Yep, I'm being serious. Friday night I went to a concert at the Fine Arts Center, where two people played Irish music for a couple of hours, and it was awesome. Liz Carroll (fiddle) and John um....something (guitar) are apparently known in the traditional Irish music world. I've been sick since last Wednesday or Thursday, but I really wanted to go to the concert, and I already had the ticket, so I went. It was so much fun! The pair alternated between Irish jigs and sad Irish ballads, which John would sing as he played. The two bantered back and forth and interacted alot with the audience, and it was one of the most entertaining concerts I've been to in a while. I bought one of their CDs, and if anyone is interested, I can burn them a copy.

That was pretty much my weekend, since I've got whatever crap is floating around campus. I had 3 students call in sick last week to lab, so I'm blaming all the undergraduates for my sickness. It sounds illogical, but really, 2 of my 3 classes are dominated by undergrads, and I teach about 60 undergrads a week, so I'm cool with laying all the blame on them.

On another note, I had my court date today. Traffic court that is. I ran a red light (not really, it was just the shortest yellow light ever, and turned red as my car passed directly underneath the yellow light, but whatever...), but if you have a clean driving record for the last 3 years, you don't have to pay a moving violation. Awesome right? I was excited. It seems to be a Rhode Island thing, I'm not sure if this exists in other states. Of course, I had to sit in the courtroom for like an hour and a half before it was my turn. I learned that a lot of people get tickets for going 5 miles over the speed limit. I kinda do that all the time, so I should probably watch that from now on. Cops in small towns tend to ticket for everything they can, out of sheer boredom.

I don't know if any of my friends watch Supernatural (Whit!) or Masterpiece Theatre (Mags!), but they were pretty interesting this week. Anybody interested in scary stories should watch Supernatural (my roommates refuse to watch it with me, but they're easily frightened), it's gotten better and better over the last few weeks. And MT was interesting last night. It was an adaptation of Dracula, and it was the loosest adaptation I've ever seen. They pretty much just kept the names and the fact that Dracula is a vampire and wrote their own plot. Still, it was interesting, there was a whole subplot where one of the characters has syphillis, and is told that Count Dracula can give him a transfusion and cure him of his affliction. Interesting how they likened vampirism to a disease that spreads and infects many people. Kind of like Ginger Snaps, where werewolfism (uh......yeah...that's a word.....now) is treated as a disease, with a possible cure.

I hope everyone's doing well and preparing to celebrate Valentine's / Single's Awareness Day in their own special ways. I'm celebrating by eating chocolate and watching Lost. Does anybody actually have exciting plans?

Good Start to the Week

Monday again and I'm in my office alternately doing work and goofing off. However, I've received two phone calls today that have put me in a good mood.

Firstly, I should say that when I first got back to RI in January, I joined the Winter Cabin Fever Reading Group. Basically, if you read 5 books by March 21st (not a problem, I've already done that actually...), you get entered to win some prize. In the meantime, everytime you finish a book you write down the title, author, a review and your name and number. Every week they have a drawing for some small prize, and today I won this week's prize! I mean, it's probably just a bookmark or pen or something equally small and cheap (I mean, they are giving this stuff away every week for 3 months), but I'm still excited!

I also just got a call from ProActive Physical Therapy. I had to do physical therapy for roughly 4 months last semester, and since I didn't go through the university health services, I wasn't sure if they would help pay. I have Blue Cross Blue Shield, but I had to pay a $500 deductible first. Once I filed with my University insurance, I was told that they might pay me back for the deductible, but I was never sure if they would cover it. I just got a phone call from the physical therapy office that my URI insurance is covering me, so I should expect a check for $590 in the mail in the next couple of days. Yay! What a great way to start out my week! I think this is to make up for that crappy Friday from a week ago.