But it will be warmer next week . . . January 27, 2007

That was the conversation at Curves this morning. They were talking about how cold it was yesterday (5 degrees was the high yesterday) and one woman said, "But it will be warmer next week. It's supposed to be in the 20's all week." And the wild part is, I found myself thinking, "Oh good. That will be pleasant." I guess I won't have to wear tights under my long underwear it will be so balmy. ;-)

Yesterday in class, my students were talking about how cold it was. They asked if I was just freezing here. I said as long as I have on my long johns, I'm fine. And then the question was, "Long johns or long underwear?" There's a difference? I later asked MRM and we determined that a Union Suit is the one piecer with a flap in the back, Long Johns is the one piecer that buttons all the way down the front, and long underwear are the 2 pieces: a long underwear top and a long underwear bottom. I'm not sure there's really a standard term and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who interchanges the terms, but I definitely have the 2 pieces. I have one pair that is rated 1 snowflake and two pairs with a 2 snowflake rating. I need the 3 snowflake rating version, but oh well. The tights underneath works well.

All that stuff about "dress in layers" is true. It really works. Of course, in Texas, we dress in layers so we can be warm when it's cold and we can shed layers as the day warms up. Here, you just dress in layers so you can be warm. I have yet to shed a layer.

Bitterly Cold Wind Chill Values On Tap: January 25, 2007

This advisory was issued just a while ago by the US National Weather Service. We'll see what this is like. :-) Tonight I walked to the post office and as I headed north on Main Street I could hear the clips on the flag poles banging against the pole. It was "breezy" but it felt a lot colder than it has before. The bank sign said it was 7 degrees but "breeze chill" is just a milder wind chill and it was chilly! I only had one letter and it was a membership renewal. Definitely NOT worth the trip to the post office. ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from weather.gov:

Wind Chill Advisory
Northern Franklin (Maine)

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
302 PM EST THU JAN 25 2007
...BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILL VALUES ON TAP FOR LATER TONIGHT AND
FRIDAY IN THE MOUNTAINS...
.ANOTHER ARCTIC BLAST IS SET TO MOVE INTO THE MOUNTAINS TONIGHT
INTO FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES DROPPING BELOW ZERO OVERNIGHT AND ONLY
RECOVERING TO AROUND ZERO FRIDAY...COMBINED WITH A GUSTY NORTHWEST
WIND...WILL PRODUCE BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILL VALUES LATE TONIGHT
AND FRIDAY.

Central Maine Ice Fishing Report

Yes, that's an official category in the sports section of the Morning Sentinel newspaper. And it's a serious article about the shorter ice-fishing season for this year.

I hope it's still linked:
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/sports/stories/3541415.html

I guess I'll have to start reading the sports section daily to get the latest ice-fishing report. :-)

Directly above the article was a picture from the 2004 "$150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza." It looks like dotted Swiss fabric, but each dot is a person fishing on this lake. It's wild! I wish you could see the photo but I can't find it online. However, I did find the announcement for this year's Ice Fishing Extravaganza. It's in Minnesota, not Maine, but their "Tips for people coming to fish in the extravaganza" is an informative list that gives you a feel for the "sport".

http://www.brainerd.com/ice/index.html

Later that night . . .

NOTE: Don't read this posting unless you've read the prior one titled, "Coca Cola, Mentos, and Buckfield Maine."

When I got home on Monday the 22nd (the day I posted the last posting about Mentos and Diet Coke), MRM said, "Check out the cartoon for today." And there was Zits . . . about Mentos and Diet Coke! King Features doesn't post their cartoons on the web anymore, you have to subscribe to their service. So try to go find your newspaper from January 22, 2007. In frame 1, two boys are outside the faculty lounge. One is crouched down holding the door open, the other is flicking something into the dark abyss of the lounge and shouts, "Mento in the Hole!" In frame 2, both boys have their fingers in their ears and their eyes shut tight. The faculty lounge door is off the hinges, a very large "ka-foosh!" is overhead, and something is spraying out of the lounge. In frame 3, as both boys are running away, one says, "It's surprising how many teachers are Diet Coke drinkers." The other replies, "I'd call it 'fortunate.'"

Coca Cola, Mentos, and Buckfield Maine

I think I have to find this place.

Check out these two videos.
http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html
http://eepybird.com/exp214.html

Oh wait, they tell you how to post the video on your own website. Check out this:



And to think it all took place in Buckfield, Maine. According to googlemaps.com, that's only 38.7 miles south of Farmington! (An hour's drive.)

Thanks to MRM who showed it to me first and to RBF who thought of telling me about it but MRM insisted I see it for myself.

I should enter the contest and win the grand prize of a free trip to Buckfield.

Parking

At University of North Texas, a faculty member pays for their parking permit. Most of us have it deducted from our paycheck or it can be paid in one lump sum. My last parking permit there was $140 for a "D" permit. Or I could've paid $100 for a "G" (general) parking permit or $300 for a "reserved" parking permit which would allow me to park in spots designated as "A" spots. Reserved A spaces are located very close to buildings and are few and far between but only available to people with an A parking permit. Students can have a "C" pass for commuters or an "R" pass for residents (students who live in dorms). There are other possibilities. Each one has a fee and it's a lot of money and except for the A pass, there's little guarantee that you'll find a parking space, close or otherwise.

Here at UMF, I signed up for a parking permit, but it costs nothing. I just received it today in campus mail. I'm seriously psyched! There are similar issues of not enough close parking spaces, but I doubt it's as serious as UNT where I spent 20 minutes or more looking for a parking spot at the beginning of a semester.

First Mail: January 18, 2007

I checked my mailbox today. It's tricky to check you mailbox because the mailbox lobby is only open an hour or two more than the main lobby, then the building is locked. So you have to go during business hours, basically.

I remember when we had a PO Box in Dallas. If we went out of town, the first thing we did when we got back was go check the PO Box. At one point, we had two . . . one for home and one for business. It was often Sunday night and after dark when the post office was closed but we could still get in to check our boxes. At Hollins, we had post office boxes, but we could check them any time of day or night. I guess it's a sign of the times.

So, Today is Day 10. It's been 2 weeks since I had mail stopped in Richardson to have it forwarded to here in Maine. I've stopped at the Post Office 10 times (once a day for 10 days) and no mail. But today I got my first mail. It was 2 bills, but I was actually excited to see them with their little yellow labels. I hope more are to come.

Community Education . . . for a different community

When I went to check my post office box for the first time, there were only two pieces of mail in there, both addressed to "Postal Customer". One was the catalog of Community Education from the local School Administration District. I flipped through it just for fun and found the following class.



I don't believe I've ever seen this class in all the continuing ed catalogs I've looked through in my life in Dallas. ;-) There's also an "Advanced" version of this class taught by the same guy.

I told the story to MRM and RBF and RBF said, "Oh, is that taught by Pete Tracy? I know him." I told the story to Beth and Dr. Grace and Beth said, "I bet that's being taught by Pete Tracy. I know him."

I am enjoying the change from Texas to Maine, but also the adjustment from Big City to Big Town.

What happens when it's always below freezing

When you walk in the snow to your car, you naturally get snow on your snowboots. You try to shake most of it off before you get in the car, but some stays on your shoes and then falls on the floor while you're in the car. You also get snow inside your car when you open the door and some falls off the roof or blows in. In Dallas, that snow will melt either when you turn on the heater for a long time or the sun shine in your window for a while or the temperature gets warm again. But here, that snow is still in your car, exactly where you left it, two days later when you get back in your car again. I don't drive far enough for the heater to kick in and make a difference, so I have little snow piles in my car that unless I brush them out or scoop them out, will still be there in two or three more days because it hasn't been over freezing in quite a while.

First Day of Teaching: January 17, 2007

My teaching schedule is basically 12:20 - 4:30 on Wednesday and Friday, and 12:20 - 2:40 on Monday. It definitely sounds easier than the old 8:15 - 3:30, 5 days a week when I taught elementary school. In some respects it's just as much work. But it sure is nice to have one whole day (or weekend) before each teaching day to get ready! Of course, there's a ton of work up front to get ready for the semester. In elementary school teaching you can make up your lesson plans a week at a time and sometimes a day at a time. In college, everyone expects you to lay out all 16 weeks up front. I've been stalling on that part. I don't want to commit to a plan that I figure out after the first week isn't going to work. But I do hope to finish up the syllabi this weekend.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, I taught Block 1 for 1 hour 10 minutes, then had Block 2 for 1 hour 10 minutes, then had 10 minutes to pack up (which takes longer when you have to put on your big coat and gloves et.al) and get to the next building. Then I taught my EDU 101 class for 1 hour 40 minutes. It was a whirlwind to remember what time each class began and end and where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be covering. Three preps is pretty wild.

So how did it go? Well, if I had remembered earlier in the day to take off my snow boots and put on my regular shoes, I think my feet wouldn't have hurt so much at the end of it. Did the students do a good job and stay engaged? Yes. In all 3 classes. I came out just about right time-wise in the first 2 classes. In EDU 101, I was done with what I had planned to cover in an hour and I had 40 minutes to go. Well, I'm not one to let anyone out early, so I vamped on an activity that I was planning to do later in the semester. It wasn't totally thought out but I knew the basics of what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, and what the end product should look like. Praise God for 21 years classroom experience plus 18 sections of CECS 4100 over the years . . . I pulled it off. It went really well and the students (except those who read this blog posting) will never know.

I think I like this college professor life. :-)

Pedestrians

Now that I am such a frequent pedestrian, I gotta tell you how impressed with drivers in Farmington. They stop for you. They stop even before you step out into the street. Somehow, they see you on the sidewalk and anticipate that you're going to cross the street and they stop. It's very impressive. In the half mile stretch of High Street that goes through UMF campus there must be at least 5 pedestrian walks. But in the snow, you can't see the painted stripes on the road and often pedestrians cross where they want to and not where the pedestrian walk is painted. The same is true on the half mile stretch of Main Street that goes through campus and downtown Farmington. It's very impressive.

Now I only hope that when I'm a driver I can a) remember to keep a lookout for pedestrians, b) anticipate their crossing, and c) stop in time.

Brown and blue eggs

It was like being back at Lamplighter! Dr. Maggy, who teaches elementary math methods, walked in my office last Thursday (Jan. 11) with a dozen eggs and said, "The first one's free. If you'd like more, they're $1.50 a dozen on Tuesdays and Thursdays." Inside the carton were brown and blue eggs. She told me they have Barred Rock chickens and Anaconda chickens. It was so fun to get to tell her about The Lamplighter Layers and our chickens and all that the kids did with them. As a chicken farmer herself AND as an elementary math teacher, she of course loved the story.

She said the grocery stores here only sell brown eggs. At easter time you can get white eggs. At Hannaford's, I checked. Yep. All brown eggs. There was a little stack of cartons of white eggs down in the corner of the refrigerator case.

I fixed scrambled eggs for dinner last night (Wed. Jan. 17). I couldn't find salt and pepper in the kitchen so I just fixed them without any salt and pepper. Good thing! They were delicious without any seasoning! I had scrambled eggs again for breakfast this morning!

It's cold everywhere: January 17, 2007

I got this official email from UNT this morning. I guess the storm that is there now is the one we're predicted to get on Friday. More cold on top of more cold. I hope ours is more snow and not ice like Dallas is getting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: OfficialNotice@pres.admin.unt.edu
Subject: UNT closed Jan. 17 due to inclement weather
Date: January 17, 2007 8:13:18 AM EST
To: scdeveryone@unt.edu

January 17, 2007

The University of North Texas is closing all offices, classes and
libraries on Wednesday, Jan. 17, due to inclement weather.

First Day of School: January 16, 2007

Today was really more orientation than teaching. The three of us (Beth, Grace, and I) that work with the Practicum Block met with each block of students for an hour and a half. We played "2 truths and a lie" (a.k.a. "guess the fib") to get to know each other, then went over the calendar and some general expectations. So tomorrow is my first real day of teaching. I can't believe how excited I am!

After orientation, the 3 of us went to lunch in the snackbar. I worked in my office a little, then went to the computing center to check on my classroom for tomorrow. Then I went on a photo-taking spree. The sun was out and there was all that fresh snow from last night. Check my website for photos. I walked down to the Post Office but there is still no mail in my PO Box. It's been 11 days now since they stopped the mail back home. I hope it comes soon.

I went back to the Education Center and got in a groove making the class wiki for all 3 classes and a bunch of other stuff for class tomorrow. Suddenly my phone rang. It was 7:45! I had no idea it was so late. It was MRM on the phone who called because it was dark and cold and she was worried about me. I looked at the thermometer in my window sill and it said it was 7 degrees outside. How did that happen?! That really is COLD!! She and RBF were going out but would be back in an hour. She offered to come pick me up. This definitely goes beyond "nice landlady". I am so blessed to have this awesome roommate. And I have sooooo much to learn. This New England winter weather is nothing to play around with.

First Wintery Walk: January 16, 2007

After my delicious and warm oatmeal breakfast, I left for my first day of school. I left some of the heavier stuff out of my bookbag. I borrowed (at Jody's recommendation) a pair of "yak trackers" from MRM. I have no idea if I spelled that correctly, but that's what I heard when they called them by name. They are grippers that attach to the outside of your shoe and give you traction. Jode recommended them for my first walk in the snow.

I got outside and the streets were so well plowed you could see asphalt! The street was very busy with traffic and pedestrians. I walked past the same 3 kids waiting for their bus that I had seen on Friday. It was actually a very easy walk. I wasn't sure if I was on sidewalk or not but it was flat snow and there were other footprints ahead of me, so I just kept walking. It was actually very uneventful. I was very grateful for uneventful. I tried to be extra appreciative of the fact that there was no wind and no ice. In fact, the sun was shining! It was a beautiful day!

I wish I could've taken a picture. I hope to see this device again and I will photograph it then. As I crossed the bridge and neared the Education Center, I saw what looked like a mini front loader but it had a chimney on top and snow was spewing out of it. It was headed toward me on the sidewalk and I didn't know who had right of way or what the protocol was. But then he pulled over into a driveway and signalled for me to come ahead so I did. In the front of his frontloader was some kind of spinning device. It looked like a horizontal auger but I'm not sure. Apparently, the spinning thing picks the snow up off the sidewalk and then it blows it up and out of the chimney. The driver can control the direction of the spray. The whole thing was the width of the sidewalk. It was a sidewalk snowplow!

Soup and Good Fun: January 15, 2007

My roommate (MRM) and her boyfriend (RBF) were home from their trip but out buying groceries when I got home. Benny greeted me at the door and Cassie was in her kennel. She was barking to get out but I knew I couldn't guard all the belongings that were unpacked from the car trip, so I left her in the kennel. Shortly thereafter MRM and RBF arrived from the store. I was planning a quiet dinner of Progresso soup but MRM was making homemade soup. She fixed 2 different kinds: french onion soup and a vegetable soup/stew. She was stocking up for the week. Her friend Jody was coming back from her day of reporting on the ski patrol so there would be 4 for dinner. What fun.

We had a delicious dinner but everyone was exhausted from their various travels and work. We were going to play a game but we all crashed instead. MRM did make a cool oatmeal concoction that cooks in the crockpot overnight. She said she wanted me to have a good send-off on my first day of school. I hadn't even thought of it as my first day of school, but it would be! How cool that she commemorated it for me with an extra special breakfast. :-)

First Drive in the Snow: January 15, 2007

I left the house a little after 9. I was going to stop at the University, then go on to church. There was about 2 inches of snow on the car that I brushed off. Then I carefully walked across the street and took the photo that's in the prior posting. The drive to UMF was short (gotta love that .3 miles!) and uneventful. Two cars passed me, so I guess I was driving pretty slow. I did figure out, looking out the back windshield, why it's important to brush off the roof of the car as well as the windows.

I did a little work, sent a few emails, then went to church. Again, pretty uneventful. But during mass, it snowed the entire time and the flakes got bigger. So when I left mass, there was another 1 - 2 inches which I brushed off (including the entire roof this time). The car was facing east on Middle Street and I needed to go west, so I slowly did a 3-point turn in the driveway of an apartment complex just a little down the road. I got to the Education Center safely and easily.

I worked all afternoon in my office. I could see the snow stacking up on the roof outside my window. I decided I would leave before sunset so my drive could be in daylight. When I got to the car, there was 4 -5 inches of snow on top of the car this time. It took longer to brush it all off and I was a little nervous because the bottom of my long coat was brushing the top of the snow. Another inch and that snow would've been over the top of my snowboots. I could open the car door safely but as I did I realized there are many factors to consider when attempting to drive in the snow. No wonder some cars and trucks are so high off the ground!

The parallel parking spaces next to the Education Center are wonderfully long. You don't have to parallel park, you can just pull in. I tried to back up a little so I could pull out more safely, but the car didn't want to back up. Fortunately, I had enough room in front to just pull out. I had to really rev it up to get over the hump of snow that had built up next to my tires. I pulled out and started heading east on Lincoln. Hmm, no 3-point turn this time, I'm going around the block.

There were groups of students unloading and moving back into the dorm after the break. Many of them were walking in the street. Oh thank you so much for the additional hazard! I didn't hit any of them. I went ever so slowly around the block, including going by the church again (that's how close it is). This car has a low gear but I sure was wishing for a stick-shift car at this point. There was a LOT of traffic. In addition to students going to the dorms, there were families and groups of young children going home from sledding and lots of trucks and other vehicles with plows on the front driving to places that needed plowing. It appeared most of them didn't plow all day and were just waiting for it to stop which means they had at least 9 inches (by my calculations and informal measurements taken during the day) to plow.

I slowly drove south on High Street, successfully avoiding all sledders, plowers, and other drivers. I turned left into the driveway and came to an abrupt stop. That little pile of snow (read "big hump") left by the plow was prohibiting me from getting into the driveway. And there were cars coming! I backed up and tried again. At least this time, I was heading straight into it (which also meant I was perpendicular to traffic). I got over the first hump but got stuck on the next one. At least I was out of traffic. But now what?!

I said a little prayer and tried to assess my situation. I was thinking that backing up and trying again with more confidence and a little more power might do it, but that was just a guess. About that time a pedestrian walked by and looked at me kind of funny so I quickly opened the car door and said, "I'm from Texas and I don't know how to get the car into the driveway." He was very nice and talked me through it and offered to help push while I drove it. I did have the right strategy, I felt good about that.

I'll never know if it was his push or my new confidence-filled driving or a combination but I got into the driveway and was able to drive all the way down the drive to what has unofficially become my parking spot. Shwew! I hopped out of the car really fast but my guardian angel pedestrian friend was no where to be seen. I hollered out really loudly to nobody in particular, "Thank you!" Well, I actually yelled it to the friendly pedestrian in particular, it was the direction in which I hollered it that was not particular. If he didn't hear it, I hope he at least felt it.

Guess who's walking in the morning?!!

My Abode . . . in the Snow, January 15, 2007

The "sunny" photos of the house were taken Saturday. This is Monday.

For other photos of my time in Maine, go to my website. It's much easier for me to upload webpages than do one photo at a time here on the blog.

My Abode #4

On the right is the "garage" but the door is so skinny that only a Model T could've ever fit in the garage. It's pretty certain it wasn't original to the house, but it's still pretty old.

Behind that is the pool (do you see it under its cover back there?). Obviously, it only gets used in July and August most years.

To the left of the pool, the green building is "The Cabana". It's mostly used for bicycle storage.

My Abode #3

This is the side porch. It's the main entrance to the house nowadays. You walk into the kitchen area when you come in this door. When you come in the front door, there's a beautiful entry and the staircase is right there.

My Abode #2

The two second story windows on the left are in my room.

My Abode

This wonderful house was built in the 1890's. The two windows together on the second floor are in my room.

ice fishing auger

This is how you drill those holes in the ice for ice fishing! Only $399 at WalMart. Wowser, that's a lot of money. You gotta really love ice fishing to invest in that. Apparently last winter was so mild that there was no ice fishing last year, but this current cold snap is giving everyone hope that winter will be cold enough and long enough (even if it is late) to freeze the lakes for both ice fishing and snowmobiling.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Sunday, January 14, 2007

This morning I went to 10:30 mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. On the outside, it's an older New England looking church. On the inside, it's obviously remodeled Vatican II. It's very simple but really nice. I liked it because it was green with copper accents. If you know my kitchen, you know I like that combination.

I didn't recognize the opening song but the offertory hymn was "All Are Welcome" and that made me feel welcome in more ways than one. The congregation really sings here so I joined right in. The choir itself is rather sparse, so it's a good thing the congregation sings so well.

All you Aggies from St. Mary's are going to love this part: At the Our Father, not only do they hold hands, but they cross the aisle and the priest even incorporates that into his introduction to the Our Father.

At the end of mass all visitors and newcomers were invited to stand and identify themselves. I wasn't going to do it, but a man from Massachusetts did and then it wasn't so hard, so I did, too. Following me was a man who introduced his two visiting granddaughters. It was very nice and two people came up and spoke to me after the service.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church #3

Here's a contemporary yet beautiful copper statue of The Holy Family. I really liked it. I assume the green backdrop can be changed for the liturgical colors of the current season. I don't know that, it just looks that way. Of course, I'd be happy with green all the time. ;-)



What you see in front is the choir area. Yes, that's one keyboard, one pew, the cantor stand and one microphone. At our service, there was one keyboard player (who sang into a microphone as well), the cantor (who also played guitar while cantoring), and one choir member. Since she had her own microphone, I had to fight the image of her being a "backup singer" but that's really what it looked like.

Sorry for the blur. I was taking the photo quickly and without flash.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church #2

Copper stations of the cross! They're beautiful. I need to find out the history, I'm guessing a local artist, but I really don't know.

Population Comparisons

From the US Census Bureau website, 2005 (some 2003) estimated populations:

State of Texas: 22,859,968
Dallas County: 2,305,454
City of Dallas: 1,208,318
City of Irving: 194,455
City of Richardson: 99,536
Denton County: 554,642
Denton: 93,435
Tarrant County (Fort Worth area): 1,620,479
Fort Worth: 585,122

State of Maine: 1,321,505
Franklin County: 29,704
Farmington: 7,410*
Cumberland County (Portland area): 274,950
Portland: 63,635
Kennebec County (Augusta area): 120,986
Augusta: 18,560

*I don't know if that includes the 2,000 students at UMF or not. According to AAA, the population of Farmington is just under 5,000 so I'm guessing it does.

First Snow, Sunday, January 14, 2007

from an email I sent at 10:16am EST today:
"Sorry about your false alarm in Dallas. I hate it when they say "ice warning! stock up on 5 days worth of groceries! we're closing down the city!" and then it rains for a little bit and that's all. We're having the other problem. The snow predicted for the afternoon is already here. I woke up to a slight dusting of white on the ground that happened overnight and it's gently coming down now. It's very pretty. So far not a problem for me. The roads are all dry 'cuz it was sunny and the temperature was above freezing yesterday afternoon. But the temperature has dropped 2 degrees just in the last 10 minutes and I think changes are coming."

So I sent that email and then went to church. It's now 12:05 EST and the roads are all covered in white, the flakes are bigger, the pace at which they are falling is faster, and I think I better pack up all my work, leave the Education Center, go home, and watch the snow out of those windows instead of the one in my office!

I don't know who told me to be sure to get a snow brush, but I'm glad they did. I didn't think about it but happened to see them in WalMart and said to myself, "hmmm, someone told me to get one of those, I guess I'll do that now." I used it this morning. I know already that I need a bigger one. When I came out of church, I watched people brushing their windshields and windows AND their roofs. oh. I get it. Good idea. So when I got to my car, I did the same.

So should you use your rear window defrost? I turned it on this morning but I stripes of ice after church. Makes sense, melted snow sitting on a windshield in freezing weather are going to freeze. What I need is a windshield wiper on the back window. Plenty to learn!

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

A phone call from the luggage people at US Air woke me up at 7:30. I thought I must've set the alarm clock on my cell phone and that's why it was ringing. Fortunately, they called back after I "turned off" the alarm (a.k.a., hung up on them). I called Enterprise at 8:00 to check on my car. They transferred me to another office and that office told me that cars were coming in and they didn't have anything right away. I told them my plans to go shopping for warm clothes, so they offered to take me where I wanted to go while we waited. First stop Target, then I checked out A. C. Moore Arts and Crafts across the parking lot. Still no car, so they picked me up and issued me a temporary car. I went to Dress Barn (my favorite store but no plus sizes at this store), then DSW shoes (I had a coupon but didn't find anything I needed), then Catherine's (I found 4 things that were on sale and when I checked out, they were 30% off of the sale price: a sweater dress, a sweater and skirt outfit, and 2 pairs of pants for $104 including tax. Not bad!). Next was Macy's but no luck there. Then I had a late lunch at Weathervane, a local seafood restaurant. No lobster but the baked stuffed haddock was quite yummy. I next made a stop at AAA then to the airport to pick up my delayed suitcase. At 2:30, I was back at Enterprise and they had a car. It was his fourth choice of the cars coming in but I just didn't think I could wait until 3:00-ish for a PT Cruiser, a Dodge Vibe or whatever the third choice was. So I took a brand new Nissan Sentra that gets 40+ miles to the gallon and got on the road.

There was no snow in Portland but as I got closer to Farmington there was some old snow on the side of the roads and in the fields. I easily found the house. The dogsitter was in the house as promised. I met Cassie and Benny as well as the dogsitters dog, Laquita. The dogsitter gave me a tour of the house. It's fabulous: hardwood floors, big windows, beautiful wooden archways and door jams, staircase with wooden banister (and a knob like "It's a Wonderful Life" except this one doesn’t come off in your hand), and on and on. My room is the "front room" on the second floor. It's pentagonal!! There are two windows on the side of the house and a big window on the front of the house. My roommate has an antique dresser in there with 4 drawers and tonight we're going to move a single bed in there from another room. I unloaded the car (and hauled all that stuff up the stairs . . . I think I'll get more exercise living in this house) and put a few things in the dresser.

Sure enough, she got home and we moved the bed in there. I'm all settled in! (It's pretty easy to do when you only have 2 suitcases worth of stuff and a few Target bags. Tomorrow, it's off to WalMart! Then there will be more settling in.)

Monday, January 8, 2007

Grace called Thursday to check on things and see when I was coming. She said it had been unseasonably warm but that a front was coming in Monday . . . perfect timing since I'm coming on Monday as well. ☺ But it turns out this front only has rain and some "coolish" temperatures.

Today, the first leg of my flight is Dallas to DC. Our plane was coming in from DC and then doing a turnaround and going back to DC. The plane was late arriving because of headwinds. But we landed early because of tailwinds. The usual 2:43 minute flight only took 2:12 minutes . . . a savings of 31 minutes! That is serious tailwinds.

At Reagan airport (DC), I pretty much walked off of one plane and on to the next. On the second flight, I sat in the same row as a young man but we didn't talk much as I almost immediately went to sleep. When I woke up, there was an older man in the young man's place. What happened? I felt a little Rip Van Winkle-like.

My flight from NYC to Portland was in a different terminal, but at least at LaGuardia you don't have to go through security when you change terminals. The displays said the plane was leaving at 5:55 and the current time was 5:13. I went straight to the gate. But at the gate, it said the next flight to Portland was at 6:33. There was a lady ahead of me who was asking about my flight. The gate attendant didn't seem to know that the flight was scheduled for 5:55. After we finally confirmed that we were talking about the same flight, the lady and I left, both agreeing that the displays in the terminal didn't know what the display in the gate knew. As we walked past a display in the terminal, we saw it change from "on time" to 6:33. It eventually was 7:05 when we boarded. While I waited, my phone rang and it was Vicki W. It was so great to get caught up on her adventures of her first semester of law school and all her plans for the future!

We finally left for Portland. The captain only explained that the first flight was late and the domino effect had taken over and everything was late. Except for the fact that the only restroom on the plane was out of order, it was a pretty uneventful flight. One of my bags made it to the baggage claim area, but the second bag didn't. After filing a claim with baggage services, I called the shuttle from my hotel and went and sat outside in the not-so-cold cold air and waited. At my hotel I checked email and found ~80 non-spam emails. Eeeek. I went to bed at 1am after answering all those emails.

How Far?

January 13, 2007
It's 3/10 of a mile from the house to the Education Center on campus where I work. It's 4/10 of a mile from the Education Center to church. (And the Education Center is right on the way.) Maybe I'll even walk to church. ☺ It takes 6 minutes to walk to the Education Center and that's with walking slowly to "take it all in". So maybe 15 minutes to walk to church? This is so surreal for a woman who drove 40 miles one way to work for the last 7.5 years.

Yesterday, I walked to work. In the afternoon, I walked across campus (literally, from one end to the other) in about 3 minutes to go to the administration building to sign some papers. Then I walked a block from there to the post office to check my box, then 2 blocks to The Granery for the faculty get together, then back to the Education Center to pick up my stuff, then home. And it was all a breeze. Everything is so close!

How Do You Spell That?

January 13, 2007
Today at Radio Shack, they were out of indoor outdoor thermometers, so the guy sent me to Obershon Hardware down by the Dunkin' Donuts. I got there only to find out it was Aubuchon Hardware. A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but has a different meaning and is often spelled differently (e.g., hair/hair, bat the wooden stick/bat the mammal that hangs upside down in caves). Then there are equivocal words that are spelled the same, have two pronunciations and two meanings (e.g., address the noun and address the verb). But wait, this is two spellings for the same word with the same meaning. I wonder what you call that?

I'm expecting many more entries in this blog category. :-)

I did find an interesting resource on the topic of homophone/homonym, etc. The author doesn't address my situation, but for my lexophile friends, you'll love this:

http://www.scs.fsu.edu/~burkardt/fun/wordplay/equivocal_words.html

First Friday Fun, January 12, 2007

The faculty here have "Friday Seminars" most Friday afternoons. You have to watch your email for the location each week, but it's always a location with food and "beverages". I went last night (before dinner at the house) and had a good time. I mostly listened to a conversation between two professors about Jean-Paul Sartre. About the only other name I recognized in the conversation was Simone de Beauvoir. And the only reason I know those two names are associated with each other because of the Movie "The Truth About Cats and Dogs." It was exactly the kind of conversation that should be going on at a Faculty Friday night event! I was loving it (and the guy who is teaching the class on Sartre said I could attend his class and I think I will).

I did get to meet another new professor in early childhood education who got her Ph.D. very recently after working in the field for quite a while. We had a lot in common. She was very nice and I hope to run into her again either in the Education Center or at the next Friday Seminar.

When I got home, my roommate told me my box (of stuff I had shipped to myself) had arrived. She asked what was in it and I told her I didn't remember much except warm clothes and that I had packed my Texas Independence Day stuff in my suitcase 'cuz I had to make sure it arrived safely. So then I had to tell her and her boyfriend about Texas Independence Day and she said, "Let's have a party!" Oh, I really like this woman!!

Hey, it turns out my roommate goes to St. Joseph's Catholic Church! Yesterday, I told her I had to stop by the church to see what time services were and she asked me which church. She flipped out when I told her which one. She thought I had found out her church and was pulling her leg. She thinks that God wanted her to invite me to be her roommate and I couldn't agree with her more! We are having a blast.

She had invited a good friend of hers over for dinner, so with her boyfriend, that made 4. We had Chinese food, then played Trivial Pursuit boys vs. girls. [Note to Dr. Mari: there were no "Australia" answers but then this was the Millennium version and not the Genus version. We also did not play with any brass swans.] The funny thing was, there were two questions that I knew, not because I'm good at trivia ['cuz I'm not] but because they were about Dallas. I think they were the only ones I got right all night, but who's counting. ;-)

Introduction to Life with the Mainiacs

January 13, 2007
Although I just set up my blog today, I plan to backtrack and blog about all aspects of this trip to Maine. Is this a short-term move or a long-term visit? I don't know, but it's exciting! I am starting on my first adventure as DOCTOR Theresa, having just finished my dissertation and all the paperwork on December 14, 2006. And now I'm a visiting professor at University of Maine at Farmington for the spring 2007 semester. I'll only be here for 4 months, but I'm counting on their being 4 action-packed, learning-opportunity-filled, fun and fabulous months.

Though these postings are listed in the order they are submitted, I will date them based on when I wrote them or experienced them. So the first bunch will be out of order as I try to play catch-up (not ketchup) with all that I've already experienced in preparation for the big trip and since arriving in Maine.