I started a new blog today. Check out "Write On, Wipe Off". It's about the messages that college students (and others) leave on my message board on my office door. I'd been collecting the photos for a while, though I was never sure what I was going to do with them. I just knew that I wanted to capture the fleeting moments.
There are 14 entries to get the blog off to a jump start. Mostly this blog will be about the photos but there are stories to go with the photos sometimes. It's actually an extension of this Mainiacs blog because it's still about life in Maine, but the new blog will be specific to UMF Mainiacs that I know personally. You'll have to check it out to see what I mean. ;-)
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
4/4/08 Out the Classroom Window
It's Friday so here's more snow for the weekend. This storm was actually more than a dusting. It was about 2 inches and it really stuck. It was in a slush state for a long time on the ground making for pretty bad driving. The reaction from my students when we saw the snow start out the classroom window was NOT "Oh goody! Snow!" But it has made for a nice and extra long ski season (and snowshoeing and cross country skiing, but snow mobiling is pretty much over--a man died when he was going home after a day of snow mobiling and crossed a frozen river that wasn't frozen anymore).
Buried Political Preferences
The spring thaw really is happening. Check out this political sign that hasn't seen the light of day for a while but now is slowly emerging. These photos were taken over a period of 3 days (one photo per day).
Wow. That really was buried for a long time. He's not even running anymore!
3/31/08 Not Wednesday
Well now it's Monday and it's snowing. You can't see it very well in this photo, but trust me, it was snowing. I guess it's not so much that it snows only on Wednesday as much as it is that it seems to snow more often on Wednesday than the other days. Actually, the real problem has been that the Wednesday snows have been the worst and we've had more school cancellations on Wednesdays than any other day of the week. Makes it tricky for classes that only meet on Wednesdays, or in my case Monday and Wednesday.
3/28/08 Wednesday or Weekends
Today's Friday and not Wednesday but this really is a different picture than the one from two days ago. It's actually been warm enough that all the snow melted off my car since Wednesday. Last week I mentioned to someone that it always snows on Wednesdays and she replied, "Wednesdays and weekends." Frankly, I hadn't noticed the weekends as much, but here it is Friday morning and it's snowing in time for the weekend.
3/22/08 A Poor (Rich?) Alternative
You saw the "good" butterfly nets at Reny's for 99 cents. Here's the cheap plastic imitation with a much shorter handle and a smaller net for twice the price at Hannaford's (a "local" chain that serves the Eastern United States). This is the very kind I was talking about in the Reny's posting that are the typical butterfly nets.
3/21/08 Spring?
Seen outside the student center. There was an email to the whole campus saying someone had cleared the snow away from a garden next to the library and that tulips were coming up. I wonder if someone cleared the snow away here, knowing this (whatever it is) would be coming up. I don't know what it is, but I think it's a sure sign of spring.
3/21/08 Ultimate Frisbee Fund Raiser
A pie-eating contest as a fund raiser--there's an interesting notion. So they arranged for two faculty members to be in the contest and then they sold chances for 4 other slots. People bought tickets for the privilege of maybe being in the contest. OR they bought tickets for the privilege of possibly giving someone else the privilege. Three students and the athletic director (second contestant from the left) won. The athletic director said she didn't buy a single ticket. I think they could make even more money if they allowed people the opportunity to buy a ticket back. So for example, if there were 10 tickets with the athletic director's name on it, she could pay $1 a ticket to take those tickets out of the running. It's just an idea. ;-)
Preparation:
Go!
That's my co-teacher Beth in the bandana with "the look" on her face. She was one of the two faculty that agreed ahead of time to participate. I think we can call her "a celebrity contestant".
3/19/08 It's Wednesday, Therefore . . .
You guessed it. It's snowing today . . . all day, and into the night.
3/19/08 Bob Marley at UMF
It's a really bad photo, but it makes the point. I went to the Bob Marley concert at UMF tonight. Bob's a famous comedian who's been on all the late night shows multiple times and has played all the famous comedy clubs. He's famous for his stories about Maine. He's actually FROM Maine and in fact, many people have told me about him and his humor ("You should get his CD, he's really funny" or "If you want to know about Maine, listen to this guy."). But nobody mentioned he was a UMF graduate. Apparently, he was a really good student who majored in Community Health. But he told the chair of the department when he arrived, "I want to get a degree and I want it in Community Health, but my real career aspiration is to be a comedian." He would drive to Boston on a school night, perform in a Boston club, and drive back that night in order to be in class the next day. But it all paid off. He's doing what he loves and he's really good at it. And he comes back to UMF about once a year to do a fund raiser for the Health Club. What a great guy.
So I went to the concert and everyone was right. He's hysterical and if you really want to know Maine, listen to his stories. (Or if you already know Maine, listen to his stories and just laugh a little more than the rest of the audience.) I laughed and laughed and laughed. The event was sold out. This is in the gymnasium, so there are folks filling the bleachers on the side and then the entire gym floor is covered in chairs and there's a little portable stage at one end. As you can see from this photo, it's hard to see him because the stage isn't very tall. But I could see him well enough and the most important thing was to hear him. He's sooo funny.
3/19/08 and 3/27/08 Elf and the Dog Beds
Any port in a storm . . . Elf will sleep in Benny's dog bed, in his own bed when it's stacked on top of Benny's dog bed, . . .
3/18/08 A Day That Will Live In Infamy
Today we had a special visitor in our department meeting, Mike (the tenured professor who is on leave of absence for 2 years with a possible one year extension whose position I'm filling as a visiting professor for 2 years with a possible one year extension). He announced that he's resigning his position as of June 1, 2008 which means there will be an open tenure-track position. The department will do a formal national search in the fall. Suddenly my timeline is drastically altered. My visiting professor gig is up earlier than I had planned. I wanted to be a Scarlet O'Hara about it ("I'll think about that . . . tomorrow") but now I have to decide . . . do I want to stay in Maine or move on?
3/15/08 The Farmington Diner is Still Moving
Apparently they ran into issues moving the diner to its new home down the road (it's just moving to Wilton which is the next town west and south of Farmington)--all those permits and having to lift power lines and all those other hassles. Meanwhile, life must go on, so that's the framing for the new Rite Aid going on in the background.
3/15/08 Girl Scout Cookie Time
That's actually a Girl Scout wearing a Samoa costume. Samoas are my favorite Girl Scout cookie. Well, they use ABC Bakery in this council and not Little Brownie Bakers, so it's the same recipe (or nearly the same) and the same color box with the same photos, but the name of the cookie is different. All the cookie names (except for Thin Mint) are different. But a Girl Scout cookie by any other name is still a Girl Scout cookie and just as yummy.
3/15/08 There's actually a reason for this
Turns out this isn't just a great Dr. Mari gag, but sticking your windshield wipers out when you know there's going to be freezing precipitation means you can easily scrape your windshield without having to dig out or scrape around your windshield wipers. Who knew?!
3/13/08 King of the Hill (the Snow Hill)
Benny LOVES the snow. I don't have any photos of his making snow angels, but trust me, he does. These photos give you an idea of a) how hard Benny is willing to work to get to play in the snow and b) how much snow there really is in our yard and in Farmington (it's not just our yard).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)