Opreation Snow: Success

We had another unexpected weekend last weekend. One of my students came to me on Friday and told me that the faculty member coming on their tubing trip backed out at the last minute, and since it was a university-sponsored trip, they needed someone to come along. They'd pay all my expenses, I just needed to show up. So, Jordan and I hopped on the (nice) bus on Saturday morning and headed for Big Bear. It took us about 2 hours to get there because of traffic and being in a bus on curvy roads, but only 1 1/2 to get back. One of Jordan's favorite parts was watching movies (they showed Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but the sound was low so she missed most of the swearing, Eight Below, and Cars), but it was both of our first times tubing and that was pretty fun. I forgot my coat, and didn't realize until we were half-way there, and was a little worried about what was going to happen, but when we stepped off the bus with long underwear (top and bottom) shirt and sweater, I was actually pretty warm. Some of the area had natural snow, but most of the tubing run was the manufactured variety and the weather stayed nice most of the afternoon. I didn't get cold until right before we were leaving, so that all worked out. Big Bear seems like a pretty nice place. Nice big, blue lake, mountains all around, events for summer and winter. We read about a Pirate Faire this summer, so Jordan and I will probably head up there for an afternoon in June to play pirates - we have the costumes!

The Lady and the Lion

You need to check out this video. Amazing.

Happy Valentine's Day

Jordan and I celebrated Valentine's day today with the annual traditions and some new events. I went to her school for their party at the end of the day and then we came home, cleaned up a bit, and headed for the vet. We discovered that I was right about Kiki's age - she's about one year old now, give or take 6 months. She has not yet been spayed, so that's something we'll have to take care of very soon. She's all official and up-to-date on her shots now, though.
After that, Jordan and I went to the traditional part of our Valentine's celebration. Every year, she and I get all dressed up and go to a restaurant just for dessert. The wait staff is always a little taken aback when we don't order a meal, but it's a part of the tradition. So, we got gussied up (yes that's another of my grandma's words, consider this a quick tribute) and headed out. Jordan got a Smore's dessert which she hated, and then got a replacement scoop of ice cream. I got apple crisp which was WAY too big, but managed to eat about 1/3 of it. After that we did some shopping because my ISP team (the one's going to South Korea with me this summer) are coming over for a slumber party tomorrow night. On the way home, we went a new way that's a little off the beaten path - not that far off, but a tiny bit. We saw a creature dart in front of us and then go off into the field next to us. I thought it was either a dog or a deer but upon closer inspection found that it was a coyote! When I took Kiki out for her walk tonight, someone else mentioned hearing them and seeing one herself. It made me a little nervous as I brought my cute little fresh meat back home with me. Hope you all had a fun-filled Valentine's Day, too!

Kiki Darling

Well, as of tomorrow, Kiki is officially a part of our family. In celebration, her present is a wonderful, special trip to the vet! We don't know if she's spayed, if she's had shots, or how old she is, but hopefully we'll get most of that taken care of tomorrow. To prepare her for this visit, I decided to use my new clippers on her to get her all trimmed up and pretty. The hair on her face had grown so long that I couldn't really see her eyes any more except for some small slits. When I first started the trimming process, Kiki freaked out and wouldn't come near my. Jordan and I together couldn't calm her down. To be fair, in the past I've trimmed her with my really dull hair scissors and that couldn't have felt good. Also, I tried the trim on her head. When I went to her back, she calmed down, and by the end of the session, she let me trip the hair on her nose in front of her eyes. Between the first attempt and the end success, I managed to get rid of all the knots of fur on her ears, legs, and "private area." Because of all this trimming, by the time we were done she no longer looked like the Kiki we know and love. In fact, if I hadn't come out of the bathroom with her, I would not even know she was the same dog. My sister-in-law trimmed her up pretty good over Christmas, but that's nothing compared to today's trim. She has long hair on her ears and her tail, but everything else is a half inch or shorter. She's all soft and knot-less and cute and we're excited that she's now ours forever!

He said what?

Okay, when I chose to come teach at a Christian college, I knew that I'd be dealing with some very conservative ideas. I tend to be more liberal in my politics (yes Christians can be liberal, or as my brother-in-law calls me, a red commie liberal), but I don't feel that interferes with my Christianity. I also feel I can be nonjudgmental with my students conservative ideas and grade them on their presentation of the topic rather than their point-of-view. I'm having a bit of difficulty with one student, however. The first occasion I had to understand his political stance was when he told me in class that he hadn't done assigned research on illegal immigration, but he knew a lot because he was a Minuteman - the guys who aren't border patrol but watch the borders with their rifles and wait for the illegal aliens to cross and then detain them until the Border Patrol agents can come and arrest them. This is pretty antithetical to my view that borders are a human invention and God has called us to love others and take care of the poor and needy. Anyway, I took a deep breath, smiled and told him to bring me the homework later for a lowered grade. Now I've asked students to submit their topics for the second speech and find myself unable to grade his topic. His political problem is that women are allowed to run for president. He doesn't feel that women should be given this chance, that we should enact a law that, if they get the presidency, they aren't given any power, because this is "known throughout history and Christianity" and is a biblical principle. Now I'm not an expert in the bible, but in all my reading of the bible in my year of Christian junior high, high school and college, as well as my readings in church and on my own lead me to say that God's principles were for the church, not for countries. I just don't even know what to do with this.

----- update - the topic right after his was of a female student wanting to talk about women's rights. he, he, he.

Going back in time

Today Jordan and I went to the art museum for a class project - she's supposed to visit 5 places of interest around Riverside and write about them for school. We went downtown and as we neared the museum, saw streets blocked off for a festival of some sort. We parked and walked toward the museum and as we crossed orange street entered a world 200 years past and a continent away. Apparently, this weekend is the Dickens festival and we happened upon it by accident. It's funny, but most of the interesting times we have are unplanned and unlooked-for. There were a lot of people dressed in period garb. Queen Victoria was there and Jordan curtsied for her and then asked her some questions about her life - imagine, an audience with the queen. There were some Scottish bagpipe players and reel dancers. Someone was stamping silver, gold, and bronze coins. There were booths for buying period clothing, books, crafts, etc. There were crafts for the kids, including lessons on etiquette for children (girls should be allowed to engage in "boyish activities" but only in the court, not in the street which would be unmannerly). We got to see some real corsets, Jordan had been curious about them so she got to see what they really looked like. She got to try out a spinning wheel. It was not a huge festival - took up three blocks. We ended up spending about a half hour at the art museum (as you can imagine, it wasn't that big) but spent almost two hours at the festival. It was a rather fun afternoon.