**Meri Chrissi?**

Might that be Australian for Merry Christmas, mate? This goes out to my beautiful and amazing daughter and niece and their delightful friend Karen. Have a wonderful day when you wake! We will celebrate a second time for you on this side of the dateline. Can't wait to see the 'oliday pix of where you spend Christmas down under.

Love to you all from the land of rain and moss.

**The Best Birthday Presents...**

Are the wonderful reminders that I have the best children, EVER>

First is the text message from down under from my daughter (courtesy of my niece's cell phone thank you very much)

Next is the PHONE CALL from Uluru in the center of Australia (aka the middle of NOWHERE). Yep, my daughter wishing me a happy birthday. That young lady is simply awesome. The pictures of her exploring Australia just make my heart sing.

Third is waking up the day after and picking up my son at the airport and bringing him home for the holidays. Wow, I missed him. He is all grown up and, ya know, I really like him. One of those kids that if he was someone else's child, I would be wishing secretly that I had a son like him. BUT I DO!

Three pretty flower bouquets in the house. Smile.

A good birthday all around.

In other news... the new house closes Thursday morning.

The day after Christmas.... packarama.

**Lobbying at its Finest**

S. asked me today if medical services were taxed in NY. I looked on line. They aren't. But that is not what prompted me to write. It is what ELSE is tax exempt Here is a list, in no special order (imagine the lobbying efforts that resulted in these):

1. Receipts paid to a homeowners association by its membership for parking services.

2. Laundering, dry-cleaning, tailoring, weaving, pressing, shoe repairing and shoe shining.

3. Admission to live circus performances.

4. Services by funeral homes.

5. U.S. and N.Y. flags.

6. Certain military decorations

7. Certain items sold through coin operated vending machines.

8. Coin operated luggage carts.

9. Garage sales.

10. Milk crates purchased by a dairy farmer.

11. Certain race horses.

12. Copies sold through coin operated photocopying machines at fifty cents or less.

13. Wine furnished at a wine tasting.

14. Services performed to a qualifying barge

15. Certain coin-operated car wash services

16. Certain food and drink sold by a senior citizen housing community to its residents and their guests.

17. Gift shop sales at a veteran's home.

18. 75% of the admission charge to a qualifying place of amusement.

19 Certain portion of the admission charge to attend a roof garden or cabaret.

Source: NYS publication 850

**PNW Version of the Winter Storm**

I am sitting at home waiting for my fence to blow over. Normally I wouldn't be fixated on such a thing, but I figure, hey the house is on the market, a big storm is here, there obviously is going to be damage to the house - roof shingles gone, skylights blown away, the fence.... S. is at the coast working and I can't reach him. Verizon service died last night. Can't reach him on Cingular. Land lines are out. Power is out. All the roads to the coast are blocked by trees. Highway 101 is flooded at the north end of town. I may not hear from him for a couple days at this rate. I am sure he is running from farm to farm with generators so farmers can milk.


Maybe the saddest loss of this storm is the Sitka Spruce in Seaside. It was the oldest tree in Oregon and the largest Sitka Spruce in the United States. 206 ft. tall. 52 ft. circumference. 750 years old.


Before: (taken last summer - the top had already broken off from damage during the storm in Dec. 2006). There were plans to cut it down because it was unsafe, but ultimately it was blocked off and allowed to finish out its life naturally.


After: Taken by a brave KATU photog, it didn't survive the Dec. 2007 storm. It looks like it broke about a third of the way up the trunk.

**My new school**

I saw this video on a political blog run by students where I will be teaching this spring. I was filled with pride to know students come across stuff like this and let the rest of us people - who don't have hours to burn - know about it.

I hope they take my classes cause I already like them. How could I not after they dig up this amazing piece on the fundamental flaw of evolution, illustrated with a jar of peanut butter.

I love the web.

**Maraschino Cherries**

As the countdown to THE MOVE continues, I looked at some of the random jars sitting in the door of my NEW fridge (story for another time but it definitely involves Murphy's Law), I came across a jar of maraschino cherries. I opened the jar and popped one in my mouth. I have no memory of buying them which might be one indicator of how old they might be. But the shelf life of these things must be extraordinay given the dye and preservatives.

The taste of them was like brought on a time warp and I was in the kitchen of my grandparents' summer home on Long Island. Somewhere in the late afternoon (probably when the grown-ups were prepping for a marathon cocktail hour after an afternoon on the beach) my grandfather would take me into the kitchen and give me a maraschino cherry with a stem. I would suck on it and then chew it slowly to make the flavor last as long as possible. It was a signature summer ritual with my grandfather. That and feeding the racoons dinner scraps:)

**Just this one- the Fox logo on my blog**

My son pointed out this awesome recording of the Star Spangled Banner by John Williams and this was the best version I could find. While I still wish our national anthem was "America the Beautiful," this version of the anthem is inspiring. Maybe we could keep the melody and just change the lyrics.

**The stuff of bad dreams**

Watching the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. Am I really moving to a state that does this? It is like a helium-induced, lip-synched nightmare.

Need an antidote. Now.

**We be homeowners again**

Who wudda thought. Two houses. What am I going to do with TWO houses?

**Back and Blue**

It was an exhausting week. (I might mention my dissapointment that no one did my work while I was gone...) Would have been worse if not for the big ole pillow top bed, jacuzzi bath and in room fireplace at my hotel. I am thinking, with the real estate market so squirrelly, I might just as well stay at this resort indefinitely. I wonder if they have week and month rentals....? It is only a mile from work after all.

We looked at so many houses. I like the contemporary with a view of the lake. But there was a busy highway behind and, even worse, obnoxiously barking dogs on the property behind.

I like a home 14 miles west of town - a well built ranch on five acres with a view of the valley. But it was 14 miles from town. And upstate New York has real winters.

But on the up side we did find a delightful quirky house built in the mid 60's. A raised ranch with a lower level single garage. there are windows on the ground level that are part of the basement. Could be finished, but I have never been a basement person. Too much like being buried alive.

It sits on five acres, most of which is behind the house. The owners were there for 38 years and have planted hundreds of trees in back in an effort to reforest the property. There is a very large work shop - probably 800 sq feet, heated and ready for someone to.... I don't know... make things for me:). It also can function as an escape when a certain guy I know needs to get some space from a certain crazy female who, for the purposes of this entry, shall remain unnamed. His first project should be a sign that says "Girls may enter by invitation only."

The sellers added an addition a couple years ago that included a beautiful kitchen remodel with maple cabinets and Corian counters. They added a sitting area with a propane stove and a big picture window looking east to the back yard. And they added an elevator. I kid you not. This is one accessible house. ADA would be proud.

The south side of the house has a porch with fir floors and is shaded by two beautiful mature maples.

The road is quiet and there is a little cemetery nestled in some trees across the street. Most markers are from the 1800s. I can't see the neighbors on either side because of trees lining the property lines, but one house next door is a bit of a dump.

The school district is unimpressive. It doesn't impact me except for resale, which is something I have to consider given my pattern of changing jobs every five years or so.

There are three bedrooms, all small, and no master suite. I am spoiled. I love my vaulted ceiling master suite with a walk in closet and master bath. But then I remember: I am partnered with a guy who builds things and fixes things and who would have a workshop bigger than a small apartment. All the sudden discussions turn to a master suite addition. So with the cost of that in mind, we made an offer. I don't think they will accept it, but what the heck. I will know by Friday night. Plan B is a townhouse rental west of the lake. The cost is as much as a mortgage but they are willing to start with a 6 month lease and it has an attached two car garage so we can store the kayaks.

Fate, have your way with me.

**A househunting we go**

We are heading out for a week of house hunting. Given the current market, I am not optimistic we will find something we like enough to make the plunge quickly. I suspect we are more likely to find a rental and maybe look for some land.

One of the highlights of the trip will be the chance to see #1 son and my family for a day. Another plus will be where we are staying. Taking advantage of special rates available to my future employer I am able to stay at a pretty nice resort for $99 a night. Just two days ago the Dali Lama was staying at this place while doing a series of public talks. New faciltiies for his North American base are being constructed across the street I understand.

I am looking at a wide range of housing options from a fixer-upper in town, to a higher end, expensive home in the established and desirable (read: reseale) neighborhoods surrounding Cornell University, to a farm 20 miles out of town, to a log cabin. And then there is building, which sounds most intriguing to me. I have abandoned the idea of a loft in the heart of downtown as it just seems too noisy. There are some alternative housing options - cooperative communities - but I don't think I have time or even want to invest the energy into the personal time commitment of living cooperatively. Plus S. -a loner at heart - has NO desire to be part of a community living situation with shared meals and such. That part of hippiedom didn't stick I guess.

Ingrid Michaelson on Carson Daly -

I like it in spite of it being overplayed in the Old Navy ad.

**Aye Matey!**

D'are be blogging again!

Bruce Springsteen -Long Walk Home

Thought I would follow-up with the music video associated with the Springsteen song that aired on the Today Show last Friday.

**Stand-Up Comedy or A Very Frightening Leader**

Bush responding to a student's question on Blackwater. Can someone slap me out of this 8 year hallucination?

**On the market**

It took quite a few weekends of work, but the house is officially on the market today. It looks damn good - and there is a certain sadness about letting it go. I finished all the cleaning yesterday and lit a candle to heat some water containing pure pine oil. It seemed a nice touch on an otherwise rainy blustery typically PNW wintery day.

S. came into the room and I asked him if he smelled anything. I thought the fragrance of pine would evoke nice memories of his woodstove in Montana. He inhaled deeply, and said as he exhaled,

"Yes, I do.... Pine Sol."

**Long Walk Home**

One of the good things about moving cross country is the opportunity to reconnect with my Jersey Girl roots. My high school years were defined in part by the Jersey Shore and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. They are doing the Friday concert this morning on the Today Show.

I couldn't help but notice that the keyboard player in the E Street Band is wearing a hearing aid. I don't think there is a member of the band under 50. And the only young people in the crowd are the kids dragged to the concert by their parent Springstein fans.


I could feel the pull back east listening to the Boss and the E Street Band complete with Clarence Clemmons this morning as they played the song that makes up this entry's title. He is still firey on the stage just as I remembered him at concerts in my youth. He would play 3.5 hours without a break. We would leave the stadium hoarse from singing along.

I might add they they starting playing before the Today broadcast started and are contemplating an encore at 2.5 hours. And so he continues with a heart wrenching rendition of Hometown. He's still got it.

**Should Have Seen It Coming**

Six years ago, when I decided to take this job, I negotiated that my new employer wait a year so I could insure a smooth transition. To the very end my co-workers at my ending job were kind, supportive and appreciative of me remaining for the year, knowing I could have left them hanging with no time to find a replacement.

I can't say that my decision to stay for an additional 6 months at my current job to "wrap things up" and help with the transition has gone as smoothly. The co-worker issues I always found a bit troubling now in my face. I am concerned about some gender issues that were undercurrents coming to the surface and generally finding that my multi-year "feeling" I was marginalize is no longer a feeling.

I guess it makes closure a little easier, but in reality, I liked how closure worked at my last job better.

***Hmmm...***

How often have we shown ourselves as we really are, and yet we need not
have bothered, there was no one there to notice...

~Saramago,The Stone Raft

**I am back because tomorrow is a very important day**

Taken from a student news forum which really covers all one needs to know:

Wednesday is Talk Like a Pirate Day.

The name's pretty much descriptive. Here are a few pirate dos and don'ts:

Do:
-Buckle all swashes
-Sing the Talk Like a Pirate Day Song: http://www.tomsmithonline.com/freestuff/oddio/TLAPD-Streaming064.mp3
-Pepper your conversation with expressions like "Yarrr!", "Arr", "Yo ho ho", and "Shiver me timbers".
-Wear a bandana (here be instructions fer all you landlubbers: http://gollan.pwaresearch.com/hp/bandana.html) or eyepatch
-Watch a piratical movie. "Pirates of the Caribbean" is all well and good, but I'd recommend the classics: "Captain Blood", "The Sea Hawk", "The Crimson Pirate", "Treasure Island".
-Enjoy your grog responsibly.
-Eat limes. Scurvy kills!

Don't:
-Bury your treasure and forget where you put it.
-Pillage and plunder without permission.
-Necessitate the use of eyepatches through careless handling of sharp objects like cutlasses or hooks.
-Be embarrassed to talk like a pirate. The more people do it, the more fun you'll have.


More posts to come. Promise.

**Some things take time, I guess**

But there appears to be a verbal contact agreement and I will be packing things up for a move across the country. Thankfully, all parties involved have been reasonable and flexible, so I won't have to make the move unti the end of the year. Even with several months planning, there is so much that is kicked into motion that my head is spinning already.

I am at a point in my life where I could easily dump a lot of my possessions, but it appears that other people have vested interests in things like pieces of furniture I have been given or otherwise have in my house, and other inevitably bulky or heavy things. So "simplifying" has suddenly become very complicated.

Something will have to give because they just don't make rental trucks that big.

*Snuggled in my Car...*

under the yellow pines outside Sisters, Oregon late last night, I turned on my cell phone to check messages. I did this because I quietly escaped the confines of work for about 24 hours without telling anyone. And I felt guilty enough to at least determine if my office had burned down (thus aleviating the need to pack thousands of books for a move between buildings). Among the many messages - how do all these people get my cell phone number! - was a call from the the Dean where I interviewed. We played phone tag a bit, but she caught me as I pulled back into town this afternoon.

She offered me the job.

NOW WHAT DO I DO?!

**Leaving on a Jet Plane**

Not to any place as exotic as someone I know, but instead for work - or for a job interview, to be more precise. A mere 10 hours on a plane - well, actually, three planes - and I am not even leaving the country. Instead this is an out-of-the-way place so I have to fly to Cincinnati, then Philadelphia and then to the Finger Lakes.

First rule: carry on luggage as the odds of it being misplaced are tripled on this trip before one even considers the part of Murphy's Law guiding all things that can go wrong on a job interview.

I have clothes (cause I went out and bought them), but am still working on the presentation I have to make. So why am I blogging, I ask myself rhetorically?

**Okay last videos, but you gotta admit**

JOSS IS AMAZING!









And in this one she is 16 years old


And yes it was her in Eragon.

**All Things Canadian. Including the Shatner**

And the Shatner's version



I love him.

**T-minus 5 days**

Off to interview for the job next week. Have to do a 30 minute presentation on research. SInce I have been making documentaries and nonprofit videos for the last 2 years, I will have to come up with something. Quick. But first, a crapload of grading.

**Does this count as a publication for tenure?**

If so, I want to be an anthropologist.

**Yeah, well I STILL want an iPhone**

**Yippee**

Last day of teaching. ALMOST as good as going to Mexico. But not quite.

**More travels**

Finally got around to the world map. Not so impressive. Never been to Mexico LIKE SOME PERSON I KNOW who is departing imminently. With a guy.

I hope in the next year to add Australia, New Zealand and somewhere in the far east or South Pacific. And then there is the baffling fact that I never take my friend up on regular invitations to spend some time in Nigeria and the environs of west Africa. What is that about?




create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

**Of Course, If You Know Me**

The gap in this map makes perfect sense if you know me. I would love to see Alaska and Hawaii, and I imagine I will go to those "other" states just so I can finish the map. But I won't enjoy it.



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

**Whoa**

So I posted Thursday in a panic about this Friday's phone interview for a job I almost didn't apply for.

I recceived what I must admit was sage advice as I started comtemplating all the insane fall-out from accepting such a position. I. This advice? Don't speculate on all the possibilities and implications of taking this job, don't feel immediately overwhelmed at the albeit remote possibility that you would actually pack everything you own and move 4,000 miles. No, this wise person said, just focus on one step at a time. First, just focus on the phone interview.

So I did. I didn't think about anything else. A friend helped prep me with by asking questions I would likely be asked and then critiqued my answers. I studied the institution. I learned all I could about the members of the committee who would be interviewing me. I had everything laid out on a table because my interview was at 6:30 AM. I woke up an hour early, ate breakfast, drank coffee and I was r-e-a-d-y. Thought about nothing else.

And the interview seemed to go fine. I don't think I made any major mistakes. Asked a few questions, but not all that I had. Then I cleaned up the house in anticipation of weekend company and did what any sane person would do on May 4th: hit the first day of the REI spring sale. Actually I had a longstanding trip to Costco with my neighbor. It just so happens that there is a Costco near an REI. How convenient. I bought a belt, trail runnings shoes and a shirt. Still have not used all of my dividend. But while thinking that when it comes down to it, all one really needs in the world is at REI, my cell rings. Not a local area code. I pick up. It was the search committee's administrative assistant. I have been invited for an on site interview.

I am going to go.... but pushed the interview off two weeks. I better not like this place, because I have no idea how I can close up obligations here, sell a house and move on such short notice. Damn you job openings.

**Oh Dear**

I submitted the application last Friday. Received notification of its receipt on Tuesday afternoon. Received an email this morning requesting that a phone interview be scheduled for Friday morning.

My head is spinning. Advice for a phone interview, welcome. Now.

**Well, I Did It**

I applied for the job. But I don't know that I want it anymore. It is just that preparing the cover letter and resume was such a drag, I felt like I had to send it in. If I can invest 8-9 hours writing a cover letter, they can spend an hour looking it over.

I saw a senior thesis presentation from a student who did her research on krill off the Oregon Coast. I am homesick. Doesn't bode well for pulling up stakes and moving cross country, eh?

**On the Road Again**

I am off visiting my daughter. I haven't come to see her at college since her freshman year. This weekend she is presenting her senior thesis at a three day symposium. All very impressive - full of words I can't pronounce. I am sitting at her desk in one of the college labs working on job reviews while she is off studying for an midterm. Her desk if full of accolades, student leadership awards, honor society invitations and very cool artwork by her friends. It is nice to finally see the place where she spends A LOT of time.

We listened to a guest speaker tonight talk about DNA analysis and evolutionary forensics. Very engaging speaker with - surprise, surprise - a new book out. After his talk, however, I might just read it. We had a nice chat afterwards about the intelligent design movement and a scathing review he did of a recent not-to-be-named-cause-he-teaches-at-my-son's-school-academic's tome on the subject. The review comes out in the July issue of Discover - I WILL be reading that. He also lambasted the media - rightfully so, but hey, get in line - for their polarizing, oversimplication of the creationist/evolution debate, simply ignoring the great variations of middle ground held by those who acknowledge some level of faith and yet still see the OVERWHELMING scientific evidence in support of evolution. I took a picture of E with him, just in case he gets as famous as Jane Goodall and I can add it to my E-with-famous-cool-people picture collection.

E and I enjoyed a nice dinner at my dear friends house and planned her college graduation open house. No to acobats, yes to finger food. No to slide show, yes to slip 'n slide. Yes to guest book, no to gifts. Now that is my kind of graduation party.

**Why the Name**

So I recently changed my "name" on this blog. It is only now that I realize why. Sometimes that happens to me. I do things and don't really know why until later. I just feel initially this need to do them. And urge that I can only describe as like a urinary tract infection without the pain. Or that urge to push (for you moms out there) And I do apologize for the imagery of both analogies.

This name - Someone on the cusp - is becoming prescient.

I find myself, as I mentioned earlier, almost overwhelmed with commitments to the point of no return. That pressure seems to build up just before something potentially life changing comes along. That something is apparently showing up in the form of a new job possibility.

So now I am faced with a dilemma. Pursue this new position - which, at the outset will involve a substantial investment of time invested in an application process, when I really DO NOT have time to spare - or blow off a potentially important opportunity for career advancement. I don't even know if I am competitive for the job. And I can't even get my head around all the other implications if I were to take such a job. The impact would be like a tidal wave through my life here in the northwest. ARGH.

**Not a Good Week. Not at All**

I am only emerging from the surprising emotional turmoil I felt over the events at Virginia Tech. I don't know anyone there, but tears have come several times when I think about the parents, the young promising lives lost, and the apparent acts of selflessnes and heroism in the face of paralyzing fear.

I don't think much about all the discussions of whether "our children" are safe in school. That is a useless discussion. No one is safe from such a random act.

When, oh when, are we going to get real about gun control?

So, I slept an extra hour this morning (after another late night board meeting) and woke to the Supreme Court decision upholding the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. Read J. Ginsberg's dissent. This does not bode well for women. The chipping away at a women's right to choose is underway. Menopause. Bring it on. I am ready.

**The Horror and the Beauty**

Noted on Dooce, the video got me thinking about the allure that must have been felt by those who worked in Los Alamos developing the hydrogen bomb. Must watch Fat Man and Little Boy again. It's power is mesmerizing and the images a beautiful in a horrific sort of way.

**Up Against the Wall**

It happens to me once or twice a year. I get so backed up, I don't even know where to begin. I have things on the "to do" list from over a year ago. I can't even get close to them.

When I get to this point, I usually have to lock myself in the house or office for a couple days, get into a groove and clean off the most pressing items on the list. Currently, taxes still hang over me, although I have done a good chunk of them, closure seems to be the problem. It doesn't help that between me and the kids, there are three federal and five state returns to complete. (Good diversion for the doldrums of preparing taxes here. - an IRS poster contest. And I don't want to hear about all you who "have it done by your accountant!") Add to my must-be-done-immediately-list an employee evaluation to finish, conference papers to review, and an employee manual to rewrite. All of these have a May 1 or earlier deadline.

So it is Friday morning, I am NOT going to the office because I know there would be interruptions. I have turned the heat on, and am brewing my second latte. First off, the employee review and then TAXES. This may require some rock music....

**So Where the Bloody Hell Are You?**

I have had a webcam bookmarked for a long time. The webcam is mounted in the middle of Pete's Pond in Botswana. You can watch the wildlife wander around. Complete with audio. The season for viewing at Pete's Pond is over and National Geographic has two other webcams available. Wouldn't you know, one of the cams is in Australia. You can view it here, but the live shot is preceded by a tourism ad for Australia. Watch it. Ah, now this entry's title makes sense, eh?

**Now That's Better**

I could have graded. I could have finished taxes (don't panic Em). I could have prepped classes. Instead I fixed the blog. Added some stuff. I am still looking for a good RSS feed of images of Australia or New Zealand. If anyone knows of one or, like me, wants to avoid working and look for one, I would love to learn about it. I also am trying to figure out how to have YouTube videos play on my site. I know some of you know how to do this. Help?

I did the math. Figuring a December 20th departure, 255 days until Australia.

**That's what I get for...**

...updating my blog template. All my customization is lost and the width has changed mashing my images together (see two entries down). I can barely find time to post these days, let alone recustomize my blog. Oh well, one sleepless night and I should be able to get to it. In the meantime... lots of conversation generated among bloggers (whose links USED to be on me blog, matey) about the trip to Australia. If it is anything like Ecuador, E. should do a bang-up job as tour guide (and probably go crazy with all of us and the concurrent mayhem and bedlam that seems to follow us when we travel). At least she won't have to play group translator.... The trip must include a visit to a place like this....

**Diet Coke Dreams**

The blogging lapse was a combination of no time and not really feeling like there was much to say. Then I noticed how many months went by and it struck me as somewhat sad that I had nothing to say for so long. I almost took down the blog. But material seems to be emerging again.

First came a request for pixs of the northwest spring from my daughter. And now I feel compelled to write about a bizarre dream. I attribute it to the several Diet Cokes I drank to stay awake while I tried to finish grading. It involved this women:


The first time I ever saw her was some years ago, she was walking into a landscaping store with that hair and that makeup and in a pair of - for lack of a better term - hotpants, made from "american flag" printed fabric (this was the real part, not the dream part). Hotpants not unlike these (but just the bottom part - the shirt was different). This person is an elected representative in the Oregon House. Well, I dreamt last night that I ran against her in a political race. We actually drove around in cars together going to peoples' homes to talk to community members about our different viewpoints. All very civil. But I can't get past the hotpants.

As an aside, the night before I dreamt my partner was planning to kill me. Yet, I still can't get past the hotpants.

**For Emily**

Spring has sprung...