Okay, okay, NOW it is officially COLD OUT. I even hunted down my winter PARKA from the hallway closet. Hadn't worn it at all until today. And when it gets below zero, and one can't tell if it's -12 or -33, that's when a person needs to bring out the parka. Fortunately, now that I am in town, the Bug got to sleep in a garage that was above zero this morning. Excellent. 

On a warmer note, the PPTs got all figured out yesterday, and so those pain-in-the-butt-projects are taken care of. Yesterday seemed to go on for weeks.

I was asked to be on the Marketing Committee yesterday too, so that means I have added two more committees this year to my list of duties on campus. The other committee is the iPod & Podcasting Committee.

I was a total slacker yesterday, and it was so nice. Now, if the Patriots & Eagles would've just lost, my weekend would've been complete. Oh well. [*I would love to watch a SuperBowl with the Colts versus the Seahawks. Or the Colts versus the Bears.]

Today at the office, I just want to print off class rosters and maybe work a little on that online class. Since many of our courses are MWF, I just have one class tomorrow at 8am and one meeting at 4pm. So, obviously, I could save some work for that time span. 

We got a little more snow over the last few days. It's going to look more like Christmas at the end of January than it did at the end of December.

Little Miss Bound-n-Determined here. I walked to drop off my rent money... and then treked up to the school. For a town our size, this was no major feat, but not a lot of people bundle up... and walk... in January... in ND. Call it an attempt at keeping my NYResolutions. What resolutions did I decide on?: Move more everyday, drink more water, don't let annoying people annoy me, and don't eat fried foods except for buffalo wings. That last one is uber difficult because I LOVE Chinese buffets. Ugh.

I think I already dislike my blog's newest header. But I need to prepare my English 105 & English 110 syllabi for printing. That's my goal for this morning, before noon. Then I can spend the rest of today and the week getting that English 120 Online course figured out. I did some work on it yesterday; when I get into a groove, creating templates & revising comes quickly.

I've been thinking lately about New Year's Resolutions, and how I'd like to really have a few that are the opposite of what one should do when it comes to resolutions. For example, I haven't done anything but think about what I need to do before school starts. And, for once, it's nice to not worry and freak out about what has to be done. I know it'll get done; I am just like that. So, one resolution should be to procrastinate more. I normally get things done uber early, and then I become bored. I should, really, take my time. Like my boyfriend said, "You need to relax more." Exactly. Then I was thinking of all those dang I'll-lose-weight resolutions... I mean, why not put a competitive and more reasonable spin on it all like, "I'll drink more water everyday and make it a goal to just get outside and walk everyday." I don't think resolutions have to be torture. I'd like to try to stop eating frying foods too... but I love buffalo wings. Maybe that would be the only exception to the rule.

Other than that... it looks like an ice storm could be brewing outside. It appears that we will have somewhat of a white holiday season afterall. Better late than never, I suppose. Perhaps the road conditions will cause less people to drive around tomorrow night, tipsy off celebratory champagne or not.

Oh, and I finally just darkened my hair color. I was attempting to grow it out, but I got sick of it. As it turns out, that new stuff by Loreal, Natural Match, works very well; I am impressed with the results even if it took 2 boxes worth to coat all of my hair.

Well, the dusting of snow melted before you could say, "Santa." The trip to and from the cities wasn't too shabby, although traveling early in the day causes the day to extend itself. We returned around 1pm on Christmas Eve, and when my brother said to someone later on in the evening, "Yeah, we got back this morning," I had to rethink that fact. Odd. It was also odd to CRUISE down 494 in the cities that morning. It was eery to not fight traffic.

Anyhow, I received some excellent gifts (The Office calendar for my office, a new dictionary for my office...), ate way too much (I only eat fudge once a year so what the heck), and, of course, watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - a classic!!

It was neat to walk out this morning (around 6am) and find a dusting of snow on the ground. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

And it was nice not to have to drive any part of our drive this morning. Usually, I am a primary driver on holiday runs to the cities...

At the office (gasp!) grading papers (gasp!). I think the rainbow-colored stocking cap is helping me concentrate. I say this because I am getting through the papers fairly quickly and also because I came up with an idea of calling the first few weeks of English 110 a "Building Up of Topics" unit. This unit would include an "All About You" packet where they create a few Top Ten lists of things they like, a list of "I believe..." statements, and the River Map idea (creating a river of your memories - got the idea at NCTE), etc. Additional idea - Within that unit and the rest of the semester, have "What's Wrong Here?" lessons/activities where students are shown a chunk of a paper and asked to figure out what went "wrong." WWH lessons. Better than the WWF!? I really like the idea of focusing those first weeks on 1) figuring out what they can write about well (what are they experts at), 2) an in-depth look at the process of writing, and 3) mini-lessons on grammar-based things as teeny tiny review... and 4) how writing/reading/researching skills connect to everyday life/"the real world."

[How crazy is the weather! It's like spring outside... 48 degrees?! This is North Dakota, right?]

It was snowing a little bit this morning, but now it's sunny out. Dang it. I'd like SOME snow... it IS December after all.

So, "they" said it was "so cold" out today and that one should bundle up. I sat staring at my entryway closet thinking, "Seriously?" So, I threw on my thick denim GAP coat, a big long scarf, and some mittens. Turns out, it was just fine out (15 degrees according to the Bug; 4 degrees according to the hockey arena's sign). I don't throw on the ND Parka until we're talking massive windchills and such.

No wonder I never really want to vacation where it's uber warm. I like to not sweat.

Storyboards are due today for my four classes of English 110 (those who don't like a lot of preps never realize that having 4 of one class isn't fun either); it's a Work Day for the Proposal/Project in English 105. I did get caught up on grading for English 105 yesterday, and I did get to 10 English 110 papers as well. Yea for me!

Before my 10am class, I'll venture to the World Lit Online and see how those papers are looking.