2010 In Review, Part II: April - August

April was mostly a blur of schoolwork, with the end slowly coming into sight for me. I'm sure the end had been in sight for Kirst (and Teddy and Chris) for a while. On my birthday, I came home to a chocolate cake Kirst made for me, complete with "Happy 25 Birthday." I didn't get two steps in the door before I pointed out, to Teddy and Chris's amusement and Kirst's horror, "I'm not 25." Like Teddy and Chris, I thought it was pretty funny, but I think Kirst still feels a little bad about it (It's ok, hon).

The story went that while decorating the cake, Kirst noted that there were 24 candles in a pack and told Teddy that next year would be annoying because she'd have to buy a second pack for one candle. She apparently said this while writing on the cake and so, put 25 instead of 24. Makes sense to me, and still pretty funny.

Toward the end of the month Mom heard about a listing for Corgi puppies for sale. With Lily's impending departure to Charlottesville in August, she needed a new pup to keep her company. Of course, the listing included at least two puppies, and we had to go meet with them too and help pick out my mom's puppy. The decision to drive up to Winchester that Saturday to meet the woman with the puppies was made early in the week, and it was clear well before we left Blacksburg that we would most likely be returning with the second puppy. We couldn't leave him by himself now could we?

We arrived and met with two little reddish-brown fuzzballs. The woman told us about them and the litter, telling us that they'd been born without tails, that the little one was the runt of the litter, but also the Alpha without a doubt. I was duly appointed with choosing which pup would be mine and which would go home with my mom. I ended up choosing the runt, partly because he had already shown himself to be a bit devilish and I didn't want poor aging Mally to deal with him. I had just about made my decision known when, after shopping at Petco with him in my arms, I was heading for grass to set him down and he peed all over me. Little chet.

I cleaned myself and then declared that the little one was Crash, and he was coming with me, despite the peeing incident. We actually then headed to Fairfax to spend some time with each other before Kirst and I finally headed back down to Blacksburg. We went to Stonegate first so Cory could meet Crash. We were all sitting with Crash in the kitchen and talking for about twenty minutes before I realized I hadn't seen Zubie in a while. I looked around the apartment and quickly found him, sitting in the corner of the living room, ears down, and an ultimately pathetic look on his face. I called to him and he was very excited to find out we weren't replacing him and that we still liked him.

After a while, we headed over to Windsor Hills and got ready to go to bed. We put crash in his crate and he promptly began crying pitifully, regardless of anything we said. The only way we got him to shut up was Kirsten laid on the floor with her fingers through the door of the crate. If, after he fell asleep, she got up to come to bed, he would wake and begin crying almost instantly. So she slept on the floor the first night, I the next, and so on. It didn't take long before we gave up and let him sleep in the bed with us so that we could actually sleep too.

Eventually Crash got over his whining thing (mostly, he still does it in the mornings if we put him in the crate for the night, usually because he refuses to go to sleep). And just a couple weeks later, the semester was over and Kirsten, Teddy, Chris, Katie, and Dylan were all putting on their long, flowing, black robes and getting ready to graduate.

The large ceremony on Friday night was threatened by thundershowers and delayed for a while. Eventually they set up a some-what shortened ceremony in Lane Stadium. The rather more meaningful ceremony took place the next day, with the individual college graduations. While Kirst had wanted to go to as many of our friends' graduations, after hanging out at Katie's the night before for a party and generally the exhaustion (plus amount of traffic), we bailed on the others and just went to the English department's graduation ceremony where Kirst got her well deserved diploma.


I'm sure I'll leave things out, but the summer seemed to be a bit of a whirlwind of activity. We moved out of Windsor Hills and all my stuff managed to clutter up the Stonegate apartment for a while. We also repainted all the walls from their various colors back to white. It was a bit of a rushed job, to the point where the primer we were using was cracking as it dried. However, they renovated the place after we moved out so they didn't charge us a cent, despite the bad paint and the hole in the carpet courtesy of Zubie. A little over a week after I moved all my stuff into Stonegate, we helped Cory move out into his new place.

In June we had our wedding shower, which I was originally advised to avoid, then told to make an appearance where I was promptly wrapped in a toilet paper wedding dress. A few days later, for Kirst's birthday, we went up to Baltimore and took a tour of the park before going to the game against the Nats. During BP before the game, I caught a ball courtesy of one of the coaches. It was the first time I'd ever caught a ball at a game, so I was smiling like a little kid for most of the night.

At the beginning of July we moved out of Stonegate and into our new place. My mom was a saint and drove down for the weekend to help us pack and move everything. Well, to step back, the first day we painted the whole place. Then the next day we had a 14ft Uhaul reserved. We show up at the place and this guy looks at me blankly and tells me they don't have any trucks. I spent the next half-hour or so on the phone with Uhaul, seething, pacing back and forth behind this building. Apparently the guy was a moron and didn't inform Uhaul that they needed to assign the reservation to another franchise. Eventually I got to someone helpful and she managed to find a much smaller truck for 6 hours and gave me $50 off for the inconvenience, which Mollified me a bit.

We hauled ass to get everything packed in the limited time we had. In the end we didn't get everything, but all the big stuff and big boxes. Over the next week we would pick up the rest. The following weekend mom and Kirst's mom came down and helped with the finishing touches and the like. After living in our new place for all of a week and change, we headed up to Northern Virginia to be around for the last minute wedding prep and bachelor/bachelorette parties.

For the bachelor party, Sweede arranged a trip to Atlantic City for two nights. The guys were incredibly kind (thank you all again) and donated money for me to gamble with since I couldn't afford any of my own (which I managed to mostly lose). It was a great time hanging out with the guys for a few days. We concluded the trip with an O's game with terrific seats down the third base line.

A few days later was the big day. It also happened to be the hottest day of the year. I woke up before the sun as near as I can recall, and then sat around not doing much until around noon, when I had the longest, most painstaking shave of my life. A little after two, Nick and I drove over to the Ritz Carlton where Kirst and I would be staying and checked in. We then got over to Meadowlark around 3:00 and made some last minute adjustments for the DJ table and the like, and then sat around some more.

The whole event is a bit of a blur. We had an absolute blast seeing everyone and then dancing like crazy all night. By the end it was just immediate family and best friends, which was a lot of fun. I'm not doing the night justice at all, but then I could spend an entire post on just the wedding and not do it justice (and maybe I'll try at some point).

Someone managed to find out where we were staying and have a baby crib placed in the room for when we got there. The scarier part was that the door wasn't closed all the way when we arrived. I'm still not sure who did it. The little baby-proofing bag came in handy when Kirst cut herself shaving the next morning. She got to wear a dino-band-aid.

A few days after the wedding we were off for the honeymoon in Europe. Once again, it deserves a post of its own, complete with pictures. For now I'll skip over it and just say that Santorini is probably the most beautiful spot on Earth, at least as far as I've seen, and that I want to go back both on a cruise and back to Italy and Greece.

A few days after we got back from Europe, we headed back to Blacksburg and I geared up for my final year of grad school.

This post is long enough as it is, so I will hold off on the last four months of the year for my next post, which I will try to make sooner rather than later.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES

2010 In Review, Part I: January - March

I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning. The end of 2009 saw Kirsten temporarily stranded in Blacksburg by the first of a couple massive snowfalls. Dylan had moved out of my apartment in Windsor Hills and Teddy was readying to move in (once he returned to the states from Hong Kong). I was preparing for my second semester of grad school, taking one required course in theory, and two electives, Creative Non Fiction and Business and Technical Writing. Kirsten, along with my roommates Teddy and Chris, was preparing to graduate. At the time she was considering grad school for the fall, namely Tech and Radford. In an attempt to bolster her resume, she joined an internship program to tutor at Blacksburg High School.

Honestly, the one definably "January" moment I can remember is recieving our electric bill at the end of the month for the period where no one was there. The bill was for over twice our previous highest bill, and unfortunately there was no mistake. However, a fonder memory is the week or so before classes began in which Teddy, Kirsten and I were able to spend some time together, mostly relaxing and catching up, hearing all about Hong Kong and Teddy's excursions to other parts of Asia. On one of his forrays to China, he bought himself a nice (cheap) suit, and very kindly, got one for me too. So of course, we had to wear them at the first opportunity, which happened to be initiation for brothers neither of us knew very well yet.


February seemed to primarily a blur of lots of snow. We had several sledding adventures on the hill with Zubie either in our laps or chasing us down the hill, barking the whole way and getting a face full of snow for his trouble. I got out of class with decent regularity. In one of my nights off, we decided to drive downtown to get some food. This trip should have been unremarkable if it weren't for the fact that Teddy locked his keys in his car, with it running. Fortunately, one door was only partially closed, and after much finagling, we were able to get a wire hanger in and pull the door handle from the inside. Of course, this event lead to a running joke every time we went anywhere, to make sure not to leave keys in the car.

In March, I began the month by visiting New York City during spring break for a few days with Kirsten, Anna, and some of Anna's friends, and we met Teddy there as well, who, along with his cousin, once again served as my guides through NYC. Our trip was only two days, but we did almost everything I had done on my first visit, which was four days. We took a Chinatown bus from DC to NYC Midtown (it drops you off by MSG). Going in, our goals were primarily gastronomic; Anna wanted to try to find the Best Burger in New York (courtesy of HIMYM), I insisted we had to try Katz and a Pizza too, and Teddy suggested we find a good Bagel place (something we'd failed to do in our first visit). We also located the bar that inspired MacClaren's from HIMYM, McGee's Pub, but ended up not stopping in.

Anywho, starting at the beginning, we took the Metro into Chinatown early in the morning and waited at our sketchy "bus stop" which was a sign over the door of an abandoned house's door. The bus, all black, eventually showed up, and we were on our way. We arrived in New York around 1:00 and made our way the half-dozen or so blocks from MSG to Madison Square Park, where our first (and only) Burger stop was: The Shake Shack. It's a little nicer than a shack, but it was a small building in the middle of a park. And we waited over an hour in line for our food. In addition to an amazing, heart-attack-inducing burger, we also got just as unhealthy cheese fries and something called a concrete. Our particular concrete was chocolate ice cream with brownie chunks, and probably some other chocolate items in the mix, with a consistency much like its name.


After our insanely delicious, and worth the wait meal, we took the subway to our hotel to put our stuff down and take a brief break. We then headed out and walked to Times Square. First stop was the Hershey's Store, which smelled deliciously of chocolate. I bought a Reese's shirt, and really hoped that it retained the smell of that store forever. Then we crossed the street and amused ourselves in the M&M's store for quite some time. It was much bigger than Hershey's (what with 3 floors), and was generally a little more ridiculous in the random things you could get with the M&M's logo on it. From there we headed into Times Square proper and looked into seeing a show, but even the cheapest tickets were a good bit more than we were looking to spend, and so we declined. Moving on down Times Square, we headed into the Toys R Us there and enjoyed the myriad displays and various toys themes, the Lego section, the Dinosaur section, and, of course, the Toy Story section. If you've never been, there's a Ferris Wheel inside the store. Truly a playland.

After Times Square, I think it was actually about dinner time, and with Teddy and I enthusiastically leading the way, we headed to Katz's Delicatessen. Kirsten followed Teddy and I's lead and ordered a pastrami Ruben (we probably should have shared). It wasn't quite as good as the first time, but that's like saying winning the lottery a second time wasn't as exciting as the first, it's that good. Anna wasn't nearly as pleased with her Philly Cheesesteak. Unfortunate, but we are in NY, not Philly. After our very filling dinner, we headed to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked half-way across it. We had a heck of a view from there, even if I did keep looking at the ground and water hundreds of feet below through the planks.

Our next stop was Rockefeller Center. One of my driving goals in the visit was to take Kirsten ice-skating at Rockefeller, so we did. While we skated, Anna and the others were entertained by an older Asian man doing interpretive ice-dance. He was so into it and enthusiastic you couldn't help but admire him. After our brief skate, we walked over to Rockefeller center and went to the "Top of the Rock," which is cheaper and much easier than going to the top of the Empire State Building. The view was incredible, nearly indescribable.

The relatively dark spot is Central Park. After we descended from those heights, we parted ways from our guides and I insisted on returning to Times Square, since it is a different place at night. Compared to my previous visit, it was relatively quiet. By that I mean we didn't see any party buses or Lamborghinis. Regardless, it's still an explosion of light and sound. Once we were done taking in all the sights and sounds, we walked our way back to the hotel and gratefully removed our shoes and quickly slipped into unconsciousness.

On day two, we took the subway uptown to Teddy's cousin's apartment to meet up with them, and from there, went to a bagel place for breakfast/brunch. From there we walked a ways and walked by Tom's Restaurant (of Seinfeld fame). Cam, Anna's roommate, wanted to see Strawberry Fields, so we obliged, and went to Central Park, entering by Strawberry fields and then walking through the park to Columbus Circle. We walked by McGee's Pub, then took the subway downtown to see Ground Zero, then walked to the Liberty Island Ferry. We walked briefly around the island, taking the obligatory photos with Lady Liberty, then headed back to the ferry. For the second time in as many trips, rather than get off at Ellis Island, I was in a group that was too tired and too short on time to bother, and so we stayed on board. From there we went to Lombardi's in Little Italy for Pizza.


This was my favorite of the three pizzas: Meatball, green pepper, and sliced tomato. Having tried NY and Chicago pizza, I can't say they compare. They are two completely different things, and both of them are, quite simply, awesome. After dinner, we quickly made our way to Insomnia Cookies, which was just a few blocks away, where Anna got a box of delicious and (at the time) warm cookies. We then bolted for the subway to get us back to MSG to catch our bus. We were cutting it close, and our nerves were not helped by a delay on the line that had us waiting nearly fifteen minutes for the next train, which then stopped a few times in between stations. Getting off the train and in a hurry, we managed to go the wrong way for a couple blocks before realizing our mistake and then I ran ahead to hold the bus if need be. Fortunately, the bus itself had been running late and so we made it. Not by much, but we made it.

I could continue on in March by describing how I got a ticket for a right on red, and then continue on to April and beyond, but this post, due to my love for writing about trips, is already quite long enough, so I will conclude it here for now.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES

Donne's Satire 3

I apologize if you don't care to read old dead white dudes' poetry, but I read this poem for class this past week and really liked what it had to say on religion. It lines closely with my own beliefs.
If you do choose to read this rather long poem, then I hope you enjoy it.

From Satires: Satire 3

Kind pithy chokes my spleen, brave scorn forbids
Those tears to issue which swell my eyelids;
I must not laugh, nor weep sins, and be wise,
Can railing then cure these worn maladies?
Is not our mistress, fair Religion,
As worthy of all our soul's devotion,
As virtue was to the first blinded age?
Are not heaven's joys as valiant to assuage
Lusts, as earth's honor was to them? Alas,
As we do them in means, shall they surpass
Us in the end, and shall thy father's spirit
Meet blind philosophers in heaven, whose merit
Of strict life may be imputed faith, and hear
Thee, whom he taught so easy ways and near
To follow, damned? O if thou dar'st, fear this;
This fear great courage and high valor is.
Dar'st thou aid mutinous Dutch, and dar'st thou lay
Thee in ships, wooden sepulchers, a prey
To leaders' rage, to storms, to shot, to dearth?
Dar'st thou dive seas and dungeons of the earth?
Hast thou courageous fire to thaw the ice
Of frozen north discoveries? And thrice
Colder than salamanders, like divine
Childern in the oven, fires of Spain, and the line,
Whose countries limbecks to our bodies be,
Canst thou for gain bear? And must every he
Which cries not "Goddess!" to thy mistress, draw,
Or eat thy poisonous words? Courage of straw!
O desperate coward, wilt thou seem bold, and
To thy foes and his (who made thee to stand
Sentinel in his world's garrison) thus yield,
And for forbidden wars, leave the appointed field?
Know thy foes: the foul Devil, whom thou
Strivest to please, for hate, not love, would allow
The fain his whole realm to be quit; and as
The world's all parts wither away and pass,
So the world's self, thy other loved foe, is
In her decrepit wane, and thou, loving this,
Dost love a withered and worn strumpet; last,
Flesh (itself's death) and joys which flesh can taste,
Thou lovest; and thy fair goodly soul, which doth
Give this flesh power to taste joy, thou dost loathe.
Seek true religion. O where? Mirreus,
Thinking her unhoused here, and fled from us,
Seeks her at Rome; there, because he doth know
That she was there a thousand years ago;
He loves her rags so, as we here obey
The statecloth where the prince sat yesterday.
Crantz to such brave loves will no be enthralled
But loves her only, who at Geneva is called
Religion, plain, simple, sullen, young,
Contemptuous, yet unhandsome; as among
Lecherous humors, there is one that judges
No wenches wholesome by coarse country drudges.
Graius stays still at home here, and because
Some preachers, vile ambitious bawds, and laws,
Still new like fashions, bid him think that she
Which dwells with us is only perfect, he
Embraceth her whom his godfathers will
Tender to him, being tender, as wards still
Take such wives as their guardians offer, or
Pay values.Careless Phrygius doth abhor
All, because he cannot be good, as one,
Knowing some women whores, dares marry none.
Gracchus loves all as one, and thinks that so
As women do in diverse countries go
In divers habits, yet are still one kind,
So doth, so is Religion; and this blind-
ness too much light breeds; but unmoved thou
Of force must one, and forced but one allow;
And the right; ask thy father which is she;
Let him ask his, though truth and falsehood be
Near twins, yet truth a little elder is;
Be busy to seek her, believe me this,
He's not of none, nor worst, that seeks the best.
To adore, or scorn an image, or protest,
May all be bad; doubt wisely; in strange way
To stand inquiring right is not to stray;
To sleep, or run wrong is. On a huge hill,
Cragged and steep, Truth stands, and he that will
Reach her, about must, and about must go;
And what the hill's suddenness resists, win so;
Yet strive so, that before age, death's twilight,
Thy soul rest, for none can work in that night.
To will implies delay; therefore now do.
Hard deeds, the body's pains; hard knowledge too
The mind's endeavors reach, and mysteries
Are like the sun, dazzling, yet plain to all eyes.
Keep the truth which thou hast found; men do not stand
In so ill case here that God hath with his hand
Signed kings' blank charters to kill whom they hate,
Nor are they vicars, but hangmen to fate.
Fool and wretch, wilt thoug let thy soul be tied
To man's laws, by which she shall not be tried
At the last day? Oh, will it then boot thee
To say a Philip of a Gregory,
A Harry, or a Martin taught me this?
Is not this excuse for mere contraries
Equally strong? Cannot both sides say so?
That thou mayest rightly obey power, her bounds know;
Those passed, her nature, and name is changed; to be
Then humble to her is idolatry.
As streams are, power is; those blest flowers that dwell
At the rough stream's calm head, thrive and do well,
But having left their roots, and themselves given
To the stream's tyrannous rage, alas, are driven
Through mills, and rocks, and woods, and at last, almost
Consumed in going, in the sea are lost:
So perish souls, which more choose men's unjust
Power from God claimed, than God himself to trust.

Nature in a Video Game

For my major paper in my Ecocriticism class, I have narrowed down my possible topics to be a focus on one game (and possibly its supporting material) and it's interpretation of the relationship between man and nature. I'm looking at either Final Fantasy VII or Pokemon (Red/Blue/Yellow).

I think it would be a lot of fun and really interesting (and difficult) to work on Final Fantasy VII. I think the way nature is portrayed/interacted with in that game is much more complex than it is in Pokemon. This makes it more interesting, but also less likely that I could actually explore it in any depth in a ten-or-so page paper. Not to mention, I don't have the time to play through the game again, and despite beating it twice, there's still a lot I don't know or understand. After reading (read: skimming) Ents, Elves and Eriador, I think it would be possible and interesting to write a book on it. I feel like a book would be more feasible than an article at this point.

Pokemon, on the other hand, isn't quite as complex, but does seem to have an interesting and unique take on humanity's relationship with nature, particularly in relations with animals. I'm not sure what I would say right now, but I know that, looking at the game through a ecocritic-lens, I'm going to come down on the side of the game reinforcing poor cultural considerations of nature. There's definitely a man-over-nature aspect to the series that wouldn't allow me to approve of it as an ecocritic.

An ecocritic (which I have to pretend to be for the paper) would disapprove of the game's domination of the 'wild' by people. Nature is only valuable based on its usefulness. Tall grasses and the like are valuable because they allow the trainer to capture new pokemon or force their pokemon to fight and become stronger. There is definitely a "dog-fighting" type ethic to this game, which was touched on in the live-action Pokemon movie spoof trailer. However, despite the fact that the character is participating in this domination over animals for his own ends, there are still criminals, Team Rocket, whose cruelty to pokemon must be stopped. So one question I would need to explore in my paper is where the line is drawn.

The TV show could be useful for a backstory to the game, with a character treating and interacting with pokemon in a certain way. The game implies that your character has the same kind-heartedness that Ash does in the show, but there is no ostensible proof of this. Other characters in the game comment that your pokemon like you no matter what you do. The closest there is to a guide for how you are treating your pokemon is the expressions of Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow, and even then, they are pretty much guaranteed to improve as long as you keep Pikachu in your party, and usually conscious. The importance of the feelings of your pokemon became more important in later series, but the fact still remains that the game implies that pokemon (read: animals) are best off under the protection and control of a person (or really, a ten-year-old kid).

While I still have plenty of questions on how I'm going to write this paper, at this point, I've learned that if I don't have questions, my paper will probably not be very good.

All the best to you and your,

-TES

PS. I know, I'm a huge dork, but you should know that already.

Oppression of Literary Studies

I recently found out about a website called The Book Buzz. This website was established by a group of high school parents from Richland, Washington who demanded that the language arts teachers at first one, then a second high school in the area, hand over their syllabi and reading lists. Those who refused were informed that their syllabi and all other teaching materials were in the public domain, presumably because they are government employees. Aside from the horrendous rights infringements of such a statement, the parents then compiled a list the books being taught and set about grading their "content and themes" and supposedly did not presume to judge "the literary merit of the books."

Of the expansive list of books, only eight were judged as deserving an "A" for content and themes. Presumably this would mean that these books are the only ones appropriate for high school students. While my count was a cursory thing, I couldn't help but notice that two of the books given "A"s were The Lord of the Rings and The Giver. I would hope both are more than appropriate, considering I read them both in middle school, if not before.

Interestingly, of the ten Shakespeare plays listed (Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest) only one, Romeo and Juliet, was rated, receiving a "B." Now I'm not going to tell these people how to do their jobs, but it seems to me that trysting teenage lovers who end up both committing suicide for their love is not exactly appropriate for these apparently fragile minded children they have in high school in Richland, Washington.

From the standpoint of evaluating books on their content and themes, and not their literary merit, I don't think it would be difficult to give "D"s to any of Shakespeare's plays (these parents have also decided that giving a book an "F" is either too harsh, because no one should fail, or it is likely to make them appear unreasonable). Hamlet's themes include suicide, fratricide, incest, murder, insanity, and plenty of dirty jokes along the way (not that students would ever catch them, let alone most parents). How about Macbeth, Othello, or King Lear, the other three of Shakespeare's masterworks? Well, there's certainly plenty of murder, scheming against authority, insanity, and so on, once again, with a bunch of dirty jokes thrown in.

More on their grading scale, they claim that the grades are associated with the MPAA rating scale, with A = G, B=PG, C=PG-13, and D=R or NC-17. Interestingly, the youngest grade with books rated in this website is 9th grade, were students are presumably 14 when they enter. By their own rating scale, a C and above is appropriate for all classes, with all of their grades being appropriate for seniors and progressively for juniors. So while, ostensibly, the "grade" of a book is solely a way of gauging it's audience appropriateness, then why not stick solely with the MPAA rating scale they seemingly based the grades off of?

The most obvious answer is that saying a book should be rated PG-13 doesn't carry nearly the same weight as giving it a "C." A "C" seems to question its use in the classroom, while rating it PG-13 would not, since all students should be about that age range or above. However, it's pretty clear to me that this grading does not always follow such a grading scale. Case in point: The Lord of the Rings. As a movie adaptation it received a PG-13 rating from the MPAA. Now, granted, the movie had graphic depictions of warfare and the books aren't necessarily as detailed, but there is still considerable amounts of violence and threatening violence that there is no way I think it could be rated G.

On the other hand, Ender's Game, an ostensibly young adult novel, received a "C" or PG-13 rating. The rating was based on "language, primarily crudeness but some profanity." The most frequently used profane word was bastard "(over 13 times)," and the most serious curse word, shit, was used three times. However, it was used three times, repeated in one sentence, so only in one instance was the word used: "Shit-talking, shit-talking, shit-talking!" The primary "potentially objectionable theme" was "Derogatory/disrespectful religious comments," in particular, statements such as "people do strange things for religion." Now, for anyone who has read the Ender series, there is a pretty extensive discussion of religion going on. The books criticize entirely faith based religion. That is, numerous characters are depicted as taking actions based on blind faith which have horrendous consequences. However, other characters who think about their faith, and examine their faith and situation critically, are shown to be more in keeping with their faith. Characters who think about faith follow the message and meaning of their faith, while those who follow faith alone without thinking follow only the word and not the meaning.

This is an aspect of literature that makes it impossible to simply excise pieces of text and use them to criticize the book as potentially offensive or objectionable. By doing so, you are failing to examine the literary reasons why the author included such language and themes. By avoiding a discussion of literary merit, this group excuses themselves from actually thinking about these books. A piece of literature, any literature, is not thousands of words used at random to tell an arbitrary story, and the implication that themes are unrelated to literary merit and thus effort, is an insult to the dozens, if not hundreds of authors in this list, and the millions of people who have read these works and invested time into examining the elements of the themes and content. The words and usages in books are put there purposefully by the author, not at random.

By judging and questioning the choices made by the underpaid men and women who see it as their duty to give the best possible education to their students, the parents who formed this website are questioning the very merit of the people teaching their children. The reason to send children to school, ostensibly, is to allow them to learn from people who know more about subjects than the parents do. The biggest reason children need to go to school is so that they are exposed to the thoughts of people outside their family unit and are allowed to develop critical thinking skills that will give them the best opportunity to be successful.

Socrates said that "the only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing." Compared to all the knowledge out there, known and unknown, any knowledge you can develop in your lifetime is as infinitesimal as to be nothing. I believe that a parent's goal should be to hope that tiny little bit that his or her child knows is just a little greater than his or her own.

The greatest tragedy of growing up is to no longer ask "why?" to every answer.

-TES

Guilty Writing

The title (and the motivation for starting this post) is mostly guilt: guilt over the fact that I said I was going to start writing more regularly and then haven't posted in 24 days or something like that.

One of my larger concerns recently has been dealing with administration at Radford (not for the first time). This time I'm dealing with departmental policies I wasn't aware of but that could make my final semester worse than it needs to be. Each semester, the English department offers about seven or eight graduate courses at the 600 level (which are the ones we're supposed to take). Of these, at least two have the course number 680, which is broadly classified as Special Topics in English. That said, they're usually extremely diverse and completely unrelated.

Due to limited course options, each semester, I've elected to take one of the 680s. The first was Shakespeare and Film, the second, this past spring, was Creative Nonfiction, and then the third, which I am currently in, is Ecocriticism. About two weeks ago, I was told that you can only have two 680s count toward your required credits for graduation.

The program I'm in requires 33 credits to graduate, and 9 credits per semester to keep my GTA position. If you do the math, that's 36 credits over four semesters. However, we're allowed to take a course that isn't really a course, in order to maintain 9 credits. This course, of course, doesn't count toward the 33 required credits. So, to clarify, I was planning on taking this essentially fake course next semester, requiring me to only take two courses in the spring.

However, with this current problem, unless I get one 680 changed in the records to something else, I will have to take three credits, in addition to taking my Comprehensive Examination at some point, and applying for jobs.

My adviser, eventually suggested that I could petition to change my current 680 to a 698 (Directed Study). However, you can only take one directed study, and I'm planning on taking one in the spring. So that wouldn't work.

I do have a plan of attack, but I have no idea about its feasibility at this point. My plan is to petition to change my Creative Nonfiction 680 to 611, Creative Writing. Both are electives within the English department. Creative Nonfiction was a much more work intensive course than 611 is according to their syllabi.

Now, in order for my petition to have a chance, I have to give reasons why the course should be changed other than my own convenience. Looking at the courses offered last spring, I was happy to discover that none of the courses fell directly into the category of British lit. That is, there are three generic course numbers for British lit that are supposed to be offered one each semester. In the spring, none was offered however, and a women's lit course, that could count as either American or British lit was offered.

However, my argument will be that, considering the fact that I was on the British literature track, and since no ostensibly British Literature courses were offered (outside of another 680), then I should not be punished for taking that particular 680, and would have taken a Brit lit course had it been offered. I can demonstrate that this semester I am taking it, and next semester I will be taking the British literature offered courses.

We'll see how it goes.

Science Fiction/Fantasy and the Environment

One of the classes I'm taking this semester is "Ecocriticism." I honestly didn't have the slightest idea of what to expect from the course other than that I would be expected to read Walden at some point (and we have). I won't lie, the first few weeks of the course were pretty unexciting for me. However, recently we began working on the role of apocalypse narratives in ecocriticism.

Unsurprisingly, I deeply enjoyed reading a speculative fiction book on the apocalypse. The example of apocalypse we used for the course was Margret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and complexity of the apocalypse envisioned in the novel. This apocalypse is not brought about by a singular event, occurance, or discovery, but instead, a chain of interrelated causes, varying from proliferation of science and technology, consumerism, triviality of society, and more.

In class, our professor wanted to try to pin down the biggest causes of the apocalypse Atwood envisioned. Quite frankly, I thought it was impossible, everything was related. Obsession with sex leads to desire for health products to maintain youth. These people provide a willing market for scientific corporations to exploit. The money they bring in leads to the power to advance technology, but also breeds intense competition between corporations, leading to acts of terrorism (often bio-terrorism). Companies gain technological advancements that would allow them to cure disease, but they dare not allow the product to be perfect, because if it was, they would destroy their own market. Economy drives the engine of a vicious cycle.

Another upcoming assignment for the course was to pick any book dealing with ecocriticsm and read it independently, providing a report to the class on the new view we discovered. A search in the library using simply the term ecocriticism linked me to numerous books with mostly uninteresting titles. One caught my eye though: Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien. Jackpot.

While mostly ignored recently, my interest and fascination for fantasy and science fiction had begun resurfacing as a legitimate area of inquiry for my studies when I began Oryx and Crake. Finding a book on the environmental vision of Tolkien solidified the occasional wandering thoughts I'd been having about the genre. In particular, I began thinking of how much science fiction and fantasy (a little more so the latter than the former) depicts nature as a friendly, benign force that we must appreciate and embrace. Additionally, kids movies and stories seem to often be rich in environmental propaganda (if you'll forgive the term).

Think Fern Gully and Peter Pan. In both, man and technology are to a greater or lesser degree, evil, and must be defeated. In The Chronicles of Narnia, the preservation of the natural world is tantamount, with God/Jesus taking the shape of a lion and bestowing sentient life on animals as well as tree and water spirits (not to mention interesting in the blend of Christianity and paganism).

In Final Fantasy VII, you fight to save the world, first from the economic and technological powers that would seek to suck the world dry of all its value, and then from an alien/psychotic who seeks to destroy the world. At the end, the power of Holy is not enough to stop the destruction of the earth by itself, but the Lifestream, an embodiment of the natural world (as glowing green tendrils, in case the connection wasn't clear enough) intervenes, helping Holy to stop the apocalypse and simultaneously overrunning the largest city with green plant-growth.

I'm finding the possibilities for this subject that I was grudging to engage in very exciting (and a little overwhelming). For the end of the semester, I have to write a sizable research paper on some topic within the field. Before I was worried about what I could possibly write that wouldn't bore me to tears. Now I'm worried that I will struggle to define a topic that I can write only ten to fifteen pages on.

Malachi

This morning, we finally had to put Mally to sleep. He started having seizures on Friday night and hadn't been able to walk basically at all for a few days before that. On Saturday night, I drove up to Charlottesville to pick up Anna and head home. When we got home and saw him lying there, it was pretty heartbreaking. His breathing was erratic and when he had his eyes open, he had little control over them, but they looked frightened. I felt awful for him, and worried that maybe we selfishly put this off for too long. But that's a real hard call to make, and I'll never be sure.

We stayed up for a few hours, just hanging out with him and petting him a bit. The next morning, we carried him out to the car and I sat in the back seat with his head on my lap on the way to the vet. I carried him in and they weighed him. He was 45 pounds. When he had been healthy he'd been around 60. Then we carried him in to one of the rooms and set him on the table. They took him back in the back to insert his catheter, and then brought him back and gave us some time with him. Once we were ready, the vet came in with three syringes. She explained that the first was saline to flush the catheter. The second was a relaxing agent to calm him and basically put him to sleep. The last syringe was to stop his heart. She explained that it was valium based and would be completely painless, knocking him out and overloading his system, shutting down his heart.

We gave our OK and she gave the three injections. It seemed so fast. I had my hand on his chest and could feel his heartbeat fade away. She then left us there, telling us we could leave when ready and they would take care of him after we left the room. Seeing him on that table was surreal. The whole situation was surreal, and so contradictory. On one hand, I didn't want Mally to be in pain anymore. It was past time. On the other, I still didn't want to say goodbye.

The vet is associated with a cremation service, so we will get his ashes in a week or two. I'm not sure what to do with them. Mom suggested spreading them around the lake near our old house, but I feel a little selfishly against that. I would like to keep at least some of his ashes with me wherever life takes me, at least for the next few years. Admittedly though, it's still fresh, so I want to keep something to hold on to.

I think you can never get over your childhood pets, and honestly, your childhood dog in particular. Not that you should. Mally will always have a special place in my heart, and I will miss him.

Rest in peace Malachi, I will always miss you and love you. May angels guide you home.

-TES

My Dad

I've found myself thinking a lot about my dad recently (in the past year or so). In my Creative Non-Fiction class, I wrote a piece about him that, last I read it, I really liked, though I would like to add some things to it and work on it some more. Just a couple weeks ago I was struck with the need/desire to write a little poem focusing on my dad (which I will post a draft of below). And just the other night, I found myself thinking back to the summer of 2007, and how I wish I had done some things differently.

The thing that sticks out most in my mind is the last time I saw him. Anna, Kirsten, and I visited him at Georgetown Hospital. It was the day before I was leaving for Leadership Academy in Bethany, WV. Carl greeted us as we came to the floor he was on and was clearly agitated. I know he talked to us, but I can't remember anything of what he said. Then we went in to Dad's room. He looked bad and he was complaining about the doctors and how everyone working there were a bunch of idiots. I didn't say much. I told him I loved him, and hugged him on his bed, then I left the room. I don't think I was in there for more than a few minutes.

I don't know why that was. Looking back, I can see he was clearly scared. He knew what was happening and I feel like I didn't do enough to assure him that I loved him, that I forgave him for all his faults, that I was still proud of all the things he had taught me, and that he would always be my Dad. I wish I could have apologized for being intimidated by his problems, for avoiding him, for not spending enough time with him when no one else would.

Looking back, I feel like I dismissed the seriousness of the visit. I knew very well that he would probably never walk out of that hospital, but yet, I didn't spend much time with him when I was given one last chance to. And I don't know why.

He died the next morning, probably while I was in the air from D.C. to Pittsburgh. I got a call from Carl while I was on the bus from Pittsburgh to Bethany. It wasn't a shock, but it still wasn't pleasant. I felt so alone in that week.

A Father Son Sport

My father taught me the game
before I wore real pants.
A drainspout was home
backyard corners bases
and every hit a full lap.

My father whispered at my door
inning by inning updates.
I heard his tears
as he described a child like me
Robbing a city's dream.

My father called for clearance
before visiting the house
The basement my remains of home,
one of many rooms
With a glove long outgrown.

My father suddenly called often
to my home away from home.
As he always had
he awaited the heat
ending school and beginning.

My father died that summer
when LOVE was reintroduced.
Why did I rekindle an old flame
and never bring him
to one last game?

Motivation

So, it's been a little over a year since I've posted in here. A lot has happened but I haven't seem to have had the desire or the time to write about it here. And maybe it's just because I would prefer to do this than my copious amounts of homework, but I've (obviously) decided to write something new.

Courtesy of Anna, I recently found this video.

It is a truly amazing and inspiring story. It's a slice of the American dream; someone decides they're not happy with something in their life so they do something about it and are rewarded with positive results.

Seeing Ben's story made me reflect on my own health. He still weighs about 60 pounds more than I do, but he's certainly in a hell of a lot better shape than I am. I mean, for god's sake, he's run a marathon. I lose my breath climbing a few flights of stairs.

I don't want to take anything from Ben's achievement, it is amazing, but part of me thinks it is a lot easier to lose a lot of weight (once you start) than it is to lose just the 10-20 pounds you are overweight. By that I mean that, once he started, Ben could chart his achievements rather quickly. He could see his progress spelled out for him. It's easier to stay motivated when you see that you're getting somewhere.

But in the end, not having numerical support and motivation is just an excuse. The fact of the matter is that I always put off working out. I'm busy, I have too much on my plate as it is. I have workouts designed specifically for people who have busy days, and yet I still make excuses to not do a half hour workout, or a twenty minute one, or now a ten minute one. Obviously I'm bullshitting myself if I'm saying I don't have time for a ten or twenty minute workout every day. I'm writing this aren't I?

But there's still that feeling of frustration at not getting anywhere. I've been trying for several years (off and on) to lose about ten pounds. And I've never broken back under 180. It reminds me of my Junior year in college when I had the exact opposite problem.

That summer, Matt convinced me to start working out with him (and Jim had been talking me into it from 500 miles away). I worked a physically demanding job and worked out at the gym fairly regularly over the summer, trying to bulk up from my scrawny 160 pounds. When I moved into my dorm as an RA at Tech, after a summer of protein shakes and fast food, I was still at 160.

That year, I went to the gym at least four times a week, if not five, and did workouts designed for football players (albeit, with much less weight, I was still 160 pounds after all and fairly stick-like). From August to April, doing only weight training, very little cardio, eating 5-8 meals a day plus several protein shakes, I had gained a whopping five pounds. I struggled the entire year to break over 170. I would flirt with it, getting to 168 or so after chugging a water bottle.

The following summer, I worked at a restaurant, ate one meal a day on average, and didn't work out at all. I ballooned (sort of I suppose) to over 180, and have been stuck there since. For a while, it was hard for me to figure out what I wanted from workouts. After working so hard to ADD weight, I was suddenly trying to do the opposite.

Matt was helpful: "Run." I tried. For about a week I would go to the track and run for twenty minutes a day. But then I had to take a day or two off for whatever reason. I went back and ran a couple more times, but I never got into that rhythm. When I was going to the gym regularly, I felt anxious if I didn't work out. But that dependence on working out requires establishing a habit first, and that's been my biggest self-defeating problem. I try this, that, or the other, and for about a week I'm religious to the practice. Eventually though, the soreness convinces me to take (just a day or two) off. And next thing I know, I haven't worked out in weeks.

This is all things I know, but, as a writer, I'm hoping that by really thinking about it, analyzing my bullshit excuses and putting it down on paper (or in type), that I can better see through my own self-delusions. I'll see if it works and if I establish a pattern.

In the mean time, all the best to you and yours, especially if you read through all my bitching.

-TES

Mr. Teacher-man

I'm coming to the close of my second week of teaching a Freshman class and taking three Graduate level classes. First off, the amount of reading is absolutely insane. I feel guilty doing anything else, because I'm worried I won't get done in time. I know I need to be planning out my semester, when I should be working on papers, working ahead on my two big papers if I can... but I keep getting overwhelmed by the more pressing readings I need to do.

As far as teaching goes, I'm becoming much more comfortable doing no more than a week at a time. Plan the week, do it, then plan the next. I still feel like I have no idea what I'm teaching, but at least I feel like I'm hiding that better. I still don't know my students' names, and that really bothers me. I don't think I will be very successful unless I know each kid by name. There's only 20, and one of the three whose name I know has only shown up once.

Two of my classes are the kick-in-the-ass, required classes. As such, they kind of suck. I have to read a book a week almost for the one, and for the other I have to read about 100 pages of theory a week... See Foucault... In both of these classes, almost my entire grade is based on one massive paper. For the theory class, my paper has to have something like 20 sources and I have to submit it either to an academic conference or a scholarly journal, and be in the neighborhood of 20 pages.

Thankfully, my third class is a little less intense. I have to read a lot each week, as well as watch a movie, but I think it's interesting at least. It's a Shakespeare and Film class. I'm one of two students, so my entire grade and the entire class experience is us sitting around talking about the movie for three hours. This is my most rewarding and relaxing class. In fact, I'm probably going to write my big paper for my other class on the work I have to do in this class.

The class I'm teaching has its first real assignment due today. I got a few nervous emails yesterday and this morning about the assignment. This should be interesting.

As far as personal life goes, Grad school is kind of overwhelming it at the moment. I'm sure I'll find a balance (I can feel it coming already), but it might take another week or two. As for now, I'm looking forward to tailgating tomorrow and then watching football while pretending to read the book I have due on Monday.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES

Bloody Hell, We're in Canada!

So, this past weekend we did Insane Roadtrip 2009, take 2. Around 10:30pm on Friday, Dylan, Katie, Cory, Kirsten and I left Blacksburg bound for Milwaukee via Chicago. Dylan drove through West Virginia and Kentucky, pointing out to me (the only conscious one at the time) places he knew, where he lived, and so on. About 20 miles into Indiana, I took over and drove for a couple hours until we were a bit North of Indianapolis and had to stop for gas. I bought gas and then got to pass out in the back for a couple hours as dawn broke and Katie drove us into Chicago.

We parked downtown after a brief journey through the rougher South-side of Chicago thanks to some faulty direction by yours truly. Little sidenote, the garage we parked in happens to be the one used in the opening scene of Dark Knight. Just so you know... moving on. After we parked we walked down towards Lake Michigan and through Millennium Park. From there we went wandering for some Pizza. There's a chain of places called Giordano's, and Kirst and Cory wanted to check that place out since it bears the same name as a family friend. We made our way toward the closest one that showed up on my GPS to learn that it was no longer in that location.

So we made our way back to a different pizza place we had passed that looked pretty good: Pizzano's. We got a sausage, green pepper and buttercrust pizza. It was pretty fantastic. There wasn't as much sauce as there was on the pizza from D'agostino's, which I actually liked: It allowed me to taste the really good sausage and the crust, which was delicious.

After lunch, we made our way out of the city (which was remarkably less painful than last time), and headed for Milwaukee, WI. I napped a bit more on the way up. We proceeded to get slightly lost in first a rich neighborhood, then a very poor one. Eventually we made our way toward the stadium and stopped at a Best Western a few blocks away. We got an executive suite for $140, which was pretty sweet (no pun intended). We relaxed for a while and then walked over to the game.

It was kind of weird at first to be going to a baseball game indoors. However, the atmosphere was incredible. It was just very fun and family friendly. The food was good and relatively cheap ($4.50 for a sausage of any sort you could desire). The game was a lot of fun, there were plenty of little things to keep fans involved. All in all I had a great time, and it was undoubtedly my favorite ballpark of the few I've been to.

After the game, we made our way back to the hotel and promptly zonked out. It added a bit to our trip cost (about $30 a person), but it definitely helped with our sanity and general health. We could have gotten a hotel for much cheaper outside the city, but the convenience was invaluable, and the room was nice.

The next morning we checked out around 9:30 and jumped back in the truck and headed back to Chicago. Sadly, we were unable to take the time to go by the custard place that we had planned to visit. That's my only real regret from this trip. As crazy as it sounds though, I think I'd be willing to go back to Milwaukee. The city seemed really nice from the little I saw of it, and I really enjoyed the Brewers game.

We got off the highway right on to West Addison and parked about a mile and a half from the park. We took a shuttle that was included in our $6 parking that took us right to Wrigley. We took our touristy pictures and went shopping for hats for everyone.

Foolishly, when we parked, we left our sweaters and jackets because it was sunny and we were warm. When we got to our seats, we were decidedly chilly. We were up high, and in the shade. Game-time temperature was 58 degrees. I had never been so cold in August.

Regardless though, I think we all had a pretty good time (though Kirsten and Katie had to buy sweatshirts to do so, and I think Dylan might have been on the verge of hypothermia). The Italian beef sandwiches were quite good. This time I also got a Chicago-dog, which included nacho cheese and hot peppers on a very large hot-dog on a poppy-seed bun. Delicious.

After the game, we decided to walk back to the cars and get a to-go pizza from Dags on the way. Thus, we walked about a mile with a quite heavy pizza before eating it in the bed of Dylan's truck. I love Chicago pizza, but I think I gained ten pounds this weekend.

After that it was a long drive home, which didn't end until 6:30 am on Monday. Just a bit painful on my first day of classes. But, that said, I had a great time, and I think everyone else did as well. Sorry that this was a bit superficial, but I didn't want to write a novel... yet... about this.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES

Chapter From Hell

Not a whole lot has happened since my last post, but I've got some time. I started orientation on Friday, and had my second day today. Friday wasn't too bad, I got my laptop from the University. It's a tablet, which is fun to play with, though really I think it'll kill more time than it would ever save.

On Saturday we went to the second Tech scrimmage and then went downtown for the evening. Cory met us there, along with a bunch of the brothers, and they stayed for a little bit. It was a pretty fun time but nothing too notable other than the fact that Sharkey's needs to clean their beer lines; the tap Blue Moon tasted terrible and very yeasty...

Moving on, Sunday I did just about nothing all day. It was rather relaxing. And then I went to bed at the ungodly early hour of 10:00pm.

Today was my second day of orientation, and we got lectured a good bit on different strategies and whatnot. Overall it wasn't all that eye-opening, but it wasn't bad and I did get a few ideas of things to do for my classes. It also helped that we were proceeding ahead of schedule and, at one point, 45 minutes ahead. Then, in the last three sessions, things bogged down horribly. The faculty members in attendance, who had been contributing to irrelevant discussion all day, ramped up the efforts to be the bane of my existence and turned three sessions that should have taken a grand total of 30 minutes, tops, into an hour and 15 minute affair.

First, there was the policies regarding students' confidentiality. All this part required was a quick review of the little paper it was on, for us to sign, saying we agreed to follow it, and that was it. Instead, faculty became concerned with the minutiae of which forms were necessary for a dependent student versus an independent one, and so forth, the answer to all of which was: it's not your concern, you ask the relevant department if so-and-so's parents have permission to their academic records and wait on their reply.

Then there was the nice lady from the on campus writing center. She finished her spiel in under five minutes. Then faculty started asking her inane questions like: Could your tutors help foreign students? What about partially deaf students? What about fully deaf students? And so on for an extra fifteen minutes.

And then there was the be-all-end-all of time wasters: the question and answer period. We the grad students amassed a grand total of one question we wanted answered. They hemmed and hawed over it a bit, but it still took under five minutes (if you couldn't tell by now, at this point I was watching each minute pass in painful agony). Apparently, we didn't ask enough questions, and hadn't dithered away enough time, because the faculty had to bring up a couple random things that they thought were genius enough to share. And then one guy in particular brought the house down: He first said he had a question he wanted addressed, and then gave back story to his question for ten full minutes, inserting occasional questions into the back story, and then continued to frame his question for another five minutes.

And then the guy in charge of the Q&A had the unenviable task of trying to filter out all the inane bullshit and actually answer the question, which I'll be damned if I even know what it was anymore.

Beau, on his worst day, was never as much of a dead-horse beater as this guy is. I am looking forward, so much, to sitting in on staff meetings where this will go on for far too long. About half way through the day, I realized that most of what was going on was the faculty telling each other stories, with little to no relevance to us. It was a colossal business meeting, that is to say, a hugantic, ginormic, waste of everyone's time.

Now, if I hear someone bitch about an hour long chapter I will smack them... hard...

Ok, my whining is over. I'm done, I'm spent, I'm going to go get some cheese to balance all of this out.

All the best to you and yours, may all your meetings be brief and efficient.

-TES

Gearing up for a New Semester

So I'm gearing up to go back to school. I honestly wasn't sure I would ever say that again, but I suppose I will be for the next two years at least. Class doesn't start for me until August 31st, but orientation begins tomorrow. I already bought my books, just in time to max out my credit card (more on that later I'm sure). I bought most online and in all it's cost me under $150, so, not too bad in my opinion.

I'm taking three classes this semester, and I don't know whether I like or hate the fact that each only meets once a week at night. I have class, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, from 6:30-9:30. Two of the classes are required courses as a GA, and honestly don't sound all that lively, though I'm sure they'll be quite helpful. My third class is "Shakespeare in Film." I originally wanted to take a creative writing class, but found out that it would be poetry, so I promptly dropped that one. I decided the Shakespeare would probably be the most interesting, and most likely count as a "British or American Literature" course, of which I have to take at least 3. I was almost tempted to switch again when I saw that two of the four books for a "Beowulf" class were books that I have on my list of books to read someday.

My orientation is five days long. I'm not happy about the length of the training, but I'm hoping that I'll finish orientation with a much better idea of what I'll be doing in my class, what my objectives are for the class, and how I can set up a lesson plan schedule. Not going to lie, until about a week ago I wasn't really nervous at all. And then, in an online group for Orientation and English GTAs, people posted up suggestions like "make sure to have 3-5 backup lesson plans for the semester in case one of your lessons fall apart," and other such things suggesting that I should already have lesson plans for each class of the semester.

I think I was blowing it out of proportion a bit... I hope. After a lot of interaction and instruction early on in the process, I really haven't heard anything besides orientation dates since June. I only have one of the books for the class, though it seems like I'll be able to pick up the other tomorrow. As it is though, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be teaching from the other book, or even what it covers.

All I know right now is that the class will cover about 9 sections of the book I have, along with a 3-5 page essay, an interview of some sort conducted and transcribed by the student, and an oral presentation of some sort.

Anyway, sorry to bore you with all that nonsense. Now, back to that whole credit card fiasco. Apparently I've maxed out my credit card, since I haven't recieved my most recent statement yet, and I've since bought $300 worth of baseball tickets. While I'm getting paid back for the tickets, as well as the rent, apparently I've reached my limit and my card is useless until I make a payment. Sweet... It's even cooler because apparently this happened last month when I paid the electric bill. However, they didn't bother telling me my card was denied, and so I have a past due electric bill. Fuckin' sweet. I paid that with my debit card, but now I don't have enough in my checking to pay my credit card balance until a transfer from my savings clears... which will take at least until Monday...

Yeah, today was an awesome day for finding out all this fiasco. I'm sorry this post has been a bit whiney-emo-kidish... But I promise to stop the complaining here.

In other news, Dylan got back into town this past Sunday and has been making his presence felt in his own unique way: by alternatively being an ass and being a whiny bitch. Ahh... I missed him.

As far as being a hopeless English dork goes, I think I've earned stripes in this category. My reading picked up a good bit once I graduated, and has picked up even more in the last couple months. Right now I am reading Thoureau's masterwork, Walden, and at the same time, also reading Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Walden is amazingly relevant, even 164 years later, and a good read for anyone who feels lost in "living responsibly in the real world" or other such nonsense (aka: Jim, you would like this book to some degree or another). I've found lines in the first two sections of Walden that were lifted almost verbatim in all sorts of more contemporary works, including Fight Club, The Four Hour Work Week, and in lyrics of Lupe Fiasco songs.

Wicked on the other hand, is an interesting, if a bit long-winded, look at the back-story of the classic story of Dorothy's visit to the land of Oz.

Unfortunately, it will probably come to pass that my reading will be forced to slow significantly as I return to school. I'm not reading a single piece of fiction for any of my classes as far as I know (which makes that Beowulf class all the more intriguing). I do hope to finish one more book before classes start, though I don't know that I'll have the time.

That book has actually (from what I have read) given me some ideas of things to address in my class. It's called The Dumbest Generation, and it talks about how our generation has become almost entirely alliterate and world-ignorant to a frightening degree. Hopefully I'll be able to get to that next week, because I think it would be a useful reference for my class.

Well, I should probably get to bed, since I have to get up fairly early in the morning to drive to Radford.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES

Insidious Readings and Honeymoon Plans

I know I haven't updated in ages, and I apologize. I'm sorry. Now, I'm pretty sure I'm only apologizing to maybe one person who is still reading this. Anyway... moving on.

A few months back I had a book suggested to me called The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris. I bought myself a copy and read through it. Let me tell you, it has made me think about my future very seriously and whether I really want to pursue a career, particularly in an office environment. Ferris talks about the ways he was able to create his own successful online business, and then put it on auto-pilot to allow him to have the freedom to do whatever he wanted, including traveling the world, learning half a dozen languages, and dozens of other things that he felt like doing at the time.

This freedom is undeniably appealing, and with his guidance, starting my own business doesn't seem insurmountable. My biggest obstacle is having $500-$1000 to start it up and put on the line to determine feasibility and basic start-ups. It's actually less than I would though, but, right now, certainly more than I can afford to lose, partly because of my plans for next summer.

Next summer, after the wedding, we would like to take a Mediterranean cruise from Venice through some Greek islands and back to Venice. The obvious problem is that we're both poor college students and it will cost us about $6,000 to do this, which we don't have. But we're both bound and determined to raise another $4,000 to do so.

In addition, I recently came up with an idea that could allow us to fulfill our goal of seeing a game in each MLB stadium. I think we can get a book deal to publish a book about our trip and experiences. Another aspect is that, if we were to do this next summer, we would have to make the entire trip in about 4-6 weeks. I think it would be tough, but not impossible. That said, we need to get to work on finding out how to contact publishers and see if they would go for the idea, and if they did, if they would cover most or all of the actual expenses of the trip. If not, we really couldn't do it.

Right now, I need to get ready for my third-to-last day of work at Bookholders... and by get ready I mean put on clothes and walk out the door... in the next 10 minutes.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES

Attack of the Wine-Os

So, this past week, Kirsten turned 21, the great defining age of a college student... Hurrah. Now unlike your typical collegiate, we did not immediately hit the bars and get her shwasted. Instead, I took the day off from work and we slept in. Then, when we eventually got up and ate something (around 1:00pm), we went to the pool in my apartment complex and hung out there for a couple hours.

When we got back, we played with Zubitube for a while, and letting him meet a bunch of other dogs, including a Rotty that Kirsten absolutely adored. She was right out of the mold of Freya: A 90 pound puppy, sweet as can be, who thinks she's a lap dog.

Then we went to Kroger to get supplies for dinner, which was going to be Chicago-style pizza, made from scratch. Kirsten decided to pick up a bottle of wine to go with dinner. We had no idea what to pick, so she picked one that had dogs on it. Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, it was pretty terrible, but will probably be used to make a spaghetti sauce sometime in the near future.

Then we got back and I started making the dough. It was about 9:00pm before I got the right consistency, and then it has to sit for about an hour as it rises. Good thing we ate late. We'd forgotten to get a large pan that would fit the pizza, so while we waited on the dough, we went back to get one. Unfortunately, they didn't have any big ones, so we settled on making a small one.

We got back and Kirsten fried up some Italian sausage and green peppers while I worked on the sauce. We decided to use canned tomatoes because they were probably of much higher quality than the fresh ones at Kroger. I added some garlic and a good amount of sugar, and like that, I had a near match for the sauce we had in Chicago.

I molded half the dough we made into the pan, and put the other half in a bowl and covered that and put it in the fridge for later. We then put in most of the almost pound of shredded Mozzarella, put in some of the sausage and green pepper, then topped it with the rest and popped it in the oven at 350. The remainder of our pepper/sausage mix we put into the fridge with plans to make another the next night (which we would).

After 10 minutes or so, the pizza was well melted and the crust browned. The crust had risen enough that I could put some of the sauce on the top before cutting it and serving it. It was a bit difficult, but we managed to serve the slices, adding a bit of sauce on top once they were on the plate.

As you can imagine, it was delicious.

We made the same thing on Wednesday night, and served it a bit more intact through our experience.

On Thursday, Kirsten went with Katie on a winery tour. They had planned on going to three wineries. Unfortunately they got lost on their way to the first in Floyd. Once they got there however, they absolutely loved it. The guy running the tour was very nice, and let them try almost every wine they had, rather than just the half that were designated for that day's tastings. Katie decided it was best to not go to another winery because Kirsten would hate them by comparison to Chateau Morrisette.

They each bought four bottles of the wines they liked. Unsurprisingly (at least, I wasn't surprised), three of Kirsten's four were three of the four sweet wines the winery makes. When she got back Thursday night, she was gushing about the winery, the wines, how much fun she'd had, and all that. Secretly, a knowledge and appreciation for wines is something I've always wanted to develop, so it was easy for me to catch Kirsten's enthusiasm.

On Friday night we had a softball game, which ran late. Normally that would be nice since it means we got extra playing time. Unfortunately though, we had made plans to meet Eric to see Transformers at 10:10. The game was supposed to end at 9:00, but went to 9:20. We had to rush to get back and change before bolting back to Christiansburg for the movie. We were late, and made it just before the end of the previews.

The movie was certainly entertaining, if not exactly difficult to predict. Some of the acting was on the goofy side, but I came for the explosions, not the acting, which Michael Bay delivered in spades. After the movie, we hung out in front of the theater and talked with Donnie and Eric for a while. Eric mentioned that the Vintage Cellar hosted wine tastings every Saturday and, considering Kirsten's new interest, suggested we all go.

So, on Saturday, we did. Kirsten took a break from painting the full bathroom and we met Eric over at the Vintage Cellar. I had no clue what the guy was talking about most of the time, but I really liked three of the five wines he had us try, the most expensive of which was $8.95 a bottle. The first two were whites, very smooth and easy to drink, and the last was a sparkling red that was essentially alcoholic sparkling grape juice. Kirsten got the sparkling wine, I got a bottle of a dry wine from Chateau Morrisette (which I saw at Kroger 10 minutes later for $3.00 less...), and Eric got the first bottle that we had tried. Then we made plans for him to come over and hang out after dinner.

Kirsten wanted to grill steaks for dinner, so after the Vintage Cellar, we went over to Kroger and got the food for dinner, along with a wine stopper and some wine glasses... Kirsten was excited to see that Kroger had all of Chateau Morrisette's wines in stock, some for less than they were marked at the winery.

We had baked potatoes (not fully baked... my bad...), grilled corn and our steaks, marinated with Lawry's Signature Steakhouse Marinade... which I highly recommend by the way. To go with dinner, we had one of the wines Kirsten had bought, a Blackberry Wine. Overall, a very delicious dinner, perfect for a Saturday.

After dinner, Eric came over, brought the wine he'd bought along with a few movies he was lending me to watch. We hung around, had some blueberries and yogurt for dessert and chatted until Katie could come over after she got off work. Then we started the movie, The International, which was completely the wrong movie to be watching while we talked off and on, tried wines, and cheese... and generally didn't pay full attention. I liked what I saw enough to want to watch it again though.

So, in conclusion... as Kirsten said, "God, we're old..." which is sort of my sentiment... but slightly more optimistic that this is an interesting hobby to have, and, so long as we don't start going through several bottles a week, relatively affordable.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES

Chicago Roadtrip

For fun, I proposed the idea that Kirsten and I take a random road trip to nowhere in particular, and just get away for a weekend. Kirsten agreed to the idea, though she was paranoid that it was all a scheme to kill her and hide her body. I think she's been reading a bit too much Ann Rule. Anyway, when I got off work on Friday, she asked if, instead of going nowhere in particular, I would like to go to a baseball game somwhere we'd never been. The closest two games for Saturday were Cincinnati and Chicago. As a bit of a baseball dork, and considering we'd pledged we were going to visit Chicago this summer about a year ago, I had to pick the trip to Wrigley on the condition that we could actually get tickets.

We were able to find a pair of tickets in the upper deck for a price I could handle, and the decision was made. We packed up and left Blacksburg a little before 9:00pm. The game was at 12:05 and we wanted to be in Chicago by 10:00am on Saturday.

Kirsten was excited, so she insisted on taking the first leg of the journey. I tried unsuccessfully to fall asleep so I could take over later all through West Virginia. I was too keyed up though and probably only slept for 10 minutes at the most. I took over a little ways into Kentucky and Kirsten snuggled into the back seat to get some sleep. As I entered Indiana from Louisville, there was a lightening storm up ahead and I was mesmerized, watching the sky lighting up. It was a pretty cool sight. I'd never realized just how hilly Virginia is until I was driving through Indiana and just how far I could see in any direction.

A little ways into Indiana I stopped and grabbed an energy drink to help keep me awake. I elected to try one of the 5 hour energy type drinks and a water. Turned out this was a bad idea. I was wide awake and good to go for a while, but then I started getting extremely nauseous. It was all I could do to keep from puking, and eventually, had to stop. I pulled over at a gas station and tried getting it out, but I'd done too good a job of keeping it down before for it to come out now.

Kirsten had woken up from her nap and elected to take over so I could try to relax. As long as I kept my heart rate low I was fine, but if I got the least bit excited or startled I was immediately fighting for control of my stomach again.

Eventually, around 5:30 am, we stopped at a rest stop and elected to both sleep for an hour or two there before heading out. The rest stop was packed with other cars, all with the same idea. I managed to get a little over an hour's worth of sleep before I woke up, feeling sick again. After about 20 minutes in the bathroom, I gave up on completely ridding myself of the caffeine hell and decided to get going. As soon as I pulled back onto the highway, Kirsten woke up, a little annoyed that I had left the rest stop before she could change and brush her teeth. So we had to make due with a McDonald's bathroom, where a woman, upon seeing Kirsten brushing her teeth, asked her if she was homeless.

As we neared Chicago and got on the Chicago Loop portion of highway, I was increasingly astounded by the people driving around me. The speed limit had dropped to 55, I was doing 65-70, and people were blasting past me. Once I actually got into the city, traffic was much lighter, but at that point I was on my own as far as going anywhere went. We decided to drive around for a while, since it was only 9:00am local time. After touring the city a bit, and driving underneath the tracks for an 'L' train, we parked at a garage on Washington St. in the heart of downtown and hoofed it from there.

We hopped on the red line train, following the crowds, and made our way to Wrigley. It was an awesome sight for anyone who is a Baseball fan, not to mention a Blues Brothers fan. Courtesy of that movie, I know the address for Wrigley Field. (note, the picture was actually taken after the game.

When we got to Wrigley, first thing we did was find a vendor and get Kirsten a hat, because the Cubs hat she had intended on wearing was too small. She got a nice dark blue hat that she actually felt comfortable wearing and that wouldn't give her a headache.

After that, we debated wandering around, but decided to just head right in to the park. As we walked in, we were handed free Cubs hats! I call that a lucky day. Pretty much as soon as we walked in, we were greeted by the smell of really good ballpark food, so we made a beeline for that. Dylan had suggested we get Italian beef sandwiches while we were in Chicago, and seeing them on the menu, decided to get them with hot peppers and cheese.


These sandwiches were awesome. I'm sure they're some of the worst you can find in the city, considering they're ballpark food, but they were pretty fantastic nonetheless. Sandwiches and drinks in hand, we made our way up to the upper deck and to our seats. Kirsten was just about in tears at the sight of the place. It was all I could do to stop staring and actually eat my sandwich.


The game was fantastic. Kirsten was a little torn, having rooted for the Indians since she was little and visiting her family in Ohio, but also wanting to root for the home team Cubbies. As it was, we were both able to sit back and enjoy the game being played without really choosing sides. The game couldn't have been scripted better. The Indians jumped out to an early lead which they held for a while. Then the lead went back and forth for a while, and was tied through nine. The extra innings started to be grueling just because we were tired and were both having trouble sitting in the heat.

Then the thirteenth inning was absolutely insane. An Indians player hit a two-out solo homer to take the lead. Then in the bottom of the inning, Fukodome singled, then stole second. The throw to second went wide and Fukodome was then able to take third. He was then singled in to tie the game. Blanco, the man on first, then made it to third when the next batter singled on a hit-and-run. Then the pitcher threw a wild pitch and Blanco came in to score and end the game. And it was all thanks to my rally cap that I put on at the beginning of the bottom of the thirteenth.

After the game, we wandered around in search of a pizza place on of the ushers had recommended to us that was just a couple blocks away from the stadium. We struggled to find it for a while, walking the wrong way for a bit, but made it eventually. It was definitely worth the walk and effort of finding it. We got an italian beef pizza, deep dish of course, and this thing was a monster. The menu said a medium fed 2-3. Clearly they meant 2-3 O-linemen. I was hungry when I came in and I thought I was going to explode trying to force down a second slice. But it was so delicious. Though, honestly, I think I can make something similar. I'd just be spending about $25 on mozzarella cheese alone. Each slice probably weighed about a pound.


We only ate half the pizza and had to just leave the rest since we had no real way of bringing it home. We were both sad about that, just because it would be such a waste to through out that much delicious pizza.

We made our way back downtown and proceeded to get lost for a while. When we did regain our bearings, we made our way toward Lake Michigan, since that was one thing we both really wanted to see. We wandered through the parks that border the Lake downtown, and eventually made our way back to the car.

I would spend the next hour or so trying to drive out of the city. My GPS was frustrating at times, but in the end was quite possibly the only way we made it out at all. There were basically no signs directing you to the highway. The one time we did see some, following them led us to a closed street.

I made my way out of the city and back into Indiana before finding a rest stop to stop at. We were both exhausted and promptly fell asleep. I didn't think we would stay there long, but next thing I knew it was light out. We spent almost all of Sunday in the car, making our way home. It was pretty cool to see a lot of the things we drove by in the night. I was very tempted to stop off in Louisville and go to the Louisville Slugger museum and factory, but decided it would have to wait for another trip.

In the end, I had an absolute blast, but I don't expect to be repeating such a feat too soon. We agreed that next time we want a third person to drive with to make the division of driving a bit easier. If you want to see some more pictures, check out facebook. We both posted our fair share.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES

After a bit of a Reprieve

It's been a while. I can blame the long delay partly on moving and generally craziness associated with that, so I will. I'm also not to blame if I hop from topic to topic.

On May 29th I moved in to my new place and over the past two weeks, have managed to move all my stuff (and a lot of Dylan's) to the new place with the help of Kirsten and visiting family in the form of Anna, Mom, and Ms. Bernhards. I hadn't had the keys to the place for more than a few hours before Kirsten started painting. Currently she is working on the half bath, after finishing Dylan's room just a couple hours ago. From the sounds of it, Chris's room will be the only room with white walls. She got a deep red paint for the kitchen (as if the kitchen wasn't red enough!), and a green for the full bathroom.

The last few days have been full of thunderstorms. We actually saw a lightening strike yesterday while driving down main street, close enough that we saw sparks shoot up from where it struck, though we weren't sure what exactly it struck.

I'm really excited to play softball this summer. I'm playing on a team that Cory has put together, and our first two games are both next Monday. We're expecting to be a bit better prepared than the competition for the first few games, considering we've had four practices. In one of the practices I managed to hit a line drive right at Kirsten, who was staring at the lightening in the distance and didn't see it until the last second. She didn't get her glove up in time and it hit her in the left shoulder. She had to wear a sling for a little over a week, and we presume she had a hairline fracture... But her arm's feeling better now, and today was the first day she went without the sling. For more detailed info, you'd have to ask her of course.

This morning I had a very vivid and very long dream that would be perfectly suited to turning into a movie. I woke up from it just after 7:00am and had to write it down. It took me about an hour to write it all down, and I have a complete story I can write a screenplay for. I could write a book to, but I think it would be better suited for movie than novel. Obviously, since it took me so long to write down a pretty brief overview, I'm not going to go through the whole plot. However, I will tell you that it involves a heist and then the main characters determining what to do to get away with it. Honestly, I don't know what the heist was, and I actually like the idea of starting the movie/story after they've gotten the money and are making their escape.

I'm sure it will come as a bit of a surprise to most of you, but I'm not planning on watching the Stanley Cup Game 7 tomorrow night, but instead, Kirsten and I are going to a Salem Red Sox game for fireworks night. I'm just hoping the weather lets up by the early afternoon like it's supposed to. The tickets were $9 a piece and we're the second row just to the third base side of home plate... I'm excited.

I'm not sure where my rambling should take me now, so I think I'm just going to call it quits for now.

All the best to you and yours, and I look forward to hearing from anyone who still actually reads this from time to time.

-TES

A Visit To The Beach Part III: Charleston

On Sunday we packed up and made our way for Charleston to spend a few days with Jim. We left the Northern Virginia area around 1:00pm, and it rained the whole way off and on. I drove through Virginia and a bit into North Carolina before resting and having Kirsten and Anna drive. As I rode, I read a book that Anna suggested to me, Good Omens. It was a very amusing book and I enjoyed it greatly. Good old British humor on the subject of the Apocalypse.

We got to Jim's around 9:30pm and quickly brought our stuff inside. He doesn't exactly live in what you would call a good part of town. For example, we're pretty sure his neighbor sells/cuts crack. At all hours, cars would stop outside and honk, then someone would come out, sit in the passenger seat for a minute, and then get back out. In particular, there was a white van that I saw at least twice a day.

Anyway, we settled in at Jim's and played with his juicer. That thing is awesome and I definitely want one.

Monday morning we got up and it was pretty crappy out. We decided to try to go rock climbing at the Naval base. However, when we got there, we were told that since we were not military, we couldn't go. Even though Jim had done it before with non-military folks. Oh well. Instead, we decided to go to see Star Trek at the Cinebarre, which is a fairly rare type of movie theater in which you sit in stadium seating, but have a bar in front of you, and during the movie, you can order food. It was kinda cool, but a bit on the pricey side to do very often. Star Trek was definitely a fun summer movie. Not an award winner by any stretch, but very fun to watch, with plenty of cool special effects, explosions, and fun one liners.

That night, at Anna's request, we went to Charleston Crab house for dinner. I got Deviled Crabs, which was crab stuffing, put in an emptied crab shell, then deep fried. Freaking awesome. Also that night, mom called to tell me that she had someone interested in buying my old mustang, Craizy Horse. At first I was completely opposed to the idea. That car has meant so much to me that it's really hard to say ok to getting rid of it, even though it's doing nothing but costing us money to keep it.

I learned to drive stick on that car, I learned to work on cars by tearing that car apart and putting it back together, I modified that car how I wanted, and most importantly, my dad scrounged together enough money to buy it for me when he was on rough times. That car was my baby.

After a few days though, I came to terms with the idea. I have a new baby now, and while I don't want to get rid of Craizy Horse, it's not reasonable to hold on to him. I should take advantage of the fact that this prospective buyer will also treat it as her baby. Also, there's nothing to stop me if, when she's done with it, buying it back from her if at that time I will be able to afford it. Also, in keeping with my dad's whishes when he got me the car, I plan on spending a portion of the money I get from Craizy Horse to pay for add-ons for Mako.

Tuesday was also pretty bad weather, so we mostly sat around at Jim's watching CashCab. We also went out to an empty parking lot and had Anna and Kirsten practice driving stick on Anna's new car, WeissBlitz. Then we went out to one of the beaches and wandered in the sand a bit and watched a couple guys go Kite Boarding. Not gonna lie, that looked like a lot of fun, but the equipment costs and the time it would take to get good at it I feel like would make it unrealistic for anyone who doesn't live at the beach and have a job like Jim's.

That night we went to this little dive of a bar around the corner from Jim's called Moe's Crosstown for burger night. The burgers were definitely delicious. Kirsten got their special burger for the day, which was the Inferno Burger. Their house hot sauce was ridiculously hot. Not even Kirsten could finish it. And if you know her, that's really saying something.

Wednesday it was finally nice out, so we made a point to go to the beach. It was crazy-windy out, and after just laying out on the sand for ten minutes I was almost buried. But, I got up and went in the water. It was cold at first, but not very, and I got used to it very quickly. Jim and I tried going out to the breakers, but they were far out and there was an extremely strong cross current. Even though we could walk the whole way out, we still would have been a long ways down the beach by the time we got out there, and even further out when we came back. We would have needed someone to drive down the beach and pick us up.

After an hour or two we went in and got lunch at a place called Taco Boy. They had really good fish tacos, very tasty. For our last dinner in Charleston, Jim made us shrimp in a mustard-base sauce, which was delicious, and chicken for Anna. I also got more fruit when we were getting supplies for the dinner and continued to polish off about a month's worth of homemade orange juice.

We debated staying another day, or at least driving late and stopping in New Kent for the night if it was nice on Thursday. Unfortunately, it was raining and overcast in the morning so we left. Apparently the afternoon was very nice, but we'd made our decision, and it was probably best. With Anna's luck, it probably would have rained the whole day if we stayed.

Anna and Kirsten drove Kirsten's car back while I drove by myself in WeissBlitz. I was getting bored with trying to find stations on the radio, so at a rest stop where there were books on tape, I snagged one. I got How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. It was a little boring, but certainly better than scanning the radio. Eventually I actually started really enjoying it, if only because it was about being a magazine editor/writer in NYC.

I also talked to Matt for a long time on the drive. He had left Ft. Sill and was making his way, eventually, to Benning. In another conversation the next day, he told me that he'd gotten his orders for when he was done with all his training and would be going to Hawai'i and joining a Striker Battalion, which is what he wanted. Unfortunately, his battalion is scheduled to deploy June or July 2010, if not earlier, meaning he most likely will not be at my wedding. Sad, but nothing to be done about it.

So that's a fairly (believe it or not) abbreviated version of what went on at the beach.

Now I'm back down in Blacksburg and I'm going back to work in the morning... unfortunately. I am very excited to move in to my new place though at the end of the week, even if I won't be able to move everything until I commandeer a truck. I will have a gym and a pool I can go to. Huzzah!

I think that's all for now.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES