I for Gey.org, Training Videos

Just a quick note. I recently launched IforGey.org. I put up the videos on that site, both the April Team version and the recent Tribute version. The Tribute version is not final, I will make revisions as necessary next week based on feedback I get this week.

That's it for now.

Intro to Physical Anthropology

This week is the first week of classes, and so it is my first week with my new class at TCC (Tallahassee Community College). It seems to be going pretty well so far. Since the class is in the middle of the day when there is a lot of traffic, I am grateful for my faculty parking pass (which FSU will not give me, even when I am teaching for them). My class has about 15 students (still add/drop), and they seem to be a quiet and well-behaved bunch. On Monday, I talked about the class structure a little bit and we did a "get to know you" activity. Today (Wednesday) , was my first lecture (what is anthropology? what is culture?), and I think it went well. The primary problem I have right now is that the bookstore seems to have ordered the wrong textbook. Anyway, I bought some new (to me) dress clothes for teaching with the birthday money I got from my Oma, and I will try to get some pictures taken over the next week or so to post some of these teacher outfits.

More post storm

I know Brian already did a post storm update, but I thought another one was in order, since it has been a few days. Since the tropical storm passed over us, drenching the whole region in rain, it has been quite damp. It is mid-summer here, so it rains every afternoon for at least a little while (usually around 3PM). This is normally not a problem, except that all of our drains in town are filled to capacity, so any rain means some flooding. There are still some large puddles I see at FSU and TCC. Most of the trees and other debris have been cleared away, but we are having a hard time getting rid of all the extra water. We are supposed to be limiting our water use in town, so the water treatment plant can catch up (they are running at 3x normal capacity right now), but occasionally, we do still need to do the dishes, take showers, etc. I'm sure eventually the water will go down and things will get back to normal, but it is a little frustrating that it is taking so long. And we are all watching the next storm closely, hoping that we don't get any more water, since our system is already filled to the brim. So, pray with us for hot sunny days with lots of evaporation!

Post storm update

We received a few phone calls to inquire how we were doing in the storm so I thought a short update might be in order. It began raining Friday before we woke up. I watched the storm develop through my window at work throughout Friday. Mostly it was just continuous rain but there were some decents winds as well. It continued to rain all through Friday and into Saturday. It rained all day Saturday and most of Sunday.

After the rain stopped, we got a chance to look around. We are on a higher area so we did not have any real flooding to speak of. The endless rain or perhaps the winds demolished our marigold patch, splitting some of the stems in half and trampling others flat. We had tree debris on our lawn and driveway but no large branches came down around us that we saw. All in all, I would have to say we made out pretty well given the endless rain and the damage some other places in Florida suffered.

Nothing else to report. I have been working all weekend (and am at work now at about 3am) to finish a few urgent projects. I hope that once they are done I will have a few days to focus on other things. I enjoy my job, but I do not enjoy when it occassionally dominates my personal time, like now.

I recently had the most interesting dream I can remember having in ages. Long story short, I was with a bunch of old friends and there was a moment in it where I stopped and looked around and felt a deep sense of contentedness. A sort of "I can't believe how good I feel right now" feeling. What was strangest to me is that I don't remember when I last felt that way while awake. I am generally a happy person and I certainly haven't felt perpetually sad lately. But I think I miss being around a large group of good friends more than I realize day to day.

We were sad to hear that Uncle Jack passed on. We have been thinking of him and Aunt Mary and will continue to do so.

Oh, right, I forgot about those

New Recipes

Since we returned from our trip to the north, Brian and I have been fairly busy. He has been catching up on stuff at work and finishing his video, and I have been preparing for the class I will be teaching and running samples in the lab.

Despite these tasks, however, I have also been trying out some new recipes. The recipes come from a cookbook we got from Brian's dad called Lickety-Split Meals. In general, I like them because (1) they are healthy and (2) they remind you when to do things for the meal that are not directly related to the main sauce, like start the rice or steam the vegis. Anyway, we have enjoyed several recipes from this book in the last week, including Pita Pizzas and Mexican La-zonya (the author's last name is Zonya, so that last title is a little play on that). We have also used a few of the suggestions for 1-minute mini-meals, which are really quick, healthy snacks. If you are interested in trying some new healthy recipes, I would recommend you check this book out.

Visiting Ohio

Brian and I had the chance to visit with many great people while we were in Ohio last week. We drove down to Franklin Furnace with Brian's mom to see his grandpa.

We also took an afternoon to visit Brian's grandma up in Mansfield. She took us to see a very lovely garden.

We met Jim, Tammy, and Evan for dinner. Here you can see Evan, Brian, and Dave.

And of course, I don't want to overlook Brian's parents, and Dave and Crystal, who we also enjoyed visiting with very much.

The ferrets also enjoyed their time in Ohio, thanks partially to their special outdoor pen, which allowed them to spend time in the backyard, playing with each other and digging at the grass.

Ohio Fairs

While we were in Ohio, we visited a couple fairs with Brian's parents, and Dave and Crystal. The first one we went to was the Dublin Irish Fest. Dublin is like a suburb of Columbus. They had several musical acts and traditional Irish performances, like this one of bagpipers.


Dave and Crystal:

One of the activities we watched was a herding display. A couple dogs herded some sheep. They were trained to respond to whistles.

Much to our amusement, the dogs also herded some ducks!

Overall, the Irish Fest was very fun.

We also went to the Ohio State Fair, which is held in Columbus every year. One big attraction here is the fair food (L to R: Crystal, Dave, Brian, Brian's mom).

Since it is a state fair, celebrating agriculture, I thought that Brian should have his picture taken with a tractor. He obliged, begrudgingly.

There were also extensive displays indoors, where a little bit of everything was for sale and many products were being demonstrated. They even had whirlpools for sale.

One of the most popular things to see at this fair is the butter sculpture, provided by Ohio's dairy farmers. This year, there was a cow, a calf (shown below), and a Mt. Rushmore-type display with all of the US presidents who were born in Ohio. Brian and I thought that the calf was the nicest part of the display.

There are many carnival rides and games at the fair. Dave and Brian challenged each other at Water Wars, which is a game where you use a giant slingshot to throw water balloons at each other. Both of them got a little wet, but they were smiling.

What do you think I am preparing to see?

The pig races, of course! We watched three groups of pigs race around a small track. The two groups were quite fast, but the last group got a little distracted (see the last picture).

more pictures from Michigan

We are back in Florida now, but I didn't really have a chance to post a lot of pictures from the last two weeks of travel. So this first set shows us in Michigan. My parent's house has a giant garden in the front that is growing up well. Many of the flowering bushes are taller than me.


The ferrets don't like the actual traveling involved with visiting other places, but they do seem to enjoy being in Michigan. In the pictures below you cal see Chewbacca helping Brian with his work, Eve napping, Rex with me in the living room, and Brussels out for a walk on his leash.

Brian spent a lot of our beach time making sculptures in the sand. Here is his village at the base of a volcano, made close enough to the water that it was a struggle to complete it before the waves flooded the village. Not really a classic sand castle structure, but perhaps this view is more realistic for the majority of Earth's occupants?

Dad and Mom both tried their hand at Rock Band, but Brian and I played a bit too.

These last 2 pictures are from the bike ride Brian and I took with my dad. If you are from the area, you might be able to recognize where we are. D&R, let me know if you can guess.