So, I have come to the conclusion that I would like to be more active in my blogging. I think that I would personally like to document my thoughts on various items of interest to myself as well as share them with others. It is quite likely that these thoughts will be of more interest to me than you, the reader, but it is still a way to share something of myself with others.
I anticipate that the majority of the topics discussed in the coming year will include my new job, as a faculty member at a big ol' Southern University, music that I am listening to - my wife and I just got Zunes (cause we aren't cool enough to justify Ipods) for Christmas and are enjoying rediscovering music that we have not listened to in years (look for blogs regarding what's on the shuffle), Star Trek books, because I love reading them, and perhaps fatherhood. We'll see if I have thoughts on that last one that I care to document or not.
I may also discuss some work oriented research that I am conducting, or specific designs that I will be working on in the coming year. My goal is fairly simple, to blog once a week. I consider this my resolution for the coming year. I will do my best to accomplish this goal.
Merry Hanakwansas!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Quick Update on My Favorite Things
First of all, let me say that it is too early to be up on a Saturday morning, over Labor Day weekend. However, we are back in Franklin, visiting family and Evelyn decided that if the sun was up at 7:00am, then she should be as well. Since my mother's house isn't very big Brigitte, Evelyn and I are all in the same room, so when she decides that she should be awake at 7:00am, that means I have to be as well because I sleep on the side of the bed next to the crib and she has long arms and the ability to throw stuffed animals on me as well as punch me in the leg and surrounding regions while yelling "Wake DADA!" over and over until I open my eyes or grunt or something. So, here I am an hour or so later writing this "quick" blog because...well, because today was my first day to sleep in in two weeks and I am awake.
Onto, the subject of the blog...
Well, first, a quick update on Oxford. I started work on August 13th with classes starting on the 20th. The students all seem to be pretty nice and I like the fact that I am back in an environment where everyone is on a first name basis, students and faculty, faculty and faculy, faculty and staff, etc. One of the most difficult transitions for me at TSU was the formality of it all. "Dr. This" and "Ms. That" and the students couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that I was the professor and not a Doctor. So, it's nice to walk through the halls with people calling me Michael instead of the undeserved "Dr. Barnett."
It has been a challenging two weeks as we are opening the season with a show in a newly renovated theatre that had the majority of its lighting budget cut (which means I have lights without the power to turn them on), so I've been scrambling to find a solution since we go into tech in less than two weeks. However, I like the people and generally come home exhausted but feeling good about the day.
Okay, the subject of the blog. A couple of weeks ago Brigitte, Evelyn and I were driving South on I-55 from Southaven, MS (a suburb of Memphis) back to Oxford. We were in Southaven because, even thought it is a little over an hour away, it is the closest Target to us, and Brigitte is a big fan of Target. We had driven up to print out some digital pictures and since we always preferred the print quality at Target to other locations we decided to make the trip. We get there and look around only to discover that they have no digital photo kiosk. So, that sucked. However, Southaven also has the closest Krystal, which we had for lunch, so it was not an entirely wasted trip.
On our way back from Southaven, having enjoyed a "Sackful" of Krystals and having been rejected at Target we see a sign for the town of Arkabutla, MS. Brigitte snickers and looks over at me to say "That place is named after two of your favorite things, Arkansas and the butt!" Then she proceeds to laugh uncontrollably.
Now, I have no love for Arkansas and as far as "the butt" goes, well...I think she must have been on a Krystal high. Yesterday as we were driving to Franklin Brigitte was still giggling at her "joke." I hope you enjoy it as much as she does.
Enjoy the sunrise!
Onto, the subject of the blog...
Well, first, a quick update on Oxford. I started work on August 13th with classes starting on the 20th. The students all seem to be pretty nice and I like the fact that I am back in an environment where everyone is on a first name basis, students and faculty, faculty and faculy, faculty and staff, etc. One of the most difficult transitions for me at TSU was the formality of it all. "Dr. This" and "Ms. That" and the students couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that I was the professor and not a Doctor. So, it's nice to walk through the halls with people calling me Michael instead of the undeserved "Dr. Barnett."
It has been a challenging two weeks as we are opening the season with a show in a newly renovated theatre that had the majority of its lighting budget cut (which means I have lights without the power to turn them on), so I've been scrambling to find a solution since we go into tech in less than two weeks. However, I like the people and generally come home exhausted but feeling good about the day.
Okay, the subject of the blog. A couple of weeks ago Brigitte, Evelyn and I were driving South on I-55 from Southaven, MS (a suburb of Memphis) back to Oxford. We were in Southaven because, even thought it is a little over an hour away, it is the closest Target to us, and Brigitte is a big fan of Target. We had driven up to print out some digital pictures and since we always preferred the print quality at Target to other locations we decided to make the trip. We get there and look around only to discover that they have no digital photo kiosk. So, that sucked. However, Southaven also has the closest Krystal, which we had for lunch, so it was not an entirely wasted trip.
On our way back from Southaven, having enjoyed a "Sackful" of Krystals and having been rejected at Target we see a sign for the town of Arkabutla, MS. Brigitte snickers and looks over at me to say "That place is named after two of your favorite things, Arkansas and the butt!" Then she proceeds to laugh uncontrollably.
Now, I have no love for Arkansas and as far as "the butt" goes, well...I think she must have been on a Krystal high. Yesterday as we were driving to Franklin Brigitte was still giggling at her "joke." I hope you enjoy it as much as she does.
Enjoy the sunrise!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Kwik-E-Mart
Okay. So, I have been planning on writing a new blog about life in Oxford and how wonderful it is and how much we enjoy our new house and how Evelyn greatly prefers the half acre we now call home to the 10' x 12' patio that she previously had for a "yard." However, that crap can wait for another time.
Brigitte, Evelyn and I spent several days in Dallas last week visiting her family (as well as one day at her Uncle's ranch). If you know me I assume that you do not think of me and "Ranch" in the same sentence very often. However, once we actually got there I really enjoyed it. I do not know that I have ever seen that many stars in my life. It was very nice to go stand outside surrounded by 500 acres of nothing which is surrounded by countless more miles of essentially nothing. Lots of starts out that way. Brigitte wouldn't join me though becuase she is afraid of the dark...and it was dark there.
As nice as the ranch was, and as much fun as we all had seeing Brigitte's family, the best part of the trip was the 20 minutes I spent in the local 7-11. 20 minutes may sound like a long time, but when you are in one of the twelve 7-11s in the world that have been converted into Kwik-E-Marts to advertise the opening of The Simpson's Movie, well it goes by pretty quickly.
We drove by it accidentally and decided then that we would go back before we left Dallas. So, our last day in town Brigitte, Evelyn and I headed over with our silly expensive camera to take pictures of the 7-11. As you can see from my profile picture I had to problem standing out on Northwest Hwy. in a very busy part of Dallas having my picture taken with a gas station sign. Nor did I mind the confused looks I got by the various construction workers, doctors and other assorted individuals as I browsed the store taking pictures of every square inch of Simpsons goodness. I think that Brigitte probably got a bit embarrassed, but knew how much I was enjoying myself, so she let it go. We bought a Squishee for Evelyn and a case of "Buzz Cola" for myself to sit on some shelf that I do not currently own. Perhaps we can put it in the nice built in shelves that we have in the breakfast nook. I'm sure that Brigitte won't mind moving the nice glass pieces she has there.
Well, I will update on Oxford soon, but needed to let you all how much fun we had in 7-11 on Norhtwest Hwy. in the heart of Dallas. Gas stations are great!
Brigitte, Evelyn and I spent several days in Dallas last week visiting her family (as well as one day at her Uncle's ranch). If you know me I assume that you do not think of me and "Ranch" in the same sentence very often. However, once we actually got there I really enjoyed it. I do not know that I have ever seen that many stars in my life. It was very nice to go stand outside surrounded by 500 acres of nothing which is surrounded by countless more miles of essentially nothing. Lots of starts out that way. Brigitte wouldn't join me though becuase she is afraid of the dark...and it was dark there.
As nice as the ranch was, and as much fun as we all had seeing Brigitte's family, the best part of the trip was the 20 minutes I spent in the local 7-11. 20 minutes may sound like a long time, but when you are in one of the twelve 7-11s in the world that have been converted into Kwik-E-Marts to advertise the opening of The Simpson's Movie, well it goes by pretty quickly.
We drove by it accidentally and decided then that we would go back before we left Dallas. So, our last day in town Brigitte, Evelyn and I headed over with our silly expensive camera to take pictures of the 7-11. As you can see from my profile picture I had to problem standing out on Northwest Hwy. in a very busy part of Dallas having my picture taken with a gas station sign. Nor did I mind the confused looks I got by the various construction workers, doctors and other assorted individuals as I browsed the store taking pictures of every square inch of Simpsons goodness. I think that Brigitte probably got a bit embarrassed, but knew how much I was enjoying myself, so she let it go. We bought a Squishee for Evelyn and a case of "Buzz Cola" for myself to sit on some shelf that I do not currently own. Perhaps we can put it in the nice built in shelves that we have in the breakfast nook. I'm sure that Brigitte won't mind moving the nice glass pieces she has there.
Well, I will update on Oxford soon, but needed to let you all how much fun we had in 7-11 on Norhtwest Hwy. in the heart of Dallas. Gas stations are great!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Another blog?
What's that you ask? Another blog? Already? But Michael, you may say, I haven't even taken the time to read the one you wrote yesterday. Well, do not fret dear reader (yes, I'm talking to you ... the one person who is reading this) I assure you that I have no intention of making a habit of this frequent posting. After all, I have no real interest in you all knowing what is actually going on in my life, much like you do not want me to know what is going on in yours (unless you are the one friend I have that actually blogs with any consistency ... Hi Ombra)!
So, yesterday when I realized that we were actually moving (the closing on our current abode is less than 18 hours away) I decided that it would be wise to gather some more boxes. I sent Brigitte to procure boxes from the local box supply place...some storage facility and she had come home with the most expensive boxes known to man. Well, that may be an exaggeration, but $2 per "Medium Sized" box seemed excessive to me. Therefore, I set out to find free boxes. A friend had tipped me off that Wal-Mart at 5:00am was the place to be for free boxes, but ... well, either I am very asleep, or wishing I was at that time, and it was 3:00pm and I needed to feel as though I had accomplished something. So, off I went.
I remembered that my grandfather had always told me, "If you ever need boxes, check the liquor store." We aren't much for prophetic statements in the family, but I remembered it. So, off I went to the local liquor store. I drove around back only to find a large trash bin. Well, I wasn't going to go in there. So, off I went to another local liquor store (there were three other that I could think of, but I went to the fanciest one). After several failed attempts at drivnig around back, because comemrcial parking lots can be confusing when you go behind the buildings, I found the back of the liquor store, and apparently the back of a Japanese restaurant. I also found a giant dumpster. This one was marked "Carboard Only," so I grumpily got out of the car and dove in. There I was at 4:00pm in the afternoon, 94 degrees, pouring over used cardboard boxes, weighing the merits of each. The Japanese chefs, cooks, line cooks, guys who cook ... looked at me like I had lost my mind. And perhaps, at that moment I had. I was feverishly tearing through the boxes throwing the best out onto the cement for moving to the car once I had extricated myself from the dumpster.
Finally, after several minutes of wondering how I was going to write what was in the black boxes I had pulled out, I got out of the dumpster and began to load the car. When I completed this task I looked over the hood of the car and saw that one of the gentlemen who worked at the restaurant was standing inside a small rectangular fenced in area behind the back of the store. There was grass and coming out of the grass were plants and herbs. In the middle of Cool Springs, a shopping mecca in suburban Nashville, there was a small 15' by 5' garden so that the restaurant could actually serve fresh produce. I was most impressed. By the look on his face, he was less impressed with my venture.
Tonight, having worked my way through half of the boxes I scavenged I have realized that they are too small and not too helpful. This means that I will likely be back in the dumpster tomorrow following the closing.
I have also come to the conclusion that I am glad that there is a little garden in the middle of the Cool Springs area in Franklin.
Finally, white gaff tape. That's how you label what's in the all black boxes.
So, yesterday when I realized that we were actually moving (the closing on our current abode is less than 18 hours away) I decided that it would be wise to gather some more boxes. I sent Brigitte to procure boxes from the local box supply place...some storage facility and she had come home with the most expensive boxes known to man. Well, that may be an exaggeration, but $2 per "Medium Sized" box seemed excessive to me. Therefore, I set out to find free boxes. A friend had tipped me off that Wal-Mart at 5:00am was the place to be for free boxes, but ... well, either I am very asleep, or wishing I was at that time, and it was 3:00pm and I needed to feel as though I had accomplished something. So, off I went.
I remembered that my grandfather had always told me, "If you ever need boxes, check the liquor store." We aren't much for prophetic statements in the family, but I remembered it. So, off I went to the local liquor store. I drove around back only to find a large trash bin. Well, I wasn't going to go in there. So, off I went to another local liquor store (there were three other that I could think of, but I went to the fanciest one). After several failed attempts at drivnig around back, because comemrcial parking lots can be confusing when you go behind the buildings, I found the back of the liquor store, and apparently the back of a Japanese restaurant. I also found a giant dumpster. This one was marked "Carboard Only," so I grumpily got out of the car and dove in. There I was at 4:00pm in the afternoon, 94 degrees, pouring over used cardboard boxes, weighing the merits of each. The Japanese chefs, cooks, line cooks, guys who cook ... looked at me like I had lost my mind. And perhaps, at that moment I had. I was feverishly tearing through the boxes throwing the best out onto the cement for moving to the car once I had extricated myself from the dumpster.
Finally, after several minutes of wondering how I was going to write what was in the black boxes I had pulled out, I got out of the dumpster and began to load the car. When I completed this task I looked over the hood of the car and saw that one of the gentlemen who worked at the restaurant was standing inside a small rectangular fenced in area behind the back of the store. There was grass and coming out of the grass were plants and herbs. In the middle of Cool Springs, a shopping mecca in suburban Nashville, there was a small 15' by 5' garden so that the restaurant could actually serve fresh produce. I was most impressed. By the look on his face, he was less impressed with my venture.
Tonight, having worked my way through half of the boxes I scavenged I have realized that they are too small and not too helpful. This means that I will likely be back in the dumpster tomorrow following the closing.
I have also come to the conclusion that I am glad that there is a little garden in the middle of the Cool Springs area in Franklin.
Finally, white gaff tape. That's how you label what's in the all black boxes.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Moving...It's About That Time
As some of you, and by you I mean the 4 people who read this (and one of them is my wife), may have heard, Brigitte and I are moving to Oxford, MS for my new job at The University of Mississippi. We are pretty excited about the whole thing but will miss a lot about Franklin and the memories that we have made in our condo here.
It's hard to believe that we have only been married for three years (as of Tuesday the 19th). In those three years I got my first teaching gig at TSU, we had a daughter, most of our friends who were still in Franklin moved away and now we are finishing off the packing to get the hell out ourselves. Many of you know that I grew up in Franklin, so leaving again is much harder than I had anticipated. I have so many memories here both from my childhood, and now from my daughter's childhood that it is hard to leave those behind. When I look at our living room and see it filled with boxes I remember the first time Evelyn rolled over (the one first that I got to myself as Brigitte was at work - haha...yes I'm a bit competitive). But I also remember her first Christmas, Halloween and Birthday. I remember bringing her home from the hospital, setting her down in front of the staircase and the cats slinking up to sniff her. We don't have stairs in our new house. This is the first time that I will be moving where I am sad that I will never see the inside again.
Brigitte and I made a trip to Knoxville a year ago around our anniversary and looked at all of the old places we had lived and while it was good to see them I had no real desire to go back in. There were no clear memories that jumped out to me as something I needed to be in those rooms again. Even the memory of my friend Aaron setting his face on fire showing us how he could breathe fire on our back porch. There are lots of good memories like that, but nothing like this.
I know that we will make wonderful memories in our new house, but I find myself remarkably sentimental at the moment. On top of all of that, while the house we bought in Oxford, is bigger with a garage and a yard, I apparently like this place after all. It's going to be hard to leave it behind.
It's hard to believe that we have only been married for three years (as of Tuesday the 19th). In those three years I got my first teaching gig at TSU, we had a daughter, most of our friends who were still in Franklin moved away and now we are finishing off the packing to get the hell out ourselves. Many of you know that I grew up in Franklin, so leaving again is much harder than I had anticipated. I have so many memories here both from my childhood, and now from my daughter's childhood that it is hard to leave those behind. When I look at our living room and see it filled with boxes I remember the first time Evelyn rolled over (the one first that I got to myself as Brigitte was at work - haha...yes I'm a bit competitive). But I also remember her first Christmas, Halloween and Birthday. I remember bringing her home from the hospital, setting her down in front of the staircase and the cats slinking up to sniff her. We don't have stairs in our new house. This is the first time that I will be moving where I am sad that I will never see the inside again.
Brigitte and I made a trip to Knoxville a year ago around our anniversary and looked at all of the old places we had lived and while it was good to see them I had no real desire to go back in. There were no clear memories that jumped out to me as something I needed to be in those rooms again. Even the memory of my friend Aaron setting his face on fire showing us how he could breathe fire on our back porch. There are lots of good memories like that, but nothing like this.
I know that we will make wonderful memories in our new house, but I find myself remarkably sentimental at the moment. On top of all of that, while the house we bought in Oxford, is bigger with a garage and a yard, I apparently like this place after all. It's going to be hard to leave it behind.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Watch Where You Are Going!
Well, it is time for my quarterly blog. I feel a lot of pressure here. Perhaps if I blogged more often I would not feel the need to impress you, kind reader, with each entry. However, I remember long ago in my Freshman (High School) English class, Mrs. Steadman told us not to try to justify our work before we read it, and I think the same should hold true before I write it, so...onwards...
Tonight Evelyn, my daughter for those of you who have not met her and have failed to take the appropriate time to read the "About Me" section of my MySpace page, had a bit of a fall and subsequently has a nice big long bruise running down the right side of her face. I imagine that it looks much worse than it feels since she was dancing along to "The Backyardigans" within 20 minutes of her fall. When Evelyn gets excited she has a propensity to start running in the general direction she wants to go without looking where it is that she is heading. I am not sure if she believes that she has the ability to run in a straight line, something that I cannot do, or if she simply thinks that the chairs, tables, stairs, cats will get out of her way when she gets close enough. This often results in her going from giggling as she runs to suddenly finding herself on the floor unsure of how she got there. More often than not she will pick herself up, assess the situation and continue to run, again without looking behind her. Tonight was the exception with her actually getting hurt and causing a great deal of anxiety for her parents. She wasn't too happy about this either.
As some of you are aware, I am currently in the middle of a fairly extensive job search, sending out applications to just about every opening that I could find a posting for. For the most part, the search has gone pretty well so far. I have had phone interviews with three schools and believe that I will have another one coming up soon. I also have been asked to come in for on-site interviews for the three colleges that I have spoken to, so I am pretty excited that these people are pretty interested in me. However, as I sit here typing this blog (read: procrastinating from getting ready for my first interview a week from today), I wonder if I have been doing exactly what Evelyn does. I have been so focused on simply getting a more secure position that I have been somewhat blindly throwing my resume out there to see if it will stick. I am excited by the prospect of interviewing with each of these schools, but wonder if I am running along laughing and am about to trip and fall and smash my knees up.
I certainly am not complaining about these possibilities, I just am not sure that I want to work at these schools. Have I been so eager to get a secure job, any job, that I have forgotten to look where I am going?
As I set off on my two week jaunt around the country, with stops in Florida, California and Mississippi (okay, I know I'm missing some parts of the country, but still...) I am going to do my best to watch where I run because the worst thing that can happen would be to move my family somewhere smiling and laughing and suddenly find ourselves on the floor wondering how we got there.
Enjoy asteroid preparedness!
Tonight Evelyn, my daughter for those of you who have not met her and have failed to take the appropriate time to read the "About Me" section of my MySpace page, had a bit of a fall and subsequently has a nice big long bruise running down the right side of her face. I imagine that it looks much worse than it feels since she was dancing along to "The Backyardigans" within 20 minutes of her fall. When Evelyn gets excited she has a propensity to start running in the general direction she wants to go without looking where it is that she is heading. I am not sure if she believes that she has the ability to run in a straight line, something that I cannot do, or if she simply thinks that the chairs, tables, stairs, cats will get out of her way when she gets close enough. This often results in her going from giggling as she runs to suddenly finding herself on the floor unsure of how she got there. More often than not she will pick herself up, assess the situation and continue to run, again without looking behind her. Tonight was the exception with her actually getting hurt and causing a great deal of anxiety for her parents. She wasn't too happy about this either.
As some of you are aware, I am currently in the middle of a fairly extensive job search, sending out applications to just about every opening that I could find a posting for. For the most part, the search has gone pretty well so far. I have had phone interviews with three schools and believe that I will have another one coming up soon. I also have been asked to come in for on-site interviews for the three colleges that I have spoken to, so I am pretty excited that these people are pretty interested in me. However, as I sit here typing this blog (read: procrastinating from getting ready for my first interview a week from today), I wonder if I have been doing exactly what Evelyn does. I have been so focused on simply getting a more secure position that I have been somewhat blindly throwing my resume out there to see if it will stick. I am excited by the prospect of interviewing with each of these schools, but wonder if I am running along laughing and am about to trip and fall and smash my knees up.
I certainly am not complaining about these possibilities, I just am not sure that I want to work at these schools. Have I been so eager to get a secure job, any job, that I have forgotten to look where I am going?
As I set off on my two week jaunt around the country, with stops in Florida, California and Mississippi (okay, I know I'm missing some parts of the country, but still...) I am going to do my best to watch where I run because the worst thing that can happen would be to move my family somewhere smiling and laughing and suddenly find ourselves on the floor wondering how we got there.
Enjoy asteroid preparedness!
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