More on MSP

The trip to Minneapolis was great. You can see that Angela is pregnant if you check out her blog. It was fun to see that. And their cat was weird. It loved me, but it insisted on licking my fingers and eventually chewing on my fingernails. Some sort of strange grooming thing I suppose.

We did many fun activities. Friday night we rented The Black Dahlia, a slightly confusing movie. I kept waiting for the ScoobyDoo moment when it was all explained. Saturday we went to Ikea* for fun, and I tried to convince Angela that the new baby should have a stuffed rat. Saturday night was baked potato pizza at Pizza Luce, and Sunday we had dinner with a bunch of Dordt people. Sunday night we went to a lecture by Nicholas Wolterstorff on the love of God and the desire for learning. It was really good. People did ask asinine questions, but I guess that's to be expected in a public forum. Also to be expected at a Midwestern church function? Yummy bars.

The picture is from the new Guthrie Theater. We're standing outside the endless bridge, which Ryan insisted was a skyway during the icy walk to the theater.

Oh, and yes, CA people, it was cold. You may not be able to tell it from the picture, but it was fuh-reezing. And windy. One lesson learned--cats are good for warmth, if you can get them to quit licking your hands.

*Ryan may not have initially thought Ikea was among the fun activities, but he was a great sport. And we have similar shopping habits, so that's a good thing.

MSP

I keep wanting to post about my trip to Minneapolis, but I don't have the time. One highlight--learning new vocabulary. My favorites:

baby wearing
kangaroo care

Both real things, I promise.

After a last minute decision Wed. night, I'm writing to ya'll from the heartland, more specifically Ang and Ryan's guest bedroom. Coming home to old friends is amazing. Ang and Ryan are great, their house is beautiful, and their cat adores me. He literally licked my fingers at least 5 or 6 times today. And sprawled out on my lap while we watched The Black Dahlia. I liked the style, but found it very hard to follow. I really wanted a Scooby Doo moment at the end where everything was explained, preferably with flashbacks.

I shall have to capture a photo of the cat tomorrow, and pregnant Ang--they're both adorable!

Decades Day

Today was decades day at school. As a 7th grade homeroom teacher, I was assigned the 1970's. I think I did pretty well with it. The shopping was a lot of fun, especially since it was half price night at Goodwill.

I love the glasses, and I attempted the wing-like Farrah Fawcett hair. It didn't totally work, but the outfit was killer. The orange top is sort of a caftan, over these homemade green printed pants. I thought it would just be a dress up outfit, but I do really like it and may just wear it out.

I'm pretty sure that at some point in college, maybe in an expository writing class, I was asked to read Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. The proof of this is that the book is on the shelf in my living room as I write, though I'm not sure I ever cracked the cover. In fact, I have no idea what it's about, which makes me sure I've never opened it. Oops.

As a teacher I'm annoyed at myself, as a student I know that reading a book just because you're assigned to doesn't always work. My book reading strategy as an adult is that if it doesn't catch me in the first few pages, I don't continue reading. Actually, I don't even take it home from the library if I'm not interested in the first few pages. There are too many good books to read to waste time slogging through something I'm not interested in. Not to say all the good books are easy, as Anna Karenina can attest to, but sometimes I just have to pick up a book when I'm ready to read it. My library list would show that sometimes I check out a book 2-3 times before I actually read it.

So though I've left the first Jon Krakauer book on the shelf for probably 6 or 7 years now, a few others of his have kept me up reading late into the night. First I read Under the Banner of Heaven with a friend's book group. I think I've written about it before on the blog, probably mentioning how closely the actual story resembles a South Park episode.

Lately though I've been drawn in by Into Thin Air. Blame it on the Discovery Channel, but I've been on an Everest kick lately. It started with Everest: Beyond the Limit, accidentally taped by my oft befuddled TiVo. I was hooked after the climbers on the episode hiked past a dying man, leaving him to expire in the snow. I started reading more about Everest and the debates about ethics on Everest, which led me to Krakauer's book.

In 1996, Krakauer and a few other teams tried to summit Everest and ended up losing almost half of the people who started the climb. The story itself is fascinating and baffling, and I can't even begin to comprehend what would make someone want to climb Everest with the possibility of death being so close. What I like about Krakauer's book, and him as a nonfiction writer, is that he balances so well the need to keep the story moving, and the way he explains background and creates characters. Often in nonfiction I get annoyed because the writer so clunkily rambles on about one or the other, story or narration, but rarely intertwines them in a way that keeps my attention. I think Krakauer strikes a good balance. He keeps my interest with the story, but I also feel like I got to know some of the characters and moral debates he describes.

I actually have liked his books so well I'm thinking of fishing Into the Wild off the shelf for my last minute trip to Minneapolis this weekend. And maybe writing my thoughts about his other books will be penance enough for never having actually read it in college.

Speaking of libraries and reading...

I think Silicon Valley Reads is an amazing idea. Basically, a book is chosen and everyone in the Silicon Valley is encouraged to read it at the same time. The local libraries order tons of copies, and then there are all kinds of live events like book discussions and interviews with the authors. I read last year's pick, When the Emperor Was Divine, but I didn't make it to any of the events. This year's book, The Tortilla Curtain, is on my request list at the library, so hopefully I'll get my hands on it soon.

Though not quite as traumatic as last year's library field trip, this year's library field trip was equally interesting. This year we encountered a cop, having just arrested two teens for getting "too friendly" in the teen center, a couple with a baby on the light rail who appeared to be high and didn't appreciate our kids gawking, and a girl who kept trying to tell me that Leonardo di Caprio was a famous artist and painted things like the Sistine Chapel. Good times.

Superbowl

Despite knowing nothing about football and caring very little about the sport, I did watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. It was a social event. When I called my brother for his birthday Sunday around noon I asked him who was playing, so I didn't arrive at the event totally unknowledgeable.

Here's what the actual game looked like for me: friends and wine kick off blah blah blah glass of wine blah blah blah blah what's a field goal? blah blah blah more wine blah blah blah blah prince has a name again blah blah blah roughing the kicker blah blah more wine blah blah gatorade blah blah trophy blah blah drive home

It was a pretty rad afternoon. And the good thing about the Super Bowl is that no one cares if you talk through it.

jesus trumps all

A friend who teaches second grade told me that her kids have invented a new version of paper, rock, scissors. It's paper, rock, scissors, Jesus. And Jesus beats paper, rock, and scissors.