Samantha and Shep's Excellent Adventure

Yesterday, Cathy had meetings all afternoon and asked me to take her labradoodle, Shep, on a walk in the mid-afternoon. I was suuuuper excited to do that because I love Shep, and it was a really nice day out, and I've never walked him before. Here are some pics of our jaunt around campus!







Part of the reason I like Shep so much is that he reminds me of Scott. They're both tall and have curly hair; they both think that they are entitled to eating half of my lunch and they pout if I don't let them; and they both are stronger than me and pull me places I don't want to go. (Shep pulls me into heavy traffic, Scott pulls me into Sports Authority.)

Something that's NOT the same about Shep and Scott is that Shep relieves himself outdoors and I have to clean it up in a plastic bag whilst gagging.

one of the funniest things i've ever seen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD_6uld50Fs&feature=related

Don't watch this at work if you don't want your boss to see you rolling around on the floor crying with laughter. (I do want my boss to see me doing that, so it was fine for me.)

MIT is funny

There are funny things about working at MIT. One of the funny things is that when someone smells smoke they immediately assume the building is going to explode and/or we're smelling like napalm or something. Because, like, there's crazy chemicals and junk in the labs and a lot of weirdos working in them and I don't think napalm is all that hard to make anyway.

Another funny thing is that most of the buildings were renovated in the late-70s or early-80s so when I walk through the halls I sometimes pretend that I'm Theo Huxtable in that one episode of the Cosby Show where he goes to college and finds out he's dyslexic. The buildings just look like what a college is "supposed" to look like. Its awesome and I'll try to take pictures of the really cute stuff soon.

A third funny thing about MIT is that there are world famous scientists all around and they just look like normal people. The other day I was in an unfamiliar building for a meeting and I left to go to the bathroom, but I didn't know where it was. So I stuck my head in the copy room and asked a guy in there for directions, and he gave them to me, and then I thought maybe he was like a Nobel Prize winner or something, and there's no way to know! I might have gotten directions to the crapper from Stephen Hawking! He wasn't in a wheelchair so probs wasn't The Hawk, but I don't really know any other famous scientists off the top of my head to use as an example. I am an embarrassment to my employer. (If my life really was the Cosby Show, I would have asked a stranger for directions to the bathroom and he'd turn around to reveal that he was Barack Obama. But my life is not a sitcom.)

My office.

My favorite room - its like a lounge down the hall, I think its so adorable and picturesque with the books and the bikes.


Giant tank of nitrogen. In the hallway. Whatevs.

things

1. I took that picture tonight of a tree illuminated by the street lights on my walk home. I like it.
   
2. I got an A on my first grad school paper. An A! I know, I'm horrible, I shouldn't brag on the internet. But this is so exciting for me. After 4 years of college where I scrounged up Bs at my best and Cs normally, a graduate-level A feels great.
3. Sarah started her own blog! Please click here and read all about venison, her first entry: buttersbetter.blogspot.com
4. I work with this dog every day. I feed him beef stew so he'll like me.

Ehhhhhhhh the stupid blogger numbering thing is messed up and it changed my 5 to a 1 and I can't fix it and I'm too tired to try more so whatever. Stop judging.

1. On Friday I went to Trader Joe's, and while I was there I bought some raspberry candies for Scott, because he likes them and rarely goes to Trader Joe's on his own. So then, they were sitting on my desk for a couple days, and I decided I'd open the box and try one. You know...just one. Well I ended up eating half the box (not joking, we estimate about 400-500 calories worth of candy in two days) and now I'm on a strict detox. It was horrendous and I am never doing that to myself again. AKA...not until next week, at LEAST. Here's a link to a Japanese article about these candies: http://www.nichibeitimes.com/?p=4872. You KNOW if the Nichi Bei Times is covering it, they're newsworthy.
   

An Arts Approach to Multicultural Education

I had class this weekend. All weekend. Exhausted. I'm so exhausted. 23 hours of class in 48 hours. Bullet points of "highlights" below.

• Girl had whale eyes. I recognized them from seeing the Dolphins and Whales IMAX at the New England Aquarium.
• Midget wore berets every day. Saturday beret was bedazzled. On half.
• Instructors were Bea Arthur and Jeanie from I Dream of Jeanie.
• Heard Bea Arthur fart.
• Sat on little chairs.
• Made sculptures out of our bodies.
• Threw stuffed animals at each other.
• Journaled about our feelings on 8 separate occasions.
• Whale eyes couldn't pronounce R sounds.
• Hula hoops.
• Dancing.
• Poetry.
• Ladysmith Black Mombazo.

These are just a few impressions. I can't put them together any better than this. My brain is so fried. Final thought...I paid approximately $2400 for this experience.

Fantastic. I'm having a fantastic year.

Things that are true:

• Scott gave me a Snuggie for our 6 month anniversary.
• I ate lunch today at 10:45am because I couldn't wait any longer.
• I moved my bed last night by myself and my new furniture arrangement makes me really happy. I think I accidentally feng shuied my bedroom. How the crap do you spell that?
• Jesus taught me how to use Dreamweaver and published my broken webpages for me in the premier miracle of this decade.
• I toured a Montessori school this morning and it was so wonderful I almost cried and now I want to be a Montessori teacher but I don't know howww.
• I saw a man on the T this morning who was asleep and snoring with his hand down his pants.
• I had my first ChocoTaco today (for second-lunch) and I'm in love.