Erin Writes

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• I’ve been very much enjoying my new Motorola Droid, which was the gift I bought for myself with Christmas money…very exciting. I’ve already discovered a bunch of fun apps, but I’d love to hear from you if you know of a good one.
• I just uploaded a bunch of pictures, mostly having to do with Christmas.
• Rand and I just finished watching the first season of Mary Tyler Moore, which has been a lot of fun…on to season 2!
• Friday night, we went to see ComedySportz Buffalo, a live comedy improv show (much like Whose Line is it Anyway). It was a lot of fun, and I would definitely go back!

Otherwise, it’s been a fairly low-key weekend…keeping warm, grading papers, and so on. And tomorrow, it’s back to work. Hope you all had a great weekend!,

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Here’s to an excellent 2010!

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I probably shouldn’t be enjoying a snow day, given how much work I have to do/how much I need to accomplish with my students before Christmas break….but yeah, sometimes teachers want to sleep in, too.

Somewhere along the line, oatmeal became my breakfast of choice. When I don’t have to work, I VERY much prefer being able to make real oats (as opposed to “quick” oats, which is what I have when I have to get to work). In the summer, when peaches were in season, I was cutting up a peach and drizzling it with honey to have mixed in to my oatmeal. My fall treat is dicing up an apple, cooking with a splash of apple cider added to the water (along with cinnamon and nutmeg) and sweetening with a mix of brown sugar and Splenda. Yum.

I had a shoe tragedy yesterday…my go-to pair of brown loafers (pictured below) has a HUGE crack in the sole. Which I realized when I stepped outside and my foot got wet.

I’ve had them for a few years, and I wore them ALL the time. I bought them at JC Penney, because on sale/with coupon, they are much cheaper than the $75 price tag at the website. So I called JC Penney yesterday, and of course they no longer carry these in-store. I was able to order them from the JC Penney website, but of course this shoe was out of stock. So I got this one instead:

(I do also have a pair of these that I can’t wear anymore, because the lining has worn off the heel area and it was putting holes in the heels of my socks…) So that’s good, but I still want the other ones, too.

Anyway.

I’m having a hard time deciding what to do with my day…be lazy, or be productive? I should probably get some grading done. Maybe read for a bit. We don’t have a tree yet, but maybe I could get some of the other decorations up. Clean? Put on pants and venture out into the world? Sigh…I just DON’T KNOW!

I think I’ll start by emptying the dishwasher. I’ll let you know how it goes. Happy snow day!

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If you looked up “things Erin should be doing right now,” I’m guessing blogging wouldn’t be on the list. And yet, here I am.

I overslept this morning. Oversleeping used to be a fairly regular thing for me, but has become less and less frequent in recent years. I overslept once last year, so I’m hoping once a year is it for me.

Part of the problem is that I need a new alarm clock. The one I have works fine, except for the snooze button. I think it got broken one morning when I forgot to turn the alarm off and it woke Rand up while I was in the shower. He didn’t know how to turn it off, which resulted in random flailing until it stopped making noise.

Eh…lately, I’ve been doing well without the snooze, but today, I obviously needed it. I did fine…I wasn’t late to work at all, and except for it being a bad hair day, it really didn’t affect the day much.

Here are some random thoughts, in no particular order:

I bought Dance Dance Revolution for the wii, and I am learning that I really, really suck at it. Maybe someone could give me some pointers?

I saw The Hangover over the weekend, which was fun, but I didn’t think it was nearly as great as some people seemed to.

I’m getting over the…whatever it was I had last week, but for some lingering sinus congestion.

I tried a new cupcake recipe yesterday, and it ended in disaster. A combo of running out of eggs and trying a substitute I found online and the oven freaking out and running way too hot. They collapsed AND burned. They smelled tasty, though.

Made a small apple crisp today. Made up for the cupcake disaster.

Somehow injured myself in my sleep two nights ago…woke up with an incredibly sore neck and upper back. I’ve been popping ibuprofen, and I’m feeling better (but not 100%) today. Still may need to visit friendly neighborhood chiropractor.

NaNoWriMo is coming up. Now, I am in no way, shape, or form crazy enough to attempt actual participation this year. I am, however, thinking about setting my own much smaller goal–perhaps something like “finish one short story”–and playing along. It would be nice to feel some sense of accomplishment.

Finished watching The Wire over the weekend. Wow. Anyone who has watched can feel free to discuss. (the fifth season was not as emotionally damaging as the fourth, but certainly brought up a lot of interesting ideas.)

Ok, I need to move along now…have a great week!

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Just installed a blog editing tool to firefox, and I’m checking to see how it works.

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So, the internet has been all abuzz with speculation about this video on YouTube:

Is it for real? Or is it a well-done satire?

I’m in the satire camp. Evidence for satire:

1. Apparently, although they’ve been removed, the video originally included the tags Poe’s law and Henry Fielding.

2. I’m not sure the Indian girl’s accent is real. (It seems to slip in and out a bit…especially in the newer video “Going Green for God.”)

3. I don’t think these girls are as young as they’re pretending to be.

4. They’re trying not to crack up at the end.

5. Molly’s comments. Some examples:

“No, the reaction I got was nothing less than superb.”

LadyMurasaki2: >Poe’s Law

You’re the greatest. 10/10

Molly: [Thank You in Japanese]—thanks, Babelfish!

“You are so mean, calling my friend irregular, omg.”

What do you think?

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I am back in WNY. Lots of post-vacation errandthings to do (like groceries and laundry). I hope to get some photos posted sometime soon.

Many thanks to everyone who wished us a happy anniversary/expressed sympathy about my grandfather’s death. Both meant a lot to me during this past week.

Rand and I brought an end to our vacation this morning with massages at Excuria–a wedding gift from Ron, Melissa, and the girls. (thank you!) I don’t know why it took us so long to use it, but it was nice to still be enjoying wedding gifts a year later!

Okay, that’s it for now. More later. Happy Friday!

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

I’m having a rare (for me) bout of insomnia right now. I was worried about keeping Rand awake, as he does in fact have to get up for work tomorrow. So you get a stream-of-consciousness blog post.

I was going to do a craft project, but I don’t have what I need. No 24-hour craft stores around…

It’s been a weird couple of days. My paternal grandfather passed away this morning, and I’m waiting on the finalization of plans before Rand and I head down to St. Marys. My grandfather was 93 years old, and he was relatively healthy and self-sufficient until last week, when he suffered a minor stroke. This is, of course, hard on my dad. Please keep my family in your thoughts/prayers these next few days.

Rand and I were going to be leaving tomorrow morning for an anniversary trip…our plans will have to be amended, obviously, but we’re still planning on doing something.

I can’t believe it’s almost our first anniversary.

I thought I had a bunch more stuff to say, but it appears I have run out of steam. Maybe I’ll get some sleep after all?

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

My newest addiction: Johnnie Ryan cream soda.

Things to love about Johnnie Ryan:

• They’re a Niagara Falls, NY company (buy local!)
• 100% cane sugar (no high fructose corn syrup!)
• old-timey glass bottles

I buy it in 4-packs at Wegmans. I’ve also seen individual bottles being sold at Wilson Farms (the one at Elmwood/Auburn anyway), Amy’s Place, and Shango. I imagine there are others.

I love it. And I didn’t even know I liked cream soda.

They also have cola, ginger ale, root beer, cherry, and orange. (I’ve tried cola, ginger ale, and root beer. None of them hold a candle to the cream soda, IMHO.)

Also pictured–Nutella (YUM) and a Sham-WOW! (disappointing) I bought at Target.

Thus ends my unauthorized, unsolicited ad for Johnnie Ryan sodas.

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