a glinting foot

of SNOW!!  We got about 12 inches yesterday, though it is hard to tell since they've been scraping and plowing all day.

I'm excited to walk around in it today, even though it's still super cold.  Volleyball class got cancelled, but at this point I've still got Abnormal Psych.  and work.  Ah yes, work.  I feel like I might as well live there these days, I'm there so much!  In fact, I have some students asking me that :)

I'm off to a pretty good start to the semester.  I love having only a few hours of class a week, even though I'm constantly working on my theses in every spare moment.  I'm honestly more than a little nervous about my Honor Scholar one....

breathless

I'm tired of not being able to breathe.  And yawning every five seconds if I do more than stand up or sit down.  Ugh.  I'm not physically tired but it feels like I am since I have to work so hard to get sufficient oxygen into my lungs.  Darn asthma.

back at school

I do believe I set a new personal record last night.  I had a social life within 36 hours of being back on campus!  Thanks Jamie! :)  We had some yummy Mexican food and a delightful catch-up conversation about life since Costa Rica.  It's amazing how you can go to the same school and live 2 houses apart but not know what's up with life.  And at the same time you can keep up with friends who are hundreds of miles away with just the click of a button.  Dad fears that email and instant messaging will overshadow letter-writing.  I hope not, but if it does happen, do you think people will still remember how to write?  I mean, we're all typing all the time, especially at college or work.  Assignments are submitted online so as to save paper, and even tests are being completed via computer!  Perhaps Tablet PCs will allow us to maintain our handwriting quirks even if paper become obsolete...

25 Below

It is COLD.  I don't think I've ever been in wind chills this cold.  And I know it's even worse north of here!  I have to keep the space heater cranked up just to keep my room above freezing!  I think it's supposed to warm up tomorrow.  I hope so.  I'm running out of clean clothes, wearing so many layers!

Driving up on Wednesday, my car got FILTHY!!  I drove into and through at least one snowstorm, and when I got to school the roads weren't plowed.

[caption id="attachment_64" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="My car after driving back to school through snow storms"][/caption]

It was clean when I left!  And now my windshield wiper fluid is frozen :( so I guess it'll stay dirty a little longer...

Back at School

Wind chills below zero shouldn't be allowed.  At least when there's little-to-no insulation in your room.  Ugh.  I have a space heater, but it can only do so much against single-digit temps and negative wind chills.  Thankfully the snow is pretty! :)  Unfortunately my bike sat out in it for the past month, and is still covered now.  I guess I'll be doing a bit of greasing in a few days.

Missed Calls Can Change Games

So the Titans lost yesterday.  They turned the ball over way too many times, but still, they should have held it together and won.  Unfortunately, one of the game-changers was a missed delay-of-game call.  I understand that there is a little delay that happens when the back judge looks from the play clock to the ball, but still.  This was about a 2.5 second delay AFTER the play clock expired.  And yes, if the Titans had been taking care of the football and that, it wouldn't have mattered.  But the fact is that it did.  If the Ravens had been flagged with that penalty, Flacco wouldn't have made that huge completion that down.  They would've been 5 yards and 1 down farther away from Stover's field goal range.   Who knows, maybe the score would be different!?!

see:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090110/SPORTS01/90110025/1027

Epiphany

Epiphany.  The time of the wise men's visit to the Christ child.  The last day of Christmas.  Time to put away my Christmas watch.  We're taking down the Christmas tree and packing away the decorations.  I'll be sad to see the lights go away.  They've been a wonderful reminder of the hope we still can have despite these gray days.