A Tale of Four Re's

Reunion:
Friday morning, I ran into someone I had not seen in about five years. As I was leaving the student union after picking up a copy of the newspaper on my way into the math building, I ran into my academic rival* from high school. Unfortunately, she was on her way to a meeting or something and couldn't talk for long (she's working on her PhD in some field of psychology), but I'm confident we'll set a time to sit down and catch up.

Redecorating:
On Saturday, I returned to Rocky Ridge for a family dinner (and didn't have to pay for laundry this week). When I walked into my parents' house, I smelled fresh paint from my old room. Since it is being converted into the home office, my mom had it painted in coral (pink with a slight tint of orange).

Also on this trip, aside from seeing my parents and sister again (one month before she turns 21), I was sent home with two frozen pizzas, a quart of homemade chicken corn soup, three boxes of apple toaster strudels, two Hungryman TV dinners, a pizza baking stone, some dryer sheets, and a puzzle that acts as an election map (there are two pieces for each state, one red, one blue). Plus, gas was cheaper in Thurmont than it is down here for a change.

Rebuttal:
I also watched the debate Friday night. Since I have already made up my mind on how I will vote for president, I'm not going to try to determine who "won" the debate. I'm afraid my bias will cloud my judgment on that point. But I did notice how Senator Obama was able to rebut many of Senator McCain's talking points.

Redskins:
Redskins 26, Cowboys 24. A good day of football. That's all that needs to be said.

* By "academic rival," I mean, "friendly competitor for the highest grades in classes we had together." It was all in good fun, and may have immunized me from senioritis in high school.

Our Republic is in Trouble. Big Trouble

Apparently, the latest scandal to hit the Obama/Biden campaign deals with football. Not even professional football, mind you, but college football. Today, Joe Biden talked about how the University of Delaware was going to beat Ohio State this weekend. No big deal, after all, Biden is one of Delaware's two senators.

Unfortunately, the Ohio GOP chairman didn't get the memo about it not being a big deal. He said that Biden had cost Obama votes in the key state of Ohio.

Really? Is that how people vote, based on college sports preferences. I hope not, but others have observed how no one has lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American people. So either voters are going to vote based on a stupid "issue" or the GOP does not care about people voting on the important things (the economy, energy, health care, Iraq, education, the national debt, Where's Osama?, etc.). Either way, our republic is in serious trouble. We may want to start playing the Imperial March now.

But kudos to Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), who has supported Obama. I guess that just leaves my congressman, Roscoe Bartlett, as the only member of Maryland's congressional delegation to support McCain. Sadly, though, Gilchrest will not be returning to Congress next year. Hopefully the Democrat he endorsed will go to DC.

Also, President Bush stated the other day that the economy is undergoing an adjustment. Yeah, and the deck chairs on the Titanic underwent an "adjustment" during the wee hours of April 15, 1912, too.

Okay, that's enough politics. Now if I can stop with the deja vu I've been experiencing the past couple of days...

Not in the Middle of Nowhere is Nice

So, last night was an enjoyable evening with friends and Adam and Jon's new place. The nice thing is, I was less than thirty minutes away. Thus I could go and stay (somewhat) late and not feel like I would have to crash there or get home at some really late/early hour. I think I like this being-close-to-people thing.

Now to continue with that grad school thing. Tomorrow, I will be lucky to get back home by 5:30. Tuesday looks to be later still. At least the lateness Tuesday is explained by the rescheduled AMSC picnic instead of class.

Alternatives

Well, if the math thing doesn't work out, I could always get a job assembling IKEA furniture. Over the past two weekends, I have put together two bookcases, a desk chair, a nightstand, and a bed from IKEA (except for the nightstand, they were for Jon). Add that to the bookcase, desk, coffee table, TV stand, dining set, and futon that I put together in July, and the rocking chair in August, and one begins to wonder if I've hit my IKEA quota. Amazingly, for each of the items, all of the pieces were there.

But aside from the IKEA binge, I am settling into my routine for the semester. In by 9:30, out around 4 or 5, and do some work at home (in front of Law and Order, out of respect for tradition). Repeat as necessary.

Also this weekend, I attended a "grad pub" on Friday evening. Basically, it's an event for grad students at UMCP only with free food and discounted alcoholic beverages. You can guess which one I went for.

Here's to week two of grad school, and seeing many of you on Saturday.

And So It Begins

My first semester of graduate school starts tomorrow. Thus, I spent today deciding when I would have office hours. I decided to have one Tuesday afternoon and one Wednesday morning. Hopefully, I won't have to change them. At least today was restful, as opposed to helping Jon move on Saturday and entertaining a friend from high school yesterday.

On another note, I have been asked to lead a worship service on February 1st back in Rocky Ridge. I also get to prepare and give a sermon, either following the lectionary or on a topic of my choice. Watch out.

But for now, I get to look forward to Adam and Jon's housewarming, tentatively scheduled the weekend after next. Which means I have slightly under two weeks to get something done so that Jon has to live up to his end of a certain bargain. And honestly, I'm not sure how to go about it (even assuming I can get a good read on the situation). Unfortunately, I won't get the kick in the pants I got last time. So we'll see on this count, also.

And let us hope those on the Gulf Coast get through Gustav well (at least for a hurricane).