3-24-18

Today is today.
I forgot I had a blog. Seriously.
My memory is so bad I forget that my memory is bad.
I forget what I used to do, what my students' names are, what season it is, where I am, who I know.

I can write and think and read and I have my wits... but not my memory.
I hoped it would get better once my body got used to the medication that has basically taken away my pain, but instead I have a choice to make---
Do I try to wean off the medicine that has taken away my pain?

Oh, the picture above- we went to a dinner tonight put on by a group of international women. This group played Indian music.

When I got home, I remembered I had a blog and decided that I needed it to help me remember my life. That's what it's for.

3-23-18

We went to see John McCutcheon in concert last night. He is fantastic. We used to see him when we lived in Charlottesville because he lived there at the time too and would play concerts. He played the fiddle, banjo, piano, guitar, autoharp, hammer dulcimer, sang, and said poetry. Amazing. His stories were the best stories. 

He wrote that song, Christmas in the Trenches.

Watch and listen to it here:

https://youtu.be/sJi41RWaTCs

3-20-18

I got to the last level on Train of Thought. It's very hard and I doubt I will ever master it. But it's fun to try. 47 trains.

It's March 20th, a Tuesday, and I didn't teach last night primarily because I had a headache (a migraine, really) but also because a massive storm was rolling into the state and there were warnings of tornadoes. They hit, but another university got them.

3-16-18

Why didn't I take two photos so one would have my mother's eyes open?

This is my mom and her 1st cousin VC. They both like clunky necklaces, see that?

I came home from the conference and the drove back to Atlanta today to pick VC up from downtown at another conference and we went to dinner tonight.

It was a long day.

3-13-18

Me on the top of the Westin at the conference having lunch with one of my doc students.

3-11-18

Another day in Atlanta. Cold.

Rainy.

I RAN A 5K THIS MORNING

in the dark in the rain.

I came in last

but

that was ok.

3-10-18

I'm in Atlanta with my students at a conference.

I'm staying on the 54th floor of a fancy hotel and this is my view.

I really like it up here.

3-9-18

Today my best friend from high school visited. We hadn't seen each other in over a decade. She brought a picture of us when we were teens and we re-created it.

I was so freaking cute!

But those bangs. No wonder my mother was always after me with scissors.

3-8-18

I got my hair done today- cut and colored. 

It took something like 3 hours.

3-4-18

My student I finally figured out how to make a gear adhere to this generator. She has designed an adaptor and 3D printed it.

I started getting interested in researching my mother's mother's side of the family.

This is Billy June Guy. That is what they called him. A dapper looking man. He had two wives and 12 children. He's my great great grandfather.

3-3-18

I sat outside today in the sun reading this book.

3-2-18

We got dressed up and went to a fancy dinner at the art museum to hear a famous photographer for National Geographic talk and show images. It was the most fun we'd had out in a long long time. What a great presentation! And the food was great too. We had a table with Mom and all our/her friends. 

This morning I spent ~3 hours at the pottery studio throwing bowls and working on the piece I did with my sisters.

3-1-18

Squirt went to the ER again today and actually got two MRIs. While we were waiting for the results, I didn't want to leave home so my student alw came over to work on our project together. We really made a great deal of progress. Squirt is OK. He has two bulging discs in his lumbar region which push out more when his sits or walks. He sees a neurologist Monday.

2-27-18

My grad student and I were testing analogues of nanotubes for a strength test. We tried a variety of materials and the winner was what we expected-- a hollow fiber, human hair. My human hair! 

2-26-18

LONG day. I had student advising all morning, meetings with grad students in the afternoon, and then taught this evening, I made up a story about a Nerdy kid who wanted to be Mean in order to help my students memorize the standardization equation for their test.

2-24-18

Today students came over to work. First alw came over to work on Snails stuff, then my Saudi student came over with her baby to work on her dissertation. I had a babysitter come over to watch the other three children. I really do hope my student finishes and graduates.

2-23-18

I got something off my to-do list today-- I organized my jewelry drawer.

Today I found out my colleague got promoted to Full Professor. I wonder if I ever will.

Squirt called tonight with a bad back situation. He worked today and came home with a lot of pain and discomfort. I'm really worried about him,