This and That

Today, I conquered a minor feature of Open Office's presentation program.  While I have it on all my machines, I rarely use it for anything but word processing and compatibility issues for student projects.  A student had an issue, so I had to sit down and play with it to figure it out.  It was a small thing, but satisfying in its way to figure out the puzzle, to make it do what it was supposed to do.

I also signed up for the trip to England today.  It's official that I'm going at last.  It's incredible to think that I'm getting a second chance to go back to some of those places again.  Last time, I wasn't teaching Brit Lit, and I didn't fully appreciate all of it.  This time, I'll have the Nikon and a better understanding of the significance of it all.  It is going to be fantastic.

I continue to work on my online course material for TGC.  It is becoming a full-time thing.  The discussion requires nightly attention, and the last article I read was 89 pages.  O_o  Welcome back to grad school, ladies and gentlemen.  The good news is that it's all so very interesting and relevant.  It's feeding my excitement about what we're going to do, but it's also making me yearn for the days when I was living overseas.

I'm still working on Norwegian Wood.  My enthusiasm for it is almost nil, though.  What started out as wonderful has turned into WAY too much sex for me.  It's well-written, and the story is still interesting, but it seems like every other page, there's something that's graphic.  It's adolescent.  I know it's about a guy in college, and maybe that's age appropriate.  Not having ever been a guy in college, I can't really tell you.  It's just starting to wear on my nerves a little.  I'm starting to wish we had a little more...I don't know...cut to the flapping curtain and a little less bump and grind, if that makes any sense at all.  I'm not prudish but after awhile you're just sort of thinking, "Okay.  WhoopteDOO.  Can you do anything else?"  And yeah, I get that this is sort of his point, too, (he even has his protagonist say something like "can't we talk about something other than sex on a Sunday morning?) but COME ON.  I know there's plot in here somewhere.  Maybe it is going to get better again.  I'm only about halfway through, and I'm determined to finish this book.  As much as I loved Wind-Up Bird, I have to believe this one will be good, too.

The day ended with me running some rednecks on four-wheelers out of my pasture.  It is well and truly deer season when I have to go out in my front yard, yell at the top of my lungs, and go flying down my driveway in my little car to get the idiots off my property. Why can't people just stay on what they own?

Now I'm heading to bed a little early.  Tomorrow promises to be very busy as we have the biggest football game of the year in the evening and everyone will no doubt be exceptionally bouncy about it.  If we can all make it through the day, then a nice four-day break will be waiting on the other side.  Can't wait to get there....