2,543

I have recently been heckled by some, who will remain nameless, who feel my recent hiatus from the blogging world is rather unnecessary. For this, I apologize. However, I would like to note that my hiatus has not been in vain, and that my absence from the blogging scene has been for a good cause. The graduate class I'm taking this semester is great! The professor is awesome, and the class is really relaxed, and I get along with my classmates very well. I was also very stoked to discover that my only "graded" assessment for the entire semester would be one, 20-page paper, on any topic of my choice, that is due at the end of the semester. On the other hand, I was shocked to discover that the other "60%" of my grade is based on participation in class discussion. AND - class discussion is COMPLETELY centered around the 16 required texts that we have to read this semester, along with the 1 text on Material Culture of our choosing. So, to date, I have read 2,543 pages of required text, and I am happy to report that I have been a substantial contributor to all class discussions to date. The reading is a bit ridiculous at times, and it keeps me up late at others, but all in all it's not too bad, and I've finished every book so far. Unfortunately, I'm not looking forward to next week's book, which is 629 pages on the history of historical research. Blah.

In other news - Winter finally kicked into gear here in PA the last few weeks. Since my last rant against mother nature I had TWO, count them TWO days off school due to the snow, followed by freezing rain, followed by more snow. I probably would have gotten off with only one snow day and a 2-hour delay (as opposed to my early dismissal, off, off, 2-hour delay scenario) if PENNDOT hadn't screwed up in such a ridiculous way. The roads were awful, but Bird and I enjoyed laying around the house very much, so no complaints here. Aside from that, we got a little bit more snow/freezing rain the following week, but not nearly as bad. It's been very cold and windy here the past few days, which makes me wonder if winter is going to stick around for another few weeks... hope not. I got my fill of snow delays and days off, so I'm done with winter now.

In other news - Mike has officially started outdoor track. He enjoys it and hates it at the same time... Mike has also successfully installed recessed lighting in our laundry room! The new lights make a HUGE difference, and brighten the whole place up! And in general, their (Mike and his dad) electric work has done much to improve the basement by removing all the creepy hanging wires and wierd makeshift stuff the previous owner had rigged up. Pretty soon the electrical upgrades will be done in the laundry room, and we'll be able to put the ceiling up! Hooray! Mike will also be installing the recessed lights in the "living room" part of the basement this upcoming weekend, so pretty soon we'll have that all finished up as well. It's wonderful!

Lastly, the house will be re-sided soon! Our project got bumped from mid-march to the beginning of April as a result of the ice that stuck around PA for over a week and a half... But we are still looking forward to having INSULATION, a house that's not pink, a new door that's not drafty, new windows in the attic that aren't drafty, and a new mailbox! Hooray!!

THE END.