It’s funny how when I don’t want to share something, everyone seems to ask about it.  When I’m excited to share or actually have something to share no one asks.  Worse, I’ll try to share and then other things come up so I don’t get a chance.  We went home and everyone asked about work.  Naturally.  No one asks about work.  Not even when I’m trying to share something exciting or a funny story about it.  Or I’ll share the story and it’ll fall flat–that’s usually with my mother, who interestingly always asks about work over the phone.  It’s like Bill Murray’s character in Ground Hog’s Day when the old…

I grew up with a friend named Lora.  She lived down the street from me and we went through school together.  We became good friends in second grade a were friends through our senior year of high school, some years more closely than others.  She had some sort of disease that made her grow wildly tall before her peers but retarded her growth around 5th or 6th grade.  She then became one of the shortest people and ceased to grow.  I defended/stood by her as an awkward giant in 2nd and 3rd grade when she towered over everyone, including the tallest viking boys.  I defended/stood by her when she was…

So I’m taking the quarter off, a sabbatical of sorts.  It’s not much of a sabbatical when I’m running the millions of errands I’ve put off and worrying about getting other work and research done and what I will return to when I go back.  A couple of my students are pretty sure (and worried) I’m not coming back.  If I keep having days like these, I’ll probably run back–early no less. Chief asked me how my first day of the sabbatical went and all I could say was, “It was horrible!  I got nothing done!” He laughed and said, “Day One: Sabbatical, terrible.”  Followed by, “It’ll get better.  It’s…