terminology, time countdown, token of appreciation

"Who decided to call it THAT, anyway?", she asked, snickering as she jotted down some notes.

I was with a tutor student earlier this week, reviewing for her final exam. She asked the question in reference to a math term she is expected to know and use.

-----*warning, some may find this anecdote a bit risque, but we found it funny*-----

The term to which she referred - latus rectum - is a useful thing in math, but is understandably met with scoffs and quiet snickers by the often immature and largely English-as-an-only-language student body.

"I guess it must be latin or something", she continued.

"Yes", I informed. "It translates to 'straight side'".

"PFFFT", she scoffed, "it's my general understanding that the straights don't typically go for that stuff, but okay!"

Bahahahahaha!

And with that, another semester comes to a close. I'm off the tutoring until the spring semester. I'll still  have a few hours in the testing center each week since that place doesn't take breaks between semesters, and I'm looking forward to some time off for other things for a while.

I know I'm not the only one. In fact, I noticed the adjunct faculty whiteboard has a new prompt:

I hope that whoever wrote "All most there!" isn't an English/ writing instructor.

There weren't many comments, likely because of the smaller whiteboard next to the big one.

I guess snacks are more appealing after a semester of writing on whiteboards.

So I've said goodbye to this latest batch of tutees. One showed up to her session with what I originally thought was her laptop wrapped in cloth rather than in her backpack. I thought, "hmm, that's different".

But she unwrapped it to reveal this painting she created. She said it was for me as thanks for the tuting.

I thanked her and told her, "I know just where I'm gonna put it!"

When I got home, it went on the wall of my home office/ studio/ room I share with the cat...

I'm not sure if she gave the painting a title. If she did, she didn't tell me what it is. 

Suggestions?

eats and hunger

December has arriveth. Looking out my window, I see actual snow on the rooftops. Not much, but I say it still counts.

I had all of last week off from work and tried to make the most of it. During that time, I...

... shopped, enjoyed family time, climbed a mountain, had a tarot reading, shot a gun, napped, ate lots of good food, walked dogs, (reluctantly) learned a little about plumbing...

along with the other day-to-day stuff. All in all, a good week with a minor annoyance of a slow leak in one of our bathroom sinks. The silver lining is, we should have a nice new faucet when all is said and done. We (translation: Magnum) think we can DIY the fix before having to call in the professionals. Fingers crossed.

This week is the last week of the college semester, so it's prep for finals before it all comes to a crashing halt. Along the way, I lost a few tutees who dropped their courses after falling too far behind. 

Of those who remain in the fight, I think they're all going to make it. It feels like The Hunger Games around here sometimes.

what would Joe Exotic do?

 I took pooch Merlin to the vet's yesterday. He needed a bordatella booster as required by the place we board the dogs. We don't actually have any boarding plans currently, but I keep the dogs on schedule to keep our options open. 

So we're at the vet's, and Merlin was great as usual. "He's a really good dog", was the vet's comment at their first meeting over 5 years ago. And he really is, except...

...don't come to our house.

He's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Sweet, easy-going, compliant. But at home, he's like an over protective junkyard dog if anyone outside the family comes over. 

Friends, friends of our kids, family he's not met, service technicians, etc.

No matter how much we try to get him to chill, he's stuck in full guard mode like something takes over in his brain. We just have to sequester him away somewhere.

He's a shelter dog, and we don't know anything about his life before us. When he was found and transferred to Colorado, he was emaciated.  When we met him, he weighed 35 pounds, and now he's 70 pounds at the same height and length.

We just know he was a stray from Oklahoma, to which Magnum noted, "Oklahoma? Weird things in Oklahoma", referring to 'Tiger King'.

But, it's clear to us that someone loved him, and trained him in his easy-going ways. The way he obediently sits, was house trained, is happy to get into a vehicle. What is it that makes him so protective of our home?

We wonder what traumatic thing happened that led to him being alone and emaciated. What happened to his previous owner(s)? 

On weekends, when we sleep in a little, Merlin comes into the bedroom and sniffs us, seemingly to check that we're still alive. 

My mother-in-law was visiting a few months ago with Magnum's brother and sister-in-law. SIL has had many dogs, and could tell Merlin was not going to warm up to her. MIL tried, and I was certain Merlin would've bitten her if they weren't separated by a fence. It's a conundrum.

I'd asked the vet about this at our meeting last summer. She seemed surprised, as if to say, 

"Him? You're referring to Merlin??"

She told me a little about the muzzle up project,

I didn't do much with the information at the time other than look at the site, but now I'm thinking we should get on with some proper training and teach this old dog some new tricks. 

It came up again yesterday during our visit. As we talked, the tech in the room with us had that similar confused look, 

"Are y'all talking about THIS dog??" 

Sadly, yes. Maybe I'll get him a friendly muzzle for Christmas. Then we'll arrange for some victims helpers to come to our house and commence the training. 

Any volunteers?

compress, de-

This past week was an exhausted drag into fall break. Yeesh, Thanksgiving is a late one again this year, and it's been felt at the college by both students and staff. No classes all next week, but campus is open through Wednesday.

I worked in testing today with Sarge. It was a, thankfully, smooth and uneventful day. I have no tutees next week because of the break, so I'm in loaf mode since clocking out this afternoon. 

This week also featured another birthday for me. I've had a few now. Coworkers bestowed this card upon me.

For my birthday last year, I was given a piñata (empty). He still lives at the testing center, and we named him Felipe'

Here is Felipe', last year during December finals (he doesn't normally have reindeer antlers) guarding a few beverages - his designated job.

So it'll be a small paycheck next round, but I'm looking forward to the time off. No major plans, but I'll think of something. 

I also noticed the adjunct faculty whiteboard has been further adorned with decompressive thoughts, now that mid-semester is semester's end.

I'm hoping to get in some loaf time with good books - currentlly reading [The Wedding People] and am see-sawing on its goodness or badness - some nature time, and other chill pursuits. Tidying, that's always fun.

What's on your whiteboard?

food, fundraising, ferris wheel

I was originally scheduled to work today, but at the last minute, just before I left work yesterday, Blosssom asked Kitty (my scheduled coworker for today) and me if one of us would switch with her - today for next Saturday. 

Kitty had another obligation next Saturday, I had nothing, so the switcheroo was made. So I found myself with an open Saturday. I managed to arrange for a breakfast meetup this morning with Meego and Wolfgang, something we do about once a month. 

After catching up with the guys and loading up on the eats, Magnum and I - well, I dragged Magnum along with me - headed a few miles east to Windsor, CO. A locally owned gift shop is doing a fundraiser for my PEO chapter on Monday, but would honor purchases made today and Tuesday for those of us who can't do the Monday shindig.

As chapter prez, it's customary for me to present gifts to the other offficers at the end of the PEO year (March), so I figured I'd kill both those birds - contributing to the fundraiser and getting officer gifts.

It's a cute shop right downtown, and I found lots of good gift ideas. But fundraiser or no, it's too pricey considering I'm buying for seven. So I did the next best thing, I shopped for ME. I mean, I didn't want to walk outta there empty handed. It's a fundraisher!

This travel journal/ sketchbook spoke to me. 

I think it's genuine leather. Either way, it's very supple. Certian to boost my daily productivity, right? Right??

After the quaint little gift shop, we did a 180 and headed to SCHEELS sporting goods. Magnum "needed" some things, and we were in the neighborhood.

This was our third visit to SCHEELS. It's huge, and crowded. Seemingly no one goes to indoor malls anymore, but SCHEELS is always well populated.

So, consumptive day, all for good cause. Now to be productive.

Laundry, anyone?

less words Wednesday

 Out walking the pooches last night, we beheld a rare sight

Aurora Borealis, right here in our neck of the woods. 

Upon returning home, I checked the city's subreddit, and as expected, it was CHOCK full of awe inspiring photos. This meme was no lie:

Upload after upload from various parts of town and beyond. 

I swear it's like the Northern Lights were showing off.

I've learned the scientific explanation of what causes them, but I'd rather anthropomorphize them into big ol' show offs.

The reddit pics were all mostly captioned with the wheres and whens they were taken, maybe some emotional responses.

But I think this is my favorite caption for "less words Wednesday"

make like a tree

 Wham! This week went by fast, although I can't put my finger on anything in particular that made it so. Oh well, here we are, Saturday. Not complaining.

The semester is winding down at the college. Less than one month to go, and one of those weeks is fall break. I've had a few tutees jump ship from their math classes already, realizing they can't pass even if they pull wizardry on their finals. I'm a little mad at the advisors who allowed them to sign up for classes they clearly weren't ready for, but sink-or-swim seems to be the strategy.

We survived the first week back to standard time. It is now dark on my bicycle commute home, and I'm decked out with lights and reflectors again. There are three busy roads I must cross to get to and from the college, and I found a route that uses the lesser of the evils for all three crossings without being too much of a detour. 

A little photo dump from the week:

• One of my fellow paint-n-sippers shared some pics she took of our get together a couple of weeks ago. Here's a group photo:

Our artistic leader is 4th from the left, next to me, in case it's not obvious from her Best-In-Show painting.

• I came across a few deer during one of my early morning jog arounds this week

There were about five of them hanging around together, but the others went and hid in the trees as I got my phone out. These two seemingly couldn't care less. 

It's gotten chillier, and we've definitely had our first freeze, but still no snow for the season. Any day now. I avoid politics on the blog, but I gotta say, this government shut down is getting old. 

Rant over.