A Day in the Life

10am:

- checking out gawker, grist, gothamist, the nytimes, the argus leader, treehugger and the cornell daily sun

- moaning about students who don't listen and in general stink

- wrote a letter of support to a local organization for a grant they're writing

- emailed the future community gardeners of vermillion to set up a meeting

- realizing that what I am wearing looks insane and should not be allowed

-wrote email

-looked for errors in data I entered previously

-ate a cookie

11am:

- wrestled with the U.'s inane reimbursement policies

- Emailed former boss and remembered the good old days in a ramshackle building that has since been torn down for new development. Although this development (Calatrava transit hub) may possibly be cool.

- Approved students Action hours.

- Sent parents ideas about greening our apartment. I'm sure they were thrilled.

- Added items to my calendar on Outlook in an attempt at being organized.

-Reorganized the data-entry process for PVB info obtained through NYCServ.

-Prepared a cost-benefit analysis of switching all ticket-writing agents to handheld electronic devices.

-Felt myself up. I think I'll have a six-pack by the end of the summer.

I may have exaggerated a bit on a couple of them.

Obvi. Come on Jane, keep it real!

OK, then just re-list what I sent at 10. But keep the last one.

Nooner:

Not a single phone call or student this hour!

- emails to try and set up kids classes in the Community Garden this summer

- email to person thanking them for grant and making sure I don't have to do any more intensive "grant reporting"

- began to write press release about last week's event (whoops)

- ate lunch, tofu stir fry with veggies (consumed between 11:55am and 12:03pm because I am essentially 76 years old)

- read grist obsessively

- Finished looking for errors in my previously entered data. Didn't find the mistake.

- Worked on sheet tracking all changes in projections for my agency revenue sources.

- Daydreamed about ultimate and what I'll have for lunch.

- Peed twice.

Two:

- went home for lunch where I had a fun phone call with Elizabeth even though she refuses to realize that there is no such place as "Dakota"

o talked to Smita and somehow managed to branch out of our accent even though we started with it

- ate rice cakes at my desk

- corresponded irritatingly with students

- felt sleepy

- played with my hair

-I ate lunch (also tofu stir-fry) and stopped at Ralph's Discount City to pay my respects before it closes and search, to no avail, for cheap flip-flops.

-I checked my email. I found out the exciting news that

1) My friend Julia is moving to the Upper West Side!

2) I made the ultimate team that I tried out for last weekend (but shhhh, I'm not supposed to know yet)

3) UCB will be holding their funniest show ever this Wednedsay, Thursday, Friday and again next week.

-Work continues apace.

Jane says...

as part of our attempt not to be lazy and instead actually do something, here is Jane's list:

Pavlov's 20something:

After a year of un-education, these are things I never thought I would
have done.

1) Devoted more time and energy to Ultimate Frisbee than to work or
academic endeavors.
2) Taken 3 sculpture classes, back to back to back.
3) Move back into my mom's house but still spend more time with my dad.
4) Not taken even one graduate school admissions test or made any real
plans to go.
5) Instead, plan to travel for at least six months to all the places
I've never been, starting in January.
6) Become someone who plans events with friends and co-workers and
sometimes likes to play host.
7) Be in a long distance relationship with a guy who lives in Brooklyn.
8) Not really taken any steps to pursue my dream of being paid for being funny.
9) Be busy all the time. Feel like despite the low stress and
relatively easy hours of my job, I don't have time for much more than
the basics (6-8hrs sleep, decent food, the gym, semblence of a social
life).
10) Own a big-screen tv. Spend less than a couple hours a week watching it.
11) Still check my email 14 times a day. But now nothing comes.
Exhibit the symptoms of classical conditioning.

Things I’ve done this year that I would not have predicted at this time last year:

1) Biked around. A lot. And loved it.
2) Expanded my vocabulary to include such words and phrases as “pancake feed,” “prairie,” “Gayville,” “grain elevator” and “service-learning.”
3) Made karaoke a part of my repertoire.
4) Felt like the wind hitting me had surely come unimpeded from the Rockies.
5) Driven a 12 passenger van filled with people and luggage. On the highway in Oklahoma where everyone is a speed demon. And on the streets of Omaha where no curb went un-rolled on. And through the dark roads of Kansas where each bridge is meticulously numbered.
6) Gardened. As in, jumping on the shovel, getting down and dirty, not putting some seeds in a pot, gardened.
7) developed extensive relationships with a cat and a dog. Seriously, entire conversations have transpired.
8) walked through the South Dakota and North Dakota Badlands, and fell in love with both.
9) talked about abortion ad nauseum with strangers and friends alike. (well, honestly, I kind of knew that was going to happen).
10) Sailed on Lake Michigan.

Gayville- the hay capital of the universe!

last night I joined the throngs at Vermillion High School to watch the grand march. What is a grand march? you may ask if you were not brought up in South Dakota or the surrounding region. I should start by saying that last night was the Vermillion prom and the grand march is exactly the kind of event that mortifies me to think about: every prom attendee goes across the stage with their escort while their friends, family and assorted others clap endlessly. if nothing else, it was an interesting way to check out high school fashion style (bright and sometimes slightly inappropriate). also, we got to check out the prom scene in the high school (caribbean nights themed) which is always a thrill.

after prom we headed to Gayville to listen to a bluegrass band at Gayville Hall. we were the youngest people in the audience by at least two decades (at least!), but it was a fun show nonetheless. Gayville Hall used to be a country store and has lots of old kitchy signs and interesting paintings. it felt very old school south dakota, like everyone was headed back to the farm after their night in town.

unlike everyone else, we went out again after the show. to my friends house in Gayville where we played settlers (of catan- for the uninitiated), played with their kitties, looked at pencil sharpeners and learned how to skateboard. all while drinking a delicious bloody mary. if only earth day wasn't rainy and unpleasant, this would have been a perfect weekend.

friday's haiku

rolling around Verm
glimpse Nebraska's gentle hills
rise past the river

new approach

no more whining, just unabashed wit, insight, and creativity. or so Jane and I hope. we are beginning an experiment, that's more than enough information for now, we'll see how it goes and provide updates- as necessary- along the way. i just finished an impromptu hard core bike ride today, well, hard core for me, so pardon any missing words or bizarre comments. anyway, without further adieu, here is the first installation of the Klondike Project (real name tbd).

IN THE NEWS - - Chinese Satellite Kill Challenges U.S.
Almost two weeks ago the Chinese blew up a satellite that they had previously launched to prove that they have the capacity blow up satellites (and presumably missiles). This frightens me for a few reasons.

• China scares me. Seriously. Shouldn't it scare you? as a US colonel says in the article, "Despite official statements about its 'peaceful rise,' China aims to challenge the internationally recognized sanctity and neutrality of the 'commons,' those areas like international waters, airspace, cyberspace and space itself."
  
• The satellite shattered by China caused extensive debris, bringing us that much closer to an atmosphere so filled with junk that space exploration will be hindered for 50 years. China isn't content polluting its own countryside and exploiting Tibet's extensive natural resources, but it also is working towards making the atmosphere too polluted to get through. OK, so it's not all China's fault, but it's pretty incredible that in the past 50 years we have created almost enough debris in the atmosphere to disable space exploration until the debris completes its cycle of coming back to Earth.
  
• The general idea that our atmosphere is cluttered by satellites that are helping governments spy, helping google take pictures of the earth and helping me send gr8 txt msgs 2 my fave frnds makes me want to be a Luddite.

i hope you learned something new here today. if not, sorry.

national volunteer week

has been getting me down. while i think that volunteering is important and clearly part of my job (all of my job?) is to encourage volunteerism, i prefer to think of it as a road to something else and in vermillion, i think it mostly stays as volunteering. this weekend was Step it Up and we had a nice little event here, interesting speakers (i love learning about recycling) and neat things to do, but there were only about 30 people who came through. i don't think all the blame can be placed on "vermillion" but i definitely feel like people are more likely to serve a meal with their church group than they are to take a stand for something. this bothers me.

in other news, i have been spending lots of time reading outside. i think that it's fair to say that i don't like anything as much as i like reading outside. hooray for that.

spring springs again!

last night i watched An Inconvenient Truth again. watching those glaciers melt and break apart is enough to freak anyone out. luckily, tomorrow is the National Day of Climate Action and we are going to have a rocking festival-esque celebration in Prentis Park. we'll see if anyone shows up, and if they do, how many have driven from very small distances away. fridays make me pessimistic. you know how in college fridays are for lazing around the quad and pretending to do reading in the library, but always being home before 5pm, apparently that's not the way it works in life. they are the worst at work. quiet and lasting forEVER. this is what i look at:














luckily, i got to leave work early to attend a reading by Susan Power. she is one heck of a dynamo and really spruced up my friday afternoon. her short story collection, Roofwalkers, was something that i read a few months ago before going to the American Indian Center in Chicago and her writing greatly enhanced my understanding of that community. today she was mostly just really cool, although i'll admit that i was a little distracted because i was REALLY looking forward to this:

i will continue to work on picture uploading. and as i like to say-- formatting is not my forte.

stolen bike

my bike got stolen today, from right under my nose! i leave it unlocked (like other people leave their cars running when they pop into the supermarket) and it got stolen from right outside my office! had i been more vigilant i could have watched the perp take it. douche. i called the campus police and they came over (immediately) to take a report. as i filled in the required information the police officer- who must have been about 19- called my drivers license information into headquarters. "yes we've got an alexandra- a, apple l, larceny e, eggplant x, x-ray." no lie. luckily i didn't have a record, or a parking ticket, cause USD woulda had my number. literally.

funny that the last place i showed my license was in jail in ithaca visiting a friend/acquaintance/person from the past. makes you think about your relationship with the man when you have to interact with them. much nicer to casually wander in and out of their presence than it is to be under their thumb. hopefully the USD police will find my bike outside someone's dorm today and i will be able to continue my happy cruising around town. i guess i shouldn't have spent so much time at work looking at the Community Cycling Center website and daydreaming about biking around Portland. i love when foreshadowing works out.

help!

community garden is dug up. a fun (dare i say, funky?) intergenerational crew of Vermillionaires have made insane progress on the garden. we have a list of people ready to roll, we have 20 plots ready to be planted and it seems like i will be eating tomatoes from the garden any second. i wish it was still spring and not snowy and depressing. blargh.

ithaca was snowy, but not depressing. it is scary how many places can feel like home. i saw the perpetual grad students, the ABC waitress who thought 111 osmun was a sorority (harsh), more hippy babies than you can shake a stick at, the ice cream and soup guy, that dude with long blonde hair and spandex shorts and the guy who spends his life in CTB, he was the same but with a spiffier haircut.

ok, people. i have been told to take more pictures and i'm working on it, but i am open suggestions on how to make this more interesting. my life isn't as boring as i make it out to be, i swear. seriously, i am taking suggestions.