Hope everyone has (or had) a Happy Halloween!
We had Beggar’s Night last night, so tonight I’m free to do whatever I want. I think I’ll sleep or something. 😉 Only had 49 kids come for candy – which is 8 up from last year, but still pretty pathetic. The other side of the street got more action that my side did. Bummer. Still, my students were happy today – they got the leftover candy. 🙂
Mom, dad and I went to another Jesus Seminar on the Road this weekend. The hyperbolic paraboloid UU church that we’ve been to before was hosting another JSOR. Hal Taussig and Kathleen Corley were the guest speakers. Kathleen is the first female Fellow of the Jesus Seminar that I’ve met. They spent a lot of time on the session focusing on 1st century eating & burial habits. That sounds rather uninteresting, but it turned out to be quite fascinating. The biggest thing to get your mind around is that everyone at the “supper clubs” were reclining. Oddly enough, you never see depictions of the Last Supper with everyone reclining.
After the Friday evening session, the folks and I went out for “second supper” with Richard, the pastor at the UU church my folks and I sometimes attend. Dad ordered Nachos Nuevos thinking “huevos” and wondering what nachoes with eggs on would be like. (Actually, he knew it wasn’t eggs, he just couldn’t remember what nuevo meant.) We’d had supper at Applebees before the session and second supper at Applebees was a nice idea. I was able to order the dessert shooter I’d been eying at supper time. Plus we got 10% off thanks to our hotel room cards.
We attended most of the Saturday workshops, and dad did a “Come to Jesus (Seminar)” speech after lunch. But then we had to leave early in order to reach Englewood by 5pm. My uncle Bob (mom’s second older brother) is turning 70 on Halloween, so his wife decided we should have a surprise birthday party for him at Tumbleweed’s (a steak restaurant). Both of Bob’s kids were able to come – Rob (and his wife Mele) from Virginia, and Shelly (and her girls, Mallory & Brooke) from Indiana. Bob & mom’s other brother, Doug, and his wife & kids were also able to attend.
Despite the long drive, we managed to arrive at the restaurant first. Rob & Mele arrived next, followed shortly by Doug, Charlene & Patty. We got ourselves seated & drinks ordered and waited for the birthday boy to arrive. We had also informed the waiter & waitress taking our orders that we had a birthday celebration taking place. Eventually Madeline & Bob arrived and we all shouted “Surprise!” much to the amusement of other eaters.
I sat at the end of the table with Shelly and her girls and Patty. I remembered the days when we cousins, along with my sister, would stay at Grandma & Grandpa’s for weekends. We didn’t get to spend as much time with Shelly since she was a bit older (Patty’s only 6 months my senior) and lived further away. But we did have some times together.
The food was good and Madeline brought a cream puff cake for the dessert. She even had enough slices for our waiter & waitress. Mele took loads of photos (she’s the only one who remembered to bring a camera in to the restaurant) and there were many cell phones snapping shots as well. It was a fun family gathering and I’m sure Bob won’t be forgetting his 70th birthday celebration. 🙂
(Of course, after all the family hugging & sharing, I realized on the ride home that my throat was starting to get sore. I hope I didn’t infect anyone! Today I’ve mostly been sleeping and/or medicated. And it’s time for me to take more Nyquil & head for bed. Here’s hoping today’s recovery day has helped to kick the cold to the curb.)
Autumn has finally kicked summer to the curb. Not only are the trees starting to turn, but the weather has been very autumny lately. Today was a beautiful sunny day in the high 60s, low 70s F. I got to wear a sweatshirt!
Mom called this morning (well, shortly before noon) asking if I wanted to go to Yellow Springs with her and dad. I can’t say “no” to a trip to Yellow Springs, hippie capital of Ohio. Supposedly they were having an art fair or something with artists showing off their wares. Only when we got there, we never did find any artists hocking their stuff. No matter, we enjoy Yellow Springs for just wandering around & shopping.
Lunch was our first priority, so we ate at the tavern there. And we partook of the outside seating. I had a fish sammich and shared onion rings with the folks. The lettuce was wilted, the bun a little stale, and the fish tasty – all in all, an excellent sandwich. (What, don’t you like wilted lettuce & stale buns? Silly people!)
After lunch, we wandered around the town looking in all of the little shops. I saw lots of neat stuff, but didn’t buy anything until we got to the used bookstore. They had a very new looking copy of the latest Thursday Next book by Jasper Fforde, so I picked it up for $10 less than a new hardback would be.
While we were wandering the town, we saw someone we knew – Amy’s ex-girlfriend Danielle! She spotted us first and we all hugged her. She introduced us to her boyfriend (whose name I don’t recall now – Rob? John? Something like that) and said she was doing well. They live in Columbus, but they came to Yellow Springs for lunch and to hike. She didn’t look any different and claimed we didn’t either. It was lovely seeing her again and I hope she & her bf had a nice time in Yellow Springs.
We left at 4pm and took the long way home. It was a very nice drive. A nice contrast between still green trees, half & half, and fully orange trees. I love autumn!
After last weekend’s Food Fest, I’ve been feeding my brain this weekend.
On Wednesday, I watched the National Geographic Channel for 2 hours. I really should do more of that since I enjoy science documentaries, but usually when I plonk down in front of the set, I watch my DVDs instead. (Yes, some of the DVDs are science documentaries, too.) I was watching the network because we had to write a critical review on either a television program or Internet blog for my Masters class on Informal Science Learning. I decided to do the TV show for a change of pace. (I read Internet stuff daily.)
The museum usually closes at 5pm, but they stayed opening that evening and at 5:30 we were allowed to look through the museum, collect a large variety of free educational resources (mostly science, math and social studies), and watch several on-going demonstrations on different components of flight (fluid dynamics, microgravity, radios, density, etc.) I grabbed every freebie that I could (except for a packet on social studies) and watched a microgravity demo. At 6pm, they had a free showing of the IMAX movie Roving Mars. I watched that and sat pretty much dead center in the theater. That was neat!
Supper was available from 6-8pm, so after the 45 minute movie, I headed to the cafe for sandwich fixin’s, chips and cookies. I love a free meal! I watched other educators around me – most were in groups and not all of them were science and math teachers. (I wondered if the English teachers were bored, if any of them came.) I didn’t see any of my coworkers, so I’m guessing I was the only freeloader from Newton. Heh.
After supper, they showed another IMAX movie Deep Sea. This was even more visually stunning than the Mars one. There were some really weird sea creatures there which was cool to see. They had a bit of a preachy moment near the end when they talked about the danger that the reefs are in (boy are they ever!) but it wasn’t too cloying to turn people off of being good stewards of the earth.
Although the museum was open until 9pm, I was mostly ready to go after the second movie. I went around to see other demonstrations – there were some neat ones going on. And I avoided the movie-ride they have there, Morphis. It looked like the type of virtual ride that makes me ill. When I was in the gift shop area, I bought a couple of physics toys (of course). And then it was time to go home.
The place was loaded with kids. We weren’t the only school that was out that day (basically any school with an OEA associated union was out Friday but went to school Monday) though there were a couple of school buses there. The main section of the museum is a really neat play area. Most of the kids were playing there rather than looking at displays and learning science. Go figure. 🙂
Dad and I had a nice time that day and even learned something. Neither of us were aware that the coyote was not an Ohio native. Farmers in the area have been having coyote troubles for years, but the coyote only arrived in Ohio in the early 1900s. So there ya go.
We book ended our day out with food. Lunch was at Indian’s Pizza (where we both had leftovers – yum!) and we stopped at Kroger’s on the way back for some sushi. There’s a newly built Kroger’s in Englewood which has a wonderfully upscale deli and a sushi bar, so we stopped there. They have wine tasting (25 cents a taste or $1 for a flight of 5 different wines) which father partook of. He liked the one he tasted enough to get a bottle. They also had cheeses to sample and we both found one we liked and bought that too. In the deli, you can sample the various items and so I sampled some curried cous cous, which I liked, and some Baba Ghanoush, which I liked even more and so bought some. We bought our sushi & other items and returned home.
Today I’m working on my science classes and I have finished my paper for the Critical Reflection of a Television Program. I have copied the paper into my science blog, so if any of you are interested, you can check it out. If you’d looked at the blog back when I first posted about it, you’ll notice it looks different now. I found another theme that I like and I think I prefer it to the other one. Alas, it means I no longer have hergrace and judiang on the blog! But I think I’ll probably use that photo for a future post when I write about optical illusions. In addition to changing the theme, I have made it so that people can actually comment to posts. So give it a try, comment away! (I can moderate the comments though, bwa ha ha ha!)
Well, this was the weekend for Fall Fair at school and Oktoberfest in Minster. So of course, I’ve been to both of them. And then to top it all off, Indian’s Pizza had their Open House tonight. Ideally, I won’t have to eat for another week…
I had the pulled pork dinner last night at Fall Fair which consisted of the pulled pork sandwich, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, applesauce, and pecan pie. Yummy! After I watched the band performance, I had apples with caramel dip. Also yummy! The Class Challenge (formerly called Farm Olympics) was entertaining as always. During the limbo competition we all discovered that one of the senior boys can limbo like a champ. Indeed, that win along with several others got the senior class their third win of their careers.
After staying up late playing City of Heroes with judiang, I got up late this morning. And got off to the Lake late thanks to the kitties hiding my keys from me. But when I got there, the folks and I headed for Oktoberfest. We immediately went to the food tents and got brats mit kraut. We also shared a large French fries between us and mom & I split a Lemon Shake Up. Yummy – best brat of the festival season.
We shopped in the various craft tents for nearly an hour. (And it was hellishly hot – goes to show our shopping devotion.) I got a $10 t-shirt and a Minster Oktoberfest glass mug (which I always get – I have a nice collection of mugs now). One of my co-workers was there selling her glass pendants & artwork. Her son (who’s one of my senior boys) was also there. Mom and I each bought a pendant. Mine’s a cool purple color.
We returned to the cottage where dad & I stayed in the A/C and napped. Mom braved the heat of the 3-season room. But after my nap was done, I decided to head home. I had an Open House to attend.
I drove right to the restaurant (since it’s on the north side of town) and got in before 6pm. The place was pretty full, but I found a table with no problem. For the Open House, they had a buffet. So I got to sample several types of pizza and subs. And they even had some dessert pizzas. Very tasty!
Needless to say, I’m still not hungry. Heh. Tomorrow maybe I’ll eat sparingly. (Ah, I can only wish!)
It’s funny when I think about it. I mean, I haven’t been doing a good job at updating this weblog – what makes me think I can keep another one going? Well, actually, it’s an experiment and possibly useful for one of my current university classes.
I have created a Science Blog on my website. For our Informal Science Learning class, we’ll eventually have to make something that’s a way of doing some Informal Science Teaching. One option was a blog. And since my website has a database that isn’t being used and the ability to install WordPress, I thought, “Why not?”
I haven’t made up my mind yet on the theme I’m using, but you can check it out and let me know what you think. The current photo, BTW, is hergrace and judiang at Epcot on New Year’s Eve 2003. I love the shot which captured the writing from the light up toy. (I use the photo in one of my physics classes on optical illusions – and I spin the pictured toy which now says “Physics is Phun!”)
Just when it looks like we might be getting rid of the summer heat, the heat comes back… Yesterday & today were wonderful autumn days (low to mid 70s F) but it’s going back to the 80s tomorrow and the rest of the week.
You know, Autumn, you need to be more aggressive. Tell Summer to get stuffed!