My laptop has been making strange noises...distinctly clicking noises that an electronic device should not make - a clock maybe, but a computer no. And now it does not want to work.

I was really hoping I could avoid expensive repair bills this year, since we spent thousands on the car last year.

I'm bummed out about it.

There's nothing else to say.

So I'm flipping through the Boston Globe and a headline jumps out at me: Survivor exposes Saskatchewan police abuse of Indians.

Great, the only Canadian news I get in a major U.S. paper is about bigotry in Saskatchewan. Part of me suspects that the reason they ran the article was only because Saskatchewan is such a weird word - believe me, no one around here has ever heard of it!

My friend Allie is blogging about how she's happy to be Canadian because there's hockey. And I'm from Saskatchewan - what braggin rights do I have here if this is the only thing they know about those of us born in the heart of the Canadian prairies?

Depressing.

Since November is half over, that means that schoolwork is starting to pile up. It's not reached that urgent-need-to-stay-up-all-night stage yet, but the pile of things that I need to read before beginning to write my papers is beginning to grow. And I think I'm becoming more of a perfectionist, because I keep thinking about all the additional things I should do and prepare before beginning to write.

In part, my problem is that I've got a couple of additional things going on that are taking time away from the usual. I'm trying to prepare a proposal for a directed study next term. Not only am I trying to put together a reading list, but I also need to get it approved. Since it's about science fiction AND film, I have my work cut out for me, because the chair of the Grad Studies committee has a relatively negative attitude toward both, especially film. So, the proposal has to look good - but to look good, I have to spend lots of time on it - which means that I'm falling behind in other things.

I'm also writing a language test this Friday in partial fulfillment of the language requirment for my degree. Wish me luck! I'm gonna need it! The more I study for it, the more I realize I really don't know!

*Sigh* So much work... but the good news is, I only have 5 more of those godawful 8 am classes to teach - I definitely am not a morning person and the early morning commute is making me extremely grouchy... not to mention trying to speak coherently in front of a class for 100 minutes at that hour of the morning.

Had to share this giggle. I wish I had some extra Canadian Tire money kicking around, but I thought it was useless and threw it all away when I left! Too bad, I woulda kept it had I known I could get a beer for it!

Went to a hockey game last night. I had mixed loyalties going in - As a Calgarian, I should cheer for whoever is playing against the Oilers, which would mean I'd cheer for the Bruins. However, I was with a group of 12 Edmontonians (so I was slightly outnumbered) and I felt like a patriotic solidarity might be in better order. So, yes, I cheered for the Oilers. (Though on a patriotic note, only one of the Bruins starting lineup was actually from the US - the rest were all born & bred in Canada, though Eastern Canada, so it was more a matchup of Eastern vs. Western Canada played on US soil!)

And they lost.

They deserved to lose 'cause they played like they'd forgotten how to skate or pass, and in the first period only took one shot for every three that the Bruins did, but they came close.

It is a very odd feeling cheering for the away team. There were a few nasty looks from one group nearby when we cheered the second Oiler goal. I actually was glad we were a good sized group. At least they lost, so we weren't a threat.

And speaking of cheering, I know I haven't been to an NHL game for a long time, but since when did it become de rigeur to boo the opposing teams goal? Booing a bad call, a fight, a penalty that doesn't get called, sure, but a goal? After all, if they other team doesn't score, it's a cakewalk, isn't it? and that's no fun to watch. Where's the excitement if your team doesn't have to work hard to win? Seems very unsportsmanlike to me.

In the last two days I have received e-mails from friends who I haven't seen or heard from in over a year. Wow! One was from a friend who has been overseas for the last year, and for whom I did not have a current e-mail address. The other was from some friends who recently began their own company, and have been (understandably) very busy getting it off the ground.

But what a delight! I've been feeling like I'm stuck off at the end of the world and missing everyone from home so very much, and here I hear from old friends who I thought I'd lost touch with.

I am, as I said, delighted!

And on Friday, I learned that good friends are going to have a baby! Yeah! They are gonna be super parents, and I'm excited and happy for them. Their lives are going to change so much, but it's all good...I'm gonna enjoy hearing all about it!

These joys have lifted my homesick spirits.

Comment overheard on the bus from two pretty women with prim smiles, perfect hair and pointy shoes: "He needs to start buying groceries." End of conversation.

Week 9 of the semester is almost over. Which means we're about two thirds of the way through the term. I'm trying not to panic.

So far, most of my teaching work is done. I have two more drafts to comment on, one proposal, two papers to mark, and a final portfolio to review. Sounds like a lot, and it will take a lot of time, but I've done at least that much work already. And it looks like two of my students will likely drop the class before the end of the term because they've missed so many classes and so much of the work, it really would be in their best interests to withdraw.

But my own work is hanging over my head, and that'll just get heavier and heavier as the term goes on. I still have a translation project for medieval lit to start, and I haven't even read all the primary material for both the papers I want to write, let alone the secondary stuff. It wouldn't be too bad a schedule if I hadn't signed up to take the language exam this fall, which means I need to review my Spanish translation skills, which are, much to my dismay, pretty rusty. I spent most of the beginning of the term translating a German text for the professor who I'm helping as a research assistant, and the switch between languages is throwing me off.

The good news is that things seem to be going pretty good for the kids in school. Steph is getting much better marks in math than she was before, and the other two are holding their own, even with all their extracurricular interests. I just signed Angela up for soccer in the spring, so she'll be busy with that in addition to her piano lessons. Speaking of which, they are going better than I thought they would. I've been trying to teach her since I can't really afford to pay anyone, even at the discounted rate that I'm sure I could get from my colleague's wife. I'm sure it would be better for Ange if I could, but for a year or so, I don't think it will hurt her to have an amateur give it a try. So far, so good, but I'm finding myself having to stretch back in memory to try to explain things I haven't thought about myself in twenty years!

So the semester roller coaster is starting to pick up speed (I'm getting tired of this ride!), and I just need to hang on tight, stay focused, and NOT GET SICK! If I get sick, that'll be the end of the workable plan and I'll have to move into panic mode.

Went to school today for the sole purpose of fulfilling my role as PhD rep only to find the meeting cancelled.

Thanks for telling me.

Apparently in an effort to conserve paper, they e-mailed everybody but me.

Three hour round trip in the rain and cold for nothing.

*Big fat raspberry*

Have you ever tried googling yourself? [interesting how this noun has taken on verb-like qualities]

I get more hits under my old name than my new one. I guess that's to be expected, but I think the ones under my new name are overall more impressive. It's funny who else pops up. When I googled my old name, I kept running into a Lietenant commander who has apparently done lots of stuff (there was a soccer player too, but she apparently only played soccer). Under my current name, I kept running across articles about a woman in Ohio who supposedly videotaped a UFO - the weird part is that she also has a daughter named Stephanie! It also comes up on a German site...kinda tickles my fancy.

I suppose I was lucky to find so many legit references because of the unique spelling of my first name (and of my former last name). If you've never tried it, you should!