The Accidental Boilermaker

I think winter is colder in West Lafayette. Which doesn't make sense because it is further south than anywhere I've lived before, but man, it has been cold lately. And windy. My students don't come to class when it is below zero with windchill and then they really don't come when it snows. But the big problem for me is it doesn't snow enough. In my opinion, it is warmer when it snows. At least I think it feels warmer. I was so excited for lake effect snow my first winter in Holland. My subsequent winters, I was significantly less excited, but now I really miss it. Just goes to show you, you don't truly appreciate something till it's gone.

Penny is just like a little kid. No matter how many cool, new toys you buy them, they always seem to have more fun playing with a big cardboard box...or a pen, a piece of string, toilet paper rolls, big stacks of paper, or a mouse pad. The mouse pad is my favorite by the way because it is a mouse pad - get it : )

I've become very bored with school lately. All my assignments are the same. Read this article, come prepared to talk about it in class. I'm so sick of the "introduction, methods, results, and discussion" format. I tried to complain to Nate, but he told me to stop talking or at least talk quieter. He is a little stressed. And now he is teasing me about talking too much. This all coming from the newest American Idol fan. I took a personal day this afternoon. I just laid on the futon and slept and watched TV and I'm totally fine with that. I don't have class till 3:00 tomorrow, so I can work in the morning, assuming I don't get distracted by my morning talkshow line-up - Good Morning America, Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart, and Ellen. So maybe I shouldn't tease Nate about watching American Idol.

High : Indian run high-5 train (my 8:30 students are pretty cool) Low : Not really having a low of the day : ) ps> go out and buy a box of funfetti brownies. you won't be disappointed.

I swear, if one more person calls me "just a masters student," grr... It's like I am some kind of sub-human graduate student. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive. 2 students so far have emailed me and asked if there is still class tomorrow. Secretly, I wish I could say no, but I am obligated to say, "if the University doesn't cancel school, then we still have class." So sad, the death of a snow day - but I still have hope. A lot can happen overnight.

"The Women's Health Initiative, which includes a large-scale randomized trial of HRT [hormone replacement therapy], and a similar study in Europe were initiated because there was enough evidence to believe there might be a benefit of HRT in primary [heart disease] prevention, yet enough uncertainty that it was ethical to randomize half the participants to placebo." - American Heart Association 2001 So if you are uncertain enough, then it's ethical? The funny/sad thing is that the risks of HRT tend to outweight the benefits. Other fun things that have happened so far this week: 1. An Air Force ROTC guy found me at the Purdue rec-center and wondered if I would teach yoga for a bunch of air force people. (Sounds cooler than it actually is.) 2. A kid I don't know came up to me in the rec-center and asked if I knew any good arm stretches and then proceeded to talk to me for like 15 min. (After I mentioned my husband, he was gone in about 30 sec.) 3. A girl I don't ...

Today at the dentist, the hygienist lady thought Nate was my brother. Thursday one of my professors gave me a break on our big end-of-the-year paper because I'm only a masters student. Monday two of my students guessed I could run the mile in 5 minutes.