Finishing

Went to the library yesterday to pick up some reference books I needed for a project I'm working on. Passed this book on my way in and had to grab it. I don't know much about the violin or classical music, but I do have an appreciation for the patience and skill of a master craftsman. The author does an excellent job of weaving in tales of modern violin making with the history and mystique of the past.

P.S. I hate how Blogger re-formats your text once you insert an image, and again after you post. Having to fix a four-sentence post four times before it finally looks decent annoys me. What's worse, I hate that I don't have the patience to do it very often!

Dreaming

The last few weeks have been insanely busy. Not much reading getting done. When life gets to be a little too much I do more research for our trip in December. We're taking a side trip to Tasmania (probably renting a car to drive to Melbourne then taking an overnight ferry), in large part because I've heard there are penguins there. Turns out we won't be there during prime viewing season, but that doesn't phase me.

New Endeavor

I'm currently reading Educational Research because I'm going to be the Teaching Assistant for an online class this summer and again in the fall. This is a huge opportunity to get more university teaching experience and I want to make the most of it.

It's been a while since I've read academic work aside from the 1-2 articles a week I read for my job. It's a different mindset--I can't skim as much, for one thing. That part of my brain is definitely rusty, but it feels good to get back to it.

Delicacy

My heritage is mostly Scandinavian, specifically Danish. During a conversation at work yesterday I made a joke about lutefisk that nobody got because they'd never heard of such a delicacy (gah!). As an educator I felt it was my responsibility to send the Wikipedia entry to fill in that obvious gap in their knowledge. My favorite part is the section on cooking:

"When cooking and eating lutefisk, it is important to clean the lutefisk and its residue off of pans, plates, and utensils immediately. Lutefisk left overnight becomes nearly impossible to remove. Sterling silver should never be used in the cooking, serving or eating of lutefisk, which will permanently ruin silver. Stainless steel utensils are recommended instead."

Photo source

Tornado Watchers

We stopped in Hays, Kansas to fill the tank and grab some lunch. I got to chatting with one of the women in the restaurant and joked about driving across Kansas in tornado weather. She (helpfully) mentioned that the tornado chasers were right across the street getting gas! The Mister was intrigued, as he watches way too much of the Discovery Channel, and took a picture.