Although the rest of the University starts next week, the medical students started back Monday. As did the incoming first year students, so there are lots of (terribly young looking) students wandering around in suits.

I was, however, rather disturbed to come across a young woman wearing a ncie suit, and…

Flip flops!

Good GRIEF! What on earth? And this person wants to be a DOCTOR?

Holy cow.

4) Use caffiene responsibly. The people who say “Do without it” probably have the bills in their wallet organized by serial number and allot precise minutes of their day to use the bathroom. They are madmen. Avoid them.

Ha! He’s obviously never been around ME after a cup of coffee!

(evil laughter)

I find nothing wrong with caffeine. Not at all! However this is the second workplace where I have been banned by my coworkers from any caffeine intake. At least if I’m going to remain at work.

They’re just jealous, I’m sure.

While painting the kitchen, I managed to lose: 1 new paintbrush, 1 magnetic screwdriver (kept upstairs so we don’t have to run downstairs to the toolbox all the time), and my kitchen scale.

The only thing we have found is the scale.

But, the kitchen is painted (except for a couple of cabinet drawers). The tile still needs replaced, but that will have to wait for spring, I think, unless we have another significant block of free time coming up in the fall. (ha) And at some point we need to replace the dishwasher and the sink, but as both are still functioning, it seems difficult to justify the expense. (Especially since I just paid our fall tuition and bought books.)

Mostly, I just want to read as much as possible, before school starts and I’m stuck reading nothing but textbooks and other assorted non-fiction. (Non-fiction is all I dare read when school is in, lest I get sucked into the story and either stay up too late, or skip studying.)

And for anyone in Morgantown who isn’t associated with the University:

WARNING! Classes start in one week! Drive while you can! Eat at your favorite restaurants now! Neither will be possible for the next two months after students return!

ADDENDUM the First
Found the paint brush in the trash. Still have not found the screwdriver.

Only One Week Until School Starts!

Must Get Stuff Done!

Panic! Panic! Panic!

(We’ll be working on the kitchen all weekend. Feel free to come over and help.)

Julia Child has died.

“Life itself is the proper binge.”

“It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate — you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”
–Julia Child

I’ve been reading Andrew M Greely’s Blackie Ryan mysteries, and they put me in a somewhat melancholy mood—not the stories, the theology. He writes of a loving and forgiving God. Such a God seems foreign to much of Christianity, where a stern and demanding Old Testament God holds sway.
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This is not a good food week for me.

I pulled soup out of the freezer for lunch, but it had apparently been there for a little too long, because even after heating it was all separated and scary looking. No food poisoning for me thanks! Then after finding something at the cafeteria, I came back upstairs to eat only to discover that my milk had mold in it.

Yetch.

I neglected to mention last week that I received an e-mail from my aunt which included pictures of my cousin Ben. They met up somewhere in Europe for a week or so to visit.

For those who don’t know, my cousin Ben is in the Peace Corps, and has spent the past two years since he graduated from college in Kyrgyzstan (Yeah, it’s been two years and I still hesitate over the spelling of Kyrgyzstan). He’ll be coming home this winter, at which point, I’m not quite sure what he’s going to be doing.

I was disturbed to learn that Ben had been mugged on 4 July, although I have to be honest, I wasn’t particularly surprised. Kyrgyzstan is as much Asian as Russian, and I figure that a six-foot something blonde really sticks out. He wasn’t seriously hurt, although he had a black eye, and was still pretty sore by the time they saw him, but was otherwise good.

I’m very curious as to what he’ll be doing when he returns. He’d talked about going to graduate school, but I can also see him signing up for another tour of duty. In his most recent pictures–despite the black eye–he looks like a young college professor, which is what I suspect he will end up being. Teaching is, I think, in our blood–both side of the family for both of us–and if he’s even a little bit like his father, I know he’ll make an excellent professor/teacher.

As I said, I’m curious to see what he actually does, though it also wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up becoming a priest. Apparently he and my cousins ended up with the faith that I lost.

But I can’t wait for him to come back, to actually be able to talk to him. Since he graduated high school I’ve barely seen him, except at large family gatherings, so it’s sometimes a shock to realize he’s no longer my kid cousin who wandered around the farm naked. I’m pretty sure I’ll like the grown-up just as well if not better.

I went to the grocery store Monday and spent $65.

So why is there nothing to eat in the house?

That’s right, the president has finally admitted that the tax code is set up so that the rich don’t really pay taxes.

Just remember, when you’re talking about, oh, we’re just going to run up the taxes on a certain number of people — first of all, real rich people figure out how to dodge taxes.

For more, see here.
(via Norbizness)

May I once again repeat how unChristian this president actually is?

ADDENDUM the First: And then there’s things like this.

If you grew up in West Virginia, regardless of what your family actually did/does, you probably have very strong opinions about coal mining.

Mining is a dangerous occupation, with rates for black lung decreasing over time, but there are still too many cases.

There is no easy solution to the quandary over coal mining. Coal mining has been for years the main industry here in WV. The decline of the mines has led to massive unemployment in counties where mines were the main employers.

The alternative to the underground mines is the controversial “Mountain top removal” mining. If you’ve never driven in WV, it may be hard to understand the horror that many of us feel looking at pictures of these sites. The fact West Virginia has attempted in recent years to promote tourism as an alternative to coal mining makes the appearance of this new form of strip mining even more loathsome, and has been linked by many to the severe flooding suffered in recent years.

The relationship between miners and mine owners has never been an easy one. The coal mine wars of the early 1900s were probably the lowest point, but operators have taken advantage of miners even in the present day.

It is with this history in mind, that I read the latest news regarding the Bush administration plan to change coal dust regulations.

WASHINGTON – In 1997, as a top executive of a Utah mining company, David Lauriski proposed a measure that could allow some operators to let coal-dust levels rise substantially in mines. The plan went nowhere in the government.

Last year, it found enthusiastic backing from one government official – Mr. Lauriski himself. Now head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, he revived the proposal despite objections by union officials and health experts that it could put miners at greater risk of black-lung disease.

The reintroduction of the coal dust measure came after the federal agency had abandoned a series of Clinton-era safety proposals favored by coal miners while embracing others favored by mine owners.

That mine owners and operators who have, for centuries, taken advantage of those who actually mine the coal, should actually be trusted with the health and safety of those in their employ strikes me as the fox guarding the hen house. I’m not saying that all mine owners are cold and callous about their employees, but history has shown us that profit usually comes before safety. In an occupation as dangerous as mining, forgetting this seems deadly folly.

My ‘personal color’ is a shade of PINK?!
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Sgt. Bobby E. Beasley, 36, of Inwood, W.Va. died Saturday August 7th in Iraq.

As of 5 August 2004 921 U.S. service members have died in Iraq.

Chronological list of soldiers killed
(If the above link does not work, go to this section of the Baltimore Sun and click on ‘US troops killed’)

Fallen Heroes Memorial

As warned, I had a very busy weekend. We traveled to Charleston for Michael’s mother’s wedding, and the associated visit with various family members.

Rehearsal Friday night, and then we hung out with Michael’s sister and her family. Wedding Saturday followed by a small family get together at Michael’s sister’s house. Then mandatory (and I do mean mandatory) church attendance, followed by breakfast Sunday morning. Very busy weekend, but it was lovely to see Michael’s sister and her family, and Michael’s grandmother, who is very sweet. And it was of course wonderful to be present for Michael’s mother’s remarriage.

The wedding was very small—family only—but nice. I took pictures, although since I didn’t use the flash during the ceremony, several were unfortunately blurry. The bride and groom were both very happy and looked lovely, as did everyone else in the wedding party. I downloaded the pictures last night, but was too tired to do anything other than delete the super blurry pictures.

As we somehow neglected to bring enough clothes to wear, we ended up running to Kanawha City mall after the wedding to get something else to wear. Joy! It’s WVs tax-free weekend! Everything was on sale! We now have clothes to wear for the rest of the weekend. We also stopped at Flatwoods and at Meadowbrook on the way home, and now Michael finally has enough shirts. I think I’ve had more than enough clothes shopping for the next several months at least. But Michael did look quite sharp, and I was pleased that we could throw together an outfit each that looked quite sharp, in under an hour, from clothes that were on sale.

But mostly, I’m still tired. As pleasant as any trip may be, there’s nothing like coming home to your own bed (and shower and sofa…)