My Grill

UPDATE: Day 2 and the menu so far? A Razzmatazz Jamba Juice (filling and cold, so it felt good on the metal mouth) and now, oatmeal. Basically anything I don't have to chew. Jealous? I thought so.

Yes, I have a grill. 8-12 months and counting.

I have officially added "Wear your retainer"
to the list of things the Numismatist was right about.

For You, Duchess

Pick Flick!

You're Clapping for That Guy?

Not that you care, but below are my comments on the SoU:
- $300 million to send inner-city kids to private schools? Why don't we spend $300 million to improve the public schools they already go to?!
- The ear-mark thing? Pretty brave to make a new rule that only applies in 2009. Good luck new guy (or gal).
- "When it comes to health care funding, decisions should be made between you and your doctor, not the halls of government." Don't get too excited lady, you and your uterus are still fair game.
- The "c" comes before the "l" in NUCLEAR when you spell it and when you say it.
- I think Nancy Pelosi is reading a Harlequin Romance.
- Fuzzy math... if 20,000 troops are on the way home from Iraq, not to be replaced, is that off the original 150,000 sent or the 30,000 additional troops sent in last year's "surge" so technically we still have 10,000 more there than when we started? It's confusing to me.
- Pledge to the troops that you'll have everything you need.*
- Maybe Iran's nuclear subterfuge is the result of a translating error. It's possible they do not have a word for "nucular."
- I love the Homer Simpson argument that this administration has kept us safe from another terrorist attack on our soil. "Ever since the Bear Squad came to town, I haven't seen another bear."

*This pledge is effective Jan. 28, 2008 and cannot be applied to the armor and protective gear we gave you to start out with in 2003.

D'oh!

It snowed today. Technically, it was a blizzard. On the news you would have thought it was the end of the world. It started around 10 and continued for three hours, and I admit I was nervous about getting to school tonight. I considered calling in to cancel. But I didn't. I shoveled out of my driveway at 2 o'clock and drove to school. At 4:55 a classmate saw me as I was taking off my coat and he said, "Aren't you happy about tonight?" I was puzzled. "You do know that class is cancelled, right?"

Apparently an email went out at 1:48, about three minutes after I packed up my stuff and started shoveling out. I drove for two hours and wasted a quarter tank of gas, and now I am home.

On the bright side: I get to watch the State of the Union. I am seriously considering liquor tonight in celebration of the last Bush SoU I will have to listen to.

Have We Met?

Mr. Eris is sitting next to me, surfing the web. He actually just said this to me:

"I love how they print articles that say things like, 'Why Obama won.' He won because he got more votes. Duh."

So, does he even know what I do?

Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink (or Shower)

Since Thursday afternoon we have been without water. A pipe broke up the canyon. A 70-plus-year-old pipe. For 12 hours they tried to weld the big, freaking gash in the pipe. It didn't work. Go figure. For the past three days one-third of the O.C. has been living off bottled water and the kindness of family of friends for showers.

Tonight the water came back on, but here's the kicker: the city delivered 4 gallons of bottled water to each house today so we could have drinking water and on the news they said the water would basically be toilet water until Monday. Has the city made any effort to contact us and tell us what this stuff coming out of our tap is safe for? NO.

I have water coming out, but I can't wash dishes. Or clothes. Or my body. So tomorrow I will shower at the Numismatist's house and do laundry at Mr. Eris's parents' house. And I will pray that my neighbors are smarter than Mr. Eris (who just threw away his toothbrush because he started to brush his teeth with the tap water).

Thank you Nincompoop.

Blink, and You May Miss Him

Watch this.

See anyone familiar??

3 hints for K.: 1. He used to offer to light Deke's two fingers. 2. You can find him in my wedding book and your parents' wedding photos. 3. In 25 years, I'll have the same gray hair.

Um, A Little Help Here

On my way from my car in the park & ride lot to the train I saw something on the ground. It was paper. My first thought was "Oh, please let it be a money order or cashier's check for $5,0000!"

Nope.

It's a birth certificate from Texas in 1952. So, my question is: Now what do I do with this thing? Call the police and turn it in to them? Call UTA and turn it in to them? It's a mystery.

Discuss.

UPDATE: I contacted UTA and they say I should give it to the driver on my train home. This makes me nervous, especially in light of Loki's comment. Do I really want to give this thing to some random person? Identity theft, anyone?

Happy Anniversary, Roe

35 years of freedom for women. Pray (and vote!) for at least 35 more.

Donuts, Pepsi and You

Yesterday was the big day - 12 years with the Mr. We had a great day, playing Guitar Hero in Pocatello and then some nice Italian food. Then we spent the night in Logan. Cache Valley is sooo romantic. We spent the drive talking about our favorite memories from the first dozen. Here are some of the commonalities:

1. We rented a little house for the first year. The guy who lived downstairs was in a band and played the song "Breakfast at Tiffany's" constantly. We could hear it perfectly - but that's probably nothing compared to what he heard. ~wink~
2. We lived on Hamburger Helper for the first year. I still can't eat that.
3. We didn't get a honeymoon (it was the middle of the semester). So on May 19th we went to Disneyland while on a soccer trip for Mr. Eris. It was a great day, but we can't remember a dang thing about it except getting stuck at the park with no ride home.
4. We spent more time undressed for the first six months than we did dressed.
5. We can take long road trips, such as drives to Pocatello, and just talk the whole time. It's nice.

PS - You can visit the Numismatist for some photos. They were quite a shock.

Pick a Winner!

86% Chris Dodd
85% Joe Biden
85% Mike Gravel
85% Dennis Kucinich
83% John Edwards
83% Barack Obama
78% Hillary Clinton
69% Bill Richardson
38% Rudy Giuliani
26% John McCain
23% Ron Paul
19% Mike Huckabee
18% Tom Tancredo
17% Mitt Romney
8% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Notice: all my top matches are either already out of the race or believe they saw a UFO while hanging out with Shirley Maclaine.

Man, do I loves me some crazy liberals!

Yay!

Great meeting with possible advisor for dissertation. Feeling more at home... the cubicle helps.

Taught first class today - loved it! Dad, you can relax now, I am sure this is what I want to do.

The Numismatist visited for lunch and then met my dept. chair. "Ann this is my mom." Does that make me look quaint or oddly codependent? Who cares! It was a fun lunch and tour.

Littlest Ms. Eris is potty-trained! We have three diapers left if anyone needs 'em.

Mr. Eris is loving his new job. Happy enough that he moved the lifesize Spiderman into his office.

Share your good news...

The Beat Goes On

Today, I went to the class I am TA-ing in - and this is the best gig ever! I sit in class while the instructor teaches. I say nothing. I do nothing. I will have to grade two assignments and two tests for the semester. She says maybe I'll teach a session or two. Hmmm, I'm ok with this set up.

My cubicle is the first one as you walk in the door of the grad student offices, which means I am now the un-official receptionist. But that's ok, I brought in a Mason Jar for tips. And I have close to five hours on Tuesday and Thursday to do nothing but work (and eat). Plus, I have a window, too!

And Meemoo, I'm disappointed in you. "Promise me you'll look after Tommy Boy here, til he gets his feet wet!"

You Have a Window. And Why Shouldn't You? You've Been Here Ten Minutes...

As you all know, Mr. Eris started a fantastic, grown up job last week. He is the Student Services Coordinator at a local college. I wasn't entirely sure what that meant at first, but here are the details as I have gathered.

He is in charge of making sure the students:
a. come to school
b. have a positive experience at school
c. get the help they need (tutoring and such)
d. have ample student organizations to belong to
e. have a super fun orientation (which he teaches!)

So basically, Mr. Eris is there to be the guy the students want to talk to and to be nice to them. He'll be perfect for it. If you have any doubts, consider the fact that his biggest job-related concern is to find the right candy dish to put on his desk.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: yes, he does have a window.

It's Possible, Pig

This week we are enjoying the classics in the Eris household. As we celebrated Christmas with Googamus and her little uns we watched Miracle on 34th Street and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, followed by a little of Mystery Men. Now, some of you may ask what makes Mystery Men a classic, and I say, "Shut it! Any movie with Hank Azaria rocks!"

Get this: Mr. Eris, who is 37-years-old and worked at Blockbuster for more than a decade, had never seen Edward Scissorhands. How is that even remotely possible?!?! So we watched it in our jammies on New Years Eve. The kids loved it, and Little Mr. Eris kept asking, "Are you sure that's Captain Jack Sparrow?"

Tonight, following the Mr.'s second day at his new job (which he loves and makes him feel very important!), we ate Mac & Cheese with Weenies and are now watching The Princess Bride. Love it!

It's good to be old and boring.

"Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts."