Slavedriver

Even though tomorrow is only August 1st, Teaching Pal Jackie is making me work tomorrow.

She is a better teacher than I am.

Works harder than I do.

Becoming increasingly worried that there's a direct correlation there.

Today we played golf at Conviction Creek. Sounds nice, no?

There's something so funny and unnatural about people falling:

My Uncle Dave is in National Geographic. No, really. He's in National Geographic.

The actual story in the August 2008 magazine is more interesting to look at because of the pictures, but this is still damn cool.

Check it out.

Operation Forget About the Dog

Tonight Jim and I took the girls to see Wall-E.

At first, I was very suspicious of the film. I mean, come on, a squeaky robot is the only "living" thing left on Earth and has been compacting trash for the last 700 years until another robot falls out of the sky in search of plant life?

How good could it be?

Pretty damn good, friends. I'm not ashamed at all to say that I out and out really liked the movie, fell in love with little robotic Wall-E a bit, and found the message endearing, thoughtful, and frankly, pretty significant for all the little children pixar lovers out there.

And while I'm on the record, I'd also like to add that it was WAY better than Kung-Fu Panda.

Temporary Insanity

Jim called me tonight from the parking lot of a pet store, right after texting me this:

There are a million good reasons NOT to purchase this painfully cute female half cocker spaniel, half bichon puppy, right?

I mean, RIGHT?

Because otherwise, I'm considering pleading temporary insanity and becoming the proud mother of this little thing.

God help me, right? RIGHT?

The Pictures

The people who know you well (and are still your friends)

This past weekend, I went up to Tofte, MN on the north shore with five of my best friends from Olaf. I'm sure I'll post some pictures soon.

The lake was beautiful, the hikes were impressive, and we had a lot of great laughs.

I was reminded again this weekend that I am lucky, in so many areas of my life, to know firsthand how old friends are good for the soul. It's reassuring to know that who you were isn't so different from who you are, and that sometimes, picking up where you left off is the most comforting thing in the world.

This is what I call a 2 for 1

Happy birthday to my baby brother:

He turns 23 tomorrow and leaves for med school in less than a month. Apparently not so baby anymore.

(Let this also serve as evidence that, in fact, the entire family has pretty well lost it over Ellen. I'm not the only one, folks.)

Happy birthday, Mek. Live it up.

She may not be walking, but she sure is swimming

I'm thinking this is a bad sign

I dreamt last night that I was in jail at the high school. As in, locked up, held against my will, and wistfully wishing for freedom. My AP was the warden who, while feeling sorry for me, refused to set me free.

Hmmm.

It's been a long time

A lot has happened since my last blog post. I turned 26, got engaged, thought about quitting teaching, went to Arizona with Jim and the girls, thought about applying for teaching jobs in Arizona, moved Jim and the girls into my house, started planning a wedding, reminded myself that teaching's a damn good gig in June/July/August, picked up golfing, reminded myself that last summer I "picked up tennis," and read a couple of good books.

The truth, dear reader, is that I have no good excuse for not blogging in so long. But I've missed you. And I'm back. And I promise to be better.

xoxo
Rach