'I do not think it means what you think it means.'

I've been noticing signs recently that don't seem to make much sense. (One of my friends has a whole on-line album of silly signs, but I can't provide a link to it. Sorry.) Anyway, I saw a few that were particularly silly lately.

1. "Failure to pay toll strictly enforced." Okay, I know what they mean, but just how does one enforce a failure, I wonder....

2. "Baby Exchange." I think this is the name of a store. I don't even want to know what goes on in there.

3. "Family Crisis Services: Offering Advocacy, Community Education, and Support Services for Survivors Sexual Assault, Child Abuse, and Suicide." I actually took a picture of this sign because someone had circled the words 'survivors' and 'suicide' and then put a big question mark connecting the two. Of course I know what the makers of the sign mean, but it isn't quite what they said....

Faulkner in Oxford

Jimmy and I made the drive back from Mississippi today; it certainly felt like lots of hours in the car....

Anyway, I had a good experience at the conferences. I presented a paper at the 'Southern Writers, Southern Writing' graduate student conference, and then I stayed an extra couple of days to attend the annual 'Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference.' The graduate student conference was fun, but a little small. The other conference was certainly larger, but I was only able to stay for a few days of that conference. (Jimmy wanted to be back for his class tonight, and the funds weren't really available for a greatly extended stay.)

We got to see quite a few things while we were in Oxford. We got to take a double-decker bus tour through the town. We visited Rowan Oak (Faulkner's home) and Faulkner's grave. We got to see the town square on the tour, with the historic court house and city hall, and we had some time to go back and wander around the square on our own too. While the town was certainly capitalizing on the whole Faulkner thing, I still liked the town. I think it's the kind of place that I would like to live someday....

I took pictures on the trip, but I haven't developed them yet. Maybe someday I'll post them....

Hello from Oxford

Yep, I'm in Oxford...Mississippi, that is. Jimmy and I are spending a few days at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) attending conferences on southern literature and William Faulkner. I presented a paper on Faulkner's _The Sound and the Fury_ this morning, so now I get to enjoy a few days of the conferences without worrying about my own work and my presentation. I'll send a more complete update on the trip and the conference proceedings later....

Heat, Pink, and Laundry

Heat: It's been miserably hot here the last few days. (I guess it's been miserably hot just about everywhere these last few days.) If the bank thermometers were correct, it was 95 at about 10:15 last night and again at 9:15 this morning. I know we've had triple digit temperatures the past few days, and, if weather.com can be trusted, we'll be in those triple digits or a few more days before the temperature breaks. I'm drinking lots of water and enjoying frozen pops....

Pink: Pink is still in reference to my skin. Jimmy and I went over to a friend's apartment on Sunday; she provided access to the complex's swimming pool and we provided the bar-b-que. I'd just recovered from the pink from a few days before, and I pinkened myself once again. The pink's almost gone though....

I suppose 'pink' could potentially connect to laundry too. I remember that someone (a friend, actually) gave me a bright red towel set when I graduated from high school. While I knew better than to wash the towel with things other than reds or my other towels (which were dark pink), I suppose 'pink' could be the title of a blog outline the disastrous consequences of red towels, hot water, and a load of whites....

Laundry: Today was laundry day. Yep. That's it. Nothing more to say about that.

Pink and Other Colors

I'm a little pink today. I went swimming with a few of the girls from the department yesterday, and I'm mildly sunburned today. I'm slowly getting a little bit of a tan, but I'm nearly always a slightly painful shade of pink before my pink turns to a pleasant golden brown. I guess I'm stuck with the tender pink for a few days....

Jimmy and I spent some time working on wedding details today. There are still quite a few decisions to be made, but we're making some progress. We haven't picked colors yet, but we've narrowed the options. Still working....

We photographed out first penguin today. (See Chasing Penguins.)

Summer Bum

I guess I've been something of a bum the past several days. I haven't been very productive; I keep telling myself that I'll start with the work tomorrow.... I need to go back to the office and finish packing so I can move to my new office, but I just haven't really been motivated to do so. I've been doing some reading, but certainly not as much as I should be doing. Jimmy took me to see a matinee of The Devil Wears Prada yesterday. I enjoyed the movie; it was nice to see something where no one got blown up or killed for a change. (Yes, I've seen plenty of non-violent movies; I just hadn't seen one of them in a theatre recently.) I'm sure the book is probably better, but the movie was certainly good too. Jimmy and I have been getting started with the wedding plans recently; I never realized just how many decisions go into planning a wedding. (I think I now understand why people elope....)

Just Plain Tired

I'm tired. I stayed up way too late last night, and I got up too early this morning. The Totus Tuus teams were back in town for their mid-summer break and retreat, so Jimmy and I have been preparing meals, running errands, and just hanging out with them during the past few days. Last night the group decided to go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We were unable to get tickets to the showing that we wanted, so we ended up seeing the movie at 11:15pm. The movie was very long, so it was about 2am before we even left the theatre. I was up and at the church by 8am this morning, so I've been tired all day. I did go home and sleep most of the afternoon away, but I still feel completely drained. I went out and rented a movie to watch this evening, but I'll probably put the movie-watching off because I would probably end up sleeping through the movie if I tried to watch it yet tonight....

Why I Hate Wal-Mart

(Hmmm. I know, the title of today's blog sounds like a title for a mediocre, formulaic, five-paragraph essay. I'm hoping my little rant won't turn into one....)

Anyway, I, against my better judgment, made a trip to Wal-Mart this afternoon. I've never really liked Wal-Mart because it seems too much like some type of corporate world super-power, but that doesn't really have anything to do with today's miserable Wal-Mart experience. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, the chaos began. I don't like driving in parking lots because most of the drivers don't ever respect the lines and arrows. While I generally dislike the lack of order in parking lots, today was worse than usual: not only did the drivers lack respect for the lines and arrows, they also seemed to lack respect for other cars and drivers. One driver was weaving through the parking lot (between parked cars, not just across the empty part of the parking lot like usual) and would have hit me, had I not managed to swerve just in time. Anyway, I did manage to park my car and safely enter the store. After finding a cart that squeaked and wouldn't steer straight, I proceeded to my shopping. I managed to find everything on my list, though it took twice as long as it should have. So, after my long shopping experience, I proceeded to the checkouts. Being that I didn't qualify for the '20 Items or Less' lines (and the sign in itself bothers me -- fewer, fewer!) and I didn't want to bother with the blaring, beeping, and recorded voices of self-checkout lines, I opted for a regular checkout line. Actually, I got in the cigarettes and tobacco line because that line tends to move more quickly than the surrounding lines (and it did). Nonetheless, I ended up standing in line for over 10 minutes before I even got to start loading my items on the little check-out conveyer belt. (I was glad I hadn't planned on purchasing any ice cream.) As I stood in line, I watched the lady in front of me take a soda out of the cooler, drink the soda, and then deposit the empty bottle on the rack just next to the register. Checkout went reasonably well. I was only over-charged about $6 (I think the prices were right but the items were displayed with the wrong tags on the shelves) and the check-out lady only dropped one of my peaches (which I then refused to buy). Anyway, a little over an hour after entering the store, I managed to escape from the clutches of the evil Wal-Mart. And by the time I got out to my car and loaded everything into the trunk of my car, my $0.88 comfort chocolate bar was already beginning to melt....

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!

Today's my dad's birthday. (It's also the middle day of the year, as he likes to remind us. That means 2006 is half over; wow.) Even though my dad doesn't have a computer and thus has no way of reading my blog, I thought I'd say a 'happy birthday' here since the card won't get to him on time. Happy Birthday Daddy!

Cook-out, Croquet, and Climbing

Though I initially imagined today as a quiet and peaceful Saturday that I would have all to myself, the day was much more eventful than I'd originally anticipated. One of my friends had family in town, so she decided to have a cook-out at the park for both friends and family. We had the usual hamburgers and hotdogs and all that stuff, and then after dinner (or lunch, depending on your part of the country) we played a rousing round of croquet. While Mom and Dad had a croquet set in the basement when I was little, I don't ever remember actually learning to play. Granted, I do remember taking the mallets and hitting the balls around in the basement (and sometimes even in the front yard), but I don't think I ever actually learned how to play the game. The game's both more fun and more involved than I'd imagined...maybe I'll try to play again sometime. After our croquet, we went rock climbing at the park. The rocks weren't huge and we didn't use any ropes or anything like that, but it was still a lot of fun. I'd never been rock climbing before, so I learned a lot and had fun too. So after all of that, my arms are a little pink and a few muscles are a little tired.

I was expecting an uneventful evening, but then a friend called and suggested we go see Superman Returns. I saw the movie with Jimmy and one of our friends on Thursday, but since I didn't have anything else planned.... Anyway, I enjoyed the movie even more the second time. Being that I'm not a comic book junkie or superhero enthusiast, I was a bit surprised to see Marlon Brando listed in the cast....