Vampires

The Vampires came to campus for Halloween. (How appropriate!) I let them take my blood, and I didn't even pass out. (I almost made it through without asking them to lay me down, almost....) I guess it should be at least another 56 days before the Vampires start calling me again....

And, Happy Halloween!!

Knitting (K)night

I'm hosting a knitting (k)night at my apartment tonight. One of the girls in the department hosted one a few weeks ago, and we kinda decided to make it a quasi-regular event. We've taught a few more people from the department how to knit, and a few people bring their crochet instead. I'm currently working on a stocking hat, and I'm also sometimes working on the same sweater that I've been sometimes working on for the last year or two. Maybe I'll finish it this year, maybe....

Running

My nose is running. The froggie is finally gone, but now my nose is not happy. The Kleenex company is probably making a small fortune off of me this weekend....

Speaking of running, my nephew is running in the state cross country meet this weekend. He's a freshman, so this is a pretty big deal for him. YAY! Run fast!!

Perky Little Squirrels

I have pesky squirrels, though the pesky squirrels haven't attempted to take up residence in the same location as my pesky little frog. (That would be bad; very bad.) Anyway, when I woke up this morning there was a squirrel playing on the window air conditioning unit that's in my bedroom. He was making all sorts of noises, probably jumping up and down on the unit just to see if there was an echo or to listen to the noise it made. As I was finishing my breakfast, another squirrel (or maybe it was the same one -- I don't know) started playing on the window unit that's in my dining room. While I kinda enjoy watching the squirrels, I'm hoping that they don't make visits to the air conditioners a regular thing over the winter; the noise isn't really appreciated....

Pesky Little Froggie

I've had a frog in my throat for the past few days. He doesn't want to seem to leave, and he's beginning to be a real nuisance. I went to the pharmacy today to get some stuff to try to get rid of the frog; we'll see how that goes....

Happy Birthday Mommy!!

Mom doesn't have a computer and probably won't be reading my blog, but this is a good way to wish her a happy birthday anyway. (There will, of course, be a phone call homehome either today or tomorrow. The card's in the mail, though it probably won't make it to homehome to Mom today.) Anyway, Happy Birthday Mommy!!

No Computers

The university's internet service provider was having problems yesterday, so the university was without computers for the large portion of the day. I was amazed at how things seemed to come to a halt and how even the basic functions of the university were compromised. We were still able to access files and things that were stored simply on the university network, but we were unable to access just about everything else. Early in the day, someone sent an e-mail to the campus computer guru asking about the problem. (The e-mail never left the campus network, so it went through.) He sent back a reply, "Our internet provider is having trouble. There's nothing we can do about it." That's real comforting....

$1.99

I'm rejoicing!! It's been what seems like a very long time since I've seen a gas price that begins with a 1!! YAY!

Some days little things make me happy.

100 Pages

100 pages per day from now until Thanksgiving, that's my goal. I'm preparing for my qualifying exams, and I still have a lot of things to read. I decided that setting reasonable goals and working toward them is probably the best way to get myself through all of the work that I have to do. So far I've worked through Frank Norris' McTeague, Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery, and Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. I'm halfway through Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, and I should be able to finish that today.

I also have student papers to read and evaluate. I told my students that they would have their papers back by Wednesday.

I Missed My Birthday....

Yesterday was my first blog birthday...and I missed it. :(

Book Party

Jimmy and I went to a book party last night. Hawk Publishing Group, a publishing company operated by a friend and former classmate, had a party celebrating its newly released books. The authors were nearly all there, and they each spent a little time talking about their writing and their books. (I wanted to put pictures of all of the book covers up on my blog, but that would take up too much space. Instead, follow the above link to see the new books.) I like book parties and that type of events; I always learn a lot and get to talk with interesting and wonderful people.

Cingular Update

Okay, I managed to get the whole phone thing straightened out...hopefully, maybe. I called Cingular yesterday, and after about half an hour of being passed around to different offices and customer service people, I finally managed to get things worked out. I found out that they did receive the package that I returned to them, but they just hadn't told their computer (which, of course, sends the bills) that the package had been received. Anyway, they corrected my account, removing the erroneous $212 charge. And then the lady tells me "Just pay the remaining $47.96 of your bill. I'll put a note on your account that your bill has been adjusted so they shouldn't turn off your service." Great, that's reassuring. Now in another month I'll probably be calling Cingular again, from the office this time, to have them reactivate my service, and who knows how long that will take. (In case you can't tell, I don't have much confidence in the company any more. They seem to have mastered the 'hassle and scam' thing, but that seems to be about it....)

Cingular is Yucky.

(I had a different title for this post, but I didn't think it was appropriate. This is a rant continued from the 'My Yucky Phone' post from a few months ago. You've been warned....)

Okay, as you know I had trouble with my cell phone a few months ago. My phone quit working, so I contacted the company and they sent me a new one. After a week and a half, problems with shipping, and all sorts of mess-ups, I finally had a functioning phone again. After more phone calls to the company, I managed to get refunds for the things I had downloaded and credits toward my account for the days that I was without phone service. And I was happy....

Within the last month, I received two voicemail messages from Cingular regarding my replacement phone. The messages were rather vague; they didn't really say anything except that they were calling to check up on my replacement phone. Both messages asked me to return their calls, which I did, only to be transfered directly to voicemail where I left messages letting them know that my replacement phone was working wonderfully and that they should call me if they had questions or needed further information.

And today I checked my phone bill online....and they're trying to charge me $212 for the non-functioning phone that they claimed I didn't return to them! AHHHH! The non-functioning phone was sent back to them only a few days after I received the new phone (which was in late August). It was returned in the same box in which the new phone had arrived, the postage was pre-paid, and the shipping label was included (and it was even shipped USPS). I don't really see how this could have been messed up. Now I guess I'm going to have to spend another few hours, days, weeks trying to sort out this new mess with the phone people.

Like I said last time, Cingular is yucky; I want my AT&T back!!

Spinach

My sister sent me this picture. A little commentary on the whole spinach and e-coli thing.... Poor Popeye.

I Passed!!

I got the results back from my language exam yesterday...and I passed!! That's very much a relief since I didn't feel that I did well on the exam. Now I really need to buckle down and start studying and reading for my qualifying exams, as they're going to be here before I know it....