Blisstakes

My puppy has discovered her bark.

I beat my friend Neal at practice last night three bouts in a row, 10-9, 10-7, 10-5 (I think; happily, I wasn't really keeping count, but he said I won). I have never beaten him more than once in a practice, and for the better part of five years, I couldn't beat him at all. He gave me a hug in lieu of a medal.

It's so cold outside at the moment that the snow on the ground is subliming.

My sister-in-law had surgery today. Please pray for her that her biopsy comes out clear.

Reality is so very, very kind, I am having trouble thinking of anything to write. Everything sublimes into the beauty of the moment: my puppy's little bunny butt bounding across the back yard in the twilight, the smell of her feet and her fur, all of the students on campus who are so happy to get to pet her because they are missing their own dogs, the sunlight in my office this morning blinding me as I was listening to my students speak, the stack of books that I have building up that I actually want to read, sitting here in the living room with my puppy asleep alongside my legs and my son setting up the laptops for his gaming day tomorrow with his friend.

Another of my female colleagues seems to have stopped dying her hair, and it's growing in just as brilliantly white as mine.

The painters have turned our new kitchen walls white, and soon we will have a new floor.

I have snugged away all of the power cords in my office on campus with Cable Turtles and Cord Control tubes.

I thought President Obama did a good job with his speech. This was my favorite part: "At the beginning of the last decade, the year 2000, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion. (Applause.) By the time I took office, we had a one-year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program. On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget. All this was before I walked in the door. (Laughter and applause.)"

I have almost finished my work for the departmental admissions committee this season, after which I will be free to return to my own work.

My husband got paid for the teaching he did last December in Iraq.

I used my new printer-fax today to send in my registration for the upcoming NAC.

I think maybe I helped a few of my students today with their research projects.

After I finish this list, I'm going to read some more Rumpole. Life is sweet.

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