A Crazy Cat's Life

...would be between a podiatrist and an orthopedic who specializes in ankle and foot surgery. Man, those two do not like each other. Case in point. I told my podiatrist that I was getting a second opinion from an ortho. He told me that was fine but "be careful" because they tend to do "short stints as fellows in ankle and foot care." This was unlike a podiatrist who spends all of his time working on feet and ankles. I go to the ortho. I tell him a podiatrist referred me. He huffs and says "well I'm the one with the MD." LOL Why am I seeking a second opinion? My podiatrist is about to get smacked over the head with my damn cane, that's why. Why? The guy knows I'm in a time crunch. I have four weeks off between semesters and if I have surgery done on my foot it has to be in this time period. Reasonable, right? Well the guy has been hemming and hawing going for a "conservative" approach. I have no problem with conservative ...

I saw this on the Psychokitty blog and it's so fitting of my mood right now. Have I mentioned how much I hate my students? "But why did I get a C? I didn't miss five classes? What do you mean I lose points when I miss five classes?" "But I sent you the paper. Seriously I did. What do you mean I can't e-mail it to you this weekend?" Bah.

...one more final to give in about a half hour. I just have to grade that (thank God for scantron machines), finish up the grades for this one class, and hand everything in. Once that is done, my semester is over and I can go sleep for three days. There was much rejoicing.

It's the terror of knowing What the world is about Watching some good friends Screaming 'Let me out' Pray tomorrow - gets me higher Pressure on people - people on streets O.k. Chippin' around - kick my brains around the floor These are the days it never rains but it pours Under pressure Under pressure - Queen " Under Pressure " This is how my life feels right now. God is the semester over yet? Three more days. Just three more days and a foot high stack of papers to grade. Well, at least it's down from a two foot high stack.

I wrote all my finals yesterday and today and I have 90% of my lecture notes prepped for this week. There is still have a three foot stack of papers to grade but at least half of my work is done. All I keep reminding myself of is "two more weeks." That's all that's left in the semester. I can make it. I hope.

...when all the ski resorts in a 30 miles radius have opened their doors for the season. The one nearest to me, Mountain Creek, has been running their snowmakers for two weeks now and it looks like a winter wonderland. All the others, Hidden Valley, Mt. Peter, and Tuxedo Ridge, have also been making snow like mad to open today. All this makes me hate the fact that I can't learn how to snowboard this winter due to my foot. Honestly, I just want to jump around and play in the snow but I can't. Bah. This does mean that the semester is almost over. Technically it ends on the 22nd, but that's a Saturday. My last day is supposed to be the 20th but I've moved up all my finals for between the 12th to the 18th in case I can get a surgery scheduled for the 19th or 20th. I can't wait. It's been a very, very long semester. If I do have the surgery then, it'll mean Christmas on Crutches, which will be interesting especially since we're hosting it at our house....

So I went to Mr. Podiatrist yesterday to get the news about the MRI I had last week. Ironically, the radiologist "thinks" he saw a fracture. I say ironic because I've seen the x-ray. Oh yes, there is a break. Rather, there is a piece of my fifth metatarsal bone (the bone in the middle outside section of my foot) that is no longer attached. The thing I was not expecting was the partial tear of the peroneus brevis tendon. Say that one five times fast. It is a tendon that connects the fifth metatarsal bone to the peroneus brevis muscle (one of the calf muscles). Here's a picture of it: When I found out where the problem was, I was not surprised. The original injury occurred when I rolled my foot badly to the outside. This would be the tendon worst affected by that type of injury. Also, this is supposedly a major tendon that, if screwed up severely enough, can be serious. Mr. Podiatrist said that he wants to avoid surgery to remove this bone as much as ...

Today in my 20 th century history class I spent a good 20 minutes discussing the women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Then ironically, in a friend's blog I saw a link to this blog called Families Against Feminism . Talk about going from one extreme to another. Let me point out a few things first before I get myself into hot water: I have NOTHING against Christianity nor do I have anything against stay at home moms who home school their children. The latter is not an easy job and if a woman chooses that life path, all power to her. Honestly, considering the way school systems are going these days, my kids might be better off being home schooled just so they can actually learn something. Now I don't consider myself a "feminist." I'm more like an " equalist ," if that makes sense. To me, women are capable of doing most, if not all, the same things men do. I believe in judging a person by their character, not their sex. **warning: ...

The Good Tonight the Montreal Canadiens retired Larry Robinson's number . I met Larry years ago when he was the assistant coach of the Devils. I used to play hockey in the same rink the Devils practiced so we would bump into each other a few times. It started off with a small conversation of me asking him for advice, which I will always remember: "Always keep moving, keep your stick on the ice, and never, ever get caught in a corner." From then it would always be "hey how's it going?" sort of scenarios. The next season was the '94 Lockout and I ran into Larry while he was helping out with the Devils' farm team up in Albany. I had broken my ankle playing hockey over the summer so I was in this huge cast. We discussed my lovely injury and his ideas on the lockout. The usually kind of BSing between two people. My one favorite moments, though, was towards the end of the lockout. I ran into Larry at the bar across the street from the rink and he wa...

Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane. -- Philip K. Dick, Valis

It's as simple as that. Last Monday, I saw my podiatrist about a nagging pain in the side of my foot. After a few x-rays we discovered that the fifth metatarsal bone in my left foot is broken. Specifically, the side of the ball of the bone closest to my ankle has broken away. Fun, eh? He asked me if I had any injuries lately. Well, the last time I felt enough pain to indicate the chance of a broken bone was last January. I was walking out of my lawyer's office after we just closed on our house when I sprained my ankle going down the stairs. I was positive I broke something at the time but the x-rays showed otherwise. I haven't done any injury to my foot since then. So I said, well if it's from last winter why the hell didn't you find the break then?!!! He just sighed and said "sorry." Bah. So the next thing I asked him was what's next? I have a piece of bone floating around in my foot and it hurts like a sonofabitch. I teach and I'm on...

I woke up this morning to the most beautiful sight: our first snow of the season. I knew there was a minor chance of snow but I hadn't kept my hopes up. The TV weatherman mentioned rain for most of the NYC area with a slight chance of snow north and west of the city. Well, I'm north and west. This morning there was about two inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down as big, puffy, and wet flakes. It was sticking too so everything was covered with this thick, gorgeous layer of snow. It literally looked like a winter wonderland. As I drove to work this morning over the mountain, it was even thicker and more beautiful. There was a fog that gave everything an ethereal look to it. Of course, once I got 15 minutes away from my house, there wasn't a flake to be seen. It was raining at the lower altitudes which was kind of disappointing. I just hope the snow lasts long enough for me to see more of it when I get home but I doubt it. I'll try to post up s...

This morning we had our first hard freeze. I know most people don't enjoy the cold weather, but I thrive on it. It felt so refreshing to go outside and breathe in that clean, cold air. Of course, scraping the frost off of my car at 6am sucked but I guess I can't have my cake and eat it too. The weather forecasters said there is a chance of rain/snow this weekend in the NYC area. This means I'll be getting snow out where I live. Good timing too as the ski resort plans on opening up December 8th. They need a good winter after the last too. I don't ski but the sounds of the snowmakers actually helps me sleep at night. Plus it's just really cool seeing tons of snow being blown around on top of the mountain. Then again, I also love snow. I love it even more that we bought an SUV so getting over the mountain will be a little easier this year. OK...back to grading...

...that it is very difficult to grade with a purring kitten on your lap. Thought I'd share.

I hate grading.

OK so maybe I am not the most die-hard baseball fan. I don't know most of the players' names and I sure as heck cannot pronounce Daisuke Matsuzaka's properly. I can't rattle off stats or tell you how many yards a ball needs to be hit to clear the Green Monster. However, I am not a bandwagon fan. I have been a Red Sox fan my entire life. Even in 1986, I was one of the few brave enough to walk around NYC with a large Red Sox pin on my jacket. I rarely ever rooted for another team and I've never, ever rooted against my boys from Boston. Heck, even when they were the most pathetic team in the league, I admitted in public that I was a Boston fan. When people asked "why?" in a disgusting tone (this is Yankee country), I would always respond "well somebody has to be." Being a true Boston fan means accepting that there are two teams that play: the pre-All-Star break team, and the post-All-Star break team. Something happens to them over that week...

I know, I know. It's been a while. Who would have thought teaching six classes would consume my life? Well, everybody but me it seems. Teaching is going well, albeit time consuming. Between the lesson preps, test writing and grading, and those evil term papers, I haven't had much of a chance to sleep nonetheless relax. The college seems to like me since I got a decent evaluation. I received "meets expectations" on all but "enthusiasm for subject" on which I got "exceeds expectations." That comes as no surprise. :) I also received my schedule for next semester which is a good sign that I'll be renewed for at least one more semester. Right now, term papers are the bane of my existence. It really is amazing at how well my students can fuck up such a simple assignment. They got to pick the topic as long as it was in the range of the course material. Then, they had to write your standard--and slightly boring--history research paper that ...

Bear had this playing in the car today and I forgot how much I loved the song. So to share...

I found this great blog called LOLjocks . Most of you may be familiar with the LOLcats but this one is pretty outrageous too. When I saw this photo, it gave me a sense of "oh great...this is exactly how the Giants season is going to be this year." Yes, poor little Eli is going "help me" in a tiny squeeky voice 'cause the poor boy knows he's going to get his ass kicked for the next five months.

...I know. "You don't call, you don't write..." Heck if you had my schedule, you'd be going nuts too. The sad news is that Ayla is getting sicker. She was diagnosed with skin cancer less than two months ago and now the tumor on her face has gotten so big that she's having problems eating. Last night was really bad. I put her up on the bed to give her pets and brush her. She was enjoying it but you could tell that she wasn't doing well physically. She has gotten so skinny and is having problems walking without tipping to the side a bit. We were positive we were going to have to call the vet this morning to make preparations. Then this morning, the snarky little girl was showing some spunk. She ran down the stairs yowling at me to feed her. When she was done, she went back up the stairs and began cleaning herself. As I stopped to stare at her, she gave me this look that says "what the fuck do you want?" That was my girl. :) I am going ...

58% How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

To once again quote one of my students (spelling mistakes are his, not mine): "In my opinion I don't see any progress on Ancient Civilization. I don't see any progress because the same thing happen over and over. Someone builds an empire then some else build another empire then they are going into battle. The result of this is gaining another empire for a couple of years until someone else comes and take over." Mind you we spoke of everything from ancient Mesopotamia to Hellenic Greece. Nope. No progress. None whatsoever. We'll just ignore the development of the wheel, writing, philosophy, art, religion.... Well, at least I got a good laugh.

I'm entering the last week of Summer Session I at the college I'm teaching at. This means crunch time. I'm staring at a huge stack o' horrible papers, another stack o' notes to be converted into PowerPoint lessons, and the big black and white mush sitting in the middle of all of it. Now how am I supposed to get any work done. That belly is going "pet me mommy pet me." Argh. Anyhoo...this week is going to be insane. While I'm finishing up the work from this summer session, I have to start prepping next session which starts next Monday. No rest for the weary, eh? I just keep reminding myself: I get three weeks off in August. Oh, and I didn't mean to imply that all librarians are those stereotypical mean nasty ones, though one of the colleges I teach at has a whole slew of them. I know there are some really great ones out there. I'm hoping to break that stereotype. One thing my boss did tell me was that the patrons enjoy coming to the l...

... as Ayla put it . I must be doing something wrong too. LOL

June has been an unusually crappy month for me. You would think that with my birthday and anniversary things would be good. Ugh. Just the opposite. As you probably already know from Ayla's blog , she was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Say that ten times fast. It's a malignant form of skin cancer that's in her oral/sinus cavity. I know she's 16 years old but she's like my kid to me. OK well maybe not kid but more like best friend. This is the only one who has been through almost every single stage of my life: college, grad school, the music industry, depression, to me getting back on my feet. She has been the constant. The vet didn't give me a timetable but from what I've read, when she starts going downhill it will be quick. On top of that, I did not get the Lecturer position I interviewed for. I had gotten my hopes up on that one too since it would be great to have one job to go to instead of three. Plus I would be teaching which is one of my favor...

Well I survived the spring semester with only a few bangs and bruises. Only three caught plagiarized papers, no obvious cheating, and only a few students whining about their grades. That last one always has me laughing. "Why did I get a D?" Hmmm. I'm a sadistic bitch? No, that's not it. I am just playing with you by submitting a D when you deserved an A? No. Not it either. Oh, could it be that you deserved a D? Oh! What a thought. LOL. I even got one student who asked me yesterday if there was anything he could do to up his grade. Um, the semester ended. Maybe if you talked to me two months ago I could have given you extra credit or something. Sheesh. But I try to not let these few students get to me. Part of me feels like I failed them in some way. Did I not help them enough? Could I have done more? Bear constantly reminds me that I do a lot more for my students than most professors. Even still, I have that doubt. I do try to remind myself that...

/rant on Ugh. Why is it that whenever a paper is due, someone's grandparent dies? Or their computer exploded? Or their car breaks down? Or their house catches on fire? Why can't these kids just say "I'm sorry. I'm overwhelmed and I just couldn't get the paper done on time." At least that's believable. I'll take points off their paper but I'll accept it. Don't these kids know that honesty really is the best policy? Geeze. Oh yes, I have already gotten one student who complained about her F for the semester. The girl got a D and a D+ on her two papers and she tanked her exams. What did she expect? Heck, she even handed in the wrong freaking paper! She said "um well I read the first assignment sheet instead of the second assignment sheet so I did a second first assignment by accident." *cue the stupid little giggle* The girl should be thankful I even accepted that paper and the D was a "sympathy D." Now she...

...to piss me off. I'm a big softy. No. I'm worse than that. I'm a big squishy. Anybody who knows me knows they can get away with a lot of strange, and sometimes deviant, behavior around me. My big belief is that "if nobody is getting hurt, who cares." My students know this too. The day a paper is due I get the inevitable "my computer crashed. Can I e-mail it to you tomorrow?" I get all big and tough and say they're going to get a penalty for it being late but most of the time I don't give one. There is one thing I won't tolerate though. Academic dishonesty. This includes cheating on tests and especially plagiarism. Why? I don't care if the kid is just too lazy to study or do the writing. What upsets me is that there are other students who work their asses off to get good grades. Here comes this kid who screws up the curve and makes life harder for the ones who are actually working. Personally, I would hate to spend weeks on a paper and g...

In a journal entry about how Senator Barack Obama said that President Bush has fallen short in his role as leader of the free world... "...the President reportedly said that it was the nicest thing anybody's ever said to him and then resumed eating his graham crackers and apple juice." Sometimes I need a good laugh. LOL.

As you can tell from my last post, all that grading just really had me losing my mind. The e-mail I got today, just made it all worth it: "Prof., I just wanted to thank you for an awesome class, i learned alot and really enjoyed how u kept everything so real. So thank you, and have a wonderful summer! " Dammit. How can I stay mad at the kids for their awful papers when I get stuff like this?

And I quote (spelling mistakes are the student's, not mine): "Befor WWII the United State choose to be kept alone and not get involved with any affairs of the world and during those time the U.S. economy seem to be doing just fine." Um. Just fine? We were in the midst of the Great Depression. That's not "just fine." The worst part? We covered this in class. The future is not looking so bright.

Ugh. Has it really been close to a month since I've written? It's been a long week. Heck, a long month. At one of the colleges I teach at, the semester ends in two weeks. We're in what I call "Last Month of the Semester Syndrome" ( LMSS ). It's a panic/fatigue state that both students and teachers go through. Students are crazily writing papers and studying for numerous tests. Teachers are crazily trying to get all the required tests done, the finals written, and grading all the crap the students are handing in. When I say "crap," I mean crap. Last weekend I plowed through 70 3-5 page papers that were the worst drivel I have ever seen. What's worse? It got more painful the more I read. It was a simple "write about something you found interesting sort of paper." It's not like it had a complicated theme or I took off points for grammar. I just wanted them to read more about something that interested them. Well, it seems not a single o...

...and I'm a coffeeholic. Or is that coffaholic? Whatever. I'm addicted to coffee. Back in my college days, you would find me with a cigarette in my mouth and a cup of coffee clenched in one hand. I gave up the cigarettes many, many years ago but I can't seem to kick the coffee habit. Well, when I quit smoking I did quit coffee as well but that didn't last very long. Now, I'm just as pathetic as I was back then in terms of my java fixes. For example, you know you're in rough shape when you're mad at the person in front of you at Dunkin' Donuts for taking so damn long with their order. I was sitting there thinking "just give me the coffee and no one gets hurt." It was worse afterwards. As I'm drinking my coffee I am writing poetic prose in my head about how coffee is ambrosia, the nectar of the gods. Sad, isn't it? Maybe I should just quit coffee all together. Ya right.

I was having a good day today. I really was. My classes went well, the day was sun-shiney bright. It was a day that brought a smile to my face. That is, until I went to the supermarket. There is an unwritten rule of etiquette at the self-checkout lanes. If there is no divider for you to use, you wait until the person is done bagging their stuff before you start scanning yours. This way, your stuff doesn't start piling up with their stuff. It's just common courtesy. Right? Well, there I am bagging all my stuff when a man comes up into my lane and starts scanning all his stuff. If it was one or two things I might have let it pass but he had a whole basketful and I still had at least five bags of my stuff to pack. I looked up and said politely "you know, it's common courtesy to wait until the person in front of you is done bagging before you start scanning your stuff." Please note, I wasn't rude or sarcastic. Some people just don't realize that. Well this jer...

I love the timing from the National Weather Service... Winter Storm Warning ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM EDT THISMORNING... ...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 8 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 AM EDT SATURDAY... A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 8 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 AM EDT SATURDAY. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM EDT THIS MORNING. STEADY PRECIPITATION IS MOSTLY JUST EAST OF THE AREA EARLY THIS MORNING, BUT WILL DEVELOP WESTWARD AS THE MORNING PROGRESSES. PERIODS OF SNOW AND SLEET WILL CONTINUE FROM MID MORNING INTO TONIGHT...AND POSSIBLY INTO EARLY SATURDAY. SNOWFALL RATES WILL BE RELATIVELY LIGHT, MOSTLY LESS THAN AN INCH PER HOUR...BUT STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS TODAY AND TONIGHT ARE FORECAST TO BE 8 TO 12 INCHES, WITH SOME OF THIS ACCUMULATION IN THE FORM OF SLEET. THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL WILL LIKELY FALL FROM THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE OVERNIGHT PERIOD. BECAUSE OF THE RECENT WARMTH, SNOW MAY BE SLOW TO ACCUMULATE AT FIRST....

I love teaching. I really do. To be able to impart my knowledge on the youth of America...well, you know that spiel. There is one thing I hate though. I'll be going through my lecture, having a good time and feeling great, when all of a sudden I realize that "hey, I'm standing here in front of a class with 35 pairs of eyes focusing on me." The blood drains from my face, I start to sweat, and the panic sets in. Oh god . Now what do I do? This happened to me today during my Western Civilization class. I had a nice lecture going on the Minoans when BOOM! Realization sets in. If my students had been paying attention, which I hope they were, they literally would've seen me turn white. It's a hard experience to explain to someone who hasn't been there. Yes, we all get nervous speaking in front of crowds but it's different when you do it every day. It's like I've been transported back in time to 5th grade when I had to give a presentation ...

My students in New York joke with me all the time about how bad New Jersey drivers are. I hate to admit it but it's true. Just today alone I almost got into two accidents because of two complete idiots behind the wheel. First, I'm merging onto Route 17 and I have just enough room to get in front of a car without actually cutting him off. The guy actually speeds up when he sees me trying to merge, flies around me, and then cuts me off to get off at the exit. This is all within a space of like 100 feet and I had to go from like 45mph to almost a complete stop. Why the guy couldn't just slow down a wee bit is beyond me. Instead, he had to get there first and almost caused an accident. Then again, Route 17 is typically like that and is to be expected. What I didn't expect was the idiot tow truck driver who ran a red light and almost hit me. I've learned in New Jersey to not hit the gas the minute the light turns green because "yellow" seems to mean ...

I sprained my ankle a couple of months ago so I've been seeing my podiatrist on a regular basis. After a rather nasty shatter ankle about 10 years back, I learned never to go to an orthopedist for any injury from the shin down--long story. My current podiatrist is a really nice guy but I think he has a serious OCD. He likes to scrape feet. I realize that it's part of his job but I'm seeing him for my ankle. When I went into his office the first time after my injury, he said "well let's look at your feet since you're here" with this big grin on his face. After a few "tsk-tsks" and a couple of "uh-huhs," he pulled out this mini scapel and started going after my feet. I know women love to get pedicures and have our feet pampered. Not surprisingly, I fall into that category. However, my podiatrist's tools look a hell of a lot more sinister than those you find in a nail salon. All I could think of was "please don't cut o...

...who don't know how to drive in the snow. I lived in western NY for a number of years, where the towns up there don't plow unless there's a minimum of four inches. Having a car that could be picked up by four people easily, it is understandable that I quickly learned how to drive in the snow. To me, unless they are predicting a minimum of six inches, I'll go out without any problems. That was until I moved to New Jersey. For some reason, people in New Jersey can't drive in the snow. You get two types of drivers. The first are those who really freak out when the first flake drops and drive 10 mph. Yes, you should slow down in the snow. Common sense dictates that. However, you should not go so slow that people behind you get frustrated and take the risky move of passing you. That causes accidents. The other ones are the crazies in the fancy SUVs who think they are invincible and drive 10 mph over the speed limit. They don't seem to realize that four-whe...

I'm going to eventually get this website up and running as a real website instead of just a home for my blog. So, I'm moving my blog over to a blogger site for the time being (at least until I figure out what I'm doing). So the new blog is at: http://acrazycatslife.blogspot.com/

...and still wishing for the time to take a good nap. :) Things have been so crazy for me for the past couple of months. First, I'm working three jobs. Kind of nuts, I know, but I love each of them and can't get myself to quit any of them. Two of them are adjunct teaching positions at different colleges, and the third is as a librarian. Those suck up 40+ hours a week which is a lot for me. I'm not used to working all those hours. Second, we bought a townhouse. Nice place up on a mountain, right near a ski slope. Neither Bear (the spouse) nor I ski or snowboard, but hopefully next winter we'll learn. For the time being I'll just have to stare out the window and watch all the silly people fall on their asses. It's much bigger than our old cramped 600 square foot apartment. We now have 1,600 square feet of roomy goodness. I'm loving it and so are the cats. The floors are set up as split levels so there are plenty of stairs for them to run up and down....