Pupdate: Happy HOWL-oween!

Have a safe and fun Halloween, everyone!

Friday Kittehs

Joy iz in mai bed, steelin mai ZZZZ's.

Different plumbing? Equal standards!

NOTE: This is not a post about new projects at the Happy Kitten Cottage—although there are a few in progress. Readers stopping by E&P for home improvement ideas should check back in a week or two, when I have progress and pictures to show off.

My Comp I classes are centered around critical thinking and writing about American mass media, and my students have come up with some very interesting points this semester. We're currently discussing the taboo subject of social class in the U.S. and how mass media simultaneously cultivates the notions that "hard work will get you to the top" and "working-class status = failure." (Here's a link to the film we're watching and discussing.) Next week, we'll discuss how advertising sells to us who and what we are—very, very subtly and over a long time, I might add—and tells us how we should think about our bodies and what it means to be a woman, or a man.

Last week, as I was shopping for [ahem!] supplies for that time of the month, I picked up a can of Summer's Eve "feminine deodorant." You know, because it's that time of the month, and I don't want to smell. As I was about to toss the package into the cart, I noticed the slogan:

Enjoy being a woman.®

And it stopped me in my tracks, right there in the middle of the "Feminine Needs" aisle. (Hell, I've got a lot of "Feminine Needs," and let me tell you, most of them have nothing to do with maxi pads. But that's best left to another post.)

What are those four words trying to tell us? That without this product—packaged as "feminine deodorant" but which realistically should be named Clam Guard—I can't "enjoy being a woman?" And how do I know I'm "enjoying being a woman?" It's not like I've got anything to compare it to—"Sheeeeit, this is SO much better than before the operation!"

And then one thought led to another:

Can I actually smell my own coochie when [ahem] "Aunt Flo" drops by? Or during the other 25 days of the month? No. I shower at least once a day (sometimes twice, if I'm workout-sweaty) and use pretty-smelling handmade soap, and a good deodorant. I am in excellent gynecological health. But if I could smell my own coochie, while just going about my daily routine and without trying to perform an Angry Lady Cobra, chances are that nothing short of a visit to the free clinic would help, especially not some fruity-smelling aerosol spray. And if I can't smell it, can anyone else? My guess would be no—but if they're that damn close to where they can, they either need to introduce themselves or buy me dinner.

And why is there no equivalent product for men? Do men's private parts not smell? [planting tongue firmly in cheek] Wow, they must not! It's only women who have smelly genitals! That's why we never see products like this!

Give. me. a fucking. break.

I left the package in the cart, purchased it, and then brought it to the office—for my own Show-and-Tell Day, sponsored in part by the Commission on Let Advertising Tell You How Your Body Should Smell.

Student Essay Insanity #63!

OMGWTFBBQBACONESSAYBLOOPERS!!!1!!!!1!1!!!!!

Yes, it's been a long, long time since I've had any exciting (or should that be excruciating?) new material to post here—several months, actually. But as always, the Freshman Writing Improvement Project (FWIP) always yields a few good ones. This time, I read a group of essays from biology and ecology courses, which is why many of these faux pas mention science-y stuff.

Without further adieu: real students, real essays, real(ly) bad. I shit you not.

**********************

• Sustainability is more than a term trying to be interpreted.
• But instead of continuing constantly living burning fuel, I decided to ride the bus.
• The knowledge I gained is price-less.
• Science has not been my choice of learning.
  

Stay tuned for next week's installment—I'll have a few more doozies for you then.

Chicken Monday: 10/26/09

This picture of Henrietta (foreground) and Leroy first appeared in Chicken Monday a few weeks ago, but I'm recycling it today for two reasons:

1. I don't yet have my new home computer set up, and am doing this from my D2U office; and
2) Things in the Chicken Pen are pretty dull, what with Ernestine still sitting on those three eggs.

No, the eggs probably aren't going to hatch—not this late in the fall. My Aunt Becky, who lives near Battle Creek, Michigan, says her chickens stopped laying eggs a couple weeks ago, and the last batch of peeps were hatched during the summer. It's about the same for chickens down here, except that my girls are still eggin' it up and most likely will be for another week or two. Short days signal hens to stop laying eggs for the winter.

And yes, I am humoring my fierce little brown hen. I don't dare tell her the eggs aren't going to make baby chicks. (We'll see for sure in another ten to 14 days.)

Never fear, though—I'll have more interesting pictures up here soon. As I tell my students, "If you have chickens in the backyard, you don't need Comedy Central."

Only at the Washateria...

...could we find this still-life: "Ms. Pac-Man with Commercial Dryer and Stray Undergarment."

Friday Kittehs Laundry

This morning finds me at Small Town's very own Super Suds Washateria. All three sets of my "good sheets" are dirty, not to mention ALL my socks and underwear!

Is it just me?

Or do any of you other teacher-types (professors, teachers, even ministers, retail employees, and so on) get incredibly tired, frustrated, and unmotivated around Week 11 of the semester? I ask because I can't be the only one who feels like this every term, without fail. Any ideas as to why I/we might feel this way? Perhaps it's the eternal hope at the start of each new season/semester that everything will go as planned...and then, things happen and screw up our plans.

Sort of off-topic: I find teaching Intro to Literature very difficult and frustrating, and am very happy that when this term is over, I won't have to teach it again until Fall 2010.

Chicken Monday: 10/19/09

Any kind of description would spoil the awesomeness of this video—so watch, and then comment away.

Broken things come in threes!

The old saying about "deaths in the family come in threes" is evidently also true for inanimate objects.

The weekend before Fall Break, I was in the middle of doing laundry when my ten-year-old dryer suddenly stopped working. It was completely dead; the "on" light wouldn't even light up. Not that that was a very big surprise—I've had an unusual number of problems with my Asko washer and dryer, which is a real shame considering how much they cost (even on sale). So I laughed it off. At least the dryer still worked, right?

Fast forward to yesterday evening—my very nasty shower curtain is in the washer, on the super-hot (205 degrees) cycle. While I'm in another room, I see the lights flicker, and hear a funny noise. Then I notice that it's mighty quiet in the direction of the laundry closet. I walk in, and lo and behold, now my Asko washer has also died! With super-hot water still in the tub! I just shook my head, laughed maniacally, and called Mom. She was in Atlanta with El Seebeno, who had just parked his truck at the company shop for maintenance. "That piece of shit died, too, huh?" Mom said. "Well, you can use our old Whirpool pair for the time being."

Lastly, I've known for nearly a year that the Happy Kitten Cottage needs a new roof. Well, it's needed a new roof since I moved in ten years ago, but now the situation's looking dire. The rear part of the house, which includes the kitchen, bathroom, and guest room, needs a roof job the most. While I was visiting Pixie for Fall Break, Mom called to say that the ongoing heavy rains in Small Town (and most of the state of Georgia, for that matter) had set up a potential mold problem in the kitchen, and the leak had ruined a lot of the decking in that area. "You have got to get this fixed, and I mean get it fixed PDQ," she said. "El Seebeno and I can't do this—it's beyond our time and manpower." It was a downer to find that out during my vacation, but it was important that Mom tell me what was going on. Coincidentally, the back portion of the HKC's roof is the only part I can afford to have worked on right now.

Let's all cross our fingers, toes, eyes, and paws that nothing else breaks anytime soon!

Isn't this in Small Town?

Because I could swear I'd seen it around here somewhere...


see more Epic Fails

FailBlog never fails (heh-heh) to make me laugh.

Back to my boring, pedestrian life.

Today finds me back at work after an awesome Fall Break spent in Denver with my sister. I arrived back at the Happy Kitten Cottage around 6:00 last evening, and the kittehs were (mostly) happy to see me. I was happy to see them, too, and happy to see Mom again, but was sad that I'd be back to my old workaday routine come Thursday morning.

Pixie has been my best friend for 34 years. We always have a great time together. How could we not, being one soul in two bodies?

A hateful Denver kitteh

Hazel takes feline disdain to a whole new level.

Fall is breakin'!

Fall Break is here, and I'm spending mine in Denver with my sister. We've had lots of fun already, and have three more days to go!

Friday Kittehs, featuring Melody

Melody's happy. Really, she is. This just her default expression.

Pupdate: In the car

Lucky, like most dogs, loves going places in the car. He's such a sweet and friendly travel companion, even on short trips (this photo taken as we were headed to Mom's house).

Maybe this will brighten your day

It's been all over the internet the last few months, and perhaps you've already seen it a time or two—but it's still hilarious.



My airport dance will look something like this when I fly out tomorrow evening to visit my sister.

The answer to (some of) my prayers!

For years I've been wondering how to effectively show students—in real time—how I mark up an essay in critique, and how I make notes on the pages of an article as I'm reading along (active & critical reading). In the past I've been relegated to using the clunky old overhead projector, but there's not always one of those handy in each of the classrooms I visit every day. Thank heavens for touch-pen tablets and ritePro.

No, I'm not a paid shill. When I get excited about something new that makes teaching a little easier AND more effective, I just have to share it with readers.

Chicken Monday: 10/5/09

Pupdate: Happy hungry doggie

Lucky knows his Mama has a Sunday treat for him: BACON! Well, bacon in a bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuit. Happy dog, indeed.

I was a supporter before it was cool!

It's amazing, the funny things you see in the parking lot at Wal-Mart.

Friday Kittehs, featuring Squirrel

It's Friday, and she's posing with a Ford Mustang, yet Squirrel (aka Martha Ann) is still highly disappointed. In all of us.

Seen in the Wal-Mart parking lot

Next semester, this is going on my syllabus.