St. Patrick's Day Resolutions

So, for my Saint Patrick's Day resolution, I have decided that I am going to start training for and eventually compete in a full length triathlon. (Apparently the Ironman people are pretty touchy about the trademark infringement.) Anyway, so it's a 2.5 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, followed by a 26 mile run. I want to do it sometime before or during my 33rd year. So, this year or next. Basically, I have been running and swimming fairly regularly, but without any kind of goals, so it gets kind of boring. Also, my leg is still weak and I hate feeling like I am still not fully recovered. And, I'm getting older and don't like feeling like I am succumbing to decrepitude. I am hoping this will push back the tide a little bit. Finally, it seems like I will still not be anywhere I can surf regularly for the next year or more, and basically, running, swimming, and biking is the most exercise for the amount of time spent, and I don't really have a lot of time. So, this is not really to brag or anything, but just to put it out there to force myself to be a little bit more serious about the whole thing. Also, if anyone wants to join me in setting their own exercise goal, we can try to keep each other honest. I think I will try and post about how it's going fairly regularly. Anyone interested?

Job offer, etc.

So, A few weeks ago, right after my funny/tragic dream, I actually got a job offer. So I contacted everyone I was waiting to hear back from and had varying degrees of response. Then, in the meantime I heard back from a few more schools closer by that they were interested in interviewing me. So, after thinking about it and praying about it, we decided not to take it. I am fairly confident we will get a better offer. The job was in Wisconsin, which seemed like a fun place to live, but pretty far from any family. The teaching load was not bad, mostly Japanese classes, but since it was a quarter system, classes went until June. So now we are back to waiting again. Bekah is pretty calm about the whole thing, which she says must be a sign we are doing the right thing.

Latest job interview.

So I had this really good job interview this morning. It was for one of the history jobs and I thought I was able to make a really strong case about why I can teach East Asian history, even though I don't have a history degree. The interviewers were really nice and seemed interested in my work and we had a really good conversation. All in all, I was very hopeful about my prospects for the job.

And then I woke up, literally, and realized it was a dream.

I was wondering if anyone can interpret this dream for me. Maybe the job interview is a metaphor for something. I know this is way out there, but maybe I have some (very) subconscious anxiety about something that's going on right now. I can't think of what it might be though. Any suggestions?

How does an idiot like this get elected to the Senate?

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-02-25-james-inhofe-senate-top-skeptic-explains-climate-hoax-theory/

Snow Bunnies

So, on Wednesday I took the girls snowboarding. I'd taken Miriam for a practice run a few weeks earlier to the super short bunny hill and she had fun, but was done after an hour or so. Gwyn had never been. Gwyn wanted to go straight to the top and only after much cajoling was reluctantly willing to practice a bit on the bunny hill (which is really just a 20 foot section they have roped off for practicing. So after 20 minutes of that we head to the top. Then it took us about 40 minutes to get halfway done the mountain, after which Gwyn wanted to walk the rest of the way. That might not seem that long, but the mountain is only 400 ft. high. She actually did pretty well for a five year old who'd never been before. She really liked the chair lift and was mad because I made her hold onto the bar and sit all the way back. So Gwyn was done, but after we ate our dinner in the lodge, Miriam and I went back up and she did really well. She can't really turn yet, but she can go straight for a ways before she starts going too fast and falls on purpose. We worked on riding on both edges, although it wasn't steep enough that you really had to turn that much. Anyway, she had a lot of fun and wants to go again. No one cried and she thought it was funny when she fell into the ditch beside the trail (with Bekah, not me), at least she did when I talked to her forty minutes later. Anyway, babies and toddlers are cute, but I'm finding big kids are pretty fun too.

Settlers of Maine

So Gwyn has been really into games lately, mostly Crazy Eights and Uno. So, on Friday night I decided to teach the girls how to play Settlers of Catan. It turns out, you actually don't need to know how to read to play. Gwyn has her own distinct strategy of buying lots of development cards, which has actually served her pretty well. The girls wanted to play again Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday we upgraded to Seafarers, since Miriam was complaining about too many sheep. Overall, we are very cooperative traders and pretty good neighbors on the island, except Gwyn who likes to cut people off. It's pretty exciting that we can have a full game with just our own little family (who needs friends, I guess). And it is great relief to think we might be permanently past the mind numbing, Chinese molasses drip torture of Candyland.

Where will we be next year?

Not Maine, as I found out today. Any guesses? Suggestions?