Christmas Throwdown: Rice!

All right, family. My mother has informed me that it's time for us all to start thinking about the next Throwdown. It was decided during the last one that we'd attempt rice this time around. Due to my own love of rice, it was also decided that I'd come up with the rules.

So here are the rules:
1. Your dish must contain rice.

That's it. No required amounts of rice, no must-have ingredients, not even dietary restrictions (though I realize this will probably take Michael and myself out of the judging). I also don't care what sort of rice you'd like to use because, frankly, I think it'd be really fun and interesting to see what kinds of rice people use.

I think this is going to be an interesting Christmas. =)

Hope you're all doing well!

Vegetarian Request

All right, folks. I've been on the vegetarian wagon for about a month now. So far, I see no reason to get off this fun little piece of transportation. Since I don't really enjoy meat it really doesn't make much sense for me to eat it. I try to be healthy about my vegetarianism, meaning that I do my best to substitute protein-packed foods in for the lack of meat in my diet.

I've got a request for everyone, though. We did that Vegetarian Throwdown awhile back, and barely anyone posted their recipes. Could we do that? Me and Michael were just talking about how good all of that food was, but we can't replicate any of the meals without the recipes. And we want the exact ones--'cause that food was fantastic!

Thanks!

*** EDIT ***
I'm interested in hearing about new vegetarian recipes, as well, so feel free to post/comment about those!

I'm a little behind.

Without going into detail, it's safe to say that I've been pretty busy the past few weeks. Things have been crazy, and I don't think life will be slowing down until December. Then, of course, things will pick right back up in January when classes begin again!

Obviously, congratulations are in order for Joe and Amy! Charlette is absolutely adorable--I can't wait to see her.

I think congratulations should also be in order for Sarah, who found her dress!

... and now I think it's safe to update. =)

I got another job at MMCC. They have a Writing and Reading Center which I've been able to become involved with in the past few weeks. We had our first meeting on Monday, and I got to meet the whole crew. There were lots of familiar faces--people I taught with or knew from CMU--but I'm looking forward to getting to know new co-workers, as well. I'll be working in the WRC about 8.5 hours a week, and I'm really lucky to have the opportunity. It's a fascinating way to work with students without actually being in a classroom. I'm pretty excited.

I had my first department meeting at Mid today, actually. It'll be nice working with such a small number of faculty members. I enjoyed working at CMU, of course, but it was a daunting amount of people! I'm glad to be working closely with both adjunct and tenured faculty at Mid--it'll be a great way to get to know people in my field.

I've got orientation on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday of next week, I believe, and then I start teaching on Monday, August 24. I'm nervous, but I think I'll calm down once I've managed to finish the syllabus. I picked up my textbooks today!

I checked the MMCC website today and discovered that both of my ENG 111 sections are full (22 students in each). I recognized some last names, I think, but I have no way of knowing if I actually know any of my students until I actually go to class.

In other news, I've been talking to one of my friends who attended Terminus with me last summer, and we're discussing attending another Harry Potter conference next July. It'd be really great if I could present again, so I'm definitely going to look into it some more. However, there are some Writing Center and Composition conferences that I should look into, as well, so HP might have to take a backseat for awhile.

Well, I think that's a decent update for the moment. I'll try to get better about writing more often, though it seems like everyone's slowed down a bit on the posting. =)

... frustrated with Facebook.

Well, in the middle of changing my password and email address last week, I somehow got things screwed up enough that I forgot my password. I kindly asked Facebook to reset it (by pressing their handy little "reset password" button and waited for the confirmation email to arrive.

It never did.

I'm tired of waiting, so I'm starting over.

So, yeah, this is a plea for you to add me on Facebook if I haven't managed to add you already.

... so lame.

a catch-up post of sorts, I suppose...

So... I never posted pictures of our new place. It seems like everytime I think about taking pictures, the house is messy, so I put it off for another day. That, or I pause and think, "Wow, it would be a lot better if I waited until we had things hung on the wall."

Yup. We still don't have things hung on the walls. I think I lost my "moving motivation" about a week after moving. I'll get to hanging things someday.

Not much is happening around here. Scott's working, per usual, and I'm trying to gather my wits about me so I can write an acceptable syllabus. I'm also waiting for my textbooks to come in so I can take a look at specific readings I'd like to use. I have a hard time making up a general sort of calendar without knowing exactly what I plan to do each day. It's more time-consuming to do it that way, but I feel better when I'm done. I also don't have to emphasize the fact that the calendar is tentative as much as I do when I just do a general overview of what I'm planning.

And, because Michael will get a kick out of this, I'll tell you that I make a spreadsheet of the whole semester and my plan for it.

All right, folks, that's all I've got. Enjoy your day!

... so does this mean I'm a grown-up now?

Well, as most of you fellow Facebook-ers know, I've accepted an adjunct position at Mid Michigan Community College. Sadly, Mid's policy is to hire adjuncts for part-time teaching for their first semester, but since their English department runs their first-year composition courses much differently than CMU's does, I think part-time might not be so bad.

For example, Mid does a lot more as a department. In order to make sure that each student is receiving the same kind of feedback regardless of the class they're in, Mid's English department meets to discuss what kind of feedback all of the students need. It sounds sort of daunting to me, to be honest, but I'm looking forward to working closely with the faculty because I know that I have a ton left to learn.

There is an upside of being hired as part-time for the fall--it's just for the fall. Mid hires their adjuncts every semester, and I've already been told that if I'm rehired I'll have full-time teaching opportunities for the spring semester.

Well, I know this is a short post, but I don't know much about the specifics because I haven't read through the contract or seen the semester calendar, so now you know what I know.

So if you don't mind, there's a pool and warm sunshine calling my name. ;)

Unintentional funnies.

Initially, my excitement about babysitting my sister this week was mostly due to the fact that Mom & Dad just put in a pool. Selfish, I realize, but it's true. But I forgot something about my sister--she's unintentionally hilarious. Just today (1 day of babysitting) and these are the gems I have to share with you:

Me: “You people are rubbing off on me.”

Mom: “How so?”

Me: “I’m eating all the time.”

Mom: “I’m not eating. Katie, are you eating?”

Katie: “No, but I want to.”

(I wish that I had a picture of the completely sincere look on her face--that's really where the humor was.)

***

Me: “Katie, what are you doing?”

(She’s standing in the pool looking at the back of her kickboard quite intently.)

Katie: “There was a warning label. I had to read it.”

***

Katie: “Count how many seconds it takes me to swim around the pool.”

Me: “Okay. 1, 2, 3, 4—“

Katie: “No, don’t count out loud. That just pressures me.”

***

Me: "Katie, why don't you just try to dive for the diving ring? Just try. Please?"

Katie: "Okay."

(She proceeds to stand there in the pool staring intently at the diving ring near her feet--which means it's under the water--trying to psych herself up. Suddenly, she plugs her nose and jumps. For a moment, I think she's going to make it, but she stops just before her face hits the surface of the water. Then, she unplugs her nose and continues to stare down at the diving ring.)

Me: "You can do it, bug. Mom said you did it on vacation. I'd really like to see."

Katie: "I can do it."

Me: "You can do it."

(We have another almost moment.)

Me: "Not today, huh?"

Katie: "Nope. Not today."