Christmas was good, good in the way it was supposed to be, with lots of food, friends and good times. I got lots of toys to play with. I got a really really really nice microscope so I can look at cells and the things that live on my toothbrush. I got a talking Ann Coulter doll (which satisfies my inner child’s wish for the Barbie I never got when I was a kid), books I wanted, and the first four seasons of South Park on DVD, which I will always cherish. And my housemate hunted down a children’s book that I had when I was a kid that I always remembered and wanted to have again! Butterball the Little Chick! It was truly a child-like Christmas! On December 25th in the evening, I then went down my wish list and bought the things I didn’t get, to complement the things I did.

One of the things I’m kind of proud of is that I didn’t overdo everything like I always do…I plan big complicated meals and desserts and bake lots of bread and cookies, and have lots and lots of dirty dishes afterwards and a fair amount of resentment that someone who lives here is not pitching in to help. This time I cooked 2.5 meals, but they were fairly simple and easy to serve and clean up after. I announced after Christmas morning breakfast that I had pretty much had it with the kitchen and everyone else could pitch in to get the dinner meal together—I had already prepped the potatoes au gratin, the bean casserole, the artichoke dip, etc. and that needed to be done was cook/serve. I still ended up finishing the dishes that were left two days later, but at least I had one relaxing holiday evening.

I felt the urge this year to roll out the old Slovak traditional food that we always had for Christmas eve. My grandmother always cooked Christmas Eve dinner: pierogies of many stuffings, halupki (cabbage rolls) and I had intentions of making the vile sour mushroom soup I used to loathe as a kid, but decided to let it go at pierogies and halupki. I will make it sometime before the season ends though. We also made artery corks (aka roski) whose dough consists of equal parts cream cheese and butter, and a bit of flour to hold it together. I was trying to go easy on myself, so I looked all over for lekvar (plum/prune filling) but no store in town carried it. I made my own, which was much better in the end; used canned apricot filling for the rest of them. There was also shortbread and fudge, holiday sugar cookies and gingerbread. Found a great gingerbread recipe…different from any I’d seen before and delicious to die for!

I seriously suffered from post-holiday depression on the 26th. There was no way I could do anything to keep my eyes open. I napped a lot the whole day, and counted the minutes until I could pop an Ambien and sleep through the rest of the night. I did much the same thing the next day too. I would be doing it today but I am having plumbing work done, and we’re going to the movies later today to see the Narnia movie, which I hear is pretty good. I really want to see the Potter movie too, but don’t know when that will happen.

I’m so glad my friends Clay and Christopher drove down from Pennsylvania to spend Christmas here…I miss them a lot. But absence makes the heart grow fonder and thus their presence was really really special. Christopher LOVES his new job, and I’m so happy for him; I hope Clay finds work soon, and I’m sure that soon he will. The two pups of theirs are staying here with us and that makes 6 dogs total. You’d think it would be chaos, but it’s really not. The only thing that bothered me was that the weather did not cooperate this week.

I got a nod, weather-wise, for a white Christmas—it snowed big fat flakes all day and covered everything. Then the temp shot up and everything melted by evening. But the only problem I’m having is that it’s not cold. I wanted things to stay frozen so that there would be a minimum of muddy paws. Alas, that was not to be. But it all works out, and I’m sure I’ll get my cold weather soon. It’s almost 60 degrees today, which is unbelievable.

So the only traumatic holiday left is New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day. I plan on drinking a bottle of Pinot Grigio and going to bed when the urge hits me (which is getting earlier and earlier every year…to hell with midnight and auld acquaintances and confetti. I want my sleep! And then it’s back to school and work. But it is a great break and a great holiday and I’m very pleased with it all, which is unusual. I’m normally the scrooge in the house!

One of these days, I’ll actually go to midnight mass instead of watching the Pope do it on TV. That’s how I brought in my Christmas Day. Then I went upstairs and watched a Christmas South Park, which made me feel better than the former. Merry CHRISTMAS, everyone!

I know I’m going to inspire lots of hatred and chants of racial profiling, but this bothered me this morning (regarding a nuke-sniffing program the US government is engaging in):

“Some experts question the legality of a program that involves entering private property to take air samples.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the FBI-NEST sniffing was based on race and religion instead of common sense. “Fear seems to trump constitutional rights for Muslims,” Hooper said. “We’re very concerned that Muslims would be targeted simply because they’re Muslims.”“

OK. Let’s take a moment to enumerate the details of the situation:

1. Years ago, a jihad (holy war) was declared on the infidels (Westerners, or the US and sympathizers of the US who are not Muslim).


2. Those who declared this jihad claim to be Muslim mujahadin(holy warriors).


3. Since the fatwa (holy official declaration), many heinous attacks have been carried out by Muslim mujahadin.
   

   • USS Cole
   
   
   • Somalia
   
   
   • World Trade Center I
   
   
   • World Trade Center 9/11
   
   
   • London and Madrid train bombings
   
   
   • Many others that are slipping my mind right now
4. 
   
5. So called ‘sleeper cells’ exist in many Western countries, people fitting into society, working, having families, but waiting for the activation orders from Allah’s messages to commit more acts against the infidels. These people in these sleeper cells are Muslims.
6. Muslims generally worship in Mosques.


7. Not always, but generally, Muslims tend to come from or are descended from ancestors who are from or who are married to people from the middle eastern Arab countries, Malaysia, India, Thailand, all over.
   
8. [imagine a 2 X 4 hovering above the head] Do I even have to say it?

Of course I do.

You’ve had a preponderance of evidence saying that Muslims (who may or may not be of middle-eastern descent, but who probably worship in Mosques) are committing attacks against the west and supporters of the west. So logic tells you (or should) that you should watch the segment of the population from which these perpetrators come. Would it be prudent and wise to watch the Southern Baptists in the white clapboard church down the street? Would it be an appropriate move to hang out and test the air at the local synagogue or Catholic church? According to some, it would be fair to do so, because that way, you’re not targeting a specific race or creed in your surveillance. If you believe that that is a good idea, I fear that many of your brain cells have died.

And this, my friends, is why I hate religion so deeply…it always comes down to this sort of thing, one way or another. A bunch of well-intentioned but totally fucked up people get together, and factions emerge. Someone always has to be right, someone always has to be wrong. Some people interpret the writings one way, some another. The schisms grow larger and larger. Splinter groups (denominations) form. There is vague dislike that grows between them, based on who believes who is right. Outright animosity is practiced toward those whose religion deviates radically from the belief system of the group. There are disagreements, wars, crusades, jihads. And to me, it’s a total mess, an embarrassment and a fraud.

Let me quote Mr. Ibrahim Hooper above: “...Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the FBI-NEST sniffing was based on race and religion instead of common sense. “Fear seems to trump constitutional rights for Muslims,” Hooper said. “We’re very concerned that Muslims would be targeted simply because they’re Muslims.”

I will stop here with the following statements, the first being:

1. “Well, DUH.” and
2. Westerners are being attacked and blown up simply because they are NOT Muslims. By Muslims.

As a gift to myself, I ordered a Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet. Worth EVERY PENNY and I’m still amazed at how sensitive it is, how much art you can really do with it, and the variety of brush strokes and other effects you can do with it.

I wanted the 9×12 tablet, but ordered the 6×8, which is more than adequate for my needs. The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis also provided a good beginning. But within minutes of plugging it in and installing Photoshop Elements and Corel Painter Essentials, I was painting a watercolor! While the painting sucked, I was still amazed at what I could do right out of the box. As with any new medium, you need to practice. So far, all I’ve done really is the header graphic for this blog and my website, and this nasty little experiment.

Had to show it off. Loved the way it did watercolor effects, pencil and chalk effects, etc. I don’t think I’ve been this enthralled with a new gadget since I got my very first computer… which is saying a lot. I have a ton of painting supplies that I don’t work with because I don’t want to have to clean up the mess, clean brushes, smell the turpentine… That’s mainly my excuse. No excuses here…nice, clean painting possibilities! I’m going to play with sketching and charcoal effects next. That always was my favorite medium.

So I’m going up for promotion. What a giant, unnecessary pain in the ass.

I can say this because work is work and my blog is my blog, and ne’er the twain shall meet. I have reasons for that. First, I don’t even open my web page at work. I work for a university, where there is no such thing as your own intellectual property. Whatever you do there is partially theirs. Money that you make from it is partially theirs, especially if you’re using their resources and equipment. So I just don’t. Never mind that I use my own resources and equipment for work.

So my department chair announces on January 12th that I have to have my complete, perfect, impressive dossier ready to go by January 25th. At this count, I have 5 days. This is in addition to making sure all the website services and databases are working properly (a bigger and bigger job every year), all the new scripts people are whining about are written, and, oh yeah, making sure my classes are taught in an excellent manner. I simply don’t have time to get promoted. Not that I wanted or needed to…it’s just another typical academic hoop jump.

Someone who didn’t have anything more important to do (like, oh, research and teaching) decided it would be a good idea to force full-time non-tenured appointees (lecturers) to do some hoop jumping so that we could have no particular raise in pay and no other new benefits; the honcho’s benefit is that they don’t have to write a contract renewal every year. Rather, they just have to write one every five. Woohoo! So I get a name change, and a five-year contract. I will be so proud.

This is just like tenure, except you don’t get tenure. You simply put together all the stuff that proves you’re worth keeping around and then sweat for a few weeks while they decide if you’re worth keeping around. Never mind that they’ve been keeping me around on a yearly basis for over 7 years. The scary thing is, this could be it. It’s just like tenure (except it’s not tenure) in that if you don’t get the meaningless promotion and name change, you’re no longer employed there. Period. Who thought this was good and necessary? So far, no one has really used the option of ridding the department of the chaff. Everyone who goes up for promotion seems to get it. Moreover, other campuses of this university have done the smart thing. They have lecturers working there for years…when the requirement came up for a promotion the departmental powers said “OK, you’re promoted” and left it at that. Let new appointees worry about the ‘up and out’ policy after 5 years. Haven’t the old appointees paid their dues and proven themselves, over and over again? I didn’t finish my PhD for a good reason. I had no interest in putting myself in another pressure-cooker situation (like the doctorate itself) where I had to worry and sweat for 6 years, all the while compiling a dossier and kissing ass, and waiting for them to tell me I’m good enough to stick around. I really just want to teach, do classroom research and development, and I want to do it with young adults. And last time I checked, I’m good at all of it, a useful employee, and I do tons more for the course I teach than just teach. I support its delivery, provide services that expedite the other instructors’ feedback on projects and make it easy for students to get their materials. I also save trees. (Sorry, Clay, but that’s one of the things I use on the FSR to make my work ‘sound’ socially responsible—the website course materials delivery saves trees)

So this is what I’m procrastinating about. I have to start printing stuff, rewrite the CV yet AGAIN, and put this gorgeous document together. My chair tells us (the three that are going up for promotion this time) that we’re a ‘slam dunk’. Slam dunk THIS, pal. OK, off to work.