Hazards of living alone (after not living alone) without a car

1. You get up and ride your bike in the cold (you can see your breath) to make it to the 8am service at church, only to find the sanctuary locked and no one there. After a few hard tugs at the door you remember that you were supposed to "Fall back" for daylight savings time and are now at the church an hour early. Fort
   unately, no one is there to see your mistake. Unfortunately, you have to ride back home in the cold and then back out again in an hour.
2. You have to ride your bike even when its raining.
   
3. You may be adventurous and decide to make bread, and this is
   what your first ever bread may come out looking like:
   
4. Otherwise, it's OK.

Dogsitting

I had a new roomie this week: Makinzie took Macy (our dog) to Abilene, and Melinda (Makinzie's sister) let me borrow her dog, Annabelle, so that I could work on her behavior.

It worked out pretty well, except for the usual roommate squabbles. You know: who shares what space in the refrigerator, who gets to choose the movie for the night, who can urinate on the floor and when--those kinds of things.

Some highlights of the week have included:

• Annie learning to "heel" on command
• Annie barking her head off at the teapot the first time it whistles
• Annie freaking me out by learning how to use Macy's dog door
• Annie doing whatever she is doing in the grassy picture
• Annie learning how to read rhetorical theory

Also, I'm pretty sure that last night when I let her out to use the bathroom before going to bed, Annie was trying to eat a *star*. The moon was full, and in the light I could see Annie repeatedly jumping up and snapping at something way out of her reach. I thought it might be a moth on first glance, but as I went closer to investigate, I could reach no other conclusion except that she was trying to bite a star. I'm sad to report that she did not catch it, at least as far as I could tell. Perhaps I'll find it buried in the couch cushion.

Before I end this post, my apologies for posting multiple pictures of the dog as though I am a strange, lonely bachelor with nothing else to do. I have plenty of other things to do; in fact I'm very busy. Right Annie?

[Annie nods yes].

Day at the Office

The new officemates are kind of needy--difficult to get any research done.

These are Caedmon and Lincoln, my nephews, on a tour of my office and the campus last weekend.

Death of a Colleague

The "normal" trials of Makinzie and I living in different cities were exacerbated last week when I learned that Scott, a professor in my department who I had been getting to know this summer, died unexpectedly in his home on Monday. Scott was kind to me from the first days that I stepped foot on the UNT campus, and I was able to know him better after he was assigned to observe my teaching during my second year review. I stressed and stressed for that review, going over every minute of my class plan in detail before the actual date of the observation. I was relaxed by the time that Scott showed up and took a seat in the back of the classroom, though, and I ended up following my class plan quite well. I still remember waiting for Scott's final evaluation, and I remember even more clearly what he wrote: "We made a great choice in hiring Matt. He's the cat's pajamas." I'm pretty sure that this is the first time "the cat's pajamas" has appeared as a qualifying adjective in the tenure review of a university professor.

After that observation, Scott asked me to come by his office at some point because he wanted to show me a technological innovation he had thought about while observing my teaching. (I'm not sure what he saw technology-wise in my own class. I think my grand innovation during that class period was using Powerpoint). When I had time one day I dropped by Scott's office, and Scott was clearly excited as he gathered up a mouse from his desk and told me to watch what he had come up with. He then walked down the hallway about ten yards, pointed the mouse towards the computer in his office, and began moving the mouse over his upturned palm. Surely enough, the pointer on his computer moved analogously. Scott was so proud that he had "invented" a wireless pointing device, and he gave all the credit to his observation of my class that semester. So far, I haven't received any payout from the invention...

I was able to spend more time with Scott this summer as he and I wandered into the local coffee house around the same time every morning. Scott always stopped to sit for a few minutes and talked with me about things ranging from Judith Butler and semiotic theory to the question of whether or not Brett Favre would return to the Vikings this year. I looked forward to these conversations and had hoped that Scott and I could trade papers in the near future since we shared similar theoretical interests.

So, the office on the second floor now feels hauntingly empty every time I pass it. Scott's boxes of books are still piled up outside the door. I think that humanities professors think our legacies live on through the contributions we make to the scholarly tradition through books and articles, but I remember Scott primarily as a person, through his kindness and interest in my own life.

The Story Thus Far...

We're in the middle of an interesting life experiment right now. Makinzie has just started a 12-month intensive nursing school in Abilene through Texas Tech, and she will be living in Abilene with her parents for the majority of this year. This situation means that I am left here in Denton to figure out for myself things like going to the grocery store, cooking food and dressing in passably stylish clothing. Fortunately, Macy the miniature schnauzer is also here with me. She doesn't cook, but she has a fairly good eye for complementary colors, and most importantly she is an excellent buffer for my complaints about being lonely and not having anything to do.

So far the experiment has been successful. We've made it through about three weeks now, with Makinzie coming home at least once a week for a couple of days and then driving back to Abilene for most of the week. I have actually been able to get in a good rhythm finally with reading the Daily Office and the Daily Cowboys Report as well. I've also had more solid time to work on my book project, tentatively titled "Learning to Share." (I'll write more about this later perhaps).

The only frustration so far for me has been dealing with our corded phone, which dates from somewhere around 1986. We don't have long distance at home, so I pretty much sit by the phone waiting for people to call. Actually I really do sit by the phone, because our ancient model has a cord that allows me to travel approximately 3 feet before ripping out of the wall jack and going dead. Oh, and it also crackles severely. Some people would see this as a trial, but I find it empowering. Whenever I'm tired with a conversation, I just walk a little bit too far and PRESTO! the conversation ends.

The Yew Tree Emerges again

New plans for the Yew Tree blog are developing, which include regular postings! Stay tuned for updates, and let us know through the comments if you are still able to see the site!

coolness and produce

We've gotten some respite from the heat today--it's been very nice. Matt and I don't run our AC so the lower temp, cool rain, and strong breeze (the kind of wind that moves branches 10 feet) have been welcome here.

Meanwhile, the garden has been producing like crazy these last few days. It makes me happy to see all the produce piled up into a lump. Yea for yummy vegetables!