Day 30

For my last day of NaBloPoMo, I was hoping to post a video of Rocky Balboa running up the steps in Philly or some other sports-related, underdogs-overcome-incalculable-odds-to-win montage. However, it seems that YouTube is filled with videos of people doing their own Rocky runs, rather than the actual film clip. Instead, just try to hear the music in your head. (ba ba baaaaaaaaaa, ba ba baaaaaaaaaa) You're welcome. (Incidentally, I have a video of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, where the band plays the 'Rocky' theme in front of the palace. It's pretty awesome.)

So, it's Cyber Monday. I was sort of looking forward to doing some shopping, but I'd forgotten that I like to shop online for particular items instead of just browsing. Looking around, comparing prices, and debating the relative values of stuff that I can't actually see is just tedious to me. And of course the items that I'm looking for don't seem to be marked down much, if at all. I'm sure that other people will find some amazing deals, and I'll be rather envious, but it's sort of like venturing out to the malls on Black Friday; sounds like a great idea in theory, you could really luck out, but it's actually way more effort than it's worth. Of course, if you happen to find something and would like to share, I will be dutifully impressed!

Also, NaBloPoMo is over, yippee! I think this is the first time I've successfully completed it. Please join me in patting myself on the back. I am taking tomorrow (and probably a few more successive days) off.

Day 29

Back from Jersey. The trip seemed marginally shorter than the drive down; I guess that's what you get when the driver goes 80 the whole way back. Still, I'm not quite in the mood for an extended blog post this evening, so I will just share the podcasts that got me through the drive back:

• This American Life - Funny, touching, and informative, often all in the same show. You've got to be in the mood for some episodes, like the two on the state of health care in the US that I skipped on this drive, but all are definitely worthwhile. I'll get back to those two on health care this week.
• Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - How am I the last person on Earth to know about this? A news quiz show that features quick wit and occasional ridiculousness, and it makes me laugh.

In conclusion, I am a nerd. I used to be so anti-NPR... what happened?

Day 28

Apparently some people, like the Brits, just don't get Thanksgiving. Honestly, what is there to not get? Sure, we could get into the whole Pilgrim-Indian feast -- although the traditional retelling that the Pilgrims were bringers of culture to the Indians is pretty un-PC and is frowned upon in many elementary schools. (Not to mention that the Pilgrims didn't actually wear buckles on their shoes and hats.) And I would venture to say that Thanksgiving, like Christmas, has become pretty commercialized and now largely serves to mark the day before Black Friday. But really, it's basically a holiday to do two things:

1) Spend time with family and friends.
2) Eat amazing food.

How difficult is this to understand? Sure, it's also a time to give thanks for aforementioned family, friends, and food, but the author of the article somehow doesn't get this. Does it matter what, specifically, we're thankful for? Besides, even if the tradition started out with being thankful for the Wampanoags' help in surviving that first winter, it doesn't mean that's on our minds every Thanksgiving. Plenty of traditions start out one way and then morph into something else that may or may not be entirely related. I mean, do people still think about the Germanic tribes' tradition of bringing a fir tree indoors to remind themselves that the shortest days of the year would end? We just put up Christmas trees and fight over where to put the ornaments.

The author also disparages Thanksgiving food. Okay, first of all, each family is very particular about their turkey day meal; everyone's got their own tried-and-true version of mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. And people tend to be pretty hard on other people's food... and I do agree that those green bean casseroles with the french-fried onions are gross. But everyone's got their traditions, and they feel very strongly about them. Also, the BRITS are criticizing OUR FOOD? This is from the country that brought the world shepherd's pie, fish pie, steak and kidney pie, and all the other non-delicious pies? A place that serves all their beef well-done? Once you get a culinary school, Great Britain, then you can start turning up your nose at others' meals.

In short: the author of this article is dumb. I taught about Thanksgiving in Germany, and even the fifth-graders got it.

Day 27

Some families spend the day after Thanksgiving at the mall. They get up insanely early, fight the crowds in search of bargains (probably sustaining injuries in the process), wait hours in line for items that may or may not be in stock, and arrive home exhausted and marginally successful.

As you may have gathered, we are not one of those families.

In our household, Black Friday is spent doing two things, depending on what gender you are:
a) Male: raking leaves and/or assorted yard work, followed by going for NY-style deli sandwiches and then watching the Food Network or sports for the rest of the day.
b) Female: going to this Christmas market.

Visiting the Christmas market is a four-year tradition now. We first went the year before I went to Cambridge, I believe. The event is not nearly as fun as Christmas markets in Germany -- this one doesn't have mulled wine and is indoors, for example -- but it's a pretty good time. There are a lot of vendors, and there is a huge area set aside for German Pyramiden, Räuchermänner and assorted wood carvings and ornaments from Germany. Those, along with the smell of roasted almonds that hovers over the place, make me nostalgic. The only thing is that most of the vendors at this market stay roughly the same from year to year; it's all brand new the first time you visit, but you kind of get inured to the stained glass, picture frames, knitted hats and doll clothing by year four. (It's all very folksy.) But it's something to do, a chance to get out of the house and once in a while you'll find something interesting.

I'm looking forward to the next Christmas market we're visiting, in Canada. If it's anything like last year's, it'll be more authentic, with more actual German stuff, more German food (and Glühwein!), and more Germans. (which is perhaps a disadvantage) It'll also be about 20 degrees colder, but this one's mostly indoors as well. If you're planning on taking a trip to Canada, I recommend checking it out.

Day 26

Happy Thanksgiving! It's the best holiday of the year, so enjoy it!

Day 25

Made it to Jersey; 8 hours in the car never gets any shorter, let me tell you. I've made many long car trips, but it's still long.

Posting for the sake of posting, folks. Nothing to see here. Move it along.

Day 24

At handbell rehearsal tonight, I mentioned that a place I'd interviewed with was flying me out to meet them. One of the other members said, 'Oh, I'll keep my fingers crossed. That happened to me a bunch of times; people flew me out and then they ended up hiring internally.' Uh... great? So I'm a bit less hopeful now, which is maybe a good thing, so I won't get as disappointed if it doesn't work out.

... oh, who am I kidding; I'll be really bummed. Fingers still crossed.

Safe Thanksgiving travels, everyone! I still have to pack..

Day 23

A week from today, Müs is leaving for an Epic Adventure in Chile. It will involve astronomy, data that I do not understand, nerds (probably), and hopefully Chilean beer. It will also involve 30 hours of travel, which sucks a lot. I've done similar trips, though when I've traveled that long, it usually involves extended stretches of time sitting in airports. So I was mentally compiling a list of helpful travel tips, which may or may not be obvious, and then I thought, 'Hey, I can use this as a blog post!' And here we are.

Travel Tips (mostly for international travel):

• Bring food. This may not apply to those of you with normal metabolism. My brother and I share the same crazy hyper metabolism, and if we don't eat on a regular schedule (for me, it's 4 hours), heads will roll. I am not kidding. People don't take this seriously, and then I get all snappy and hurt people's feelings and then I'm like, SEE I TOLD YOU. Good travel food: granola bars, dried fruit, nuts, pretzels, peanut butter sandwiches. Stay away from: fresh fruit (unless you're going to eat it in the airport; customs people frown upon taking fruit across borders), yogurt, salad, sandwiches that can't handle being squashed or lack of refrigeration.
• Buy a huge bottle of water once you get through security. If you're cheap like me, you can also get a normal-sized water and refill the bottle from water fountains. (This applies only in the US; not all countries enjoy their water fountains as much as we do.)
• Do not get sucked into the in-flight entertainment. This inevitably happens to me; I always think I'm going to sleep on the plane, but wait, I wanted to see this movie when it was in the theaters, and this movie looks good too, and ooh, a trivia game! Next thing I know, we've landed, it's 5am and I haven't slept. Awesome.
• Time your in-flight meals and sleep accordingly. Make sure you get food when the flight attendants come around with it (meals or snacks); it's a pain to try to flag them down. Also, when they're finally finished with snack/food/duty free liquor and perfume service, take the opportunity to stretch your legs in the aisle and take a nap. You're less likely to be bothered by carts going back and forth if you wait until they're all done... until breakfast, anyway.
• While on the plane, get up and walk around once in a while. Otherwise, you get really stiff. As an added bonus, you get the mildly creepy sight of all the passengers with their headphones on, staring into screens that are emitting a bluish light. It's very '1984'.
  
• Sleep on the plane. It's hard, but try to zone out, at least. I only recently found out that the sides of the head rest fold towards your head, which gives you something to lean on and a chance to avoid an awfully stiff neck. I also put my backpack in the leg space and stretch my feet underneath the seat in front of me, to pretend I have extra leg room. And I put the pillow they give you at my lower back. It's all planned out. I always feel sort of bad about leaning back into someone's space, but I usually go part of the way. Besides, I always get stuck behind someone who leans ALL THE WAY back as soon as we take off, so it's all about fairness. Right?
• Other vital things to bring: iPod + earphones (can be used for the inflight movie/radio, too), books, puzzles, neck pillow, crappy magazines bought at airport newsstands, possibly a toothbrush so you can brush your teeth once you get off the longest flight.
  
• Don't wear contacts. It's not worth the hassle.
  

Any other tips? Comment away!

Day 22

Today, I thought I'd post the avatar that I made using yesterday's website. So here you go:


Is this cheating? Maybe, but it's November 22, damnit. I am running out of ideas.

Day 21

Today's Procrastination Website: MadMenYourself.com

Ever wondered what you'd look like if you were a member of the 'Mad Men' cast? Wonder no more! This is a pretty awesome website with a number of options at each step, so you can play around for a while and figure out how exactly to look like Joan or Don Draper.

I would write more about it, but the library is closing. Enjoy! Procrastinate! Do nothing!

Day 20

Shows You Need to Watch: 'Castle'
Third in an occasional series

Every time I think about recommending this show, they air an episode that is not that great. Case in point: This past Monday, it was predictable and lame. However, it was great the week before. So I'm going to go out on a limb here and recommend this show, with the caveat that it is inconsistent so far this season, even more so than 'Glee'. (Which was also not up to last week's standard; seriously, lose the shaky hand-held camera.)

Just when I thought I'd had enough of cop shows, this one came along. While I do enjoy a good 'CSI', I only really like the original one; NY basically hits you over the head with the fact that it's set in NY, and David Caruso drives me freaking crazy. Also, after eight or so years of these shows, they're apparently running out of ideas and getting predictable. Plus, they're on all the damn time.

So I was ready to bid farewell to the cop procedural drama, but I saw previews for this and was intrigued that Nathan Fillion was in it. I've seen him in other things and liked him; he does a good snarky aside as well as any one. Essentially, I started watching this show for that reason, but enjoyed the entire premise. Yes, it's a cop show, but it doesn't take itself too seriously, and it has good dialogue. As you are well aware by now, I enjoy a good banter, and 'Castle' has it. That and some amusing characters, plus a plot that is (usually) interesting and wraps up by the end of the show -- that's some good TV.

To be clear, this is mindless Monday night TV. It's not a show that'll make you ponder the meaning of life or the depth of humanity. But it is entertaining and a fun way to spend an hour. (Also, it's on opposite Leno and 'CSI: Miami', so.)

'Castle' is on Mondays at 9.

Day 19

More reasons to love 'Community':

• Naming the bio lab rat Fievel -- I laughed so hard at this!
• Joel McHale = awesome
  
• 'Offer them a sandwich.'
• Greene Daye
• Troy jumping onto the lab counter, screaming and petrified

In real-world news: The people with whom I most recently interviewed want to fly me out there! Looks like it'll be a really long day trip, but at least it's a non-stop flight. Renting a car and driving myself around an unfamiliar place, on the other hand, is not looking too appealing..

Day 18

I am currently working on this job application, and it's pretty intensive; it requires a cover letter and resume, three reference letters, transcripts, contact info for references, and 'documentation of superior teaching ability'. Not quite sure what that last one means, but it's optional anyway, so I'm hoping those references will speak for me. Anyway, I've been hammering away at this cover letter for a few days now, and I just don't want to work on it any more. Which is a shame, because it's not quite finished yet... still needs editing. I will (probably) get it done by tomorrow, because that's when the deadline is, but it's killing me right now. Just thought I'd share that with you all.

On a lighter note, did you ever wish you could turn your handwriting into a computer font? You can! It's actually really cool; I've managed to download my own font, but having a bit of trouble getting Word to recognize it.. planning to acquire Open Office so maybe that'll work. But a font made of your handwriting, how cool is that? Especially for you people who have cooler handwriting than I do. (read: not teacher handwriting)

Day 17

Shows You Need to Watch: 'Community'
Second in an occasional series

Oh, this show. This show has taken over the spot in my heart where 'The Office' used to be. It makes me laugh out loud, which very rarely happens with TV shows. Every one of the characters is funny. (except maybe Senor Chang, I find him obnoxious and over-the-top) I absolutely make time for it whenever it's on.

Let's break it down, shall we? As you may have gathered from my previous ramblings on 'Glee', I enjoy a program that has relatable characters, lets those characters play off of each other for a while, has quick and witty dialogue, and contains callback references for those loyal viewers. The checklist for 'Community' looks as follows:

1. Relatable characters: check. Everyone knows a Britta, Troy, Annie and/or (to a lesser extent) Jeff. Abed is unpredictably delightful; you never know what he's going to say or do, and it's always funny. Bonus: Abed sometimes provides meta commentary on the show, which I think is hilarious.
2. Characters playing off of each other: check. I think they've been paired up differently in each episode so far, and each combination has been great. Though the Troy/Abed closing tags win, in my opinion, especially the "Donde esta la Bibliothequa" rap.
3. Fast-paced dialogue: check. So many one-liners in this show! Sometimes I miss some, because I'm still laughing at the previous dialogue. Example: When the community college dean left the room in one scene, he cheerily called out, 'Dean you later!'
   
4. Callbacks: check. When this show makes a joke or a reference, even in passing, it follows through. Cases in point from last week: The men's basketball team, which is suspected to be gay ("Nice try, Bruce!"); the Greendale Human Being (which is creepily hilarious).

In conclusion, watch this show, Thursdays at 8. You will love it, and you will be my best friend by helping keep it on the air.

Day 16

This morning, I got ready to use the elliptical machine, as I often do. (or have been for the past month, at least) My iPod is being disagreeable, so I was reduced to listening to the radio, just like every day for the past few days. So I turned on the radio to the random 80's/90's/pretty crappy music station I happened to find, and it was during their commercial break. No surprise there. I started my workout and had just finished the warmup section, when they come back from commercial and start in with the music.

IT WAS CHRISTMAS MUSIC.

WTF, people? It's November 16. It is 50 degrees outside. People are raking leaves, not shoveling snow. The reason we have a Thanksgiving holiday is to delineate the post-Halloween weeks from the official 'holidays' period. I can forgive places like the UK or Germany for pushing the season a bit, but COME ON NOW.

Since I was already 'in the groove', so to speak, I didn't want to stop, get off, find a new station and restart my workout. This resulted in later getting to the hardest part of my routine, towards the end, when I could have used some driving music... and Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' came on the radio. I wanted to melt to the floor and die. It's a great song, but not at all suited for a high-energy cardio workout, just FYI. I am definitely finding new music tomorrow.

In case you're curious, the song that had the auspicious honor of unofficially kicking off the Christmas season was 'Frosty the Snowman' by the Beach Boys. It's November 16, and we're not off to a great start.

Day 15

I almost forgot to post today. Man, November is way too long.

Day 14

My friend and former German buddy Carolyn is in her second year of teaching English in Bulgaria, and she keeps a blog, which you can find here. Bulgaria being a former Communist state, Carolyn has an interesting perspective on the fall of the Berlin Wall and how people view the old communist state with nostalgia, real or imagined. Her last couple of entries have really gotten me thinking about life in East Germany, and the relationship between capitalism and communism -- for example, how symbols of the DDR are now marketed on t-shirts, coffee mugs and refrigerator magnets. (Life would be a much more boring place without the Ampelmaennchen, let me assure you.) Go read her blog if you are interested, and if you want to know my (random) thoughts, I posted a few comments on there. Also, Carolyn shared this photo essay via her Twitter feed, and it is phenomenal. Go look at it now, I'll wait.

The DDR was a weird, amazing place, eh? Now I'm the one who's nostalgic.

Day 13

Segueing a bit from yesterday's 'Glee' post.. Wednesday's particular episode also reminded me of a reason why I want to live in the US, rather than Germany or elsewhere: American schools try exceptionally hard to mainstream kids with disabilities. I'm sure viewers the other night didn't think twice about seeing a student with Down syndrome or a kid in a wheelchair. But in Germany, special ed students are completely segregated from their peers at an early age. Since kids are funneled into schools on different tracks (college prep, technical school, etc.) starting in fifth grade, I'd say segregation definitely is set by then, if not before. I mean, they have entire special ed schools so that these students aren't in the classrooms with their peers. During my two years working at college prep schools, I didn't even encounter anyone in a wheelchair, let alone students with other disabilities. The homogeneousness (?) was a bit frightening, actually. Americans may have other faults, but our treatment of kids with disabilities reflects our respect for all students and our commitment to treating people equally. If you don't teach that by example starting in elementary school, where do you expect kids to learn it?

In other news: Happy Friday the 13th! Don't walk under a ladder, cross a black cat's path, or break a mirror. Or perhaps do those things in pairs so they cancel each other out.

Addendum 2: I had a job interview today. It went pretty well, I think, though you can never tell with these things. The position is not specifically my interests but is in my field. The pay is pretty low, but some salary is better than no salary, I suppose!

Addendum 3: I am in love with NBC's Thursday night lineup. Expect a post on 'Community' sometime soon, it is brilliant.

Day 12

Shows You Need To Watch: "Glee"
First in an occasional series

Not to get all gushy, but OMG you guyz did you see glee last nite? it was totes awesome!!!!1!!one! It's been a long time since I was thoroughly enamored with a new TV show -- probably since 'The Office' came out -- but this is a show that I really look forward to watching, every single time. It can be hit or miss; sometimes too sappy, sometimes loose ends are wrapped up entirely too neatly, and the whole "Will's wife is a shrew and faking her pregnancy and overly possessive" plotline needs to end. But it's often funny (especially the callbacks!), occasionally touching (surprisingly -- take Sue's character development last night as an example), and contains musical numbers as an added bonus. I will admit to a soft spot for musicals, especially when they're done well. And the songs in this show are both well-chosen and incredibly well-performed. (Sometimes too much; can a high school glee club really be that polished?) Plus, the characters are relatable; they all have their quirks and flaws and it's interesting to see how they're going to bounce off each other from one episode to the next. I know they're eventually going to make it to finals, but I keep watching to see how they get there.

Anyway, enough parentheticals and asides -- go watch 'Glee', Wednesdays at 9. You may have to watch more than one episode to get hooked, but it'll happen, trust me.

Day 11

The internet has been down all day but has finally decided to start working, and I am watching 'Glee' right now, and I would much rather continue to do that rather than put together a blog post. So that's what I'm going to do. Don't be too disappointed.