Miscellaneous Missives

Another beautiful afternoon in the 70s makes for a great day to walk and ride bike.  Of course I hit the wonderful bike trails by my house to enjoy the weather.  Heck, it was nice enough to take a walk and a bike ride!  It is an absolutely beautiful fall day, and I shouldn't complain.  But... I can't stand Segways on the bike trail.  NO motorized vehicles on the trails means NO SEGWAYS.  Take your fat butt downtown and enjoy your afternoon on the Segway.  Get off my trails!  Yes, it was a beautiful fall day, and I really shouldn't complain.

This picture came from Aboriginal and Tribal Nation news on Facebook.  When I saw this picture celebrating the Harvest Moon, I thought it was appropriate since a colleague and I presented today at the Minnesota Writing Project Fall Workshop.  The theme was lessons and resources concentrating on American Indians.  It was a difficult day to be inside since it was in the upper 70s today, but I was able to enjoy a bike ride before and after the workshop. The Harvest Full Moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox.  The next full moon after The Harvest Moon is the Hunter's Moon.  Do you want to know more ?

Although this Everlast song is from 1998 students still seem to like it and talk about going home to find it on Youtube.  Only my honors class has listened to it and read the lyrics, but I was disappointed to quite disappointed with the result.  Yes, they liked it, but they totally missed the theme of song.  First, we discussed their favorite lines.  At least two boys repeated the line about a man by the liquor store begging for change.  When I asked why they liked the line, both mentioned they liked it because that's what people do, beg for money to use on alcohol.  Next, I asked if this was a stereotype.  Both said, no.  Then I asked if it was possible they were grouping people into one category.  Nope.  They still didn't get it.  I mentioned we'd come back to the discussion and solicited another response.  One student mentioned, "I've seen a rich man beg."  This conversation also digressed as one student was adamant t...

Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson In the other gardens   And all up the vale, From the autumn bonfires   See the smoke trail! Pleasant summer over   And all the summer flowers, The red fire blazes,   The gray smoke towers. Sing a song of seasons!   Something bright in all! Flowers in the summer,   Fires in the fall!   This post is brought to you by LH's autumn blog challenge (post about autumn once a week).  Getting outside as much as possible is part of her theme, and I'm going to play along.  Instead of going to the gym today, I biked because it was sunny and the temperature was in the upper 60s.  Fall is a beautiful time of year, and I was not alone on the trails.  Everyone seemed to want to get out and enjoy the weather and the colors.

At the end of the day I actually zeroed out with calories.  After skipping lunch, I was able to enjoy pasta for dinner, but I was left with zero calories.  Even though I had hot chocolate in the morning and had no calories left, I still wanted a candy bar.  I arrived early at the Fitzgerald Theater for Talking Volumes with Jeffrey Toobin (bright, knowledgeable, but not real charismatic), so I decided to hit the market across the treat for a chocolate treat.  It took me awhile to make up my mind as I checked the calories of the various candy bars, but I ended up with a 100 Grand Bar.  Imagine my disappointment when I opened the aged to quite aged candy bar.  Thanks to this disappointment, I remained at zero instead of a negative number for the day. 

Cedar Lake (once I was found) From the time I woke until early this evening, I was trying to complete school related tasks.  Even though I was at school early, the tasks seemed never ending.  Maybe I was a bit overly stressed because I skipped the morning bike ride, but I also needed that extra hour of sleep.  Anyway, as soon as I finished my school projects this evening, I wanted to treat myself with ice cream, but I didn't have enough calories left.  Since I really wanted the ice cream, I went out on the trails.  For some reason I thought tonight would be a good night to take a new route.  At one point I thought the trail was leading in a path I didn't want to take.  Normally, I'm not a fan of roller blades on the trails, but I yelled out at a guy on his blades who was going in the opposite direction.  Yep, I had chosen the incorrect path.  I turned around and caught up with him, and he gave me more specific directions.  Thanks to...

  A Team by Ed Sheeran White lips, pale face Breathing in snowflakes Burnt lungs, sour taste It's too cold outside For angels to fly Angels to fly Yep, it's official.  It's cold.  I even turned on my heat last night.  This morning I donned my new pants for biking, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, and fingerless gloves before heading out a little before 7am.  Although it didn't take long before my ears and neck were chilled, the hood of my hoodie actually fit over my bike helmet, so I was able to keep going.  I think I may actually be able to bike through November...