Well, they did it: despite the monsoons, the kids got married last night on the riverboat.

I’m sure I’ve seen it rain harder than it did yesterday at some point in my life, but I really can’t remember when. The ramp leading down the bank to the river’s edge looked like a river itself, and the water was streaming down it deep enough that my feet were wet inside my shoes. I was wearing thick-soled walking shoes.

It was cold, windy, and wet, but it was festive, and the food was really good. I wish them well as they begin their new life together. And I hope the rest of us dry out.

It was an addict’s dream come true.

Anyone who knows me knows all about my addition to office supplies. I can lose hours, possibly days, deciding which highlight markers are best for me, and when it comes to ballpoint pens, well, the sky is the limit. As far as I’m concerned, groceries and/or office supplies are good for any occasion: birthdays, Christmas, even bridesmaid gifts. I just can’t help myself.

Imagine my amazement and delight, then, when I discovered that almost 700 dollars remained in the student newspaper budget from this past fiscal year. When dealing with state appropriations and line items, it’s a case of “use it or lose it”; nothing can carry over, and it’s hard to justify the need for dollars next year that went unspent this year. (Taxpayers beware — this really is how it works.)

Anyway, there was this pile of unused money, and it would vanish before my eyes on July 1 — unless I could beat the buzzer and spend it.

Are you kidding me!? Seven Hundred Dollars and Staples dot com!? NOOOOO Problem!

All of my goodies are set to arrive today, and I’ll sign for them tomorrow. Who says there’s no such thing as Christmas in (or just before) July?

At myself, that is.

I spent all day yesterday with my nose buried in books, calendars, and the laptop, working like a little trooper on developing three syllabi for most of the new classes I’ll be teaching this fall.

Now, when I put together a syllabus, it goes well beyond “this is the book you need” and “here’s my attendance policy” and “turn off your cell phone, and don’t even think about checking your email while in class.” No, I actually break down, day by day for 16 weeks, what the reading assignments are, due dates for papers and exams, even guest speakers if I’m hosting any. That way, I’m able to space out the assignments so I don’t get slammed with papers from multiple groups to grade all over the same weekend, and they don’t have more than one assignment to turn in to me at any one time. If the students have a lot of reading, I back off on the writing, and vice versa. So you can understand why this was an all-day project, and why I still wasn’t quite done.

So there I was, sitting on the sofa, when I thought of something else to add. (It was the no cell phones or email part.) I grabbed the laptop, opened My Documents — and discovered that one syllabus of the three I had just slaved over all day was missing.

Gone. For good. I ran the search function I don’t know how many different times. I intentionally misspelled words. I searched by title, by words in the text, by date last modified, and by any other way I could think of. And because I’ve never taught Editorial Writing before, I was working up the missing document from scratch, not revising and recycling.

The good news, I guess, is that I remember most of what was on the now-MIA document, but the bad news is that what I DON’T remember is all that stuff about assignments and due dates. I KNOW I saved the *$(&#% thing; I’m always very careful about that, and Microsoft Word always prompts me if I try to close without saving first, anyway. So I’m off now to eat something very fatty and salty, or maybe do some electronics retail therapy, and then I’ll start over. Sigh.

Hi.

I haven’t been around here much lately, largely because I’ve been running around like the proverbial headless chicken trying to get ready for my new job while keeping up with the current one. It’s been nuts.

I figured you all were due for an update, though, so here goes:

I went to campus today to meet with the Vice President for Student Affairs. We talked about budgets, renovations, and other stuff. Much as I hate numbers, I was dreading this particular discussion, but actually, things went very well.

I’ve already heard from about a dozen students interested in working on the newspaper this fall, which is phenomenal. It looks like I’ll be able to hit the ground running after all.

Well, it’s back to the salt mines now. I still have papers to grade and numbers to crunch. Sorry I’ve been blogger in absentia here lately, and I’ll try to do better.  No, I don’t think I’ll be winning any trophies for my juggling abilities.  But I’ll check out what the rest of you are up to.  I promise.

Are you into family genealogy?

For years, my mother was family historian.  Each August at the reunion, she would get up and report on births, deaths, marriages, and the like — and it was maddening.  Everybody wanted their branch of the tree represented accurately, but nobody wanted to pass along the pertinent information.  So Mom would collect funeral home memory cards, clippings from the newspaper society pages, and the like.  Still, because our family is so huge (Mom was one of ten kids, and her dad had seven siblings), there were holes in the information and more than a few disgruntled cousins.

After Mom became too ill to keep up, my sister took over, and she does a great job.  But I feel sorry for her; it’s another generation or two removed, and they still breed like bunnies, so things have only gotten worse.   Keeping track of all of that information is a job I wouldn’t wish on anybody.

So here’s my plea on behalf of all family historians everywhere:  If something noteworthy happens in your corner of the clan, keep track of names, dates, and the like, and share that information without having to be tracked down relentlessly.  Otherwise, keep your mouth shut when mistakes or omissions occur.

My niece’s daughter is getting married at the end of this month.  Boy, does THAT make me feel old!  But it’ll be nice to get together and visit with everybody again.

The wedding will be different than most of those I’ve attended.  First, it’s at eight o’clock in the evening.  Second, it’s on a riverboat.

To be honest, I’m a little freaked out by all of this.  I’m looking at all of the flooding in the midwest, and the Ohio is flowing higher and muddier than usual these days as well.  What are we supposed to do in the event of possible flood warnings?  Are we going to be out on the river with the paddlewheel spinning us around, or will we be tied to the dock?  Am I going to get seasick while snacking on the cake?  Will the minister and the captain arm wrestle each other for who gets to say, “I present Mr. & Mrs.”?  (just kidding about that last part — sorry, Sis!)

My other sister and her daughter are flying in from New York for the big event, and it’ll be good to see them, too.  I just hope nobody needs any travel insurance.  I’ll give y’all a full report afterward, and if I don’t forget my camera, I’ll share some pictures with you.

This is one of the neatest hot tub accessories I’ve ever seen.

When we bought our hot tub a few years ago, we did a ton of research about which model would best suit our needs, which company had the best track record for service and quality, and more. We settled on a ThermoSpa and have never regretted the decision for even one minute.

Yes, it was considerably more expensive than a lot of the other hot tubs we looked at, but we believe we really did get what we paid for. We even invested in one of those nifty cover lifts that makes opening and closing the top a one-finger operation.

The only down side is that the top just hangs there, staring back at us, a dull grey blob. Enter spascenes dot com.

This spa scene, as you can see, is a gorgeous photo of Hawaii. The company has several scenes from which to choose, such as “Fern Falls,” a peaceful waterfall in a lush landscape, “White Sand Palms,” which is like taking a trip to a private beach, “Tequila Sunrise,” where the pinks, reds, and oranges on the water just pop, “Berry Tropical,” featuring palms in silhouette against the purples and blues of the sunset, and my personal favorite, “Red Rock Falls:”

Isn’t it just like taking a vacation to Sonora? The photography is stunning, relaxing, and dare I say, therapeutic!

What’s more, adding one of these beautiful scenes to your spa is super easy. The murals are printed on durable vinyl which is easy to trim and install without any special tools, and it won’t mar your cover. The panels are interchangeable and affordable, so you can pick up a couple of them and change your tropical destination anytime you want.

I’ve seen a lot of hot tub accessories, and some of them are priced way out of reach. Others are just plain silly. But if you have a big blank cover liner staring back at you like I do, give this company a look. You’ll be glad you did!

I guess it’s just another one of those things that happen once you hit fifty.

I was clearing the junk out of my email spam folder when it hit me:  I’m getting an extraordinary number of messages from folks who want me to buy wrinkle cream from them.

It’s to be expected, I suppose, but I can’t help but wonder how these people got hold of my birthday.  Are they tied into the AARP mailing list, I wonder?  Or am I just getting a little more sensitive about this sort of thing?

I deleted the ads along with all of the other stuff, but now I’m starting to worry.  How long will it be before I see spam messages from people who want to put me into assisted living?

I’m bored.

It’s so hot outside that, even though we need to cut the grass, neither of us wants to experience heat stroke.  So we talk about cutting the grass instead.

All of my favorite cable channels seem to be having marathons today.  However, since they’re my favorites, I’ve already seen all of these episodes of Jon and Kate Plus Eight, Dirty Jobs, Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men, and No Reservations.  Many of them seven or eight times.  Sigh.

It’s too hot to eat, but I’m hungry.  Maybe I’ll go scoop out some butter pecan ice cream.  Or have a Caesar salad.  Or do both. No wonder I always get this killer indigestion.

It’s too late in the day to begin any major projects, and the minor ones aren’t annoying me enough yet to make me get up and do them.  So I guess I’ll surf the web, visiting my favorite blogs and looking at everything from computer memory to audio equipment to journalism textbooks.   Or maybe I’ll just take a nap.

It’s definitely shorts and t-shirts weather around here.

For some reason, we’re getting high temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s, a good fifteen to twenty degrees above normal.   It feels a lot more like late July or August than early June.

And therein lies the rub — nobody around here is used to the heat wave just yet.  The humidity is way up there, too, so it’s really uncomfortable, sticky, and, well, hard to breathe.

The quartet is singing tomorrow at an outdoor festival.  An area church is trying to raise money to buy a new organ, and we’ve donated our talent and the use of our audio equipment for the day.  All I can say is, I hope they have a nice shady tent set up for us.  That, and gallons of Gatorade!