Tag Archives: Houston

March 2009 12 of 12

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It’s been a couple of months since my last 12 of 12.  But I remembered this month…and what a day it was!

img_0725 7:42AM  I don’t teaching on Tuesday or Thursday, so I slept in today.  Only until 6:30, however, because I had to drop off my car to get my oil changed and get the SRS light checked out.  Little did I know it would end up costing me much more than I intended to spend.

img_0729 7:43AM  Oreo’s used to the morning routine by now.  She got in her bed in the kitchen without me even having to tell her.  Note the look on her face that says, “OK.  Fine.  Leave me…again.”

img_0737 9:03AM  I rearranged my office again (for the 7th time…literally).  I’m trying out a new floorplan, with the desk against the wall.  It really opens up the space and makes the office seems quite big.  (And yes, that’s Optimus Prime on my wall.)

img_0734 9:27AM  My new dry erase/cork board combination that I hung up on my wall this morning.  Now I can write and post notes to myself without having to scotch tape them to the lovely cinder block walls in my office.

img_0736 10:16AM  The view from my desk, while grading papers and listening to Pandora.  Man, I love Pandora.

img_0741 1:31PM  Taking a break from grading (and waiting for the Honda dealer to call me about my car), I practice a little piano.  I’m playing the celeste part for Copland’s Lincoln Portrait.  If you look closely, you can see that it’s very simple part that oscillates on an E major chord for 10 measures.  Ah, my kind of accompanying.

img_0745 2:56PM  The Honda dealer STILL hadn’t called me.  I was getting frustrated.  They called me about 15 minutes later to tell me that my car needed a new battery, and that it would be done in an hour and cost me more than initially quoted.  Great.img_0749 3:14PM  Finally having a timeframe of when I’d get my car back, I scramble to finish my lesson plan for Theory 2: cadential and passing 6/4 chords.  Fun times.  (You can really tell it’s my office by all the U2 posters on the walls.)

img_0750 4:12PM  I run to the duplication room in hopes of picking up my Theory 1 Proficiency Exams before the Honda shuttle picks me up, only to find out Arlene left early today.  Great.  So I rush back to the Music office to try to make copies there, only to find that it’s closed early, too.  This is the view of the office from the outside of my mailbox.  I go into school on my off day and stay much later than I should, while others who normally work later than I leave early.  The irony of the whole afternoon was not lost on me.

img_0751 4:46PM  The Honda dealer finally picks me up and drops me off to get my car…8.5 hours later!!

img_0754 4:48PM  What was initially going to be a $30 oil change ended up costing me nearly ten times that much.  All to get the stupid SRS light to shut off.  It took the service department almost nine hours to figure out that my car needed a new battery.  *SIGH* I miss Proctor Honda in Tallahassee.

img_0753 4:51PM  I’m finally back in my car.  Notice how the SRS light isn’t on any more.  Not bad for $300.  Ugh.  What a day.

BONUS:

img_0757 11:40PM  The way I see it, regardless of how crappy my day went, it ended nicely, with my packing for FriendFest 2009 Part a in DC.  I’m driving to visit Mike, then going to Houston to see Xan and my parents.  And, yup, that’s a Guitar Hero guitar, packed and ready to rock!  Bring on the Expert level!!

Insomnia, pt. 2

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Yesterday was the first day of the spring semester at UML.  I’m usually a bit nervous before the start of the new semester, and the two nights ago certainly was no exception.  I didn’t get much sleep the night before, about four hours, due to my mind’s inability to relax and also to a fear of oversleeping.  I had trouble falling asleep last night, too, again because my mind just couldn’t settle down.  Among the various subjects my mind contemplated were:

  • The new semester: I hope I teach well and I hope my students are receptive to my methods.
  • Relationships: past, present, and future; platonic, romantic, familial.  It was a long weekend, to say the least.
  • The first six measures of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”: I’m using that as an example in class on Friday, so I transcribed it into Finale Sunday afternoon and haven’t been able to get it out of my head.  Along with…
  • “Get On Your Boots,” U2’s new single: I’ve lived with the song for a week now and I can say with full confidence that I like it.  It’s a new direction for the band, which was their intent on this album.  I was reluctant to write about the song until I’d listened to it enough.  I have, and it’s a keeper.  Like the rest of the U2 fans out there, I’m very excited for No Line On The Horizon.
  • The impending snow storm: I hope my tires don’t get flat again.  I’ve spent a pretty penny getting them changed; I’d really hate it if I had to through the hassle of changing yet another tire.  On the bright side, Oreo will have more snow in which to run around.
  • Travel plans for Spring Break:  My mom wants to go to Vegas, Mike is hosting FriendFest ’09a in DC, and I’d like to visit Houston again.  Three place, one week…something’s gotta give.
  • My country ’tis of thee sweet land of liber…DAMN IT!!
  • The Australian Open: Djokovic has all the talent in the world, but no heart.  I realize that court temperatures of 142 degrees are torture, but he’s a professional with adequate time to prepare for the conditions.  It’d be different if this was the first time he retired, but he’s developing a trend of quitting when he’s down.  Federer, the game’s gentleman champion and ambassador, even called him out.  Not a good sign, Novak.
  • Nashoba Valley Chorale: I sang with them for the first time last night and the music was tough.  Of course, I was rusty, but a lot of the music was in French, a language I have trouble with.

So yeah, the way I see it, it was impossible for my mind to shut down while all this crap swirling around.  I’m not sure how well I’ll survive averaging less than five hours of sleep a night.  Here’s to an early bedtime tonight!

Click here for “Insomnia” (pt. 1).

Ike’s Aftermath

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My parents live and teach in Houston, so naturally I’ve been concerned about their well-being these past few days in the wake of Hurricane Ike’s devastation.  I talked to my dad briefly Saturday afternoon when Ike was barreling through Houston.  Over the cell phone connection I could hear the wind whistling and the rain pelting his windows.  The connection itself was crackly, as I’m sure the signal had trouble getting through the massive storm.  He gave me an update yesterday; he was at school to charge his cell phone and try to restore some semblance of normalcy to his life.  Their classes start up again on Thursday.  He still has no electricity.  In fact, I checked the power outages and he’s in an area that is still totally blacked out: 100% of CenterPoint customers in his zip code still are without electricity, as the chart illustrates.  Despite his troubles, it was good to hear from him and know he was at least safe and uninjured and that his place survived relatively unscathed.

On the other hand, I hadn’t heard from my mom since Friday morning.  I talked to her from school during the proverbial (and in this case very real) calm before the storm.  It was troubling, to say the least, not being able to talk her to check up on things.  I finally got a hold of my mom this evening.  Thankfully, she’s not hurt and her house is fine.  But, I could sense a little distress in her voice.  She said she’s never experienced anything like this power outage.  Houston’s got a curfew in effect, and she said it’s been disconcerting because, without street lamps or house lights anywhere, her area is “freaking pitch black at 8pm.”  Luckily, her friend came over and helped her fire up her grill (which hasn’t been used in quite a while) so that she can at least cook some rice and grill some fish.  Most of her food, however, is going to be thrown out.

It’s weird, but I wish I could be there to help my parents through it.  I mean, I’m glad I didn’t have live through Ike, but I a part of me feels guilty that I can’t help them.  The way I see it, I guess I just have to wait and hope and pray that electricity is restored sooner rather than later so that they can get their lives back on track.

One monthaversary

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It’s official: I am now a full-fledged resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  I know, I know.  I’ve been living here a month now (I still can’t believe I live here, by the way), but it all became “official” last week, when the last vestige of my life in Florida went by the wayside: I got Massachusetts license plates.  I’ve discovered many things about this portion of the country, some good, some not-so-good.  My last entry was about the things I’ll miss about Tallahassee.  And sure enough, those all still hold true.   But rather than dwell on the negative of no longer being in a place I liked, I thought I’d make a list of the stuff that has impressed me about Lowell and the surrounding area.  Here goes:

1. The weather at this time of year is absolutely gorgeous.  I mean, for the last two weeks, it’s just been stunning.  Highs maxing out in the low 80’s (and by low 80’s, I’m talking 80, 81 tops.), bright sunshine, clear skies, light breezes.  And I live right on the Merrimac River, so it’s a pleasure walking Oreo (except that she still gets a bit crazy when other pets are around).  I know it’s only a matter of time before the weather gets miserable, so I’ll take as many perfect days  as I can get before Old Man Winter dumps all over the place.

2. I absolutely love my new apartment.  It’s bright and clean and spacious, thereby making me more fastidious about keeping it up.  I haven’t left dishes in the sink, I make my bed on a daily basis, and have been pretty good about not letting clutter build up.  Hopefully it keeps up once the school year starts.  Plus, I have a little balcony so I can enjoy the nice weather even more.

3. I have ready access to a major city (Boston) and its airport (Logan International).  Now, don’t get me wrong: I loved Tally’s airport and it’s ultra-low stress level, but it’s nice having travel options and seeing affordable flight prices out of an airport that’s less than an hour away.  Plus, I have access to Manchester’s Regional Airport, too, which gives me even more options.

4. I live two miles from school.  Literally.  My commute takes 10 minutes, tops, and that’s only because I have to deal with traffic crossing the Rourke Bridge.

5. The view from my UML office is great.  I’m on the fourth floor of the Fine Arts building, on the side that overlooks the Merrimac.  Here’s what I see when I look out the window:

6. The drive up to Nashua, NH (where I do a lot of my shopping) is scenic and low-stress.  It follows the Merrimac for the majority of the tree-lined 7-mile ride.  It’s going to be beautiful in the fall with all the leaves changing colors, and even in the early winter, with a light snowfall filtering through the canopy.

7. Since this area is so old, the streets are not organized very well (read: no grid and poor city planning), which can be interminably frustrating.  But instead of looking at it negatively, I’ve tried to see it as a challenge to learn a new part of the country.  I got to know Houston because I lived there for so long.  Chicago was very easy to get a handle on because the city is on a grid.  Tally was small enough that it didn’t take very long to know my way around.  Lowell is small, too, but the city’s one giant spaghetti bowl.  Learning my new digs will take some time, but the way I see it, if I can learn this place, I can get along anywhere.

It’s only been a month.  That month, however, has gone by rather quickly, and time is sure to fly once the school year gets rolling.  I can’t wait to discover more about Lowell and Boston and New England in general.