Xxxicana’s Weblog

The parental units got a new doggie!  She’s too cute,  but not as smart as my kitten.

Although it is nearly the end of January, it’s not too late to discuss New Year’s resolutions.  I didn’t really make much of a list, but I did decide to streamline my life as much as possible in prep for the tenure process.  I also want to pay off as much of my lingering debt as possible.  So, I decided to try menu planning.  Typically, I just make dinner on the whim.  If the ingredients aren’t in the house, I head over to the market.  Of course this results in lost time, greater expenditures, and often frustration which leads me to order take-out!

So, I prepared two months of menus (Jan and Feb) with shopping lists.  We’ll see how things go.  So far, it has cut a lot of stress for me.  I checked my menu and see that today is “gruel” day.  Gruel is what Mister Man calls Khichdi — a single pot meal of rice, lentils, spices, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, and whatever other veggies are hanging around.  It’s a super tasty vegetarian meal that warms the tummy on cold evenings.  It also has a ton of fiber — and at our age, fiber is really important!  We love Gruel!

I’m really trying to avoid the nearly daily stop off at the market — and it seems like each visit is an easy $40.00!  But, a lot of my purchases are poorly planned which only adds more time to my day.  I’m going to try a single market day for the bulk of our month’s supplies with only the occasional stop off for perishables.

I’ve also planned out my debt repayment plan following a snowball method.  My goal is to start 2012 with no debt at all!  (I want to be debt free for the end of the world, heehee).  Again, the biggest problem is not a lack of $$, but rather unplanned and unnecessary spending.  Oops, I bought a pair of shoes this month that are definitely not necessary! But check them out . . . can you blame me?

It’s too wet and cold still to wear these stylin’ shoes . . . but I can’t WAIT to debut them.  Frivolous, I know, but I’ll be good from now on, promise!  I’ve been budgeting now for about a year and it has made huge difference in how I spend my money.  No more spending more than I earn and I’ve even been able to shunt money away in a savings account.  My goal is to save up money for a down payment on an acreage so that I can have a big garden and lots of chickens!

Next, and I’ll work on this asap, is to budget my time.  I found a posting today on Inside Higher Ed that helps tenure track peeps to prioritize their time.  I’m going to dedicate some time to creating a time plan. Like a lot of people I have a lot to do with limited amounts of time.  But, I enjoy relaxing with Mister Man and getting plenty of sleep.  This requires a strict time budget that will allow me to work at top efficiency so that I can max out my relax time.  I’m also hoping that time management will lower my stress level which will lower the amount of cortisol in my system which will hopefully help me lose some poundage.  See!  it’s all part of a plan to reduce the belly fat!!  Ulterior motive revealed.

My parental units will be celebrating 50 years of marriage this summer and we are all going on a family cruise.  I’d really like to fit into some chic cabana wear and even a bathing suit.

Ah, I can hardly wait to be out on the ocean, sipping a fruity umbrella adorned drink and enjoying the wacky extended Sanchez clan.  Good budgeting now will allow me the funds, time, and mental state to fully embrace the festivities!

Hey, make up an Amazon wish list or suffer the consequences . . . . Larisa, Nathan, Tom, Duncan, and I have lists . . . so sign up now!!  Otherwise this is what you will get for Xmas:

Amby lit up our home for less than three weeks before he died prematurely of FIP (Feline infectious peritonitis).  It all happened so fast and there’s no cure.  Two dear pets lost in only a month . . . very very sad.

I come home to the echos of your footsteps.  I hear your voice when I know that it is not there.  I know that you are gone but I look for you around the corners.  I miss you and know that I did not love you to my full capacity.  I shed a tear here and there for myself . . . knowing that my sorrow is mine not yours.  You have moved beyond and rest in the slumber of the ages.  I endure hoping to find you and all the others that have passed on before.

Playboy published its list of top party schools (link here); University of Miami hit the top.  None of the schools I’ve attended or worked at made the list — hmmm, do you think it’s me??  Nah, couldn’t be. I wonder if there is a correlation between party school, grades, length to graduation, and future success in life (ignoring the problem of metrics on that last one).  I knew a couple of guys from University of Miami a while back — let’s just say they fit the profile to a T.

The first flowers to wake up from their winter slumbers are the crocus . . . . last year an artic blast destroyed them the day after they popped out.  The daffodils are growing, they’ll be up next week I think.  There’s nothing like flower to make life just so much better and cheerful.

I WAS IMPRESSED THAT FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA HAS STARTED A VICTORY GARDEN!!

She enlisted a gaggle of school children to clear the area.  I’m sure that the hard work of turning the soil, adding compost, creating beds, ensuring a proper drainage system, etc. will fall to the professional grounds keepers for the white house.  But “YAY” for Mrs. Obama.  She has the opportunity to demonstrate  positive actions to make this world a little better.  A victory garden is an excellent teaching opportunity:  to learn about US history, to learn about food production, chemicals, pollution, poverty, etc.

BTW, if the man doesn’t like beets, grow them anyway, someone else might!

So, there’s this thing people do with the google — they google their own names [ego surfing].  I am SO guilty of it — I think a lot of academics do it, they might not admit it, but they do.  After all, in academia, we don’t have much more than our reputations (social capital is how some refer to it).  It is sort of like compulsively checking your investments; is the dow up or down; should I buy more shares of this or that (as if I know anything about finances).

Anyway, I recently received an email out of the blue from a friend from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away . . . .

Apparently he and another friend were wondering what had happened to me and used the good old google to locate me.  As a result, I was updated on the haps of several people that I use to hang with back in the early 80s when I was much thinner, sported leg warmers, and drank cheap beer.  My, how times have changed.   Thank god I don’t wear leg warmers, I’d like to be thinner, but am resigned to being “voluptuous,” and most importantly  . . .  I DON’T DRINK CHEAP BEER anymore.

Many thanks to Shawn for sending the photo.  His comment was, “I don’t remember you being so short.”  My first thought was, jeez, I can’t believe I actually let Michael touch me!  Michael is the one in the satin jacket — the 80s equivalent of leg warmers for men.  The other guy, holding the coors bottle, is Ace.  Interesting story about Ace is that he and I went to high school together but didn’t know each other at the time.  Well, I knew who he was . . . just about one of the geekiest guys at school.  He and a pal used to ride their (so they thought) gnarly BMX bikes around campus a lot.  We met up a few years later via Shawn who kept on telling me, oh, you’ve just got to meet ACE.  We actually went out a few times . . . but one of us was too strange for the other  . . . or vice versa.  Keep in mind that I am fairly close to being the female version of Dwight Schrute.  [side story:  Mister Man and I laughed our asses off over the episode of Dwight on Second Life].

Here’s a photo of Shawn back then . . .

I don’t really like to engage in too much nostalgia, but hangin’ out with Shawn, Andy, Ace, and Michael was pretty fun. Shawn worked at a video game repair shop and we used to go in and play Tron or Space Invaders for hours.   I got my first really bad hangover drinking with those guys — off of pepperming schnapps — the true mark of a novice!  I met Shawn through Andy who was a classmate in Political Science at CSUF.  Here’s a photo of Andy (the one in hat) with Ace (the one in the dress —  damn I hated it when guys looked better than me in a dress).

Andy was truly a great friend . . . so much so that he refused to give his blessing to my marriage, although he and Shawn did visit me shortly after the birth of my now adult offspring.   I am waiting for Andy to respond to my email — hey!  Andy!  Write back already!!!

So, what happens when more than 25 years go by?  Here’s a photo of my sis Shelly and me:

I’m the one with the Nebraska T-shirt.  What happens after 25 years is that, well, in my case, I’m older, fatter (oops, I mean more voluptuous), more forgiving, more laid back, less militant, but still WAY TOO COOL!!

Hey, all you peeps out there . . .  send me congratulatory messages — I quit smoking TWO years ago!!  So, in lieu of flowers at my premature funeral, shoot me an emoticon!

Dinner last night was Thai green curry with shrimp and tofu . . . spicy and yummy.  (note: this is not my photo)

Onion Tears and I were discussing a while back the virtues of chili.  In addition to being one of the best food flavorings, chilis provide important vitamins (esp. C) and other phytochemicals that can keep one healthy.  One study suggests that that it has anibacterial properties (like onions and garlic).  I was telling Mister Man last night that I believe chilis are the key to good health.  There’s nothing like that sweat that comes over you, the subtle burn from mouth to stomach, the wonderful flavor of the different varieties.

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I think I’m on a post-Obamathon slump — the parties are all over and it is down to business.  I’m thrilled to see Obama take full charge of the office and his first actions as President.  These are the times that so many of us have dreamed about — but dreams can be dangerous if we allow ourselves to become complacent.

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Otherwise, I’ve been pretty busy with the new semester and putting together the NAES conference program.  I am on a MWF rotation and it REALLY sucks!  Class periods are only 50 minutes — it is very difficult to keep my lectures to this short time frame (I like tangents and quirky facts to pepper my lectures).   I’ve got a great seminar on Archaeological theory — lots of good talkers in the class (for those not in the know, Nebraskans tend to not be very talkative in class).  I am also teaching a class on Indigenous People of Latin America.  Lots of fun.  Anyway, it is Friday . . . I have a ton of work to do . . .  so TTFN!