Hello tommorrow, goodbye to yesterday!

I love school, I truly do. But I have never been happier for a quarter to end, ever. I officially finished this quarter at 3:25 pm today when I submitted my students final grades. (They're still emailing me of course)

I feel as if, with this benchmark, I can shut the door on the emotional upheaval of this past season. Forget the bad things...and focus on the good. So it goes.

To celebrate I planted some seeds and put them in the cold frame that Joe built out of a window I bought at the rebuilding center (for 1 dollar) and some scrap wood, replanted my lavender plants on the side yard, plotted out the front yard planting and went grocery shopping. I'm going to hit up the garden center tomorrow for some shade loving plants, herbs and ideas.

I have two whole days to myself before I have to be back in school mode. The week of spring break proper will find me at the Association of American Geographers Conference in Las Vegas.

The best thing I can say about it being in Vegas is that it's in the 80's there, so if I ever make it out of the hotel (I've tentatively planned to get some hiking in) I'll be able to see that bright round thing in the sky and feel warm.

A giant band-aid

First off, I love that there is a weekly address by our President. For me, it is reminiscent what I've read about the heyday of radio, but instead, it's harnessing the internet as the medium.

I've got the White House blog on my RSS feed and while I don't always take the time to read each post, I did listen to the President's address on food safety issues.

It has been my argument, for some time now, that big agriculture and large food processing plants are inherently problematic in terms of environmental degradation and human health and safety. So, I am slightly disappointed that the President's solution to the increasingly common outbreaks of bad food items is to reinforce the existing system with more money and new faces.


From the White House Blog

I will admit, that his charisma is unmatched, he has me believing that this band-aid approach will at least remedy some of the existing problems with the system. It's too bad he can't call for the overhaul of the agro-food system as we know it.

...while not working on my paper for school

I saw this post by a friend in Portland that made me happy. Women are quite underrepresented in the beer industry...
Also, when we were in Bend last Spring we had opportunity to visit Bend Brewing, which not only has spectacular beers, but a great menu and a nice pub (something that I think a lot of breweries have had a hard time combining-er, to my taste that is).

In memoriam.

I keep thinking that as the days go by eventually, that last post will just drop off the page and I won't have to see it anymore or think about it.We went and picked out a tree for Quasi. It seemed kind of funny to get one that is dormant, but we decided on a cherry (self-pollinating - Stella).

We think that calling it the Quasi tree might give it a complex, making it think it's only a "kind-of" tree, so I've taken to calling it the 'bubala tree,' since we had nicknamed Quas, bub.

I can't wait to watch it grow.