a slippery slope

I am sad that the generator that runs outside my window is louder than the speakers on my computer. Its just not fair. But I am glad that I downloaded some new NPR podcasts so I have some good entertainment while the power is off. If I angle my computer upwards a little I can hear it well and type this up at the same time.

Okay a couple phone calls just distracted me from why I originally started writing this. I guess that all helps pass away the time without electricity.

Tonight at 5:30 when I went to class I was shocked at how warm it felt outside. It was probably about 32 F, but comparable to what it has been, that is warm. It was a nice change, and I enjoyed the lack of layers. So I enjoyed the warm room in the University and taught my class in comfort. After class I went for my usual trip across the street to have coffee with some of the students. For some reason no one was very talkative tonight and coffee ended after only an hour. We all said our goodbye greetings and I started walking up the hill to my flat with three students. When alone, I do not walk directly up the steepest part of the hill unless I am looking for some exercise, as if I do that I just have to walk down part of the hill in a different direction. (The short cut is not only shorter, but not as steep, a win-win situation for me.) But when I walk home with some of the students, I walk directly up the steep hill, as that’s how they have to walk. Tonight this proved difficult. At the bottom of the hill the sidewalk was not icy, so I don’t know if its because we were walking to a place of higher elevation or if just the temperature was dropping that fast, but as we got to the top, it was harder to walk up. We just kept slipping back down. By the time we got to the top, it was just humorous to watch us all (thankfully not just me, the only girl!) constantly slipping. Amazingly I made it to the top of the hill, and then down and to my flat….without ever hitting the ground. I was tired and relieved to walk into the building and leave the ice behind.

And on a final note…its interesting that just now as I am listening to NPR for the first time in awhile I am realizing about the writer’s strike. I heard my friend who was just here mention it when talking about one show, but I had no clue it was such a big deal, and not just for one show. Thank God for NPR to keep me up to date on good ole American pop culture. Now I just need to remember to listen to it.

Yea! The power is back on. I can now upload this, clean up a bit, and hit the sack.