here is the new york times calling the tiger's wife (a book i did not LOVE) one of the 10 best books of 2011.  wow.  i did read it, though, and i did LIKE it.  so that's something.

some of my friends got together this year and bought me a kindle touch for my birthday.  !!!!

it was just released this month, so i have been waiting (somewhat) patiently for mine to arrive, and it came today.  other claire brought it to me this morning and i almost peed my pants in excitement.  kindle!!!  i can't believe how small it is - it's literally the length of my hand and just an inch wider than my hand and as thin as a pencil.  they are not kidding.

it supposedly hold up to 3,000 books.  um, absurd.  at the rate i'm going, i could read books on this thing for 100 years without deleting any.  let's hope i'm still reading books at 129 years of age...actually, let's not.  i hope to die by then.  109 is fine with me.

suffice it to say that i haven't done any work since the kindle arrived on my desk.

if you're reading everything you can about the penn state scandal (like i am), you need to listen to this week's this american life - you can download the podcast for free on itunes, or listen to it online here.  the episode is called "back to penn state" - two years ago they dedicated a whole hour-long episode to life at penn state, as it had just been named american's #1 party school (that episode is called, appropriately, "#1 party school" and is also excellent).  in this week's episode they go back to penn state for additional interviews and stories.

i love podcasts that tell real life stories - this american life, freakonomics, radiolab.  i listened to 2 episodes of this american life and one of freakonomics on my drive to north carolina yesterday.  speaking of north carolina...the high is supposed to be in the 60s all week.  glooooooorious unseasonably warm weather, i will take you.

Best thing ever? Someone* in my car really had to pee, and as I approach the next exit, I realize that it is the Starbucks exit! The elusive south Carolina Starbucks exit whose location I can never recall. Let the record show: it is exit 90 on I-85. The pee break will now coincide with a small (I refuse to say "tall") iced chai latte. Life is so good.

Second best thing ever? The iPad 2 I have borrowed from the school library that is allowing me to blog from the Starbucks parking lot using 3G. Technology is amazingggggg.

Homeward bound...


*note: i am the only passenger in my car.

GRE - check!

UPenn application - check!

(more order in my life - check!)

Columbia and Stanford - started (no exclamation point, as there is a ways to go there)

Thanksgiving break - starting in 5 hours!!!

additionally, if you have never asked 18 year olds to write letters to a presidential candidate they are considering vote for, you must do this.  you get all sorts of awesome stuff like "President Obama, you have made a lot of changes, but you could be doing more for gay Americans" and "Herman Cain, experts say your 9-9-9 economic plan will raise taxes for 84% of Americans.  How is that okay when many families are struggling financially as it is?" and "Mitt Romney, your opponents have detailed plans of how to fix the economy.  How do you expect to win without telling us what, specifically, you will do?"  their ideas are so thoughtful and honest and varied.  i'm loving it.

ohmygod.

try not to cry your way through this whole program. (i was unsuccessful.)

20/20 with gabby giffords & mark kelly

what i'm listening to right now

sugarland & matt nathanson, "run":



whoever decided to put two of my favorite singers in a duet together deserves a cookie.

what i'm DOING right now:
helping my students write letters to presidential candidates and then printing them out on school stationery and mailing them.  so fun.  four years ago when we did this about a quarter of the letters got a response...

INCREDIBLY beautiful photography!  i heart national geographic.

coach k started coaching basketball at duke before i was born.  literally.  i have been a duke fan since i was a little kid, and duke has always equaled coach k.  tonight coach k has the opportunity to win his 903rd college basketball game, the most of any coach in men's division I ever.  i can't WAIT to watch.

when coach k stops coaching, i'm not exactly sure what i'll do.  i hope we have many more years before we have to worry about that.

let's go duke!

today was a blustery day.

or, more accurately, this afternoon was a blustery afternoon.  it looked just like it does in the hundred acre wood a lot of the time.  it was really warm - mid 70s - and i went for a walk on my new favorite walking trail.  about halfway in it started to sprinkle.  and then the wind blew hundreds of red and yellow leaves off the trees (and one stick - of course i got hit by the one stick that fell), and it was beautiful.  i heart fall.

i took the GRE this morning and it went well.  hoo-ray.  they are SERIOUS over there in GRE testing world, though.  i had to be wanded with a metal detector thing every time i entered the exam room (at the beginning and then after my 10 minute break).  wanded!!!  yikes.

i have been leaving you all hanging about the reason for taking the GRE, so here's a little info: i'm applying to three different masters degree programs in educational leadership - a degree that would hopefully help me become an upper school principal or a head of school some day.  eek!  that is scary to say out loud, and i don't think i am ready for those jobs today.  but someday i hope to be.  i love working in schools, and being a dean of students has given me a taste for what the senior administrative positions entail.  so...we'll see.

all of the programs are one year long; two are full time (one in new york, one in california...and you'd better believe that location played a role in the programs i decided to apply to) and one is part time (i would stay at my current job and fly to pennsylvania one weekend a month for classes).

i'll keep you updated!  for now, though, i am taking a nap.

layover

last night i got to see becky!  she had a layover in atlanta on her way to texas for the weekend, but her first flight was delayed so she got stuck here for 7 hours.  we only got to hang out for the time it took to drive home from the airport home, sleep in separate rooms, and then to drive her to take MARTA (our "subway" system) to the airport in the morning, but it was still really nice to see her.  hooray. :)

in case you didn't know, when it is 11:45pm there are no rules when you are waiting for someone to exit the airport and get in your car.  normally there are police cars everywhere and your ability to stop and wait for someone is minimal - if they aren't coming out the door, you better move along and circle back around.  last night i sat for 10 minutes by the curb - with about 50 other cars, none of us moving - while the police just sort of watched.  10 minutes!  i turned my car off.  no one cared.  what universe are we living in?!  (i guess if you are going to bomb the terminal you don't do it in the middle of the night.  makes perfect sense.)  and then a street sweeping truck drove the wrong way past me on the one way road there by the terminal.  you know.  like they do.

just another day on the job...

this morning at 8am i was involved in a meeting in which a police officer told an 18 year old boy to "stop acting like you're batman."

this was a serious meeting...but it was everything i could do not to laugh out loud.

it's crunch time.

on saturday i am taking the GRE.

one of my grad school applications has rolling admissions, so i basically need to submit that application ASAP.  or ASAPATGRE (as soon as possible after the GRE).  i'm feeling great about how my resume looks and my references have submitted their letters of recommendation.  personal statement, it's just you and me now.

then i need to work on the personal statements for the other two programs i'm applying for; their deadlines aren't until january.

then i need to fill out the FAFSA so i can get some dollars for grad school.

it feels like a lot right now.  i forget about how stressful applying to school is; apparently i have selective memory and have chosen to forget about what it was like when i was in 12th grade and applying to college.  i realize that this is a first world problem (i have to write essays and take a test!) not a real problem (i have to feed my family or try not to die today!), but nonetheless, i'm complaining about it.  when i applied to college i had a pretty decent idea of whether i would get in to each school or not.  now?  NO CLUE.  i don't know whether i'm a great candidate or whether they're going to immediately throw my application in the trash, laughing with their admissions friends at my gall in applying at all.

i'm assuming it's not the latter, but i can't be sure.

what i'm listening to right now

IN LOVE WITH james blake's version of my girl joni's "case of you":



happy birthday, joni!  the first CD i ever owned was the collected works of simon & garfunkel.  the second was "miles of aisles" - an INCREDIBLE album.  (thanks, dad, for both of them.)

for the first time, i may know something about cars that you don't

on monday the dude in the car behind me at a traffic light motioned frantically to indicate that my left rear tire was prettttty close to flat.  yay, helpful dude!  after two days of putting a lot of air in it each day and having it leak out over the course of the day, i took it to get fixed.  dad, pretend like you didn't just read that sentence.

the guy at the garage asked me if i also needed an oil change, as my "maintenance required" light was on.  (note: this is actually an "oil change required" light.  WHY DO THEY NOT CALL IT THAT.  ugh.)  i explained that i got an oil change a week ago, but the person at that garage didn't turn the light off.  AND THEN THE GUY AT THE GARAGE SHOWED ME HOW TO TURN IT OFF MYSELF.  secret tip of the day!  in my toyota it involves only the button you push to switch from odometer to trip A and trip B.  magic!!!  i couldn't believe it.

what i'm listening to right now

"gillian," by the waifs



i. love. this. song.

the three little pigs

as you may remember from halloweens past, at my school the seniors and the pre-schoolers are allowed to dress up for halloween and they go on a parade in front of the whole school.  my work friends and i dress up and participate, too, because...really...why not?  plus, any excuse to wear a sweatsuit to work for the whole day is an excuse i'm going to use.

happy belated halloween!

october: 28 & 29

i was slowed down this month by the fact that the first book i read was 959 pages long.  sheesh.  in fact, i only read it as quickly as i did because it was a library book that couldn't be renewed because other people were on the waiting list behind me.  for each of the 21 days i had it i was doing a lot of reading.  good thing it was awesome or i wouldn't have made it.


a dance with dragons, by george r.r. martin (nerd alert.  this is the 5th book in the series; this one came out in july.  i got on the list at the library for it pretty shortly thereafter, and finally got the book in late september.  and ohmygoodness it was definitely worth waiting for.  the scandals continue.  and the teasers; one character who played a major role in book 4 showed up for literally one line in book 5.  so many characters!  not enough time!  the cliffhangers continue, as well; how am i going to wait until the next book comes out?  and this dude can take 4 or 5 years between books.  and he's getting old.  george r.r. martin: DO NOT BECOME SENILE UNTIL AFTER YOU FINISH THIS SERIES.)

the magicians, by lev grossman (i'd heard a lot of good stuff about this book, but i thought it was only okay.  it was described to me as harry potter meets the chronicles of narnia, and it, well, WAS harry potter (the first half of the book takes place in a school for magicians) meets narnia (except it's called "fillory" in this book.  but it's narnia - let's be honest).  i thought it was too much of a literal mixing of those worlds that we know from other books, and that was a bit bizarre.  definitely entertaining, but i'm not rushing out to get the sequel.)

okay, i guess there's a 29 and a half.  i listened to the audiobook of three cups of tea, by greg mortenson and david oliver relin.  does listening to an audiobook count?  i'm not exactly sure, but it was 13.5 hours long, so i will give myself some credit.  my thoughts: perhaps listening to it gave me a different perspective that reading it, but this book is CHOCK FULL of puns and cliches, to the extent that i was gagging with the cheesiness factor.  UGH.  it's not very well written.  but it was pretty interesting.  i know there is controversy surrounding mortenson and how truthful this book is...and how good his bookkeeping skills are...but i do think he's done an incredible thing for pakistan by investing money in education there.  i'm not rushing out to donate to him, but he tells a story about this part of the world that not everyone can tell.  i'll give him credit for that.  at the end of the audiobook they include an original song written about the book.  it is, factually, the worst song ever written.  mortenson's daughter sings it, and i will give her a pass because she's in elementary school, but i will not give a pass to whoever wrote the song.  decide for yourself here.  and, yeah - don't necessarily rush out to buy this book...