Back On It

Well I'm sort of amazed at how much it has already snowed here (to put this in context, we have seen more snow this month, November, then we have seen for three winters in Mississippi and South Carolina {well, outside that day we drove through Boone, NC, which was the coolest but we were short of funds and could not stay the evening}). It has gently snowed almost everyday for the past two weeks (some days it just seems to be falling out of nowhere) and while some days are windy (like today) some days it is just cold here (I think it has been freezing everyday this month, ha ha, sob weep).
Yesterday though was the best. I stepped outside to walk to my class and it was like being in a winter/fast food wonderland. The sky was full of those really big snowflakes (the kind that you almost want to have fall into your month, forgetting for a minute that they are probably loaded with leads, minerals, acid & other harmful particulate matters) but everything smelled like a french fry (or if you still hate the French, freedom fries, yeesch, sometimes we are the dopiest nation ever). There two or three (still uncertain) huge potato factories on the north side of town (about two miles from campus) and when the weather is right, the whole town will smell like a french fry. While this may seem weird (and it was the first time I noticed it) now it just adds to the uniqueness of living here in Grand Forks.

On a side note: the goof-ball class I'm teaching is in the middle of attempting their class project. Since we are recreation (and formerly leisure, but now to ride the current wave we are tourism) I have been taught that programming is at the heart of most things we do in this field. So, I wanted this class to 'do' a program/event. The class (with almost no input from me) decided to do a dodgeball one-day tournament. The event is this Sunday, so this week the class has been in various spots on campus to promote their activity (they also put the event on Facebook, which delighted my wife to no ends since that allowed us to look up a bunch of the class and 'see' what they are like, ha ha, some of them, well, I'm hopeful). I was in the student union for about a half-hour this morning and last night I sat in the student activity center (called the wellness center, this a place where the builders hoped students would come to get healthy, but in the year-plus they have been open, they have already closed the grill/food shop, stopped many of the health classes and now it mainly is a place where students go to work-out, it was like they didn't know what kind of kids go to school here).

Second side note:I just started reading a book about a cappella groups in the ivy league and how they battle for the national title held every year in Madison Square Garden. Nerdy, but fun, but serious. Mainly I'm reading this book to please my wife. At the end of the day, she has a hard time falling asleep to I have taken to reading aloud to her (it totally works, within three to five minutes she is out). I had been reading Karen Armstrong's The Bible but found myself reading longer then I wanted (lousy history of the bible). My fear is that I'll start reading this book and instead of falling asleep, she'll make me read even more and stay awake. Constant struggle.


So we went to second men's hockey game this weekend. We were invited to accompany someone who was on a date (yes, we were invited along as the comic relief). I told the misses right before we meet them, that we were 'on the clock' and needed to tell our most humorous stories. It helped that North Dakota was playing a school I do not care about (Alaska-Anchorage) and I started off the game with "I wonder which team represents the 'real' America". It got a smile and I knew that I had to up my game. I told a bunch of stories, told some humorous things (those periods between the periods can be long when there is nothing going on in the rink, although they do a couple of things which make me laugh: human bowling with a sled and a giant sling-shot, child chicken dance contest & skating cheerleaders) and the evening went well.
My favorite part of any UND athletic event is when the university plays this two minute video which explains how awesome it is to be Fighting Sioux. It is a hackneyed attempt to explain why the university uses 'Sioux' and why it is okay despite the Sioux nation wanting it to end. Pathetic. Even the students I teach, when asked about it sort of seem like it is a confusing message and that it covers the use of the logo and term, but that is does not justify it.
This place has some serious image problems.