This post gets a bazillion categories. Enjoy!
Beer: the barley wine I brewed last month has mysteriously decided to start fermenting away again. I hope this doesn’t signify Bad Things, and just a temperature change that kicked the yeast up. This weekend, I plan to sample the brew and see what’s up.
Running: I ran today for the first time in what seems like forever. I got out of the habit earlier this summer when I was doing a lot of intensive yardwork (like busting the sod for this garden plot). Just 35 minutes, and probably not even four miles, but boy did it feel good to be out there on a cool, sunny morning.
Sports: Jacksonville signed all-pro safety Donavin Darius to a three year contract extension. This should mean that Darius finishes his career in Jax. Interestingly, I believe Darius himself broke the story on the Jaguars.com message board, where he’s a fairly frequent poster. Just a reminder that NFL players like to surf the web, just like the rest of us.
Teaching: this fall I am teaching ENG 199, Introduction to Literary Studies. My office-mate David Banash and I are teaching the same syllabus—readings, assignments, etc. I’m really looking forward to it. Today he and I met to hash out another draft of the course schedule; this weekend I hope to get the final run at our course packet done. We’re taking a fairly formalist approach to the class, with the assumption that formal approaches are both accessible and appropriate fodder for new English majors, historically speaking. We also believe that our students will be able to more effectively inhabit other criticial positions if they understand the formal approaches they are in part reactions to.
It’s been interesting to do New Critical style close readings and work with theorists like Arnold and Brooks—I haven’t done so for years. I’ll share more as we finalize the course.
Weather: just lovely here lately; lows in the high 50s and low 60s, highs in the mid 80s. We could use some more rain, in case anyone is listening…
Whatever: Erin has been working hard on the baby room/bathroom renovation project. We’re rehabilitating the red pine molding which graces our many windows and closets, which requires removing the paint some dork thought would be a good idea. I took off the molding, which makes things easier, but it still involves a lot of heat gun, sander, and elbow grease. We’ve hired someone to skim coat the walls in both rooms, which were in pretty bad shape from water damage and just general wear and tear. His work is fantastic. Finally, I’m ventilating the bathroom to the exterior through the attic. This means mucking about in the fibreglass (always a joy) and drilling a 3 1/4″ hole in the brick. Good thing I bought that hammer drill last year.
I’ll hit a few other categories tomorrow.