What they don't know

When I was in high school drama, I learned an important lesson: don't let the audience know you messed up, and they may not notice.  Don't let them know you're nervous and they'll assume you're a pro.  Once you break that wall and show you're vulnerability, there's no going back.

So when you're meeting people in your new town, and maybe you haven't gotten a job yet or have anything newsworthy going on, don't talk about that.  When the inevitable question comes up, "So what do you do?" don't bury yourself under your spouse's job or belittle your circumstances.  Be proud of what you used to do, say what you want to do.  Be confident!  No one is going to ask probing questions about your job status or choice to follow someone you love (and if they do, they are an ass and you don't need them.)

You're an adult, and life changes.  Be the confident person you were before you may have been shaken up by this move.  It's just one more change life throws at you, except you're catching that ball while running.

You've got nothing to be ashamed of.

No one is "just" a wife.

You may not be making your own money for a while, but that doesn't make you less of a citizen.

Doing something crazy and new? Own it.  Do you think people cared about the fact that my business was really fledgling and I wasn't sure if it was a good idea?  No, they were interested in what the business was and how I got it started.

Find something you're proud of and don't belittle it by pretending you aren't proud.

I hope anyone who is currently in the anticipation stage of moving for a spouse's job is going alright, and it's ok if you aren't doing alright.  It's a weird time, and you'll have to find your way of dealing. Just know there's people that understand, and I'm one you can talk to if you need to vent.  Click on the "Contact Me" button, and dish away.

Bathroom selfie!

This is real, and it will change.

Met People! Didn't Die!

I rode with four strangers to San Francisco last night, to attent an "after hours" event at the California Academy of Sciences museum.  Let me tell you-- being in a museum when it's usually closed it awesome, turning down the lights and giving people alcohol is awesomer.  The lines were long and the drinks were $9, so I didn't imbibe, but I imagine it was enhancing.  The main event (for me) was Adam Savage of MythBusters doing stand-up with some other SF comedians.  Here are some clips from the youtubes of the fabulous talent (no sarcasm, I laughed til I cried):

Alex Cole

Dave Thomason

Emily Heller

Emily Heller, Dave Thomason and Janine Brito (didn't see her, but I'd like to)

There were a few stinkers, tired old gender war jokes and one unfortunate (and likely accidental) date rape reference*, but all in all it was a great evening.  A reference to feminism was all it took for me and another of the participants to figure we were on the same foot, and when Adam Savage explained to his teenage sons that "The internet hates women" we both applauded.  I was also surprised how much San Franciscan comedians leaned on the "everyone in SF is gay" stand-by, especially since none of them were.

I'm proud of myself for getting out and hanging with complete strangers. Even happier that a few of them seemed like people I could genuinely be friends with some day.  Making friends is not effortless at this stage of life.

*To be fair, it was something a parent said to a child when they got flustered by a sex question.

Friend Dating

I just posted a "strictly platonic" ad in the personals section of Craigslist. Horror of horrors, what have I gotten myself into?  It's been almost two weeks in the new town, and I'm getting lonely.  I had a good morning yesterday, was very productive, but then I started convincing myself that it would be possible to be ok if I never made another friend in my life. This is so incredibly wrong, and once I convinced myself, I was despondent for a little bit.  I've made a few friends, but since I've met them through other people, I don't want to make them feel put-upon by me wanting to hang out too much. So, I need to embiggen the pool of people.

Damn my extroversion!

So, this ad.  I hope it didn't sound too dorky, but I wanted to be more specific than all the "Looking for a BFF! I like to have fun!" because that's how most of them read.  That, or it is obvious that the ad shouldn't be in the "strictly platonic" section.  Who wouldn't go for this gal:

Well, we'll find out.  

Meetup.com in San Jose

Now that it's official, I signed up for a number of groups on meetup.com so I can jump in immediately.  Being in Silicon Valley, you have to wade through a lot of tech stuff, start-ups and New Age-y awfulness.  I was afraid that being in a non-tech field, having no children or power crystals, I'd be up a creek.  In the country's 10th most populous city, though, I will be ok.

The Non-Moms Club- Lots of clubs for moms, for all ages of children, but not a lot for just women specifically.  This group was created not to be anti-mom, but pro-we're-childfree-now.  They do a wide variety of stuff (drinks, hikes, charity), so hopefully I'll meed a variety of people.

Bay Area Ghost Hunters- J thinks I'm nuts, but I've never known any ghost hunters and it looks like fun.  Do I believe in ghosts? Well, not really, but I believe in having a good time.

San Jose ASL Meetup- This will help me practice the little bit I've learned in class so far.  I'm sure I'll be awful, but this is the best way to get better.  I've yet to practice with an actual deaf person.

There's a lot more, a lot of craft groups and biking groups, but I'll stick with these few at first.  The internet has made it really easy for me to have almost too much to do when I get there. Yippee!

Summer Book Club!

Freeze Dried has started a summer book challenge for June over at her blog.  Here's what she's got to say about it:

Come up with a list of books that you want to read by June 30, 2011. The list could be as short or as long as you'd like. Those books gathering dust on that shelf there? You want to put those on your list. The ones you're already reading? Perfect, throw them on there too. And feel free to pull from my booklist on the sidebar.

The goal is to write one post a week about the book / books that you have read during the week. If you haven't finished a book before your post it due, that's cool beans!, post anyway - talk about your thoughts on the book so far.

Ping me so I put you on the blog list again.

I think it's a great idea now that J and I have time to read (well, I've always had it, but reading together is awesome).  Once I figure out how to put the little list up on my sidebar, I'll get cracking.  We're halfway through the second book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, A Clash of Kings, and I'm about to start Alice Randall's The Wind Done Gone, a reinterpretation of Gone With the Wind.

Scarlett O'Hara and Mammy.  Image from Popular

 I haven't read Gone with the Wind, but growing up in the South and having seen the movie a few times, I think I can skip it.  If it's between reading "American Classics" and trying something by a marginalized writer, I'll go with the latter.  Gone with the Wind is pretty solidly in the American consciousness, so it's like I was born with it in my harddrive.

More to come!  I need to do a little write-up on Vox, the classic phone-sex novel by Nicholson Baker.  It's more awesome than it sounds.

Graduation! Dr. J!

Car-lot party decorations for Dr. J

Me and Dr. J at his post-graduation party.  Lots of friends came by to wish him well.

My sister's boyfriend didn't walk in the ceremony, but graduated with a bachelor's.  We put J's robe on him and took some semi-serious photos he could give to him mom.  Maybe semi-serious is an over-statement.

Role Models: Lizard Lady sends me to college

In this series of posts, I'll be posting about people who've given me good advice and set me on the track to where I am now. I'll be using pseudonyms and pictures that describe them, but it'll be pretty much anonymous. You'll know who you are!


My senior year, I was pretty busy with drama club, journalism and songwriting, but otherwise I was a ne'er-do-well, padding my semesters with lots of "teacher's aide" hours that served as excuses for me to escape campus for lunch and guitar store hangouts.  My Fall semester, I got pulled out of my anatomy class* by my English teacher.  She and said anatomy teacher wanted to nominate me for the Earthwatch Student Challenge Awards. This was ostensibly a program to convince artsy kids that science wasn't scary, and involved a trip to some nature-y place to work with a scientist.  I was flattered that they picked me, but waited til the last minute to write an essay.  A few weeks later I learned I'd gotten in, and would be flown to Arizona for three weeks.  It would be the summer after graduation, so I'd already be getting ready to spend major time away from my family.   I was excited about traveling, but still not sold on science**.

Oh yes, that phone interview

I made myself scarce yesterday afternoon so J could have his phone interview with the Googles.  A friend took me out for a beer since I was acting so emo, and I couldn't help but check my  phone over and over to see what time it was.  It was only about 40 minutes, and he said it went well.  We'd brainstormed lots of good questions, and he got to ask most of them.  The technical interview will be next week.  I'm amazed at how smoothly this process has gone.

In a display of what might either be sanity or forced failure, I decided yesterday not to apply for the library job.  After all these years waiting and supporting J through his studies, a little open space always twinkled before my eyes.  I imagined there would be some time between resigning from my current job and starting a new one somewhere else, where I'd be able to walk the streets of my new town and learn about it.  Have a little time to get my bearings before jumping back in full time and getting my bearings on the weekends.  Friend from last night said that wasn't weird at all, and owed to me as a PhD widow.  I haven't been saving for nothing.

Still, I should work on a cover letter for it, just as an exercise.

Homemade Cheez-its steal the show

Casey at Good Food Stories put together a FANTASTIC recipe for homemade Cheez-it crackers.  Not one to be left out of the action, I had to make them for the Food Feud last night.  They were a little bit of a scene-stealer:

Close-up on crunchety-flakety-cheesety wonderfulness

The recipe made about 5 little ramekins full of crackers to hand out.
We had to hide some for later.

Only because I grew up in Junk Food America, I would suggest a little more salt for this recipe, or just sprinkling some salt on top before baking.  They were delicious on their own, but to get closer to the original, definitely saltier.  On a positive note, these didn't feel like I was eating something totally horrible, but on a negative note (in terms of likeness) these didn't feel like I was eating something totally horrible for me.  Also, you may need to add 1-2 tablespoons more ice water to get the dough to start forming.  This may just depend how exact you are in measuring your other ingredients.

J's Glazed Carrot Soup and neighbor's Sweet Potato Bisque with yogurt sauce were beautiful and tasty. And pretty good mixed together.  The game was a tie.

Guest and dog chillin'

Food Feud! Homemade Cheez-its! Vintage socks!

Tonight is the 3rd "food feud" between J and our neighbor, and tonight's challenge is soup.  J is making a a glazed carrot soup from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (approximate recipe here) and I'm cheerleading with some crackers: Garlic Parmesan Flax and Homemade Cheez-its.  The flax crackers look about what you'd expect:

They taste healthy. I want that to be a good thing.

The Cheez-it imitators are not done yet, but I am supposed to post every day and I know I won't have a chance once all the guests get here.  The night's movie is Wizard People, Dear Reader, an alternate audiotrack of Harry Potter, set over the movie.  It is pretty awesome and we've seen it 20 times.  Brad Neely, the creator, is from Arkansas, and we never miss a chance to point that out.  Here's the greatest cartoon every made:

Other good things from this week:

J makin' soup

Goat cheese truffles (made for a friend's bday)

Unplanned matching socks for a soccer game. They are both pairs we've had since we were in high school.

Get out of the house and do something

Yeah, it's like this.

Too many blank, white days have passed with nothing accomplished, so today I set out on foot to visit a friend. We walked a total of 5 miles today, shopped out some of her awesome felt goodies, and got some work done in her studio.  J decided to give me my Valentine's gift early, on account of the snow day.  As soon as I saw the box, wrapped in paper from the local bookstore, I knew what it was and started jumping up and down.  A tiny box/book of softie patterns, perfect practice for making 3D fabric sculptures! The Softies Kit (I didn't know what a softie was, but I guess it's what I've been making) is adorable, with 15 patterns for cute things ranging from elephants to ham bones.

 

A side-by-side comparison shows that I am still practicing.

I sent off the artichoke and asparagus (I haven't posted too much about them, because the bride-to-be they're for reads this blog-- could be reading and sniffling right now) on Thursday, and I got a call that they've arrived in Michigan!  Total relief-- what kind of insurance can you get on handmade awesomeness?  They loved them, so mission accomplished.  I'll do a post on the making of them soon.

Work has been cancelled for the 7th time in the past 3 weeks, so I'm in the middle of a 5-day weekend.  This is the mother of all get-out-of-jail-free cards of adulthood, so I'm making the most of it.  I've dove head-first into a mound of snow.  Drank a lot of Bailey's.  Going to have beers and watch an improv show.  Made an elephant.  Written some blog posts.  Watched  LOT of Louis CK.  And frankly, thought a lot about things I'm good at and how I need to work really hard to hone my little talents so I can do something amazing with them.    But now I'm going to trounce around in the snow some more in my lovely plastic bag boots.

J. finds an outlet!

Cardamom-apple pancakes with rosewater syrup

Last month, J. and our good neighbor Tuna (also a grad student) decided to have food and movie nights with friends, where they competed with their culinary skills on a specific theme or food.   They want to do a blog, too, where they post pictures of the food and review the movies.  Last week (the second event) was a bread contest, and we watched The Holy Mountain (1973).  The bread (a simple whole wheat boule from J. and a rococo pesto loaf from Tuna) was absolutely delicious.  And the movie didn't make anyone run screaming from the room.  Though it's really just a snacks sort of event, everyone who has come has brought a dish, so it turns into a stone soup/Jesus and the loaves kind of thing.  So nice!

Pesto bread in foreground, J's boule to the left, gulab at the top, and a green bean dish by a Turkish friend that tastes very much like you'd get it in the South!

Other than futzing with his bike, this is J's only organized activity.  And as much as I complain about having to forcibly eject him from the house to go work sometimes, he really needs something that has nothing to do with work.  Both he and Tuna are haggard grad students, so they have that bond as well as friendship.  Though they call it a competition, there's nothing like that going on.  No stress, no winners, no rules.  Just food and good times.

Gulab jamun- fried dough in syrup, from India

I made a batch of galub jamun from a packet, and made the syrup myself.  The dough was not the tastiest part about the dish, but I think the syrup turned out well.  So well, we used the leftovers the next day to pour on our pancakes (highly recommended recipe).

On a whim Monday, I checked the academic and public libraries for the towns J's applied in, and actually found some openings.  They weren't ideal, but I am confident that I can eventually turn a part time job into full-time once I prove myself. Economy be damned!*  To show I was being super positive (I'm still making up for my attitude from the past) I sent J an email with the links.  His response was that he wasn't feeling very positive about his current applications because no one was responding to his last email.  It's the beginning of the semester, so I think it's just people being busy.  I hated to hear him sounding sad, and I really didn't mean to exacerbate that with my email.  He's one of the most responsible, level-headed people I know, so sometimes it's hard to remember that he's feeling uncertain and scared, too.

*Please don't ruin my delusions.

Spotlight on Awesome: First Stitch on Etsy

I've written about how easy it is to avoid making friends when you know you're going to move, but jumping back in has so many more rewards than downsides.  The women I've met in the past six months have been integral to staying sane, and I like to think I've helped them, also.  Maybe it's because we're older, but there is such a show of emotion and affection between us, it is almost my reaction to be cynical and not take it as sincere.  I have friends that want hugs and say "I love you!"?  I realized how jaded I must be if I questioned the sincerity of truly sweet communication.  Hugs all around!

One lady, specifically, who has helped me in my crazy life, is my friend Anca.  She's got a Masters in Fiber Arts, so you know I am taking advantage of her skills as much as I can.  She encourages me to make things, teaches me how to do them better, and is helping me add to my insane list of future projects.  Yesterday we took a trip to Joann Fabric and had to keep pulling each other back from the brink of Craft Addiction.  "Sculpey is 50% off! Let's get 10 of 'em!" "But we don't need it?" "But it's half off!*!!!"  We did end up using the Sculpey, and I wish I had a picture of the little mushrooms she made. Adorable!

I do have pictures from her new Etsy site, First Stitch.

The felt balls are wonderful as decorative pieces, but I use mine as a fashionable pin-cushion as shown above.  She also makes small clutch purses:

I have the honor of seeing some of these first products come out at our weekly Craft Nights (makin' therapy).  But Etsy is hard until you can get some traffic there.  I had an account for a little while (and actually sold a few little things) but it requires dedication to marketing yourself and getting some exposure.  Even though no one else seemed to be selling custom state bird egg bracelets, no one knew I made them so I didn't sell any.  I did not succeed, but I can't stand for these cute, well-made things not getting at least some pageviews.

*Sculpey and Premo are 50% until Sunday, I think. Get it done.http://www.etsy.com/listing/66061335/polka-dot-felt-ball-teal-and-yellow

Rec letter sent!

J. hid in our room after work yesterday while I had some friends over for craft night.  It's something I used to do years ago, and I've restarted it.  Weekly on Wednesdays, people come over with whatever they're working on and sit around and talk.  I've met some new friends this way, and it gives me an excuse to sit down and wheedle on something (because it's written down! That makes it more important).  There was one odd bird who came with one of my friends, who was very smart and funny, but kept making negative blanket statements about Southerners and the South in general.  Yeah, we've got some fucked-up stuff going on down here, but we're not all shitty politicians.  She also made mean-spirited comments about Southerner's pride in their hospitality*, and that people are just as hospitable in the North (she's from a New England state).  I don't think I've ever heard anyone say Northerner's aren't hospitable, we just put a focus on hospitality (I do) and that helps us keep our mind on it.  I mean, I had just told her I'm from a very southern state, and she says, "I just hate the South".  Well, um, ok.  Do you want another drink?

It was so blatant that I didn't get mad about it, just really confused at why someone I didn't know would come into my home and say mean things about our colleges and entire citizenry.  Maybe I was rubbed the wrong way when she dissed a college I would have gone to had I been able to afford it (arguably the best liberal arts school in this part of the country).  I caught myself thinking, "So, this is the exact person people are referring to when they say Northerners are rude!  Maybe they meant, 'There's one particular Northerner that's gonna rub you the wrong way, watch out!'"  Yeah, just that one person. Other than her inexplicable outbursts about how awful we all were for living in this part of the country, she was a fun person.  And yet, I'm not looking forward to being insulted again while serving wine and opening my home to someone. The Southern Hospitality stops right there, darlin'.

RIP Rue

Really, a pride in hospitality is about the only thing that ties me to my Southern heritage.  I don't go for "southern pride" or whatever, or feel an urge to go back to where I came from, but I guess it's like when someone says something bad about your sister, and maybe it's true, but only you get to diss your sister. She's yours!  Yeah, there are lots of bigots in the South, and they're less shy about being loud about it.  But when you're sitting in a room with a bunch of nice people in Arkansas, don't say everyone from Arkansas is bad.  Really, manners, people.

Anyway, REC LETTERS!!  Once I got everyone out of the house, J. crept out from his hidey-hole and said his advisor sent him and email, and the letters were sent.  The explanation for the "emergencies" that may have messed up my husband's job prospects did not seem to equal a month of flakiness.  Hopefully he's back in the running for a few things and this doesn't count against him.  That was a good end to the day.

I've been sleeping very badly for the past four days.  It's probably the crazy sleeping schedule I've had during the winter holiday, but that still doesn't make sense. When I get into bed and decide to sleep, I always go to sleep-- so that's not the problem.  I've just been waking up in the middle of the night for no good reason, then not fully sleeping til I have to wake up.  J. even went to sleep the same time as me (it's been hard for him lately to turn his mind off for a decent bedtime).  However, when I did my middle-of-the-night sudden wake-up, he wasn't in bed and I found him fallen asleep in front of his computer on the couch.  The look on his face when I found him was so sad-- he just couldn't sleep at normal times anymore.

I'm going to try taking melatonin for a few days until I start sleeping normally** and suggest he try it too.  He's resistant, and that's fine, but the stress of writing and jobs and flaky advisors is having a bad effect on his body.  I only wish taking a hippie sleeping pill for a few days would actually fix the problem.

Speaking of my body being crazy, I finally figured out why I got so sick after New Year's: alcohol isn't a raw food, thus it doesn't react well with raw foods. In other words, there was nothing to soak up the little alcohol I had to drink.  Healthy + Unhealthy did not cancel each other out.  Beware!

*Just because we're proud of our hospitality doesn't mean we've got a monopoly on it. Geez, people.
**I've been eating well, exercising, not eating chocolate after dinner.

Congratulations are in order

No, don't get excited-- not for me, at least.  A close friend of ours (who introduced us, incidentally) is finishing up grad school and just got a job in Chicago.  He and his soon-to-be spouse will be moving there in June or July, which should put us just about in the same boat right.  Except they know where their boat is going! I am so excited for them, and eager to snap up any advance knowledge on the moving process. I talked to him yesterday and said, "This will be your first adult move," and he agreed.  Though he moved to another part of the country for grad school, this is the first non-school, real-job event.  I'm nervous because I've never moved anywhere by myself except for undergrad, and I was only an hour away from my parents.

We're going up to Michigan for their wedding in March. Hopefully by that time we'll know what's going on.  Heck, I'm nervous about even buying plane tickets at this point.

His fiancee is absolutely awesome.  She's got skills out the wazoo, so I'm sure she's not freaking out like I am about uprooting herself.  She has a craft blog called Hands Occupied where you can see all the crafts fall neatly from her brain.  The friend himself trained to be a student DJ at our college radio station on the same day as me, so that's when we met. He's a huge music nerd and a great friend.  He used to make me the best dance mixes for my parties and was one of Justin's groomsmen.  I am very tempted to post a picture of his Eddie Mercury costume from the night Justin and I met (at a Halloween party, of course).  I am going to bawl at this wedding.

Professional photos! Always a great gift.

My best friend's husband took really great photos of all the stuff I've made recently.  He says I was doing him a favor by giving him a reason to make a soft box, but this is awesome:

Tiny Park, Arkansas

I'll post more later.

Meeting strangers

I rode the bus home for lunch today, and at the stop I kept catching the eye (and vice versa) of a strange looking girl with long dreadlocks and very sculptural clothing.  As we were waiting for the bus, she told me she liked my dress (new b-day dress) and I said I liked her "whole thing", and then blurted, "you look like a plant".  I meant this in a genuinely good way, and she said she liked looking like a dryad.  I am sometimes wary of hippie-looking folk, only because I've had some bad times with trust fund kids and earthy con-men.  My wariness is also provoked by up-to-11 sincerity and earnestness, non-confrontational body language coupled with almost menacing eye-contact.  I'm the kind of person likely to get caught in a streetside scam in the city, catch myself at the last minute and then beat myself up for assuming the worst in people.  The bus I ride home is also often filled with immature young adults in Spencer's tshirts who say things like "gay" and "retarded" really loud and make me feel misanthropic.  I was hoping this was not one of those people in disguise as a tree-person.

Anyhow, as soon as we sat on the bus, she sat in the seat across the aisle and introduced herself.  My "female intuition" didn't pick up anything terrible, and we got into conversation.  Maybe it's birthday mirth, but I was definitely more game for talking to strangers on the bus.  She shook my hand, said she'd just moved down here from a few hours away and works in a store that I frequent very often.  She sews and said the last town she lived in had "a lot of sad people" in it.  If I hadn't been on a tight schedule and meeting the husband, I would have probably jaunted off with her and given her a tour of the city.  We both got out at the same stop and I gave her directions to the library, and she said she'd see me around.

In the middle of my meal, I realized why I was acting pretty much contrary to my usual manner towards strangers on the bus-- I was going to be one very soon.  I hope that when I see a lady that looks cool, and it seems ok to say hi, I may make a friend.  To be so new in town, riding the bus to get a feel for it, must be very exciting but also tiring and a little scary.  I'm glad I got to be a part of her day.

To India, with love

So, scratch that. I realized I was getting ahead of myself, like when I imagined I'd be a seamstress after two lessons and started a twitter after I thought I'd started a wildly successful blog.  Tiny Park, Arkansas will be a blog or something someday, but really, I don't need two blogs.  

Here's some pics of the clay/pin "robots" I made for a friend to take back to India for her little sister.  I started making these years ago just for fun, but after I invented a position for myself on a non-profit called Art Amiss, I suddenly had to make over 200 of them for a show.  I'm no longer with that group, but people sure do remember those little robots.  That group has asked me to take care of their Etsy site, and I hope I'll get to do some craftin' too.  I don't want to be on the board again, because board members can't submit artwork to shows.  This is the first time I think I'll actually have something to offer.

If anyone knows how to do two columns of pictures, let me know. This was a long one.

The husband sent out his third letter today, which was really a full-on application to a program in Boulder, CO (formerly referred to as NewTownX).  I like the idea of that.  Ohio is still on the line, but France hasn't been launched yet.  He's stressed, but I want to hope that he's feeling good and accomplished.  I'm incredibly proud of him and I'm very happy.  I apologized today for my impatience, which would have been hard to do a few months ago.  I really didn't understand the obstacles in his way.  He seems to be getting over them.

We're going to spend a quiet weekend, but when he goes out to do research tomorrow, I'm going to A-Z in Alma, Arkansas.  It looks like a scary religious compound from above, and is the largest deal/dollar store mall ever.  It is insane.  The things housed inside it must not be, and are very cheap.  I'm taking some friends, and I think our aim is plastic dinosaurs, wrapping paper and op art.  Yes, necessary things.  Sports, furniture, clothing, bridal, floral, rugs, gifts and sports equipment, all in their own giant iron sheds.  And a diner filled with fried everything.  The last time we went, we spent about seven hours and came out dehydrated and thrilled, only spending about $30.  I'll be on the lookout for another factory-second Justin Bieber shirt.  My husband and I have a strange liking for pop star t-shirts and pop stars we don't really know anything about.  He's got a Backstreet Boys shirt he's been wearing for a decade, and has been mentioned in his teaching evaluations.  Good or bad? Who cares, I'm getting some tiny dinosaurs.