Packing is like any other job in that it will expand to fill the time alloted. I nipped that trend in the bud by simply delaying as long as I could and then conducting a blitzkrieg-style attack on one unsuspecting duffel bag and one unsuspecting ski bag. When that was done I got an oil change and transmission flush and was on my way to Detroit's northern 'burbs for a UHS staff Christmas luncheon party.
A UHS staff party is like a Webb class meeting. The defining thing about it for people on the inside is that it's fun, but an outsider would first comment on the size... about 12 people in Elizabeth's Birmingham condo with enough food for a staff party of the school district of Portland, Oregon. George, the principal, was there and all but one teacher made it, so I got a sense of what a day must be like at UHS, kind of.
Now it's up to the UP for break, holidays, and snowy winter fun with family. Robin returns from Thailand on Friday so there will be many, many stories to hear. Grandma B and Jaqueline are also going to be around to share Christmas at the club. Should be a really great week or so.
Finally today, a(nother) sigh of relief courtesy of our good friends over at the US Senate. My hat's off to that organization for rebuffing plans to drill for oil in ANWAR. I know Sen. Stevens of Alaska says that oil drilling is low impact, but I've seen 'low impact' oil operations in Alaska and it is anything but. For now, at least, there can be one place in our country off-limits to our insatiable need for cheap fuel (not that drilling in ANWAR will give us cheap gas, but that's a post for another day).
Wednesday, December 21, 2005