My first block all told me to have a good day and smiled at me when they left class this morning.  RAPPORT ALERT.

In other news, my ecology class and I bonded over an earthquake. We were in the middle of lab when it happened, and due to the school never having discussed what to do in case of seismic activity we ended up doing a dance of putting away lab equipment, getting it out again, putting it away for good.  The quake itself was exciting and a touch scary.

Tomorrow I have an Earthquake Day.  We apparently built those into the schedule as 'snow days,' go figure.

Piano

My Grandma put in her will that I will inherit her Mason & Hamlin grand piano.  That's pretty much the only item that she bothered to earmark.  It's because whenever I visit Grandma, I make a post-pleasantries beeline for the piano bench.  I love that thing. My aunt is quite incensed that she isn't getting the piano, which has me a bit baffled.  She's never shown much interest in the thing.

Well, I'm going to Atlanta to visit Kevin in August.  I spent a bit of time researching how much it would cost to fly to Hawaii (I've a sudden hankering to see volcanoes, probably from reading Annals and looking up pictures of rocks and Mt. Saint Helens) and then London and then Glacier...found a gorgeous cabin 8 miles from the park that you can rent for $150/night.

Learning about geologic history is a bit freaky though.  I feel extremely temporary.  It's also sobering to learn how little I know about this stuff.  Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary.  Yikes.

Summer vacation is boring

I reckon I have some sort of disease where I'm afraid to spend money.  I promised myself that I'd spend my $1500 bonus (which, it turns out, is actually a $954 bonus...taxes, you see) but now that it's in my checking account I'm completely unable to do anything with it but save.  Save for what?!  There's no big purchase looming on the horizon that requires me to stash money away in pillowcases, other than retirement, I suppose, and that's 40 years away.

Scandanavia is off, because Grandpa has 1) a torn rotator cuff 2) a fractured femur 3) no feeling in the fingers of his left hand 4) advanced cancer of indeterminate origin metastasized to his liver. When we heard that last, I naturally had flashbacks to Grandma, who died about three months after the cancer was found.  Tim had to remind me that we don't actually know anything yet and he could still have plenty of time.  I went with Mom to visit him in the rehab center, and he's in good spirits.

That gives me another two weeks of summer to fill.  Thus far I have filled it with a visit to Vermont, most of which I spent fighting a cold, and frantically reading books.  I'm re-reading the Harry Potter books because they're quick reads and the last movie comes out in just under a fortnight.  I barely recall books 6 & 7.  I want to read 50 books this year, only on 23 so hence the frantic pace.

I can see why some teachers get summer jobs.

I am doing something right

A former student stopped by my room this morning and told me that he misses my class.  I haven't gotten a whole lot of feedback, discounting test scores, so that was good to hear.