All my bags are packed, something something

Welp folks, my bag is packed!

Approximately 5 days worth of clothes to last 2+ months. Admittedly, I'm pretty proud of myself. I have 1 pair of jeans, a few shirts, couple of dresses/skirts, and 1 pair flip flops, 1 pair TOMS, 1 pair hiking shoes.

And just for a shameless plug, if you haven't checked out TOMS shoes yet, do it. These are, hands down, the best summer shoes out there (for those who live in more moderate climates than Chicago, they are probably good for all seasons). Scott and I both have a pair, my sisters have several pairs, my mom may even have a pair now. The cool thing is, when you buy a pair, they send a pair to a child who needs shoes.

Their "One for One" statement:

One for One

One for One

TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we're all about. The TOMS One for One business model transforms our customers into benefactors, which allows us to grow a truly sustainable business rather than depending on fundraising for support.

Why shoes?

Many children in developing countries grow up barefoot. Whether at play, doing chores or going to school, these children are at risk:

• A leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted diseases, which can penetrate the skin through bare feet. Wearing shoes can help prevent these diseases, and the long-term physical and cognitive harm they cause.
• Wearing shoes also prevents feet from getting cuts and sores. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected.
• Many times children can't attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don't have shoes, they don't go to school. If they don't receive an education, they don't have the opportunity to realize their potential.

One for One is spreading

TOMS has also inspired other companies to implement a One for One model. Ralph Lauren sells co-branded Polo Rugby TOMS, giving a matched pair with every pair sold. Element Skateboards has issued limited edition TOMS + Element shoes as well as a One for One skateboard. With every skateboard purchased, one will be given to a child at the Indigo Skate Camp in Durban, South Africa. It is TOMS’ hope that as our One for One movement continues to grow, more and more companies will look to incorporate giving into what they do.

Our Story

In 2006 an American traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring TOMS customers.

Since our beginning in May 2006, TOMS has given over 600,000* pairs of shoes to children in need, through the purchases of caring customers.

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Pretty damn cool.

Right, the insurance question

I finally figured out the insurance issue for us. Coverage through COBRA was going to be close to $1000/month and other options through my part time gigs proved to be rather expensive as well. After talking with a friend (thanks, E!) who worked on the road for years, I began looking into Blue Cross Blue Shield transitions plans. This actually turned out to be perfect. Since our permanent address will be in Oklahoma for the summer I am able to apply through BSBCOK. We found a plan that allows us to cover both of us with a $1000 deductible for $147/month. It is definitely affordable for the interim, if not long term, and I was able to cover for only 3 months (adjustable up to 18 months if necessary). We are covered under the PPO BCBS network nationwide, although I think there is some kind of call ahead policy. I have insurance!

I'm sure the moms will be relieved!

Simon Says Follow the Leader

How else can you keep track of me?

Twitter me at britegrace (I slack at this one, though)

Yep, I'm totally connected--for better or for worse...

My comment to Scott the other night: "My whole life is online!"

This is scary, right?

We're packing up the place. Posts may be intermittent for a few days.

I keep putting off packing the bedroom. I seem to have hit some reluctance about not having a closet of clothes available as I realized I would be living out of a small bag with six pieces of mix and match clothing for a solid two months.

The logistics are still fuzzy. I had a whole itinerary we had worked up just disappear off of my computer. It's not in recovered files, it's not in email, it's not in docs, it just disappeared. Frustrating since I was using it as a loose anchor.

Yesterday was spent grading and teaching. Today is spent packing, trashing, and storing.

Ah well, back to it.

The end of this, the beginning of that

Today was the last day of our 8-5.

I think we've both realized just how much the students we worked with have really made the jobs worth it. They will be what we miss the most. I truly do wish them all the best.

Scott has seen a whole class of graduates come and go, the full three years. He met them shortly after they began their program and he got to say goodbye shortly before they graduate. I think that's a pretty special thing.

We broke some hearts by leaving this place--and that's the way it should be. I always think it's better to leave before they begin to wish you had left a long time ago. Go out on the high notes, having enjoyed the time but looking forward to what awaits.

It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, it was just time to go.

My calling?

You guys, I found the best cure for ennui and hatred of the desk job.

It does require strapping another person to your back, who in turn has a parachute strapped to them, climbing aboard a plane, flying up to 13,000' and then falling out of said plane with said person strapped to you. You freefall for 7500' and then hit the parachute at 5500', whereupon you are jerked back up and then begin your descent to earth. You can spin and you kind of flip around as you freefall and then you spiral around once the chute is opened.

Yeah, f*ing AWESOME.

Forget being a school teacher. I'm going to jump out of planes from now on.

The honeymoon phase 2

With oil flying out of the engine, you're guaranteed to get smoke. It's just how it is.

After stopping and cleaning the window man times, dumping an Exxon Mobil rig worth of oil into the engine, fretting over the bit of blue smoke puffing out of the trunk, and getting nasty looks from fellow roadsters regarding their now dirty cars, we decided we needed expert help. By this time our merry roadtrip had taken us to La Junta, CO (pronounced "luhhunnuh" by the locals) on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Apparently, these mid-week days are holidays there as no mechanic was to be found. The shops were closed, we had an apocalyptic moment where we considered everyone having been taken except us. The VW mechanic was closed and we were referred to the other mechanic in town. We tootle over there, pull up in our bus, now coughing and wheezing blue smoke and oil. Upon our arrival, we find a man in a white wife beater hanging outside the shop, beer in one hand, and left handed cigarette in the other.

We were told that the shop was closed because the mechanic and his buddy were drinking beer that day. We should come back tomorrow and they would be happy to help. What is this? A beer drinking holiday? But...but I needed help!

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I should mention at this point that our bus is covered in wedding graffiti that reads:

Canada or bust

If this van's a rockin'

Just married

and other such nonsense. This on top of being Kermit-the-frog green. Although, much of the print on the back window had been wiped off in our attempts to clean off the oil.

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Seeing my new-bride sadness and hearing our tale of woe, mechanic man took a look at the bus. After this inspection, the mechanic agreed to fix whatever was the problem for a fee since it was, after all, his beer drinking day. We happily hopped in the bus to drive it into the garage for an under-the-hood kind of assessment only to find that our vehicle would no longer start. Oh, woe! What is this? Our bus was dead, dead, dead.

Assessment from the mechanic's beer drinking buddy: Obviously the starter doesn't work. Yes, but the starter doesn't control the oil leak.

The random and the weak (part deux)

I thought that the email would be the last of the mess with the reception. I should know better.

Random convo of Wednesday goes like this:

CW: Anna, do you like cupcakes?

Me....yes, I like cupcakes....

Me: .....do you like cupcakes?

CW : (giggle) Yes, I like cupcakes, too.

Me: ..... ....... ........ why?

CW: Well, I was thinking that maybe you could make those moonpies* you make so well for the party next week.

Me: ..... ....... ....... (I just peek over my computer screen to be sure she really said this and then just lower myself back down)

CW: (nervous giggle) Well, I was thinking of getting cupcakes for your reception next week. They make little cupcakes now, you know...

Sometimes it's best just not to even respond.

What I learned from this conversation: I am supposed to make food for my own reception that I didn't even want. Excellent.

*these would actually be whoopie pies that I make, not moonpies.

The random and the weak

The office is throwing me a farewell reception. You think, "Oh how lovely!" I think, "oh god, why?!"

I hate being the focus, that center of attention. My nightmare scenario that leaves me anxious and bewildered just thinking about it: at a restaurant, someone tells the wait staff it's my birthday, they make me stand on a chair and everyone in the restaurant sings at me (I also imagine that I am wearing a sombrero at this point). My skin crawls, my eyes get shifty, and I'm a wreck just sitting here thinking about it.

So, I'm at my desk, minding my own business when this convo comes out of nowhere and attacks me:

Co-Worker (CW from now on): Anna, will you be here on May 14 since you will be gone on the 10th?

me (shaken from my afternoon daze): Umm....let me check my calendar...yeah, I'll be here.

CW: Oh good! We'll have your reception then and it will replace the students' Coffee Hour for that day.

Ambushed and defeated, I slump back into my chair, miserable and angry at being duped. When I gave my "Hey, I'm leaving" notice, I mentioned then that a reception was not necessary and I didn't like that kind of thing. Christmas is awful when they stand me in front of faculty and students and talk about me and then hand me a gift. I usually have a beer or two in me to fortify and then I leave quickly after to go and drink more.

30 seconds later I hear "ping!" and this announcement shows up:

Hi Everyone,
Please join us to say Thank You to Department Assistant Anna Lastname on Friday, May 14, 2010 at 4:30 pm, Stuart 216.

Anna's last day is May 21, 2010.

Sincerely,
CW

What I gather from this:

People should refer to me by my full title, Department Assistant Anna Lastname and I won't be able to make it to this since I leave the office at 4:30.

Note: I did break out in a case of hives as a result of the stress. It's not modesty that makes me averse to these, it's physiological reactions.

Sometimes I like it here

OK, so I had a funny experience today while I was trying to get a little sunshine in my afternoon. I was running my course proofs for Autumn 2010 over to the Registrar--late, of course--and bumped into a trio of people standing in a hallway looking a bit lost. The woman, this blonde, blue-eyed beauty with a heavy Russian accent stops me.

bbb: Excuse me, could you tell me where the bookstore is?

Me (looking around to be sure she meant me): Um, well, are you looking for the bookstore that sells books or the other bookstore?

bbb: Ah, (speaks Russian to her partners, after a moment of gesticulating by the older men I realize they want souvenirs based on the umbrella pantomime one just performed) these gentlemen would like souvenirs. Is there such a place?

Me: Sure, yeah. That's the bookstore. You want to go out those doors and down, cut across the quads, and then between some buildings....

bbb: (translating all of this)

Me:...you know, never mind. I have to take these papers over to another building so I'll walk you part of the way.

Older gent #1: Dank yiou.

bbb: These gentlemen are two of the top economists in Russia. He (pointing at older gent #1) is the top economic scholar from St. Petersburg and he (pointing at older gent #2) is the top scholar in Moscow. They were here visiting Roger B. Myerson (totally didn't know this guy was a Nobel Laureate. He walks by my window every day). I am just their translator.

Me: (as we emerge outside) Oh, they really got lucky with the weather today! The quads are in full bloom.

bbb: (translating to them and then to me) Yes since the weekend was so bad. What are the quads?

Me: These squares (pointing to buildings and grassy areas) are the quads.

We talk and chit chat and I hear older gent #2 speak to her, she laughs.

bbb: He thinks that the scenes of the labyrinth in Alice in Wonderland must have been filmed here. This is very confusing.

Me: It is. And, all these buildings connect, too, so in winter you don't actually have to go outside. I can move from one side of the quads to the other without stepping outside.

bbb translates.

Me: This campus has been used in a bunch of movies, like "When Harry Met Sally" and "The Fugitive".

bbb translates, older gent #1 asks a question.

bbb: "The Fugitive"?

Me: Yes, you know the movie with....(and I draw a complete blank)...um, not Jack Nicholson...ummm....you know the guy, he's in a lot of movies....oh! yeah! He was Han Solo?

Older gent #1, very excited: Han Solo!

bbb: Not Harrison Ford? He was Han Solo, right?

Me: Yes! Harrison Ford!

Older gent #1 talking to older gent #2: (lots of Russian...) Han Solo! Yes! Yes!

Older gent #2: Han Solo! (and turns and smiles really big at me)

Yep. I think I left the top Russian economists thinking that "Star Wars" was filmed right here. My contribution to US/Russian relations. Excellent Monday.