View across Presbyterian

Today, I began my practicum at Presbyterian College. I hardly had time to breathe, so this was the only shot I took all day, the view from my office window across to the library. Interesting to have regular contact with three universities and to be able to compare how they do things: Clemson (pop: 14,400, 70% from SC), High Point (pop: 3300 from 46 states and 51 countries), and Presbyterian (pop: 1200, 97% residential).

T

Yep, they called a technical.

Sunshine on snow

I looked out the window and was struck by how happy the shadows on the porch made me. Madge must agree.

Meditative Me

This is a sculpture, given me by a friend, to honor my spiritual journey.

I think it is supposed to be Mary Magdalen in the garden. Whoever it is, she reminds me of my meditative self. This Self hasn't been around in awhile, and I miss Her. I hope I can spend some time this weekend reconnecting with Her. I gain so much from meditation, it just seems to be one of the first things to go, along with exercise, when I'm dealing with life. But like exercise, it gives back much more than it takes.

You don't want to go down there...

Over the winter one half of my neighborhood is cut off from the other because of the rebuilding of the bridge.

Not that I'm complaining...the old bridge was built of toothpicks. But it makes walking the dog to our usual spot difficult, unless we feel like running across a water pipe. And it makes driving the direct route to many of my regular places impossible. But in this ice, it could really be dangerous to turn down this street!

An Apple man, naturally

I've gotten lazy with my 365 over the last week. Something about being snowed in has made it ok to neglect. But snow is melting and I need to get cracking. Here's how I see my dad a lot. He's coming up on 86, but he is up-to-date on computer stuff. He loves checking in on Facebook to keep up with people. He watches his grandson's game online. He emails his friends.

He's pretty hip.

Snow day!

Zeus illustrates just how excited EVERYONE is about snow in the south!

I ♥ my cat

Actually, my own cat is on my hit list, after chewing my laptop power cord in half.
Saw this bit of graffiti on my walk yesterday.

Swamp Rabbit Trail

Zeus, Kati and I went walking today along the Swamp Rabbit Trail. It's a 12+ mile trail along an old railbed, so the scenery is often industrial and sketchy. But the trail is bringing life and visitors to a side of town that has needed it. Even though it was 32 degrees out the trail was full of bikers and walkers and dogs. This was one of the scenes along the route.

Trivia Night

A few nights ago, Kati and I met Adam for trivia night downtown. Thank goodness for Adam, because one round was all song lyrics. Can't say we exactly dominated, but we had fun.

Centennial Oak

63 feet tall. 16 feet circumference. 60" trunk diameter. 141' spread.

Blue Star mom

Students aren't back yet, so the campus is pretty empty. Certainly, the dorms are. Today the sky was gray, and so I thought this shot captured the feeling of coldness and emptiness. But then I noticed the little blue star in one of the windows, and that made me think of Gray. I talked to him today for a short while. He spent midnight on New Year's Eve in a helicopter above Afghanistan. Talk about cold and empty.

WOOF

This is my mantel at Christmas. It's kinda -- no, VERY -- plain compared to the mantels I've done in the past, but it's a happy one for me. Kinda hate to see the stockings taken down.

Back to the salt mines....

Today was the first day back at work, and here's the view of my cave from where I sit. I spent the day cleaning out files and e-mail, and trying to get back in the groove.

Everybody's happy at the Apple store

...most of all me. My power cord died, and thanks to Apple Care, they just swapped out a new one. First problem of 2011: solved. If only they will all be this easy!

The Lottery Virgins

Take two twenty-somethings and two forty-somethings, none of whom have ever bought a lottery ticket, and here's what you have on New Year's Day. Between football games we drove to the gas station and plunked down a few bucks for a chance at winning!