Things that agitate me #1

Perhaps it's because I just got home from vacation last week just to start fighting a nasty cold, but there is much that is on my nerves lately. The first thing is something that has always annoyed me, but is particularly unbearable now. I know it's really silly, and maybe I unknowingly do it myself, but I really hate when people say "Look" in a conversation or when they explain something on TV. It's sexist, I know, but I particularly hate when men do it. It seems needlessly aggressive. I feel like in their heads, they are immediate following it with "moron" or "a#*!ole."I just want to shout back, "No! You Look!" I'm not saying this is sane or anything. It just is.

Another thing is when people (again, especially, but not exclusively, men) gesture with their index finger. I had a student do that to me recently who was challenging me on when I had said something was due. I was willing to concede he might be right, but then all I could see was that finger pointing at me, filling me with white hot rage. Fortunately, I'm pretty-self aware and can keep fairly calm, and just asked him to please not do that. I also think it might be that he is from a culture which, fairly or unfairly, is not considered particularly woman-friendly. However, this student has always been respectful to me, and felt bad that he offended me, and I felt bad I had not waited until after class to say something. I tried to explain in class that this is not necessarily an American thing but more of a Mary thing. And again, I'm not sure if I do it too sometimes.

I think it would be helpful if there was some way I could get in people's heads and see what their intentions are...or get inside my own and see why these things are so bothersome.

Recovering from vacation (or a virus)

While we were in San Diego, we visited the zoo, of course, and toured an aircraft carrier that is now a museum. Mostly, though, we just relaxed and walked around town a lot, doing things like visiting farmers' markets. Hubby and I were on the same page about what we wanted from the vacation (change of scenery, do what we want, when we want, if we want) and that always makes it nicer.

It is nice to be home, but I'm dizzy and I don't know why...several theories--jet lag, Dramamine withdrawal, perimenopause (sorry), or something going around the area...a Facebook friend has been reporting three days of head-spinning on her status, so maybe it's some kind of bug. I wish it would stop, though, because I'm having trouble with any activity that involves standing up, and I need to do things to get ready to go back to work.

Vacation day 1

Last year, we used some of the frequent flyer miles my husband had gathered while working overseas to go to Austin, Texas. A friend of mine had gone there for South by Southwest a year before we went and it just sounded like a great place. (We went the week before S X SW when we went, but there were still all kinds of fun things going on.) Since Ron was, by this time, retired, and I was on spring break, when they asked for people to volunteer to be bumped, we waited for a good offer. We were in no particular hurry, after all, and got vouchers for a round-trip flight anywhere in the contiguous 48. We tried to think of someplace warm(ish) to go this year and that would be expensive on our own.

We arrived in San Diego last night. (Neither of us have ever been in this city before.) We have a great hotel room on the 12th floor, right across from San Diego Bay. This morning, while we were sitting out on the balcony, my husband spotted a whale in the bay. Later, we went out on one of those excursion boats to watch whales, where we saw three (well, mostly their tails.) We also spent some time watching the "wayward" one.

When we got home, we looked out the window and saw a lot of people gathered on the Embarcadero in the vicinity of where we saw the whale. There were also two news trucks, so we turned on the local news and they were talking about it.

So far, this seems to have been a good choice.