fresh

Just visited Tait Farm to do the CSA pick-up thing. And on the way back, over Nittany Meadow Farm, the masses of clouds had slices in them, allowing beams to come through. Gorgeous.

I picked up some mint and lavender plants while I was at Tait, and realized while walking back to my car that growing plants and fresh things make me happy. Not that I didn't know this before, but it was notable then.

Now, out of my monkey suit. Though this particular monkey suit garnered me two compliments today, and my hair at the meeting I wore it for garnered two more. This suit's one of my better combos: "spiffy," as J. put it minutes ago. It's got a very subtle pinstripe in coral, and a matching, almost shocking solid coral lining which you can see pretty well at my cuffs when I raise my hands or arms at all. I was amazed that I managed to find a matching coral blouse, but I managed to. It's a good look, if I do say so myself.

The hair's my new favorite 'do: my version of a French twist, the proper version of which always fails because I have too much hair. Instead, I get a bit of a knobby bit at the bottom, but it still looks decent for awhile--until I get too many flyaways, anyway. But the whole thing I've got anchored at two points, only one of which is usually visible. No bobby pins.

I got another appearance compliment earlier this week: the colleague in question called it my "mystery woman" look, for some reason. It's a long wool skirt, soft pink shirt, and funky/romantic jacket with slightly puffed shoulders. I like it quite a bit (picked it up at Target on sale: don't tell).

My project for this weekend is an annual tradition at this point: writing the Free Comic Book Day article for the guys at Comic Swap, to be put out in the Centre Daily Times next week. Deadline's Monday. I could say that it should write itself by now, but it won't. There's always something new, and I certainly have to change it up each year. I'm skipping the staff's favorite picks this year for that very reason, I think. But they've got a guest artist coming in, so there should be plenty of other things to cover.

Off to eat before people arrive here.

Virginia Tech tribute and email

I'm writing since Dad nudged me to post, and to share the following:

Here's the email we just got here in admissions regarding Penn State's Virginia Tech tribute during the Blue/White game last weekend. We'll be sending this on formally, but I thought I'd post it here as well:

To whoever reads this letter,

Hello, my name is [name edited for his privacy], and I am sophomore and student at Virginia Tech. I did not know of any other way to contact the university, so I decided to write this letter to you all in the admissions office. You do not even realize how much your tribute at the spring game has lifted our spirits. I am dumbfounded by your regard for the well-being of the hokie community. I was not present at the game, however, I was able to watch the proceedings later on youtube.com. A few of my friends attend Penn State University, and I have talked to them with regards to the spring game. I want to express, on behalf of the entire Virginia Tech community, our gratitude for your display of support. You all have exhibited, through your support of our school, the character of your university. Never would I have imagined that the students and alumni of Penn State would be wearing maroon and orange and even cheering "Let's go HOKIES!!!"

On behalf of the entire Virginia Tech community I would again like to express our sincere gratitude for the way you have lifted our spirits on campus. You all deserve praise for helping us through this catastrophe, and I hope that this letter has illustrated our thanks to you.

Sincerely,
Your fellow hokie
[name edited for his privacy]

(I give you permission to print this or publish it however you want. I just want to make sure that you all realize the impact that you have had on our school.)

The tribute he's referring to is on YouTube. You can watch one version (though there are others) here.

old family photos

Quick note: late to the club job.

Dad, Anni's album photos are now up here.

weather, office change

On Tuesday, it was almost 80 degrees here. This morning, I found a dusting of snow upon leaving home. A dusting, sure, but still.

Just switched offices: new one's bigger, but the desk makes my wrists hurt. I'll be rectifying that shortly, though. It also suffers from the same heating problem my office-before-last did: it's longer than it is wide (three windows again!), so the heat builds up in it pretty quickly since the heaters run the length of the windows. It needs some work (like a paint job: there are nail holes everywhere), but I like it. And I have a staff assistant in my area now, which has both up and down sides.

Off to fix the desk situation.

yoga conference

I've been eyeing the Yoga Journal Grand Geneva Conference ever since I noticed its existence last night, while paging through Yoga Journal. Wish I could go, but it's a. expensive and b. falling at a really inconvenient time, work-wise. Hopefully they'll run it again next year: it's a good excuse to a. do yoga (and potentially expand my practice of it, as all I've got is from one teacher. she's fantastic, but I absolutely could be missing something) and b. visit family. And maybe by then I'll be able to afford it. :P