Bon jour.

I realize I haven't written in awhile. But from the end of April until now has been a bit crazy to say the least. And I expect it to continue through May into June...at the very least. On the plus side, I did have a few relaxing days in Jamaica. It was a five day vacation, and I'm a bit sad that this year we didn't take a longer one. Well, I suppose the year isn't over yet. Right? Anyway, I included a picture of me just before I got the worst sunburn I have ever had. I couldn't sleep on my back for days. I couldn't wear a strapful bra. It didn't ruin the trip, but it was not pleasant. Next time I'm going to take my t-shirt snorkeling. I guess even 50 doesn't work when I go swimming.

The puppy is well. He caught giardia just before we went away. And the vet medicated him heavily so that he could stay with my cousin and her dog. He overcame it and stayed with them. I think he had more fun there because she was there. She'll be coming to visit next week, though. So he'll be happy!

Neuteronomy.


Cooper was neutered this week. And he's doing great. He's doing so great he wants to go outside and play. But he can't because of his stitches. So instead he tries to play inside as if he's playing outside. He needs to be reminded constantly that he should calm down. I don't know how other people deal with neutering labs and then sitting inside with them for a week. But it is not fun for either of us...especially when one of us received 5 hours of sleep last night and wanted to take a nap after coming home from teaching.

In part, the lack of sleep is due to salsa dancing. Mike and I have been enjoying our Thursday night salsa. We take 2 hours of class and then dance for a couple hours. It's a really fun thing to do because it's active and we meet lots of different people. Plus, there is an absolutely fabulous Greek diner nearby, and we get to enjoy a weekly dinner there. I often wish that we had all-night diners in the Quincy area when I was in high school. I remember going to Bickford's late at night and thinking it was disgusting. And you know if I thought it was disgusting as a teenager, it's got to be really disgusting. Blech. Suddenly I am reminded of the worst food poisoning I've ever had -- from a milkshake at Perkin's. And I just can't bring myself to have another milkshake. I've maybe had one since then...? Maybe...

Other than salsa, I'm just my usual self. Mike and I have been exploring various hiking trails in Westchester with Cooper (pre-neuter). We're really lucky to live in an area with so many preserves and state parks. There are tons of trails still left unexplored by our well-worn feet. Otherwise, I've been playing some Scrabulous. If you haven't joined Facebook yet, I highly recommend that you do. And if you're thinking, well, I'm on Friendster, please be informed the Facebook is sooo much better than Friendster. I never checked Friendster daily; but Facebook...I'm obsessed.

I've changed my diet to a mostly protein diet in accordance with suggestions by my chiropractor to avoid getting migraines. So I'm hoping the side effects are that my muscles look mad crazy by the time I go to Jamaica next month. I know another great side effect is that I can feel good about ordering bacon when I go out to breakfast on the weekend. OK, so bacon's not really part of a lean protein diet, but it's still protein damnit. And I'm going to allow myself that indulgence once a week.

I can't believe I'm saying next month is May. Can anybody tell me where all the months went? You know, March and February? And can anybody else tell me why there are no jobs listed in theatre that I can apply to? Oh, I guess I can blame Bush for that...even if he really had nothing to do with it.

Not a whole lot is happening here. Mike and I went up to Western MA Easter weekend to see my friend Matt's play. It was lovely because we could take Cooper and he enjoyed time running around on the farm with other dogs. Plus, Western MA is nice. The small town of Ashfield has everything -- a pizza place, a diner nearby, and a quaint breakfast place. Love it. Though they also still had snow, which was not as fun.

On the way back, we stopped at my Aunts for some time with the four little cousins (i.e. my cousins' children). They are just absolutely too cute.

Has it really been that long since my last post? I'm on Spring Break right now, and so far, I'm enjoying it. I'm doing bad things like having pancakes for dinner (last night) and Annie's mac & cheese for lunch (today). To counter this, I also treated myself to two fitness classes in a row last night.

At some point, though, I have to get to work on my dissertation. So that's my after lunch plan. And it probably involves going to Starbucks so I won't have any distractions like a dog, or internet.

As you can see, there isn't a helluva lot going on. I did go into the city to see August in Osage County. I highly recommend it. It's very now, but in some ways, it's very much an American classic. So if it tours near you, it's worth seeing. You could, of course, always come to NYC to see it too.

Here are some incredibly cute pictures of Cooper when my cousin Julie's dog, Hero, visited for some play time. Hero was more interested in the treats I had in my pocket, though. Cooper is generally interested in sticks.

Today he went to canine kindergarten again so I could have a break and actually get some work done. Imagine that! He's zonked right now and sleeping peacefully. When I picked him up today, he looked like he had increased in size. He's growing so fast.

Otherwise here it's the same old same old. We plan to start salsa dancing tomorrow. I don't know if the place we are going to will work out, but we'll give it a try.

I'll be up in MA the weekend of March 1st. My cousin is having a christening for her baby. He looks so cute in pictures. I can't wait to meet him.

The big snowstorms always seem to hit when I have to drive back from Fordham. Or rather, they hit EXACTLY when I have to drive back from Fordham. Today, I get out of class at 2:15 and the winter weather warning starts at 2p.m. I'm hoping that means that the storm will really start at 3 p.m. But really. I doubt I'll have that much luck.

Cooper is doing well in his training course. He tends to learn tricks a little too quickly. It's like he knows what to do so you don't need to say the command anymore. And sometimes that makes it difficult for him to learn commands. But he's loads of fun.

This past weekend Mike and I went to a party called "Thanksgiving in February." And at the party, they used a fryer to fry not only a turkey, but also pickles, mashed potato balls, chicken, oreos, and Twinkies. Even though I had only one thing of everything fried (with the exception of the Twinkie), it took days for my arteries, veins, and intestines to recover. It was delicious, of course. But man was it filling.

LOST

I thought that the season premiere was actually going to be two hours. So I was sad to find out that the first hour is a recap of everything I've seen. We brought Cooper to one of Mike's friends from works house, and he was very well behaved. He really likes to lie down under tables. And yet he doesn't like his crate. How odd.

I shouldn't be posting tonight. I have far too much to do. But for some reason, I had to change my template. I'm feeling quite capricious when it comes to templates. Doesn't it seem like no one has created a new blogger template in like a million years? What are all those people doing now?

Anyway, without a tt job or a postdoc thus far, life feels up in the air. So I had to change my template. And I went with black. I really don't know why. Black just looks good, damnit.

Here I am.

Not a whole helluva a lot going on. So I felt no reason to post.

Cooper is pretty damn cute. Most of the time he acts like a puppy. But sometimes he acts like a dog with a lot of wisdom. He has soulful eyes. He certainly does not act like a dog with a lot of wisdom when he is in his crate. This is by far his most problematic issue. We don't know if it is crate anxiety or separation anxiety. And it's going to be difficult to tell. Otherwise, he is simply fabulous all the time.

I've started teaching at Fordham again. And I do enjoy it. There is kind of a lull in job applications right now. I have one, maybe two more to apply for before there aren't any more openings. Of course, there are many places I still haven't heard back from. Some of these are in the interview process. Others probably haven't started sifting through applications. So who's to know? There should be more listings for jobs appearing soon. I look forward to it. Having listings to look forward to always helps when one receives a big ol' rejection letter.

For now, I'm just having a low key Friday night. I watched another episode of My So-called Life. I think I mentioned before that this is available online at the ABC website for everyone's viewing pleasure.

What do I really want to watch? LOST. I can't believe that the premiere is less than a week away. AHHHHHH. Wast that a scream or a sigh? Only I know.

Introducing Cooper

Hi all. We've adopted a doggy. His name is Cooper and he is a five month old chocolate lab mix. He is a really low key puppy, and he's absolutely a delightful dog. We adopted him from a shelter in Tennessee, and he was transported up on Wednesday. It seems like he really recovered from the transport just today. He looks all chocolate lab, but his coat is a little more thick and wavy on top so he is either mixed with a curly coated retriever, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, a spaniel, or a shephard -- just to narrow things down. Anyway, he's loads of fun, super-cute, and I hope you all get to meet him soon.

I'm back after a whirlwind of holiday action. A whirlwind of holiday action really only leads to one place -- hours and hours at the gym subsequently to work off all that extra fat. I ate many delicious meals at others' houses, and I don't think the celebrating has quite finished yet. I'll spare you the details of the individual meals. But they were enjoyable. So were the cookies I made. And now I must return to the norm. I have eight papers to grade today and I have to get back into the grind of applying for jobs, working on the dis, etc. But it was nice to have a short holiday break. If I do get a more permanent job next year, I think that we will go away after the holidays next year. It will be delightful to go somewhere warm and experience New Year's in a different place. Speaking of New Year's, we went to the city yesterday to see a 10:30 a.m. showing of There Will Be Blood. The film is absolutely amazing. Beyond words. Fantastic. After it got out we walked through Times Square. I can't imagine spending New Years there. At 2:00 there were already people staking out spots on the sidewalk. They were even standing on the middle islands on Broadway. I really have no desire to ever do that; for one, I hate crowds. Anyway, we returned home and spent New Year's at Lys's friend's house. He had a champagne and Scrabble party. I have to say that it was a really enjoyable New Year's. And that's definitely something I would do again.

I love stealing surveys from Lisa. I think I've stolen this one a few years in a row.
Year-End Survey
1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? I went to Greece. And I went to Dollywood.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Kind of. I think I resolved to go to the gym about 4 days a week and/or for at least 5 hours a week. And I did that, up until I majorly sprained my ankle in August. I returned in September (though not to my favorite step class). Then, with the two classes at two schools, the dis, the job applications, etc. I kind of stopped for most of October and November. But I've started right back up again in December.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Oh my god! Yes! This is my first "friend" birth. My friend Emily from Ithaca gave birth to a beautiful baby boy last Friday. His name is Collin. And my cousin Carolyn also gave birth to her first -- a boy named Cavan. A lot of C's and a lot of Irishness going around.
4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes, my beautiful Great Aunt Dorothy passed away just after Thanksgiving. Although, of course, it is sad, she was ready to go. She was a lovely woman, and I think of her every day.
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? J-O-B. Not adjunct.
7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? I guess July 14. Mike and I celebrated five years of marriage. :^)
8. What was your biggest success? I managed to get a dissertation chapter done, an 80 page one, no less during a semester when I was absolutely overloaded with work.
9. What was your biggest failure? I was turned down for a directing job at Yale after getting very close. I don't know if it was a failure, but it hit me pretty hard.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? That sprained ankle kept me out of step class until just this week. And I still felt it!
11. What was the best thing you bought? Something I didn't expect to buy -- my new MacBook. It's the cheapest one, but the best for me because it's small and delightful.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My cousin Scott and his wife Dena have twins. And they are just the two most delightful girls ever. So I'm going to give them the medal of honor here for being fantastic parents.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Some of my students plagiarized at Baruch, and I had a hard time dealing with that. It was depressing, appalling, and time-consuming.
14. Where did most of your money go? Mortgage. Roof. Rest of Car. MacBook.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Greece. We haven't been on vacation in 5 years!!!!
16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Either Gimme More or Stronger.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you a.happier or sadder? I think happier. I'm happier when I'm busy and last year I was on fellowship and not that busy. But I did have the play to look forward to, so perhaps I'm sadder. Either way, there isn't much of a difference b. thinner or fatter? About the same. I tend to be thinner over the spring and summer and slightly pudgier in the winter months. c. richer or poorer? poorer, I guess. No more Cornell money for me to spend.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? I was pretty damn busy. Still, I'd like to have more of the dis done. But wouldn't everybody?
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Maybe watched a bit less of ABC shows online.
20. How will you be spending Christmas? I actually don't know what we'll be doing on Christmas yet.
21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Always!
22. What was your favorite TV program? Lost. I can feel the anticipation beginning to pump through my veins like heroin.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Not personally that I can think of.
24. What was the best book you read? Joe Roach. It.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Amy Winehouse.
26. What did you want and get? a job teaching writing at Fordham.
27. What did you want and not get? Yale.
28. What was your favorite film of this year? No Country for Old Men
29. What did you do on your birthday? Unfortunately, nothing much. I spent time with Mike mostly. I wanted to have a party. But I think that will have to wait for the larger done with the PhD thing...let's hope that happens.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If people close to me had to struggle less with life's difficulties.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? More professorial than ever. But not the funky kind. The tweed kind.
32. What kept you sane? Mike.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Justin Timberlake. I'm not attracted to him. But I fancy him.
34. What political issue stirred you the most? The primary elections. They are fascinating!
35. Who did you miss? Everybody. People from Cornell. People from MA. Everybody.
36. Who was the best new person you met? Shoot. I don't know. I've met a lot of great people. But no one that I have become close to friend-wise.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Use more quizzes.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. It's Britney, bitch.

Survey Says...

A. Accent: Most of the time, I speak "standard American." But every once in awhile, the Boston accent slips back in. Just Thursday my office mate was meeting with one of her students. And this student said "cah" and "pahty." I knew immediately that he was from a suburb of South Boston. And he was...Milton.

B. Book: I'm about to start "Blonde Ambition." It's a book about Anna Nicole. And it's for my dissertation!

C. Chore I Hate: cleaning the oven. I want a self-clean oven.

D. Dad's Name: Daniel Fitzgerald Shea

E. Essential Electronic: I'm pretty damn happy with my new MacBook.

F. Favorite Meal: ice cream and cookies. Or breakfast. I clearly don't know how to answer this question.

G. Gold or Silver: silver

H. Hometown: Quincy, MA or currently Yorktown Heights, NY

I. Insomnia: Only apparently when I am worried that I will miss my train and not make it to my class to teach. Or, the first week of school...always.

J. Job Title: Graduate Student (to be altered soon, I hope!)

K. Kids: I don't know if I'm ready. But supposedly, you're never ready.

L. Living Arrangements: A house in Westchester County, NY. A house that needs fixing up. A house with a good amount of land and garden. A lot of upkeep. A house that would look great with a dog in it.

M. Mom's Birthplace: Boston, MA

N. Number of Apples Eaten in Last Week: Hmmm. None.

O. Overnight Hospital Stays: I don't know. My Mom had me at 5a.m. or somewhere around then. I don't know if I stayed the next night or not. I would say, probably. I've had a couple late night/early morning emergency room visits since then. Nothing serious.

P. Pets: No dog...yet. No bunny...yet.

Q. Question I Ask Myself a Lot: Will I ever have a job?

R. Religious Affiliation: Ethnically Catholic. In practice, I have my own sort of practice. I was raised Unitarian, but attended a Jewish nursery school. In college, I studied with a Korean Shaman. I'm considering attending the non-denominational church down the street someday.

S. Siblings: Andrew and Chris. And my sibling-in-law, Lys.

T. Time I Wake Up: I like to wake up after 7a.m. That's what my body wants. But this semester, I had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. That isn't what my body wants.

U. Unusual Talent or Skill: I am fairly adept with my feet.

V. Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: I am interested in Lisa's response. Although I don't eat raw tomatoes, I do eat tomato sauce and cooked tomatoes.

W. Worst Habit: Picking my nails.

X. X-rays: Teeth, Chest (every five years), ankle, pelvis; shit, I've had a fair amount of these.

Y. Yummy Food I Make: I think I'm about to make my first batch of Chocolate Mint Marvel cookies. I have to say that I made these for the first time last year, and they immediately raised my status as a baker to the level of exquisite. Otherwise, I make a pretty impressive chocolate chip cookie. BAM!

Z. Zodiac Sign: Virgo. So pure.

Our oven is no longer broken. Or at least...it is no longer broken in the sense that I meant before. Actually, it never was broken in that sense. A very frozen pizza led us astray.

Our oven is broken.

So much for waiting until we redo the kitchen to get appliances. It looks like we'll be purchasing a new stove shortly. Otherwise, I won't be baking any cookies this Christmas season. And oh! How I need to back cookies to recover from my semester. But I hope that if we do get a new stove, it doesn't get a rash from the fridge and the dishwasher -- both rusting. The fridge is proudly covered in baby pictures and drawings by Becky's 1st grade class of last year. Underneath is the fridge's shame -- many rust stains scratchng the surface of the fridge. And did you know? Inside the fridge, at the bottom back, there is a freezer. You may be thinking huh? But just imagine. There's a place inside our fridge that freezes things. We put the seltzer there. It's best to keep everything else away. As for our dishwasher, it cleans things really well after you clean them thoroughly in the sink.

So you can see my dilemma. But when the oven doesn't function. Well, hey. You fucking need an oven at Christmas.

I was mistaken. This is a picture of Dusty. The other picture is of Amy and her former rabbit named Tattletail.

It's snowing here right now, but it's supposed to start raining. I just hope that it rains in time for me to drive to Fordham safely.

In my last post, I neglected to mention the nightmare of almost losing 20 pages of my dissertation when the hard drive on the Dell laptop crashed. But thankfully, I managed to pull that sucker off between blue screens. And now I have a brand new MacBook, which is just the most delightful thing ever. I remember with the Dell, I would have to turn on the laptop, go into the kitchen, boil water for my eggs, and by the time the water was boiling, the Dell would probably be started up. But the MacBook starts instantly. Oh there are so many wonderful aspects of it. I just can't name them all.

There isn't much in terms of other news. I'm still working all the time. But I am almost done with this chapter. And that means I'm officially almost done with my dissertation. And that's really good. Really really good.

I'm yearning for Thanksgiving Break. I can't wait to stuff myself with turkey, lasagna (what I'm making for the vegetarians in the family), mashed potatoes, peas, squash, pumpkin bread, and everything else. Delish! I also really want to have this dissertation chapter done. You know the one I've been talking about all semester? That one? Yeah, I still need to finish it. And I'm going to. It may take another bag of gummy worms. But it will get done this week. And then I can return to normal life -- going to the gym, cleaning, etc. The job applications have slowed down too. I think I have three left for this semester. And then the next big deadline will probably be February 1st. So after Dec. 15 or so I can have that moment where I take in a big old breath -- where I don't have to worry about teaching (or commuting!) for at least a few weeks. In the meantime, however, it's the normal commute. And so on that commute I think about turkeys. And especially Amy Sedaris' fabulous dress and turkey. In these I find solace.

I find solace in general in Amy Sedaris. Mostly this has to do with her living with her bunny. As you know, I love bunnies, and would have on right now if it weren't for my other love of dogs. I want to get a dog and bunny at the same time so that they like each other. And we're just not ready for a dog yet. So now I'm going on and on. I'll leave you with a picture of Amy and her bunny.

1. First Name: Megan
2. Were you named after anyone? Kind of. Megan is taken from Margaret, and Margaret was my Nana's name.
3. When did you last cry? Not this past week, but the week before.
4. Do you like your handwriting? Yeah. My cursive is super-secretary, though it will never live up to the secretaries' cursive in Tennessee.
5. What is your favourite lunchmeat? Bologna. But I don't eat it anymore.
6. If you were another person would you be friends with you? I might be too shy for myself. But I think we'd get along.
7. Do you have a journal? This is my journal.
8. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes.
9. Would you bungee jump? No.
10. What is your favourite cereal? Lucky Charms. Not that I really eat them. But I use to eat them in college when my metabolism rocked. It no longer rocks; it sinks.
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? No.
12. Do you think you are strong? For awhile I was strong. Then my dissertation chapter took over my gym life.
13. What is your favourite ice-cream flavour? Coffee
14. Shoe size? 7 and 1/2
15. Red or pink? red is the color of blood
16. What is the least favourite thing about yourself? my current metabolism
17. Who do you miss most? Who don't I miss?
18. Do you want everyone to send this back to you? This is a blog.
19. What colour pants, shirt and shoes are you wearing? dark blue jeans, green & black, and no shoes -- I'm in bed and I'm supposed to be writing my dissertation.
20. Last thing you ate? Milk Duds (dissertation fodder)
21. What are you listening to right now? Radiohead Kid A
22. If you were a crayon what colour would you be? Some light yellow. I self-identify as blond.
23. Favourite smell? leaves on the ground in fall
24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Barbara
25. The first thing you notice about people you are attracted to? I like dark men.
26. Do you like who you stole this off? Yes!
27. Favourite drink? Cape Cod
28. Favourite sport? skiing
29. Eye colour? hazel
30. Hat size? small
31. Do you wear contacts? negative
32. Favourite food? ice cream!
33. Scary movies or happy endings? scary movies -- especially bad one's
34. If you could live anywhere in the world where would that be? Ireland? France? London? Somewhere where my currency would actually be going up.
35. Summer or winter? winter
36. Hugs or kisses? yes. I hug everybody. Even people who don't want to be hugged.
37. Favourite dessert? cookies
38. Who is most likely to respond? ?
39. Least likely to respond? ?
40. What books are you currently reading? I'm teaching the Poisonwood Bible, so I'm reading that.
41. What's on your mouse pad? don't have one.
42. What did you watch on TV last night? I watched a little of Grey's Anatomy online
43. Favourite sounds? the ocean, the wind (as long as I don't have to feel it), skis on snow
44. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Beatles.
45. The furthest you have been from home? Greece
46. What's your special talent? picking my nails
47. Where were you born? Boston, MA
48. Who sent this to you? no one. I stole it from Lisa's blog.

Well needless to say, I am quite happy with the Red Sox and with the arrival of one of my favorite holidays. Actually, I enjoy all holidays, but the fact that the three best one's are today, a month from today, and two months from today (xmas, not new year's), brings great joy to my heart. Halloween is also kind of a hump day for me. Yes, it occurs on a Wednesday, but it means that I've completely two months of classes, and that there is really only one month of classes left. So it's almost party time.

Tonight I shall celebrate the wicked holiday by wearing halloween socks, eating chocolate, and writing my dissertation. All of these activities are quite enjoyable. They are much more enjoyable than the activities I was involved in last week -- finding three different cases of plagiarism in one of my courses.

Plagiarism really pisses me off because its a waste of my time. It's a waste of my time to read a paper and comment on it -- then discover halfway through that it is plagiarized. It's a waste of my time to read up on school policies. It's a waste of my time to go through everyone else's paper searching for it on google. And damnit, it's a waste of my time to fill out the paperwork. The only thing that's useful from it is that I have learned that I might have to restructure my assignments to avoid reading plagiarized papers. But that's really a waste of my time too because it means I have to restructure papers. All this wasted time meant that I didn't see one game of the World Series. Though I did listen to the final inning. I'm glad for the Sox obviously! I think if they hadn't won I would have been a bit more miserable about the whole thing last week. So thanks.

To quote Javier Rodriguez (Benicio del Toro's character in Traffic): "Everybody likes baseball."

And right now, Red Sox fans love it.

Thank you Red Sox!!!!!!!!! Now for the World Series!

I'm still hopeful. After all, I'm a Red Sox fan. And there is no team with a better history of come-backs. No team.