Epidemic and my Mommy

First let me say... it is SO cool catching up with all of you from KB! What a great way to keep up with people who wouldn't necessarily get around to e-mailing me all about their lives. Rhett, glad to have you on board, and i'm really enjoying seeing all the pictures of your beautiful baby!

If i sound euphoric it's because my temperature is back under 100 and i'm only caughing every four or five minutes now, and it feels good. i came down with the flu last Friday night, and spent an entire three-day weekend in a self-imposed quarantine. Don't get me wrong, i have a serious respect for this virus. But like a worthy adversary, there's no need to help it out. The flu is a very good virus. Maybe it doesn't make headlines like the very sexy smallpox, or write its own horror novels like ebola, or fuel the pompous righteousness of the religious fundamentalists in America like AIDS, but it is truly the emcee of human viruses. It has been known since the early part of the 20th century, but has probably been with our species for centuries, if not millenia. It doesn't kill, and that's why it's so good at it's job: you live to spread it around. Well, i tried my best not to. i holed up in my apartment and watched a whole lot of political analysis interspersed with Family Guy DVDs. Take that, Influenza....

Of course now i'm back to school even with a little cough. But i don't seem to be endangering anybody, since everybody already had my flu. Looks like the joke's on me. What an epidemic this has become! Some Kansas City schools closed due to the high absenteeism. Wicked.

This week we did, among other things, an iodine clock reaction. This is one of the highlights of my year. The reaction is simple enough, and only involves mixing two clear solutions to cause a color change, but the cool thing about it is that the color change happens all at once, and of course, i don't warn my students about this. So i'm there, stirring away, and all of a sudden, 600-ml of stuff that looks otherwise like water blinks black. i love all the "ooo"s and "aaah"s that go with it. The point is to illustrate the affect of temperature, concentration, and catalysts on reaction speed, but the showboat aspect is enjoyable as well. Since i had students falling asleep during the sodium and water pyrotechnics in the week before winter break, i wasn't sure what to expect, but they seem to be coming around a little bit, and this demo went much better.

i will be seeing my mother soon, and i'm looking forward to that. Over the last three weeks (sorry, i couldn't think of a better segue) i have had the unpleasant experience of having to spend time with a set of parents who do not like me much at all. i'd like to think it's because of a misunderstanding, or a difference in personality, but i don't think it is. i think they simply value different qualities in a young woman than my family and i do. And it made me think hard about how grateful i am for my mother, and the things she has taught me. i am proud of the kind of woman i am, despite the fact that it may not fit the gentle, simpering ideal to which some still cling.

My mother taught me that a woman's dignity is in her strength, her confidence, and her intelligence. She taught me never to play stupid to get a man, never to pretend something is when it clearly is not, and to stand up for what i feel is true in the face of any adversity. She taught me that independence is my only security and encouraged me to take pride in helping myself. She gave me the perspective to pity the damsel in distress but to have the courage to show emotion when it is appropriate. She showed me that being tough didn't mean being masculine, and that real power has nothing to do with the reach of your arm or the size of your muscles.

So, i know it's not Mother's Day, or her birthday, or any other special day, but... thanks Mom. i dig you. And for all the other strong, proud, intelligent, fearless, independent women out there... i dig you too.

Tonight.... salsa dancing?? Jeff won't be here until tomorrow because i have another chess tournament and he has a Saturday morning meeting. So the Spanish teacher invited me to go out with her group of friends and learn salsa. It will remind me of my dear late friend Gary, who taught me how to do the mambo on top of a hill in Washington county. A topic for another day.

Exploring Not Kansas

These are the states i've been in. That's 44, so you don't have to do any counting. And DC. For years i've been on a quest to get all 50. Because my dad was military and we did so much moving around, my dad, brother, and i ended up on this mission to visit all 50 states. my mother thinks it's ridiculous. But then, she thinks anything my father does is ridiculous. (Much of it is.) My father visited New Mexico in 2004 and completed all 50. i pulled ahead of my brother in the same year with a trip through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. i rented a car and drove up there on my own. Only had three days because i had a summer job that year, but what a blast. One of the best times of my life. i could have died in Acadia National Park it was so beautiful. Mid-August, tried wading in the ocean, realized why all the other people doing it had Canadian accents. Brr.

Recently i set some goals for myself. The lower 48 by the time i'm 30, and all 50 by the time i'm 40. Alaska and Hawaii will be difficult on a teacher's salary. i'm still holding out hope for a summer job in Alaska someday. After that, i will work on the Canadian provinces (i only have 2 of 13 at the moment), and then i guess the Mexican states (of which i only have 1, out of.... some number).

There is one thing about being a teacher that makes this easier -- summer vacation. That means i have two months to go and do whatever i want, every year, if i can do it cheaply enough. Which i figure means that i rent a compact car, pack a cooler so i can eat apples for lunches and other cheap things, and stay in roach motels when i have to and camping grounds when i can.

Recently i have begun thinking about this summer's adventure: Arizona and New Mexico. Just by coincidence, i will also have to drive through a corner of Texas to get there. And though i will "count" it as a state, i will have to go back and experience it. Driving through and putting your foot in counts the state, but doesn't make up for not knowing the place.

So far i only have two things on my list to visit (well, three, if you count the Fuddruckers in Albuquerque): the Grand Canyon and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Also, i want to drive a solid section of US 666 (now renamed 491 -- pansies) and Route 66.

Here are my guidelines for traveling (which i call experiencing):

• Log as few interstate miles as possible.
• Never pass up an opportunity to eat at a local greasy spoon.
• Cooky little places the billboards tell you to go are a crap shoot. Try them anyway.
• Meet locals.
• Take pictures. Of everything. You never know what will make a cool shot when you pull it off your camera a few weeks later.
• Have a vague plan of what you want to see. But itineraries are for pussies.
• Maps, on the other hand, are essential. Get the big gazetteers with the back roads if you can find them.

i did ask an old hiking buddy of mine to find me a good 6-hour hike, something off the beaten path, moderately strenuous, and with great views. So as soon as that comes through i'll have three. But that's pretty pathetic. i need to get some guide books and start researching. Suggestions would be welcome.