I already mentioned on this blog that last Thursday, when Travalon and I got our boat on the water for the season, we saw a train pass by while we were on the water. Tuesday I got to see another train from a new perspective, because when I walked out the door of my building for lunch, I heard the train whistle. There was absolutely no time to get from the fourth floor balcony where I had come out to the third floor balcony, which leads to a sidewalk that goes past an excellent spot from which to see the train. However, I realized that I could see the train, though not quite as clearly, from right where I was standing on the fourth floor balcony. And was it ever a long one! Then yesterday I had to run an errand clear across campus, and everything is torn up now that the students are gone, so I couldn't figure out how to get to the bike path that runs alongside the train tracks. When I did finally find a way to get there, it would have involved doubling back, so I just continued on. Suddenly I heard the train whistle, and then I heard rumbling from the track, so I looked up and an engine went by. I was very close to it, but I thought, "Man, if I'd made it onto the bike path on time, I would have been five feet away from it!" But then I thought, is that like complaining that I got confetti cake instead of red velvet cake? At least I got cake!
Today the administrative team in my department had a "meeting" to discuss "diversity," which means we went to a brewery run by two trans women to drink beer and eat Asian food. Spouses were welcome too, so Travalon came by after he got off of work. My coworker named after a Norse god was there with his wife and baby, but he has a new job and is leaving soon. Our chair was there too, and when the Asian restaurant that dropped off our food forgot to bring utensils, he saved the day because he had a whole bunch of chopsticks with him. Which would seem random, since we're the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic, but if you knew this guy, it wouldn't have surprised you at all. His dad was a French Canadian, and his mom was actually from Ireland, and he spends a lot of time doing research above the Arctic Circle. He also bikes everywhere, and now and then he's been known to go to our church - I remember being surprised to see him there at Christmas Eve Mass one year. I enjoyed talking to him during this "important work meeting," which was really just an end-of-semester party, but anyone that eclectic is bound to be entertaining.
Famous Hat
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