I forgot to mention a story from yesterday: so just about a year ago I got yelled at by another woman for walking on their condo association's boardwalk. Technically she was correct, I was trespassing, but I hadn't thought it was a big deal since people from the various condo associations go on each other's property all the time - I mean, we're all neighbors, right? So I often see this woman walking either with a man or alone, and it didn't escape my attention that they took longer to come back from the gated community area than if they had just turned around at the gate. Generally I wouldn't have cared, but if she's going to be a stickler for the rules, then by gum, she had better follow them herself! Yesterday I was out walking at lunch and saw her walking toward the gated community, so since I was going that way myself, I thought I'd see if she went into it. (I go in there all the time, but I know the people back there and they are fine with me. They have complained that other people go back there.) Interestingly enough, she turned around WELL before she reached the gate, which I realize proves nothing, but it did seem suspicious since usually her walks back that direction take so long. Then I saw the association president from the gated community, so I was going to tell her about it, but she was on the phone while walking her poodle. The poodle was happy to see me, anyway.
Today I worked on campus, and it was so much fun having our staff meeting again, starting with the dad jokes. My favorite: Have you heard the joke about gaslighting? YES, YOU HAVE! Then Seabird and I went out to see the partial solar eclipse at 12:23. I had glasses from the 2024 eclipse, but the sky was cloudy so I didn't have high hopes. However, the clouds parted enough to see the sun, so we excitedly put on the glasses... and saw a circle. Wow, that was really a partial eclipse! Later I saw photos on social media, and there was the slightest little dip in the edge of the sun, so we probably just thought it was a wisp of cloud if we even noticed it. Hardingfele was on a bus at that time, and Travalon was wrangling kids at the pool - yes, he gets paid to swim. The total eclipse was visible in Greenland and Spain. There's supposed to be a magnificent one next August in Egypt, with six minutes of totality. It's tempting, but I'd have to fly, and you know how I feel about flying.
I had eaten lunch early, right around 11, so around 4 I was ravenous. No problem, I'd get something from the vending machines... but I'd forgotten my wallet! I scrounged for change in my bag but only found 70 cents, which would buy nothing in the vending machines. So I looked in the fridge and the freezer in the break room to see if there was any abandoned food. In the freezer there was a mysterious container that said "Famous" on it... and then I remembered it was chickpea salad from a party for the grad students, which I'd put away to eat later. Well, it was later. It had been sitting in the freezer for three months, but I heated it up and it tasted fine, and I'm still alive hours later.
Someone on social media posted a video of a train going through campus, and I was hoping it was the train I'd seen on Monday, so I could grab a screenshot of the "Truckster" graffiti. It was not that train, but it did have some good graffiti.
