Blogroll

When I'm not here, you may find me wandering the pages below. (If I'm a regular visitor to your site and I've left your link off or mislinked to you, please let me know! And likewise, if you've blogrolled me, please check that my link is updated: thisroamanticlife.blogspot.com. The extra (a) makes all the difference!)

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For posts sorted by date or label, see the links below.

For posts on frequently referenced topics, click the buttons to the right.

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Body: in sickness and in health

I won't lie; this body and I have had our issues with each other for many years. Body image -- sure. Physical and mental overextension -- comes with being a Type A kind of girl. I still struggle with these things, so they show up from time to time in my writing.

More recently, illness, pure but not simple, has added itself to the mix in a multi-system sort of way. And the challenges in figuring out exactly what's gone wrong are many. As problems have revealed themselves in the last few years, beginning with reactive hypoglycemia in late 2008, I've documented them here, partly to gain a little clarity on managing complex conditions but mostly to give voice to vulnerabilities I feel but don't normally share with anyone face to face. Better out than in, they say, right? (Oh yes, humor is one way I deal.)

The links below cover the different angles I've examined (and from which I've been examined) within that experience.

Travel: neither here nor there

When the person you're married to lives two time zones away, you log a fair number of frequent flier miles. And if you blog about commuter relationships, you log quite a few posts en route too.

Since we're no longer in separate places, I blog less often from airports. But we do travel -- together now! -- which is much more fun to write about. So in addition to thoughts on our years of commuting, the links below cover the places we've been as a pair and, in some cases, the adventures that have happened on the way.

Writing: the long and short of it

Why do I do it? Good question. Maybe it's not so much that I like to write but that I have to write, even when the words refuse to stick to the page. Believe me, I've tried doing other things like majoring in biochemistry (freshman fall, many semesters ago). Within a year, I'd switched to English with a concentration in creative writing and wasn't looking back.

After graduating, I taught English for a few years and then worked as an editor, which I still do freelance. In 2007, I applied and got into an MFA program at a place I like to call Little U. on the Prairie. I finished my degree in 2011 and have been balancing tutoring and writing on my own ever since.

The following links cover the writing I've done about writing: process, content, obstacles, you name it. It's not always pretty. But some part of me loves it, even when it's hard. And this is the result.

Heart: family and friends

I'd have a hard time explaining who I am without being able to talk about the family I grew up in as well as the people I've met beyond its bounds. But even with such context, it's not easy! In the simplest terms, I'm a first-generation Asian-American who has spent most of this life caught between cultures. That, of course, doesn't even begin to describe what I mean to, but there's my first stab at the heart of it all.

That's what this group of posts is reserved for -- heart. The essential parts of my life whose influences I carry with me, for better or worse. The links below cover what I've written as I've learned how these forces work within me, for me, against me, in spite of me. They anchor me even as they change me, and they keep life interesting.

Recommended reading

What do I do when there's too much on my mind and my words won't stick to the page? I escape into someone else's thoughts. Below is a collection of books and articles that have been sources of information, inspiration, and occasional insight for my own work.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Nine years

Today is the anniversary of our first date. On that day, we went to a late-afternoon showing of Entrapment and then dinner, after which we watched the full moon rise in the restaurant parking lot and hugged for 45 minutes. So odd to be looking at all of this from here by myself now.

This is one of those anniversaries you mark when you first get serious with someone (being with someone for a year is serious, right?) because there are no bigger anniversaries -- engagement, wedding -- to overshadow it. This is the biggest thing. And it's sweet and innocent and full of promise.

After we were engaged but before we had picked a date for our wedding, I used to wonder what day would become our new anniversary. Not that it would replace this one, but it would take a slightly more important place in the hierarchy of things to commemorate.

Now, they are all important. Anything I can get that will remind me of the time when things were full of promise -- not that there is no promise now, but it's a different kind, tempered and warier. I don't think I will ever fully trust that this long-distance thing won't happen to us again. All the more reason to turn and run next time the opportunity presents itself ... but what if the payoff for commuting is too tempting?

I guess that's not something I should be worrying about. One long-distance stint at a time, young lady.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Say the magic words ...

Schedule irregularity.

This is what American is calling Friday's flight fluke, and supposedly, if we repeat those same words to the people in customer service, we can get a refund for the leg that D never ended up connecting to in O'Hare -- even though it's technically a nonrefundable ticket. This wisdom comes courtesy of a nice lady on the AA reservations hotline whom I spoke with after D called to say his plane had been diverted to Moline to refuel. Hey, if it's true, we'll take the deal.

D did manage to make it to Iowa on Friday, thanks to a last-minute car rental. Reports say there were thunderheads stacked up from near ground level to altitudes of 50,000 feet over Chicago, hence the complete air traffic freeze. What a storm ...

We had a relatively uneventful rest of the weekend, even with term paper stress hanging over me. While I was working, D caught up on TV (as I predicted). I had recorded War Games off AMC to watch while exercising (even this many weeks after the end of the WGA strike, some of my usual staples still aren't back on the air yet), so we started watching that too. How a computer geek like D escaped watching this film during childhood I don't know. We'll finish it when he comes back in two weeks.

And now, back to the paper ... I have to say, as sad as it might sound, that it was nice to be able to complain to someone out loud while D was here. It's something I never thought I'd consider a luxury.

Friday, April 25, 2008

It's all in the timing

Hmmm, I didn't think to worry about flight delays for D since American is up and running again after the inspections mess from two weeks ago. But I checked his Seattle-Chicago leg after I got home from class, and its departure was pushed back an hour, to arrive a little before 7:30 p.m. I just checked again, and the plane is indeed in the air, but its arrival is now scheduled for 8:12. And D's 9 p.m. connection is still on time. I hope they don't get delayed any further ...

Yes, this is what I do whenever he's en route, especially since the usual methods of communication (cell/e-mail) aren't available. Have to stay connected somehow.

We had a tornado warning this afternoon that is probably part of the problem:


Images courtesy of weather.com

Of course that wicked storm front that stampeded over Iowa is now sitting over Chicago (and St. Louis and DFW, all AA hubs) as we approach landing time. Hang on to your seat, D! This doesn't look pretty at all. With luck, he'll be able to get to his next flight. With a lot of luck, he won't have to wait for a crew coming from those other cities too.

Nature seems to be hell-bent on sending us some kind of message this month. And now AA has 8:18 for arrival ...

Thursday, April 24, 2008

See how it pours

Spring is officially here at last, I think. We had a couple weeks of fluctuating temperatures (70 degrees one day, 35 the next), but now it's consistently around the upper 60s if not a little warmer. Also consistently rainy on the days I go out to meet people for meals or tea, which I've been doing quite a bit of lately.

I finally received my teaching assignment for the fall from my university (which henceforth shall be called Little U. on the Prairie): Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30-4:45 p.m. It was my last choice in the list of time slots I requested, but I think it will work out better than teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at least for day-to-day purposes. I'm disappointed that I'll have to shorten my Seattle trips (or maybe leave most of the travel to D for another semester), but teaching on Thursday was going to mean being on campus potentially from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. every week. And yes, I checked to see whether I could get back here in time to make that Monday section if I were to fly out from Seattle on the same day, but there are no connecting flights out of Chicago, DFW or St. Louis that will get me here soon enough. So be it.

New TA orientation is Saturday morning, and D arrives late tomorrow night. I'm excited to find out what I'll be handling next year, but I wish the meeting were the following Saturday. As it is, I'll be working on that history term paper all weekend, so with this extra obligation, it looks like we'll be having a staying-in sort of visit again. But there is so much I want to take D to! There's a festival in town only this weekend, showcasing the wares of professional artists and artisans -- sounds similar to the Sunday markets we like to go to in Seattle (instrumental to our Christmas shopping last year). There will also be music and other performances. Maybe I'll send D on his own if he feels like checking everything out; it seems a shame to have him cooped up in the apartment. Though I do have cable, which he does not. We decided it was too expensive to pay for it in two locations, so he opted to get Netflix instead. I imagine he might enjoy actually getting to flip through channels for once while they're at his disposal ...

I sense a Planet Earth binge on the horizon.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Holding pattern

It has been a tough week. First off, I think all my recent paper writing has drained the neurons devoted to that particular job, and now they won't do a thing for me. I keep trying to focus only on the next project that's due (about 12 books to synthesize into 15 pages of interpretation and analysis on the history of footbinding in China by April 30th), but I think my brain knows I'm hiding the not-so-pretty big picture from it (one more term paper, two final exams) and it's putting its foot down. (What would that look like? A cauliflower with an extra long stem, maybe.)

If I can just cycle through these last few rounds, it'll all be over. If I can just. I say this a lot these days.

I also woke up to an earthquake yesterday morning. And if you were anywhere within 400 miles of West Salem, Illinois, you probably did too. Some reports say tremors were felt all the way up in southern Ontario.

The most bizarre part of the whole experience was emerging out of a dead sleep to the feeling of being suddenly cut adrift. It was as if my room had been relocated to some giant oceanliner, and its entire mass was being buffeted by rolling waves. The building and its contents moved as one, so there was no furniture sliding across the floor as in the tornado scene from The Wizard of Oz. Everything just rose and fell together around the stretching of the earth. The mirror propped up against the wall next to my bed was creaking at fast, regular intervals -- that was how I knew I wasn't dreaming or just having a strange bout of vertigo.

Once I really became aware of what was happening, I froze. I know you're supposed to go stand in a doorway, but I was so unnerved that I couldn't move. Perhaps this is a sign that I need to build more stability into my life. For all the talk about taking one obstacle at a time, there's something to be said for having a clear vision of the big picture too, if it's reassuring. Being with D again is what I want the future to show. In the nearer version of it, he's not there.

Hopefully, looking for a house this summer will bring a large piece of that picture into focus. Given what we just had to pay in taxes, though, will we really have enough for a downpayment? Will we be able to find something we like that we can actually afford? Again, these are concerns for a later date. I'm just looking forward to the time when I can hold them front and center before me, when nothing else is left to be taken care of first.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Idling

It's Monday again, and D is somewhere in the air near Chicago.

We had a good weekend (without flight delays), though we didn't do very much during this visit. I finished a paper and D worked on our taxes. And we talked and talked and tried not to think about the clock ticking down the time before his inevitable departure.

Sometimes it's nicer just to be idle, which feels more normal than trying to cram so many outings into 48 hours.

We cooked together, as planned, and discovered something delicious. Pineapple was on sale while D was getting groceries, so we tested a bread pudding recipe that calls for it -- turned out wonderfully in the little ramekins we got as a wedding gift. Next time, we're going to try soaking the fruit in coconut rum for an even more decadent result.

D's grandpa was planning to come out on Saturday to pick up a new schnauzer puppy from a breeder in the area, so we met him for lunch and then headed over to the breeder's house. I think I'm more of a cat person, but these puppies were impossible not to love, especially the one that kept nibbling my fingers and burrowing into the crook of my elbow. We stayed for a while to play with them, which made me wish even more that we could have a pet. We've been talking about it for a year or so, but it won't happen unless I move to a different apartment complex that allows them. Our travel schedule would be really hard on a pet too, whether we were to board it somewhere or take it along.

We made some progress on our summer plans, including booking my tickets out of here in May. We also booked flights for two of the five weddings we'll be attending (Miami, New York) after a lot of comparison shopping -- not for prices between airlines but for price vs. mileage award expenses. Apparently, 25,000 miles won't buy what it used to! From Seattle, you have almost no choice but to take a red-eye if you're going cross-country unless you're willing to pay 50,000 miles for better flight times. We used to say that it wasn't worth spending 25,000 for tickets under $500, but I think we're going to have to reevaluate that tipping point since there are few flights that will get us to our intended destinations for less than that price but none that will get us there at the times we need to show up. Money or miles?

Maybe I'll just eat Ramen for the rest of the year and we'll magically have funds to cover everything.

D should be boarding his Seattle flight now. The sun is coming up earlier and earlier these days, which makes goodbyes at the airport a little less gloomy. All the same, I can't wait to be done with the school year so we can have some normalcy for a month or two.

6 a.m. in Iowa, dropping off D at the airport

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Flight plans

D is coming tomorrow -- or so we had planned.

The latest news on American and its FAA woes suggest that we might have some problems. Oh, inspections. Hopefully D's
flight(s) won't get canceled, but I just booked my tickets to go home at the end of the semester, and the planes for the leg between Seattle and Chicago are MD-80s (the type that have been pulled out of service in recent weeks). Not a good sign.

Since my Boston trip at the beginning of March, I've learned not to travel without basic, basic toiletries in my backpack. No need to traipse around with all the shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc., but a toothbrush can make an unexpected overnight stranding more bearable. I had nothing on me when I got stuck at O'Hare and wasn't allowed to retrieve my checked bag. Fortunately, United put me up in a hotel that was able to provide everything. Thank goodness they picked up the tab too as it was the shortest stay I've probably ever had anywhere (5 hours)! And yes, it really is 5:19 a.m. in that photo.

We still have a ton of airline tickets to buy for this summer (five weddings to fit in before September, all on Eastern Time to boot). If I make it to Labor Day without getting delayed somewhere (or collapsing from travel fatigue), I will be amazed. August in particular is shaping up to look much like March, with cross-country trips every weekend. Mileage awards, here we come ...

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Lone scone

As I was rummaging in the fridge for something I could call lunch today, I realized that I was down to my last scone. Which means it's time to bake more (I cook when I need to get away from work). I have been making my way through this batch since early in the semester, when I found the recipe on another blog. Normally D is the one who likes to bake, but I was craving pastries, he wasn't around, and the exact ingredients I needed just happened to be in the kitchen (down to the random peach). So I went for it. These go perfectly with lemon curd.

I am a big fan of scaling up when cooking for one: just make enough servings for at least eight and then freeze the leftovers. Lasagnas, frittatas, giant pot roasts -- any main course item appropriate for a potluck usually works. For most of the winter, I experimented with hearty soups and quickbreads, both of which reheated beautifully. D will be visiting next weekend (yay!), so I'll have to start planning what to prepare with him. We try to do most of our major cooking when we're together since it's more fun that way, and the cleanup is less time-consuming.

What I really look forward to is having all our cooking gadgets in the same place again after all the commuting is over. There are some things you just can't make without a blowtorch ...

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Logistics, logistics

Today I turned in my schedule request for the course I'll be teaching next semester. It seems silly that such a thing should be worth writing about here, but the time slot I'm assigned will absolutely determine who will be doing most of the flying between Iowa and Seattle come fall. This semester, because of the classes I'm taking on Mondays and Fridays, D has had to take on most of the travel responsibilities (March was a fluke), and we'd like not to put so much pressure on him -- or wear out the patience of his boss. D's supervisor has been extremely accommodating, allowing him to work a day or two online per month from Iowa, which means getting to extend our visits by a significant margin of time. Having an extra few nights to spend together on weekends makes such a difference.

So far, the best option we've managed to swing is having D take a red-eye out of Seattle on Thursday night, arriving early enough Friday morning with the time change to put in a full day of work. Then he leaves Monday on the first flight out, getting back to the office by noon (which is fine, since many of his officemates tend to shift their own hours earlier or later to get around traffic). I guess you could say that if you have to have a commuter marriage that crosses time zones, one like this can be made to work to your advantage?

So here's hoping for Tuesday-Thursday sections for me in the fall, which will give me Fridays and Mondays to travel. It's the little things.

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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Nine years

Today is the anniversary of our first date. On that day, we went to a late-afternoon showing of Entrapment and then dinner, after which we watched the full moon rise in the restaurant parking lot and hugged for 45 minutes. So odd to be looking at all of this from here by myself now.

This is one of those anniversaries you mark when you first get serious with someone (being with someone for a year is serious, right?) because there are no bigger anniversaries -- engagement, wedding -- to overshadow it. This is the biggest thing. And it's sweet and innocent and full of promise.

After we were engaged but before we had picked a date for our wedding, I used to wonder what day would become our new anniversary. Not that it would replace this one, but it would take a slightly more important place in the hierarchy of things to commemorate.

Now, they are all important. Anything I can get that will remind me of the time when things were full of promise -- not that there is no promise now, but it's a different kind, tempered and warier. I don't think I will ever fully trust that this long-distance thing won't happen to us again. All the more reason to turn and run next time the opportunity presents itself ... but what if the payoff for commuting is too tempting?

I guess that's not something I should be worrying about. One long-distance stint at a time, young lady.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Say the magic words ...

Schedule irregularity.

This is what American is calling Friday's flight fluke, and supposedly, if we repeat those same words to the people in customer service, we can get a refund for the leg that D never ended up connecting to in O'Hare -- even though it's technically a nonrefundable ticket. This wisdom comes courtesy of a nice lady on the AA reservations hotline whom I spoke with after D called to say his plane had been diverted to Moline to refuel. Hey, if it's true, we'll take the deal.

D did manage to make it to Iowa on Friday, thanks to a last-minute car rental. Reports say there were thunderheads stacked up from near ground level to altitudes of 50,000 feet over Chicago, hence the complete air traffic freeze. What a storm ...

We had a relatively uneventful rest of the weekend, even with term paper stress hanging over me. While I was working, D caught up on TV (as I predicted). I had recorded War Games off AMC to watch while exercising (even this many weeks after the end of the WGA strike, some of my usual staples still aren't back on the air yet), so we started watching that too. How a computer geek like D escaped watching this film during childhood I don't know. We'll finish it when he comes back in two weeks.

And now, back to the paper ... I have to say, as sad as it might sound, that it was nice to be able to complain to someone out loud while D was here. It's something I never thought I'd consider a luxury.

Friday, April 25, 2008

It's all in the timing

Hmmm, I didn't think to worry about flight delays for D since American is up and running again after the inspections mess from two weeks ago. But I checked his Seattle-Chicago leg after I got home from class, and its departure was pushed back an hour, to arrive a little before 7:30 p.m. I just checked again, and the plane is indeed in the air, but its arrival is now scheduled for 8:12. And D's 9 p.m. connection is still on time. I hope they don't get delayed any further ...

Yes, this is what I do whenever he's en route, especially since the usual methods of communication (cell/e-mail) aren't available. Have to stay connected somehow.

We had a tornado warning this afternoon that is probably part of the problem:


Images courtesy of weather.com

Of course that wicked storm front that stampeded over Iowa is now sitting over Chicago (and St. Louis and DFW, all AA hubs) as we approach landing time. Hang on to your seat, D! This doesn't look pretty at all. With luck, he'll be able to get to his next flight. With a lot of luck, he won't have to wait for a crew coming from those other cities too.

Nature seems to be hell-bent on sending us some kind of message this month. And now AA has 8:18 for arrival ...

Thursday, April 24, 2008

See how it pours

Spring is officially here at last, I think. We had a couple weeks of fluctuating temperatures (70 degrees one day, 35 the next), but now it's consistently around the upper 60s if not a little warmer. Also consistently rainy on the days I go out to meet people for meals or tea, which I've been doing quite a bit of lately.

I finally received my teaching assignment for the fall from my university (which henceforth shall be called Little U. on the Prairie): Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30-4:45 p.m. It was my last choice in the list of time slots I requested, but I think it will work out better than teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at least for day-to-day purposes. I'm disappointed that I'll have to shorten my Seattle trips (or maybe leave most of the travel to D for another semester), but teaching on Thursday was going to mean being on campus potentially from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. every week. And yes, I checked to see whether I could get back here in time to make that Monday section if I were to fly out from Seattle on the same day, but there are no connecting flights out of Chicago, DFW or St. Louis that will get me here soon enough. So be it.

New TA orientation is Saturday morning, and D arrives late tomorrow night. I'm excited to find out what I'll be handling next year, but I wish the meeting were the following Saturday. As it is, I'll be working on that history term paper all weekend, so with this extra obligation, it looks like we'll be having a staying-in sort of visit again. But there is so much I want to take D to! There's a festival in town only this weekend, showcasing the wares of professional artists and artisans -- sounds similar to the Sunday markets we like to go to in Seattle (instrumental to our Christmas shopping last year). There will also be music and other performances. Maybe I'll send D on his own if he feels like checking everything out; it seems a shame to have him cooped up in the apartment. Though I do have cable, which he does not. We decided it was too expensive to pay for it in two locations, so he opted to get Netflix instead. I imagine he might enjoy actually getting to flip through channels for once while they're at his disposal ...

I sense a Planet Earth binge on the horizon.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Holding pattern

It has been a tough week. First off, I think all my recent paper writing has drained the neurons devoted to that particular job, and now they won't do a thing for me. I keep trying to focus only on the next project that's due (about 12 books to synthesize into 15 pages of interpretation and analysis on the history of footbinding in China by April 30th), but I think my brain knows I'm hiding the not-so-pretty big picture from it (one more term paper, two final exams) and it's putting its foot down. (What would that look like? A cauliflower with an extra long stem, maybe.)

If I can just cycle through these last few rounds, it'll all be over. If I can just. I say this a lot these days.

I also woke up to an earthquake yesterday morning. And if you were anywhere within 400 miles of West Salem, Illinois, you probably did too. Some reports say tremors were felt all the way up in southern Ontario.

The most bizarre part of the whole experience was emerging out of a dead sleep to the feeling of being suddenly cut adrift. It was as if my room had been relocated to some giant oceanliner, and its entire mass was being buffeted by rolling waves. The building and its contents moved as one, so there was no furniture sliding across the floor as in the tornado scene from The Wizard of Oz. Everything just rose and fell together around the stretching of the earth. The mirror propped up against the wall next to my bed was creaking at fast, regular intervals -- that was how I knew I wasn't dreaming or just having a strange bout of vertigo.

Once I really became aware of what was happening, I froze. I know you're supposed to go stand in a doorway, but I was so unnerved that I couldn't move. Perhaps this is a sign that I need to build more stability into my life. For all the talk about taking one obstacle at a time, there's something to be said for having a clear vision of the big picture too, if it's reassuring. Being with D again is what I want the future to show. In the nearer version of it, he's not there.

Hopefully, looking for a house this summer will bring a large piece of that picture into focus. Given what we just had to pay in taxes, though, will we really have enough for a downpayment? Will we be able to find something we like that we can actually afford? Again, these are concerns for a later date. I'm just looking forward to the time when I can hold them front and center before me, when nothing else is left to be taken care of first.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Idling

It's Monday again, and D is somewhere in the air near Chicago.

We had a good weekend (without flight delays), though we didn't do very much during this visit. I finished a paper and D worked on our taxes. And we talked and talked and tried not to think about the clock ticking down the time before his inevitable departure.

Sometimes it's nicer just to be idle, which feels more normal than trying to cram so many outings into 48 hours.

We cooked together, as planned, and discovered something delicious. Pineapple was on sale while D was getting groceries, so we tested a bread pudding recipe that calls for it -- turned out wonderfully in the little ramekins we got as a wedding gift. Next time, we're going to try soaking the fruit in coconut rum for an even more decadent result.

D's grandpa was planning to come out on Saturday to pick up a new schnauzer puppy from a breeder in the area, so we met him for lunch and then headed over to the breeder's house. I think I'm more of a cat person, but these puppies were impossible not to love, especially the one that kept nibbling my fingers and burrowing into the crook of my elbow. We stayed for a while to play with them, which made me wish even more that we could have a pet. We've been talking about it for a year or so, but it won't happen unless I move to a different apartment complex that allows them. Our travel schedule would be really hard on a pet too, whether we were to board it somewhere or take it along.

We made some progress on our summer plans, including booking my tickets out of here in May. We also booked flights for two of the five weddings we'll be attending (Miami, New York) after a lot of comparison shopping -- not for prices between airlines but for price vs. mileage award expenses. Apparently, 25,000 miles won't buy what it used to! From Seattle, you have almost no choice but to take a red-eye if you're going cross-country unless you're willing to pay 50,000 miles for better flight times. We used to say that it wasn't worth spending 25,000 for tickets under $500, but I think we're going to have to reevaluate that tipping point since there are few flights that will get us to our intended destinations for less than that price but none that will get us there at the times we need to show up. Money or miles?

Maybe I'll just eat Ramen for the rest of the year and we'll magically have funds to cover everything.

D should be boarding his Seattle flight now. The sun is coming up earlier and earlier these days, which makes goodbyes at the airport a little less gloomy. All the same, I can't wait to be done with the school year so we can have some normalcy for a month or two.

6 a.m. in Iowa, dropping off D at the airport

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Flight plans

D is coming tomorrow -- or so we had planned.

The latest news on American and its FAA woes suggest that we might have some problems. Oh, inspections. Hopefully D's
flight(s) won't get canceled, but I just booked my tickets to go home at the end of the semester, and the planes for the leg between Seattle and Chicago are MD-80s (the type that have been pulled out of service in recent weeks). Not a good sign.

Since my Boston trip at the beginning of March, I've learned not to travel without basic, basic toiletries in my backpack. No need to traipse around with all the shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc., but a toothbrush can make an unexpected overnight stranding more bearable. I had nothing on me when I got stuck at O'Hare and wasn't allowed to retrieve my checked bag. Fortunately, United put me up in a hotel that was able to provide everything. Thank goodness they picked up the tab too as it was the shortest stay I've probably ever had anywhere (5 hours)! And yes, it really is 5:19 a.m. in that photo.

We still have a ton of airline tickets to buy for this summer (five weddings to fit in before September, all on Eastern Time to boot). If I make it to Labor Day without getting delayed somewhere (or collapsing from travel fatigue), I will be amazed. August in particular is shaping up to look much like March, with cross-country trips every weekend. Mileage awards, here we come ...

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Lone scone

As I was rummaging in the fridge for something I could call lunch today, I realized that I was down to my last scone. Which means it's time to bake more (I cook when I need to get away from work). I have been making my way through this batch since early in the semester, when I found the recipe on another blog. Normally D is the one who likes to bake, but I was craving pastries, he wasn't around, and the exact ingredients I needed just happened to be in the kitchen (down to the random peach). So I went for it. These go perfectly with lemon curd.

I am a big fan of scaling up when cooking for one: just make enough servings for at least eight and then freeze the leftovers. Lasagnas, frittatas, giant pot roasts -- any main course item appropriate for a potluck usually works. For most of the winter, I experimented with hearty soups and quickbreads, both of which reheated beautifully. D will be visiting next weekend (yay!), so I'll have to start planning what to prepare with him. We try to do most of our major cooking when we're together since it's more fun that way, and the cleanup is less time-consuming.

What I really look forward to is having all our cooking gadgets in the same place again after all the commuting is over. There are some things you just can't make without a blowtorch ...

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Logistics, logistics

Today I turned in my schedule request for the course I'll be teaching next semester. It seems silly that such a thing should be worth writing about here, but the time slot I'm assigned will absolutely determine who will be doing most of the flying between Iowa and Seattle come fall. This semester, because of the classes I'm taking on Mondays and Fridays, D has had to take on most of the travel responsibilities (March was a fluke), and we'd like not to put so much pressure on him -- or wear out the patience of his boss. D's supervisor has been extremely accommodating, allowing him to work a day or two online per month from Iowa, which means getting to extend our visits by a significant margin of time. Having an extra few nights to spend together on weekends makes such a difference.

So far, the best option we've managed to swing is having D take a red-eye out of Seattle on Thursday night, arriving early enough Friday morning with the time change to put in a full day of work. Then he leaves Monday on the first flight out, getting back to the office by noon (which is fine, since many of his officemates tend to shift their own hours earlier or later to get around traffic). I guess you could say that if you have to have a commuter marriage that crosses time zones, one like this can be made to work to your advantage?

So here's hoping for Tuesday-Thursday sections for me in the fall, which will give me Fridays and Mondays to travel. It's the little things.