Allsorts

I'm going to try to move past my political obsessions, but I just wanted to note that I'm watching a talking heads show this morning and a Republican woman, one who has gone on every week about McCain, just told the story of crying tears of pride in her country on Tuesday. There *is* hope for us to unite and heal and move forward to bring this great country (and ultimately the world) back. I am so hopeful.

Joe had a series of orthodontic crises over the last week. Brackets falling off, wires slashing his lip, multiple visits, lots of pain and blood swallowed. Poor moppet, he didn't really want the braces, and we'd been jollying him along, telling him it would all be worth it. Week after next is oral surgery to deal with the tooth that is causing all these nightmares, which will not be much fun, either. Send him good thoughts.

He's also struggling with the extremely high expectations in one of his classes, but I'm really proud of the efforts he's making to improve his grade and get with this teacher's program. I think ultimately he will be grateful for this teacher, as many have before him. But for now, not so much.

Annie has done a great job organizing her college-viewing trip coming up Tuesday. She has a schedule, is thinking about what she wants to find out, and had to turn only one bit over to me when we ran into an insane admissions office employee who was basically refusing to let us see the school because Annie's a junior. We are being hosted by the very gracious and accommodating Julie and Jonathan, to whom we owe much.

Rob has been swimming hard upstream at work all year, after many years of just treading water. I can't put the details online, but the issues are too big for even his thick skin. He's interviewing for other jobs within his school district, and we have fingers tightly crossed. He's also talking for the first time about going outside the district, but it's a scary time to lose tenure.

I'm finishing the last of the killer midterms this weekend and then taking a week off from work and classes to go see the New York schools and play a little.