Ah, Maryland, the Sunshine State...

Another belated blog post and round of apologies for not updating sooner.

To head off all of your questions right away: No! The city has not recovered from Snowmaggedon 2010, despite the fact that it's been two weeks since the initial snowfall. We have gone through all the stages of snowstorm grief:
1) Excitement! Snowmen! Blizzard!
2) Wow, it's really coming down out there.
3) Haha, Monty can't find a place to shit.
4)Where are all the snowplows?
5) Do I have to write a lecture for class tomorrow or not?
6) Should we throw out the French Revolution or my carefully-crafted syllabus?
7) Where are all the fucking snowplows? No, seriously, where are they?
8) Four days after the snowstorm, the lead story is that the new mayor was seen shoveling snow?
9) Joggers, I get that you're hardcore but if you don't get out of the fucking way I will run you down and use your bodies for traction.
10) The snow is still here, people! You are going to have to shovel your walks, for realz this time, you really, seriously, totally, are going to have to do it. Lift with the knees.
11) Why are the schools still closed?
12) We deserve to be the laughingstocks of the continent.

BEFORE: Feb 5

AFTER: Feb 6
Acceptance is the final stage, I might not be there yet. I never appreciated Calgary's snow-ready infrastructure enough before. It is frightening to see how Baltimore snowflakes actually absorb the brain activity of Baltimoreans in order to stay frozen (science happens differently here) and claim hegemony over the region. I'd study it but, because I live in Baltimore and there's snow on the ground, it's all I can do to keep my drool in and make sentences. I know this might sound too harsh, that I'm not being generous enough with people who have not experienced this quantity of snow before, etc etc. I accept that criticism, a few days ago I would have criticized the position I have taken here along those lines as well. But it's been TWO WEEKS. That was the timeperiod the city thought was reasonable for us to move here, learn all the rules about parking passes, car registration, etc, and they still towed my car. So I've lost all patience for snow excuses: adapt or die. This isn't Katrina, this isn't Haiti, there wasn't a tsunami or a volcano eruption - some people have real problems. It is utterly terrifying to think what would happen if a real environmental disaster occurred. Baltimore is like the student who can barely handle a 5-page assignment - you pray they never take a class where they have to write a 20-pager.

Sigh. But other things have been going on. Monty got a tick on him! See below:


Here I am carefully "preserving" it in some rum (not my drink). And now we've stepped up his regimen of tick-and-heartworm prevention meds.
My problem child (Creepy Melboy) from last semester is now in E's class and has made several comments to her like: "The resemblence between you and Prof D is UNCANNY! Do you two know each other? You even dress alike!" If by that he means we are both perpetually covered in shed Jack Russell hair then, yes, no argument there, but otherwise I've never considered us to be clones! I'm certain eyewitnesses could distinguish between us in perp lineups and I'm also certain that E would be innocent of all charges. At best, I've learned to fake my niceness by basing it off of E's sincere niceness and therein lies the resemblence. Freakshow student continues to be a freakshow.

Learned that the job I interviewed for at the AHA went to someone from that fateful Columbia seminar I took in 2007 - and another of their on-campuses was from that seminar, too. It feels a bit like salt in the wound but I can't be too shocked or down about it because I just got back from an on-campus interview of my own for a school in Rochester (1.75 hr flight, 6 hr drive from here)! Details will follow after I find out the results of the search. But suffice it to say that I *really* liked the school, I thought the visit went well, and I am really hoping that they pick me! So it's sort of a weird time right now, waiting to hear if my life is going to change dramatically or hardly at all; hoping that I get what I want in terms of professional fulfillment but also wanting to be with the person I want to be with, etc. I hope they tell us soon.