Saturday morning we spent an hour and a half in the Colonial 'burg. We took a tour of George Wythe's house (tutor to Thomas Jefferson, lawyer, and all around great Virginian!), and the Governor's Palace. It was all very nice, although don't get Corbett started on the "America is great and the British king was evil" bias that persists here. I have to agree, that the "we hated Lord Dunmore because he personified all that was evil British" is bizarre. Either way, the tour was fun, primarily because it's fun to see all the old things lying around the houses.

Last night we watched (most of) La Vie en Rose, although we didn't finish it. I wasn't really into it, but then again, I had never really heard of Edith Piaf before, and well, the movie was hard to follow. We didn't realize how long it was, and thus got too tired before it ended. We may finish it at some point, but I'm not sure. I don't think I would notice it if we don't.

Today was a day of visiting the James City County branch of the 'burg Regional Libary, and then doing some work (I was finishing my talk for my visit to Haverford). The excitement never ends.

Well, today it turns out that one of his sales was to a professor of his at CU. In fact it is one of his PhD advisors!! We're not quite sure if she realizes who she just bought a CD from, but I just found this rather hilarious. I would have let him post about this, but alas, I do believe I am alone on this 'burg blog.

The question is: Does Corbett put a note saying "Hi there!" or not? We don't know if she knows it's him, so she may never realize. But if she does and he doesn't say anything, then what? Also, how weird would it be if she did find out and realize that she just bought a CD from a graduate student?!

There are many options in my field, to some extent. There's the hard-core research arena, the middle ground "research+teaching" arena, and then the hard-core teaching-and-good-frackin'-luck-if-you-do-very-much-research-except-for-a-few-days-in-the-summer arena. I toy with all of these, although the first on the list is really my last choice in general. (This is why I never apply to Lab positions, as those are completely research oriented.)

So besides my current medical issues, this is in the forefront of my mind. I just finally emailed a professor from my undergrad school to ask her thoughts on this, and hopefully she'll give me some insight, as she is attempting research at a strongly teaching-based institution. 

The sad thing is that if things work out certain ways, I may be leaving the 'burg as early as the fall. There's no way for sure to know this, because partly it depends on other peoples' perception of the glory that is me, and also on my ultimate decision (these two are of course completely correlated). But it may mean the end of my life here. 

My life in the 'burg is by no means permanent. No permanent job means no permanent life, and the place we end up is by no means known. This depends on just too many factors to think about, and really, this all just kind of sucks. I've been ready to settle down for way too long now. Ever since it was clear that this "thing" with Corbett was permanent (although the exact moment of that happening is unclear, it's been a long time now). So I'm in no mood to constantly move from one city to another, one college to another, anymore, and I know Dante feels the same way. 

I guess I am just sick of sending out those "Hey, we've moved!" emails. I'm sure everyone is sick of getting them.

I'll see the doctor in two weeks to figure out what I'm to do...

Either way it was a perfect day to go. Almost too perfect because everyone in Viriginia agreed. But that's fine, we went on roller coasters and ate overpriced food (that was delicious), and had a great time. We'll have to go back at least a couple more times, it's only ten minutes from my place (I could practically walk there). 

Afterwards we came back here and had barbeque pulled pork that had been cooking in the Crock Pot Corbett got me for my birthday. The pork literally fell off the bone, although the recipe itself was lacking in something (adding barbeque sauce made it delicious, so...). That plus my impromptu cole slaw dressing and some cheesecake made for a rather tasty dinner, so I'm not complaining!

I was also impressed, because I often cannot spend more than 8 hours with the same people (Corbett excluded of course), and yet they were here until 10:30pm or something, and we met up in the morning for the park. Except for just being tired at night (standing in the sun all day does that to ya), I could've continued all night (well, I'm old, so until midnight at the latest)...

Sunday was a big thunderstormy rainy day. You can imagine that Dante loved that.

Now, I've not gotten the results back from this test, but it may mean that I've hit my true prime. Who knew that 31 was really over the hill? Of course, this may all be linked to my seizure medication, some types of which can cause weakening of bones, but do they really have to call that area of the Diagnostic Center the "Woman's Screening" area?

This weekend we are going to go to Busch Gardens, and I'm psyched about that! I want to go on roller coasters and feel like I'm gonna die. Just something exciting about that...

Then we got our annual passes to the Colonial 'burg. Mine was free, being a college employee, and Corbett got a 25% discount because he was my partner. (See, it actually does pay to be my friend!) We then watched a shoemaker (this guy was very smart and really knew what he was talking about), and a presentation of acting and theater, leading up to the Revolution. Very interesting, and I think I will like to spend 1-2 hours every week or two doing this. I could not spend a whole day, however.

Later, we went with Chris & Sonya to Gloucester (other side of the York River from Yorktown), to meet up with Trey & Missy. The latter couple just bought a house (or rather, a lot where a house will be by October), and was going to show it to us. From there we kept moving away from the peninsula I'm used to here, and visited Christ Church (a very old Episcopal church), and eventually made our way to the Northern Neck (Kilmarnock, specifically), where Chris' aunt has a gift shop. It was a drive full of stories from Chris' childhood, as this was where he grew up, and it was also a lot of fun. 

We had drinks in Kilmarnock, while biding time until we heading back down, stopping for dinner at a tasty German restaurant (Eckhardt's), and then back to Yorktown for more drinks at a pub right on the river. It was a gorgeous view (probably more so when the sun is out), and kind of one of those nights that reminded me of the aimless pursuit of fun while being in high school. Of course, back then I was very "good," and never drank, but this was very similar. The other difference was that back then we were never satisfied and kept looking for fun. The other night was one of those nights where each successive location made the night better, but if we had stopped after any one of them, we would have been satisfied. Below is a little map of our journey. We started in the 'burg (A), then all the way up to (B), Kilmarnock, and then to Topping (C), where the German restaurant was. After that we continued backtracking, and were finally home by almost 1am. I was like a college kid again!

The only question is whether or not we can get ourselves in gear and moving so we can see it at 10am tomorrow. 

Corbett mentioned that whenever he goes to the music library on campus, he sees the same girl with dreads. This made me pause, so I started describing her (light brown hair, wrist brace on her right arm, much later I remembered that she works for a landscaping company). Turns out it is the same girl that sat next to me yesterday morning at my last wrist therapy session. She was just starting, and had mentioned that she played the cello and wanted to get her wrist in working order.

I know it's not that grandiose, since she was a college student and the therapy center is the closest to campus, but still, it made us remember yet again how small this place is.

Of course, I get that reminder daily, and I do kind of love it.

The baby has been revived. This thing has gone through a lot. It used to be a cheezy toy my mother got me many years ago (5ish years), and it hung from an elastic band, that you could use to toss it out, let it snap back at you, and make a "BOING!" noise. Very cute and useless. 

I always hung it on doors, and Dante got into the habit of sniffing it as we'd leave our New York apartment. Eventually the band snapped and the baby made a new home on the floor of my apartment. 

Where does the name "baby" come from? Dante got into the habit of sniffing it, picking it up and carrying it around. If Corbett or I would toss it, and it made its signature sound, Dante would run to it, pick it up, bring it to the bed and whimper. It was his baby, and he didn't like it getting hurt. 

As time went on, Dante got out of really caring for his baby. He became a pissed off parent, whose child had just gone too far. (What did the baby do? I never will know.) He ripped it open, and pulled out all of the stuffing. Shortly after moving to the 'burg, we had to throw out the sound maker, to save the father's life (he would have tried to chew it up and probably would choke on it), and eventually we got tired of refilling the stuffing, and Dante had to live with carrying around the skin of the baby. (Give up the skin? Hell no.)

Well, Corbett took the hedgehog (another toy that Dante does not care for. In fact, every other toy he has is a complete waste to him.), and wrapped the baby skin around it, grafting a new body beneath the only the toy Dante will ever love. And a new life has appeared in my formerly lifeless pup. He's been playing with it for the last hour. He's a puppy again!

The trip to their house takes us quite close to the Jamestown Settlement, right along the James River. It also (as most places I go to on a daily basis are) requires us to drive down Francis St, through the Colonial Williamsburg Historic District. Why does this really matter? Well, during the day it is rather cute, and well, I always get a kick out of seeing the colonials. But there is a problem, and although it is a continual problem anywhere within the city limits of Williamsburg, it is rampant here. What is the problem? The speed limit is 25 miles per hour. The drivers on Francis St. really follow this rule. So much that they tend to go 20 miles per hour or slower. Then, whenever there is a Gasp! pedestrian, then they must slam on their brakes (not a good idea in the rain), and just piss me off. These pedestrians frighten most drivers, of course because many non-city dwellers cannot quite fathom the idea of people "walking" places.

Alas.