On my mind

1. So, Dad and Mary and my little sisters (Sarah, Michelle, and Allison) are not moving to Singapore anymore, they are moving to Adelaide. Dad will be with BH Billinton working on the Olympic dam project. So, for now, no more Bechtel. This is good. Now I can fantasize about Mark and I visiting them and then going to Tasmania. This isn't going to happen, but still.

2. What makes a dunkel a dunkle? I know that a dunkle is a darker wheat beer. Stout is a dark beer made from barley, or maybe oatmeal, like Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout, the beer that convinced me I could like beer.

3. This email message from an employer:

Fall Session I is quickly approaching. As we begin to prepare for our upcoming classes, it is important to the General Education Department that everyone is on the same page.

We therefore ask that you attend a special training hosted by one of our full time faculty members. Attendance will be taken at this session.

XXX XXXX invites you to participate as an attendee in this online training session.

I love how this email suggests that invitees are not on the same page as everyone else. It also suggests that the training session is "special." What does that mean? Created just for the people who are not on the same page as everyone else? I also love how we are invited to participate and also asked to participate. And then, in big bold letters, they tell us that they will be taking attendance.

Foggy

It, the fog, came in yesterday or the day before and hasn't gone out or up.

Today was the last day of the ESL session I've been teaching. I almost always find myself really liking my ESL students.

I'll be taking the next month off from ESL, but I'll still be teaching online & doing writing/editorial work and some design. But I need some head space. Mark and I are heading up to Portland next week to give readings and have fun. So I have several days to think about my own writing again and remember what it is.

Time for a beer. Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. That's the only good thing about fog, it's better for drinking stout.