A Capitalist Brew

After a weekend spent engrossed in the exciting world of Harry Potter, I am so busy at work that I failed to mention Bella (our almost 10-year old doberman) is scheduled for surgery today. She went to the vet’s office early this morning to get ready to have a portion of a very large fatty deposit removed from her chest. It is necessary, and I think she will feel much better when it is gone. Still, it hit me yesterday that Bella is old and surgery in old dogs is dangerous (heck, any surgery is inherently dangerous). So, if you have a prayer or thought to spare, please send one Bella’s way today. Thanks.

Update as of 1:00 - Bella made it through the surgery, but the tumor was more invasive than they anticipated. Thus, the surgery was much harder than expected, and the recovery is going to be worse. The last we heard they were waiting to see how well she did coming off the sedatives and how bad the drainage from a drainage tube looks. We don’t know if she will be coming home tonight or tomorrow or what to expect from the recovery at this point.

Update as of 5:00 - Bella is not coming home tonight. Scott went to see her, and they have her in a room alone with sheets under her. She was standing but totally spaced out and didn’t even recognize Scott. She just stared. She also has a lot of drainage from the wound. So, she is staying overnight and hopefully will be coming home tomorrow afternoon.

Next day at 12:15 pm - No update on Bella’s condition to report. Someone will be going over there to see her soon.

Update as of 2:30 pm -  Bella is home now but in pitiful shape.  She has a pen of sorts set up in the kitchen so she can lie on her bed and not walk around much.  She does not have bandages but has several drains that are still bleeding quite a bit.  She is wearing her e-collar and so far has made no attempts to remove it.  Perhaps that will wait until she is feeling better.  We are just trying to keep her still and calm.

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No spoilers here, but the book was far better than I hoped for.  This was the best book by far and really brought everything together and developed the story lines and characters in a wonderful way.  The ending is perfect and important, but what was more important to me was the journey J.K. Rowling has taken us on to get to the ending.  We have read page after page for years, and these characters and their stories have become part of our lives and our culture.  It was a great experience to be part of the excitement even though there will be no more standing in line at 12:01 to get a book and spending a bleary-eyed, tear-filled weekend reading the latest installment.  We will have two more movies to look forward to, and soon we will be able to escape into Harry Potter’s world for ourselves.  And I look forward to re-living the joys and sorrows of these books on my own and with my children.  I think Harry is going to live on for a very long time.

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What Harry Potter Character are You? Hermione Granger You are a smart and intelligent person. You use your smarts to help out friends. You can be emotional at times but you always seem to be in the mood to help someone out. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

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Everything I failed to mention about the past week:

• A week ago Brooke and I went to the dermatologist.  I finally had a mole removed from my arm that I have wanted off for cosmetic purposes for about 15 years.  I had no idea that I would be having “outpatient surgery” and would require stitches and another stitch removal appointment.  Of course, if I had not done it then, I may have taken another 15 years to actually get to the dermatologist again.
• My students did really well on their first exam.  I am not sure if the improvement over the last time I taught the class can be attributed to better students, better teaching, better expectations and performance induced by required homework assignments (they were not handed in last time), or black market copies of my exams from 2 years ago.
• Brooke started taking ballet classes every afternoon.  I love ballet and love watching her dance.
• The information packet for preschool arrived this week for both kids.  They both have new lunch boxes, and it is time to start thinking about school clothes and shoes.  They both start on August 14.  Luke will be going two mornings a week and Brooke every day as last year.
• I am tired and just have too much to do.  I have been putting off the grocery store all week, but I had to break down and go today.  I didn’t want to go.  I can’t tell you how much I miss Peapod.
• I am very excited about the release of the final Harry Potter book.  I am excited but sad.  I am worried about Harry.  I am still feeling remorseful over the loss of Dumbledore and the betrayal of Snape.  Is it weird to feel this emotional?  I wish my kids were older and could be a part of all the excitement over the release of the movies and books and look forward to the day when I can introduce them to these characters who are beloved to me.

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I think it is never a good sign for the day when the first though that goes through your head in the morning is “oh man, I am so tired.”  Time to start another day.

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I was coming home from school at lunchtime today when I came upon a large group of people all along the side of the highway next to a medical complex.  There is a women’s clinic in there, but there are a lot of other doctors in there too from optometrists to podiatrists.  They were all kind of hanging out in the road trying to get your attention, and there were a large number of policemen also there.  I was going to try to get a picture with my phone, but I couldn’t look away from the road out of fear of hitting one of them.  I thought this picture from the local news coverage would suffice.  I am not going to express my feelings on the matter at hand as I believe those feelings are personal in nature.  I am not endorsing any viewpoint.  I am just reporting on the event I encountered.

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Earlier this week, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hit the big screen.  I have been lucky enough to see the last two movies on opening day, and I planned to keep up the tradition.  I considered going to a midnight showing, but it was already sold out when I tried to get tickets.  So, I waited until 8 pm to put Luke to bed, get Brooke ready for bed, and then leave.  Scott was laughing about being there with all my other dork friends, but I didn’t mind.  It was actually a lot of fun!  The theater was packed (which I have never seen here), and people were excited and clapping when the movie started.  And my dork friends were there too.  I saw one of the finance professors I used to work for as well as two fellow economics Ph.D.students.

I did like the movie and thought it was great.  I have to preface the rest of what I have to say with that fact.  Because while I thought the movie was great and enjoyed it immensely, I was also disappointed.  I just didn’t think the movie was as good as the last two.  I thought that much of the story moved along too quickly.  I understand the time limitations versus the length of the book, but I wonder if perhaps they could have made the movie 30 minutes longer and included more meat and action.  Certainly the fans would not complain.  I felt like certain key characters such as Snape and Sirius were hardly present in this movie.  And since Sirius dies at the end, it would have been nice to see him show more of his influence on and relationship with Harry before his demise.  There are also certain details that we speculate should tie into the final book which were not mentioned, and this could lead to some plot issues in later movies.  Particularly, I would have liked to have seen more of three scenes: (1) When Harry sees Arthur Weasley being attacked in the Department of Mysteries, (2) All the other rooms at the Department of Mysteries which were cut from the movie, and (3) More details about the Black family which we learn when everyone is stationed at the Order of the Phoenix HQ before returning to Hogwarts.

I particularly liked the whole Department of Mysteries final scene…especially how during the fight everyone would apparate in and out of the scene showing a white smoke trail if he is a member of the Order or a black smoke trail if he is a Death Eater (I think they are apparating, but I don’t recall that smoke being a particular aspect of apparating in any other place).  I loved how Dumbledore made his exit from Hogwarts with the Phoenix and how Kingsley remarks that “he’s got style”.  I loved how Harry yells out “They’ve got Padfoot in the place where it is” and Snape says he has no idea what he means.  Snape stole the scene with those few words.  I loved how the Weasley twins made their final exit from Hogwarts.  There were so many really great things about the movie.  It was just a little lacking in story nuances that seemed important in the reading of the book.  So, if you have seen the movie or plan to see the movie but have not read the book, I encourage you to read the book.  It is a lot of pages, but you will find your self wrapped up in the story and eager to find your way to the other side.  You will not want to put it down, and you will get a much better feeling for the deeper relationship and story line which are missing in the movie.

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It had been about 5 or 6 years since my last Sims game.  I had been a complete addict.  I didn’t know I had hit rock bottom until I developed some carpal tunnel symptoms and needed a new ergonomic mouse.  Several pots met their demise from my addiction.  I would put something on the stove, go back to my game, and not even realize that 45 minutes had passed.  I was a sick individual, but eventually my cravings faded and I recovered.  My last laptop never even had a Sims install.  Some new versions of the Sims, including a university expansion pack, caught my eye.  But alas, my laptop was not robust enough to handle the game requirements.

Then something changed.  I got a new laptop a few months ago.  I have gobs of memory, a faster processor, and the best laptop video card.  And for some reason, my darling husband decided to purchase the Sims 2 for my birthday.  Curse you, Sims!  I am again an addict.  Well, I am diligent enough to do work first and then play.  I feel guilty because I am wasting valuable dissertation time while the proposal deadline pendulum continues to swing back and forth.  Still, I am an addict.  I don’t care.  I turn on the game and fall into the lives of my Sims with little awareness that anything else is happening around me.  When I am not playing, I am thinking about how I am going to arrange my schedule to be able to play even if just for 30 minutes.  In some ways it is good because during every other minute of the day I think about my dissertation.  It is always on my mind when I am awake, and sometimes I dream about the various stages of the defense process.  But if the Sims are my dissertation therapy, where is my Simaholic support group?

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Today we started the second summer term. Everything went smoothly this morning, and I got out the door on time. When I got in the car, I discovered that my gas tank was empty. And someone had borrowed my personal debit card and not returned it. Luckily, I could pay for gas with the business card.

I get to class, and the projector in the room was not working. I could not get it to work. The first person who came from the technology office with a remote control could not get it to work. The second person who she brought in from the technology office could not get it to work. Luckily today was just a lot of definitions, and I talked off the powerpoint slide handouts. It was a dull first class, but we all survived. I am mentally preparing for not having use of the projector tomorrow either. You never know what technology hiccup you will face the first day. My motto is to expect everything to break.

The password on my school email was due to expire this week, so I tried to reset it. Evidently I had a hard time typing my new password more than once this morning, and my account got locked. So, I had to walk over to another technology office and get them to reset the password. That is fine now. What fate may befall my second day of summer session? Stay tuned.

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The day of Lucky 7’s was also my birthday. As much as I wished I had been born on the 4th of July, I have always considered my birth date to be lucky. This year we celebrated in the morning with the opening of presents and cards. I received a wonderful foot spa that I wanted from my parents along with some smaller fun things. I received some books I can hope to read post-Ph.D. from Scott and the kids and was informed that the more fun gifts would arrive on Monday. Since it was raining, we decided to go to the mall in Birmingham for the afternoon. Brooke had to inform all kids of random people in the mall that it was her Mommy’s birthday and that I was 31. I didn’t like the notion that I am now “in my 30s”. At least I was just on the edge dangling my toes before, right?

We rode the carousel in the mall, did some shopping, and got some ice cream. Luke ate almost all of my ice cream, but I was happy to indulge him. We then went for dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill, which is one of my favorites. I resisted the urge to work on the dissertation at home after the kids went to bed. Instead I tried out my wonderful new foot spa while re-reading some Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in preparation for the movie this week. I also ate ice cream cake while watching one of my favorite tv shows, TLC’s The Real Estate Pros (a.k.a. The Real Deal).

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