notinKansasanymore

Gee, learning really IS an exciting adventure!

Never try to re-heat a hardboiled egg in a microwave.

Don't ask me how I know.

It's FRIDAY!!! Let's have a Doo! String the chairs, fire up the Wowburgers, and get Harve up there with his guitar. Slick down your hair, spiff up your leisure suit, and let's party!

Quite sad news. So young, and with a baby girl who'll never get to know her Mom. Lots of people looked down on Anna Nicole Smith because she'd been a stripper, and because they felt that she married for money. Heck, lots of single moms have had to do worse than that to support their children. She used the tools that she had. She was reportedly broken-hearted over the death of her son - who wouldn't be?

God rest her soul, and her son's.

Tommy, Tommy. You joke and blaspheme. This is OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL you are teasing about. Get a grip, man. There will be universal consequences for your life, over which we have no control; I didn't write the book!

But I'd like to make an appointment for a snowcone in the sun by the pool at next year's Texas BBQ. This recurring Minnesota impersonation that Oklahoma is doing is getting old.

Do you have a green card? Where do I sign? Tell me more.

Hi, sickthos. You people were always too cool for my own good.

Evan - years ago, we ran into one another out of the blue, in a sandwich shop in Louisiana, where I'd gone as a grad student for some English conference. You were as sweet and gracious as ever.

The 6th corps was amazing.

But I'm gonna go put the 9th back on top of this thread.

I loved reading her stuff. I will miss her wit and insights.

Here's to Molly Ivins, irreplaceable.

Gene: if you're reading this, come and be a Greasespotter! There are weird, cool, funky people here! You'd love it!

Yes, Tommy, you caught me on a day when I hadn't read the sports page (go figure), but Mr.niKa set me on the right path of understanding that evening at Tappas. Our Bobby loves the Sooners, and we love him right back. He just has a cool way of running the team; based on personal responsibility and hard work. The players who come through my class are some of the most dedicated scholars in the room, and they do tons of volunteer work, too. It's a college football revolution, man.

Happy Tuesday, everybody!

Tappys? Speak English, brother. I need to hear it in the original.

So sorry to hear of this loss, but so happy that you had such a good Dad. Praying for you and your family. (((((penguin)))))

Thanks, Tom and Rock. Peg shopping, indeed. I have to say that I've been noticing amputees more in the past six months than in the rest of my life put together. They say that old age isn't for sissies, but it's just not right for stuff to try to fall off the same year that I turn 50. I'm only halfway to my hundred (just knocked on wood). The Prudential lifestyle calculator says that I'll live to be over 98. I want to be dancin' right up until the last. Hopefully this will be only a minor occasional thing.

Soooo, enough about that. Fellowshipper, what's the weather like down there? I've got a friend visiting New Zealand (Christchurch) in a few weeks, who wants to know what to pack. Tommy, you didn't answer the question about your efforts to subvert the mighty OU Sooners by stealing away our coach. There are lots of cars in Norman with "STOOPS FOR PRESIDENT" bumper stickers; we do try to show our appreciation.

love, niKa

He's 70. After all, he had to spend a few years getting to be the Yoda of circulation. But he's a great example of health; he swims almost every day.

love, niKa

What wheel? What real estate? What are you saying? GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY COACH.

Do you know something I don't know? As Fellowshipper would say, throw me a bone here!

Rocky, the leg news is not good. It's finally been diagnosed, after trips to the top infectious-disease guy and the top circulation guy in the state. Lymphedema. Lifelong, but still in its baby stages, should respond to treatment, probably was hereditary and just got flared up by me almost breaking my foot around Thanksgiving. It doesn't mean that I'll miss out on all of the hiking that Mr.niKa and I have planned, but it means that I have to be really, really careful, and if it's swollen, I can't hike at all (truthfully I taught half of last semester in a houseshoe). This is kind of a surprising development, as I am generally very healthy. If it were something that I could take a pill for, or have surgery to fix, I'd be a happy camper, but the guy who pioneered treatment for it says that isn't going to happen. The tests that they've done to verify are only performed at a very few places in the nation, yet we have one right here in OKC; this means that it's been caught well before my leg got to be the size of a tree trunk. It still looks like my leg. On a good day, it still looks just like my other leg, too.

Thanks for asking.

I danced in the kitchen today, just to prove that I still wanted to.

The sweetheart doctor e-mailed me the powerpoint that he uses to teach about lymphedema at the medical school. I got off very, very lucky.

Hi, folks. You all okay?

love, niKa

I always thought that Gene Slavit was one of the sweetest and smartest guys in the 9th Corps. Gene, if you're reading this, hope you're doing well. Please consider getting out; there really is life out here. And there is still Glory To His Name. "Doxa Eis Auton?" I used to remember that song. Best Greek teacher I ever had. Okay, only. But if there had been several, you'd have been the best.

I met my oldest friend the day after I graduated from high school. It was at Lake Grapevine, Texas, where we were camping in tents for a weekend training. Paula Butler and Robert Belt were preparing us for the summer Minuteman program. I was 18; my friend was 19. We were pseudo-hippies. We were assigned to Waco, Texas. We bonded that summer, and have drifted in and out of one another's lives in times of great need or great triumph on the part of one or of the other; a divorce, a marriage, a surgery, a joy to share, or sometimes just a call because it's been too long. When we talk, even if it's been a while, it's like we last talked yesterday. We love one another and support one another even when we don't see eye to eye. Sometimes, in our busy lives, we are able to visit just to catch up, and those days are treasures. Beach, hospital room, living room: it really doesn't matter. I last saw her this past August.

We went through separate Corps programs. We live in different states. Between the two of us, we've had three marriages, six children, and more blind dates that you'd like to know about. We've got very few secrets from one another.

I am on her side. She is on my side. After 31 years, we still are.

We've just learned that the public schools will be closed again tomorrow; third day in a row. Counting MLK day on Monday, the niKakids haven't been out of the house since they got home from school on Friday, by which time mr.niKa already had to go and pick them up with the four-wheel-drive.

We still haven't run out of hot chocolate, whew. About time for another batch of homemade rolls and soup, though.

Stay warm, everybody (except you, FellowFisher; you stay cooooool).

love, niKa

Inkernet, welcome! I don't know the answer to your questions (are these people in the DC area? How widespread are they?), but someone will.

It's interesting that this thread has attracted some relatively new posters. Welcome to you all.

Nice Fish.

Rich, I haven't had contact with any of these people for years. But back in the day, I knew Mark and Karen Anne, John, and John. John Schoenheit was one of the nicest, most level-headed people I had ever met. If you're telling me that now he's not, I will have to plead ignorance: very hopeful ignorance, that this sweet, God-loving man has not been changed over time.

P. S. Rhino, you're a hoot. Thanks for the comic relief on such a sad thread.

P.P.S: Elizabeth, if you're reading this, Rhino is tall and cute.

P. P. P. S: Oh, no. Now I'm obviously going to Hell. :huh:

I don't believe that Mark will be able to prove defamation of character. As president of the organization, it was his responsibility to model proper membership behavior for others in the group. If the documents I've seen are any indication, he and Karen Anne appear to have played fast and lose with the lots of folks' characters and reputations. He and Karen Anne appear to have "set the standard" for what constituted "acceptable" levels of gossip, name-calling, innuendo, spider-nose-accusing, etc.

That's one of the problems with trashing folks' reputations.

I agree that Elizabeth has a much stronger case than do they; my personal opinion is that she should sue not only for defamation of character, but for alienation of her husband's affections.

Sooo, if Mark is out as their president, who's in? Dare I hope Schoenheit? I believe that he has his head on straight.

For the past several mornings, mr.niKa has gone out to get the paper, assumed a "surfer dude" pose, and slid all the way down the driveway. That still worked this morning. It's nothin' but slick out there. He's squiring us all around in the four-wheel-drive today. My old green van is going nowhere until the tires melt - they're frozen to the driveway.

I'm headed over to earn my living; got my woolies on. Happy Day, everybody!

Weeeelllllll. Adrian Peterson has forgone his final year of collegiate eligibility to go pro. Oklahoma has been declared a Disaster Area.

What do these things have in common?

With OU Norman still holding classes tomorrow, while everything else ALL AROUND US is closed, it means that A.D. is the only OU kid who doesn't have to show up for class!!!

Pool party. Nice idea, but we'd have to call it the Polar Bear Club, and have paramedics standing by! Politics gives me enough of a cardiac arrest these days, without jumping into cold water.

We all slept in today, on the last day of our enforced vacation. Even the cats were extra cuddly. Tomorrow, we have to get back out into the world. I'm revising my syllabus and getting my lectures together, and gathering my wits about me like a wool coat. Life moves ahead with regular steps, and comes around to meet us.

Cup of coffee, anyone?

By the way, Welcome, New Paradigm!