it's like the eye of a duck

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He first planted the critical thinking seed in my mind. Whenever I read something, he'd tell me to take into account what perspective the writer was coming from, and whether that knowledge affected how seriously I took the text. He also pointed out that the the research or writing was poor, I didn't HAVE to finish everything I started.

I also remember him telling me not to trust the cops, and if ever pulled over admit nothing :P

• 11:38 @racheline_m crap, just catching up - glad Bristol is still on & hope worst really IS over! #
• 12:45 Catching up on test & visiting with fam. Also: chocolate cake. #
• 12:46 On site @ #sn10 sometime Thurs. Doing stretches & footwork to keep limber #fencing #
• 17:22 1st trip to a Fry's - media/appliance heaven. Mom has strong opinions on washer dryers. #
• 19:13 RT @TimMorehouse: Images from Summer Nationals of #Fencing in Atlanta: wp.me/pfSw1- #sn10 #
• 19:42 Saw old photos of my hometown@ Fry's. Dust roads, wood plank houses, surprisingly not all long gone. #
• 21:01 @iamscully Yes. #
• 21:07 I swear, 1000 years from now archaeologists are going to dig up Memphis & decide Elvis was some kind of deity. #

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Blog silence of late as my family has been visiting for the past week. It was a good visit (more later), with lots of laughs, touristing, food, and gifts :)

Their visit necessitated my cleaning up the kitchen and dining room, both popular sites for clutter in my house. Don't get me wrong, they're usually clean - food is safe, etc. - but the counters are usually several layers deep in towels/appliances and the dining room table is my favorite site for stacking books in progress and other effluvia.

No longer! The table is was pristine (still emptier than it has been in over a year) and the kitchen is wildly organized.

Of course, all the overflow had to go somewhere, specifically the basement and guest room (they stayed in a hotel). The former is a nightmare and I'm scared to go into the guest room.

This is still true after donating still more books to the library, trading in some DVDs at the local music store (in exchange for record brushes - D. got me a record player! That outputs MP3s!) and throwing out ancient videotapes.

Pro: I freed up a shelf for the books I got in Italy, yay!

Con: Said shelf is full and it's still not enough, boo!

I don't think there's any way around it - I'm gonna have to get more bookshelves. This irritates me more than I'd like to admit.

More on the holidays etc. later - I'm plunging headfirst back into cleaning + my usual weekly activities.