Mansfield Pork and Other News

I have been pretty remiss about reading/posting on the blog this week, so I wasn't really tuned in to the whole hurricane threat until this morning. Even downgraded as it was, I was pretty shocked at the damage to New Orleans. Two ancient oak trees in Jackson Square, where my family and I used to go a lot when we lived in Louisiana, were uprooted, and the roof of the Superdome was ripped open. Apparently the city of Slidell, where I used to live, was one of the worst hit places. We won't get a damage report until tomorrow, but it's pretty worrying . . . I'm glad the Panhandle and Alabama are safe.

School is back again. Returning to school is actually better this year than it has been in the past - probably because I've been working like a maniac for the last two weeks of summer to catch up on all the work I'd been assigned in June. I think I'm actually working less now than I was then. : )

Has anybody asked Mark or Derek for a college reference? Looks like most schools want high school teacher recommendations, but I'm considering asking one of the two of them anyway. College professors must write pretty killer recommendations.

I had some tapioca pudding tonight. Kind of like bubble tea. Probably the closest you can get in Holland. Asian beverage crazes just don't reach all the way into this time zone, I guess.

Remember the game Meredith's friends invented, where you change one letter in a book title? Tom Lawyer, Heart of Dorkness? My family is seriously into it. Especially my uncle. He sent us an email message full of them. A choice selection:

Orphan girl becomes ping pong phenom: Anne of Green Tables
Free-spirited boy travels the Mississippi River by raft, tattling on others: Huckleberry Fink
Giant gorilla establishes the Apes of the Round Table: The Once and Future Kong (a sequel to The Ape of Innocence)
Mountaintop old folks home: Withering Heights
The Jolly Roger is constructed in Bakersfield, California but unable to be transported to the ocean: Treasure Inland
Adventures and companionship between a man and an amoeba: The Cell of the Wild
Half wolf, half French Bulldog responds to primal inclinations to take> long naps on a soft pillow and fuss for meals and attention: Whine Fang
Consumer behavior study of the wizarding community: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Store
Harry Potter uses muggle remedy for sore throat: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Sucrets
Member of the wizarding community gets hair highlighted: Harry Potter and the Half-Blond Prince
stretching it:> Dumbledore fails to clean Fawkes' cage: Harry Potter and the Odor of the Phoenix

Perhaps it is needless to say it, but my family is not annoyed by regular references to TASP. My mom and my sister both read High Fidelity, and some siblings/parents have even taken up snapping occasionally. They also liked the Daler Mehndi video. But TASP is still gone. And it's too windy to play Ultimate Frisbee here, most of the time. *sniff*

On a happier note, I will be touring colleges (with my dad and sister) up and down the East Coast in October, the 14th through the 24th. It's a pretty crazy itinerary - we fly into Philadelphia, rent a car, and commence a grand automobile tour of the Northeast, traveling through Boston, Montreal, Ithaca, New Jersey, DC, Durham, NC, and finally back to Philadelphia. We will average roughly one college and four hours of driving per day. But it will be fun, especially because I'll get to see New England in the fall! The alternative was February, which I hear is not such a picturesque time to be there.

Hoping that despite hurricanes, skeptical family members, and Bubble tea withdrawal, the carbon-carbon bonds of the TASP buckyball will remain firm and sp2 hybridized,

Sam