odds and ends of my life - the orts, so to speak

"Ort" is a commonly-occurring crossword puzzle answer. We have started to use it in normal conversation for the bits and pieces of "whatever" - refrigerator leftovers; useless parts of the Sunday paper; bits of clean laundry that fall out of the handful en route to Laundry Mountain.

So here are some orts of my brain:

1.Man, this day job business really gets in the way of regular blogging!

2.People in my immediate circle known to have the 'flu: my husband; 3 of my students; the father of one of my colleagues. My sister-in-law has a really bad cold.

3.Fourth-grade-playground attacks on Obama's health care plan (death squads etc., oh, hi, Sarah, didn't see you there, how ya doin'?) get on my nerves not because the Republican operatives are acting like assholes (which they are) but because evidently there are people in this country stupid enough to buy their propaganda.

4.The only child of one of my childhood friends died last week in Iraq. I can't stop thinking about it. In fact, every other trouble I can think of pales in comparison to her heartbreak.

5.Classes are going well: students seem motivated and cheerful. I am in a much better mood about teaching than ever before.

I am going to try to post more often, even though there is a lot going on...