Sammie's claim to not-so-fame

Sammie loves to tell people that he played a gig with the former drummer of the P-funk. The who? Exactly.

Friday night, we were sitting in the PSU Creamery eating ice cream with our friends, the Kidds. They've been our partners in crime for many adventures and we were thrilled that they came to visit us in State College. Ever since we met Jeremy Kidd, he has been going to finish his doctoral dissertation in economics in the next couple of months. That was two and a half years ago. It's not like he's been idle, he just graduated from law school with honors and passed the Utah Bar. And he and his wonderful wife, Heather, are very involved in church service, playing games, buying dvds, and buying bookshelves to store their dvds and books. Sammie loves to tease Jeremy about the dissertation and the subject came up at the creamery. The conversation went something like this:

Sammie: How old are you?
Jeremy: 33
Sammie: Law school's only three years. How come you're only just graduating? Oh wait, you spent 7 years NOT getting a PhD in Economics.

(Laughter and guffaws from the spectators - me and Heather)

Jeremy: Well business school is only 2 years. How come you're just starting when I'm finishing law school?

(More laughter, oohs and aahs, from spectators)

Sammie: Well, while you weren't getting your PhD in Economics, I was out playing a gig with the former drummer of the P-funk.

And this is where I stepped in. As we stood up to throw out our ice cream bowls (which were licked very clean), I stopped at a nearby table, excused myself, and asked if anyone there had heard of the P-funk. From their blank stares, it was obvious they hadn't. Sammie tried to help them out: "Parliament Funkadelic? Parliament? George Clinton?" Nothing. It was hopeless.

We laughed all the way to the car. And laughed as we got in the car. And were still laughing when we stopped at the kiosk to pay the parking attendant. As Sammie handed her the parking ticket, he made one last attempt to salvage his dignity: "Excuse me, have you heard of the P-funk?"

We held our breath. Sammie's ego hung in the balance. Had he actually brushed greatness during his rock star career in LA? Did he achieve enough status that he is now a "has-been"? or is he simply a "never was"?

"The P-funk? No. Should I have?"

We laughed the rest of the way home and, well, pretty much all weekend.

Juniata College

I love the campus of Juniata College, where I am teaching freshman composition. It's in Huntingdon, which is about 45 minutes south of State College. It's a beautiful drive, although the combination of a 2-lane road and slow PA drivers sometimes makes me crazy.

Here's my office

And this is an outside view of Quinter House, where my office is. A few weeks ago, I held student conferences in the rockers on the porch.

My classroom is in Good Hall, which faces the main quad of the campus.

And this is looking up the sleepy little street that runs right through campus.

And, finally, I convinced one of my classes to pose for a picture. This is my "11:00" class. They're my favorites. :)

ps - sorry about the weird formatting. Blogger is making me crazy...

Oh how I love my Melba. Let me count the ways...

What am I doing right now? Well, duh – homework. Let me catch you up quickly on my wife… What is she doing now? Here’s what she is saying – and she’s not being funny here – she is REALLY mad. ”Oh my gosh, I’m going to hit somebody! This isn’t X-Men – this is commercials. Why are there so many commercials? I want X-Men! This channel is supposed to be showing X-Men – they’re just showing commercials! It’s like 20 minutes of commercials for every seven minutes of X-Men.”

This reminds me of what she said last week as I sat on the couch doing homework while football was on. This is a direct quote from Melba after I incorrectly stated the conference Penn State is in. “Sammie, Penn State is in the Big Ten, not the Pac-10. (Loud burp) When are you going to cook me steak?”

X-Men is now back on. I just asked her, "Melba, do you want to know what I'm posting on the blog right now?" Her response, "Can you tell me during the next commercial?"

I'm not kidding here.

Our New Home
We've been promising to post pictures of our new house in State College. Last Saturday I had a Relief Society birthday brunch here and, since the house was somewhat clean, I took pictures. The first is the front of the house. Nobody lives next door yet, so we take advantage of the extra driveway.

I didn't take any pictures of the front entryway cuz it's all still boxes (Mom's project when she comes next month is to help me decorate it). Here are pictures of the living room, kitchen and dining rooms. Complete with "Happy Birthday" sign (a Christmas present from my sister Lindsay) and orange rolls waiting to go in the oven.

The upstairs has three bedrooms. First, the master bedroom

And then the Master Bath, complete with full jacuzzi tub (one of our big reasons for buying the place)

The second bedroom is Phoebe's room (although we hope to someday displace her with another occupant) and the third bedroom is our study/studio/mess. I gave up waiting for this room to be clean to take a picture of it. Studies just aren't meant to be tidy. Especially when they're associated with me.

These are pictures taken from outside. The first is the cornfield at the end of the street. The second is Beaver Stadium as seen from just outside our subdivision. The view's a little different from the one we had in Northern Virginia...

It looks like we live out in the middle of nowhere, but we actually only live on the edge of nowhere. We're also very close to Walmart, Sam's Club, Nitanny Mall, Bed Bath and Beyond, and, most significantly, Barnes and Noble.

Finally, a picture of the lampposts. We first looked at this house at the end of a long day of househunting. We already pretty much knew which place we wanted to buy, but, of course, wanted to see the rest of the options. We drove into the subdivision and I immediately noticed the lampposts. Then I saw the red shutters and the stone facing on the house. Then the kitchen and the large master bedroom. Finally, I saw the jacuzzi tub. That clenched it and here we are!