February 19, 2007

Furniture fun

Much progress was made on the preparing for BGP front this weekend. Saturday, my colleagues at work threw us a shower. We had a great time, with my brother and dad and their wives coming in from far away. My brother brought my Uncle Joe, which was a nice surprise. We received some essential gear as gifts, including the car seat (we can now actually take BGP home from the hospital), from my very generous coworkers. Joe's gift was a wonderful blanket that he crocheted himself. We and BGP are lucky to have such great friends and family.

We also picked up a new bookcase. That goes in the spare bedroom so we can get all the books out of the study/nursery. Saturday night we found a nice dresser at Ashely furiniture, so now the only piece of furniture we need is a glider/rocker. Things are slowly coming together.

Posted by Nakia at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2007

It didn't come with a Scarface poster, but it's still pretty cool

Friday Sarah and I borrowed our friend Jason's Expedition and ventured into Charlotte rush hour to pick up our crib from USABaby. I have decided I don't really like that store; who needs to be snobby about baby stuff? We were able to get a crib and a mattress for a great deal, so I won't complain too much. It's a beautiful cherry color, with simple lines and the sturdiness I wanted. I'l post pics when I get it put together (which won't happen until we get the rest of our crap out of the study).

Friday we also stopped by Kohls and Barnes and Noble in Charlotte. I didn't get any books, but did find a cashmere sweater at Kohls for $25 (it was 80% off). I bought Sarah her Valentine's Day present -- a bathrobe. Not super romantic, I know, but she wanted one (and will need one for the baby) and they were on sale.

Saturday I ran some errands, then Sarah and I went to the Homecoming basketball game. Winthrop remains undefeated in the Big South and keeps angling for a NCAA tournament bid (with a seed higher than 15, hopefully).

Saturday night was spent a home. We had a busy week and needed some veg time, so we watched The Matador. Very good -- Pierce Brosnan, especially.

Sunday was church, then groceries. We picked up a london broil and grilled that for dinner. Watched some of the Grammys then went to bed.

Posted by Nakia at 12:13 PM | Comments (2)

February 06, 2007

Monday on Tuesday

Didn't do a real Monday update, instad opting for a post/rant about our childbirth class. But we also did some other things this past weekend including:

Attended a very fun SuperBowl party on Sunday at our friend Jeannie and Jason's place. Good food (I made my own wings) and good folks. Plus the Colts won.

Sunday was also my birthday, so after church Sarah took me to IHOP then made me a cake. She also gave me a hot pot so I can make tea in my office. I have a great wife.

We also hung new blinds in what will be the nursery. That took a lot longer than necessary because, well, I am not very smart. Let's just leave it at that. (I know. You're saying "This guy can't hang blinds, yet he's having a kid?!" Well, kids don't have hidden secret adjustor slides that aren't on the instructions, okay!)

Friday night Sarah and I met the Brysons at the Lucky Buffet -- a new Asian buffet here in town. The buffet is about 7 miles long and features, well, everything (including pasta and other non-Asian items). It reminded me a little of the buffets in casinoes. We enjoyed the food and the company, but paid for the food for several hours afterward. And I didn't even think we ate that much.

Posted by Nakia at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2007

Basketball and Cribs (no, not MTV style)

Another eventful weekend that combined all the things we have going on in life right now: baby prep, some recreation, hangning out with friends, and work.

Friday was full of meetings for me: the Common Book committee meeting in the morning, followed by the College meeting, then the Faculty Conference meeting. I made it through the first two. We picked the common book (although it's not official until the President announces it. I am pleased with the selection). The College meeting was fine as those meetings go; we're having some valdalism issues in our building we're trying to take care of, so there's a hightened sense of secutirty around here.

After the College meeting, I was beat. Still stuffy and worn from a week of the same virus I get every semester, I didn't make the Faculty Conference meeting. I went home and took a two-hour nap.

Continuing the rest, Sarah and I ate leftovers for dinner and watched Little Miss Sunshine. Great movie -- well worth the hype.

Saturday I felt better. We stayed in during the morning doing some cleaning and trying to move stuff out of the study. It's hard giving up a whole room. I don't think we have a lot of stuff, but relocating that stuff in the study is proving to be a challenge. We left the house at lunchtime to run a few errands (Linens and Things and Target) for some organizational materials. We grabbed some Taco Bell, then headed to my office. It was a wreck from my hectic, sick week, so Sarah helped me clean and organize it a little better. We then walked to the Colliseum for the Winthrop-Coastal basketball game. It was too exciting for my tastes. Winthrop was up by 10 at the half, but allowed Coastal back into it and ened up eeking out a 2 point victory.

After the game, it was back to the office for a bit (we had left the car there anyway) to finish up the cleaning. We then went to eat at Si's Pizzaria. Don't go there. We've eaten there twice. The pizza is average and the service was horrible. Wesat for 10 minutes before the waitress came to get our drink order (I had to talk to the hostess to get that to happen). Our appitizer came with our pizza and that took forever. Looking around, many of the other customers faced similar issues, so Si's is officially Off.The.List.

Sunday we were up and at 9:30 Mass, then on to Matthews, NC for brunch with our friends Lee and Marianne. Lee and I went to grad school together and now he's Dean of the Upper School at Providence Day in Charlotte. They are not far away (40 minutes or so), but we don't really see them that much. We all seem to be so busy. So it was good to have brunch with them and their two children and just hang out for a bit.

Since we were up that way, we headed to Burlington Coat Factory (and their Baby Depot) to look for a crib. I really disliked that store -- cluttered, messy, and generally depressing. They didn't really have anything we liked, either. We then stopped at BabiesRUs on the way home and kicked the tires on a whole bunch of cribs.

Here is our problem: we want nice crib but have cost constraints. I would like something that's solid wood, something we can use either for future children or for a toddler bed/real bed for our little girl. I don't need anything super-fancy, but something safe, sturdy, and that looks like it is safe and sturdy. Those things cost a lot of money, apparently. The things we really liked cost $400+, which we can't afford to spend. (This is my general problem with furniture in general, btw. I see furniture as an investment, something that should last for a long time. I don't want throwaway furniture. But such furniture is beyond our reach at this point).

Sarah and I did more research when we got home, using our books and the internet. We found something that we like and that is rated well. But it's only available at Wal-Mart, which puts us in a bit of a moral dilemma, as we've sworn off that store.

After all that, I was worn out. I was relaxing on the couch and was dozing off at 8:30. I was in bed by 9:30 and asleep by 10:00.

Whew.

Posted by Nakia at 11:01 AM | Comments (2)

January 22, 2007

A Weekend of Media (and chicken wings)

It seems like Sarah and I spent most of the weekend watching movies, listening to music, watching TV, or reading.

Friday: Watched The Last Kiss which led to some minor freaking out about fatherhood on my part. Good movie.

Andre arrived about 3/4 of the way through it. He was going to a BBQ judge-certification class on Saturday, so he spent the night with us.

Saturday: Ate breakfast with Andre, then he was off. Spent most of the day looking for reasonably-priced yet stylish yet safe baby furniture, with none to be found. Took Sarah to Pasta and Provisions, where she worked for a few hours. I went to Joseph-Beth bookstore to kill time, wandered around SouthPark Mall for awhile, then ended up reading 100 pages of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius while sitting in the mall's center court. Picked Sarah up, then we went and saw The Good Shephard. A nice film -- Matt Damon was very good.

Sunday: Slept in and, as a result, missed church. Felt a little gilty. Went to Target, Lowes, Best Buy, and BiLo. Bought the new John Mayer CD which is really good. Got home just as the rain started. It continued all afternoon and night. Made my own chicken wings (which turned out really well). Watched NFL playoffs. Sorry to see the Saints lose, but happy the Colts won. Pulling for the Colts in the Super Bowl.

To sum up: no baby furniture, two movies, one CD, six hours of football, homemade chicken wings.

Posted by Nakia at 12:30 PM | Comments (5)

November 27, 2006

Thanksgiving Rundown

Thanksgiving business has kep me from updating for a bit, so here's a qucik rundown of the past few days:

Wednesday I graded, then went home and helped Sarah clean and begin food prep for Thanksgiving. I brined a turkey, she made pumpkin pie, and I used my new springform pan and a water bath to make a cheesecake.

Thursday, Sarah's parents and younger sister flew in. Sarah went to pick them up at the airport, while I manned the stove. Our menu: Turkey, stuffing, broccoli casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and the aforementioned dessert. It all turned out very well! Jen, Robert, and their new daughter Mikayla stopped by later in the afternoon anf hung out for a bit before heading to Robert's dad's place in Monroe. We watched the Cowboy's game after lunch.

Friday was more football, with A&M and Texas playing at noon. Go Aggies! Friday eveing was a bit of shopping and dinner at Charanda, a local Mexican restaurant.

Saturday was the big shopping day for the women, so Roger and I drove to Greenville. I showed him Furman and the revitalized Greenville downtown, then we drove back to Charlotte where we met the women, Jen, Robert, and Mikayla and Robert's dad for dinner at Ilios/Noche a cool Mediteranean restaurant Sarah has worked catering for (they are friends with the Pasta and Provisions crew).

Sunday we went to Mass at 9:30, followed by breakfast at IHOP. Leanna and I watched football and rested, while Sarah and her folks went for a hike at Andrew Jackson State park. When they returned, we drove to Columbia to watch the lighting of the state Chirstmas tree. Harper went with us down to the capital.

Now it's Monday and I am back at work. Only one week of class left, then exams next week. Sarah's parents leave tomorrow, so we're going to hang out with cousin Robert and his family tonight.

Posted by Nakia at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2006

A good gaming weekend

It appears my sleep troubles were a one time thing. I slept fine all weekend, thank God.

Friday night I began what will hopefully be a long-term D&D campaign for some undergrad guys here at school. We have five good players and, if scheduling works out, I can see us having a fun, consistent game. For me, there was a bit of quality nostalgia as I watched these guys get all excited about the game, make Monty Python references, and crawl around the dungeon. All the players are pretty new to gaming, so they embrace all the things that tired, jaded players like me have almost forgotten. It's great. (We're playing the Age of Worms adventure path, btw).

Saturday we mucked around the house, cleaning and doing laundry. I cut the grass. We balied on our household duties early to go watch football at Lukes. Robbie joined us for awhile. Then we went over to some new friends of ours -- Jeannie and Jason -- for some poker. Jeannie is a new sociology professor at Winthrop and Jason works in Student Activities. Jeannie is also a Furman grad, class of 99, and we know a lot of the same people. We had a good time playing poker, although I was a bit distracted by the football games. Jeannie and Jason have a nice projector setup, so I watched the Ohio State/Texas and the SC/Georgia game after I busted out.

Sunday was church and IHOP, then the grocery store. I graded some papers while Sarah did an open house. Watched some of the Cowboys game and some of the Manning Bowl, but am just not as interested in pro football.

Now it's back to work. I have lots of writing to do as well as papers to finish grading. I'm working on an article called "The Hegemony of Google" and a paper on ethics and assessment.

Posted by Nakia at 09:27 AM | Comments (2)

August 07, 2006

Cars and NoDa

'Twas a pretty good weekend around the Pope house. Seems like we did a lot of shopping, but that makes sense. It was Tex Free weekend here in South Carolina, as school starts back Wednesday. Plus, we have a little extra money since I got paid for my summer school class and my course development work. Whoo-hoo!

Friday, Sarah and I went into Charlotte to look at cars. He Civic is on its last legs. Although the engine runs fine, it's got 176,000 miles on it. It has a crack in the rear seal, so it occasionally drips oil. The speedometer has started acting up recently, shooting up to 120 mph when we're cruising at 30 and occasionally not working at all. The passenger side window will roll down with the driver control, but not back up. And the AC doesn't work, which has been pretty brutal these past few weeks. There's no way Sarah can show houses in it. To fix all that stuff will probably cost more than the 1993 vehicle is worth.

So Friday we checked out Carmax. I was very pleased with the friendly older gentlemen that showed us around. He genuinely listened to our parameters and didn't pressure us at all. Sarah and I decided we want a Subaru Outback or Forrester. It looks like we can get one with less than 50,000 miles for around our budget of $15,000. Although Carmax didn't have on on Friday, our need is not urgent, so we can wait until one becomes available.

After our Carmax excursion, we headed to the NoDa district of Charlotte for dinner and to check out this singer/songwriter guy Sarah had heard of. NoDa is kinda like Charlotte's Greenwitch Village. There are some funky restraunts and galleries in a former warehouse district. Granted, it's only three blocks or so (as opposed to the Village) and nowhere near as funky. But there is a similar vibe and, if you stand on North Davidson and look south, the Bank of America towers are nicely framed, which reminds me of how you could stand at the corner of Washington Square Park and look down West Broadway at the World Trade Center. Well, you used to be able to, anyway.

Sarah and I ate at the Mellow Mushroom (which recently opened, I think. I don't remember it there the last time we were up in NoDa), then walked down to Dolce Vita, a cool wine bar. (But, boy, do they need a new website!). Sarah had done some deliveries there for Pasta and Provisions, had heard Daniel Lambert there, and met some cool people. Daniel was playing again, so we went to check him out. He was really good, with songs that sounded Texan more than anything else. Sarah chatted with some of the folks we had met before while I chilled out the comfy couch. I was pretty tired, so we bailed about 10:30 and headed back to Rock Hill. 'Twas a fun Friday.

Posted by Nakia at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2006

Back from New Orleans

I made it back to Rock Hill yesterday afternoon. It's good to be home. Sarah and I had not seen each other in 10 days, since she had gone to Charlottesville right before I left for New Orleans, so we had some catching up to do. I missed just talking to her and listening to her stories. Her real estate training is going very well; she's got another week and a half before she's "on the street".

I took a lot of notes and have a lot of things I want to write about in regards to my NO trip. I'm going to post those beginning this week. My class is also starting next Monday, so I have some thoughts there, and work procedes apace on the on-line course, so expect a lot of activity on Professorpope.com this week! Right this minute, though, I have to go finish all the laundry I brought back with me. Good times.

Posted by Nakia at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)

May 01, 2006

Just an update

I haven't had a general "what's going on" update in some time, so this is one of those.

First, I am done with grading papers for the semester. One class stil has their final presentations, but those are graded immediately after they are finished. So, as of 5:30 PM today, I'll be completely done grading for the semester. I still have to figure out final averages and enter them all into the system, but not having any more papers to grade is a big weight off the shoulders.

Saturday, Sarah worked at the Pasta shop while I stayed home, graded, and did lots of laundry. Exciting! She got home at about 5:00, then we headed off to Columbia to visit John and Amelia. It was a belated birthday party for John, as well as an "end of the first year of law school" party. So there were other law students there (whom I didn't really talk to much), as well as Austin Hood -- a Furman grad and fraternity brother whom I had not seen in a long time. I ended up manning the grill and talking to Austin a lot. It was very cool to see him again and to meet his wife (also named Sarah).

After the law students left, John, Amelia, Sarah, and I went upstairs and played poker till 1:00 AM. There was a time when I could see myself getting into and getting good at poker. Not anymore. I suck. Sarah kicked my ass, took all my chips, and I stumbled off to bed.

Sunday we got up and John and Amelia cooked breakfast. John is going to England for a May term, so he booked a flight from London to Dublin and is now going to hang out with Sarah and I for a couple of days on our vacation. We're excited about that. John took us to the USC campus and we walked around the Horseshoe for a bit, then ate at the Mellow Mushroom (love the MM). Sarah and I headed back to Rock Hill.

Sarah's real estate exam is Tuesday, so she studied while I did a bit of shopping. I went to Best Buy and bought us a laptop backpack for our Ireland trip, then got some groceries to get us through the week. I crashed out way early on Sunday night, after beginning a new book. More on that later.

(Hopefully, this qualifies as an entry not remotely about Lost, so Winston will be happy).

Posted by Nakia at 12:26 PM | Comments (3)

April 03, 2006

A great weekend

Back at work on a rainy Monday morning, ready to face the stack of essays I have to grade. Despite the work and the weather, I am in a good mood. It's hard not to start things off on a good note after a great weekend.

A not-at-all productive Friday morning gave way to some gaming Friday afternoon. I've connected with a few Winthrop students and we occasionally game on Fridays. It's casual, with folks coming when they can. Although that makes it a little difficult to plan, it does create a light atmosphere -- just some monsters to fight and some light backstory. It's fun.

Friday night Sarah and I watched a "Rick Steves Ireland" DVD to prepare for our trip. We've just about got an intenerary worked out for the drive. More on that later.

Saturday my dad drove in from Knoxville to help me with yard work. I have the best dad ever. I called him on Friday night to ask, if he wasn't doing anything, if he'd come and give me a hand with the aerating. He wasn't and he did. He arrived about 9:30 Saturday morning, we went and rented and aerator, poked lots of holes in my yard, then took the machine back. I put out more seed (bermuda grass, for those keeping score) and watered. I then took dad out to lunch at McHales and we watched some of the bicycle race going on downtown. The weather was great. We then just relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Sarah brought home some pizza ingredients from Past and Provisions. We cooked a pizza, did some more relaxing, and I went to bed early.

Dad got up early Sunday morning to get back to Knoxville. Since I was already up, I pried Sarah out of bed. We cooked some fun breakfast burritos, pack our stuff, and went for a hike. We hiked from Kings Mountain State Park to the Kings Mountain National Battlefield Visitor's Center and back -- about six miles. Again, the weather was great. The national park part of the hike had a controled burn performed on Tuesday, so it was ashy and smokey. Not the ideal atmostphere, but still interesting. I remarked that it was like Mordor.

We returned from the hike, showered, and went to the grocery store. We picked up some London broil on sale and grilled it up for dinner. Sarah cooked these shredded potato things that were really good to go with the steak. After dinner, we did some more Ireland planning during commercials of Desperate Housewives. I find the show amusing in an absurd way, but Sarah really likes it.

All of that, plus baseball is back!! What a great weekend!

Posted by Nakia at 09:46 AM | Comments (3)

March 13, 2006

Monday of Break

It's Spring Break here at Winthrop and, despite the 75 degree temperatures outside, I'm in the office. I've got some grading to take care of, as well as a few other things work related this week. It's hard to do, though, when it's so nice outside. Spring is my favorite season.

The major spring break task is to get some grass in the yard. Since we've bought the house, our yard has been weeds and red clay. But this week SArah and I are going to put out some bermuda grass seed in an attempt to actually have a yard.

This past weekend we were in Knoxville, visiting my dad for his brithday. Andre and Heidi came to Rock Hlll and picked us up on Friday. We didn't do a whole lot in Knoxville, which was fine by me. We just hung out with Dad, Teresa, and Andrew, ate some good Indian food for lunch, and cooked a big dinner Saturday night. We also went to Mckay's Books, a big used bookstore. Plenty of stuff there; I was proud Sarah and I only spent $15.

A good weekend and a good week ahead!

Posted by Nakia at 11:11 AM | Comments (3)

January 09, 2006

Beginning the semster

Today is the first day of the spring semester here at Winthrop. I'm pretty excited. I teach three sections of "Teachers, Schools, and Society" (the same class I taught last semester) and one section of a graduate class called "Teaching in a Democracy". The content for both classes will be similar, even though expectations and assignments will be different from the undergraduate to the graduate class.

I feel like I've gotten my stuff together and am ready to go.

In developing my syllabi, I gave some serious thought to what I wanted my students to get out of the class and did my best to match my assignments and assessments to those goals. I'll throw the syllabi up here for people to peruse. While both classes use the same textbook this semester, my plan is to teach more primary source material in future graduate classes. I generally don't like textbooks for grad classes, but am using one this semester to (admitedly) make things a little easier on myself and my students. No one wins if we are all overwhelmed. Once I get this course under my belt, I can change the readings up a bit.

Download file">Teachers, Schools, and Society Syllabus

Download file">Teaching in a Democracy Syllabus

Posted by Nakia at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2006

Back at it

Although it is not Monday, this is sort of a Monday update -- a catch up, catch all, catch 22 post.

The most consistent piece of writing advice out there is "Write Everyday". This blog should be my space for that. What goes along with that, however, is that one writes a lot of crap that gets thrown away. Should a blog be the space for that? Should one put really rough, unfinished or half-formed thoughts about stuff out there for everyone to read? I'm certainly doing it, at least today.

Spent New Year's at Edisto with the Harpers, the Bomars, the Corbets, the Harrison/Greers, the Justin and Jenna (forgot their last name), the Farmer and Matt, the Hollibaugh and Mark, and in close proximity to the Ladds, the Berrys, the Wilhoits, the Cronin, the TP, and the Conan. Great to see everyone and we had much fun. I didn't know I could stay up to 3:00 AM two nights in a row. Who knew? And who knew Sarah was good at Beer Pong?

Well, you can see how far I've gotten with the site redesign. I don't know if I am lazy, have too little patience for even the rudimentary coding such a redeisgn would take, or am just inept at this stuff. Probably all three.

Finished the new syllabus for my 110 course today. I feel pretty good about it. I think it expresses what I wnat my students to get from the course and how I want them to approach it. I always stress about assignments, though. Am I asking too much? Too little? Does the timing of assignments fit the University's schedule as far as dropping the course and breaks? I know no matter what I do, I'll get groans from students. I need to be as true as I can to my vision of the course whihin the constraints of the University. That's the best I can do, I suppose. That and realize every semester and every class is different, so the syllabus only gets you so far. I'll put a link to my syllabus up when it gets posted so everyone can check it out.

Tomorrow, it's the syllabus for the graduate class. it will be very similar to the 110 syllabus, actually. The course I am teaching is for the MAT students. These are folks who have undergrad degrees already but now want to teach, so they are getting a Master's in Teaching. Since they have no classroom experience and I have no guarantees they have ever had an Ed course before, the material for 110 and 600 are similar. The assignments and expectations are different.

Off to the gym. . .

Posted by Nakia at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2005

Two things this weekend

A good weekend for Sarah and I. We did some Christmas shopping Sunday. Ate some good pizza at The Graduate (a bar in Charlotte) on Saturday. I hung out with some Winthrop faculty at McHales after the Faculty Conference meeting on Friday afternoon.

We also saw Walk the Line Sunday afternoon. I finished A Feast for Crows this weekend as well.

I am a huge Johnny Cash fan, getting on board the Man in Black train with his rebrirth as mythic American troubaor at the hands of Rick Rubin and American records. On a philosophical level, I connect Cash with contradictions -- faith and violence, love and isolation, and a hope despite present darkness. On a personal level, I connect Cash with my grandfather. The later connection is though nothing concrete. I don't know if Pappy was ever a big fan, but Cash and Pappy are connected for me. They just seem like similar men -- hard at times, troubled at times, but with a deep capacity for love and caring.

Given my personal esteem for Cash and his music, I eagerly anticipated the biopic. The Shepard Farey posters were perfect. Phoenix seemed aptly cast. Even Reese Witherspoon (who bugs the crap out of me) seemed a good fit for June Carter.

I enjoyed the film. There were sublime moments, but a few misses as well. As a Johnny Cash movie, it was very good. As a music biopic, it falls somewhere behind Ray.

There were some great, great moments in the movie, mostly centered on Phoenix and his face. Cash's audition for Sam Phillips, where Phillips is about to throw Cash and the Tenessee Two out, turns into one of those sublime moments. At Phillips' urging, Cash breaks out an early version of "Folsom Prision Blues". Cash hesitantly begins, but during the course of the song, as the Two catch onto the song, you can see it all on Phoenix's face -- the beginning of a transition from reluctance to confidence, from an equipment salesman to a musician that would shape American music.

There are a few other moments like that -- "Cocaine Blues" at Folsom, Cash watching Elvis from backstage duuring an early tour, when Cash tells Carter of his brother's death at a lunch counter -- that push the film into greatness and cement Phoenix an Oscar nomination.

The missteps of the film I'll blame on the director. Cash was an ordinary man who did extraordinary things with his songs. Despite some "rock star" moments, like his battle with pills, Cash's story isn't a "Behind the Music" episode. Yet, the film feels the need to put Cash between the enemies of his father and first wife and the savior, June Carter. There has to be some "bad guys" for Hollywood. As a result, Vivian and Cash comes across as petulant and petty, while Roy comes accross as the Mean Father. While June is given more complexity, having her stand as the savior to Cash's demons of pills, wife, and father makes the story less complex and interesting than it really was. Cash married the wrong woman the first time and took a long time to work that out. That, combined with Cash's unearthly empathic and storytelling musical abilities, should be the crux of the story.

I also question why the climax of the film comes about as a result of a tractor and a lake. Why couldn't the film use Cash's real life moment of darkness, when he crawls into a cave to die as a result of his shame and addiction? I can even see that as an opening scene, with most of the film being told as flashback while Cash sits in the darkness?

The film doesn't hit every mark, but enough to make it enjoyable for this Cash fan. Still, I am more emotionally struck by the video for "Hurt" which I really can't watch without getting a lump in my throat.

Posted by Nakia at 11:16 AM | Comments (3)

November 08, 2005

I'm not dead yet!

It's been awhile since I've updated. That's not been for lack of things going on. Really, it's the opposite. I've been pretty focused on work and home life the past few weeks and it's paid off in terms of productivity and good things happening. The blog break has also given me time to think a little more about what the blog is supposed to do for me and for those that visit. I haven't come to any real conclusions on the later, but I do want to do some redesign and refocusing of the blog. That will probably have to wait for my Christmas break, as it will be a hectic few weeks until the semester ends. I only have seven actual class days left! Where did the semster go?

Come on in for at least a list of what's been happening:

-- Trip this past weekend to Charlottesville. I presented a paper, played some D&D, and ate way too much food.
-- Visting the Charlotte library's game day and volunteering to run a one-shot RPG session at the Charlotte library's next game day in November. Hopefulyly this will lead to a regular gaming group.
-- Going to Conway and taking my grandmother out for her birthday.
-- Beginning to develop a redesign for my 110 course. I'll probably apply for some grant money to help.
-- Dinner with several ENWorlders as they head through town.
-- Watching season 1 of Lost on DVD, along with other Netflix movies.
-- Figuring out when Sarah can go back to school.
-- Polishing off another paper for a conference presentation -- the last remaining work I'll do based on the grant project I worked on at UVA.
-- Continuing to brainstorm and refine some sort of personal organizational strategy based on the GTD method that works for me.

And, today I bought the new George R.R. Martin book!

Posted by Nakia at 11:49 AM | Comments (3)

October 17, 2005

The rest of the weekend

The Wilco show dominated the weekend, I guess. Saturday we ate some Waffle House then left Asheville. We stopped in Hendersonville on the way back. My gradfather's ashes were scattered off Jump Off Rock just outside the town, so I wanted to visit. There was actually a wedding going on up there, so I just left my grandfather some cigarettes (he smoked Lucky Strikes after WW 2, but had switched to Camel nonfilters by the time I knew him) and we took off.

We then stopped at the outlets in Gaffney. I was horribly allergic to something there, to the point I was feeling dizzy, so we didn't stay long. We did get some $50 bookshelves from the Pottery Barn outlet.

Ordered pizza and watched football and baseball Saturday night. I don't really pull for either Notre Dame or USC, but that was a hell of a game. And Virginia pulls off the upset over Florida State.

Sunday Sarah worked, so I did some writing, then watched "Videodrome" from Netflix and finally got around to watching the first episode of Lost season 2. More on those later.

It's fall break here at Winthrop.

Posted by Nakia at 02:26 PM | Comments (2)

October 10, 2005

Harper Time

Last night John and Amelia Harper made the hour drive up I-77 to visit and have dinner. We were glad to see them and hang out for a bit. While we miss all our Charlottesville peeps, it's good to be so close to the Harpers. Although the next time we eat, we'll steer away from Mexican (even though nothing else is really open on Sunday in Rock Hill).

Other things this weekend . . .

Sarah and I went furniture shopping. We didn't buy anything, but did learn that good stuff is not cheap, but probably worth it. I also learned I hate Rooms to Go, but that's just me. I am cursed with wanting the $800 bookshelves at Ethan Allan.

The most frustrating thing this weekend was the (non) D&D Meetup. Somehow I found this site -- Meetup.com -- that lets people with similar interests find each other in their area. There's one for Charlotte D&D players. An in person meetup was scheduled for Saturday and four or five people had RSVPed. I RSVPed, went, and no one else showed. I was pretty angry and dissapointed for a couple of reasons, the least of which was I cut short all the stuff I wanted to do around the house Saturday and drove my ass all the way into Charlotte to go to this thing. I don't understand how five people all RSVPed and then crap came up for everyone at the last minute.

The second reason is I really, really want to get gaming. I am going through withdrawl or something. The past week or so I've felt like something was missing in my Rock Hill situation. Sarah suggested it might be a D&D group. She's probably right -- the lack of gaming friends and a regular group is a big hole, given that I've had a gaming group (even if we didn't game all the time) for the past five years or so. That may also explain the inordinate amount of time I've spent on ENWorld lately. I want my D&D, dammit!

The other dissappointing thing this weekend was the Red Sox getting swept by the White Sox. That sucked. They sucked. They get a bye year, I guess, for winning the Series before I really begin complaining. I just hope the Angels can put the Yankees away. Game 5 is tonight.

And speaking of baseball -- 18 Innings! Holy Crap! And, as much as I dislike Clemons, him coming in from the bullpen and pitching three innings as the Absolute Last Astros Pitcher and winning the game was pretty impressive.

Still haven't seen Serentiy yet.

But at least I haven't had Bojangles in a week.

Posted by Nakia at 03:38 PM | Comments (4)

October 03, 2005

Swabbing the deck (and wenches!)

An eventful weekend for the Popes followed a busy week. What happened, you ask? Well, there was dirty work, followed by a day of tavern revelry.

I had one goal for Saturday -- stain our back deck. I wanted to get some color and water seal on there before the weather started to turn. Saturday looked to be a perfect day for it. It was sunny and warm but not too hot. I borrowed a pressure washer from my cousin and sprayed the deck. It was the first time I had ever used a pressure washer, so I alternated between peeling finish off the treated wood and barely getting the red clay off. That task compelted, I went to Home Depot for some stain. I find I alternate between Home Depot and Lowes. For awhile, I didn't like the Depot here very much, but I've gone there exclusively over the past month. So there's the Question of the Day -- Depot or Lowes?

Having bought the materials (rollers, brush, stain, extention pole) and fought with the Depot people about a rebate (why is the rebate sign still up if the rebate ended on September 5th?), I got home and got started. I don't think I did a horrible job, but I'm glad I didn't invest in the super long lasting stuff, because I want to stain the deck again now that I know what I'm doing (i.e., don't use a roller). It took me all of the afternoon and wore me out. I'm not quite finished, either. There are a few rails left and some trim work to do, but I ran out of stuff. I hope I can get a quart of stain and don't have to buy a whole gallon to do maybe 5 square feet.

Beat, we just stayed at home on Saturday night, watching football. A&M needed overtime to beat Baylor. Furman won. UVA lost. South Carolina got killed. The USC game was interesting. I fell asleep sometime during the Notre Dame game, but I understand they won.

Sunday -- wenches! More on that later.

(No Bojangles over the weekend. No extra cokes, either, so I did okay).

Posted by Nakia at 10:37 AM | Comments (9)

September 26, 2005

Sick Leave

Sorry about the lack of updates last week. I was feeling pretty crappy all week, which made it hard to keep up with work, much less my blog. I'm all better now, though.

Despite my illness, a lot happened last week. I'll fill in details as I get time.

Sarah's parents were here from Friday to this morning. I hope they had a good visit; I certainly enjoyed having them here. We went to an art/craft festival in Freedom Park in Charlotte, ate at McHale's in Rock Hill, played two games of "Ticket to Ride," (a very cool board game), took in a student play at Winthrop, and ate lots of Pasta and Provisions pasta. Roger and Marilyn also helped us out with some plants for the home (and a new shovel).

Other things last week that I'll get around to talking about:
Neil Gaiman at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Charlotte
Nakia's visit to the doctor
Dr. Pope gives his first test
A new gym for the Popes?

Not a lot of traffic or comments on my blog lately. Is everyone as busy as I am? Or maybe I've just gotten boring.

Posted by Nakia at 01:33 PM | Comments (9)

September 19, 2005

The Queen City

Sarah and I spent a lot of time in Charlotte this weekend, it seemed like, which was a good thing.

Sarah's new job is in Myers Park, a fancy old-money area of Charlotte. We had been invited out Saturday night by her boss, so I got up early and took her to work that morning, so we'd have just one car that night. It's about 35 minutes without traffic -- a hefty commute. I dropped her off, then headed back home. I stopped in Fort Mill to work out at the new YMCA, which was supposed to be all nice and fancy. The Fort Mill Y is in a new development called Baxter. Baxter sits right off of I-77 and looks like someone tried to take a Cape Cod village and dropped it in South Carolina. On one hand, it's a nice place. You can walk to shops and stores. It's very family and pededstrian friendly. The YMCA and an elementary school are right in the development. The houses also look very nice from the outside; unlike a lot of developments, they all don't look exactly the same. There are different colors and styles. On the other hand, it's a little wierd to see those style houses in South Carolina; it has a Disney-like inauthenticity to it. Plus, even though I acknowledge and would enjoy many of the benefits such a place provides, those type of developments freak me out a little. Something "1984" ish/The Prisoner about them all. Of course, our next house will probably be in one.

I ran some other errands Saturday (a garden hose! whoo!), then messed around the house while watching football. Texas A&M won. Virginia won on a last second field goal. I dozed off somewhere in there. I stopped over at cousin Robbie's for a bit to watch some more football on his giant TV, then went to pick Sarah up. We followed her boss to Ilios/Noche. This restraunt was great, made even more great by the fact that Josh (Sarah's boss) knew everyone that worked there. There's a definite food subculture in Charlotte that the Pasta and Provisions folks are plugged into. So, we met the chefs (three Culinary Institute of America grads own and run the place) and most of the waitstaff. We were met at Ilios/Noche by Bernie (Sarah's other boss) and some of their friends. We basicly closed the restaurant down, eating octopus, pizza, lamb chops, and more of the Spanish/Greek/Italian fusion cuisine. While all the folks we were with knew a whole lot about food and wine, things never felt snobby, which was a good thing.

Sunday we slept in a bit, then took a drive because the weather was so nice. Wandering aimlessly, Sarah stopped in some tiny SC town so we could play on the see-saws in the park. I love my wife because she does stuff like that. I understand why you never see see-saws anymore, though, because they are broken bones and lawsuits waiting to happen.

Sunday afternoon we read the paper and watched The Last Samurai, courtesy of Netflix. Enjoyable, if not great. The we headed back into Charlotte (Matthews, technically) to hang out with our friends Lee, Marianne, and their son Ben. We ate some burgers and talked for a bit. Sarah and I were home about 9:45 and promptly went to bed. I slept like crap for some reason, waking up at 4:30 and unable to get back to sleep. That was a hard way to begin a Monday, but thankfully work is pretty light today. I'm giving my first test tomorrow, so I just had to polish that off and get it copied. Nothing else is pressing, so I may leave a bit early today and nap.

Posted by Nakia at 12:54 PM | Comments (2)

September 12, 2005

A weekend at home

First of all, congrats to our friends Tim and Christy on the birth of their son, Finley. w00t! indeed.

This weekend, Sarah and I were glad to be able to stick around Rock Hill by ourselves. It seems we've been gone or had vistors every weekend since we've had the new house. There was one kinda big new thing, though, that made it interesting.

The big new thing is Sarah got a job. She's watching the children of a couple of other Winthrop professors three days a week; that job starts in earnest this week, with one of them back from maternity leave. But she's wanted something else, both to bring in some extra money and so she can meet people and keep busy. She's such an extravert that she needed more than being alone at the house or hanging out with infants wasn't. She found out that her old boss (Bernie) from I Fratelli now was managing Pasta and Provisions,a gormet shop with a large wine selection and homemade, cut to order pasta. She went by to say hello to Bernie and the other manager, Josh, offered her a job. She started training on Saturday. I'll say the shop is very cool and I'm glad Sarah is happy working there. She's now very busy -- watching children three days per week and working at the store three other days. I think it will be good for us both, as it will keep her occupied and get me involved in the household chores more; I was getting lazy.

I also was in Charlotte on Saturday, at a D&D meetup. I found a Charlotte D&D Meetup group which happened to have a "meetup" on Saturday. I went, but only one other person showed up. He was pretty cool, so we exchanged emails and talked about how to find some other people to play D&D with. Hopefully that will pan out, because I'm itching to get playing again.

Sunday we cleaned and did laundry. I came up to the office for a bit, to try and get caught up. Mistake. I didn't really get much done other than bum myself out because I was in the office on Sunday. Sarah and I went to the park and threw the softball in the afternoon, then went to Chilis and ate dinner.

Netflix this weekend: The remainder of "Sex and the City Season 5" for Sarah and "Kinsey". The later was good, with good performances all around. Lots of not-that-arousing bits of sex and sex related bits, which is kinda the point and may not be for everyone, but was expected. I find I'm starting to refer to movies in Netflix speak: "Liked it" "really liked it" "loved it", etc.

Got our Wilco tickets in the mail -- Oct 14th in Asheville. Yeah!

Posted by Nakia at 03:55 PM | Comments (3)

September 05, 2005

Football is back! (and some other things, too)

Sarah and I went to Greenville/Clemson Saturday for the A&M/Clemson game. Much fun, even though we were on the losing end of a heartbreaker.

After a visit to the gym Saturday morning, Sarah and I loaded up the car and lit out for Greenvegas. It was quite two hours. We checked in early to our hotel (thanks, Hampton Inn!), grabbed some lunch, and drove down 85 to Clemson (where the 'P' is invisible).

I'd only been to Clemson once before, back in 1994 to see Pink Floyd. I'd forgotten how in the middle of nowhere it is, although College Station is the same way. We missed much of the pregame traffic. After a lucky break on a parking space, we wandered around a bit and found a fellow Winthrop faculty member who had invited us to her tailgate. Although we were decked out in our maroon, we were welcomed and fed. I had never really tailgated before, but had a great time just hanging out and eating. We went to the stadium early to watch the Clemson band march down the hill, then found our seats. We were smack in the middle of the Clemson section, of course, but everyone was pretty nice.

The game, if you were an A&M fan, was not that great. Sure, it came down to a last second field goal, but I didn't feel good about the way A&M was playing all night. They beat themselves. There was a holding penalty that called back a touchdown, lots of dropped passes (including one on the one-yard line), and they gave up a punt return for Clemson's only touchdown. The defense looked like it was playing "prevent" all night -- giving up 4-5 yards every rush, then stiffening inside the 30. Well, that strategy does not work when you have a decent kicker who drills a school record six field goals. Not a good indication of the A&M season; I hope it was just nerves caused by the first game away from home in a very inhospitable stadium. Death Valley was loud.

The game ended about 11:30. Sarah and I walked back to the tailgate for a bit, then got to our car about 12:30. Although traffic was moving pretty well on the roads, nobody was moving at all in our lot. We broke out the laptop and watched an episode of "Firefly" while the traffic cleared. Things turned out well, because by the time the episode ("Out of Gas" -- which I liked a lot) was over, people were slowing getting out of our lot. We got in the car at 1:30 and made it back to the Hampton Inn about 2:45, dead tired.

We slept in until 10:30, missing the free breakfast. After a shower, we headed out to Furman. The waffle house in Traveler's Rest provided some breakfast and some memories before we went to campus. Things were still quiet, since students don't come back until next weekend. There was a new building -- Hipp Hall, between Riley and the student center -- which I didn't really care for. Inside was very "office building" like, with not much scholastic feel. They've also renovated Furman Hall. It's now totally different, with dark wooden columns inside and lots of new furniture. I liked it. Sarah and I recreated the "walk of shame" from the girls dorms by the dining hall before getting back into the car and heading home. We'll be back at FU in October for homecoming; this time we're actually going to the football game.

I'm taking off from the office early today (as soon as I finish this, actually) to do some things around the house. Sarah and I are going to buy paint, then I'm going to cut the grass and clean. Ah, home ownership.

Posted by Nakia at 12:54 PM | Comments (3)

August 29, 2005

Media Monday

Seems like I really do have a case of the Mondays today. Very listless and unproductive here at WU for Dr. Pope. Maybe it's because I got up at 4:45 AM.

Sarah's sister Jen and her husband Robert were in town this weekend, after a stopover by the 803 crew last Thursday. We took Andre, Keith, and Paul to Luke's for some wings, then they were off Friday morning to a trade show in Charlotte. Jen and Robert got into town Saturday morning (courtesy of a $100 round trip flight from Baltimore on AirTran). We hung around, visited, and showed them the house Saturday afternoon, then went to see some of Robert's family in Monroe, NC Saturday night. After that, we found the Mellow Mushroom in Charlotte for Jen's birthday dinner, just in the nick of time. I say that because we were all getting tired, grumpy, and hungry before we found it. Sunday we went to a Charlotte Knights game, which turned out really good for us. We got free tickets while we were standing in line from a lady celebrating disabled citizen's day. Inside, we ran into our real estate agent. The Sandy Johnson team was there doing some promotional stuff and McCree hooked us up with some free Cokes and hotdogs. Sunday night was some DVD's (more Firefly) and the now-obligatory Sunday dinner at Chili's.

Speaking of DVD's, I've now watched seven episodes of "Firefly" and love it. The characters are interesting and the dialog is great. Some of the episodes feel rushed, but I wonder if it's just beacause I'm watching them without commercials. It makes me look forward to the Serenity movie this fall. Even Sarah likes the show and she's not a western, sci-fi, or Josh Whedon fan. It makes me wonder if I should revisit Buffy. I was never a fan of that show; I didn't hate it or anything, I just never got into it.

Speaking of movies this fall, Walk The Line comes out November 18th. Wow. Mr. Phoenix does all his own singing and guitar playing and certainly seems to do Johnny Cash justice. Wow.

We also watched I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, a film about Wilco. The movie was certainly interesting; my favorite part was all of the alternate versions of songs that appear on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I will be the first to admit it took me a long time to "get" that album, but when I did, it hit me like a brick. Phenomenal, phenomenal stuff. After watching the movie I promptly went online, saw that they had a show in Asheville in October, and got Sarah and I tickets. Go us.

We also got our tickets today for the Texas A&M vs. Clemson game on Saturday. Sarah and I are driving down Saturday morning and have a hotel room in Greenville for that night. It should be a good game. We're just excited about getting to see an A&M game and the return of college football in general. Sarah is the most excited of all.

College football is the big reason we're signing up for cable this week. Looks like we're stuck with Comporium. They are the only people around that offer high speed internet; otherwise, we would have gotten Direct TV or something.

Another pretty cool movie blog: The Movie Blog

I checked our Netflix history and we've only rented 13 movies since August 4th. It seems like more, but I guess 13 movies in just under four weeks is a lot.

Posted by Nakia at 03:20 PM | Comments (5)

August 22, 2005

A Case of the Mondays

Clouds are rolling in as I prepare for Convocation here at Winthrop, where I get to wear the black robe with the hood and the stripes on the sleeves. Classes start tomorrow; I feel ready.

I've spent the day here at the office polishing things off for my classes that start tomorrow -- copied the syllabus, emailed my advisees, labeled my notebooks. . .

Speaking of my advisees, I freaked out when I noticed they were all born in 1987. 1987!! This means I am old. Withrop also lets you look up photos (from the student ID pictures) of your students and advisees in the computer. This is good for me because I have trouble with names. Hopefully, it will make it easier to remember the 75 or so students I have this semester.

My student loan business seems to be taken care of. The woman I spoke to today was very helpful when I explained my problem, then called me back within an hour to tell me she had figured out what happened and that she cleared it up. Looks like I won't be needing Winston's services after all.

I spent a little time on ENWorld
today while eating lunch. GenCon was this past weekend. I'm jealous of all those people who went (Rich, Tim, I'm looking at you). Next year, perhaps.

Andre and Heidi arrived back from their honeymoon yesterday morning. Sarah and I picked them up from the airport. They rested at our house for a bit, then headed back to Conway, taking Harley back with them. Of course we miss the dog now, despite our complaints of last week. The first thing Sarah said when we got back from dinner was "I miss Harley waiting for us at the door."

Movie report: Saw "War of the Worlds" in the theatre Saturday. It was pretty good despite really, really obvious logic and continutity problems -- like the guy using the camcorder after an EMP knocked out all the electricity and Tom Cruise having the only working car in New England. I am usually willing to let the small stuff go -- it's a movie, after all -- but these were enough to shock me out of my suspension of disbelief. In the spirit of world disaster, we also watched "The Day After Tomorrow" via netflix. I knew that was going to strain credibity, so the "ice age in 6 days" thing didn't bother me as much as the "fighting wolves in an abandoned oil tanker outside of the NY Public Library" did. Really, that was just silly. Also Netflixed "Big Night" about two brothers and their failing Italian resturant. Good stuff, there, and a nice indie, small film contrast to special effects driven blockbusters.

Next in the Netflix Queue is more "Sex and the City" for Sarah, more "Firefly" for me, and "I am Trying to Break Your Heart" -- the Wilco documentary.

I'm also rereading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, since the next book in that series comes out in November. More on that later, as I've noticed a few new things about that book on this reading.

Now, I've got to don the black robe and kick off the new school year.

Posted by Nakia at 02:55 PM | Comments (3)

August 15, 2005

Monday Update

Still thinking of a catchy title for my Monday Updates. . .

Sarah and I have spent the last few days in Conway for Andre and Heidi's wedding, so that's mainly what's been up.

We drove down Wednesday night after I had a unproductive morning at work. I was just too excited to get much serious work done at the office. GTD has this bit about organizing things so you can do mundane mindless but necessary stuff when you are feeling unproductive; I should have followed that advice last Wednesday. Anyway, we got to Conway just in time to meet my dad and head over to Myrtle Beach. We dropped in on Andre at his bowling league, then ate dinner at this new fancy Mexican resturant called Abuelo's. It felt like The Cheescake Factory but with Mexican food; it was decent, but not wonderful, although it had a cool inside setup.

Thursday we helped prepare for the wedding -- mowing the yard until the lawnmower broke, putting up tents, etc. Thursday night was the Bachelor Party. About 20 of us had dinner at The Rivertown Bistro, a great resturant in Conway that my brother's company has done work for. The food was great and the company wonderful -- I saw lots of guys I hadn't seen in a long time that are shared friends of my brother and I. After dinner we --- deleted --- and got home about 2:00 AM.

Friday was more running around, this time to get the tuxes. Andre picked out some nice one's. White, long coats over tuquoise vests and bacl pants. The kicker was our groomsmen presents. Dre ordered us customized Converse Chuck Taylor's, complete with embroidered names, to match the tuxes. Very nice. That nice was the rehearsal dinner, which was held at dad's old (and Andre's current) house. Some old family friends who now have a produce company and do some catering grilled chicken and steaks, lots of friends and family came by, and we all had a good time.

The lowlight of the whole weekend was Saturday morning, when Andre, Mark (Andre's friend from Atlanta and fellow groomsman), and I had to move 150 chairs about 300 yards from the parking lot to the dock where the ceremony was going to be held. Not fun in 100% humidity and 85 degree heat. Having survived the Chair Death March, we all went out to breakfast, where Andre's ex-girlfriend promptly showed up. It was a little odd, but everyone was nice and civil. We then went home, where Andre packed for his honeymoon and I took a nap.

The ceremony was at 5:30 on the Riverwalk at the Conway marina. It was raining just a little at 5:15, but that soon passed. Sure, it was hot and humid, but I was proud and honored to be standing up there for my brother with fellow groomsmen Kieth, Scott, Mark, Emerson, and my dad as best man. Heidi looked wonderful. The ceremony, performed by Heidi's uncle, lasted about 20 minutes. Then there were the obligatory photos. After those, we walked over to the COnway shrine club for the reception which was catered by the best bar-b-que joint in the world -- Radd Dew's. The cakes were great, the music was fine, I danced with my wife (whom, it seems, I had not seen very much over the weekend), my new sister in law, and my mom. Andre and Heidi were taken away by Paul and his 54 Chevy. Sarah and I helped clean up for a bit, then went home and went to bed.

Sunday we were up fairly early. Andre and Heidi were flying out of Charlotte to their honeymoon in Rome (not Georgia) and were leaving their car and dog (Harley, who was also in the wedding) with us in Rock Hill. They got to the airport no problem, and are probably going to bed in Rome even as we speak.

Today was spent at the office, working on my syllabus and taking care of random office catch up stuff. Our home builder is coming by the house tonight to check out underneath. There is a lot of moisture under there, and even some small pools of standing water under the moisture barrier. While that bugs me, they general contractor was very cool when I talked to him today on the phone, telling us he'd come over when he took his son to football practice at the high school down the road.

Tomorrow is the first of many meetings this week, as classes start next Tuesday.

Netflix watching -- Bull Durham (overrated), Firefly TV series.

Posted by Nakia at 03:45 PM | Comments (6)