Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  I don't like Thanksgiving very much because it just doesn't have any meaning for me.  It's just a day where everyone eats food that I'm not particularly fond of.  I do like, however, that it gives my family an excuse to get together.  Otherwise, I don't think we'd see each other too often.  

Related to Thanksgiving, November is the let's-tell-everyone-what-I'm-thankful-for month on Facebook.  Many, many people on my Facebook are doing that, but I am not.  Why?  Because I really don't post much on Facebook.  But I am thankful for many things.  I'm thankful for my wonderful, loving, cute husband.  I'm thankful for my immediate and extended family and for my in-laws.  I'm thankful for my friends.  I'm thankful that we have food to eat and clean water to drink.  I'm thankful for our house and our car(s).  I'm thankful for the heat that helps us through the winter cold and for the A/C and fans that help us through the scorching summer days.  I'm thankful for my job and for my fun coworkers.  I'm thankful that I live in a great city with good public transportation and an excellent library.  I'm thankful that I am able to speak, hear, see, taste, walk, think, and interact with others.  I'm thankful for electricity and indoor plumbing.  I'm thankful for the trees, the flowers, the snowflakes, the lakes and rivers, and all the other beautiful things in nature.  I'm thankful for my time in Germany and that I was able to travel and experience other parts of the world and other cultures.  I'm thankful for my health and the (relatively) good health of my family.  I'm thankful for the moisturizing lotion that soothes my poor, dry hands.  I'm thankful for my day off today and for the ability to spend Thanksgiving with my family.  I'm thankful that I was able to receive an education from the University of Michigan, and I'm also thankful that I was able to finish my Master's degree.  I'm thankful that my husband was able to finish his Master's degree, too.  I'm thankful that the right man literally fell into my lap over five years ago, and I'm thankful for every minute that we have spent together since then.  I'm thankful that there is no war where I live.  I'm thankful for the peace that exists in the world.  I'm thankful for the freedom and rights that I have.  I'm thankful that I currently have access to quality medical care.  I could keep going, and I kind of want to, but I guess I should stop now.  The list is long enough.

I shouldn't be allowed to shop by myself because then there's no one there to tell my not to buy something impulsively.  Oh well.  There were only three impulsive, unnecessary purchases today.

And now for a slight rant.  FOX has had some good shows.  In fact, I liked their show Alcatraz last year.  But then, one week, I missed the show.  When I tried to watch it on their website, it became apparent that there was no access to it until 8 days after the original air date.  Ok, thanks for nothing, FOX, since in eight days there will have been a new show.  It appears that if you subscribe to a cable service or something similar, you can watch it the next day.  Otherwise, tough luck.  I really don't see the logic in this, and it really makes me hate FOX.

Do you want a Gift? Maybe not.

As Christmas is approaching (less than 2 months!), I have been pondering the origin of the word gift.  You see, growing up, I preferred to use gift instead of present because I didn't like that present also had another meaning.  Gift just felt better.  Then I learned German and found out that in German, das Gift actually means poison.  And so, knowing that English and German have the same source, I was thinking that maybe in English, the meaning of the word gift shifted over time from poison to present.  Imagine my thoughts as I pictured people getting poisonous presents so often that the word for poison actually came to mean present ("It's not a present!  It's a gift [poison]!").  So I decided to look it up in the dictionary, and I was quite disappointed to find no mention of poison in this word's history.  In fact, the dictionary went back to Middle English (yift) and mentioned that the word is related to give.  Well, that makes sense.  So then what's up with German?  Maybe it's just coincidence that the words in English and German are exactly the same.  And while some amount of coincidence is probably needed to explain why the words are the same today, they do appear to be very closely related.  According to a German etymological dictionary, Gift in German used to mean present.  Maybe the Germans were giving so many deadly presents that the word for present turned into poison.  Probably not.  Apparently, it started as a euphemism and then over a few hundred years, the new meaning completely replaced the old meaning.  Isn't language fun?! :)

I have writer's block.  Major writer's block.  I'm certainly not at the top of my game.  I haven't had writer's block for a long time because I haven't had the opportunity to have writer's block.  Maybe I'm just out of practice.  Maybe it's because I'm trying to do 99% BS with 1% actual knowledge.  Maybe it's because I'm tired and somewhat sick.  Who knows?  All I know is that I don't want to be writing right now.

This week is basically the perfect storm.  I am so incredibly busy.  First, I have my job to go to, my classes to plan for, and many quizzes and papers to grade.  Also this week, my wonderful husband has a huge project due that he conveniently left until the last minute.  So we are scrambling with that.  On top of these things, yesterday was not very productive because of the 2 hours spent voting and my lack of willpower in the evening to not watch the election results (not to mention the stress from actually having an opinion on election day).  Then, this morning, I had an appointment which was right in the middle of the morning.  So I didn't really have time to do anything productive before or after it.  Oh, and then when I was already stressed out and incredibly busy, I found out that I have to write 55 student evaluations before Friday.  I am behind on everything and I can not wait for 5:30 on Friday when my weekend will start and all of this will be over.

Speaking of the election, it's over so everyone can finally shut-up about it.  Ok, if your guy won, you are entitled to some mild celebration.  And, ok, if your guy lost, you are entitled to some mild lamentation.  However, don't post 50 bazillion pictures of and posts about your president.  I know your opinion, I know you're happy, now knock it off.  ALSO, stop it already with the overdramatic we're-all-going-to-die-because-of-the-results posts.  I may not agree with Obama on everything, but I don't think he did so bad of a job to warrant such ridiculousness.  In fact, he repaired our standing in the international community, and that, believe it or not, is very important.  So don't say you're going to move to Canada unless you actually plan to.  And if you do, good riddance.  By the way, if you don't like Obama's policies then you're really going to hate Canada.

Must...Purchase...Something...

So, we got an incredible deal on tickets to a UM soccer game.  For $5, we got premium seats, a scarf, and a hot chocolate.  It's true, it was freezing (39 degrees) and raining and windy, but our seats were under a roof thing, and so we were protected from the rain and wind.  It was still very cold, but at least I was able to use the scarves as a lap warmer.  And then UM won, 2-1.  The ref was horrible, though.  If he hadn't been so biased toward Michigan, I wonder if they would've won.  In the week leading up to the game, my dear husband wasn't excited about going, but then he ended up having a great time.  But, wow, it was cold.

I really really really want to go shopping.  Internet shopping is only satisfying for a while.  But, alas, there is much to do and not a lot of time to do it.  Will I have time to go shopping today?  No, probably not.  Tomorrow or Sunday?  Maybe, if I'm lucky.