I need to wait another week for my cable internet connection to be installed and my lack of patience has gotten the better of me. So what have I done? I signed up for one of those free internet trials. This has not satiated my lack of patience, however, because the darned thing is SO SLOW!

I can go to my office on campus and get online there. Although I don't know whether I can get in or not over the weekend. They failed to give me a key to the department office and I still have not gotten my ID which I need to swipe to get in when the building is locked. I need to look into those things Monday morning. Monday afternoon the orientation for new faculty begins. I am not sure whether I am ready for this. YIKES!

I drove down to the Tri-Cities in South-Central Washington today. It is about an hour from here. It is not a pretty place, although the Columbia River (and the Snake River) are pretty impressive. The draw of the area are all the stores that cannot be found here in Walla Walla. I stocked up on pet supplies and some necessary household items. I also hear that it is the place to go should you get a craving for Indian or Japanese food as those cuisines are not available here. I have not been here long enough to suffer from any withdrawal symptoms yet, but I know these are iminent. The saving grace is that they have some great Mexican food here.

I also bought a Weber grill today (don't tell Sara - she did not want me getting more stuff). It was on super markdown because it is the end of the summer ($19 for a big one). I love grilling. My plan is to grill over the weekend and have food for the following week. I am planning to visit the local farmer's market tomorrow that I hear is great. It should be with all the agriculture going on around here. Unfortunately I cannot partake of one of the local specialties: the Walla Walla sweet onions. Oh well. There should be some great squashes, peppers, corn, tomatoes...can I find some eggplant? We'll see. Can you tell that food/cooking/eating is my hobby. I also need to pick up some more of the local wine (more on that later).

This is making me hungry even though I just had dinner.

I am also thinking of taking a drive up to the nearby mountains with the dog tomorrow afternoon - that is if the weather holds out. It has been very hot here, but the heat is supposed to break sometime this weekend. This change may bring rain to the mountains.

Amid all this excitement, I also need to start preparing for my course. I am almost done with the syllabus. It is so much work putting one together, although at times it reminds me of my teen years when I used to make mixed-tapes. Just like you need to find the right songs and place them in the proper order, for a syllabus you need to find the right reading that is the right length and put it in the right place in the semester. Ok...I am starting to babble and it is academic babble. That's what happens when you are away from your best friend and the dog is sick of you speaking to him.

I should cut this wimpy dialup connection and go do something productive.

Have a great weekend!