I Oopsied.

Once again, Becca is reminded that Blogs are a public forum. A newspaper reporter found my Blog the other day and wanted to report on the trials and tribulations of opening a teashop in Halifax. Perhaps I should take this moment to clarify that this Blog is intended to form a personal conversation between me and my family and friends, and that I would really, really prefer that my comments not be republished in any other forum. However, I don't like the idea of going all secret and making my Blog by-invitation-only. I guess I just need the occasional reminder that ANYONE can find me here if they look long enough.

So... teashop is open and going well. I've posed for newspaper photos twice this week and given three interviews. The interviews I enjoy, the photos not so much. The teashop is open and it is lovely, except that we still don't have our bookshelves or fireplace (see trials and tribulations, below). My staff is fantastic, and I have my life back--I only have to be there a few days a week, and I have my comfy chair in the corner by the espresso machine where I read my trauma studies and contemplate beginning work on my dissertation. I present my PhD prospectus to the department on the 31st and generally, life is good. Except that Bear has to travel to Cape Breton every weekend until the end of February for work.

Oh--and I did a really fun thing yesterday: I'm TAing for a professional writing course, and the students have to do a presentation to the class using PowerPoint. The prof (Lyn B, for whom I TAed before, and who ROCKS!) asked me to do a demo presentation, and I figured, sure, I could do a GOOD presentation, but where's the fun in that? Lyn and I talked, and I decided to do a what-not-to-do demo. So fun! I recycled an old lecture on Structuralism and Post-Structuralism (complete with huge photo of the winner of the World's Ugliest Dog contest), except that I added slides packed with dense definitions of the terms, which I then read as fast as possible, with my back to the class. I also said remarkably pretentious and preposterous things like, "And of course, we are all familiar with Claude Levi-Strauss' seminal work in anthropology" and "I'm sure you're all familiar with Roman Jakobson's particular brand of Russian Formalism." It is just so fun to see a completely flummoxed look on a student's face! You have no idea how liberating it can be to aim to fail.

And now, just for you, the World's Ugliest Dog: (imagine it in huge PowerPoint style!)