Greek night!

Tonight our friend Katy came over for dinner, and we cooked a Mediterranean-themed meal.  Fish, spinach pie, hummus, and baklava.  All were first time recipes, and all worked out well.  Surprising, considering that the first time you try something it does not tend to work out the way you expect.  We have been making more use of Cooks Illustrated, which has wonderful scientifically-tested recipes. 

This week has been an as-expected return to work.  No big difference at school - students are the same, teachers are the same.  I have tried a few non-traditional lessons, with mixed results.  It has been a week of highs and lows.  I had a glowing performance review following a great lesson on Wednesday; I have also had some terrible lessons that have left me discouraged about how very little my students have learned so far this year.  In fact, a colleague today asked me for help with her daughter's chemistry work (she attends another school in the area) and the topic well beyond where we are at.

We are currently watching Northwestern get spanked by Illinois in basketball.  It has been a bad week to be a fan - losses by the basketball team to Purdue, MSU, and now Illinois, and the football loss in the Ticketcity bowl to Texas Tech.  We are die-hard fans, but the losing is hard to swallow.  On the plus side, I attended the MSU game and the gym was rocking when NU pulled within 1 point in the closing seconds.  For much of the game, our view was obstructed by the standing room overflow of undergrads who showed up and milled about like lost sheep.  Apparently they were even turning away late-coming students.  Nice to see fan support increasing....though a few more games like this and it will not be the case anymore.

-alan