I haven't ruled out any of the major cities on that coast yet

Oh, how wonderful - all the possibilities. Remind the sieve-brained, please, which grades will you be teaching?

Hil, how was the exam for the students that you tutored?

OK, I think. I'll be helping grade it tomorrow, so I'll see then.

I've also accomplished one more productive thing today: I've got this lamp that used to belong to my grandmother. I think it's from the 1940s, maybe a bit earlier. It's a gorgeous lamp (well, I think so; after my grandmother died, when I said I wanted this lamp if nobody else wanted it, the reaction from the rest of my relatives was, "Really? You want THAT?"), but the lampshade, which I think is the original shade, is really badly stained and ripped. I'd figured I could just buy a new shade anywhere, but it turns out that nobody really makes this kind of lamp anymore, and therefore none of the regular home furnishings stores sell this kind of lampshade. And I could never quite describe it to the people at the stores in a way that would get them to understand what I was describing.

This morning, though, after a bit of idle googling, I've found out a name for this kind of lamp ("bridge lamp"), and found several places online selling the shades -- they've got them in all kinds of cool colors and textures, too. The original shade is plain white, but I think something colorful would look cool.

I'll be helping grade it tomorrow

So then the semester will really end, right?

And I wish I distracted myself as well as you do. Solving a years-long mystery, and getting to fix something pretty, all in a bit of googling.

I'm reading a story about how the military is keeping mentally ill troops in Iraq, sometimes putting them on antidepressants but not giving them real counseling or support, and certainly not sending them home,

It must be a sign of the times, because when I was still on active duty the military couldn't work fast enough to ditch anyone with mental illness. I've always found it shameful that they would discharge someone as fast as possible and leave them on their own to get treatment. I had one friend who went through numerous psych evaluations in order to remain on active duty. In fact, I knew women who when they asked for tubal ligations (without having any children) were railroaded out on grounds that they were mentally unfit because they didn't want children! Yeesh. That has changed, but not much.

So then the semester will really end, right?

Yep.

The lamp looks pretty much like the ones on this page [link] , except maybe not so ornate as all of those. The corner part has a figure that I think is supposed to be an angel -- at any rate, it's a female figure with something that looks sort of like wings coming out of her back. I love those shades, but they're all in the several hundred dollar price range, while I'm trying to stay somewhere around $30 or so, which I think will leave me with much more plain ones. Unless I get a plain one and buy some ribbons and beads and fringe and stuff to dress it up, which might be another good procrastination exercise.

Ooh, those are great lamps, Hil.

In fact, I knew women who when they asked for tubal ligations (without having any children) were railroaded out on grounds that they were mentally unfit because they didn't want children!

OK, that's insane.

And that means you've finished with all your school duties?

Pretty much. Turned in my portfolio, my research project, and the document where I cite specific evidence of how I'm a really good teacher (in the third person). I was going to teach until the end of May, because I don't have all the hours I need, but as it turns out they're hiring me through the end of June anyway.

Happy Mother's Day, from Mr. T!!

OMG the outfits in that video!

Timelies all!

Have some errands to run today, then we take G's mom out to dinner tonight. Whee.