Even though I was not quite finished with my classes, Dan and I made an extended weekend trip to the Dubuque, Iowa, area.  The primary goal of the excursion was to see the man above.  Yes, that is what a 62 year old rock star actually looks like.  (He’s pretty cute, isn’t he?)  That’s Peter Noone,  perhaps better known as Herman of Herman’s Hermits.  If you have never seen him perform, I highly recommend that you go when he is near you.  You may see an equally good show, but I highly doubt that you will ever see a better one!

We went with our friends Cathy and Ed.  They were celebrating their anniversary and decided that a Peter Noone concert would be the perfect event since I had been raving about his shows for years.  We went a day early and toured Galena, Illinois, on Thursday.  Galena used to be a thriving port city on the Mississippi until their river shifted and left it too small for large ships.  Then it became a lovely and well preserved historic community.

Galena is the home of Ulysses S.  Grant.  It has many historic homes which are open for touring.  There are also several very lovely bed and breakfasts, many shops, and some interesting restaurants.  Most things are within walking distance, but you need to enjoy walking uphill.  Otherwise, you can drive if you are there on a weekday, which we were.  Parking is scarce on the weekends.  We were happy to be there on a Thursday when traffic on the roads and in the historic homes is much lighter and we had no waiting for tours or for tables in the restaurants.

 This is Dan and me in front of the Galena post office, which is the oldest continuously operating post office in the United States.  Both of the pictures in this blog are courtesy of my friend Cathy.  I don’t bring a camera when I go to see Peter, so I did not have one for Galena.

Friday, Cathy and Ed did their own thing while Dan and I concentrated on helping to set up the souvenirs to sell at that evening’s concerts.  Cathy and Ed attended the second show and were just as impressed as I had hoped they would be.  Peter was in fine form.  His vocal performance was outstanding and his humor was as lightning quick as ever.  It’s always fun for me to share his shows with friends who are seeing him for the first time!

Saturday morning, we had breakfast with Cathy and Ed and they headed home.  We set off for Northwood, Iowa, for two more shows on Saturday evening.  We thought that we should go since we had all of the shirts and CD’s in our trunk!  We were treated to two more wonderful concerts – even better than those on Friday, I thought!  I honestly don’t know how that man can spend as many hours traveling and as few hours sleeping as he does and still have so much energy on stage!

Yesterday, we slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and then made the two hour drive home.  It was so nice to have a break in my routine!  Even though I did have a little work to do during the trip, I felt rejuvenated.  Stepping into the world of a rock band is a real departure from my regular routine and so welcome!

You know the worst thing about online classes?  When you are frantically correcting because it is the end of the quarter and you need to get things done, and the platform that hosts the class goes down, you can’t get your work done!  I was just congratulating myself on the fine progress I was making, and now – BOOM! – I am stopped in my tracks!

For better or for worse, I am going to use this opportunity to indulge in a little rant.  I. for one, am getting really tired of all of the politicking about the Gulf oil spill.  I am becoming very convinced that our government is broken beyond repair.  I see absolutely no need for people to be trying to assign blame.  British Petroleum has already accepted responsibility and has stated that they will pay the cost of clean-up.   Is there any longer any need to establish blame?  Hasn’t it been established?

Barack Obama did not cause this problem.  I am pretty sure that he does not personally have the technical knowledge to stop the leak and solve the problem.  I think that he has mobilized those who do have that knowledge.  So why are people so bent out of shape because he played golf with the Vice President?  What is he supposed to do – go stand on the shore at the Gulf coast until the leak is plugged?  Would that really speed up the process?

I also don’t know why the opposing party (you know who they are) seems to be pointing fingers at Barack Obama as if it were his fault that the off-shore drilling was taking place at all.  Just a few short months ago, one of their candidates was waving her fist in the air and shouting “Drill, Baby, Drill!”  The permit that allows BP to drill in the gulf was not signed under this administration.  The fact is that it was issued, though, that drilling has been taking place, and that now we have a problem.  Couldn’t we just stick to dealing with that?

I don’t quite understand why people are so upset because Tony Hayward attended a yacht race, either.  Although his background is geology and he may be better equipped technically to solve the problem, I am betting that he is not the one who is heading up the efforts to solve it.  CEO’s don’t do that.  They supervise the people who do that.  With all of the electronic communication devices that we have today, supervision can happen from anywhere. 

I will grant you that PR-wise, it would have been better if both Barack Obama and Tony Hayward weren’t engaging in public recreation, but I seriously doubt that it actually affects the efficiency of solving the problem.  However, all the media hype about it does have the potential to have a very negative effect.  Instead of being focused on a constructive solution to the problem, it just fuels the finger-pointing that takes time and energy away from accomplishing anything meaningful.

What I want to know is why is this a political issue?  This is a monumental disaster.  Why can’t the movers and shakers of our government just put their differences aside and work together in a positive way to solve the problem?  Why does it have to become a campaign opportunity?  Wouldn’t it be just a little bit better to be thinking about the welfare of our country instead of how to turn this into a vote-getting opportunity?  Couldn’t we work toward putting systems into place to help prevent this from happening again?  Is divide and conquer really the most effective technique for doing that?  For that matter, is it the most effective way to run a government?

Right now, I am pretty darned ashamed of the behavior of the political leaders in this country!

This is the last week of my quarter.  If I survive it, I will have 3 weeks break – the longest break in my year.  I have to survive the week first, though!

It seems there is a conspiracy to prevent me from moving smoothly through this week.  Yesterday, we made the 2 1/2 hour drive to see Dan’s Aunt Irene.  It wasn’t a planned visit, but Irene’s best friend died, and we thought that it was important for Irene to attend the funeral.  For that to happen, we had to drive down there and take her.  It took 9 hours of time that I could have used to make a dent in my correcting.  I could not really afford the time, but it would have seemed very wrong for Irene not to attend the funeral.  When you are 95 and your 96 year old best friend dies, you should be there.  It meant a lot to Irene, and it seemed to mean a lot to her friend’s family, too.

Tomorrow morning, Dan and I have to make a shopping expedition that will take most of the morning.  Then, tomorrow night, we have our granddaughter Madison’s dance recital.  Friday morning, I have an dental appointment for a crown and bridge prep that will probably take most of the morning, and Friday evening I have to help make 100 pounds of potato salad for a community celebration on Saturday.

That all sounds like fun, except maybe the dental appointment, but it also takes time that I need.  Between now and Friday night, I have to get research papers corrected in 4 of my classes so that students can have the weekend to make changes if they need to do that.  I don’t accept the papers if students do not have correct citations in the body of the paper and a correctly formatted reference list at the end.  Even though I have been stressing that for 11 weeks, some of them still won’t have them.  I will email those students and give them until Monday evening to add the citations and reference list and resubmit the papers.  Some of them will do it and some won’t.  The ones who don’t will lose 10% of the total possible points for the class.  I would think that they would care about that, but some of them apparently don’t.

I know that I will figure out how to get all of this finished, but right now I can’t imagine how.  And here I sit blogging.  What is wrong with that picture?

I had a much worse title that I could have entered, but if anyone actually knew what it meant, I was afraid that it would get me banned from Xanga!

As some of you may remember from my deep, dark blogging past, I have four jobs.  That is actually more than enough to keep me busy and out of trouble.  Recently, though, I have also been reading galley proofs for a medical dictionary.  I know, a fifth job may seem a little over the edge.  Actually, four jobs seems a little over the edge to me.  Having the opportunity to contribute to a medical dictionary is very interesting, though, at least to me, because I teach medical terminology.

I have actually done this before.  This time, though, I not only read the galley proofs and made suggestions for improvements, but I actually wrote definitions of new terms to be added to the dictionary.  That means that now I am officially an author.  I have always wanted to be a published author.  I just never thought that I would be the author of dictionary terms.  I saw myself more as the current generation’s Agatha Christie.  Everyone has to start somewhere, though, right?  So I started with a dictionary.  There is nowhere to go but up!

I have to say that I felt a certain satisfaction in finishing my proof reading and sending the galley’s back on time.  Now I am just awaiting my payment and looking forward to the next time that I can contribute.  Who knows where all of this could lead?

This weekend, Dan and I are in Riverside, Iowa, which happens to be the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.  That may be a perfectly meaningless statement to you if you are not a Trekkie.  My husband does happen to be a Trekkie, though, so he is excited about being here.  We aren’t here to celebrate the as yet unborn Captain of the Enterprise, though.  We are here for one of my diversions – a Peter Noone concert.  Peter appeared at the Riverside Casino and Resort last evening, and Dan and I came to sell merchandise for him.

The concert was a huge success even though it had to be moved inside from the planned location at the poolside stage outdoors due to tornado warnings.  Peter did a fantastic show, though.  It was funny to see people sitting at the slot machines singing along to I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am!  The audience was more than enthusiastic, and well they should have been, because Peter gave them a fabulous show!  So fabulous, in fact, that I am sitting here after 1:00 AM too wired to go to sleep.

I know that I will regret this tomorrow morning when we have to get up and drive home!