Don't worry, I'm still alive...

Hi! Sorry I've been missing in action! I forgot how busy it gets here at Middlebury, things are back in full swing and I never seem to have enough time in my day to get everything done. Classes for this semester: 19th Century American Literature, History of the Modern Caribbean, Love and Desire in Medieval Literature, and Sociology of Education. They're ok, I really like Sociology of Education, but the other three are a bit boring.
I'm working at Mary Johnson 2 days a week, unfortunately not in Izaiah's classroom, although I do have some pretty darn cute kidlets. Conversation I overheard the other day: "Hey John, next time you go to New York will you take me with you to see the Statue of Liverty?"
I also heard the best knock-knock joke ever, made up by 3 year old Jackson Paul Murray.
"Knock-knock!"
"Who's there?"
"Jackson."
"Jackson who?"
"Jackson Paul Murray."
As if it would be anyone else. He cracks himself up with this joke.

And then there's crew. Thanks for the congratulations! And thanks for posting that Grady, but I'm not that modest. I would have made sure you all knew, one way or another :).
Practices are getting pretty intense, we leave in exactly 4 weeks for Georgia and it is Noel's goal that we be as buff as possible before getting on the water. We just got slides for the ergs, which are things that go underneath the erg and mimic the feeling of rowing on the water. You can put two ergs on a slide so that the person in back has to exactly match up with the person in front, otherwise it's impossible to row correctly, so it really helps us with technique. I think we're looking at a pretty fast top 8 this year, we're all really stepping it up and our times are reflecting that.
"Gettin' Huge" is what we call working out, because our muscles get so big. We're currently selling shirts (ask to see Patty's! She bought one!) that feature a big ol' muscly panther, flexing his arm, that say "Gettin' Huge" on them. Not a lot have sold, surprisingly.

Right now I'm off to take a nap! I'll write with more exciting news as it comes.

I'll leave you with a Noel quote, from our team meeting a few weeks ago. He was talking about what makes crew so special, how it's 24 hours a day and not just something you think about at practice or regattas.

"You carry with you an ember, a spark, the knowledge that together, you're going to do something extraordinary."