New design!

Like it? I had been pretty sick of the last one I had for quite a while, but when I initially tried to change it I had to know something about HTML coding to keep my widgets, which I definitely do NOT! hahaha. But thanks to Alayna, I learned that it's way easier than it used to be!
I've had a thing for birds lately, hence the new design. Actually, I've always loved birds but I recently have been all about bird-themed designs. I bought a planner at Barnes and Noble at the start of the semester that is sort of Asian/bird theme, with branches and leaves, and I designed my own tote/purse with a somewhat similar style. My mom hosted a "Too Cute Totes" party at our house in late July, and we all got to design our own purses and totes! The business was started by someone who graduated from Los Alamos (a long time ago), and it's really starting to thrive. The idea is that you pick one of many styles of totes, purses, wallets, even diaper bags. Then you pick your main fabric out of hundreds that will be the outside of the bag. Next you pick the fabric to go on the inside, usually one that coordinates with the outside. And finally you pick a color and type of leather for the bottom and the straps. You can also add things like a zipper closure instead of clasp and extra pockets, then once you place your order, it gets handmade in Nevada (where the owner and store are from). So my mom threw this party, and if you know me well, you know that I'm not a huge bag/tote/purse person. I do carry a purse, but I rarely buy new ones. So I figured I would just watch people design theirs at the party, but before I knew it, I was designing my own small tote and having lots of fun doing it! I'm really excited for it to finally come in, and it should be here soon, I think.

I went backpacking over Labor Day weekend for the second time ever, and this time, I didn't almost break my nose! I went with Jake, Jeff and Mike. We started on Saturday around noon at the Catwalk trail head in the Gila Wilderness. After some break and about 6 1/2 hours later, we finally found a decent spot to pitch our tents and make dinner. It was a rough first night, because it was nearly dark when we were cooking and trying to set things up, and this spot wasn't very ideal for camping (i.e. trees were too close together, it was damp and muggy, etc.). A couple on their way back to their campsite that we had passed earlier told us that there was another good spot about 1/4 mile up the trail. So the next day we took a walk to find it, and as soon as we saw how much better this site was, we turned around, packed up our stuff, and moved. After we set up camp again, we took a day hike and just went up the trail for about two hours, stopping and goofing off occasionally. That night was much more comfortable and the next day we hiked back out. I got some monster blisters on my heels, due to various causes. My boots refuse to break in, I made the dumb mistake of wearing cotton liners under the wool socks, and my feet are just not used to this kind of abuse. So yes, monster blisters and really sore toes from the downhill parts, and oh lord, I woke up Tuesday morning with the sorest calves I've ever had, BUT it was all worth it and I definitely want to pursue this more! I hope eventually I will be able to have all my own gear.

Now onto my job. This week all the COMM265 students started giving their informative speeches, and in all honesty, I am so far quite disappointed and frustrated with how the majority turned out. You'd have thought that I didn't tell them what to do AT ALL and that there was no assignment information on Blackboard and handouts! There were a few good speeches, but it seemed as if the majority did not listen to a thing I said (and the really important stuff, I repeated in class several times, but did they get it? Noooo) and didn't read the assignment at all. So at first, I was wondering, What did I do wrong to make them so unprepared and do so poorly? But after talking to other TAs, I found out that they are having the same problems, so it wasn't just me. So I know that it isn't my fault, but this does give me the opportunity to figure out where the students did poorly and try to figure out a better way to pound it into their heads next semester. I may be a bad teacher for writing about this and not being encouraging, but I just needed to vent a little. It's so weird to refer to myself as a "teacher" still!! Who'da thunk it?

Welp, I suppose I've caught you up on the past couple week well enough, and hope for more interesting stuff to blog about soon!