Vindicated

I taught a class last night for a new English faculty member. She just came to MTSU from UT-Arlington, and she agrees with me that the traffic here is as bad as, or possibly even worse than, DFW traffic.

See, I wasn't exaggerating.

This is Not a Complaint

I will just state for the record that it took 55 minutes to drive the 7 miles to work this morning. Approximately 38 of those minutes were spent on the first mile of my trip.

Taking Pleasure in Small Things

It's Saturday and I'm at work. But I'm going to happy about what I can:

Saw this morning that ULTA is coming to Murfreesboro! And I already knew about Barnes and Noble going into the same shopping center. How lucky that I just told ULTA to change my mailing address, even though I thought I had no current use for their coupons.

I may be at work, but I'm also tapping my toes to Sheryl Crow Radio on Pandora.com, radio from the Music Genome Project (thanks, Amy!). Check it out for yourself--you can build your own radio station starting with an artist or song you like, and Pandora will play music with similar characteristics. Here are the stations I loaded yesterday. Can you fill in the blanks?

Sheryl Crow Radio
G _ _ _ _ _ _ W_ _ _ _ Radio
C _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Radio
L _ _ _ L _ _ _ _ _ Radio

At Least It's Something

Some days, you take whatever success you can find. Today, I finally unlocked my mailbox after a week of trying. I'm not hoping for anything else out of the day.


(To my credit, it turns out I was given the wrong combination. I got it on the first try once I tried the right numbers.)

Shopping in M'boro, Continued

Figured out Murfreesboro has a Sally Beauty Supply, so at least I'll be able to keep up appearances. Haven't actually been there yet, but I'll need to go soon.

Today I went to the MTSU bookstore (6.5 on the scale of college bookstores, BYU being the ultimate 10, of course), Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, and Office Max. I was pretty happy with Hobby Lobby and Office Max. Wal-Mart speaks for itself (necessary evil).

Oh, and I went to the new Publix in town. It was very crowded, but I think that's because it just opened. Narrow aisles, but I hear it's a resurrected Bi-Lo, so maybe the new stores Publix is building in town will be roomier. I don't see any real need to go back to Publix, but I did stock up on soda, since I refuse to pay $4 for a 12-pack of Diet Coke at Kroger. Now if I could just find someone selling Diet Barq's, and then find someone selling it on sale . . .

On next week's agenda: Find somewhere to get decent Chinese food and maybe check out the mall.

Elocution Lesson

I've determined that Middle Tennessee natives pronounce the name of our town, Murfreesboro, as follows:

"Murfeesburrow," with primary accent on the Mu and a secondary accent on the bu, and a slight "uh" sound to the ending syllable. Not sure I'll ever be able to accurately reproduce the sound. And no, I didn't make a mistake by leaving out the second "r" in the pronunciation. As near as I can tell, natives just don't pronounce it at all.

And, for those who asked, here is a quote from the city's Website about city population and size:

"The City of Murfreesboro, the county seat of Rutherford County, is located at the geographic center of the State of Tennessee approximately 35 miles southeast of the state's capitol in Nashville. Murfreesboro is located in Rutherford County, an adjacent county to Metropolitan Davidson County. It is included in the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

The City of Murfreesboro recently received its 2000 population figures from the US Census Bureau and, according to that federal agency, the actual count for the city was 68,816, which represents an increase of 53.2 percent over the 1990 census figure of 44,922.

Encompassing approximately 35 square miles, Murfreesboro is now the sixth largest city in the state, ahead of Jackson for the first time.

By the same token, Rutherford County's 2000 population was 182,023, which is a 53.5 percent increase over the 1990 census figure of 118,570."

see http://www.murfreesborotn.gov/business/economy.htm

(BTW, Jen, I was wrong--San Angelo has more people.)

I'm a Freshman All Over Again

Well, not really. Actually, it was pretty cool to walk around to places on campus today and tell the counter attendants I am a new faculty member. But driving and walking around campus this morning, lost most of the time, I felt like a freshman. Only being a freshman with a car is even worse, because that opens up whole new vistas of lost-dom.

I was carrying so many things with me today that I didn't take my camera, so pics will have to wait. As for the agenda, I didn't get to most of what I said I would. No PO box, no pedicure, and I haven't ironed a thing yet. But, I do have a parking tag, an ID card that will unlock the back door of the library, and 3 pounds of benefits literature to read and decide upon by Tuesday.

I went by the library today and dropped off my two boxes of "office stuff." I'm to report Monday at 8 am. I think that I will be working 8 to 4:30, with an hour lunch. Ha ha. I'll probably only be able to keep that schedule for a week, until I have too much to do (and of course, I'll have desk duty on nights and weekends sometimes). To answer previous questions, I earn two vacation days a month and one sick day a month.

When I got done on campus I drove north of town for a bit, looking at all the older ranch style homes in which I probably can't afford to live. I did see a few rentals, but until I figure out my benefits and know what I'll be taking home paywise, I'm reluctant to get my heart set on anything. And of course, the big dilemma is deciding how far from campus I want to live and am willing to drive. Particularly if I get an apartment, I don't want to be too close. But I do sometimes dream of my days in prisontown, when I was 10 minutes from work.

Timeline of a Trip

Wednesday, 1:36 pm: Leave house, right on schedule, thanks to Dad (and Elizabeth and Mary). Armed with ham crescents, snickerdoodles, Diet Coke, two new cd's (thanks Mary) and Carl Hiaasen's Hoot on cd, I'm set. BTW, do you know that my mother is the world's best cook? I'll be very sad when the ham crescents and snickerdoodles are gone.

Wednesday, 20 minutes outside of Texarkana: Take a break from Stevie Wonder and Music & Lyrics to pop in Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs. This, of course, is requisite listening on any car trip, and I felt I needed to start it before I left Texas (sniff, sniff).

Wednesday, 8:30 pm: Having traveled 405 miles I end up at the Travelodge in Forrest City, Arkansas. The room's not much, but for $49.99, what do I expect? Head to Subway for dinner, unpack the car, and settle in to watch Lost on the tiny tv.

Thursday, 10:30 am: After sleeping in and taking my time repacking the car, checking oil and tires (see, I have learned something from you, Dad), I'm finally off on the second half of my trip.

Thursday, 3:00 pm: Arrive in Murfreesboro. On the way, I stopped in at the Tennessee Welcome Center to get a map and some brochures. I also managed to connect to the Internet in the parking lot and looked up the address of my hotel.

Thursday, 4:30 pm: Having partially unloaded the car, I shower, talk to Mom on the phone, and have a lie down.

Thursday, 6:30 pm: Unwillingly get out of bed, sort of fix hair, and head off to Cracker Barrel for dinner (my first visit, ok, but guess I was expecting something better).

Thursday, 7:30 pm: Wander around Target for what seems like hours, dropping an inordinate amount of money on supplies and some food, a watch, and a DustBuster.

Thursday, 9:00 pm: Log on to the Internet and find out there's no Barnes and Noble in Murfreesboro. Head back out to Super Wal-Mart to pick up the groceries I couldn't get at Target (eggs, Light Silk Soymilk, etc.).

Thursday, 10:30 pm: Back at the hotel after spending another obscene sum at Wal-Mart, on things like a frying pan, can opener, and groceries.

Thursday, 11:50 pm: Finish blogging, trying to decide whether to turn in or to first impose some order on my temporary home. Decide I have to do some picking up or there won't be room on the bed for me to sleep.