Dreams

Last night I dreamed I was at a conference. I sat outside drinking a cup of tea and talking with a fellow graduate student, talking about the fate the newspaper business, before heading off to where I was supposed to be. But then I looked at my watch and realized it was after 10, and the graduate student sessions I was supposed to be at had started at 8 - and yesterday I had missed them entirely. That would have been bad enough; even worse, my advisor was running them. I pulled out my schedule, because the rooms I thought they were in were being used for a session on international education, but the room information was vague. A stranger told me he thought they might be finished already, since Friday's session was only a half day anyway.

At that point some sunlight leaked into my eyes and I woke up in a panic - awake enough to know I was not at a conference, but thinking I had slept in until an inappropriately late hour - only to look at my clock and realize my alarm wouldn't go off for another minute.

I almost never have anxiety dreams, so I wonder what my subconscious is trying to get at now.

Hiking Virgin Falls

Yesterday the rain held off and we had a nice hike at Virgin Falls. All the previous rain made for a very wet hike, but we put up with the mud in order to enjoy the spectacular falls. On both of my previous trip, the falls were much smaller - still pretty, of course, but not as thundering. This is a photo of Virgin Falls from yesterday. The photo below is from the first time I went there.

Or, you can compare this photo of Laurel Falls from that earlier trip to this one from yesterday. Yesterday, you couldn't even get to where the earlier photo was taken, because the overhang was filled with water.

Academic fashion

I loved this post on the academic fashions of women, but it has to be modified for my own field of education.

There are no Sexy or Athletic Academics. I've seen one or two grad students try Sexy, but never a faculty member.

The Bohemian Academic look is reserved exclusively for those who study international education.

Finally, we have another category that I suspect is missing elsewhere in academia - the Kindergarten Academic. These are often women who study early childhood education. The look consists of long, shapeless jumpers, cute embroidered tops, and jewelry that looks like a craft project.

Also, I would kill for the suit shown for the Professional Academic.

The perfect pack

I've been wanting a new daypack for a while. (Hey, mine is a decade old.) So far, I haven't been able to find anything I like in stores. Some backpacks are really designed just for carrying books. Some are teeny-tiny, and I'm the kind of girl who carries the ten essentials and never runs short of water. But most of the trail packs are ludicrously overbuilt - they feature dozens of pockets and flaps and loops for ice axes. Around here, you never need an ice axe. Around anywhere, you don't need a dozen pockets to sort your gear, unless you have a serious problem with OCD - "OmiGOD, my lip balm CAN'T be in the SAME POCKET as my Leatherman!" I guess I could ignore all these pockets if it weren't that they really add up to extra weight. There are day packs that weigh over three pounds empty. There's something wrong when a daypack weighs as much as a pack for week-long backpacking trips.

I'm not eschewing all pockets; I understand the utility of a few outside pockets for commonly used items. I don't use Camelbaks, so side pockets for water bottles that I can reach without removing my pack are dead useful. But ... really.

Anyway, I think I've found the perfect pack. The catch is, I'll have to order it online, and it's not made by a company that I can find much of in stores around here. (You'd think the top-rated bag in the latest Backpacker gear rankings would be easier to find, yes?) That gives me pause, because it has to fit and be comfortable.

For some reason, a lot of the packs I've tried have straps that rub the back and sides of my neck where they enter the top of the pack. My neck isn't that wide - especially relative to a man's pack - so I don't know what the issue is. But I'm not going to hike 18 miles with chafing. I'm not looking forward to having to return gear bought by mail if it doesn't fit me.

Giving new meaning to Couchville Lake Loop

Um, look
Originally uploaded by TheTurducken

Due to the continual downpour and threats of thunderstorms and hail, my hiking plans for this weekend were put on hold. But since Sunday morning promised nothing more than a light drizzle, I went with a friend to Couchville Lake. This dammed lake was accidentally created when the Stones River was dammed to make Percy Priest Lake. A two-mile paved trail, part of Long Hunter State Park, surrounds the lake. We decided to do this easy hike because the trail wouldn't be a mudslide.

It turned out that it had its own issues. The lake had risen so high that in places it swamped the trail. In this photo, we are in fact on the trail. Luckily we were feeling adventurous.