And four more things...

1. Unless something dramatic happens, it looks like I will drive home to Michigan this weekend instead of fly. Tickets have been up in the $250 range for weeks for travel on Memorial Day Weekend, and I don't have anyone to watch my dog, so the cost of boarding him (and parking at BWI) needs to be factored into the cost of the trip. It'll just be cheaper to drive. I'm taking Friday off, so I'm effectively having a four-day weekend, and I think I can make that 11-hour drive like I did when I was 25 years old, with the dog by my side. I still could change my mind.

2. Never before do I remember having such a hard time with finding a watcher for my dog. I've lost touch with my friend who did it all the time, and I guess that's why. I've never boarded him in my life, and after hearing the $20/day cost at most places, and the necessity of finding paperwork for him after the move... it's just simpler to drive. The roommate is also going out of town this weekend.

3. I'm watching the season finale of 24 right now. It's sort of sad that this season has degenerated from mind-blowing television to background blogging sounds, but at least it was really good for that first half of the season - the nuclear bomb in LA, the President dealing with a Cabinet that wanted to suspend civil liberties, the plot to assassinate, the constitutional crisis when the President went into that first coma, etc. And then something happened,a nd the show jumped the shark fo rthe season. Was it when the President went into his second coma, as if the writers couldn't figure out what to do with a do-gooder President. Was it when Jack saved his fizzled-out ex-flame? I don't know, but something happened, and the show became just silly. But at least it was the first television I really watched in a few years, and it reminded me that I could keep up with a weekly show and really be into it.

4. Today, I scheduled the last of my Master's courses. I have four of them, and, unfortunately, only one is offered in the summer. So I scheduled that one, and then three (!) in the fall. I'm not sure if I will stick with it, but spring classes don't work for me, and one of the fall classes is on Saturdays. That means Wednesday nights, Thursday nights, and Saturday days for classes, if I decide to stick with it. I e-mailed my academic advisor to see if she had any suggestions, or ways I might be able to substitute one of the requried courses not offered in the summer for one of the courses actually offered in the summer (and there are a few that seem much more interesting than the required courses anyway). I'm not sure if it will be fruitful, but I'm hopeful.