Snow days in March?

Looks like that March will start for us in MA with a punch, better double punch. Two winter storms are heading our way and the forecast for our area calls for up to a foot of snow.

Even my boys, who may have a snow day on Monday and get a chance for earning good money with snow shoveling, are disappointed. They are, like me, tired of snow.

The past two days were nice and balmy, and we just started for the first time since Christmas to see the lawn again; and even better, the first flowers emerged.


I can't believe, this all will be over in a few hours.

Frozen Art

Recently, we have been to an ice sculpture competition in downtown Boston. Art students transformed crude blocks of ice with "chisels and chainsaws" into all kinds of things:

Money can buy Happiness

Money can buy you happiness - if you spend the money right. Instead of buying material things, purchase positive experiences; for example go dancing, buy tickets for a concert or make a boat trip at sunset. According to a recently published study, such experiences will boost your happiness. Read more.

Last chance

Yesterday, we got another glimpse on the effect of the dismal economy on daily life in America: We decided to go to our local movie theatre and watch Last Chance Harvey with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. (We liked the movie, by the way, and recommend it. Good actors, good story)

Our local, suburban movie theatre is old, smells musty, the chairs are not very comfortable, the quality of the screens is so-so and tickets are cheap: only 7 bucks compared to more than $ 10 in the big, modern theatres in the Greater Boston area.

In the past, we felt sometimes almost lonely in our local theatre because only few people went there - even on Saturday nights. Boy, how has this changed. Yesterday, to our big surprise there was a long line in front of the ticket box and we feared , we wouldn't be able to get in, since several movies were already sold out. Luckily, we made it, but just barely. Shortly after we got our tickets, also Last Chance Harvey was sold out as was Benjamin Button, Rachel getting married and Gran Torino.

Well, it seems that at least some businesses profit from the economic crisis and I don't need to worry anymore that our historic Capitol cinema will disappear because of lack of customers.

Snow tubing

Today, we went snow tubing. It was a cold winter day with bright sunshine and it felt so good to be outdoors again.

A ski resort, only about 20 miles away from our house, has an area devoted solely to tubing. There are more than 10 slopes with snow barriers on the periphery. Thus, the tubes remain on the course. They also have pulley towlines that tow riders and their tube to the top of the course, so you don't have to hike up.

All in all, it was a great day of fun:

Happy Valentine's Day

Economy and College

I didn't write here for a long time because I have so much work with my teaching job. I'm teaching at a Community College and this semester I have suddenly a lot more students in my classes than before. This year, it even happened that one of my classes was full long before the end of the enrollment period.

The same happened to other teachers at my college, and though I don't have official numbers, I believe Community Colleges are now more attractive for many students because of the lower costs. In a tough economy like this one, students feel that four year colleges with their price tag of $ 30 000 and more per year, are unreachable - particularly here in the Northeast. Therefore, they start their education at two year institutions like mine, hoping to being able to transfer at a later time.

Feeling old

You know that you are old when your teenage kids are excited about the same rock stars that you liked when you were their age.

This happened to me tonight at the Super Bowl halftime show. OMG - Bruce Springsteen. I was 17 when he published his first album. Now, my oldest son is 17, and "the boss" still rocks.