2007-12-06 - 9:15 a.m.

...Happy Nikolaus Day!...

I went in to work yesterday to complete a lot of built-up administration, and also to meet with another of my students. This meeting turned out terribly productive because we spontaneously initiated a meeting with a funding group up two flights of stairs, and it looks as though we will be able to fund his project at a level of $15-30,000 through a collaboration with industry and the provincial government (both of whom I expect to be quite interested in the climate change project we've put together). I have lots of faith in this student as he's very savvy and extremely bright and motivated, and very smooth at making the right connections. I'm certain that he'll have no trouble impressing the right industrial partners with his persona and my idea ;-). We're still in the development stage, but we've launched ourselves out of the starting gates on this one, and I feel confident that this student will also be taken care of during the Spring Semester.

***

I moved from 'cankles' to 'thankles.' (Thigh-sized ankles) - yesterday I forced myself to lie with my feet in the air against a wall for ten minutes - and eventually got used to the slightly dizzy feeling that comes from lying for ten minutes with a hefty baby resting on my spine...but the swelling blessedly went down a bit.

So today is another day spent at home, reading student papers. Luckily it is sunny so that I can read by natural light in the chair upstairs, with my feet kicked up. For now I am sitting at my laptop, and Lyra has decided to finish up the rest of my oatmeal. She will not touch any bowl that still has a spoon in it. I have yet to decide if this is a spoon phobia or just some strange form of cat etiquette.

Oh, and Nikolaus came! Nikolaus came! This year he brought me a mandarin orange (already consumed), 3 Lindt chocolates, and marzipan potatoes (hard to explain, although I'm sure that Blighty is already shuddering with disgust). Nikolaus even came for Papa K - brought him one Lindt chocolate, a mandarin orange, and a melon baller. Because what man can live without a melon baller? ;-)