Sadness abounds in my life right now! A couple of days ago I got in touch with a friend from graduate school and she informed me that Dr. Van de Graaff had passed away. She didn't know until much after the fact, but it's been a year now. Since it's new to me, though, it's as if it just happened. Dr. Van de Graaff and Dr. Tolman were the two most influence men in my professional and collegiate life. I am where I am today because of their love and concern for me. When I told Rob about Kent's passing, he said, "wasn't he the one that got you into graduate school?" That was just one of the many things he did for me. Most importantly, however, he taught me how to be a good teacher. My students often tell me just how much they enjoy my classes. But it's only because I'm copying him. He has a tremendous legacy, however, because we in the same profession all credit him with our successes. I am truly blessed to have been a friend, and not just a student that passed through his class one semester. For that I will be eternally grateful.

Then, last night, our beloved Fuzzy Butt the Hamster died of complications relating to old age. He was such a good hamster, never bit, let everyone (including Amy) hold and play with him. Cameron took it really well. He is very sensitive with animals and that's why I think he'll end up becoming a veterinarian. He has wanted to be a paleontologist ever since he was 3, so that's okay, too, if he still wants to be that. We've talked about career opportunities ever since he was small, and we know it will be something biology related. Takes after his mom, I guess.

It started raining pretty hard in the night and only stopped in the last ten or fifteen minutes. We love rain because we hardly ever see it. And snow, well, it looks nice from a distance on the mountain. But if the clouds go away (which I doubt because there's no wind and they're pretty thick) and the kids see all the new snow, they'll want to go up and play in it tomorrow. We'll have to see. We went up just after we got back from Christmas because of the snow that fell on our way home, and discovered that some mice (wild ones, not some of ours) had taken up residence in our padded snow boots. So we wore them and then threw them away. So now we have no boots. And I doubt that Wal-mart will have any. We lost our PayLess shoes, so Wallyworld is the only game in town and I don't want to make a trip to Tucson just for boots.

Well, I guess I better get ready for work. Make it a good day.