I was in Emporia for class again this past weekend, and yes that is two weekends in a row. After the driving in the snow adventure, it was so nice to drive down in beautiful sunny mid-50s weather. We had the warmest January on record. (The second warmest, which we barely beat, was in the 1930s.) Other than one (two-day) cold snap, we were 40s-60s the entire month. I'm not complaining, but it is a little odd. Are we going to get hammered this month? Or have a scary hot/humid summer? Who knows? (Well, God obviously.)

Class was good this weekend. Our professor did the best job of incorporating the readings into the class that I have ever seen. Too often I feel like I entirely wasted my time by doing the readings because they are never once mentioned in class. Of course, it isn't an entire waste of time; education for education's sake and all that. Still, I like to have some discussion or application of them in class.

Saturday night, we went to Applebee's as we often do. And our waiter remembered me. I've been thinking about this and the weekend before we didn't go to applebee's because we went to a movie, so this is from before xmas break, early december. Fairly impressive. He came up and said, "Welcome to Applebee's, we don't do things quite as well as in Kansas City, but we do our best." And I looked up and saw that it was the same waiter and started laughing. We had a lot of the same people there, because we're all in the same classes or some live in Emporia and just join us even if they don't have the same class weekends. Last time I'd been trying to convince him to do something that they don't do anymore by saying that they do it in Kansas City. Anyway, I'm nice to waiter/ress/(e)s and I tip well. This time, I can't just order normally. Oh no. I'm reading the menu and I see that they offer a Big Apple Burger. I don't see [Big Apple] Burger as in a burger in New York style, I see Big [Apple Burger] as in a large burger garnished with apples. I think, oooh, this seems interesting. At home we make porkchops and apples and it is amazing. Perhaps this is a burger with apples either carmelized or sauteed on top or in the patty (like a veggie burger). Then I read the description and realize my mistake. But at this point, I really want a big [apple burger]. And I already have a rapport with the waiter. So he comes to take our order, and I've been joking with my friends about this. I explain how I misread the menu, and ask if they can caremlize some apples and put them on a burger for me. He just shakes his head in disbelief. Than he explains that they don't have any apples in the restaurant. My friend points out it is Applebee's. But no. He offers that I can scoop out the insides of an apple pie. I go with my option B. I really do think an apple burger sounds good and I'm going to make one soon. I'll report back.

Yesterday was a big day for me. Had a dentist appointment. Argh. Hate those. And a couple of really exciting/but kinda stressful things too. I've told some people individually about those things, but I'm not ready to talk about any of them yet because I want to see how they work out first.

I missed both The State of the Union and Gilmore Girls last night. For the President's speech, I read the key points online and saw some of the highlights on CNN. For GG, I will read a summary online and catch it this summer in reruns. So not really a big deal.

I hate the dentist. Just because he has been treating me since I was six is no reason for him to treat me as though I were still six. He never tells me anything at all. He looks over my teeth and then tells me he'll call my parents to work out details. Grrr. Another fun thing is the way they always tell me to relax. I am not, by nature, a relaxed person. Even in the best of circumstances, I am still tense. So, when someone is poking me with sharp metal objects, I'm doing all I can to lie basically still and not bolt out of the room.