Odd Obvservations from Iowa

• I was unloading my groceries into my car today, when a woman in the car next to me rolled her window down to smoke.  It's one of those famous bitterly cold Iowa days with a cutting wind, and I could hear a kid in the back seat complaining about it being cold.  So this woman snaps at him "Would you rather freeze or die of second-hand smoke?"  I found that sadly funny - personally, I'll take (c) not smoke in the car so the windows can stay up.
• The main route to church, work, basically the places I go most days, had been closed for a while for bridge repair.  It's open again, but it was closed so long I got in the habit of a different route, and now I can't remember to go the short way anymore.
• Advising week sucks.  It sucks even more when you also have 3 mock trials to run and some other meetings.  It sucks most of all when you also have your continuing employment portfolio due on Friday AND it's your turn to bring treats to Friday Coffee.  I haven't snapped yet, but it's only Tuesday.
• At my mock trial yesterday, one of the student teams made this great argument about how the accused planned the murder out, even filing a police report about her gun being stolen months ahead of time.  It was well crafted, and I was very proud of them.  Then the student doing the closing ended it with "or maybe she just snapped," shrugged his shoulders, and sat down.  They won anyway, because the defense side spent a huge amount of time establishing how easy it would have been for anyone to steal a security card - not really helpful when said stolen security card is found hidden in the defendant's home!
• Two weeks ago, I forgot it was trash day.  Last week I put it out and they somehow skipped me.  They better remember tomorrow, because I'm really out of room.  I already put it out - planning ahead and realizing I won't want to go out in the freezing cold to do it tonight.
• Much as I hate the bitter cold stretches, I'm not sure there is anything I love more than going to sleep at night in flannel sheets with a ton of blankets.  The weight is the best part.