Today I got to pick up some textbooks that I'm reviewing for possible use in my class. HOW AWESOME DOES THAT SENTENCE SOUND?? I get to CHOOSE the books?!? For my CLASS?!? I'm sorry, let me have a moment....I know that most of you "normal" folks were thrilled to get out of school and relished your summers and being free from reading yada yada yada. But I was the kid who *loved* school. Well, most of it. Not math, let's be clear.Shopping for school supplies and getting new books and new notebooks and pens and wow, I just loved that part of growing up. So getting brand new textbooks (that I didn't even have to PAY for) to review is super exciting for me. Now the trick will be finding the parts of the books that teach the best stuff. Let the games begin.

I took a break from work today to check out the exhibit at the Walker Art Center on graphic design. Some of it was incredibly cool (like the screen-printed posters or the section on television and movie intros). But other parts were extremely disappointing (hello magazine design). Regardless, getting away from work to go be inspired by art is never a bad thing, and it was a perfect way to spend a Tuesday afternoon.Above is a wall of Aesthetic Apparatus posters that they had on display. Since my basement is covered in about 8-10 pieces of these guys work, I was obviously a fan.

Today I spent the lunch hour over at Central High in St. Paul talking to their journalism students. I really, really love doing this. I love working with the students and I love talking to them about what my passions are and how newspapers work outside of the classroom and how they can make their own paper look and read better.I also love showing them how to take better photos and (hopefully) inspiring them to get more creative with their work. The photo above is of one of the students who volunteered to let me shoot her photo using a variety of settings in class today so I could illustrate some points on how to best operate the camera. Today just confirmed for me that teenagers are pretty cool, and this is one of my favorite ways to volunteer my timeWhich is handy, because I'm not sure I've made it public on this here blog yet, but starting in January I won't have to *volunteer* my time. It appears that I have tricked the University of Minnesota into letting me teach in their journalism school this spring. MwahahahahahaBut seriously, I am a little (ok, a lot) freaked out and overwhelmed by how much I need to prepare in order to pull this off. But? I am super excited as well. And if you're not scared of a job, I guess you won't learn much, eh?And yes, if you are keeping count, this means I will now have three different jobs. I like to stay busy...

Oh hey, remember Mocha? I got to take more photos of her family today, which meant more shots of this beautiful brown face. This girl is the absolute sweetest. She reminds me so much of Memphis... but way less destructive. If Mocha lived with me, she would be spoiled rotten. Who could say no to those eyes?

Sigh. Today was about seven shades of awesome. I slept in, got my work done before noon, had a big brunch while reading the paper with the man, enjoyed the gray, drizzly day outside the windows, got do do a photoshoot with some great friends, made amazing homemade soup for dinner, walked the dogs, and later ended up at a last-minute surprise Astronautalis show (Me and My Arrow headlined) with a bunch of buddies. So, so fun!I posted a small set of photos from the show tonight over here. Enjoy!

Tonight was the Replacements tribute show at First Ave, which has become a bit of a tradition for us the Friday after Thanksgiving. It's so much fun to see all of our friends at the club and seeing the songs redone is usually pretty great. And sometimes just horrible. And then there's always that one person that has had ENTIRELY too much to drink who makes it up on stage with some long speech about how great the Replacements were... it always reminds me of the "drunk uncle" at the family dinner.Anyway, it was a great time. This particular photo I thought captured the full on spirit of the Replacements, but don't worry, I took a ton more shots. I just haven't edited them yet, so you'll have to wait for a new update tomorrow. It's 2:30 right now, and I gotta crawl off to bed.UPDATE: Photos are now up over here. And I want to clarify that the guy in this photo was NOT the "drunk uncle" at the party. He put on a fantastic show, and was a complete, um, Replacements-esque professional.