Dishwasher Thoughts

I was recently talking to Tus. Trek. about the dishwasher that The Mister is getting me for my birthday (my 36th-- in 2008) and she wanted to know why I wanted one.
I was thinking it was rather obvious: I don't like doing dishes, I don't like dishes piled on the counter, dishwashers get some things really much cleaner than the Mister and I do, when used properly they save water, and I anticipate the dish load will go up with a larger family, but TT was truly surprised that I would want one.
Upon further discussion I learned that she has really only lived with crappy dishwashers; the kind that do waste water and time because things need to go in clean in order to come out clean and even then they might have big soap globs on them.
I know from experience that there are dishwashers into one can put unrinsed or barely rinsed dishes and expect really clean dishes to emerge, and there are those that are useless. But, I realized, I don't know if I could spot the difference before I buy.
So, I'd like your thoughts on brands and/or features of dishwashers that have worked well for you and thoughts on brands and/or features that were useless or worse. Thanks.

canoeing on a closed river

Oops, for work we canoed a river we later found out was closed for high water. The upstream site we canoed the next day was open, but on the verge of being unsafe to sample when you have to suddenly pull to the bank to evaluate habitat and collect samples. Two people went overboard at 2 different times and in different canoes, resulting in a loss of 3/4 of our datasheets, a clipboard, and GPS. The fun canoeing quickly turned into not fun and shook us all up. But we did complete the site! The motorized boat took someone back to all the transects to redo the data. I'm not going to mention the river in case someone like a park ranger comes across this! I'll post photos when I get them uploaded. We did enjoy a cave tour the 1st day when it was pouring rain, and staying in cabins for 2 nights and grilling out.

Update: I posted more photos on facebook. See Jenny's blog about canoeing high waters: http://gorgeousbiologistknitter.blogspot.com/2007/05/not-ordinary-weekend.html

Things NOT to do three days before moving

Well, one thing anyway.

Don't sprain your ankle. But that is what I did this morning. It it not a bad sprain. I am trying to stay off of it as much as possible. Why is it that knitting and reading and watching movies seems so boring when I am forced to be still.

We close on Friday morning and plan to move on Saturday. Hopefully we will all remain injury free until then.

I have to say - I am so looking forward to the changes in our life this move will make. Finally, a place where I can begin my dream garden. We will feel more a part of the community of friends that I have made through WJC. No more 20 minute drives to work. Less money spent on energy - both via the car and the leaky windows in the house.

I am hoping that this move will also spur us on to making changes we have talked about making for a long time: furniture we pick out and is not hand-me-down, getting more exercise (there is a great green-ways walking/biking trail that starts in our neighborhood and we are walking distance to the community center, post-office, grocery store, post office), eating better.

Deciding Vote, Baby Classes and Student Success

My vote (or my vote and My Mister's vote) truly counted in my town's recent mayoral election. A former student running for mayor won 56 to 55 to 43 as a write-in candidate. While I'm glad I voted and think that it is pretty cool to have a vote that definitely mattered, it makes me feel uncomfortably responsible for the fate of my town over the next several years.
In other news, the Mister and I attended an all-day child birth class on Saturday. Two of the three other future mothers have been my students (and one of the dads), including the one I kicked out of class and who ate the poisonous plant in lab (and was well enough to play softball that night but not take my test the next morning). The Mister has had two of these students also and will likely have the other two in the future. Frankly it's weird to be practicing breast feeding positions in front of students, whether recent graduates or future students. It also made me very glad it was not a multi-week course (because it's not an insignificant drive to the hospital), which I had been sorta hoping for as a means of befriending other expectant parents. While I had figured that the it was much more likely that attendees would be my students' age, I didn't actually expect them to be my students.
Oh the "success" part is that even though the mayor-elect dropped my class, she is now mayor and even though the texting-poisonous plant eating student was a complete idiot in my class, she appears to be handling expectant pregnancy as a competent adult.

Lucky Brian

Assuming all went well, Brian just became lucky on the beach in Southern California and married to GBK Molly (who is getting quite a catch out of the deal herself).
Congratulations!

Outstanding Employee

I'm happy to point out that somene we know is the KU unclassified employee of the month. This is exciting not only because someone at KU is finally recognizing the great work done by a member of the GBK, but also includes a monetary award which will allow her to extend her work in Haiti. Congrats!

Dissertation Printing

Do any of you recommend a printer for a dissertation? I have procrastinated long enough! I am thinking of going with the HF group (recommended by KU library). Anyone have any good or bad experiences with them or other printers? I think this came up on the blog before, but I can't find it in the archives. Thanks!

Teaching evolution

OK, so I am kinda in denial about this CA thing in general and it's making me a horrible procrastinator. Anyone out there who has taught Evolution (or even taken it) do you have a text you would either recommend or warn against?

Thanks