What a great day I had today. In fact it was one of the best days I've had in a while.

It started with getting out of bed at 6:00 a.m. For those of you who don't know me, until I came to Iowa, I don't remember the last time I saw 6:00 a.m. In fact, the alarm went off at 5:30 and I snoozed it till just before 6:00. I finally had to get up because the alarm on my phone in the living room was ringing and forced me to go deal with it. It's no small miracle that I was awake at all this morning since at 2:00 a.m. I was still lying in bed waiting to go to sleep. I have had trouble sleeping every night before class day. I'm hoping this will wear off.

So I was up early, checked email, and watched CNN while drinking muchos, muchos coffee. At about 7:35 I wrapped myself up nice and warm and headed to school. The thermometer on the bank I pass said it was 6 degrees at 7:45. If I wasn't awake before the walk, I was certainly awake after the walk.

Got to school and taught my two classes. They both went very well. In fact I didn't have time to finish either lecture because my students were very involved in the discussion. It's sort of a double edged sword. I'm glad they were participating, but by the end of next week we have to be back on schedule or we'll never get through all the information we need to get through.

After class I ran by the post office to drop off my Netflix movie. Have I mentioned how wonderful Netflix is. I love that I don't have to go anywhere to get my movies. They just sort of show up. And when you live in BFE Iowa you need something to keep you busy.

After the post office I stopped at the grocery store. This wouldn't be blog worthy except the store near my house, I discovered today, doesn't sell pre-packaged meat. You have to get everything from the butcher. This too wouldn't be blog worthy if it weren't for Nick. Hmmmm. I may have to go buy meat every day. He's beautiful, in his clean cut Iowa way and just as sweet as can be. Who knew pork chops came in so many different varieties.

After the grocery I came home, changed clothes and headed back to campus. I was on my way to the gym. I got my faculty ID card yesterday which gives me gym privileges until the end of May. So I trudged the half mile back to campus to work out. I also discovered that the gym and building are only about a year old so everything is in great shape and brand new. All of this is made better by the fact that no one was there. I only did cardio today. I ran a mile (first time I've run in well over two years) and then walked 3 miles. In all, I did an hour of cardio. It felt great, I just hope that I am not sore tomorrow.

After the gym I trudged the half mile back home and had lunch. Then it was the best time of all. I got my comforter off my bed, curled up in the recliner in the living room and the next thing I knew it was 4:45. Nothing like a warm nap on a very cold winter afternoon to hit the spot. After the nap, I talked on the phone for a while and then got re-dressed to go back to school.

In April I am designing the lights for a dance project that's turning out to be very exciting. I'm going to be able to stretch my abilities and approach it differently than I've approached most of my shows in the past few years. I think it's going to be fun. Anyway, I went to school to watch a rehearsal of the piece, had a brief conversation with the choreographer and then headed back home.

Then it was dinner, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and now blogging. All in all a near perfect day.