I am writing papers today. A foreign policy brief on Venezuela - three issues: the situation in the Middle EAst, the situation in Darfur and UN counterterrorism. I researched and researched and found nothing concrete on anything except Venezuela's involvement with counterterrorism issues. I guess I was thinking that there would be a written policy statement - we from Venezuela feel this way about the Middle EAst and Darfur...no such luck. Plus, I was having a very difficult time trying to decide what tone I wanted to take...take Chavez's tone which I think is extremely cocky or take the tone of a foreign policy expert - I chose a middle ground and had to guess on how and what Venezuela's policies were on the issues.

Now I am working on another paper - a review of an article on Human Rights. I really enjoy working on these kinds of papers. It is nice to be intellectually challenged.

Cold weather here today - I stayed in most of the day - had a day off from classes and spent it, writing papers...

Got a little work-out in this afternoon - a little bike and an hour of weights. Sometimes, it is so hard to lift weights - sometimes they are just so heavy.

Tonight Andy and his band Odds and Ends, had their first public concert. It was at Pope and a fund raiser for the foreign language department. Andy said they played great and that everyone in the crowd thought they were great. Andy plays bass and he is good. These are his best friends and they happen to be fairly talented musicians. It is fun to watch them. I told him I didn't want him to forget how he felt tonight - to remember his first gig for a long time. I also asked him how the kids responded to them all after they were finished. He said it was really neat - the kids kept coming up to him. It will be challenging to keep his feet solidly on the ground. He enjoys the music so much!

I am going to make a new post here that is a copy of what my daughter wrote about our friends coming to visit.

Nancy