Been around....

I'm taking time to post here tonight. I should be working, but I went outside a bit to enjoy the frosty cold night. The trees are encased in ice and they sparkle in the lights of the town's darkness. My twin apple trees are especially frilly, but seeing that show reminded me that I need to prune them back next month. I need to go out there tomorrow and see if the ice damaged them or the cherry trees. I wonder if the sweet cherry will survive this ice...it's never been a healthy tree.

My class is coming along. I'm finding some interesting things to read about. I need to write another paper, bigger than the last one, 350 words bigger. Ok, that's about two good paragraphs. Somehow it just seems much bigger. It is going to be difficult though...I have to find conflicting sources. And how about that! If I have to present multiple opinions, it's going to take more words.

I am now a blue belt in karate, and so is Jerry. Erin is our revered 2nd degree UFAF black belt, and I think she has a studio black belt too. As for me, black is WAY in the future. I thought I was now working toward advanced blue, but Jerry insists we jump right to green. Cool. Green is my favorite color (sometimes).

I am "on holiday" tomorrow (which is why I'm up so late like an idiot.) Floating Holiday. Oh my, I just realized it IS my floating holiday! Anyway, I am going to bed now and get up in the early morning and work on my paper. I have MUCH reading to do tomorrow. I need to do some construction work :-)

Almost New Year

Well, I keep forgetting that tomorrow is the last day of the year. Time for some New Year's resolutions. I always keep these private but LET IT BE KNOWN...they are made. Tomorrow I will remember to take my new calendar to work with me. I already have numerous things to mark on it. The spring months are filling up FAST.

If my sweet Sarah is reading this blog, please go check out Emily's blog - she has a really cute post about YOU.

I have to start doing some HARD-CORE reading tomorrow night. Do or die. It's time to kick into speed reading gear because the current speed isn't going to get me there in time.

26 Candles

Happy birthday to my babies - they were 13 years old yesterday. We had a little birthday celebration. I let them select cell phones and ordered online. They should have their phones tomorrow, I think. We will give Erin's old phone to Jerry since he has the crappiest phone in the house. After the switching is done, I will be the proud owner of the crappiest phone in the house. Not fair, but I will get a new one in June...maybe.

I've got photos of Erin and Emily doing birthday rites. They had identical cakes. Dave gave me a hard time...I always buy birthday cakes from him. I walked into his shop 15 minutes before closing and told him I needed two birthday cakes. He smiled big and asked "When?" I told him, "I need them now." His smile quickly changed to frown and he said, "Mom, you didn't wait until their birthday to remember the cake, did you?" I gave a sheepish "yes" and he commanded the situation. He took a quick inventory of the showcase and produced 2 Santa Clause cakes. I said "Perfect!" and he grabbed the icing pen and wrote the girls' names on their cakes. Dave is the best. I bought 3.5 dozen cookies too to take to Molly's party and as I was walking out the door, he came carrying two packs of candles and just tossed them on top of the boxes (free of charge). He said, I bet you forgot the candles too. I smiled and thanked him. Forget the candles? You know that's the thing I've liked most about birthdays my whole life - the candles. I use to steal the birthday cake candles out of the garbage can. Let no candle go unburned!!

You might have noticed the Gingerbread house in Erin's pictures. That is Emily's creation. She loves to make gingerbread houses. Someday I will make a gingerbread house....yes, that will be a good aspiration. I want mine to have spree and smarties...and crushed peppermint on the roof.

Well, tonight I played the role of suck up. My prof is encouraging participation during "reading weeks". So far, I haven't been getting into the reading aspect of "reading week". But with the challenge posted, I made an effort. Many of the required articles I've surveyed thus far are L-O-N-G and dreary. I found the two shortest articles assigned for the first 4 weeks and picked the two shortest. I read them and wrote summaries and critiques, and submitted. I got in there first, which means I'll be ridiculed because I probably only gave him 60% of what he was looking for....still, I pioneered! I took the risk and by doing so, I did the least amount of work. Excellence through laziness! Thanks be to God.

Back from Atlanta...and other news

I attended year 1 residency and boy was that some kind of trip! I worked like a dog, not sleeping more than 2 to 3 hours a night for 5 nights. I was tired but I learned a LOT!!! I met some amazing people; people who have done remarkable things and plan to do remarkable things. I found the demographics of the class to be interesting. I think it was about 2/3 black people, and almost all women. The professor was an exceptional man. He has 2 doctorates and is finishing work on his 8th master degree. He has been accepted to start work on another degree at Cambridge. I must brag a bit. I got an 'A' in the class...it was a tough piece of work getting an 'A' in there too. Our team project blew. We wrote a good piece of work but our presentation sucked. I certainly assisted the suck part of the presentation. I hate presentations of any kind.

So now, I get until next Monday night off if I wish and then I start on another 8 week class. I have completed 7 credit hours so far. I have an 'A' average, 2 A's and an A-. My next class up is like an overview of technology, I think. Sort of like a survey of all sorts of things related to computers, networks, and electronic devices. It should be.....dreary probably. Technology is fun to play with but I hate reading about it.

Emily got braces on her teeth.

She did pretty well with them at first. I kept her doped up on Motrin for the first few days, even woke her up in the night to give her Motrin. I learned from Sarah's experience. Sarah was fine the first day and then woke up the first morning after in agony when the Motrin had worn off. The dentist thinks she will have these more than 2 years...there's work to be done.

It's Christmas almost and I haven't started shopping yet. The girls want new cell phones for their birthday so that I can do without much trouble. Emily helped me put up the tree tonight and we have lights on it. Tomorrow, we'll add garland, and wait until Erin gets home tomorrow night and let them both have at decorating the thing. It's nice to have somebody else do this chore. I like Christmas but it's a lot of work. Sarah said she might come home tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing her. She doesn't come home much...she's a busy girl.

Babbling

I have been writing all night...and here I am writing again. Obviously I just can't get enough. Tonight, I wrote about aligning IT strategy with business unit strategy and how that can be accomplished with cross-functional teams. I also wrote about....ummmm...heck....something about innovation and how you look for the cause of resistance and negotiate that way rather than try to come up with a better idea. If they resist and I insist, they will resist more. That's a whole lot like negotiating with a tween and a teen.

My tweens will very soon be teens...they are growing up SO fast. Too fast in some ways, but they are blossoming. I best not list details because they both know the qualities I admire about them. My first daughter knows what I admire about her as well. She is the only one who ever reads my blog anymore I am sure.

Tonight I was AGAIN inspired about what to do my disertation on. Each time I get inspired, it's even more exciting to me. GOD, I must be turning into a total nerd......isn't this a hazard of the profession?? I got two inspirations tonight!!! I am going to learn 2 things: MC9090 handhelds and I want to learn Share Point. If I can master these two things, I have a PLAN.........well, not right this instant. I have a vision...but no plan yet. A strategy though - YES!!!

I took my strange little cup to the office today. It makes me SO HAPPY!!! My Sarah made it for my birthday. It is nice and shiney except for it's strange little teeth and it's funny little feet. OHHHH I love that phrase...funny little feet. Double letters in each word :-) What I like most of all about it (besides the fact that it was fruition of Sarah's creative spirit) is the tail sort of handle on it. It reminds me of a rat's tail. If she had put big rat ears on it -it would be a perfect rat. I don't like rats much. They are nervous creatures. I will need to take a photo of my earless rat cup. I will have my friend Terry take the photo with his extra special newest lens. From what he says, with this new lens he could take a photo of my mug in the moonlight. Coo-L! I put treasures in my cup today - I went for a walk at lunch. I found some beautiful litte Japanese maple leaves - scarlet, and I got some twigs of yellow hickory leaves. I also found some pink ginkgo...but I can't find the tree! Everytime I walk through that section I look for it....every fall it's leaves are in the same place...but I can't find the tree. Illusive tree...with the cloak of invisibility. I picked up some persimmon seeds and beechnut seeds. So in my cup right now, I have that plus a couple of tiny oak leaves. They only have 3 fingers or prongs or whatever you call those extensions on a leaf. I have a couple of little feathers in it too. Happy stuff in my happy cup.

I am going to practice karate! I am in the mood for that. I need to review some stuff and work on my new form...I can't spell it but it sounds like this...Pin Yon Show Don. And all the Pin Yon forms are FORMAL. You have to ask for permission to try: Attention, Announce te form and say "Permission to begin!", Bow. You get permission..you attention, June Be (not spelled right), then announce the form name ...then begin. I am now an orange belt, working toward a blue I think. Oddly enough, I can see value in this stuff. I was in Findlay with Cheryl on a business trip. Long story short, one morning when Cheryl was driving she started to turn just as a pedestrian stepped into the street. She hit the brake and told the guy she was sorry - I didn't see him either, we were both watching oncoming traffic while she was trying to make a left turn across 3 lanes. Anyway, the irate guy chased us down two blocks into the parking lot and ran up behind Cheryl. I saw him first and I immediately/instinctively put down what I hand in my hands and got almost in a fighting position. I thought he might hit her - he got up within a foot behind her. I immediately said "Uh oh! Cheryl!!" She turned and the guy was immediately in her face, "What's the matter with you! You blind? Sorry isn't good enough!!!", etc. As soon as I advanced he backed off. He was very rude, but stalked off pretty quickly.

WELL...enough of that. I am practicing karate and then playing some piano, and then....going to bed. I need to write a post tomorrow and work EXTENSIVELY on my team paper. I would love to complete that by Sunday afternoon if at all possible. I'm going to Morehead tomorrow night to listen to my almost teens play in a concert. Erin on the viola and Emily on the cello...and Sarah on the fiddle somewhere not where I am.
I could have taken him...I think.

I'm back in

I wanted to blog last night but I couldn't remember my login ID or password, so I gave up. I remember now...but I have not much to say. Sarah called me and was full of happy news. I am glad she is happy.

I have been hard at work on work for my class. I'm pretty disappointed in at least one of my team-mates. I am hoping he pulls through for us tonight..if not, me and the other lady will have to cough up another 500 words each. Plus, I haven't run the thing through the plagiarism checker yet..that sometimes yields interesting results. The thing is due tomorrow night and I am always BUSY BUSY on Mondays.

I have another idea for my dissertation. I had thought about something to do with info systems used in the orchard industry...but Now....I'm thinking about IT's influence on reducing carbon footprint....I stumbled across some articles last night that were quite intrigueing.

We are going to Hawaii...believe it or not. I have to make another payment this month. The payments are not fun, but I intend to have fun in Hawaii when I go...a few days in paradise. The girls are going there for orchestra and the old man and I will go along to chaperone our kids and "what not".

Two more weeks of this class then it's time to get serious about cleaning, painting, and fixing up some stuff. I need to call and get some estimates. Never a free moment these days.

Where have I been?

I have not posted in forever!! I do have a picture to post. I played with composition a bit. HECK, I'll just post both.

All those peppers came from our garden. We limed this year and our green peppers are HUGE. I think those are red hot chilis in the front. I love their look! Those suckers are hot! I made a huge pot of goulash with a couple of them and it was almost too hot to eat.

Our apple trees are prolific this year and the apples big and red. They are usually knobby and green with little stripes of red until they rot on the tree with a million worm holes in each one. I think I will have an orchard one day. So what if the necterines will bear 1 in 13 years statistically. Maybe I'll get lucky. I believe I would plant some chestnut trees, and apple, pear, and plum trees. Blueberries, pumpkins, Indian Corn, and sunflowers for sure. Oops...I breached the orchard boundaries.