I'm not a medblogger, but...

Not knowing some of the sources, I debated posting the following bits but decided that the positive and empathic nature of them was worthwhile. I would gladly have linked to the magazine articles but that option wasn't available so you get as much quotes as I could conveniently type. Sorry about that.

January's issue of Spirituality & Health magazine, a freebie subscription I accepted because of subject matter, was in my mail this past week. One short blurb, under a collection called Updates & Observations, was entitled Intimate Gifts from Depression. This article stated that:

"Psychology researchers at the University of Texas at Austin had hypothesized that women who experienced depression in the past would be 1)more prone to it in the future, 2) more closed about their emotional life, and 3) less likely to experience intimacy than those who hadn't. The results of their research proved those hypotheses wrong. Women with depression in their past were not more prone to depression in the future and, in fact, had slightly greater levels of "self-disclosure" and "marital intimacy" than women who had never experienced depression."

Knowing my friend Susan's feelings about the negative reputation of depression, I felt this might be worth publishing as a bright spot and hopefully a counter measure. Having experienced depression myself, it's nice to know I've grown from it. (g)

A few pages further along was another collection of bits called Connections. It had an article, under the subheading M.D. Trauma, entitled Doctor Mistakes Lead to Loss of Empathy...Which Leads to More Mistakes by Stephen Kiesling. It had a source, The Journal of the American Medical Association, so if you want to read the related study go here. This one talked about the idea that "when doctors make mistakes there are two victims; the patient, who suffers from the mistake, and the doctor, who suffers from the shame and guilt of having made the mistake." According to the article:

"a study of resident physicians at the Mayo Clinic Rochester Internal Medicine Residency suggests that more work needs to be done to take care of the second victim. Why? Because doctors' mistakes can lead to depression, burnout, and loss of empathy with patients - making it more likely that the doctors will make another mistake in the future."

This really struck home. My sister is a doctor, a psychiatrist, and has expressed concern over decisions she must make in her patients' treatments. The things my sister might experience by making a major medical error are: 1) significantly lowered quality of life, 2) higher levels of burnout, and 3) nearly twice the rate of depression compared to doctors reporting no major errors. She could also lose emotional empathy and cognitive empathy, which seems significant to me although those two results were not considered statistically significant. No wonder she works so hard at managing her stress!

For years my sister has meditated, run, practiced yoga, and found time to indulge herself in order to make her life and world a happy place for her. I suspect she found it necessary during her residency simply to survive. I love my sister and would never want any of the things listed to happen to her. I wouldn't want them to happen to my doctor(s) either. As a patient, I build a relationship with my physician and want to believe that he/she cares about me personally and professionally. The personal side of knowing each other supports the trust I have in his/her decisions, which helps us both on the professional side.

I've had a doctor tell me that my trust in him helped me heal better after surgery. This was from a surgery that went wrong. It wasn't his fault that things went south. He had responded to my report of a previous experience (I react to catgut - an old style suture material) and during my surgery he used a newer, lighter suture. It snapped in the middle of an operation to reposition a muscle on an eye that was turning out. The muscle that suture was attached to retracted out of sight behind the eye and I ended up spending 6.5 hours on the table while the team fished behind the eye trying to find the muscle. This was during the late '70s when I was young, in the military, and the doctor was doing his residency. The eye recovered and so did I.

It's a safe bet, that young doctor breathed a huge sigh of relief when he finally found the muscle. If it had been me, I would have cried and buckled at the knees. Somehow I don't think young doctors get much crying time even though they almost certainly need it. So when the study urges training hospitals to make sure their residents are given the help they need to deal with the aftermath of wrong decisions, I'm in favor of it! Furthermore, I hope they move that help beyond the training stage to support all doctors whether they work at a hospital, a clinic, or in private practice. I want my doctors empathetic towards me....and I hope I can be the same in return for their good and thoughtful care. Thank you!

Continuing stories and prayer build

My mother has accepted the challenge of writing a 6-word story. I'm waiting with bated breath to hear what she comes up with. Several of my friends blogs are now freckled with these small gems. This is fun and such a good use of creative energy that I hope it continues to generate short bites about and from my friends for many moons to come. (g) I'll ask my mom if I can publish hers when she has them written.

Genesis class was once again a delight. This time, in part, because we keep being reminded that it is so full of folk tales. Today the words fairy tales were used. Yeah! I love those. So much so that when some of my favorite fantasy authors started researching Grimm's stories and after getting back to the original versions, which are often truly horrific, rewrote them from new perspectives I found a whole study of literature that I was willing to pursue solo. Usually I'm happiest hearing other people lecture on a subject.

The stories covered were Cain & Abel and Noah and the Flood. There's lots of room for commentary in those stories. Lots of symbolism too. On a personal level it is fun to try to imagine why and how God did some of the things claimed in Genesis. But I don't take that mental play serious. Or not often. What I do take serious is that God is able to take these folk stories and teach us something with them. These aren't easy lessons. They take in an entire society and its growth. So it would take far wiser minds than mine to come close to grasping all they imply and whole libraries to explain them. Suffice to say that I had a lot of fun in the class today. I was even able to contribute something to the discussions and maybe the teacher's growth as well. When getting ready to head to church this morning I remembered I had a book called "Types in Genesis" by Edward Jukes. It is a very old book written in old English. I like it for the imagery it has which echoes throughout scripture of God's power in both creation and action. I took it to class with me and the teacher asked to borrow it.

When class closed, we used the prayer build method that the teacher introduced last Sunday. We took from today's discussion to find our images. The prayer images are divided into 3 categories. God is-; We ask for-' and So that-. Today we said that God is almighty, forever, and mysterious. We asked for patience, harmony, and insight; So that we might love him more, hear him better, and see others as he would have us see. The reason I love this prayer build is that it makes the group prayer so relevant and personal. I don't feel that I have it down quite right yet. So I intend to keep on listening closely when she does this again. If I find another small bit that will add to the instructions of how to accomplish such a successful prayer I will add it in.

News bits

The freeze in south Texas is over and things are getting back to normal. School/work for me started an hour late and the classes for the kids had a bit of a confusing focus. Instead of shortening every class the principal decided to just pick up where we would have been so school started in the middle of 2nd period. The next day was advisory schedule but one team wanted to make up for lost time so they tried to send the kids to their regular classes instead. Wow...mutiny? or a practical approach to the schedule problems caused by the ice? You decide.

On the feel good side, I got to start Thursday by doing Morning Prayer. It turned out that I was the first officiant since Monday morning. Yeah! And the church felt good. I even had time to do a much more thorough service because I had an extra hour to get to work. So I am very happy with that.

My friend, the one with the new home, and I went by his old apartment complex and looked for his cat. We didn't find her but the complex manager said she had been seen around a certain building and he went over there and looked. He left fliers which had his number on them and described the cat as a Torbie. That was an interesting term. Seems she has tortoise coloring but is also more of a Tabbie in that she has very little white thrown in. Her coat actually looks like someone took all the tortoise colorings and just mixed all the colors together and got an almost spiky appearance in the hair. No spots...just totally mixed colors so that the hair color is not even mottled but more of a blend. Back to the locating of the cat, the manager promised that if she saw her again she would grab her and hold her till she could contact my friend. So I have some hope for the cat's survival.

Yesterday one of the teachers had me show the class a movie while she went to an ARD meeting. We watched 8 Below. I'd never seen this movie but was so fascinated with it that I couldn't leave it even though class was over and it was almost time to go home. It is based on a true story and the concern that the owner of the team of sled dogs has for his "left behind" team is truly heart warming. The things the dogs survive is chilling. I definitely need to add this to my DVD collection. I have to admit that I didn't see the tail end of the video but once I knew that the dogs and their owner got reunited I was ok to go clock out. One of the outstanding features, at least for me, is that the movie shows true pack behavior of the animals when they are surviving on their own. This makes it a good teaching tool. My friend who was anxiously waiting for me to give him a lift home teased me about almost crying over the movie. It's true. I did almost cry. And I was thrilled and excited at the end when they got back together. So if you love animal/human interaction stories this is a good one to watch.

A very timid foray...

We so seldom see this much ice in south Texas that the effects of this momentous weather event fascinate me. If this is nothing new to you please feel free to skip reading this post. I won't be offended. Right now the ice is a new toy and I am a child exploring it.

The weather has stopped dripping but not the roofs and trees. The temperature is at 32 and so where it does drizzle we get a little freezing still happening. We are not quite through this yet.

I just had to get out. I made the excuse that I needed to check the mail and put a letter in the post. The walk to the mailboxes looked short enough and I told myself that I'd stop and go back in if the sidewalk was icy. So on went my long coat, my winter leather gloves and the shoes with good traction soles. I grabbed my cell phone in case of mishap and also a cane for support with the idea that if I needed to I could use it to test the ground ahead. I put the letter in my pocket. Then went outside.

The first thing I noticed was that while the sidewalk seemed free of ice the rails along the steps weren't. So the cane was a good idea. Then I went down and took a closer look at my car. Yep, it was covered with the stuff. Underneath there were spaces where some water seemed to be flowing. It was melting from underneath. I could actually chip some of the ice and managed to break off a fair bit of it with my key. This wasn't the greatest of ideas because the ice landed on the ground and made it hazardous. My neighbor's car let forth a swish, crack and the ice from his windshield fell off in one huge piece shattering on the ground. I wondered how long it would take before my own did the same. This ice is about 1/8th of an inch thick and more in places. Then I looked up.

Icicles are hanging from the building roof. I suspect some ice is also on the roof itself. The trees aren't laden though so perhaps the leaves provided some shelter. Walking along towards the mailboxes I see that a neighbor is getting ready to go out. We both agree that it is pretty nasty. I'm doing fine walking down the parking lot. Then I get to the curb and step up on the grass. Big mistake!

The grass is icy and very slick. It isn't solid so there are spots to get around the worst of it on. Against good sense I persevere and make it up a slope of ice covered grass to the mail boxes. I feel really stupid and am mentally berating myself while doing this. Why am I still moving forward? Once I reach the boxes the cement is safe and traction is once again good. I tell myself I will go down the ramp on the other side instead of attempting the grass again. In goes the letter to be mailed. My box only has one envelope in it. All that for just one piece of junk mail? I must be crazy. (g) But the trip has lightened my gloom from being indoors for so long. So I don't feel too bad about being out in this. I make it back down to the pavement with no mishaps thanks to the safe concrete ramp. Why are man made stone surfaces safer than the lawns and plants that God made?

On the way back I notice someone heading out in their car who hasn't done a thorough job of deicing their car. It still has icicles hanging from the rear license plate and bumper. I get back to my car, knock a little more ice off, and head inside. I'm happy. I've been outside, braved the dreaded ice and survived. :-) Inside I get out of my coat and gloves. Warm water from the faucet helps to take the ache out of my hands. I add water to the pot on the stove and am grateful for the steam coming from it.

The picture above is an image of an ice hotel in Quebec, Canada. I understand that staying the night in these buildings made entirely of ice is becoming quite popular. It might be fun to see one. I find it hard to imagine sleeping in one even if the bed, which is made of ice, is covered with furs and designed to keep you warm. Still, the people who live up north have managed to do this for many years and survive. Maybe I should give ice hotels a chance and add staying in one to the list of future vacation possibilities. I think that it will require much research before I can do that with confidence. Has anyone ever stayed in one?

Icebound insanity

A neighbor just went out. I watched him pour a pitcher of hot water over his windshield. Next he started his engine. It took several attempts before it kept running. He then went back in and got another pitcher of hot water. I went in and filled one from my tap. He used both telling me cheerfully that he had no idea why he was headed out. Said that yesterday he had driven with nothing more than a small hole in the ice for visibility. Maybe he is feeling as housebound as I am and just couldn't stand it any longer.

When you are icebound you figure out things to do or go insane. I wonder how our ancestors did it before the days of central heat and TV. I find myself spending most of my time in front of my computer, reading and watching the never ending weather reports which all tell me the same thing....that the roads are unsafe to drive. I wonder what my friend, now ensconced in his new home, is doing. He doesn't have cable or dsl up yet so I am pretty sure he is bored stiff.

Tomorrow I am supposed to be doing morning prayer and going to my first class for the spring semester in the evening. I wonder how long it will take for my windshield to deice in the early morning hour of 6:30. Better set the alarm back half an hour.

....and still more nasty weather

Three days became four. That was nice, getting to stay home for a 4-day weekend. Now, thank to the freezing rain, the four days have become five. Do I hear six? Can we say make-up days and no lost holidays? I pray that this doesn't last so long that they cancel spring break!

Insufficient layers. Warm pan. Fireplace. Cat!

Six word stories

I've been tagged by Susan to write a 6 word story. She gave some very good examples. Never having had a lot of faith in my imagination this was challenging for me. So I want to say, "Thank you, Susan! It has been a better experience than I thought it would be."

Not being as prolific at this as some are, I managed to write two stories. Here they are.

1. Conspiratorial pets. Absent owner. Spectacles crunched!

2. Opposing gables. Curtains blow. Ghostly romance.

Not having a huge network of readers I am going to see if I can tag someone who isn't writing a blog. There are a couple of teachers at work who might enjoy the challenge.

Three days turns to four

Wow! The weather is so bad down here in San Antonio that most of the schools are closing for tomorrow. That means that I will be staying home. Wednesday is only supposed to have a slight improvement so who knows. Right now a 3-day weekend has turned into 4. Maybe it will go on for another day or two. Thank goodness I stopped by the store earlier today. I bought a whole box of firelogs to see me through the freeze.

In the meantime, I'm glad that the roads and schools are closed. It's safer this way. South Texans don't get enough snow or ice to know how to drive safely in it. It's much better if everyone, including students and parents, stay home. The city may come to a standstill but it could be worse. We could have loss of power, but we probably won't. It hasn't rained enough to cause the limbs of trees to carry a heavy load of ice. And while the Hill Country might have snow, San Antonio probably won't.

I'm still praying for my friend's lost cat. If the roads aren't total ice on the way to the grocery store tomorrow I will stop by and see if she has come back home.

Genesis class & building a prayer

Yesterday's Sunday school class was the second one on Genesis. When the teacher started a week ago she and a co-teacher talked about Education For Ministry (EFM) which is where they got their training. The Episcopal church seems to support this schooling and from all accounts is seems pretty good. I don't know a lot about it but when I am done with my present schooling I may look into it more.

Sunday's lesson covered the first 3 chapters of Genesis which is the creation story. I had fun with that. The teacher talked about there being two creations stories in Genesis. I think there might be three. The reason I think that is because back in the 80's, when I studied Genesis before, some people liked to take the words in the first two sentences and say that there was an entire story possible in the gap between them. The NRS Bible, which is the approved Episcopal version, edited out the potential gap in time. The NIV left it in. The way the play with words goes is that the first sentences declares, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." The next sentence starts with the word "Now" which can be taken as either a literary styling or a way of implying that there was a gap between the time that God created the world and the time that the story teller is talking about. Lots of people who like their stories filled with mystery loved that potential gap in time. It gave rise to the idea that perhaps the world had been created, destroyed and now was perhaps being recreated. What fun! So we talked about that a bit in class. Since there isn't a way of discovering whether the writer meant the "Now" as a styling or otherwise we can't really solve this one. Possibly better read people will have an answer to the current view on that question.

Then we talked about the idea of whether Eve or Adam was responsible for man's fall from grace. Remember that Eve was the first to eat the apple? Well you can argue that she was deceived having never heard the instructions of God first hand and that Adam had known full well what he doing and had decided to do it anyways. And we wondered about that. Knowing that you might fall from grace is it possible that Adam just couldn't bear to be apart from Eve? Was that why he did as she asked? We also looked at the decision that Eve made and how she saw the tree of knowledge. It was good for food, attractive to the eye, and it gave knowledge. So she made a God like decision instead of following God's instruction. That too has tons of implications in it. I wish I was better at remembering the things that were said in that classroom. It was intriguing and we all enjoyed the discussions these topics generated.

At the end of the class the teacher asked us what in the creation stories we saw as God...she wanted 3 responses. We gave her creative, sustaining, and breath as in breath of life and creation. Then she asked us what was needed from God in that story or what were his actions, again 3 responses, and we gave her forgiveness, guidance, and connections. Finally she asked what we wanted to take with us from this story and our responses were: do your work, creation restored, and live as you designed us and made us to be. Then she used our responses to make a prayer. In it we named/described God, asked for something and gave it purpose. It went something like this:

Creative, sustaining God, you are our breath of life.
We ask your forgiveness, guidance and connection
To help us do your work, restore your creation, and
Live as you designed us and made us to be.
In Jesus name, Amen.

Everyone of us felt that was a really beautiful way to pray and wanted to take the method home with us. I think we will be watching this teacher closely to determine how to build such a meaningful prayer so that we can enrich our own prayer lives.

Nasty weather

It's cold and wet outside. This isn't normal south Texas weather. We south Texans aren't accustomed to freezing rain. So the roads are kind of empty today and the wind is hurting our ears for lack of earmuffs. I went outside in it twice today to throw out the trash and don't really want to go out in it again. Fate isn't letting me avoid this. A friend has called and asked for help.

He has been moving into his first house this weekend and during the move his cat got out and is loose somewhere on his old apartment complex. It is a large complex and while he has had the cat for a few weeks I don't know if the cat knows her way home. So, I got out my cat carry case, put on extra layers of clothing (windchill is in the 20's) and have food in bowls to shake and see if we can coax her to come out and get taken to her new home. Wish me luck please!

Later...about 2 hours

Well, we didn't find the cat. I looked under every car, around every dumpster and bush and called while he went to the apartment complex office to turn in the keys. I had brought food so we left some in a bowl on the patio in the hopes the cat might survive and find the food. From what my friend tells me this cat has never been further than the bush at the edge of the passage way so it won't know its way home. If you want to pray for the cat please do. My friend thinks it is pretty much a lost cat now because it was very scared when he lost it. I'm not surprised at that but I am distressed. If he had asked, or I had thought to, I'd have offered my carry case to take the animal to its new home in. And the weather is getting colder. I hate this.

Carnival of Hope & My cup runneth over defined

Yay! It's second Friday and Carnival of Hope is up again over at Rickety Contrivances of Doing Good. Please go and read the heart warming and encouraging stories Susan has collected from around the blogosphere.

Second in my thoughts this morning is something my sitemeter is showing me. Like many of you I like to know who visits my page, what they look at and maybe why. So I am glad when site meter shows me the search keywords that get a hit whether the person visits or not. For a while now I've been seeing the words, "my cup runneth over" several times a week. I wrote those words in my second post when talking about my faith coming to completion. Sometimes they are looking for a definition. If that is what people are searching for then I'm wondering if my story explained clearly enough to give them an answer.

If you have a bible in the King James translation then you may have read those words in the famous and timeless 23rd Psalm where David talks about how God has taken care of all his needs and honored him in front of his enemies. Enemies aren't something I'd care to have and don't like to think about, so I try to tell myself that I don't have any. But if growing up with poor self esteem means that your parents and teachers didn't help you see the worth in you, a basic right of every person, then perhaps enemy can have other definitions than terrorist or opposing gang member.

When I found my faith completing, the Holy Spirit entered my heart. All ideas that the bible is someone's inspired writing aside, the act of receiving the Holy Spirit is real and in experiencing it you can know your faith complete and that God does indeed love you beyond all reason. Perhaps that, more than being made king, was what David was talking about. The fact that a poor shepherd boy, who was the youngest and least respected among the sons in his family, was made king and that God had spoken to him in a very special way surely made his heart glow with joy and I'm sure that it did a lot for his self esteem.

Can you prove that you've received the Holy Spirit? No! It's even hard to describe, which is why the phrases in the bible don't tell the whole story. It's talked about in Psalms, in Isaiah and in the New Testament when Jesus receives it. How can you explain that the God of all creation, whom no two people have ever seen in the same way, came, talked to you, and made your heart whole by filing you with something you can't see and touch? The writers of the bible are so good at this and even they couldn't do the job that everyone would like to have done, prove that there is a God and that he cares. That's one of the reasons faith is so important. Faith is the trigger to receiving the Holy Spirit. It wasn't till after I believed that I received it, but it happened the minute I did.

So getting back to my original subject, what does "my cup runneth over" mean? Well, to me it means that I suddenly felt loved by someone with no reservation. God loves me no matter what I have done or how imperfect I am. In fact, in his eyes, I'm not imperfect but exactly the way he made me and he is happy with how I turned out. The love of God was part of the receiving and when it started pouring into my heart I got filled up. But it kept on coming in. God's love kept pouring into my heart till I had no idea what to do with the excess. So I reached out to others. There were two women sitting on either side of me. I grabbed their hands and the love I was receiving passed on to them. Later, they both told me they knew what was happening to me the minute I reached out for their hands. So God's love passes on to others from our actions after we are overfilled.

To me the important thing was that, when I felt loved enough to know that I had worth to someone, I was able to share that love and love others in the way that you can't do unless you first know love of self. Learning that lesson over and over again will be a lifelong endeavor. It is easier to tell than to do. Old lessons die hard, even with God's voice ringing in your ears telling you otherwise. Fortunately, God is more faithful than we are. My cup runneth over!

Getting enrolled and all that jazz

If you are an undergraduate, enrolling in a graduate level course isn't easy, but it's not impossible if you have decent grades. Thankfully, I do. What you have to do is follow the procedure. In other words, get the paperwork and deliver it to where it needs to go. Be patient and polite. Notify people when something is done and awaiting their attention. This works really well, and the more polite you are the better it works. I got no less than 2 letters each from the professor and the department chair. Don't forget to say, "Thank You!" You'll be remembered for it. Once you have the signatures be patient and keep on with the process. Take the paperwork to the enrollment services office, or whatever variation of that title your university has, and give it to the registration clerk. He/she will then get you enrolled and the professor will be glad to see you in class. That is what happened to me....pretty much.

If you are fortunate, your registration clerk will be a knowledgeable, sympathetic person who will answer questions about your financial aid and other, important to your survival, things while you are there. If you are unfortunate, as I was today, the answers you receive will be informationless and make you feel like they think you are just an idiot who is expected to follow directions instead of thinking and trying to manage your life like the mature and responsible adult you are, or are trying to become. You will be told repeatedly something along the lines of, "It isn't about you." which is what I heard...twice! The letter they show you stating the policy will be a near duplicate of the one the university sent you. They won't be able to tell you when your financial aid questions will be answered nor will they care. You will leave there frustrated and wondering if you made the right decision in not asking for a service comment form and complaining on it about the poor response to your important questions.

All that being said and done, I'm glad to be enrolled and am looking forward to the start of classes. I trust that my financial aid will come through and I won't be hurting for the late registration in this course. This was actually the first time I have been treated so unhelpfully by anyone in the enrollment services department. I hope it isn't a new trend because, in the past, I've had excellent help that went beyond the call of what was required of them. They've escalated paperwork and called in questions to the appropriate person so that I left, not only knowing what I wanted to know but, having any necessary paperwork completed well in advance. Thank you to all the good and helpful people who work in enrollment services.

Now I sit back and wait for classes to start...next week!

Sliding backwards on the technology curve

A few years ago I was VERY literate in computers. I could do almost anything I needed to or wanted to with my machine. If I didn't know how to do something, I knew how to milk the help files, look it up on the web to find out, and as a last resort I had geek friends. This was during the pre-XP era. Today I find myself on the back side of the technology curve and feel as if I am sliding backwards down it. Changes in connectivity are happening so fast that I am clueless about how some of them work and which choices are good for what. We have a new version of Windows coming soon and I'm not even totally comfortable with the current version yet. I keep asking myself, "Why?"

Part of my backwards slide is, I think, because I never used Windows NT and some of the things that happen in XP are wrapped around the network structure of that OS. It shouldn't be any surprise to me that if I am not network savvy I am not going to be comfortable with where computers, pdas, cell phones and even game consoles are taking us. And I don't want to be a mere user. I want to know how to check and repair the things I use when they break or malfunction. So I am wondering where I can go to get network literate. I'd gladly read a book on the subject. It might even supersede the stack of spiritual reading I have waiting on my bedside table.

If you haven't realized that I use this blog as a thinking tool then you haven't read me enough. It just occurred to me that I could do a Google search using "networks for dummies" as the keywords and I might actually find a page to teach me about them, or a book to read. So I did and sure enough there are quite a few of them out there. Perhaps reading these and getting caught up technically is a good goal or resolution to set for this year. I certainly don't want to go through life not being up on things. And since my dreams of technology include a cutting edge laptop when I get that teaching job and then setting up a wireless network in my new place I guess it is probably one of the more realistic resolutions of all those I've made over the years.

So, 2007, here I come...ready to get connected...or at least learn how!

School's back in session!

The past 3 days have been a lively return to work.. Classrooms are somewhat thinned as some students didn't show back up yet. Some kids are doing the "crazy back in school" thing and driving the teachers batty. So are some of the coworkers.

My schedule should have been normal and pretty similar to what it was before winter break. Instead for the past 2 days one of my coworkers has been absent so my schedule got rapidly rearranged. Remember my job is taking students to different classes and then sticking around to give them support (keeping them on task, pointing them in the right direction, functioning as a walking, talking dictionary and sometimes textbook). Usually I have 1 or 2 students to help. Small brag here...some students seem to prefer my help and have started asking to sit by me or just move to where I am when the need arises. The past couple of days I have been walking back and forth across classrooms keeping 3 students on task. I should have been wearing my step meter because I think I walked about 2 miles doing the classroom management thing. Happily for me the students who would have moved to sit near me just walked up and asked for help while I was moving between the others. You know what? I actually liked being that busy. I felt productive and on top of things. My adrenalin was up and the students were doing just fine. If that is what teaching is going to be like I am going to find times that I am very happy doing the normal thing of helping students do what they should. Yep! Busy is good!

On the college front, I'm in the process of getting permissions for a required course. Because the program I'm in is a post-baccalaureate undergraduate program all my courses are normally undergraduate too. However, the one course I really need prior to student teaching only has one section at night and fills up so quickly that I've missed registering in it for the past two semesters. So I am trying to get all the signatures needed to allow me to take it at the graduate level. There are 3 people who have to sign this paperwork and so far I am 1 down and 2 to go. Normal registration closes on Sunday and late registration starts next Wednesday. So things are getting kind of tight. If worse comes to worse, I may have to take a couple of hours off to go get the signatures needed...especially since getting the dean's requires me to hand deliver the form. Sigh! Pray for me please!

Bits and Pieces...

The duvet set arrived last night. My room is now a nice raspberry red. The comforter is just right for the climate I live in. Cozy and warm but not too much so. So it seems my purchase was a good one.

A friend of mine closed on his first home on Friday. He took me over to see it yesterday after work. Nice house! It will provide a good home for him, and his kids when they visit. He's eager to get moved in and already wants to do things so the place reflect his personality. While discussing this with him and others I learned that Habitat for Humanity has a store where you can buy home fixtures for less than you would pay at most other places. They're called ReStores and we have two here in San Antonio. Now I have to go look! (g)

Yesterday was the first day back at work. The kids were fine. They just had to sit and follow orders when possible. The teachers were getting busy and rethinking lots of strategies as we are headed into TAKS season. TAKS, if you don't know, is the annual "high stakes" tests that every school child has to take to prove that the school is doing its job. Never mind that it doesn't really do this. The teachers still have to teach to it and also teach the student test taking skills.

With the back to work schedule I suddenly have enough to do that when I get home I'm tired and once again want to do nothing but relax and not think hard. When I got so lazy I don't know but I definitely have to do something about the lack of productivity in my after work hours and attitude.

So that's what's new!

Cozy Sleep - Bargain Shopping

It just arrived. I unpacked it with my hopes up. Yes it felt lighter than I thought it should. That might be ok. This is south Texas and our winters don't get that cold. What I'm talking about is the down comforter in the picture on the left. That's the image from the Overstocks.com web site. The comforter doesn't look quite that fluffy yet. It is puffing up though.

The amount spent on this wasn't huge, so I probably don't get the guarantees that come with those several hundred dollar ones. I don't expect the quality either. But for $29 I think this one is decent. Tomorrow or the next day the duvet cover should come. They were the same price as the comforter. Shipping was free. So for just under $60 I have some warmer sleep ahead of me. (g)

Right now my only serious complaint is the preservative smell the comforter has. That should go with exposure to the air. This is my Christmas present to myself. At this point, I'm reasonably pleased and hope to be more so later. Since we are having temperatures in the mid 30's tonight I shall probably enjoy sleeping under this. Sweet dreams!

Photography links update

There's a rearrangement in the sidebar today. The past few days posts had several photography links among them, so I've gathered them into one section. Then I went web surfing.

For surfing I use Stumble Upon, which is a community/review based surfing network. Its toolbar's been installed in my browser for a couple of years now and I like the way it functions. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of good photography sites out there. One got added to my list...Mute. My favorite images seem to be nature photography. I also love good images of people but not commercial ones. Instead, my preference leans to the style that seems to be a character study. They are harder to find. When I get some I'll post them.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year! 2007

It's late. Definitely past midnight! But the wish is sincere. I hope you had a good celebration and are looking forward to a good year.

My evening celebration was a pleasant surprise. When I got the invitation I wasn't sure who I'd see and didn't really know the lady who gave it well. Still I said, "Yes." because she was really nice and managed to make me, a stranger, feel wanted.

What I expected was an evening of needing to follow conversations among people I didn't know well or at all. Instead I arrived and found the house filled with ladies I knew from church and everyone had brought something. It was a total hen gathering. The food was good. So was the conversation which instead of being busy and designed to impress was friendly, sharing and sometimes contemplative. We covered everything from politics to paper dolls. There was a book of the later, for our hostess is a grandmother. One of us came up with the name of the magazine I used to cut them from every month when my grandmother bought it - McCall's.

Did I mention that the food was good? Leave it to women who help hold church gatherings to know how to cook well. I came home with a recipe for a blackeyed pea salad which I will share with my mom. We even had eggnog made from scratch! After dinner was eaten the pets were let into the gathering and we got to cuddle up to two dogs. None of us objected to the animal invasion. Instead we felt like part of the family and thought it appropriate that the pets were there too.

Midnight wasn't noisy with tooting because we were so into our conversation that we missed the turn of the clock. When we did notice, our hostess brought out the party blowers that everyone has tooted since I was a kid and we all had a toast to celebrate the new year.

Then I drove safely home having had nothing alcoholic to drink but having the name of a new drink to look up. One of the ladies talked fondly about something called a Velvet Hammer which is said to contain, brandy, chocolate liqueur, and ice cream topped with nutmeg. Sounds yummy!

At this point it is past 2:00 AM and I have way too much caffeine in my system to go to sleep. Still I am going to take myself to bed and try to finish the book I started this week called Storm Front by Jim Butcher. So Happy New Year all! And to all a Good Night!

Spicey Decadence

Ah, Chocolate! My favorite food! It soothes my soul, calms my spirit, indulges me, takes my mouth on an exotic vacation, and I'd probably wear it if I could.

There's something spiritual about my love of chocolate. So it seems totally appropriate that Body & Soul has a wonderful chocolate recipe on their website. I want to share this recipe with you. Like Emeril, it kicks things up a notch.

Linking to the recipe didn't work. Apparently a login process took place when I clicked on my email. Copy and paste doesn't space quite the way I want but I'm not experienced enough with html to change the table structure. Please forgive the lengthy scroll and Enjoy!

Spiced Hot Dark Chocolate

Serves 4; Prep time: 5 minutes; total time: 10 minutes

By swapping soy milk for regular, you ensure that dark chocolate's antioxidants will be more fully absorbed.

1 quart soy milk 6 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 1/8 teaspoon coarse salt 1. In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients and whisk over medium-low heat until the chocolate has melted completely and the mixture is steaming hot, about 5 minutes. Serve. Per serving: 327 calories; 14 g protein; 17 g fat; 38 g carb; 6 g fiber.

html and speed don't mix

Yesterday as I was finishing a post, I checked the preview and it didn't look right. I had copied and pasted from a web page and along came some html. What was nicely spaced on the website stretched forever on my blog. So I looked at the code and tried to take out the last part of it, erroneously thinking that it was just spacing. That's when I was reminded that html has a beginning and an end and in cutting out the part that looked like spacing I had taken the end. It wouldn't save. Because I was rushed at that point I wasn't thinking clearly so I closed blogger in frustration and gave up. Sigh! Today I am remembering I could have pasted back the cut out part. Oh well, guess I'll have to start again.

Linking to New Worlds

Sometimes I get pulled into a new website by an interesting title. That's why there's a new link on my sidebar today. When going through the Yahoo Picks page I found this story about "the most dangerous roads in the world." So I went to look. It had pictures from all over the world and they are scary enough...I certainly wouldn't want to drive any of these roads.

I was going to just look at the post and then I noticed the cool SciFi links that were on the web page. This page is now beginning to look VERY interesting. So I added the link and hope to spend some time exploring. And that brings me to one of the neat things about blogging. You can find yourself almost anywhere by clicking on interesting links.

A long time ago...on a website far, far away...there was a online SciFi convention at SciFi.com. Being new to the web and loving all things SciFi, I attended from my computer. My friends came over to attend this live online event with me. This would be oh...'95 or '96 (g) One of the cool things they had at that online convention was a pretty good art. The piece of art that wins the novelty award hands down was this picture of nothing but worlds all over this canvas. These worlds were really colorful and came in all sizes. Sometimes they overlapped too. I don't remember the artist or the title of this piece but I kept it bookmarked for a long time. You see, when you clicked on the worlds in this picture you went places. Each and every globe in it was a different link. There were enough of them that you were never sure just where you were going to end up. It was a cool way to surf. And to me blog surfing is kind of like that. You never know what you will find when you connect to something interesting that someone else wrote.

Weeding the bookmarks or Forgotten Treasures

How big is your bookmark collection? How many sub files does it have? Mine is prolific. I'm not sure that's a correct usage of the word, but I suspect that my bookmarks are generating new ones when I am not watching them carefully, which is most of the time.

Today I decided to weed them out and rid myself of ones that were no longer useful or interesting. So far I've gone through two category files. First was the Art file. During that I got to remember who I liked in art. Then I went down to the "Educational and Interesting" file which is a catch all for anything that doesn't generate a file of its own. Its the biggest file. After getting rid of the dead wood I moved a few links into their proper categories.

Hidden away in that file were two more links to decent photography sites so I put them into the Photography file. Those links are: Photo.net and Usefilm.com. These two sites have quite a lot of good photography on them. Both of them seem to focus on the digital camera which is the popular format today if you can afford one and know how to use the software to crop and adjust your pictures to your satisfaction. They have forums and enough informative articles that they can be instructive to the up and coming photographer.

Other rediscovered photography sites were more art galleries than teaching and support pages. Here are a few of those: Sensitive Light, Robert Cable Photography, and Greg Downing Photography. These pages by individual artists are beautiful works of art in and of themselves. I enjoyed exploring them again. About the last one, I used to know a guy named Downing. He married a college friend of mine. This guy isn't him but possibly a brother or relative since he photographs some of the same area we both grew up in. Any way, feel free to explore these sites. I hope you gain as much pleasure from them as I did.

Small additions

There are two new links in my sidebar now. One is a link to the American Photojournalist website. It is there as a gift to a friend who is really into camera work. The other link is to Sacred Space. It is a place where you can go and do daily prayer. Run by a group of Irish Catholic Jesuits, the entire website has a meditative and purposeful feel to it. From it you can go on a virtual retreat or just find a few moments of guided meditation. I hope you'll take the time to check them out.

Images of Christmas

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
A very Merry Christmas to you

Christmas memories are so poignant that there are probably more well remembered songs about them than any other holiday. Every year we make memories of the season and the day to carry on to the next. We create family rituals around it, entire cities celebrate in nationally broadcast parades, all the media is doing shows about how to make it the best ever. And in all of this we find time for quiet contemplation of the meaning of the holiday. We go out of our way to give to others as we do on no other holiday. Everybody has a dream of the perfect Christmas.

The fact that part of this season's tradition, in the ending of one year and the start of the next, arise from old pagan images isn't mentioned often. The idea of a Christmas tree didn't arise from the Christian church but from ancient rituals of the green man and mother earth being honored. Most of the major religions do something to celebrate this time of year. When it all gets added together year after year, and century after century the season builds its own mystique that is self-fulfilling and self-perpetuating. It would take a lot more than a Grinch to kill Christmas.

We all have favorite memories of Christmas and often find ourselves trying to recreate them year after year. Some want a white Christmas. Some want it all sparkling and wrapped brightly under the tree. Family is often involved. One of my favorite memories of Christmas is not so much a memory as a family photograph. The photo shows me and my grandfather sitting close to one another on Christmas day and if you look closely, from the angle of our heads, you can tell that I inherited my grandfather's ears. Until I saw that photo I hated my ears. I'd even thought about having them altered someday. But I love my grandfather and would never think of disrespecting something he gave me. So now that photo and my ears are loved. And that was a gift received long after the holiday when it was taken.

I wish I had a scanned copy of that photo to share with you. It isn't very interesting but it has a lot of sentiment for me. Yesterday I was looking anxiously all over the web for the perfect Christmas photo to put with this post. I didn't find it until today and so this post is being written a day late. Although I will change it for traditions sake, I don't think the date matters so much. You can celebrate Christmas anytime of the year. We don't really know when Christ was born. It is the spirit that counts.

So, in the spirit of the season, here is another of my favorite Christmas poems, a handwritten copy of which was recently sold to a private buyer, who read it to his company at their annual Christmas party. If you are interested you can read the article here.

'Twas the Night before Christmas' Poem

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Amazing Beauty

Have you ever seen something so beautiful in someone that it took your breath away? A friend did that to me today. Two actually. One listened carefully and then thoughtfully provided a light for the path. The other looked, saw, reached out, and loved selflessly. What she saw, God has been trying to show me for some time. I am blown away! Now the path is a journey and I have the heart glimpses of friends for perspective when my own fails. Words can't express what I am feeling.

Today I am loved!

Thank you!

Holy Longing

For the past two Sundays, a class called "Holy Longing" has been going on at church. It has been wrapped around the scripture, "As the deer longs for the water-brooks, So does my soul for you, O God." Psalm 42:2. This beautiful verse talks about the desire of man to know and draw closer to God. And that is what we discussed in class. Our longings, our desires to know Him, what made us on fire to know God, all were shared in that room of church family.

There are a lot of different ways to see God or to be on fire for him. In the last class we listed some of the ways we felt that longing, or what set us on fire. Answers received were, "Wild Joy", "Awareness of life together", "Passing on_____ (to ones children)", "Wholeness", "Connection", "Be the prayer", and on and on. We had the entire board filled with responses by the time we were through.

Some of it was delightfully amusing. One man, happily married for many years, said that to name 3 ways he was set on fire he would have to say his wife's name 3 times. While we were talking he expressed a love of growth through learning more about communion. I felt a connection to that reasoning. My service as a Lay Eucharistic minister is a function of my desire to understand more about the ritual, sacrament and mystery that is Holy Communion.

We then started talking about knowing Jesus and seeing him in our longing. It was brought to mind that Jesus looked at each person with love and knowledge. For some reason that inspired me. I started writing down a poem/prayer. I don't do poetry often but I thought I might share this one because it describes what I hope to see in others as I strive to know Christ. It doesn't really have a title so I am giving it the title that was the question we were answering at the time.

What is the pattern of Jesus Christ?

Learning of others,
a longing to know.

Communion of spirit,
a meeting of soul.

Love reaching out,
heart knowledge grows.

Christ brought to life
in the you that I know.

May the spirit of Christ be with you through this holiday season and all the coming year.

Peace! Hope! and Joy!

Woo Hoo!

What a GREAT way to start a day! Carnival of Hope is up at Rickety Contrivances of Doing Good and one of my posts is in it. Thank you, Susan!

I get such a kick out of being included in Susan's carnival. Part of it is the being included. The other part is that she seems to think my writing is good enough to use. Two of my strongest desires met in one fell swoop. Does everyone that gets included in a blog carnival get the same reaction?

Thanksgiving & Memories of rituals past

How was your Thanksgiving?

It was quiet at my place. Sometimes it's like that when you're single. The brightest spot in the day was when I called and talked to Mom. We spent almost 40 minutes on the phone together. It was one of those good conversations that you really enjoy having. That made it special. It also brought back memories.

Mom brought me up to be an optimist. When I was a child, we always looked for the positive in things. Because she was so optimistic then, we coined the label of being "pollyannas" for ourselves. Life has a way of beating that out of you and these days, when I talk to Mom, she often finds more things to worry about than to be thankful for. She worries because I am worried. I love her and want to be able to share with her the hopes I have, which I of course worry about because I haven't achieved them yet. When that happens, it means she won't sleep well that night and I will have fretted because she worried. Right now part of me is wondering if expressing things positively so that your parents don't worry is part of growing up and cutting the apron strings. The child in me is reluctant to hide anything from my parent but the grownup in me wants to help Mom be happy with my life. I guess it is time to start sacrificing the childhood image for love of my mother.

My Thanksgiving meal was nothing to brag about. I baked some chicken but ended up eating something else because I was hungry by the time it was half cooked. The bright spot in dining came from the cookies I baked. They were chocolate, chocolate chip. Enjoying them with a glass of milk brought back warm memories of afternoon snacks with my mom and grandmother. I managed not to eat them all and can have the chicken today. (g)

The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, cleaning up the kitchen, and watching a little TV. I wrote to and heard back from a few people online. Most notably my friend, Susan, but also others from various places I've lived. One friend sent me a lovely powerpoint about the worth of women. I'll have to figure out who I want to share it with.

When I got into bed I read for a bit. A very short bit as I got drowsy pretty quickly. I have two books open on the spare pillow in my bed (my stash place for books in progress). One of them is Storm Thief by Chris Wooding. That's the one I read last night. The other is Sex With Kings by Eleanor Herman. I'm working my way through each of them a few pages at a time. So there you have it, my Thanksgiving day. Nice and quiet!

Thanksgiving hasn't always been that way. I remember, with fondness, childhood Thanksgivings when the whole family gathered around my grandmother's table. Even my uncle and his family, who lived in another state, would be there. I'd like to say we had friends in, but my family never did that. Friends I have now, from time to time, invite me to dine with them on Thanksgiving and I always appreciate it. I guess the question of why my family never did that is something I should ask my mom. Part of the answer may have to do with the fact that most of our neighbors were comfortably set and didn't need to be invited over. They would drop by on Christmas day sometimes if they had a gift to give but Thanksgiving was a day for family.

The only memory that comes close to those holidays is the day Granddad would go hunting, the opening day of the annual White Wing Season. We always had a family feast that evening. My granddad was a good shot. My sister, Grandmother, and I would go along with him on his outing. Grandmother was there to watch us kids. My sister and I were there to play bird dog for Granddad. His pouch would be full when we went home. The four of us would then sit in the backyard around a huge galvanized washtub plucking the feathers off of all those doves. Grandmother took care of the rest of the cleaning ritual and the family would show up to help with the preparations. My favorite part of the bird was the heart so Grandmother would set that aside as a special treat. When everything was ready we would all sit down at the big table to eat. I still have that dining table and chairs. Grandmother gave them to me as a gift when she decided to move to a nursing home shortly after Granddad died. It holds all the memories of dinners past, sewing lessons, and getting homework done. When I sit at it I feel connected to them in a way that nothing else could match.

Those memories of family gatherings are the spiritual part of the holidays for me. They're what make them special, our family's ritual of being family. Thank God for them and for the hope of being able to recreate those rituals and build memories of my own someday. May all your holidays be so blessed!

The perfect Christmas list

One of my favorite songs is "My Grownup Christmas List" sung by Amy Grant on her "Home for Christmas" album. I can't get you a soundtrack of that but I can send you off to You Tube to hear Kelly Clarkson singing a very acceptable rendition of it. Just click here if you want to hear it. Those lyrics always get to me. I believe what they say so much. Yet every year I want something nice and pretty cool wrapped up under the tree just for me.

What do I want for Christmas? As the title suggests, let's make the perfect list. I'll borrow from the song first.

1. World Peace.
2. No more hunger.
3. No more poverty.
4. A stable economy, world wide. (actually if you have achieved #3 you probably got to #4 along the way)
5. Everyone would have a friend. (so no more loneliness - that would be nice)
6. Everyone would have good health and good medical care if needed.
7. Everyone would be polite to one another. (this might go a long way towards creating #1 and #5)
8. Jobs for everyone and everyone in a job. (again, this might be part of a stable economy)
9. Education for everyone and no illiteracy.
10.Everyone is committed to making their community the best it can be and actively works towards that. (that probably means no more pleading for volunteers, everyone would already be doing that)

Ok...that is the national/global and good will part. I want everyone happy, safe and loved!

Now let's do the presents under the tree part.

11. A cutting edge (so sharp you bleed) state-of-the-art laptop computer. And the wireless network to go with it. The fastest web connection you can get and all the services you would ever want set up and paid for up front. In short be connected! Oh, and lets not forget the peripherals...an all in one printer/fax/scanner/copier. Connections for your phone to it as well as your mp3 player and on top of that the system would never crash or have software or hardware problems.
12. Straight A's on the report card.
13. A years supply of dark chocolate.
14. A down comforter w/ 3 covers in navy, rose and green.
15. A bigger apartment that never has to be cleaned.
16. My Mom in good health again.
17. My sister visiting me for Christmas.
18. My new career as a teacher already started (i.e. I have that first teaching job)
19. My friends are sitting around my living room and we are drinking mulled cider, we all brought food and it was a wonderful feast, and we are singing songs and laughing together.
20. A perfect snow falling outside making the world white for just long enough to enjoy that white Christmas and leaving none of the clean up that goes along with snow. Oh, and a crackling fire in the fireplace!
21. A certificate showing me registered in a really great creative writing course with a really great teacher.

That's the best part of my Christmas wish list. There are other things I could add but I'd rather know what you want for Christmas. What would make the world perfect for you? Go ahead! Wish!

And my wish for you? Peace! Hope! and Joy!

Upgrading the Template

Being the curious person I am, I wondered what I would get if I upgraded the Template that the beta blogger is offering. So I tried it. It went very smoothly and the only thing I lost was the site meter which I then went and reinstalled.

You won't see much of a difference because I kept the same template design I originally chose, Son of Moto. What I got was drag and drop functionality when I want to rearrange my side bar. This is much easier than cutting and pasting things. I haven't explored the options on the add a page element menu but it looks enticing. That was where I went to reinstall the site meter and it was very easy. Then I just dragged the meter to the place I wanted it. Now it is on my side bar instead of the bottom of the page.

Some day I may try out other colors and such. Right now I like it the way it is. (g) There are only a couple of things I would like to add to my blogging tools. One is the ability to underline words in the blog and I don't know how to do that yet. I would also like to be able to put the occasional emoticon on my page. They don't seem terribly popular in blogs but I got so used to using them in email that I miss the ease of smiling at people for expression. If you know how to do either of these things I'd appreciate a pointer or two.

Happy Mid-winter Break!

Ok...maybe just one more quick comment

Yay! Republishing after template changes is gone. The republish buttons didn't appear after publishing the last post. That is good!

Even more interesting to me is how fast the new blogger seems to publish. Has anyone else noticed this? If this is from a software change I'm impressed. If they added on extra memory I'm still impressed. Good job Blogger!

Changing sidebar test plus odd bits

Today I rearranged the side bar just a bit. I wanted to put the blogs I read in a separate section. As my friends, Susan and JSD, assured me it was a simple matter of copying and pasting. After viewing the results in preview I saved the changes. What I then expected to see was a republish blog screen. This didn't happen. Since I am now in the new beta blogger I wondered if this was no longer necessary. Probably the easy thing to do would have been to go over to the help section and do a search. Instead I decided to simply make a post announcing the change and see if the republish didn't show up when I was done. So that's the main purpose for this post.

Little bits of news...My Dad has a birthday coming up this week. He will be 84 on the 25th. My Grandfather would have been celebrating his on Thanksgiving day if he were still alive. My mother's family never did the saving of info so I am slowly gathering the details of what my mom can still remember of my closest grandparents. I don't expect to do a family tree or anything like that. I just want to know and remember all the things I didn't think to learn as a child.

In the schooling category, the semester is almost over. I have one more lesson to do in my practice classroom. We aren't having final exams so the teachers are doing something early. I'm a bit nervous. I have a lot to do this week and some of it is catch up work. This keeps applying the stress and preventing comfortable sleep. It woke me up 3 times last night. Even though I have a cold and really need the rest I should probably close this post and get busy. I think if I don't do at least one or two things today towards my classes I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

Carnival of Hope - very belated notice

The most encouraging blog of the season is, in my not so humble opinion, the Carnival of Hope. It is up in it's third edition over at Rickety Contrivances of Doing Good. Susan chose one of my posts for it. Thank you, Susan!

Reader's Digest does something like this with short blurbs about heroes. It also has some pretty encouraging stories. This magazine has been around since I was a child and I'm dating myself to say that, but it is one of the few magazines I read from cover to cover. Rickety Contrivances affects me the same way, I never miss a post.

Posting in the new blogger

Switching to the new beta blogger was a bit scary until I did it. I had read so many cautions on the blogger knowledge page that it sounded horribly complicated. Then my friend, Susan, did it and I took heart. It really is easy. Susan answered my nervous questions about her experience with the process and was very reassuring. I know how busy she is and yet she always has a kind word or support to give. I love buddy blogging. (g) Thank you, Susan!

After changing over, I tried to comment on another friend's blog. She hasn't changed over to the new beta and it wouldn't let me. Sigh! So I wrote and asked her to change too. I hope she does it soon.

I have a few impolite comments running through my head on systems that force you to change when you aren't ready in order to gain the convenience you once had. It isn't nice. I've seen this in banking services and now in blogger software. Instant messaging doesn't seem to have this problem. I can message anyone I like in YM no matter what version of the software they have. Why can't other companies be as considerate? My bank wants me to change my accounts over to a version that gives me points, kind of like mypoints, instead of earning interest. No way! I like my extra few pennies every month. Why should I give up that for some point system that might not offer me what I really want to get or only at a huge amount of points that I might never reach. Yeah, I'm sometimes resistant to change. I also refuse to buy watches with gimmicks that don't meet any of my needs and I think that cell phones are getting way too complicated. Ok, I'm a scrooge. LOL

A step in the right direction!

When it comes to complicated issues I am lost. This is especially true of political and religious issues. I like my politics clear cut, honed down to the main points, given in an orderly fashion. Additionally, while I am a centrist on most current political issues today I am old enough to be rather conservative about the original ideas behind our country's most famous historical attitudes.

Our country has tried for many years not to get into religious wars. Even though we are a nation of believers in God we don't hold to any one faith. Still for all intents and purposes we can be called a Christian nation. That being said, no matter what the reasons for the War Against Terrorism were, when you listen to people talk about the faith of those who attacked America on 9/11 we begin to sound like we are in a religious war. I don't like that. That kind of war never seems to end. It's scary!

Today, looking over the election results, I find room for hope. There has been another first in our history. A Muslim has been elected to the US Congress. You can read the article here.

This is a good thing. It means that our government will continue to represent us in all our diversity instead of focusing on just the majorities. I don't know how many Muslims there are in the U.S. but there must be quite a few. Being a teacher who is trying to teach kids right from wrong, and not just what I believe in, I find this heartening. It encourages me to research the faith and learn more about it. Because there is separation of church and state I have no idea how many children in my classrooms are Muslim, but I want to make sure that as American citizens they and their beliefs are honored where I teach. Go America! You just stood tall and proud again! You just showed once again that we ARE a great melting pot whose shores welcome everyone and give freedom to all!

...and still more books!

I thought I was finished with buying books for awhile. It seems I was wrong. In the mail today was a shipment from Quality Paperback Bookclub. This shipment was unexpected. They are supposed to send me an email asking me if I want the current selections. I don't remember any email. So today I had two books in my mailbox.

This club sells better quality literature than the stuff you get from browsing the stacks at most bookstores. That's why I joined. These two books will probably fall in line with the quality of the ones I've ordered from them in the past, but since I didn't know what had been sent I went online to check out the order before I opened it and couldn't send it back. The books that I received are: For One More Day by Mitch Albom and The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis.

I know the name of Mitch Albom. I regret to say, I've never read any of his books. They made a movie out of his Tuesdays With Morrie, and The Five People You Meet In Heaven was on the bestseller lists for a really long time. They apparently made a Teleplay out of it too. With all of that to say about his books I have no doubt I will enjoy reading his latest work.

I've never read any of Kathyrn Davis's books either but the description, on QPB's website, was appealing and on the back of the book are reviews by other authors, usually a good sign. One of the praising descriptions is a little intimidating. Mary Gordon describes it as "metaphysically exploratory, psychologically questioning, and full of suspense." She says the book "combines elements that ought to be unmixable." Wow! After reading the first paragraph of this one I can tell that I will probably not put it down for awhile.

Yes, I opened the package.

Books, books and more books!

It's been way too long since I last posted. If you read this blog regularly I apologize and plead heavy classwork and chaotic workplace situations.

This past week books have been brought to my attention. Fate and my own inclinations made this happen. Book stores are dangerous places for me. Getting lost for hours among the stacks isn't productive and can be very expensive. If you are on a date and he isn't into books as much as you are then the date is pretty much over. Since I have been absent from the public library and the bookstores due to my college studies these two fine establishments seem to have missed me. They are reaching out to me, calling me back. I got a letter from Barnes & Noble telling me that Laurell K Hamilton's latest book can be pre-ordered if I wish. I haven't gotten around to that but I fully intend to. I love her work. My good friend, Susan Palwick, has been posting about her 4th book Shelter and I am eagerly looking forward to that one coming out as well. Being a SciFi/Fantasy fan I put myself on a list and now get updates on the writings of J.K. Rowling from Mugglenet monthly posts. Along with all the other Harry Potter fans I am waiting for the 7th and final book. I am also eagerly looking forward to the next Harry Potter movie which won't be out till July 13th.

Those are just the potential books. I have the fortune or misfortune, depending on your take on the matter, to work at a public school whose library, twice annually, holds Scholastic book fairs. This is an event that goes on for about 2 weeks and is prone to empty my pocketbook. Not only do I love good fiction, I like good children's fiction. So on Friday before last I walked into the school office looking for my cooperating teacher and found a book fair going on. My thoughts ran something like, "Oh! I'm early so I can just take a quick peek!" I looked and got hooked. The teacher and I went back together during her conference period. We put books in bags and stuck our names on them for purchase later. I chose 4 because district staff get one free if they buy 3. Over lunch it was learned that we needed to fill a period of class time in the afternoon because a science lab was canceled. I suggested Sudoku and with encouragement from the teacher went, added a book of those to my bag and purchased $35 worth of books.

That should have been enough, but when I showed up this past Friday, with my paycheck freshly deposited, I found the book fair still going on and this time I purchased 6 books. Another $35 towards public education and the support of authors, publishers and anyone else who gets a fraction of the small price I paid for those wonders of story and imagery. I tell myself that these books are for my future classroom, and they will be. But when I shop I tend to do a classroom library "no no" by purchasing books for MY tastes in literature and not those of my future students. I should really be buying a few books for those kids who are only interested in cars, soldiers or sports. Eventually I will do this. Till then, oh well.

What books did I buy this semester? Here's the list. My descriptions don't do them justice. Click on the links to go to Amazon.com and read the publisher's description.
1) Children of the Lamp by P. B. Kerr - this is about two kids who find out that they are descendants of djinn and end up having all kinds of cool powers.
2) Inkspell by Cornelia Funke - this is book 2 in a series about characters from books coming to life and swapping places with someone in the real world. Book 1 was Inkheart.
3) The Living Rain Forest: An Animal Alphabet by Paul Kratter - lovely artwork and educational.
4) It's happy bunny does SUDOKU by Jim Benton and Rafael Sirkis - I can copy these no end for my classroom to work. My students will learn good problem solving skills and logical strategies while having fun.
5) Storm Thief by Chris Wooding - This is by an award winning author. The story includes probability storms which are violent tempests which change whatever they touch. Definitely SciFi.
6) Peter and the Starchatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson - a pirate adventure in which two children are the heroes and go about having all kinds of great adventures while trying to save the world from evil.
7) Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell - an old book still in publication and a Newberry Medal winner.
8) Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles - this book, written in 2005, is a National Book Award finalist.
9) A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray by Ann M. Martin - The back cover proclaims it to be heartrending and hopeful. I liked that it was written from the animal's perspective.
10) Princess Academy by Shannon Hale - a lowland girl goes to school to learn how to be royal in case the Prince wants to marry her. This book is a Newberry Honor book.
11) Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver - the adventures of a 12 year old boy and his wolf-cub companion in a time six thousand years ago. It's a national bestseller.

Each and every one of the above books will be getting in the way of my finishing the other new book I'm reading, Sex With Kings by Eleanor Herman. And I wonder why I never get any textbook reading done. LOL I doubt I will get to them all during Thanksgiving due to college course work that needs to get finished. Looks like I have my Christmas and summer reading list.