Suzanne Calling

I never specifically went to see Davy Jones, but I did get to see him twice. Once, Donna and I were in Manhattan for a taping of the Daily Show when I suggested going to a favorite restaurant for dinner. Alas, O'Neil's Balloon was gone-replaced by Cafe Merlot, but we went into the hotel next door to use the facilities and happened upon some Monkees fan event. We caught a glimpse of Davy and Mickey, then called a friend from a payphone to tell him the Monkees were in the very next room. Then, before we moved down here, Epcot had Davy playing the Flower Power music festival during the Flower and Garden show and we got to hear him playing Monkees favorites as we strolled around the World Showcase. It's hard not to hear a Monkees song and not get caught up in the fun within it, and I think a lot of that was linked to the peppy persona that Davy was. As a kid, my earliest memories usually involve music, and I remember the Monkees appearing on TV-I must have been around 2 or 3...

That Sarah Palin paid a visit to my blog yesterday? Wasilla isn't that big, Sarah is big on being properly coiffed and well, OPI Gelcolor probably would be perfect for a two week long hunting trip in the Alaskan wilderness. Hey, if it is her, she does have good taste in computers and browsers!

Checkng my school email when I was leaving work a little after five, and finding no new messages in my inbox. Then, I pick up GameTeen from school, visit the post office, then the supermarket for some items we really need. I get home almost two hours later-and find that I was supposed to be in an Elluminate session for my class. One the teacher said last week we wouldn't have. Grrrrr!

My original plans were to have this color on my fingers for St. Patty's day, so this manicure was going to be something else. However, the quantity of my USF Bulls green gear I'll be wearing over the next two weeks in support of my beleaguered alma mater, it made sense to go with the green now. I will add more pictures once I charge the Nikon. This is a tricky color. It is such a dark green that it looks like black in most low light situations. It was tough to photograph it in such a way that you can see that it is green. If I want an understated green, this is it. Otherwise, I will probably opt to do the Shellac Iced Coral over Black Pool layering effect again.

Last week, I shot an interview for my Digital Video class of my friend, Jennifer. From that, she had the idea of doing more interviews. I ran with that concept and said we should have a student roundtable, and share the video results with the legislators in Tallahassee. This morning, we spent four hours with eight people around a table talking about their experience and how if USF Polytechnic disappears July 1st and becomes FPU, they may not be able to continue their education, if they have to commute to Tampa, that it will place a huge financial burden on them (hello $4 a gallon gas times 75 mile round trip) and some of the programs offered at Poly aren't currently available on the USF Tampa campus. While I ran around, coordinating three cameras to collect all the statements made, three television film crews recorded it all. In the past hour, I've watched two of those, one from BayNews9 and another from News Channel 8. In each, Jenn spoke up about the issues on the minds ...

The Digital Video class this semester is my 'fun' class, the one I purposely saved until the end because I knew it would be a lot of fun. Even after spending about 25 hours editing that video for this week's assignment, I enjoyed the process. Tomorrow, I will should a student roundtable and possibly more of the Student Voices interviews to post here and on YouTube. The next assignment is due in two weeks. Some people might come off the amount of work we had to do for the first one and freaked. Meanwhile, I have been debating Pulled Pork, pizza, or something else from the grill, because it is a cooking demonstration video. I have a little history with that: Last night, I explained to a classmate that I'd auditioned for NFNS a couple of times and promised to show her the video segment for ideas. She doesn't cook and wasn't sure what to do. At the end of class, I had located the blog post and shared-and she and another classmate thought I'd already finish...

The Florida senate voted 33-6 to break off USF Polytechnic into the state's 12th university, effective July 1st. This, when they cut $400 million from the existing 11 state universities. I weep for those locally who now have no affordable State University campus (it will take a while for the new school to get SACS accreditation) and due to work and family obligations, will have to give up the ability to attend college classes. Ugh...

Well, for now, I get "Video removed by user" messages, which after two hours of uploading, I most definitely did NOT do. Here is a rough cut from one of the two cameras, no effects, of the interview that inspired a bigger project.

The class I TA brings snacks when we meet on campus. Tonight was one of those nights, and it is Fat Tuesday, too. Since we don't meet every week, several students bring something at once. Tonight was awesome, because we had pulled pork, insalata caprese, manchego cheese and the best part-King Cake. When we lived in Maryland, Fastnachts or Paczki to indicate Mardi Gras and the start of Lent, but down here, it's all about finding a bakery with King Cake. I was fully prepared to visit Publix after class to track some down. It was nice to find some at class, so I didn't have a huge one sitting at home. And it was GOOD. Laissez les bon temps roulez!

This semester I have one class I adore, one class that I'll feel much better about once I get caught up and another that just frustrates me. I chose poorly, and this is my semester of electives. Ooops! At least I'm learning how to use industry standard software. I started with this PowerPoint (this is one of 15 pages) Made all the buttons operational, added audio and then imported it into Captivate. Alas, I had to redo the buttons (to the tune of 150 button overlays) and they don't work right. However, the content is on Glaciers, it's for a client who wants to use it with sixth through eight grade students and I pulled my kid to be a 'virtual host'. I'm hoping to bribe him into doing voice over work for me. The go with what I know parts? Using Piaget's stages of development to explain that the targeted age group is still somewhat concrete in thinking, so we should avoid abstraction. To that end, the other thing I know-showing visual representation...

I gave you some musical monstrosities last time, but this time, actors who really CAN sing! Brent Spiner released an album in 1991, Ol' Yellow Eyes is Back, and I worked in a record store when it was released. Alas, I couldn't bring myself to make the purchase after hearing the recently shared William Shatner songs via the internet. Brent, however, covered some standards of the 1940's and does a respectable job. Heck, he even had some backing vocals from Michael Dorn (Worf), Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr. Riker) and LaVar Burton (Giordi LaForge) and the marvelous dulcet tones of Patrick Stewart doing the spoken word portion. It's a Sin to Tell a Lie http://youtu.be/-jexAHF_NpQ In which case, I'll be honest and say that this is enjoyable...

Today, I shot a video interview of a friend for my Digital Video class. In it, I was supposed to ask why she chose USF, what her major is, favorite professor and what makes USF different than other schools she's attended. The interview was with a friend who has been equally passionate about the USF Poly experience, opposed to separating the school from the USF system and well, that was conveyed in this interview. I'm honestly looking forward to editing the piece together Monday night (after I get my sale copy of Premiere Elements, that is). Then she commented "we should do more of these interviews with ALL the students we can rally, post them on your blog and on You Tube! The media's not talking to us, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take matters into our own hands!" I have to admit, it makes a lot of sense. So, it looks like my lighting equipment will get a workout, my video skills at a A/B camera setup will be put to good use and I may have some ...

GameTeen has not attended many birthday parties. One in Maryland, one about five years ago-then two for classmates in the past month. Until this month, I don't think he realized that birthday parties are things that occur with any sort of regularity. So, tonight, we were at odds. He had agreed to go to a party, I RSVPed, he and I shopped for a gift the other night, but he decided he wanted to stay home and play video games, because he didn't want to take a shower or change clothes. I insisted he made a promise, he finally realized I wasn't backing down, and he showered and dressed nice. He went to the party and the birthday girl gave him a hug, ecstatic that he'd shown up (it was a surprise party). Once there, he was quite happy to stick around. When I picked him up at the end of the party, the birthday girl's parents informed me that he was so well mannered. They really do save it up for other people, don't they? I was also told that he said he was havin...

So, Valentine's day. We don't go overboard around here, compared to others. I think a few years of really hard times and family losses put many things into perspective for us. I don't need an expensive gift to know that I'm loved and cherished (even if Ed wanted to use 'Obey' instead of 'Cherish' in our vows). Last week, I ordered See's for the menfolk. A custom box for Ed, so he wouldn't be saddled with a nut chew or something else he doesn't like. Truffles for the boys and a small box for me, because if I'm ordering chocolate from California, I must have some, too. Apparently, this was Ed's plan, too. He knows me-chocolate is always a hit. Instead, he took a drive to a mall 30 miles east, and got me Godiva c.hocolate dipped strawberries. Damn, they're good. Damn, the husband knows me well. He's a keeper. :)

When I got home tonight, after a nice dinner with GameTeen and a friend, I had an agenda: a writing assignment for one class, completing taxes and doing some grading. My internet provider had other plans. It crapped out on me. At first, I thought Mi Manzana was to blame and started running Kaspersky. Then I picked up my iPad and it wasn't accessing the web. Ed wasn't home, so I grabbed his iPad and same deal. My phone told me no internet. So, I shut off the wifi on the phone and hey, surprise, I was getting access. So, intrepid computer skills were put to use. I rebooted my computer-no luck. I went over to the cable modem, unplugged it, then turned it back on-no luck. (It was showing send and receive, though, even though none of the devices were successfully doing either). Next, the router was unplugged and turned back on. No dice. I had to use the phone to call Brighthouse and got a representative who used remote access to tell me the modem was working fine. then he ...

After yesterday's post, it should come as no surprise that the funding cuts proposed by J.D. Alexander extend to all of the University of South Florida system. He wants to cut the entire USF Polytechnic budget, and a total of $136 million from USF, over 58% of the annual operating revenue. Meanwhile, there are other schools in the state that are seeing less than a 5% cut in their allocations. Vendetta, anyone? Yesterday, I submitted the main part of my doctoral application before this news broke. My original plans were to apply to three schools, then I ultimately decided to apply to just USF. My rationale was that because USF doesn't historically hire their own Ph.D's into tenure track professor roles, I should stick around, then move away once I'm done. The advantage to this strategy is that I know this program, the professors know me and are supportive of my ideas-and I have a research population when I get to that point of my studies. It definitely is more appea...

Senator Haridopolos and members of the Florida State Senate I write to you as a USF Tampa graduate student and a USF Polytechnic alumna. Please consider the following in your thoughts as you prepare to vote Wednesday on Senator Alexander's proposal to eliminate USF Polytechnic from the state university system. 1. When I decided to return to school three years ago, the reason I selected USF Polytechnic was because the campus was part of the University of South Florida system. It was important to me to attend a school where classes are taught by Ph.D.s. Poly delivered on this front and more. I attended small classes, where these professors insisted that students participate in topical discussion. The five semesters as a Poly student prepared me well for my next academic journey, seeking a master's degree in Instructional Technology at USF's Tampa campus. If the program I currently attend were available at the Polytechnic campus, I would have remained at the campus. Even...

It's a rare day when I will turn down Mexican food. Fortunately, if I want something more than Taco Bell or Moe's, we have a nice family-run alternative in Lakeland, Tapatios. The decor has some fast food seating that makes me think that it was a Burger King in its previous life, but what comes out of the kitchen now is much more palatable. Ed and I have visited four times now and have been pleased with almost all the traditional favorites we've ordered. For instance, their beef and cheese nacho starter is piled high with taco seasoned beef and topped with shredded queso blanco. It's placed under a salamander and the fresh tortilla chips become slightly brown, the cheese almost completely melts and the family gobbles it up. The queso blanco gives it a nice flavor that sets it apart from nachos served at chain restaurants. Tonight, Chef told us he's getting his own plate next time. We've sampled different basics each time. Game Teen got quesadillas, which ...

An interesting thing has occurred in the last six or so months in that my blog readership has nearly tripled. Once I switched to the pay portions of Feedjit, it was easier to see the trends. You're all here to read about the various soak off gel color nail polishes, aren't you? I end up reviewing a new color every two weeks, and posting pictures. Today, I'm putting all the pictures in one place and will continue to add the colors. This way, those of you who are curious about the nail products have one resource for the palette with links to the related blog post below it. First, the Shellac colors: CND's Shellac, Baroness This was the first color I tried and I blogged at the end of two weeks about the experience. CND's Shellac, Rock Royalty CND's Shellac, Iced Coral and Black Pool to make USF Bulls Green CND's Shellac, Purple Purple CND's Shellac, Masquerade CND's Shellac, Hotski to Tchotchke CND's Shellac, Decadanc...