Suzanne Calling

Fifteen years ago today, in a tiny church in Maryland, Ed and I stood in front of family and friends and said our vows. We promised to love, honor, and cherish (when he wanted me to say 'obey', ha ha!). We've had an interesting journey throughout our marriage, but I think we've become stronger through time. I definitely got the right guy. I love you, Eddiebear!

My friend Jenn had surgery today, the same one I'm headed for when the semester is over. She's a trouper, even asking me to come hang out with her for a few hours tonight. It was good to spend time just hanging out, and seeing how well she was doing. We talked about how the surgery and recovery was several hours out, and since we talk nearly every day, I'll kind of know what to expect week by week post-op. Sometimes, friends do you a really big favor unintentionally. ;)

Today was my first day of school...as a student, that is. A requirement of my doctoral program is two sections of Statistics. My philosophy of taking classes is to get the tough ones out of the way first, so I put getting done with Statistics my first priority. It's not that Statistics is really hard, in fact, I enjoyed my last go round with it during my undergraduate program. That said, the majority of my classes are three credits, this is four, so logic says it must be tougher. If tonight is any indication, maybe not. The professor was funny, the material made a lot of sense (from my Psych Stats and Tests and Measures courses in my undergrad), and the class is comprised of mostly doctoral students. It was lively and full of laughter. The sign of people who want to learn? We kept the professor over, because we kept asking questions. I'm feeling pretty good about this.

It was the (delayed) first day of school. I spent half my day in front of students, and the other half wearing the tech support hat, with a little bit of admin support, too. This felt very natural, like I'd been doing it forever. The funny part is that my boss was not on our campus today and I knew she had things to tend to, so I went about my own to-do list, figuring we'd catch up at some point. (We were friends for a few years before she approached me to teach, and we chat often.) Apparently, she is not accustomed to this type of behavior. I came home and promptly took a nap (mainly because I didn't sleep much last night from excitement). It hit 7pm and she hadn't heard from me, so she started pinging me on Facebook. I was not at the computer, so she called me and woke me up. It was quite funny how she was asking all about my first day. I later realized because it was the first time in 18 years, she was not there for a first day of school! It was kind o...

The difference between men and women, when presented with a dusty lamp shade.

They canceled the first day of school! What's weird is that I was the one who contacted the local media outlets, because while most of our parents know we follow the county schedule, the new ones may not.

After a solid run of disturbances named after relatives hitting us, meet the first named storm that is coming for us that isn't named for anyone I know. Other than Amalah's adorable son, Ike, I know of no one in real life named Issac, just this bartender. (Thank you, Fark). I expect him to be serving drinks as he passes by-hurricanes for everyone...

I worked 40 hours and I'm not done, figured out the answer to a networking conundrum, met with my major professor, and I met with two other doctoral students and two professors. I'm glad every week won't be this hectic!

The job is supposed to be part time. However, all summer long, my boss would ask every other week "Would you come on board full time?" I said no every time, something that is so hard for me to do when I see a real need. The reality is I'd do it in a second, if it didn't mean my health or schoolwork would suffer. The past two weeks have been exhausting, but exciting. Perhaps it is because I have so much variety, maybe it's due to somehow ending up doing exactly what most people with my degree seek out, or its that I have been drawing from the collective work experiences in my life. More accurately, it probably is all of the above. Once again, when I came in to pinch hit a situation, I was asked to become full time, but this time, I compromised. Whatever I can work that doesn't affect my schoolwork or my neck in a negative way, I will do. For now, that may be more hours. Eventually, it will probably be an extra five (unless there are other things...

Did you ever notice that your inanimate object coordinate their attacks on your bank account for when you're most vulnerable? Like, say, one car breaks down when you've got a month before your first paycheck, almost completely cleans out the account then the other one decides "hey, me too!" This can't be just me, can it? I was looking forward to the fact that, despite being a part time employee, I've got a paycheck coming that is for 80 hours instead of the usual 40 I'll see. Seems the other car had other plans and got a flat on the interstate today. Yeah, the spare is a donut. This means the purchase of two new tires, because you just don't buy one. Minivan tires are NOT cheap, because that would make things simple. These tires need to be replaced ASAP if I plan on driving to Tampa for school this week and next. There goes that most of that first week's pay. Yay

Helping a friend through a difficult path to her chosen career Being the new person at work, but understanding the role to the point that I don't feel like a newbie Making a last minute meal idea, because I'm brain fried, and having the men like it so much that they don't even want to repurpose the leftovers! Getting really good at identifying rogue items installed on a computer without using the anti-virus software Finding out that Chef is taking high school Spanish this year and wants me to help him practice en espanol. Knowing I have a paycheck coming again soon, even if September 7th is too far away for my liking! Getting all five songs right in a genre of music I don't really know when playing SongPop (like Rap, Current Hits or TV Themes...) Getting four songs wrong in one of those categories and Ed comments "who are you and what have you done with my wife?" Being invited to the Ph.D student reception, because it means I really am starting this ...

Chef has come by his warped sense of humor honestly. At random times, he will say "This is Spartaaaaaa", just like Leonidas does in all the 'This is Sparta' memes . Last week, I went to meet a friend for lunch and saw a gym on the way that amused me and I knew Chef would love it. So, in a moving car, I pointed my camera and clicked, not knowing if I'd even get a good picture. However, Sparta will not let photographers down: I don't know about you, but I am quite intimidated by the name and probably would be afraid to work out there. Can you imagine having a personal trainer like Leonidas?

Yeah, I know I usually don't write about chain restaurants. Sometimes, though, I look through Urban Spoon and realize there is nothing at all in the comments about a place, which doesn't inspire the first timer to go check out something good, sooo... I'm a huge fan of the place were I can get a soup and salad, or a light sandwich, places that Ed serves 'chick food'. Whatever he calls them, a chain that can consistently serve good, fresh food will earn my business quicker than a place serving frozen burgers and they take my order through a speaker. Just the way it is, and Crispers, while a chain, turns the idea of chain restaurant on its ear. First off, their parent company is Publix, the top-tier grocery chain based here in Lakeland. They pride themselves on quality, so it's no surprise that Crispers is a well run quick-serve place. If you've never been, this is like Panera or Atlanta Bread Company-but better. While those two chains are known as...

It is likely that if you have school aged kids, they are in need of money. Witness all the fundraisers that kids come home with (yuck!). However, some schools understand that we're tired of trying to sell wrapping paper, magazine subscriptions, and make your own pizza kits-so they ask you to help in other ways. Some of the easy ones that GameTeen's school decided to participate in this year are: Box Tops for Education -Those little pink logos are on many things I buy, even office supplies. If you're a warehouse club shopper, you can hit the motherlode-like the 6 label I found on a box of granola bars I bought last week. Labels for Education -Considering how much GameTeen loves tomato soup, we have tons of Campbell's labels during the school year. My Coke Rewards -Individuals can do this one, but when a school does it, they can get many things for students. GameTeen's school has been using these to get playground equipment and gym items. In the past, they...

My friend Trisha started a 'Hey Girl' meme with a twist, asking us to post ourselves doing mundane things. This has been my week, and next week will be more of the same. Did you know defragging numerous hard drives is one of the seven circles of hell for a Type A personality? You do now!

I met with the neurosurgeon and his resident today. The fact that I had the appointment meant that they'd reviewed my MRIs and found something significant enough to warrant their attention. The good news? The Chiari malformation, diagnosed in 2009, has not changed at all in three years time. Yes, it causes me problems, and those issues *could* be a problem, but the current pain is more likely caused by the compression of C5-6 in my spine. The doctor described what is going on in my neck as 'ugly', and I would say that is a most apt description. That circle in the center of the image is my spinal cord. To the left, the white 'arm' you see is part of the spine, and you should see another one on the right side, hence calling it ugly! However, some of the symptoms I have indicate problems lower in the cervical spine, and they are the reverse of where they should be, so this means I had to get some xrays, need to repeat the lovely EMG and nerve conduction ...

I have a to-do list that I'm going through at work this week. There are about thirty laptops that have a variety of items on them, and it's my job to make sure they all have the same things, for instance: Anti virus software Google Chrome Skype Admin, Teacher and student accounts, with different levels of access a defragged hard drive Along the way, I'm picking up on things that should be on my list, but weren't and vice versa. The thing is, it is slow going. Really slow going. Frustratingly slow going. At least I have my laptop and can work on other things while the laptops are deciding what to do. Defragging hard drives is something that type A personalities should not have on their to-do lists, because it drives us bonkers. On the plus side, it's made me realize that I am fantastic at identifying things that need to be done with our technology and make suggestions, but at the same time, I probably can accomplish about 60% of it myself. There are...

I may have mentioned a few times how my neck has been bothering me for months on end. Maybe just a few. Then again, I've probably done most of my talking about it on Facebook lately. Later this week, I see the neurosurgeon about it. I was passed off by the neurologist, who warned me that the NS may prefer to do the Chiari procedure. Then, when I met with the scheduler, he explained that the NS reviews my chart and may say there is no reason to see me. He wants to see me, ergo, there's a problem. There was a problem in that this had reached pain levels of 8's and up on a regular basis, and I forgot to ask about muscle relaxers or pain medications. (A friend with the exact same diagnosis is on a cocktail of 4 meds right now. Yikes.) So, I turned to the only thing that brought me relief when I was in physical therapy last time the pain was severe: a TENS unit. The TENS has made the muscle pain manageable. Yes, I have had to take medication for it, but now, the...

In the morning, I experience another first. My first day as a teacher. I won't have teachers in my classroom for two weeks, but I have a mile long to-do list, some from my boss, some of my own creation. After a long break from working, it'll be nice to be back, but strange to have a different role. It's really exciting, to be honest.

The cat has the strangest quirk I have ever seen. He LOVES to perch himself on my shoulder. If I'm sitting at my computer and pick him up to hold him, eventually he will wind up like this: This was taken this morning, when he fell asleep there for a solid ten minutes, tiny kitty snores and all. Today, I was out of the house for about six hours. He's been quite spoiled this summer, because I'm his favorite and I've been around an awful lot. (He's in for a rude awakening next week when I return to work.) The men tell me the cat was quite vocal in his displeasure that I was gone, and this is what he did less than a minute after I sat down: We play a game with him, when I hold him and I'm talking with Ed, Ed will make like he's going to take kitty from me. Without fail, this cat climbs up on my shoulder and stays there. You'd think it would hurt, but the only problem is his long claws. He's maybe 6 pounds and the pressure actually feels...

It has been mentioned here before that we have a lot of Disney crap. Yes, I use those two words together, something that many people would not expect out of this Disney fan. However, after getting things moved into assisted living, independent living, nursing home, an estate sale before that and then back here, I've had enough with the quantity of Disney stuff in this house. It has to go. I'm busy eBaying things and got smart and posted on my Facebook wall, since many of my friends are also Disney fans. I linked them to my Smug Mug account pictures of a lot of it. If it saves me the time in listing things, I'm happy-and they're happy they got something they wanted. I'm just hoping that I can chip away at this stuff, little by little and have it gone by the new year. Maybe I'll stop calling it crap when I don't have all this stuff staring me in the face!

Over the years, I've met some wonderfully sweet people online. There are a few who are there for everything-the good, the bad, and the ugly. It goes both ways, because while they've been there for me, I do my best to be there for them. One of the ladies I admire for her strength to put up with the crap life has handed her has been a wonderful cheerleader along my school journey. She asked me for an update on my address last week (she had the old one), and this is what I found waiting for me at the post office today: In the box was a card congratulating me on my graduation. Jozette, you rock! Oh, and these truffles came from the Chocolate Garden in Michigan. One truffle is four bites-and I am totally heading up to Michigan for more. Yum!

Someone on one of the message boards I frequent mentioned Slutty Brownies last month and I tucked the information away. They sounded too good not to try. The name supposedly comes from the fact that they're as easy as, well, you know, a slut. However, me being me, the cookie part ended up being from scratch because those are about as easy when you make them with a good mixer. Layer One is supposed to be a package of chocolate chip cookie mix, prepared according to package directions and spread in the bottom of a 13X9 pan. I made the cookies. Next time, I'm making peanut butter chocolate chip, because that's the way I like it/ Layer Two is supposed to be Oreo-type cookies. The local supermarket chain's version are pretty darn close to the original, even to my picky Oreo taste buds. I am contemplating Nutter Butters next time, but there are no substitutes for those. Layer Three is brownie mix made to the package instructions. Next time, mine will have c...

Many of us go through life heeding Dear Abby's advice that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Just as many of us go through life doing everything we can to stay on the right side of the law. However, there are those who are dishonest and try to prey on those two qualities. Behold, an item I found in today's mail as an example At first quick glance, as I went through the 20 pieces of mail I had, I thought 'great, what does the government want now?', because our taxes were submitted, we don't have anything outstanding and it's too early for a SallieMae notice for my student loans. After looking through the rest of the junk, I took a closer look and realized that hey, this is coming to Jane. Any federal or state agency has the necessary documents to show she died last March, so why get something. Then I noticed several things were off: 1. Her name and address were handwritten. 2. The seal on the top left was not an official govern...

Facebook makes the global community a smaller and smaller place. Around this time last year, one of my friends posted something and I commented, another person commented and then we realized we knew each other from another place. Their link in common was time at Arbitron, but Ken and I had worked together years earlier, and she worked with me here in Florida, but her husband was college friends with Ken. It's not uncommon to see familiar names crop up when you 'friend' a travel writer or fellow blogger, but an everyday person? Not so much. Like one of my college friends has a younger brother who 'dated' my niece in third grade-and this was also discovered on Facebook, when Ang commented on my wall and my niece asked her how she was related to Anthony (she'd seen Ang post on both our walls.) It happened again this weekend. My feed showed me a high school friend commented on her friend Lucinda's post-but two seconds later, the feed showed an onlin...

Today has been relaxing. I usually take a day like this after the semester is done, where I stay in the jammies all day and don't do very much. It's a welcome relief, especially right now with the neck being so problematic. I even took a break from cooking and ordered a pizza (my car is still in the shop.). So, as is the norm lately, I was having a Facebook conversation with my boss. I've been tutoring one of her kids this summer and she broached the subject of preparing her other child for next month's ACTs. While she's definitely got the skill set to do that, she doesn't have the time-and I do. Tomorrow morning, I've got both for a few hours in computer skills and then some one on one time working on some basic ACT study tips. Then we talked about my start date. Officially, my first day of work is the 20th, and I was asked if I'd come a week earlier to get all the technology elements in place. Okay, that I can do, so long as I take the 15t...

Suzanne, you just earned your Master's degree, what are you going to do now? Nap for three hours! After attending graduation, we had an early dinner with friends, but we came home and I think all of us napped for a while! I think I'm trying to pace myself for the next five year marathon. :)

The other day, I was so excited about being admitted to my doctoral program that I left campus without picking up my cap and gown. Oops. I didn't realize this until I was to Plant City. (For the non-locals, 20 miles from campus, 15 miles from home!). As I was really hungry, due to an early morning gym shop prior to that meeting, I decided that I was going to stop for some lunch first. At exit 19 off of I-4, there are several decent restaurants to choose from for lunch. If I hadn't just had a good steak, Outback here now serves lunch, there's Applebees, Carrabba's, Sonny's and a few fast food choices, but as soon as I came off that ramp, I knew which place would be the perfect choice: Buddy Freddy's. Buddy Freddy's is the only one left from a local chain, of southern buffets. The Johnson family started this place, Grandpa Johnson's and Fred's Southern Market, though I think they sold off the Buddy Freddy's about 20 years ago. It's...