Suzanne Calling

The last time I went to the Dali, it was a couple of months before their move to the new location in January, 2011. As Ed had never been, I suggested going there as an anniversary date. It was a nice visit, but I can't share what was inside. Instead, you get to see the outside! And post museum, since we were already in St. Pete, we went for the best wings ever at Biff Burger. It was a great way to spend our anniversary, though I hope we get back over there before the next one.

My friend A told me 'do something different with your nails', but Katie had a plan that I liked, so I have something that is a little different. I LOVE THIS COMBINATION! The pictures do not pick up the iridescence or the fact that they kind of glow in person. I suspect there will be more 'I love your nails' than usual with these!

For the massive work project I mentioned yesterday, we asked students to evaluate a chapter, then complete a 10 question survey. Unfortunately, not one student gave feedback-so I wasn't sure if what I was doing was appropriate for their needs. I did, however, know that using instructional design principles, I was on track. Couple that with cognitive learning theories, it should be a solid piece of instructional content. Today, though, I met with the instructor teaching the class. She seemed to have the same opinion of the chapter I trudged through and loved the three new chapters I had created in the month since we last met. We developed a game plan this semester to ensure student input for modifications and future chapter development. Then she tells me that she attended a conference, one where she brought out her iPad and showed the 7 chapters she had to quite a few other educators. She reported that many other schools were curious and expressed interest in doing the sam...

So, in my job, I look for content to make my iBooks interactive. Sometimes, this means a YouTube video, other times an image, still others, a link to a website that offers scholarly information about a topic covered in the text. Until today, it had been relatively uneventful. But today, I was informed of Internet rule #34 "If it is on the Internet, someone has a fetish for it.". Too late I was educated about this rule AFTER I searched for video content for the chapter. I need mind bleach. Though my friend A knew Internet rule #34 AND had heard of this particular fetish and did not warn me of the possible existence of said fetish. He was rather amused, which resulted in a 45 minute conversation that was mostly hysterical laughing. And if you're wondering what the heck it was, you really don't want to know, other than the fact that it is a medically based one...

As I've said to another friend in the profession, there is nothing that excites me more than helping someone else along their educational path.  Some people get their excitement from performing in front of an audience, others get it from winning at poker or sports.  My thrill is guiding others. Today, a friend in the computer spoke of her fear of not being good enough holding her back from seeking further schooling.  After chatting back and forth, she later told me that she sent an email to the director of the program she is interested in.  While the fear of how the heck to pay for it all is now forefront in the brain, I told her to take one step at a time.  That felt pretty good.  Then, about a half hour later, an IM from the first friend I made when I returned to college.  She double majored, so rather than finishing her undergrad a semester after I did, she just graduated this past May with  a pair of bachelor's degrees.  She is ...

The start of year 5. If tonight's class was any indication, I will enjoy it!

So, as Ed asked, why is a channel that no longer plays videos giving awards for videos? 

I did a lot of stuff today, but hardly any of the things on my 'to do' list.  Then I realized that tomorrow has a big item on the 'to do' list that basically kills getting those other things done tomorrow.  Crap. Well, I do have a nice accrual of vacation days, maybe I'll just take one of those to accomplish what needs to be finished. 

Our favorite Lakeland restaurant is closing. We haz a sad. If you saw my Facebook pictures over the past two years, you'd see about two dozen trips to this lovely gem in downtown Lakeland.  Great food, served by the Paca family-who greeted all who came through the doors as beloved friends. There is a landlord dispute, so they're moving.  I'm hoping the time before we see Mustafa's smiling face is not very long...

I earn a decent amount of vacation time at my job. As tomorrow is payday, my accrual updated this morning-and wow, I haven't had that much vacation time available to me since working for Disney! Of course, the coming year presents a few options. All one really requires is the time off-the rest is already covered. All we need is our passports for that trip, and it will likely occur in November. The other big one though, is a cruise. One that really wouldn't interest the kids, as it is full of prog rock acts. However, for the first time ever, we have two responsible adults that we would feel comfortable leaving the kids with for the five days. So, the question becomes 'is it just Ed going, or will we both?'

My drive to and from work today included views like these:

TLC, in the past hour, has has had commercials for 'Breaking Amish', 'Amish Mafia', and 'Vanilla Ice Goes Amish'. I'm thinking that TLC is not what Weird Al had in mind for an Amish Paradise. http://youtu.be/lOfZLb33uCg

This morning, I awoke the new high schooler and then went back to bed, for my alarm normally goes off an hour past his will this year. Alas, the child was SLEEPING, when I got up when my alarm went off. So there was the mad scramble for him to get ready and for me to do the same This meant I didn't give my pants an extra close scrutiny before leaving. They were hanging in the laundry room, which meant they were clean. Ostensibly. It wasn't until I arrived at work and looked down at my black dress pants that I realized that they looked more cat colored than black. Once at my desk, it took several tape rings to get them decatified. There was a time when I had a black dog, with wiry fur that did not cling to anything. The sad part is that I don't think I could effectively match the cat fur to a pair of pants. He'd shed his slightly darker fur on lighter brown pants, and the lighter cream color on beige pants...

Chef goes back to school in the morning. High school. He picked electives that were surprising, but honestly, are ones that pave the way for him to get a good job fresh out of school. Yes, he's planning on going to college and study sciences, but it doesn't hurt to have skills that can keep him employed part time while going to school. Meanwhile, thanks to GameTeen's former school dragging their heels on getting paperwork to us (and at that, insisting that they mailed them when the postmark says something completely different), he will probably be starting next week. My classes start next Monday as well. Ed will probably enjoy the piece and quiet.

As I left work today, I noticed this minivan ahead of me that had the sliding door behind the driver's door open. It made me wonder how the person could not know it was open or tolerate how unbelievably loud that sound of the air buffeting against the door must be. Let's just say having windows open a crack in a car that's going 50 miles an hour (such as the road we were traveling) would drive me absolutely nuts. That would have been unbearable. Then I pulled closer-and noticed CHAIN LINK FENCE affixed to the back of the driver's seat that went to the other side of the opening where the door normally would be closed, all the better to keep the stuff that was inevitably flying around the inside of this guy's van from flying out. The things people come up with just make me shake my head some days!

There was a time where I didn't care about the pillow I rested on my head upon to sleep. Fluffy was nice, but not an absolute. Heck, I would wait a very long time before replacing pillows that were as flat as a pancake. Did this contribute to my neck problems? Oh, no doubt-but back then, so many things were factors in the problem that the pillow I used wasn't the sole cause. Then I had the surgery. I had a neck that usually didn't hurt too much, but some mornings, I would wake up with a bad twinge. So I figured I should seek an ergonomic pillow of some sort. After all, the point of the surgery was to straighten the vertebrae and knit some new bone. But you usually don't get to test drive pillows. Buy one that's crappy and you're stuck with it. Not exactly what I was going to do when I was working for a pittance teaching wage. A vlogger raved about her Tri-Core pillow and why she liked it, and it sounded like a good option for side sleeper like ...

My cube wall. There are others, but they are elsewhere. And if you're curious, I got them at RedBubble-and LOVE their selection and prices.

During my lunch break, I headed over to the campus bookstore to return a textbook I had rented for the summer semester. The nearby student center normally offers many lunch options, but there appeared to be preparations for a reception for new students later in the day. As such, the food court was closed and everyone was in line for Einstein Bagel, my intended destination. I ordered my Tuna bagel and drink and waited in the throng for them to call out my name to collect my food. Name after name got called, including those who had placed orders after me. Soon, it was down to me and three other people, despite at least ten people ordering behind me. C'est la vie. One of the employees comes with a bag containing a sandwich. "Mulan?" No response. "Mulan?" Looking around and not seeing anyone who has a glimmer of recognition, she looks at the receipt "Tuna bagel with lettuce and onion?" Oh, that's me-I collect my sandwich. Mulan? It is ...

I saw the Neurosurgery ARNP today, and it was like a meeting between colleagues, something I love about the professionals that take good care of me. M and I spent a good bit of time catching up on where I am compared to my last visit. He sent me to radiology for an Xray and it is amazing to see how much better my C-spine looks. The spine is now straight, instead of sloped forward. The screws are firmly in place and the pin that was placed between the vertebrae is clearly seen on the image, which means calcification is happening-I'm making new bone to replace that disc. This is all good. The limbo part is also kind of good. M and I talked a bit about RSD. He has yet to work firsthand with a patient who has it, so we spent a bit of time talking about how mine was caused, how it manifested, that the additional vein stripping added to the leg situation and that for many RSD patients, any surgery is dicey as to whether it will spread. I explained that it was a risk I was ...

I'm actually happy with the outcome, after being initially disappointed with the winnowing down to two. However, I suspect Russell will end up with a show on Cooking Channel, which is probably a better venue for him, anyway. With Paula Deen gone, having Damaris with Modern Southern Cuisine is a good addition.

My relatives are mostly spread out across the NY/NJ metro area, with a few elsewhere in the US. On the rare occasion that I get up to NY, I only tend to see my sister Giggles and her clan, the others are kind of busy or out of the loop. Which is why the last time I saw my niece was when Chef was a newborn and we traveled to NY for the wedding of one of my best friends to one of Ed's good friends. Yeah, so 14 years. A lot can change in that time. Like, the niece could go on to graduate college, work in interior design, launch her own clothing company, get that clothing company featured on a major website and then later get a job with that major website. She's a very driven young lady and through the magic of Facebook, we get to keep in touch, despite the miles. She reconnected about a year ago with a good friend from middle/high school, and they talked, then talked some more and then embarked on a long-distance relationship. Thing is, while she was up in New Jersey, ...

Last month, I took a final for a class and didn't do so hot. When I walked out, I thought I had a solid B on the exam. More like a low C. In a sign of how your mindset changes once you're in a terminal degree program, I thought 'Oh well, so I get a C in the class.' The professor had other plans. Those of us who got C's were offered the opportunity to retake the exam. One of my friends did hers this morning, I did mine this afternoon. As I worked through it the first time, I thought "oh crap, I am going to do worse on this one!", but skipped over things I absolutely did not know. Then I went through a second time and picked up a few more, and as I worked, memories of definitions were jogged, or one question provided one half of a puzzle and another the other half. (What is Cronbach's Alpha", then What is the internal consistency coefficient on this study?) By the third time through, there were only three things that I was totally stumpe...

Today, I had one of the professors come to me to handle a task rapidly. It involved taking the question bank we'd built for him last week and printing it out, because our learning management system truncates the questions on the instructor end to just the first five words. Not a good idea when about 40 questions start 'From this image, please identify..." Of course, me being me, I needed to ensure that it wasn't a simple cut and paste, instead, that all the html code was taken off his copy. (And yes, he could do this himself, but that type of task keeps me employed. Bring them to me, please!) I'd entered 250 of the questions into one question bank, a colleague did the other 200 or so. It was the first time seeing the questions. Many of them involved issues of the wrist and hand. And it's funny that I can look at a question about a woman presenting with carpal tunnel and it asking which nerve to test to confirm this diagnosis-and know the answer. ...

I clearly do not have the luck of the Irish. Two powerball tickets, only ONE number on it. I'm hoping the coworker who went with me to get them had more. At least we grabbed a decent lunch before we went back to work!

For the past five years, Chef has had a dress code. His school at our previous house had uniform colors, but the kids had enough flexibility in both tops and bottoms that he didn't mind it too much. However, while he had choice of pant colors in elementary here, students are required to wear school logo t-shirts. Not only that, his middle school switched to khaki bottoms and color coded by grade t-shirts. From a parent perspective, this is great. For a kid who has a big personality, it is the equivalent of being in one of Dante's circles of hell. Yes, I know that's overdramatic, but to a teen, it is apt. He has been looking forward to high school, where he could wear what he wants. Earlier this year, there were rumblings that the high schools would also move to dress code, and he rejoiced when they did not. Meanwhile, Ed and I noticed that the kid is picky about his clothes, specifically, the bottoms he wears. Sure, I've got his shirts pegged (preferably v...

A few months back, my friend James, who has pretty much spent the past 7 years living on or near the USF campus, asked me to meet him for dinner. He chose McAlister's , a place I was unfamiliar with. That first trip, I had a soup and sandwich combo and was pleased with the service, the food, and the price. Their menu is along the lines of what you'd find at Panera and Crispers, with many more options, including baked potatoes, but less soups. What I didn't know is that it is a chain that can be found throughout the US. Today, I ventured over there because I wanted a salad and maybe a sandwich. Unfortunately, the Panera near campus has the worst parking lot I have ever encountered, so I avoid them for lunch. I've been disappointed that we don't have Crisper's over here, but remembered McAlister's today. I opted for the pick two for 7.49, getting a half angus beef spud and the Savannah chopped salad (removing the gorgonzola). Behold what you ge...

Well, my earlier prediction was way off base, in that neither of the people are still in the race. At that time, it looked like those two had everything that Food Network would want. That changed, and fast. Stacey, while being very polished, came off very rehearsed and reserved. Chad made some missteps for a couple of weeks and ultimately, his product pitch killed his chances. On the other hand, the three that remain continued to grow and improve, taking the criticism to heart. So, right now, there are pilots from Rodney, Damaris, and Russell. I'd be happy with any of the three. If I have to choose one, I think Russell's would be my first pick. We'll find out next Sunday.

Katie thought A Mint of Spring is good as an accent color, not for all ten nails. Meanwhile, I saw matte and thought we could glitter it up. We looked at doing iridescent or sea glass and I agreed that sea glass would look better. I need to get some pictures in daylight to add to this.