Suzanne Calling

On the TV, there's a piano theme. One of the most recognizable movie themes: Halloween. It begs the question, how many movie themes or songs do you hear and instantly are transported to watching that movie. I may be one of the few people on the planet who has not seen Jaws, but I know the theme well. It came out in 1976, and if my dad dared to take me to the theater to see it that summer, it wouldn't bode well for his Sunday ritual of soaking in the sun at Jones Beach. That wasn't the first theme that was memorable. Once again, a horror movie captured the attention, but that time, I didn't realize it was. Mike Oldfield wrote Tubular Bells, and The Exorcist may have catapulted to the top of the box office because that song was everywhere when the movie came out. Other songs may have extremely strong associations with the movies that contain them, but the horror movie themes? They stay with me. How about you?

You would think, with the amount of studying I do, that I would have a desk to contemplate the workload every day. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I do my studying on the couch. It's not the perfect solution. The leg issues necessitate keeping My Stupid Leg (trademark pending) elevated as much as possible, but it means I'm trying to balance laptop and books on one table. Sitting at a desk before (if I had my own, that is) would not have been comfortable. Now, with the spread of the RSD and post op complications, I didn't think a solution would be feasible. Until the other day. I was out shopping and saw this: Initially, I contemplated it for putting all my school stuff because there is just so much more of it this semester. Then, I thought, "Hey, maybe I could use that to prop up my leg under a desk while I'm studying!" Until someone makes my dream item, a desk that is at the height of a chaise, this might be my work around. I think the next step ...

I'm stalking the postman. Well, post lady, because our carrier is female. Ed's had his W-2 for about 2 weeks, my unemployment W-2 showed up on Monday and now I'm just waiting on the Census. Yes, I'm one of those people who does their taxes as early as possible. Part of the reason is to do my FAFSA early and get whatever grants I can get to come my way, part of it is for verification for Game Teen's Patient Assistance. This year, after the bills are paid off and the tuition is tucked away for the summer classes, we are splurging. Yes, alert the media, we're going to make a major purchase. A new bed. I know, exciting, right? The current bed was purchased when I was expecting Chef and it's no longer comfortable for either one of us. Since I developed RSD, it's impossible for me to get a full night's sleep on it. Ed's final straw was when he cracked his ribs. Lately, it seems like there have been a heck of a lot more commercials on TV for sle...

It was a long academic day, but at the end of it, I am weary and in pain-but the mind is swimming from the scholarly pursuits. So, little bits of this and that are the order for the day. *While waiting for my 8am class to start this morning, I was chatting with a classmate and we agreed that the professor is definitely the type that you want for an 8am class. It was mentioned that Game Teen gets on the bus at 6:00, then I head over to Tampa from Lakeland. Then I was paid a compliment, that he should have figured me for a Poly student by the kind of questions I ask in class. *I realized something today. For the drive between campuses, I dug out my Spanish for Gringoes CDs, but inspiration struck. The spanish textbook publisher has a website that we utilize for listening exercises. If I access that with my phone and plug it in to the car stereo. While those CDs are good, it's much better to practice the exact materials during the drive! *There aren't a lot of food options c...

Before this semester, everyone had the same statement to offer about one of the required classes I am taking: Statistics SUCKS I scoffed at them, because number crunching can be fun. There, I said it-I enjoy calculating probability, percentages and interest rates. The assurances were that once I got involved with the sum of squares, standard deviations, Z scores and statistical significance, I'd change my tune. However, the opposite is happening: I am geeking over the stuff I can now calculate! The homework has required thinking, but it's definitely real world applications we are using. One of the questions involved a fictitious Canadian city and temperatures over 10 years. We made a lot of jokes about the information we were asked to provide ("what would you tell someone who doesn't know statistics? It's damn COLD in Canada on December 26th!") So, we calculated out all our information and the professor asked what all the numbers told us. Blank stares...

Once upon a time, I was well versed in all the wonderful things that you could do with Excel and Word. Creating forms for work? No problem. Making professional looking flyers? Sure thing. Then I bought a laptop with Vista and Office 2007. All the wonderfulness that is Windows XP and Office 2003 was left behind. I think I have griped before about how much I loathe Vista. Today, it is time to bash Office. I'm making frequency graphs and histograms for one of my classes. Once I input field data, if I insert a label, Office removes the data! Oy. I've been playing with this stuff for two hours. It is extremely frustrating, but I need to figure this all out-as four classes will utilize these representations all semester long. Too bad the search feature doesn't bring up hyperlinks that jump to the needed function, as in 2003. I'll get this all figured out-just in time for something else to come along!

Or, second trip to WDW in a week and I'll visit the same park again! The next couple of months, it seems like a lot of friends are making tracks for the Mouse's house. My former boss, Joyce and Tim, a blogging friend, a few YaYa sistahs and more. Today, I went over to meet my friends Liz and Greg. It was great to see them and make our way around the park. What I liked the best was that because they're coming down again in a few months, we enjoyed a relaxed pace today. They suggested doing one of their favorite activities, which I'd never seen before. Over the years, I'd heard about Miyuki, the artisan who crafts beautiful animals out of taffy at the Japan pavillion, but I'd never taken the time to watch her in action. It's one of Greg's favorites, so we hung around waiting for her next show time. It was impressive, and something I need to bring the boys to see. In a couple of minutes, talking the whole time, Miyuki takes a ball of hot candy and t...