Happy Halloween!

Which Jane Austen heroine are you?

No I wasn't surprised.

Hmmm

How many times can I break till I shatter?
Shattered, O.A.R

What I don't want to hear

It is amazing how people think talking or texting in a public restroom is ok. Yes I said Public Restroom. I got to hear all about this person's date who was in the restaurant. All of this blah blah blah was while this young woman was on the can. I was just amazed that she figured the rest of us cared or that she was the only one in the restroom. I hope the guy has enough brains to realize that she will not be the one. While heading to my class the other day, I used the restroom and could hear another young woman banging away on her cell phone sending text messages. If you are going to text in the restroom, at least turn off the sound. Geez!

The "Me" generation needs to rent a clue about manners and protocols because I don't think those of us around you want to hear about your life. We just want some peace while we pee!

To start the week...

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
-- Herm Albright

Oh what a beautiful day!

Giving back

Where I work, there is a person I know who's husband is a pastor at a prison. One of the things he does is give homemade cookies to each prisoner. So today I have spent baking cookies. I made oatmeal and sugar cookies. The house smells wonderful and I made 24 dozen.

It was a good day.

Another one...

The human system

My human system has been in a wonky mood as of late. Today was definitely no exception. Unfortunately it decided that it needed to reboot hard today. Sigh. Dinner, little sleep and computer systems not functioning correctly have been the problem. I think the worst is over...except for the computer system. Thank goodness for chemistry.

At the middle

Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.
-- W. C. Fields (1880 - 1946)

An $1,800.00 Toilet Seat

While looking for something else tonight, I ran across the Kohler C3-200 toilet seat. All I can say is..I want one.

I mean with the water and fan..would you even need toilet paper?

It's decided...

I need a job where I can get a lot of sleep, no pagers/cell phones going off and a few other things...

It's fall...

This year the changing of the leaves just didn't meet my expectations. Two nights below freezing crisp upped the leaves so we didn't see the colorful slide from green...yellow...red. I guess I am just going to have to use my imagination from years past...and that is ok.

Being part of the world.

Today was the "Go Big for Parkinson's". It was a 5K run and a 2K walk to raise awareness of Parkinson's. It was good to give back. Do you?

At last.....

You know when I think of that phrase of just two words, I always think of that wonderful song sung by Etta James. While for me it is about my week...for others it will be for what they need it to be.

If only...

"When there is disaster, two things occur, change and opportunity."
-- Old Chinese Proverb

Unfortunately we don't like change so there goes the opportunity.

Where are my headphones?

When I left for China in May, my headphones were safely on my desk attached to my computer. When I got back, I had one of my student's headphones on my desk and mine were missing. It has been 4 months since I got back and I never did find my headphones. I am still annoyed.
One of my other student's drew this as to where my headphones went. A nice thought but no. Does anyone know where my headphones went?

Human pin cushion

Blood drawn in the morning and a flu shot in the afternoon. For someone who doesn't like needles, this is not fun. But nothing a great evening with friends and wine couldn't fix.

Another Monday

Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.
-- Jonathan Winters

On a chilly autumn day

I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.
-- Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864)

I love watching the leaves change through their hues as the cold winter days approach. I still collect a few aspen leaves to remind me of some things that make me smile.

Nights in Rodanthe

Today my friend Marianne and I saw this movie. Wow! It was amazing. Both my mom and my friend Michele said to take Kleenex and that is all they would say other than you must see it. Both Richard Gere and Diane Lane did an amazing job. I may have to go again. It's a thumbs up.

I am not going to spoil it. So if you go...take your Kleenex.

The weirdest experience

So today I had an MRI of my head. (Yes everything is still there!) You are put in a tube, there is a cage that is placed over your head and you can not move. They gave me ear plugs. Thankfully my friend Ann explained to me the whole procedure because otherwise I would have been a bit freaked. Thanks Ann! The scan seemed to go on and on and on and on. I could feel everything everything from my cells to the molecules in my body. At last it is over and I think whew I am done. Uhhhh....no. They need to do a second scan in contrast. What does this mean? Then I think back to the forms I signed. I get Gadolinium injected into me. Anyone who knows me, knows that me and needles going into my veins is not something I deal with well. I quickly explain to the technician this and attempt to breath through it. The second scan was weirder than the first. I could feel the Gadolinium surging through my arteries and veins. Now the waiting game.

Why can't I sleep?

Oh yeah....tomorrow.

When I say...

So when you here me say "how lovely for you" it just means I went to finishing school so I wouldn't say... "Who...[beep]...cares!"

In being...

It is important to recognize the power of our emotions--and to take responsibility for them by creating a light and positive atmosphere around ourselves. This attitude of joy that we create helps alleviate states of hopelessness, loneliness, and despair. Our relationships with others thus naturally improve, and little by little the whole of society becomes more positive and balanced.
-- Tarthang Tulku

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
-- Buddha

Nobel Prize

I always look forward to the first week of October ever since I was young. This year is no exception. Now is when the Nobel Prizes in Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace and Economics occurs. These prizes open up new subjects to learn about and works that I haven't yet read. Today the Nobel Prize in Medicine went to two French researchers who discovered the human AIDS virus and a German scientist who showed that human papilloma virus causes cervical cancer. Tomorrow it's Physics.

For more information visit http://nobelprize.org/

Universe 1 Me 0

Well the stars are aligning and my path is becoming clearer. It seems the universe is against me. Looks like inevitable will come. Bummer.

A good way to start

You have got to love weekends. A time to step away from the office and hope there are no emergencies for you. Mine started very early this morning. I met my dad and mom at Rock Springs Cafe for breakfast. We met at 8am which meant I had to leave by 6:30am. Yes i do drive 90 minutes for breakfast! But prior to that I made peanut butter cookies for their anniversary. boy was my dad happy. The fun thing about my family is that we are just a goofy lot. My dad and I fought for the check -- he won. Then off to the Anthem outlet stores for a bit of shopping. My dad in Bath and Body Works was hilarious. If I only had a picture. Oh well. Instead it is my memory. I got stuff for my tub, clothes and new shades. What a productive day and a good drive to boot.

How many more days?

I am counting down the days for this election to occur. Why? Because I am sick and tired of it all and that everything is being twisted into a political agenda. On one of the blogs I read the person posted a question concerning giving money to a hungry family and a person with an addiction to crack. I mean on November 5th are we going to magically decide that this isn't about the Democrats and the Republicans but to see we as a populace think? Argh!!! Here is the deal...I am not happy about who has been nominated for both sides. No one's opinion is right and judging people for their opinion and being rude about it tells me a lot. I am not asking for whirled peas. I am just wanting people to be civilized, pull their heads out and think.

Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries. Truth is uniform and narrow; it constantly exists, and does not seem to require so much an active energy, as a passive aptitude of the soul in order to encounter it. But error is endlessly diversified; it has no reality, but is the pure and simple creation of the mind that invents it. In this field the soul has room enough to expand herself, to display all her boundless faculties, and all her beautiful and interesting extravagancies and absurdities.
-- Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), from his report to the King of France on Animal Magnetism, 1784

UPDATE: Well our employees filled the bill with a good bit of pork. Time to fire the lot of them. Here are some of the pieces.

Congratulations!

Dad and Mom,

Happy 43rd Anniversary!

Love, Me!

Did you know?

One of the interesting facts that is now stuck in my head that I learned in China is that their traditional music is based different system than ours. The Chinese system concentrates in a similar way on a seven-tone scale but with a five-tone core (wu sheng) plus two changing (pien) tones. So now you know. :-)