tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89143840806462065452024-02-02T10:47:11.803-07:00Life is GoodWanna be writer seeks place to vent, practice and shareJeremy [Retro]http://www.blogger.com/profile/09912258155288958827noreply@blogger.comBlogger628125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-52188420108368294852014-08-24T10:58:00.000-06:002014-08-24T10:58:09.952-06:00Moving on... on behalf of Tina DowneyOn behalf of the Downey family, we want to let Tina's friends and followers know that she went to be with the Lord Saturday night, August 23rd. As many of you know, Tina struggled each day with <i>pulmonary hypertension</i> and had been in and out of the hospital all year. She was admitted Tuesday and appeared to be getting better. Saturday evening she took a turn for the worse and doctors discovered she had sepsis. She fought valiantly but when they attempted dialysis, her body gave out.<br />
<br />
We know how much you all meant to her and filled her life with joy every day. We truly appreciate the special way each one of you brought significance and meaning to her life. No arrangements have been made at this time. We will provide updates as details are made known.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Friends and Family of the DowneysUnknownnoreply@blogger.com209tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-46253983247945557742014-08-19T00:00:00.000-06:002014-08-19T00:00:02.676-06:00I Climbed Long's Peak with My Sister the Day I Got Out of the Hospital!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That should have gotten you attention! Impossible feat. However, my Swissie, DID climb it, with her husband and his friend who have done it before. She took me with her, though. Sixteen grueling miles, over boulders and along ledges where you can literally fall to your death. It was a bucket list item for her. I'm very proud of her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It's no secret I love sunflowers, so she took one of my artificial ones from some arrangements I made and brought it with her so I could "go there" too. The irony was not lost on either of us that she was climbing one of the most difficult 14,000+ peaks (we call them 14ers) <i>while</i> I was leaving the hospital in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Here is my amazing sister, at the top. Love you Swissie.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJtjKTP9eLNMCZsRQUG5jUAAbv1ovwqH8tx8zN-qPgxz1A9sAqkgXoKhMmEvFuBopU_jSoDhkwvfEu03mnyfIv6rU3FjVHw0_OovyiVs9g37u63mGg9Jl8LDBaRVNje8UUQ3DWi5WoQ/s1600/sunflower+Long's%2BPeak.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJtjKTP9eLNMCZsRQUG5jUAAbv1ovwqH8tx8zN-qPgxz1A9sAqkgXoKhMmEvFuBopU_jSoDhkwvfEu03mnyfIv6rU3FjVHw0_OovyiVs9g37u63mGg9Jl8LDBaRVNje8UUQ3DWi5WoQ/s1600/sunflower+Long's%2BPeak.JPG" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">~Tina, who has climbed a 14er, but not this one...I don't have a death wish, I'm afraid of heights, and well, I'm not exactly in the best shape of my life...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">Photo credit: one of her co-horts, don't know which one, but probably her husband</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">P.S Yes, I'm sorta back. Posting will be random, I'll return comments as I have the energy, and I've missed you all very much. Thanks for sticking around!</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-91061199476875109622014-08-13T08:45:00.000-06:002014-08-13T08:45:24.712-06:00College Life: Episode 9: Snorkeling, College Style<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>For
the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days
at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for
previous episodes.</i></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">(Mom and Dad,
another post to read at your own risk of bursting the bubble of whom
you though I was in college...)</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">The
Cheerleader, our suite mate, taught Mary Jo and me to snorkel one
Saturday, right before a football game. (There are links below to
previous episodes if you want to get caught up and you don't even
need to wait for the whole season to be released on Netflix!) It was
the only time I ever went snorkeling of this particular nature.
Snorkeling on Kauai is much more fun and so much better for your
liver...</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">First,
you need the right glass. I considered drawing a picture and
thought, “Hey, you could totally find one online! That way if
anyone reading this is inclined to get completely drunk in about 10
minutes, then they <a href="http://www.quaffer.com/" target="_blank">can order one here</a>!” Back then, kids,
the internet was called going to the library and yeah, you could so
not get a snorkeling glass there.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiURSA0Iy4mLO0-2iOdJulJTaFqXbEPwCv0VI4y7RNaV7jYFrV9EoqIBq84MlRgwUJLsv7PoG9ocv_3hyphenhyphenFq0WIcN7Iw4lHY16YMhGDvW0d77_3EDabzlm_AAPmjn3ra74X79HbmVSfipA/s1600/snorkel+with+markings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiURSA0Iy4mLO0-2iOdJulJTaFqXbEPwCv0VI4y7RNaV7jYFrV9EoqIBq84MlRgwUJLsv7PoG9ocv_3hyphenhyphenFq0WIcN7Iw4lHY16YMhGDvW0d77_3EDabzlm_AAPmjn3ra74X79HbmVSfipA/s1600/snorkel+with+markings.jpg" /></a></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">The
football game was at noon, and she had talked for DAYS about how her
friend had finally followed through on a two year old promise - getting Tara her
own snorkel glass. We had to learn, and now, because then we would
be able to watch the game buzzed. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We were 18, drinking age 21 for
anything except 3.2% (by weight) beer. It was about 10:30 am, and as
one of the cheerleaders, she only had a few minutes to teach us
before she had to report for warm-ups.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Let me share how this special glass is used.
Pretend you are making a mixed drink. Pour the non-alcoholic part in
the bottom of the glass, then pour the alcohol at the top of the
glass. It floats, and they don't mix. I was going to look up density
and all that science stuff but <i>you</i> can if you want to know why, but
you can see in the picture how they're separate. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">The
idea then is to drink the whole glass like your chugging a small
soda. You don't taste the rum going down, and then you're just
drinking pepsi. Turns out that I did it perfectly my fist time. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Mary Jo had many more problems, because if you don't drink the whole
thing all at once, it does combine and then you DO have a mixed drink
which inexperienced drinkers can't just chug. It took her a long
time to finish her 1<sup>st</sup> drink, which we made her pour into
something else if she was going to take so long.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We
needed that glass back! So I, the very inexperienced drinker
snorkeled three time. Tara four. I don't know why
she thought this was wise considering what I'd already watched her do
during games. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I don't know why I found it wise to drink so early in
the morning. Three drinks in ten or so minutes is a lot for anyone.
Let's call it peer pressure. Then I'll admit that I have free will
and did this to myself, and went and lay on my bed for a while.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">My
study buddy/Rocky Horror friends came to pick me up for the game (I
was asleep) and asked me why I was so drunk. I said snorkeling.
They said, “So have you learned your lesson?” I assured them I
had. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">They took me, fed me, and said “There there” when I began
to sober up and start to feel... not so normal...They made sure I got to my
room, where I promptly went to bed, having no idea if Tara fell off
the top of the pyramid, could still stand on the guys hands, or do
her back-handsprings.and no idea where MJ (Mary Jo) was. At least I wasn't
locked out of my room.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Next
time I snorkeled was in 1996, in Kauia, no alcohol involved.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbZUOA2vtxnUvxBZNGfOvz9cxr6tw7mNrmK9anRWjXP4lN8GyoHWoee_5bC17tc3ywG2DcpgHL8vi6Ziy7WngBrTA_itP0giTooE8zEClv8vFDVbZRkCBDuylJQsgGtwXRFZubwlOoQ/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbZUOA2vtxnUvxBZNGfOvz9cxr6tw7mNrmK9anRWjXP4lN8GyoHWoee_5bC17tc3ywG2DcpgHL8vi6Ziy7WngBrTA_itP0giTooE8zEClv8vFDVbZRkCBDuylJQsgGtwXRFZubwlOoQ/s1600/photo.JPG" /></a></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">~Tina,
who learned a lesson the <i>first</i> time for probably the <i>only</i>
time in my life...</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright', serif;">2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><a href="http://www.quaffer.com/" target="_blank">Photo credits</a> snorkel glass</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">Real snorkeling, Swissie or Windex, not sure who took it. That's me at the top of the picture ;-) with the Engineer.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-new-series-episode-1.html" style="font-size: large;">Episode 1: Roommates</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-episode-2-youve-got-to.html">Episode 2: You've Got To</a></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-3-cheerleader-and.html" target="_blank">Episode 3: The Cheerleader and the Boyfriends</a></span></span><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-4-study-buddies.html" target="_blank">Episode 4: Study Buddies</a></div>
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-5-physics-prank.html" target="_blank">Episode 5: A Physics Prank</a><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-6-marvelous-marble.html" target="_blank">Episode 6: Marvelous Marble</a><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/07/college-life-episode-7-i-dont-hate-my.html">Episode 7: I Don't Hate My Laptop Quite as Much</a><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/07/college-life-episode-8-my-days-as-rocky.html" target="_blank">Episode 8: My Days as a Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-18620940939882092342014-08-06T09:05:00.001-06:002014-08-06T09:05:37.751-06:00IWSG: Paranoid Lunatic at the Keyboard...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IbErnJVhybvVYZ7ufL73h8Jy7dFB51IFGZ4fy9yOCPxyk3aNMgxxYLx-QYQgD8XZLqiA42y8CGKF1MP-1epFGhKlQaLwYJQw7ZmnvavShYV2j3wpKlE2CSJFe5c1VcElTLuJQyDDSQ/s1600/IWSG+badge+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IbErnJVhybvVYZ7ufL73h8Jy7dFB51IFGZ4fy9yOCPxyk3aNMgxxYLx-QYQgD8XZLqiA42y8CGKF1MP-1epFGhKlQaLwYJQw7ZmnvavShYV2j3wpKlE2CSJFe5c1VcElTLuJQyDDSQ/s1600/IWSG+badge+2.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For quite a few months I've been writing some encouraging posts, but not this week. I'm the insecurest (yes, I made up that word, I get to because I'm a writer) I've been in a long time.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Those of you who follow me know that I'm on an indefinite break from blogging because I was in the hospital for pneumonia for 15 days. It's a very, very slow recovery. I post when I have some energy. It's totally random when.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm afraid that all my readers will leave and won't notice when I'm back and that five years of building my blog audience will have to be rebooted. I'm probably too vain to be so excited about what I've done here...but the friends I've made are priceless, and I know they'll be with me, but I had so many new, really loyal readers...</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Done whining now. Thanks for listening.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">~Tina, slowly recovering, and not really so good at slow...</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/">Alex “Ninja Captain” Cavanaugh</a> is our leader for this wonderful, supportive group. Don't forget we even have our <a href="http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/">own website</a> now. </span></span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: large;">Be sure to check it out if you haven't already, and "like" our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/IWSG13/">facebook</a> </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">page, too. I'm so impressed with what these talented folks are doing to promote this group! Encouragement month long is now just a click away! </span></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-33618809969173249882014-07-29T13:30:00.001-06:002014-07-29T13:30:46.608-06:00Just a Quick Update<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Hi!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I'm
alive, and getting well. I've told you about skinny dipping, how I
fell down the stairs at The National Theater, and even how I almost
died trying to relieve myself (it's in the “about me” section
above.) Might as well tell you his, too. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I
spent 15 days in the hospital with pneumonia. Took them a while to
figure it out. It was awful. Nice nurses and CNA's took great care
of me, and I really like the infectious disease specialist they had
to call in.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I'm
bouncing back, but it will still be a while until I'm back to
blogging. Just thought you might like an update. Thanks for
visiting today. I miss this world.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">~Tina</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-83173052622876761232014-07-09T00:00:00.000-06:002014-07-09T00:00:05.824-06:00Breakfast Club Comes to Mind...<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4kGV1-efddo" width="459"></iframe><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm going on a little blogging break. I'm in the hospital. It's for my asthma and its many complications. I don't know how long I'll be here, I don't know how much energy I'll have.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some days I may post something, but instead of what used to be a M-W-F blog, then as you saw became a random blog, will now be an even more random blog.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I just don't know what's going to happen to me next. I have to take it one day at a time. For Schedule Woman not be able to schedule? Torturous...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I, in my vanity and selfishness don't want to do this. Stupid thoughts run through my head:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"You worked really hard to return almost all of the A-Z comments and got a lot of new readers and they're sticking around and you're going to lose them."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"If you're writing sporadically, only those who use feeders will know when you post."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then reason and sanity sorta return and say to me, "It's a blog. Or it's your health. Choose." So at this time, I'm focusing on my health.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">~Tina, who chose that opening song for obvious reasons...I'm a hopeless attention seeker and don't want you to go away...sigh. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">P.S Email returns will be hopelessly late...but <i>that</i> you've probably gotten used to already ;-)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-44664313147814208052014-07-07T00:00:00.000-06:002014-07-07T00:00:00.437-06:00College Life: Episode 8: My Days as a Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">For the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for previous episodes.</i><br />
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><br /></i>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwSlk9F-gQGNrIoxY-mpewpblC8rbDtExhcePxVnay8Stx3jQYdf8Mo__TGrna-BNFdSI2a_SP4t6AEeNtUc54AMhcnl4vD06tDX4_wMoKH6QSlsv4eCGrTqSpw3sRsnHHHCQ68QNwEA/s1600/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwSlk9F-gQGNrIoxY-mpewpblC8rbDtExhcePxVnay8Stx3jQYdf8Mo__TGrna-BNFdSI2a_SP4t6AEeNtUc54AMhcnl4vD06tDX4_wMoKH6QSlsv4eCGrTqSpw3sRsnHHHCQ68QNwEA/s1600/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><br /></i>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">(So Mom and Dad, remember how I've referred to antics in college that started me down a path that perhaps wasn't so good for me? This is one of those stories. So I'm thinking you might not want to read this one...just saying. Your choice.)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I don't know if college students still observe this cultish ritual, but according to Wikipedia, the tradition is alive and doing well. They just didn't mention what age group still goes to the movies at midnight, shouts at the screen, throws rice and toast and other things that I'm sure theater employees enjoy cleaning up. I used to be one of those college students.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I don't really remember how it all started, but one Saturday night my physics study group (remember those great guys who tutored me? link below if you don't) invited me to some movie called the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I asked them what it was about. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Well it's like a horror musical, satire, comedy, farce, sci-fi but quite rated R sorta movie. It's hysterical and the audience dresses up and participates. There's nothing like it. You really have to see it to understand." I went. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Their's was a pretty good description. At first I was appalled at some of what I was seeing, but I was also laughing, and the songs were absolutely hysterical, and the movie didn't even try to take itself seriously, and it was a mighty good time. My stomach muscles were sore the next day from laughing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We of course weren't REAL fans yet. We didn't bring anything to throw. We didn't dress up. We did make it a regular Saturday night event, though. It didn't take us long to catch on to what we needed. I don't remember it all, but there's a wedding scene with a toast to the bride and groom where we all throw toast. (Yes, you do get hit with the toast coming from behind you. Most are kind enough not to butter it.) You also throw rice at the departing couple. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I remember rolls of toilet paper are tossed at some point - takes practice to make the roll un-roll as you throw it, but I knew how to do that from tp-ing people's trees (um, yeah, Mom and Dad, if you're reading, I did that too...but he deserved it). You also throw hot dogs (my memory isn't good enough for where that one comes in) nor the squirt guns, but it does rain a lot, and there's an umbrella scene...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As we got better and better at this, we connected with the group of friends of one of the study buddies. They were practically professionals. One of them was one of the live actors who stood in front of the screen and acted out the movie along with the actors, at THE theater in downtown Denver. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We started making pilgrimages. We met some very interesting people and their interesting friends...and so on and so on.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Have you seen it? Did you become a fan? Have you thrown toast in a movie theater? (See even that part would offend my poor mother, waste of food AND littering AND bad manners...AND not cleaning it up...she really did raise me right...doesn't mean I always obeyed...)</span></div>
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><br /></i>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">Photo Credit:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show"> Movie Poster</a></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-new-series-episode-1.html" style="font-size: large;">Episode 1: Roommates</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-episode-2-youve-got-to.html">Episode 2: You've Got To</a></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-3-cheerleader-and.html" target="_blank">Episode 3: The Cheerleader and the Boyfriends</a></span></span><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-4-study-buddies.html" target="_blank">Episode 4: Study Buddies</a></div>
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-5-physics-prank.html" target="_blank">Episode 5: A Physics Prank</a><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-6-marvelous-marble.html" target="_blank">Episode 6: Marvelous Marble</a><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/07/college-life-episode-7-i-dont-hate-my.html">Episode 7: I Don't Hate My Laptop Quite as Much</a><br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-33745958654586534752014-07-02T00:00:00.001-06:002014-07-06T15:25:51.844-06:00College Life: Episode 7: I Don't Hate My Laptop Quite As Much<div align="JUSTIFY">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">For the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for previous episodes.</i><br />
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><br /></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"The procrastinators' club has decided to meet another day". That sign on the door of the meeting room is a classic joke. When I was in college though, I was the anti-procrastinator. If the assignment wasn't done at least a week ahead of time, I was in a panic.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There was a reason for this, though. (I'm not <i>completely</i> crazy.) I was taking a programming class (Pascal) and there was one computer lab our class was allowed to use, and it was ridiculously packed with desperate students the week before a program was due. That was SO not going to be me.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Some of you who AREN'T of the certain age I am might not know what I'm talking about, sitting there reading this on your laptop. We worked with a mainframe computer (not that we ever saw it).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_ZJgqUnaPx2rZxERP4XBzA73OzpLc8c2ugV-dqVv9NBzm4v989q15AF1mkyvx1hwpKGjAmElOi7PAty1CEjuY592VtY9cB__UvK5ynr7XZ8bOuDYzT4hLPpj54SvUgGpQyzunGepwA/s1600/main+frame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_ZJgqUnaPx2rZxERP4XBzA73OzpLc8c2ugV-dqVv9NBzm4v989q15AF1mkyvx1hwpKGjAmElOi7PAty1CEjuY592VtY9cB__UvK5ynr7XZ8bOuDYzT4hLPpj54SvUgGpQyzunGepwA/s1600/main+frame.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">at terminals</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAyx65C05sbnti8iu2AdbEHeJhS1uvw0RJ0OOXoV3b0L73x0DO-e34AwH-ec6jF-zYG679OhQhMj3NC4nPavRx-tHfiyauVnQhhv8Fk_smy756MkIBSkl9-C3e2tsLMfr-qPAiOAEkmg/s1600/terminal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAyx65C05sbnti8iu2AdbEHeJhS1uvw0RJ0OOXoV3b0L73x0DO-e34AwH-ec6jF-zYG679OhQhMj3NC4nPavRx-tHfiyauVnQhhv8Fk_smy756MkIBSkl9-C3e2tsLMfr-qPAiOAEkmg/s1600/terminal.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">We had to enter our entire program, then print it out on a giant dot-matrix printer (which everyone in the room was using), go find our portion of the long, continuous feed and carefully tear it off, and THEN we could see if our program had worked, was nice and tidy and produced the required answer. Or, as was the case in 9/10 of my tries, full of error messages.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">That meant either stand in line for another chance at the terminal, or go stand in line for help from one of the teaching assistants. Get help. THEN go stand in line for a terminal and pray that you understood what Sheldon so condescendingly told you and could fix your work. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">Eventually I'd figure it out, get it done, and it waited in my binder be turned in. Meanwhile, I got to listen to the horror stories from my classmates who'd been at the lab on the last night until 3am. Not me. The only time I'd be up that late was for the Rocky Horror Picture Show...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">I think back to that now, and how frustrating that was, (not Rocky, the programming, and of course I'm going to tell you about my Rocky adventures) and it makes me not quite as irritated with my W8.1 laptop. After all, I don't have to share. I can take it anywhere. My printer is only shared with three other people. Also, I don't have to write computer programs anymore. I'm grateful for that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">~Tina, who also had to take BASIC, Fortran, and TAUGHT two semesters of BASIC to 7th graders...that was almost as much fun as taking Pascal...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright', serif;">2014 All Rights Reserved</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright', serif;">Photo credit: <a href="https://www.card.iastate.edu/about/slideshow/?i=6&auto=true" target="_blank">main frame</a></span><br />
Photo credit: <a href="http://maa.cam.ac.uk/assemblingbodies/exhibition/measurement/instruments/515/" target="_blank">terminal</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><br /></span></span></span>
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-new-series-episode-1.html" style="font-size: large;">Episode 1: Rommmates</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-episode-2-youve-got-to.html">Episode 2: You've Got To</a></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-3-cheerleader-and.html" target="_blank">Episode 3: The Cheerleader and the Boyfriends</a></span></span><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-4-study-buddies.html" target="_blank">Episode 4: Study Buddies</a></div>
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-5-physics-prank.html" target="_blank">Episode 5: A Physics Pran</a><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-6-marvelous-marble.html" target="_blank">Episode 6: Marvelous Marble</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-57923574623459821932014-06-30T09:14:00.000-06:002014-06-30T12:41:05.612-06:00Doldrums HIt Your Blog? Ideas For You!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today I'm at the <span id="goog_532213579"></span><a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2014/06/summer-doldrums-hit-your-blog-heres-idea.html" target="_blank">A-Z Challenge Blog</a>! I'm sharing some ideas for what to do if your blog has hit a place with no wind in the sails...come on over!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">~Tina, whom you might have noticed was rather absent last week. No wind. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">P.S College Life will be here Wednesday. We'll be talking about the world before personal computers...which is almost as much fun as sharing clothes with your roommate.</span><br />
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-14296843435795032302014-06-26T00:00:00.000-06:002014-06-26T00:00:03.606-06:00Hilary Melton-Butcher: Great Ocean Coast Road, south Australia …<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>I've got a treat for you today. Today's guest hardly needs an introduction here, most of you know my fellow history buff from across the pond, Hilary. She's has agreed to not only guest here today, but is also guesting </i></span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">at the<a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/" target="_blank"> A-Z Challenge Blog</a>. These topics</i><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> are linked. Don't miss the other one. It's about dragons...</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>Great
Ocean Coast Road, south Australia …</u></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTFFAnJUkwRfeOFqzZ0mYyQ_ifjCp-r387OLAXMeP1IBcMyrfbW9MYwOzjy81eh1pyaEGu9Fz2N8ajOT8UNGBnAU10oMzS8AOKnm8-wFt41VJxoJWWMn5G2_xQM9Z-4bHjtPdqvg0yGw/s1600/0+Tina+Great_ocean_road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTFFAnJUkwRfeOFqzZ0mYyQ_ifjCp-r387OLAXMeP1IBcMyrfbW9MYwOzjy81eh1pyaEGu9Fz2N8ajOT8UNGBnAU10oMzS8AOKnm8-wFt41VJxoJWWMn5G2_xQM9Z-4bHjtPdqvg0yGw/s1600/0+Tina+Great_ocean_road.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: start;">"Great Ocean Road carved from the bare rock" </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Art,
Science, ‘</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Down
Under’</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
and bloggers … Tina of Life is Good asked if I’d do a guest post
for the A-Z blog and as a guest blogger on her blog … theoretically
these might have been on Vikings (these will follow) – but as is
the way with my eclectic brain I’ve settled on the Great Ocean
Road, south Australia and the Weedy Seadragon.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
expect many of you will have seen or heard of the BBC tv programmes
‘Coast’, where Neil Oliver, archaeologist, historian, author and
broadcaster, tells us about Britain and Europe … </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
… <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">he
has now moved to Australia (well perhaps he’s travelled there for
the programmes!) – this is where these two ideas stemmed from.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
Great Ocean Road ties in with the Great War: the First World War,
which I will be writing about, but I have just posted an A-Z on the
recent D-Day commemorative events for World War II.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVqGURWSFcCbFr3J3Qz_KiqfJMj-7Q3aQRwSVxgyfwsWOKRveFTou_CzUTS_9FdHFhT9ecNLid0OiobgnLCQ6uQhMBnqgTx8F72JObi5Y4qvR87xs-MxAkobt7COERrvpDCatNBea8Bg/s1600/0+Tina+-Hitchcock+Memorial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVqGURWSFcCbFr3J3Qz_KiqfJMj-7Q3aQRwSVxgyfwsWOKRveFTou_CzUTS_9FdHFhT9ecNLid0OiobgnLCQ6uQhMBnqgTx8F72JObi5Y4qvR87xs-MxAkobt7COERrvpDCatNBea8Bg/s1600/0+Tina+-Hitchcock+Memorial.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">"The Hitchcock Memorial at Defiance Point - in the 1920s"</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One
thinks about the armed forces and their lives after having spent four
or more years at War, probably in another country fighting for our
and their own freedom, seeing their comrades fall, be injured or as
most would be desperate to be home with their loved ones.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">400,000
Australians enlisted for World War I, with appallingly 60,000 paying
the ultimate sacrifice … however the work to which some returned to
simply cannot have been any better, and may have been worse … I
don’t know – I don’t like to think about either much …
hanging off a cliff, or fighting in the War …</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
… <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">less
than 10 months after War finished, three thousand servicemen went to
work on the construction of the new coast road … hewn from the
cliff face using explosives, pick and shovel, wheel barrows and some
small machinery.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Anecdotal
evidence suggested that </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>the
workers would rest detonators on their knees during travel, as it was
the softest ride</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">?!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">They
were paid 10 shillings and sixpence for eight hours work a day, also
working half-day on Saturday. They had tents for accommodation, a
mess tent for meals with food costing ten shillings a week?!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">They
did have access to a piano, gramophone and records presumably, games,
newspapers and magazines … and when in 1924 the steamboat, Casino,
was forced to jettison 500 barrels of beer and 120 cases of spirits </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>–
there was an unscheduled two-week long drinking break</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Howard
Hitchcock, mayor of Geelong, wanted to create the road as a Memorial
to the Servicemen killed during World War 1 … the road is the
world’s largest war memorial … and in building it – it would
open up a fairly inaccessible part of south-eastern Australia.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
route winds 243 kilometres (151 miles) wending its way through
varying terrain, incredible scenery and past several prominent
landmarks, including the Twelve Apostles limestone stack formations …
the road is now an important tourist attraction.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLs-N5e_jAEtaufaokvE0bXy4sE89P-wowYzfMW3fjMpmMfaocyYdQVP3p2uiyg4-OkeE9orLEPZ5Ksho8i6uJ2ITiGe5j-Zp4bwsmn7HCLVuya1pCI676y5ZjWOUoZl4W32i_-0F57Q/s1600/0+Tina+Sea+Stacks+called+the_twelve_apostles_Victoria_Australia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLs-N5e_jAEtaufaokvE0bXy4sE89P-wowYzfMW3fjMpmMfaocyYdQVP3p2uiyg4-OkeE9orLEPZ5Ksho8i6uJ2ITiGe5j-Zp4bwsmn7HCLVuya1pCI676y5ZjWOUoZl4W32i_-0F57Q/s1600/0+Tina+Sea+Stacks+called+the_twelve_apostles_Victoria_Australia.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"> "The limestone stacks, known as The Twelve Apostles"</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Also
seeing this part of the programme reminded me about my recent Aspects
of the British Coast, that I wrote about in this year’s A-Z
Challenge … where sea stacks were meant to be mentioned in greater
detail – but ended up with a brief mention under my W post – </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>the
wind erodes</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
… these Australian stacks put my ‘weedy’ post into perspective!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
Australian coast looks just beautiful and that road trip, carved out
of raw cliffs nearly 100 years ago, is a sight to behold – and one
that is definitely on my bucket list. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It
is full of sea stacks that are constantly being worn away, or being
created … some wonderful and amazing geographical features … it
must be just dazzling, raw and stunning … </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So
the Weedy Seadragon in my other post at the <a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/" target="_blank">A-Z Blog</a> ties in to some degree
with this post, as do other posts I have written recently or in the
A-Z Challenge in April … </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here
the art is photographic images of magnificent natural scenery, the
science that of geology, we are posting on blogs about that place
that is </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>down
under</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> … </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hilary
Melton-Butcher</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://positiveletters.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">PositiveLetters Inspirational Stories</a></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif; text-align: justify;">©</span><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright', serif; text-align: justify;">2014 All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright', serif; text-align: justify;">Photo credit:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_ocean_road" target="_blank">"Great Ocean Road carved from the bare rock" </a> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Photo credit: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_ocean_road" target="_blank"> "The Hitchcock Memorial at Defiance Point - in the 1920s"</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Photo credit: <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Apostles_(Victoria)" target="_blank">"The limestone stacks, known as The Twelve Apostles"</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>~Tina </i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Don't forget about the dragons over </i></span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">at the<a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/" target="_blank"> A-Z Challenge Blog</a>. These topics</i><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> are linked. </i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-51656039785251422002014-06-23T10:22:00.000-06:002014-07-01T18:45:45.501-06:00College Life: Episode 6: Marvelous Marble<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">For the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for previous episodes.</i><br />
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><br /></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Despite all the joking, pranks, and my lack of ability in physics, I was a really good student in my other classes. I was also majoring in English along with the math. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Since I was studying two subjects which don't usually go together (that whole right brain/left brain thing) my classes were ALL over campus. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I received the privilege of inhabiting buildings old and new, large and small. I had the chance to attend classes in buildings over 100 years old. Those were the ones that held my attention and fed the history buff in me. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Today we're going on a bit of an exploration to one of them.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The moment I opened the door to what was now the statistics building, I could scent the history of all those years in a way that touched me. Not musty - but old paper, old machines still in use, it was the sum of thousands up thousands of people going up and down those amazing stairs, caressing that wooden rail with the brass fixtures, which now is narrower and has a patina.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The inlaid marble stairs were indented. The impact of all those feet had worn deep marks into the design. In places the big diamond outlining the pattern was just gone, little by little, until only a slight side or small corner remained. No longer bright and shiny, the stairs were to most people just the stairs. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"There's no elevator to the third floor? Isn't that illegal?"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Hurrying by, on their rushed way, they miss it. I just stopped and watched. I super-imposed a scene - men dressed in suits and with hats, ladies in dresses and heels and the stockings with the seam in back. (The building had once been utilized in a public, commercial way, and I'd seen pictures in the library archives, though that's a different story, and I will tell it.) It had been converted from offices to classrooms for our use.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I know I'm weird - math, words, history - but I love it all. Climbing those stairs to the top floor, I thought about someone coming in another time, and seeing the imprint even further into those stairs, only my feet helped make that impact. One step at a time, we add our bit to the history, whether we appreciate it or not.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">~Tina</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">What "gets" you? Are you into history? Does a brand new building make you want to check out whatever the latest and greatest is in design? Do you see if they're using "green" building products?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">~~~~~~~~</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">P.S Some of you saw two posts Friday. I had written a totally whiny post about my health again, but had decided against it and to focus on my anniversary. I forgot to delete the old one. Sorry about that. Operator error. Unstable blogger ;-)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright', serif;">2014 All Rights Reserved</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-new-series-episode-1.html">Episode 1: Rommmates</a></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-episode-2-youve-got-to.html">Episode 2: You've Got To</a></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-3-cheerleader-and.html" target="_blank">Episode 3: The Cheerleader and the Boyfriends</a></span></span><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-4-study-buddies.html" target="_blank">Episode 4: Study Buddies</a><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-5-physics-prank.html" target="_blank">Episode 5: A Physics Prank</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-71904905475535398512014-06-20T08:21:00.000-06:002014-06-20T08:21:20.182-06:00Happy Anniversary, to My Engineer!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Happy Anniversary, to my wonderful Engineer. Thanks for 22 years of patience, love, smiles, special times, camping, hiking, parenting, fighting, making up, adventures, picnics, and time together just being.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Thanks for your tireless work to improve our family. Thanks for bringing home the bacon and a lot of the time being the one to fry it up in the pan. Thanks for taking care of me in sickness and in (not so much lately) health, and for never giving up on me.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I love you so much.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRKv3JnMu9BUr5uFOQslyfTYKf8-PT7jyHz5wxrUdpEuEM3YgnScO6g3tpZLLW0BYMP4MVIwUjL18hG_cSpMEBBvH9BjgqXw3ihJK0-IrwWpibLgqu9eqWiMd6OluMRsLHB53lAV0NBw/s1600/wedding+rings.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRKv3JnMu9BUr5uFOQslyfTYKf8-PT7jyHz5wxrUdpEuEM3YgnScO6g3tpZLLW0BYMP4MVIwUjL18hG_cSpMEBBvH9BjgqXw3ihJK0-IrwWpibLgqu9eqWiMd6OluMRsLHB53lAV0NBw/s1600/wedding+rings.JPG" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBa0zpmE-2Y8r6nHIlv9Gz1HXRjUKq3B3DuuTBIBtGpip8HdVmX5oH8P9Sis0UCA0NdIPCGz-qI4TnC-BNSK5ol7WgZULoXXZaBRXPOtF05JcgGmH78PvCj-x9SXOfL4rT5FRQEIn1Q/s1600/wedding+telephoto.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBa0zpmE-2Y8r6nHIlv9Gz1HXRjUKq3B3DuuTBIBtGpip8HdVmX5oH8P9Sis0UCA0NdIPCGz-qI4TnC-BNSK5ol7WgZULoXXZaBRXPOtF05JcgGmH78PvCj-x9SXOfL4rT5FRQEIn1Q/s1600/wedding+telephoto.JPG" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">~Tina, who'd marry you all over again</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></i></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">Photo credit Emmerich Photography</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-79152560561492760142014-06-18T00:00:00.000-06:002014-06-23T09:38:25.399-06:00College Life: Episode 5: A Physics Prank<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">For the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for previous episodes.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was lucky for me that I was right. He <b>was</b> the kind of professor who not only had a wicked sense of humor, but was also a good sport. Otherwise my harmless little prank of a joke might have ended quite differently.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You might recall we were previously in physics, the physics which should have come with the warning, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Physics for Einstein Only, Beware the Rest of You Fools Who Think You Know Anything.”</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My college was the large state university, with over 20,000 students. Most of my classes were of normal size, and my honors classes had even fewer students. This class, however, was a herd of a class. We met in an auditorium, seating over 300, and most of the seats were full. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you wanted to have a chance at seeing the board (this was back in the days when they still used chalk on blackboards) you'd better get there early. It didn't take me long to realize I was in WAY over my head. I wasn't getting anything from the lectures, but I went anyway, thinking perhaps a smidgen of useful info might drift into my brain by osmosis.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sitting there, day in and day out, I did notice one thing, though. The professor had only four shirts: blue, white, blue with white stripes, and white with blue stripes. I got to wondering, did he wear them in order, same order, every week? Or was he a fashionista who mixed it up and varied the order? I began an investigation. It did give me a reason for going to class, and I started planning how I was going to present my findings. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Each day I'd arrive early for my good seat, and await the next data point. In the margin of my totally useless notes, I'd make a note of the color. I used a code: B,W, BS, WS. Which totally nerdy, short sleeved oxford would he have on? To make it even more fun, I started trying to predict the next one. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mostly I was wrong. Which got me thinking, does he have multiple copies of each shirt? How else could he manage that random order without doing laundry every night? And he didn't strike me as the laundry every night kind of guy. More like beer and pork-rinds every night while watching wrestling. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He was a very educated, intelligent man, but he looked more like Bubba the redneck, with beer belly and shotgun.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">About a third of the way into the semester, I was enjoying my game so much that I finally gave in and told Christy what the code was. Now we were betting each other for the next day's shirt. And by now, I'd also found my study buddies of real engineering students who dragged me through that class with lots of patient explanations. I shared my joke with them, too.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the end we settled on making a graph of our findings, and planned to casually leave it on his overhead projector for him to find before class. I took my time with this, more time than any real assignment, unfortunately. It was a beauty, the line wiggling back and forth, up and down in its randomness. And almost done.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then the unthinkable occurred. The shirt one day was yellow! With white AND blue stripes! I was crushed. Now my graph was going to have this REALLY out of the norm data point. And horror of horrors, would he wear it on the last day? Because we had quite the bet going. The person who guessed right got not only the satisfaction so well deserved, but also bragging rights AND got to keep the graph to proudly display. I wanted my graph back.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The last day of the semester arrived. I was giddy with anticipation. I got there <i>really </i>early this day. Snuck the graph onto his overhead. And then had to wait through most of the lecture for satisfaction. Finally he noticed it. Stopped talking. “What is <i>this</i>?” And he began to GIGGLE. GIGGLE! Not what I expected AT ALL. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The class is starting to murmur by now, so he shares the joke. “Someone made me a graph. Let me read you the title. “A Longitudinal Study of the Random Variations of Shirt Colors in Professoria Physica.” He could barely get that out between laughs, and then he's belly laughing when he notices the errant data point. “I guess I messed you up that day, didn't I?”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the end, no one got to keep the graph. He asked if he could keep it. “Best laugh I've had in a long time. Thanks to whoever took the time to do this. My wife is going to love it!”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">~Tina, who yes, recycled this post from 2010, but it has been edited for content, to fit this screen, and to run in the time allowed ;-)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright', serif;">2014 All Rights Reserved</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-new-series-episode-1.html">Episode 1: Rommmates</a></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-episode-2-youve-got-to.html">Episode 2: You've Got To</a></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-3-cheerleader-and.html" target="_blank">Episode 3: The Cheerleader and the Boyfriends</a></span></span><br />
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-4-study-buddies.html" target="_blank">Episode 4: Study Buddies</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-11820070663778934102014-06-16T00:00:00.000-06:002014-06-16T00:00:02.075-06:00Happy Father's Day! I LOVE YOU DADDY!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Just finished wonderful Father's Day dinner with the Swede. Words cannot describe how much fun we had reminiscing and talking about writing, and planning for the future. I just thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures as a tribute to this amazing man I'm blessed to call Pappa, Dad.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Patiently tutoring me when I spent 4 months in a body cast for a broken hip, 1974. See A-Z 2013 for stories.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i></i></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLFivuBz3hZS5PUm5do05KJR0rIVFHQrodloxkqHcY3zt96wiq04wamd-97Q55r4sbBVEZidGOBfytnv2050Ake5DqF6w6JhYOMNrEQS2CCI1My46kPSoYz8HfTdMYohSgixdWPkvQuA/s1600/DSCF1072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLFivuBz3hZS5PUm5do05KJR0rIVFHQrodloxkqHcY3zt96wiq04wamd-97Q55r4sbBVEZidGOBfytnv2050Ake5DqF6w6JhYOMNrEQS2CCI1My46kPSoYz8HfTdMYohSgixdWPkvQuA/s1600/DSCF1072.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><i style="text-align: start;">Goofing around with his three kids. He did this a lot. We loved it.</i></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAIWGG-Traqyg0CcUYQ2_ZN-kUBI3nAqVmiYELnW9ZSwB2vgSsvkXQYXkyYEFMj0VNyV70w50a1R0TvmjT-Mn9cqbv4ztCAv80JSDaZMod_Hgr9BERmPuK-Ask5ZKa0KM6lJeXDXU0xQ/s1600/DSCF1042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAIWGG-Traqyg0CcUYQ2_ZN-kUBI3nAqVmiYELnW9ZSwB2vgSsvkXQYXkyYEFMj0VNyV70w50a1R0TvmjT-Mn9cqbv4ztCAv80JSDaZMod_Hgr9BERmPuK-Ask5ZKa0KM6lJeXDXU0xQ/s1600/DSCF1042.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><i style="text-align: start;">Traditional Swedish Lucia, celebrated December 13 each year. See A-Z 2012 for story.</i></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDB37zj0A4tugPvXPJr2N5WHvjGRR_BLeparIOCm5vWt_Rx-9TIhYbeKUrKzF_AmyEaahoF0gLQbNvKUE-BBuEOQxzn9wEmvPIDmqitKXUYJuhLqVFokoGszcc1kMgLohre8SEWev2nA/s1600/DSCF1075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDB37zj0A4tugPvXPJr2N5WHvjGRR_BLeparIOCm5vWt_Rx-9TIhYbeKUrKzF_AmyEaahoF0gLQbNvKUE-BBuEOQxzn9wEmvPIDmqitKXUYJuhLqVFokoGszcc1kMgLohre8SEWev2nA/s1600/DSCF1075.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><i style="text-align: start;">Asleep with DataBoy. I still have that sweatshirt. No lectures about how much I save. Today. You can tell me tomorrow ;-)</i></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv0aJ4XIADRSEz5JXW-XnJiCTSpWv96hcGc7fccUiFveFnu3E3N7znyeuKlFczB3h2yUkJQ-rtv4NsFvbsv9HqESgL026uOGmtHfrw7IW-1qoKA7hY8eHH6O-2jKHX2FidCo20EimrTQ/s1600/IMG_1696.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv0aJ4XIADRSEz5JXW-XnJiCTSpWv96hcGc7fccUiFveFnu3E3N7znyeuKlFczB3h2yUkJQ-rtv4NsFvbsv9HqESgL026uOGmtHfrw7IW-1qoKA7hY8eHH6O-2jKHX2FidCo20EimrTQ/s1600/IMG_1696.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I love you, Daddy. Happy Father's Day.</i></span></i></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>~Tina</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>P.S College Life will resume Wednesday.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">All precious photos by Momarrazzi. Thanks, Mom.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-64704066058812997552014-06-13T00:00:00.000-06:002014-06-13T00:00:03.782-06:00The June-a-palooza IWM Blogocalypse Blog Tour continues! Please Welcome The Indie Writers Monthly! <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Today I'm hosting some friends promoting their latest endeavor. It's what this community is all about: helping each other whenever we can. Please welcome Briane Pagel and his buddies....</i></span><br />
<br />
The June-a-palooza IWM Blogocalypse Blog Tour continues! IWM, as I AM SURE YOU KNOW because you've read all these already, stands for "Indie Writers Monthly," which in turn stands for a blog and magazine put out by 5 great speculative fiction writers, offering you tips on writing and publishing and more, which in <i>turn</i> is the secret behind how Swiss cheese gets its holes. (AND YOU THOUGHT IT WAS MARTIANS? Silly.)<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAOZDBSYIq6Cn9tJHUrg-oBpxizhUmCay1O7FtchPxhwNEtRJsrkMF9QVqUfCsa86uhT168NmhtTrKEky5ohkhEkbOEF2nS5-eAIjVCKycCeZqL_zfneNKSF14MfY_ncJTPt1ZUpE1uy0/s1600/20140520_082945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAOZDBSYIq6Cn9tJHUrg-oBpxizhUmCay1O7FtchPxhwNEtRJsrkMF9QVqUfCsa86uhT168NmhtTrKEky5ohkhEkbOEF2nS5-eAIjVCKycCeZqL_zfneNKSF14MfY_ncJTPt1ZUpE1uy0/s1600/20140520_082945.jpg" height="400" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a vase full of<br />
Cap'n Crunch Cereal. It has<br />
nothing to do with this post.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is part THREE of this modestly-titled tour, which presents to you<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">ALL THE REASONS YOU SHOULD BE READING</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">INDIE WRITERS MONTHLY</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">THAT ARE ABSOLUTELY FACT-BASED</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">AND IN <u>NO WAY EXAGGERATED</u></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">SO YOU CAN'T SUE US PROBABLY.</span></b></div>
<br />
<a href="http://sizzlinghotyabooks.com/iwm-blog-tour/">Part <i>1</i> appeared on Sizzling Hot YA Books, and told how reading IWM will teach you how to time travel</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://tboe.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-iwm-blogtacular-continues.html">Part <i>2</i> appeared on <i>lit, a place for stories</i>, and told how reading IWM will give you super powers</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/The%20#3 Reason to Read IWM: We bring your imaginary childhood friends back to life!">Part 3 appeared on <i>Laws Of Gravity</i>, and showed how IWM brings your childhood friends to life</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
And so we come to number 4, which is a doozy*<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
*"doozy" comes from the ancient Latin word "deus-e," which, when literally translated, means "<i>Nobody is ever going to speak this language anyway so we may as well make up words"</i></blockquote>
<b>#4: We have The Blutonian Death Egg.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Now, first off, many people will tell you "<i>Hey, if you have some sort of all-powerful death machine, you don't reveal that in </i>Part IV<i>, you save it for the end, otherwise you're going to have to do something stupid like have them make </i>another<i> all-powerful death machine, and you're going to feel mighty stupid, even before you put in the medieval teddy bears</i>." DO NOT LISTEN TO THOSE PEOPLE, because they are just jealous of you and George Lucas.<br />
<br />
The Blutonian Death Egg, as you have gathered, is an all-powerful universal destruction machine. Or so I guess. I guess that because IWM Writer Rusty Carl is the creator and current owner of The Blutonian Death Egg (<a href="http://rustywebb.blogspot.com/">he even named his blog after it</a>), and he <i>won't tell anyone what it is</i>.<br />
<br />
But trust us. It's superpowerful and you don't want to mess with it. <br />
<br />
That's not all Rusty has. Rusty is responsible for inventing Killbots, and unleashed on the world one of the baddest bad guys of all time, the titular (and wrathful) star of his first book:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-c5Ser3+L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-c5Ser3+L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" height="640" width="420" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I understand Rusty posed for the picture himself.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Rusty's contributions to our site include tips on writing and links to and thoughtful discussions of actual mind-blowing science topics, and he is perhaps one of the most-well-read people I've met, judging by the number of tweets in which he mentions books he's reading.<br />
<br />
If you want to be a great writer, especially a great speculative fiction writer, you've got to understand the villains, and Rusty does that better than almost every other writer I read. (Er... <i>I mean except the other IWMers who are all exactly the equal of Rusty</i>.)(Sorry, Rusty, I mean you are of course the best.)<br />
<br />
*Looks around for side door to slip out of, doesn't find one, sighs.*<br />
<br />
And remember, Rusty is just one of the five writers you'll get writing and publishing tips from on IWM. The MOST DANGEROUS ONE. Don't make me send him to your house with his Killbots and Death Eggs. Just go ahead and bookmark <i>Indie Writers Monthly</i>. <a href="http://indiewritersmonthly.blogspot.com/">Click here to go to the site</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1WfncBBvtC-_0BqSYzqGVqS2GZQD-UQawtRtMrhfiN0y9S_0zolgR-Fesc2gkkLbnxrDpy6yXLaKuA8Q6A5G-2l52EmkjiKp7X1UXP1sn6BL4G5HPftSi42Udk5U4IpyI7t701dSFZ0/s1600/20140510_135341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1WfncBBvtC-_0BqSYzqGVqS2GZQD-UQawtRtMrhfiN0y9S_0zolgR-Fesc2gkkLbnxrDpy6yXLaKuA8Q6A5G-2l52EmkjiKp7X1UXP1sn6BL4G5HPftSi42Udk5U4IpyI7t701dSFZ0/s1600/20140510_135341.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The author, demonstrating his inability to master the "selfie."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
While we're at it, The IWM June issue is on sale on Amazon for just $0.99 -- a bargain at 10 times the price! Well, not really, but it's a bargain at THIS price. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Indie-Writers-Monthly-Issue-June-ebook/dp/B00KOYQ4SO/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1401611414&sr=1-2&keywords=indie+writers+monthly">Click here for that</a>.<br />
<br />
And there's still time to enter a story in our time travel anthology contest! Win prizes! <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Indie-Writers-Monthly-Issue-June-ebook/dp/B00KOYQ4SO/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1401611414&sr=1-2&keywords=indie+writers+monthly">Details here</a>. (And if you need a bit of extension on the deadline, just ask. We're nice folk.)(Also, get it? Still <i>time</i>?)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Please take some time to visit my buddies. They are a fun bunch, and I'm happy to have them here promoting their latest.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>~Tina</i></span><br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-17869652461861675552014-06-11T00:00:00.001-06:002014-06-11T00:00:04.947-06:00It's a War Zone Out There<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I decide after being cooped up </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Too long, for sanity to stay</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Much longer</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I must make a dash</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>A get-away</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>A walk-about</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Get the hell out of the house</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I refuse to wear a mask,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>don't want attention</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I refuse to wait,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I think I'll explode</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzidZ4hHPsgGDGtMcNQ3oJ0T5QagyXCrEBQOPeKOexXZbOh9DOKZqvnx6kZtvM8UF5kctcD3IpeSd0go9dXPzYsdVGUD_zmJTiVZXfzNQAlNOMT_Wdbufv8nMNy_r5si5agNdYTM8jwA/s1600/Asteraceae-pollencroppped-973x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzidZ4hHPsgGDGtMcNQ3oJ0T5QagyXCrEBQOPeKOexXZbOh9DOKZqvnx6kZtvM8UF5kctcD3IpeSd0go9dXPzYsdVGUD_zmJTiVZXfzNQAlNOMT_Wdbufv8nMNy_r5si5agNdYTM8jwA/s1600/Asteraceae-pollencroppped-973x1024.jpg" height="320" width="304" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>The artillery is flying</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Almost invisible, those pesky</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mold particles</i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Pollen pieces, more menacing now</i><br />
<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></i>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSyD19vqDArUUIJes6THTxdSlaBXUXwk6W1LOR-wTIeYgqL5HNKGrt8iHNSPMrwS1-A-l8HDzhUaWJGfiMLsnSj2yPFO4rCvPq0pHSM8IbjQtSoiMWicZZ_iBwiDZ3XchgnKL0PPAfQ/s1600/hollyhock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSyD19vqDArUUIJes6THTxdSlaBXUXwk6W1LOR-wTIeYgqL5HNKGrt8iHNSPMrwS1-A-l8HDzhUaWJGfiMLsnSj2yPFO4rCvPq0pHSM8IbjQtSoiMWicZZ_iBwiDZ3XchgnKL0PPAfQ/s1600/hollyhock.jpg" height="202" width="320" /></a></div>
<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Grass clippings - those I can see</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I make a dash for the car, holding my breath</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I see it coming</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>A cloud</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>It's like cotton...it's really like cotton</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqjWrFXf5QHhNjcg88iOq3t8ddCfbkbnXN3DogKls9-0h5FFURBcp8qtC2EfCG7DIpDERymhkHGul-TuOS575LdevTVBYfAgYvQSjOWoH3m8-FZZO3AeDb8C-eprEfBmPYfC0JhTk5Q/s1600/Cottonwood-1-150x150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqjWrFXf5QHhNjcg88iOq3t8ddCfbkbnXN3DogKls9-0h5FFURBcp8qtC2EfCG7DIpDERymhkHGul-TuOS575LdevTVBYfAgYvQSjOWoH3m8-FZZO3AeDb8C-eprEfBmPYfC0JhTk5Q/s1600/Cottonwood-1-150x150.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Like the cotton I told the told the doctor</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Someone had stuffed,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>into my lungs,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>which made it hard,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>for me to breathe,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>so that each sentence,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>was about this long,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>as I gasped for air,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>in his office, and told him</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>this was ridiculous</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>He agreed</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>He gave me drugs</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>He told me patience</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I said I had none</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>He said that was good, or</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I wouldn't be so anxious</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To be well</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To be whole</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To draw a real breath</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To play outside</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To take a walk</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To sit on my front porch</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To watch the sunset</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To open a window, to the world</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>And actually be a part of it</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>~Tina</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Haven't whined about my health in a long time. Just couldn't take it one more day. Excuse the rant. When you can't breathe, nothing else really </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">matters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">Photo credit: <a href="http://smithsonianscience.org/2009/07/research-collection-of-pollen-grains-given-to-smithsonian-tropical-research-institute/" target="_blank">Greyed out pollen</a></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Photo credit: <a href="http://smithsonianscience.org/2009/07/research-collection-of-pollen-grains-given-to-smithsonian-tropical-research-institute/" target="_blank">enhanced pollen</a> (this is a hollyhock, which I have a lot of in my flower beds)</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Photo credit: <a href="http://www.familyallergyasthmacare.com/2013/05/that-white-cottony-stuff-blowing-around-in-the-air-is-not-pollen/" target="_blank">cottonweed blowing in the wind</a> (shut up Bob Dylan, I'm not in the mood)</div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.38399887084961px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i></i></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-10102196491415323002014-06-09T00:00:00.001-06:002014-06-17T14:41:30.847-06:00College Life: Episode 4: Study Buddies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">For
the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days
at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for
previous episodes.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglAfYl5MR-VY1tdRQu22LUOgBXbUyCTuIX9jB7Zv2Rh0CSTaGfS9oCJ-lvJe0lj2l7pvYRq6Z4hKMhGVoow-exlYX2mWjzTEO76WEehUddKKMgVZ2tXug9xcZ8J5He6gruEo4Kn85gig/s1600/frustrated+student.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglAfYl5MR-VY1tdRQu22LUOgBXbUyCTuIX9jB7Zv2Rh0CSTaGfS9oCJ-lvJe0lj2l7pvYRq6Z4hKMhGVoow-exlYX2mWjzTEO76WEehUddKKMgVZ2tXug9xcZ8J5He6gruEo4Kn85gig/s1600/frustrated+student.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Since I was a math major, it meant that a lot of my required classes were taken with scientists and engineers. For example, the required physics class was PH141, Physics for Scientists and Engineers. It was held in a theater like setting. Sat about 300. Five grueling credits. Met three days a week, then a 2 hour lab.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It was brutal. I could handle it fine once I got to the equation. The problem was this was for <i>engineers. </i>You know, those guys who build and design and invent things and work in the real world.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I guess you could call me Sheldon in that I'm a <i>theoretical mathematician. </i>I like the big ideas, the structure, the language, the possibilities. I'm not Leonard, who uses all that theory to actually <i>do</i> something. Just let me play with my numbers. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Not so in this class. I knew I was in trouble from the first assignment. Luckily though, the two guys from my tiny high school who were also at CSU were in this class! They were willing to tutor, along with their friend.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVErJ2LUXXFS5HAnuMsgnyVp_HQePx4wO-nHRBdWL80DPFA2UWiXfF41nkZNCcbx45o5i-edBBEsA3tF8Uek9rzYt9jQAJ4QuXqR_M1vCIt1tppittzT9pmy-3Mh9Iay9Ypu5R3KFOKw/s1600/college-students-studying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVErJ2LUXXFS5HAnuMsgnyVp_HQePx4wO-nHRBdWL80DPFA2UWiXfF41nkZNCcbx45o5i-edBBEsA3tF8Uek9rzYt9jQAJ4QuXqR_M1vCIt1tppittzT9pmy-3Mh9Iay9Ypu5R3KFOKw/s1600/college-students-studying.jpg" height="265" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">They were truly patient with me as I was over invading their space with some regularity. I brought snacks, I attempted to be prepared with what I'd tried, so they'd see I wasn't just free-loading. They literally dragged me through that class.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It wasn't them just handing me their meticulously completed homework. No, they took turns sitting down with me and explaining. There were even moments of joy when THEY were stuck on the equation part and <i>I</i> could help!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There was one more huge obstacle to overcome though. The testing method. Have you ever been subjected to the following atrocity? You start the test with a 0. You get four points for a correct answer. You lose one point for a wrong answer. "No answer" to a question does has no effect on your score. Do you have <i>any </i>idea how agonizing it is to calculate your confidence in an answer using a system like this?</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It was a struggle the entire year. Yes, I had to take two semesters. I played with the test formula. I took risks. I got a 56% in the class. It was, however, much to our surprise, graded on a curve. 56% netted me a B. A B!!! Unbelievable. I didn't deserve that, but I took it and ran.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Physics and I are still not friends (except on Big Bang Theory, of course) but I survived. Next time, a little story of another strategy that made it possible.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">~Tina, getting by with a little help from my friends</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">;-)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><a href="http://www.classicalfoundations.co.uk/Case%20studies.html" target="_blank">Photo credit: Frustrated student</a></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><a href="http://www.classesandcareers.com/education/2011/01/20/5-ways-to-find-a-great-college/" target="_blank">Photo credit: Students Studying</a></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-new-series-episode-1.html"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Episode
1: Rommmates</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-episode-2-youve-got-to.html">Episode
2: You've Got To</a></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/06/college-life-episode-3-cheerleader-and.html" target="_blank">Episode 3: The Cheerleader and the Boyfriends</a></span></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-60446619464077232662014-06-06T00:00:00.000-06:002014-06-06T00:00:01.521-06:00Celebrate The Small Things: An Attitude Adjustment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwEV1Kjbq-UrIrC14wxAuoOaWKxkJacLdDjokmwJRyvxX_9FWsbnkz6kXmppvN-duVFSooT8utyCc09OrKKKO-epd31QDSCPhgN89kk0-y4JzB9cKb_UHWubew-j0ahh5x3y2VHYRhag/s1600/vik+-+small+things+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwEV1Kjbq-UrIrC14wxAuoOaWKxkJacLdDjokmwJRyvxX_9FWsbnkz6kXmppvN-duVFSooT8utyCc09OrKKKO-epd31QDSCPhgN89kk0-y4JzB9cKb_UHWubew-j0ahh5x3y2VHYRhag/s1600/vik+-+small+things+2.jpg" height="320" width="262" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<i>I definitely need an attitude adjustment this week, so I thought I'd return to a wonderful hop that I've participated in so sporadically in the past. <a href="http://viklit.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Viklit</a> runs this hop, and it's just what I need right now. Thanks, Vic.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Today I'd like to celebrate a few small things which ARE making me smile, despite some rather deep struggles this summer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">1) All four of our new window air-conditioners are now in and the house is a blissful, cool temp round the clock. The thingamajiggies The Engineer built to get them sealed into the windows are working like a charm, and so far I haven't had to look at the electric bill. He looked at it. He didn't say anything.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">2) I've joined a support group led by an amazing, caring, wonderful <a href="http://fatherdragon.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Father Dragon</a>, and they are a really encouraging bunch. I'm accomplishing some goals.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">3) I got a massage today. My amazing brother and sis-in-law just gifted it to me. What a treat!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">4) Blogger is actually working, unlike Tuesday night when I was ready to brave the garage, find a sledge hammer, and just go at this computer in Office Space copier style...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">5) I continue to meet wonderful folks on the <a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2014/05/whos-ready-for-4th-annual-post.html" target="_blank">Post Challenge A-Z Road Trip</a>. It's been really enlightening, humbling, and encouraging to read their Reflections. (I'm going randomly, so if you're at the top of the list, you have not been skipped, just FYI).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">6) The new friendships I made during the April Challenge endure, and I'm enjoying continued friendships with my long time buddies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I have a lot to be thankful for, and I need to stop whining. So here's a first step. I'm grateful for these blessings in my life, and the people who have brought them to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">~Tina, time to stop wallowing and start movin' and groovin'...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<!-- start LinkyTools script --><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=179014" type="text/javascript"></script><!-- end LinkyTools script →Unknownnoreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-83420648457111233372014-06-04T00:00:00.001-06:002014-06-04T00:00:08.742-06:00IWSG: Unexpected Resources<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiui-2ZE2ODPPN2NvZq6vhOnqAg9MxT6FfullopzrD67Nh3V6xdmefNirYgmhOllpJBiuj15bRIHBHgytSjgr2CaKhKqYFMCNBt8AaoRWYKL2laAXYTJhRX8Y60TvevSupePnNPKTnCYA/s1600/IWSG+badge+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiui-2ZE2ODPPN2NvZq6vhOnqAg9MxT6FfullopzrD67Nh3V6xdmefNirYgmhOllpJBiuj15bRIHBHgytSjgr2CaKhKqYFMCNBt8AaoRWYKL2laAXYTJhRX8Y60TvevSupePnNPKTnCYA/s1600/IWSG+badge+2.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
I just give up. I've been trying to get a post up all night. Three blue screens of death. Blogger won't save anything.<br />
<br />
What I want to say is that I had a great time world building with my son, and we each helped each other with our projects. It was AWESOME bouncing ideas off of a young mind full of engineering and ideas and possibility. I've gotten this far in this post before, but if I try to say anymore, my stupid machine blows up.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow I might have more patience, but now it's all gone. So let's just say, you might find inspiration closer than you think.<br />
<br />
~TinaUnknownnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-70513068613221584102014-06-02T00:00:00.000-06:002014-06-07T10:16:37.392-06:00College Life: Episode 3: The Cheerleader and The Boyfriends<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>For the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for previous episodes.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>@@@</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_5dWlGVpFEvslhyphenhyphenOot7iafZ_sfMXG_yWBlEFdEmdygmC3n7VkCI9LfEhL5uMY5wveGrqwuuoGP5b6GJWwU5VU0nPTYfL5Ke1xiCgx2AaP-CwRkNUygZxJRVTrz8cmKYrttWq0cL95cQ/s1600/Tie-doorknob_Snapseed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_5dWlGVpFEvslhyphenhyphenOot7iafZ_sfMXG_yWBlEFdEmdygmC3n7VkCI9LfEhL5uMY5wveGrqwuuoGP5b6GJWwU5VU0nPTYfL5Ke1xiCgx2AaP-CwRkNUygZxJRVTrz8cmKYrttWq0cL95cQ/s1600/Tie-doorknob_Snapseed.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It did get better once The Cheerleader moved in next door. Her "real" name was Tara, and she <i>was </i>actually a cheerleader, for CSU, so somewhat famous on campus, and a bit of a steadying influence on the trio. We all know how well triads work in female friendships, don't we? (Guys: it doesn't. Someone is always on the outside looking in at a much more solid connection, and someone else is being gossiped about. A lot.) I think you can see where this trio headed...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">She was kinda the cream to the black coffee and sugar, trying to take something a bit bitter, and unpalatable to some, and steady out the "sweetness" of someone trying to please all the people all the time by adding a touch of something smooth, and easier to take. I did like her, but she was definitely Mary-Jo's type, not mine.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Tara came with a sorority attitude. This was the year she was going to pledge, and they spent hours on the floor of my room planning which one, discussing the merits, and of course the all important connection each had with a sort of "brother" fraternity, therefore making this decision all the more critical. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I just went to my math classes. They went to most of their classes. They were both psych majors. Tara was on her third major. (Can you see how choosing a sorority might take some time when you can't decide what to study?)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Then came the afternoon I couldn't get into my room. I'd gotten past the front door, because it wasn't after hours yet, and I had my ID and keys (two items I checked for constantly - did NOT want to be without them in any circumstance.) However, I couldn't get my room open. The doorknob key worked just find, but the deadbolt wouldn't turn. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Puzzled, I knocked on Tara's door. No answer. Of course I had no cell phone, so I knocked on my <i>own</i> dorm room door. "Mary-Jo? Are you in there?" No answer. Dead silence. Frustrated, I sat down to formulate a plan. I don't know how long I was sitting there until I started hearing faint noises from inside MY room. I decided to wait it out. She, or someone, was in there, had surely heard me knock, and was maybe thinking about letting me in.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I was still waiting when I met Deanna. She wandered by, I knew she lived on our floor, and I said hi.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Oh, the old forgot the tie on the door thing...how rude. Wanna come down to my room and meet my hideously gross roommate while you wait?"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Why not. I didn't know about ties, but at least there was another person with a rude roommate, and she seemed nice. Anything to pass the time...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><a href="http://www.poormansfeast.com/archives/the-last-man-in-my-apartment.html" target="_blank">Photo credit</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-new-series-episode-1.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Episode 1: Rommmates</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-episode-2-youve-got-to.html" target="_blank">Episode 2: You've Got To</a></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-49539873460243342652014-05-30T00:00:00.002-06:002014-05-30T10:09:50.787-06:00#WRiTECLUB2014 All You Need to Know: Guest DLHammons!<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: #a2c4c9;">Please welcome my wonderful blogging buddy, DL Hammons to Life is Good today. He's here to talk about a special writing opportunity for you. We used to be A-Z Team mates, so our friendship goes way back. I'm happy to help him out in spreading the word! Should you choose to enter...good luck!</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">First off, I’d like to thank Tina for the opportunity to talk to you today about something near and dear to my heart…<b>WRiTE CLUB</b>. My modest writing contest has proven so popular that the <a href="http://dfwcon.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">DFW Writers Conference</span></a> is now considering incorporating it into their agenda for 2015. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />For the newbies out there, let me explain what <b>WRiTE CLUB</b> is? It’s a modest writing competition whose inspiration was derived from the movie FIGHT CLUB. There are numerous versions of this concept around the internet, but nothing like we do it. Its essence embodies simple, good-natured competition, with lots and lots of fun sprinkled on top. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Over the course of eight weeks I hold twice-weekly bouts in which the winners advance to the play-offs, which will ultimately lead to a single champion. Bouts between who…or what…you ask? Anonymous 500 word writing samples, submitted under a pen name by anyone who wishes to take part, that’s who. The writing can be any genre, any style (even poetry) with the word count being the only restriction. It’s a way to get your writing in front of a lot of readers, without having to suffer the agony of exposure. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />And the winners are determined by <b>WRiTE CLUB</b> readers!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />To find out how to become part of the fun just head on over to <a href="http://dlhammons.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">DLHammons.com</span></a> and click on the <b>WRiTE CLUB</b> tab. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Submissions are open until <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1108140908" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">May 31st</span></span>. After that date a panel of a dozen judges will read all of the entries we received and pre-select 32 of the best writing samples to climb into the ring. Those 32 participants will then be randomly matched to compete over the next eight weeks, each of them hoping to make it into the play-off rounds and moving towards the ultimate goal – <b>WRiTE CLUB</b> Champion. No one (other than my wife)…not even the judges being used to pre-select the 32 contestants, will see the true identity of any sample. Unless you win, of course.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">Again this year, the most exciting part is the winner of the final round will be chosen by a panel of publishing industry professionals! </span>Judges include New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning horror and thriller author <b>Jonathan Maberry</b>, Agents <b>Katie Grim</b> of Don Congdon Associates, <b>Margaret Bail</b> of the Andrea Hurst Agency, <b>Sarah Negovetich</b> of the Corvisiero Literary Agency,<b>Brittany Booker</b> of The Booker Albert Literary Agency. Also included is <b>Candace Havens</b>, Editorial Director of Entangled Publishing Covet line, Authors <b>Les Edgerton</b> and <b>Lydia Kang</b>, and previous <b>WRiTE CLUB</b> winners <b>Tiana Smith</b> (2011), <b>Mark Hough </b>(2012) and <b>Tex Thompson</b> (2013).<br /><br />Are you willing to <b>WRiTE</b> for what you want? Then crack those knuckles and get ready to flex that imagination. And whatever you do, tell your friends!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /><b>WRiTE CLUB</b> – The contest where the audience gets clobbered!</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-59531966247763752562014-05-28T00:00:00.000-06:002014-05-28T00:00:00.407-06:00College Life: Episode 2: "You've Got To!"<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>For the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for previous episodes.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>@@@</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggP69P0kirrqyo9PSfEVCrZk4G0vGkUD0BhEalPJFQdkfYq9SdN3qUgDRTU9YZP4c6zFhNKJ_2gyRdwrrJMY2HmkQ96KFxMfbhqqtyJfkcrYOa27ibMb9Mmv2gOjH9iviAGSI1yHG4xg/s1600/cap'n+crunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggP69P0kirrqyo9PSfEVCrZk4G0vGkUD0BhEalPJFQdkfYq9SdN3qUgDRTU9YZP4c6zFhNKJ_2gyRdwrrJMY2HmkQ96KFxMfbhqqtyJfkcrYOa27ibMb9Mmv2gOjH9iviAGSI1yHG4xg/s1600/cap'n+crunch.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"You're here! You've got to come meet everyone! Hi! I'm Mary-Jo and I just know we're going to become best friends!"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">She was a talker, a non-stop whirlwind of energy and gestures and I was overwhelmed. I still needed to find some territory to call my own, unpack, and try not to freak out about leaving my boyfriend (The Engineer, by the way) behind for three months.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Hi, I'm Tina."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"I know! You're from Denver and that's perfect because you'll know a LOT of people here and that will help me get introduced to everyone! We've got to do that!"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I didn't bother to tell her, at that time, that I was really not a popular person, was in fact a total nerd from a very small school, and she was out of luck if she was looking to find people through <i>me.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Would it be alright if we talk about some roommate stuff first? I've got a few questions."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Family discreetly headed off to explore so that we could hammer out some co-existence policies more to my comfort.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Though her sorority girl enthusiam </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">(no offense meant to anyone who enjoyed their sorority life, but it just wasn't something I was even remotely interested in)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was overwhelming, she was actually a fairly reasonable person, and did finally understand that though I was willing to share my clothes (she had very few) and my electronics (including one awesome boom box which lasted until just five or so years ago) and my typewriter (pica font, size 14, a treasured item from Grandma Vivian), I did </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">need some space of my own. </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">We divied up closets and drawers. She moved stuff. I unpacked stuff. I felt better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">She immediately spied one of my favorite shirts and asked to borrow it for, "Our very first dinner together in the dorms! Aren't you excited?" Well, not really. I was already having food issues, and hadn't really planned to spend my days in her company (read shadow) but agreed that sure, let's do that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Family then came back, said goodbye, and I was left alone with my whirlwind. She practically dragged me along as she introduced me to almost every person we passed, whom she'd already met during her first, "Rounds of meet and greet. Everyone meets everyone as soon as possible. You've got to!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Apparently I also had to "get ready for dinner" by fixing my hair and make-up. "It's what everyone does, you've got to!" I complied. I found that a lot of the time when calculating the cost of a decision involving Mary-Jo, it really was just easier to "Just do it."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dinner
was an experience, but I'll spare you. I really am going to tell
actual stories, but you had to meet the players first, and this is
how it happened. Next time: the cheerleader, and the boyfriends, and
getting locked out...</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Any stories to share? Crazy roommates? Bossy roommates? Good food in your dorm?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">~Tina, remembering Cap'n Crunch, which became a staple of my diet, and that there was diet coke available at all times. Even at breakfast.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><a href="http://www.today.com/food/say-it-aint-so-capn-crunch-not-really-captain-6C10378921" target="_blank">Photo credit</a></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2014/05/college-life-new-series-episode-1.html" target="_blank">Episode 1: Rommmates</a></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-24270750765521711412014-05-26T00:00:00.000-06:002014-05-26T00:00:05.451-06:00Memorial Day: A Thank You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFynsipCWIbN71c6keA7EsnAJ6SveaVb384R6Oz9PNc6ELM4M3HNaVwnRJ6ExlQnNGAI9niZFDAfZUKSChr84zuM9FKFgQCd8a5sca_e_y68qeCCOWSdfxNGhNIgQHPE9mwZCj889vjg/s1600/arlington_national_cemetery-300x199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFynsipCWIbN71c6keA7EsnAJ6SveaVb384R6Oz9PNc6ELM4M3HNaVwnRJ6ExlQnNGAI9niZFDAfZUKSChr84zuM9FKFgQCd8a5sca_e_y68qeCCOWSdfxNGhNIgQHPE9mwZCj889vjg/s1600/arlington_national_cemetery-300x199.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">THANK YOU to all the men and women of the armed forces and to all of our vets: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, for your sacrifice. You will never be forgotten.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">~Tina</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><a href="http://mercl.org/join-us-sunday-may-5-at-arlington-national-cemetery-to-honor-a-hero-who-laid-the-groundwork-for-the-modern-idf-which-has-kept-and-continues-to-keep-israel-safe-and-free/" target="_blank">Photo credit:</a> Arlington National Cemetery</span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-46126574375245037522014-05-23T00:00:00.000-06:002014-05-23T07:36:11.934-06:00Rites of Passage: 8th Grade to High School<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: left;">Please be warned. This post is shameless mommy bragging time, about the one letting me brag. The other didn't want to be recognized for the accomplishments of this year. His are also many. His words allowed are few.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Today we celebrate OYT, Our Youngest Teen, who just finished 8th grade. Last night we attended a picnic and slide show to commemorate the occasion. I was too far away to get any pictures, but OYT did let me take these and tell you about them. I am grateful.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cJmxrRwG2Geyih_kmbGqYXGjHv_7Y3zeWvFDLlR9MSPFwJCnpYXjCDIpZhs4utdEi8-S4yM-n8ikblQNzG1sSD81jxjjdUr3NJe4LVXnYnD2RgNeYJkbv2JqA6fdZdISTY9T1Ge_-A/s1600/IMG_2454.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cJmxrRwG2Geyih_kmbGqYXGjHv_7Y3zeWvFDLlR9MSPFwJCnpYXjCDIpZhs4utdEi8-S4yM-n8ikblQNzG1sSD81jxjjdUr3NJe4LVXnYnD2RgNeYJkbv2JqA6fdZdISTY9T1Ge_-A/s1600/IMG_2454.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One of my favorite qualities of this young man was also recognized by his peers and today he received this peer-chosen award.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbVrLBXYYZxsG-HrOMIRiJhL4hguSx3afbJuVsLAPkhJMsy6oZR6VAicuWQ8Vyk-ZUxdWrfjlVXb4rEcNKgsLNl1-SRwTngs-7epjgab02dOGLLuyiDFtbe4YtoFXdISdH7VCAseBgg/s1600/IMG_2464.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbVrLBXYYZxsG-HrOMIRiJhL4hguSx3afbJuVsLAPkhJMsy6oZR6VAicuWQ8Vyk-ZUxdWrfjlVXb4rEcNKgsLNl1-SRwTngs-7epjgab02dOGLLuyiDFtbe4YtoFXdISdH7VCAseBgg/s1600/IMG_2464.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">He is also most definitely a scientist, which they also recognized.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXqrcSuxoQz65FbVY852kzklaKl1hhqdhQA7sZzfrqo_-rw4LpOrwD5HLlnXAZR6jLHRj8vl2NP5AAEWKMikd6VTeAB1oJi-D7_7QMtBvdBkI1yOkCAWz5fFS1FpXr5wlPnelTOHWvg/s1600/IMG_2463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXqrcSuxoQz65FbVY852kzklaKl1hhqdhQA7sZzfrqo_-rw4LpOrwD5HLlnXAZR6jLHRj8vl2NP5AAEWKMikd6VTeAB1oJi-D7_7QMtBvdBkI1yOkCAWz5fFS1FpXr5wlPnelTOHWvg/s1600/IMG_2463.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Here are his two latest achievements. This machine is a combination of two "simple machines" as per the group project. They combined a pulley with a wheel and axle to construct the "Nifty-Lifting Machine." Attach your object to be lifted to the hook, turn the PVC crank, and lift your thing, with a lot less force.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ8p-1-lvjyhkQkHZKGSTv9M1GP9S2wwduziZ4uqU4MAbiFlGmPsd5IxsIcI12KOpaF3LzQx8Xz53pBM-_FiLjXRurtWYsy7ThALUmGthM2avqM0H6GiflLBOvr4goRcXX-UHtwMsu4A/s1600/IMG_2467.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ8p-1-lvjyhkQkHZKGSTv9M1GP9S2wwduziZ4uqU4MAbiFlGmPsd5IxsIcI12KOpaF3LzQx8Xz53pBM-_FiLjXRurtWYsy7ThALUmGthM2avqM0H6GiflLBOvr4goRcXX-UHtwMsu4A/s1600/IMG_2467.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">He also took a class called "Instrument Design". This idea came from his wobbling a piece of poster board one day and turned into this: </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjZTqrr4bBQVItaYH_rdMaMSQRvRhqHSdRoiZt_jHXqzqoOxQyVr1roSOaILoxKeNQNlue-EcvCyEL-b4zxbpYSnseOGXVlMGZ0OiuuR9w-nhyphenhyphenEWN3Jplm0fFrV9haZSCo330oVkR8Q/s1600/IMG_2466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjZTqrr4bBQVItaYH_rdMaMSQRvRhqHSdRoiZt_jHXqzqoOxQyVr1roSOaILoxKeNQNlue-EcvCyEL-b4zxbpYSnseOGXVlMGZ0OiuuR9w-nhyphenhyphenEWN3Jplm0fFrV9haZSCo330oVkR8Q/s1600/IMG_2466.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Turn the crank, the thin plexiglass wobbles (he explained the difference between how the two pulleys work and how the load is distributed, etc., but let's leave it at "it makes it wobble") and produces a really, um, interesting sound. Interesting to engineers. And to teenagers. To writer-mothers who've had to listen to it...for a while...I'm really OK with knowing how it sounds. From memory.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I can't ignore his artistic side though. He had three pieces in the art show this year.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Place Setting" where he had a picture to copy.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyay-HZUCX84hyphenhyphen2DF3cXwfJtzIDzyYcFQMsUAELPTdRGxY-IiixOZWLQbf2J11UvytqXJWwOJ3F0ZKBrxNazXmTfvSBhKg2QX5k4BrM5klU3MyHu6A3vFOH6IT3qG6Vg3YBR7XUZBsXg/s1600/IMG_2459.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyay-HZUCX84hyphenhyphen2DF3cXwfJtzIDzyYcFQMsUAELPTdRGxY-IiixOZWLQbf2J11UvytqXJWwOJ3F0ZKBrxNazXmTfvSBhKg2QX5k4BrM5klU3MyHu6A3vFOH6IT3qG6Vg3YBR7XUZBsXg/s1600/IMG_2459.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Love his attention to detail.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyBUKOqM6L8dEB4VSrh20J_8_4viyI_bgwqNh6k-KmjRSc99t_n7fd8nRN8UFxQ68Rf58hJLJgbLkxbTD4zMpGBeLOnKUR0F44RPI7eSq5TCSVS2C6s59L4Yr83Qao4SuWA2YvpQQ6w/s1600/IMG_2460.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyBUKOqM6L8dEB4VSrh20J_8_4viyI_bgwqNh6k-KmjRSc99t_n7fd8nRN8UFxQ68Rf58hJLJgbLkxbTD4zMpGBeLOnKUR0F44RPI7eSq5TCSVS2C6s59L4Yr83Qao4SuWA2YvpQQ6w/s1600/IMG_2460.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This gift, which he had planned for another occasion, he couldn't use because it was kept for the show. Most of you know my sunflower obsession. I think he did a great job. It's glass, and the dirt is hardened concrete, so this thing is going nowhere unless on purpose.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FmBD0FDe47oLUkG2sYDaSkMNSCwT3L4FkoLQL2n1CL2BmhA8Q73i5AoXjY1kX979r1LKNqvbtyoDNGHbcZ9xSgzmL-lBCGwU3DDLctdz7BUoGyWRCxwLFIL1xZCTyIwIwWm258wBnw/s1600/IMG_2462.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FmBD0FDe47oLUkG2sYDaSkMNSCwT3L4FkoLQL2n1CL2BmhA8Q73i5AoXjY1kX979r1LKNqvbtyoDNGHbcZ9xSgzmL-lBCGwU3DDLctdz7BUoGyWRCxwLFIL1xZCTyIwIwWm258wBnw/s1600/IMG_2462.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I'll close with this. His third piece from the show. I think you've seen that he certainly knows how to do what he instructs.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ZegAVaaygC2S5-tEC9sW4_hZfmOOycT8Zupc9UjZzwU_9J637mSTPP1ztQWmxEtLadiY-pfeX6eMPvtHM0CqmF5o-UC4Pvtd2DUEEnpcdBsGQ2UnES077Un-2jFst932YGJyWr4_Tw/s1600/IMG_2458.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ZegAVaaygC2S5-tEC9sW4_hZfmOOycT8Zupc9UjZzwU_9J637mSTPP1ztQWmxEtLadiY-pfeX6eMPvtHM0CqmF5o-UC4Pvtd2DUEEnpcdBsGQ2UnES077Un-2jFst932YGJyWr4_Tw/s1600/IMG_2458.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">~Tina, proud mom, who thanks you for bearing with her</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">All pictures by me. </span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">Did you SEE my gorgeous new header? It's by <a href="http://www.beingretro.com/" target="_blank">Jeremy</a>, all things digital, my admin, my bro, my dear friend. Thanks, J, for the AMAZING new artwork.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914384080646206545.post-47259333559212150502014-05-21T05:47:00.000-06:002014-05-21T05:47:21.149-06:00I'm Swamped! But What About the R.O.U.S-es?<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I'm closed today. I've got:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">~ my OYT's 8th grade graduation to attend</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">~ teacher cards to write and gifts to wrap</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">~ my Transporter's last day of school and its associated activities</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">~ and Guilder to frame for it!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">~ I'M SWAMPED!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">~Tina, who hopes she does not get eaten by the eels at this time, but will watch out for the R.O.U.S-es...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtoMIYyjKQUp4nQ0SUW4TLR2FYJY1U9tqS1kec-sIwFB85z0Qg1hT5MQTFnih8d42tphtgGGK93_dNdSzUxmqJ9G5QpQ5o_vfHQOVXalLLhb54imjI1wrKu8DiDnLO-8zufJa-2b_w2A/s1600/IMG_2148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtoMIYyjKQUp4nQ0SUW4TLR2FYJY1U9tqS1kec-sIwFB85z0Qg1hT5MQTFnih8d42tphtgGGK93_dNdSzUxmqJ9G5QpQ5o_vfHQOVXalLLhb54imjI1wrKu8DiDnLO-8zufJa-2b_w2A/s1600/IMG_2148.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">©</span>2014
All Rights Reserved</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">iPhone photo by me. Goofballs. Lovable goofballs.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com20