Thursday, May 22, 2014

bye

I am off on vacation beginning tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. Yippee!! Excited to see family and a city I've never visited before.

Lots to do between now and then, but it is all good. Hey, even the new website looks like it will launch on time Friday morning.

Enjoy the day and see you in June.

Let the good times roll.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

thankful

Looks like the votes are in and a county to the west of us has approved funding a large construction project that will keep hubby and his colleagues busy for the next 18  months. This is good news on many levels and gives us a reason to do a small happy dance.

After the big recession, construction projects were shelved, funding was hard to get, and things ground to a halt. In the last year, however, everything has started to turn around. This latest vote is a huge step in the right direction.

So, I'm very thankful today for the business getting back on track. I'm also thankful my work review seems to finally be complete and they are working on rewriting my job description in order to change my job title.

I may actually return from vacation to a raise and some new words to plop after my name.

It. Is. All. Good.

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

rachel

I seem to have a theme going on. I am now reading "The Undead Pool" which is the second to last in the Rachel Morgan series. My beloved series are coming to an end.

I picked up my first novel in this series based on the title, then realized I had actually started the series with the second book. Oh well! I was hooked. Each novel uses a Clint Eastwood movie as inspiration for its title. Fun stuff!

Rachel and Trent have mended fences in this latest installment and are taking on some force that is leaking wild magic from Rachel's ley line and using it to knock out all the undead vampires in Cincy. The living vampires are in a panic as their masters slumber away. Throw in some elven politics and some crazy demon magic and you have chaos in the Hallows.

While we had a cold and damp weekend, the week has been warm and dry. Work is still nuts and the website may now launch midweek. We are starting to work on the National Meeting program info and spent the day editing descriptions and reloading them into the abstract central portal. Lots of steps. Lots of &s to turn into "and."

And so it goes. Happy Tuesday.

Monday, May 19, 2014

flavia

I read the latest and perhaps the final Flavia de Luce mystery over the weekend. Alan Bradley did amateur sleuthing a big favor when he created Flavia.

While these books are often found in the adult section of the library, they are wonderful reads for YA and perhaps some more advanced 5th grade students. Set in post WWII England, Flavia, age 10, lives with her sisters, her father, and assorted 'staff' in an old manor house. Her mother has been missing for 10 years and the family is carrying on without her. The plot of the final book hinges on Flavia's relationship with her mother, a mother she truly doesn't remember.

I hope that this is not the final time we get to enjoy Flavia. I really hope that Bradley will continue on with this dynamic girl.

Monday has arrived and one week from today I will be waking up in New Orleans! This will be my first trip to a city I've read so much about.

Guess over the weekend some local brews were being tossed from balcony to balcony down there in the French Quarter by two of the world's most handsome men. Wonder if we will get to see any famous mugs while we are exploring the city?

Happy Monday!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

learning

We have been working on our new website all week. It launches Saturday. Moving content, checking links, checking style, and then rechecking it all has made for short days and stiff necks.

I wasn't able to walk yesterday due to the rainy weather we had, but I'm already dressed and ready to go this morning, Just need the sun to come up a bit. The birds are singing and Duke is giving me the look.

I've learned a lot through this website project. I feel pretty comfortable now using the content management system. I've even dabble, a bit, with the code. I don't like coding. I had to do some a while back when I was building courses for the learning library on behalf of the Foundation. Ick.

Through all of this, I have a new appreciation for computer geeks. To sit all day and just check code, and write code, and load code...I think that is borderline hellish.

We also worked on creating the carousel images for the home page. While a bit more creative, that too became a bit old after the tenth one. I did learn that I can't use all of our color palette for the overlays as the yellow is the same yellow as the directional command widget on the page. So, I have to ditch four images and rework them.

Trial and error. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Yep.

Glad tomorrow is Friday! I know on Monday we will have pages of things to fix, but at least the lion's share of the work will be behind us.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

name changer

It was time to change the blog's name, so I did. I've never intended this blog to be a huge traffic magnet. It truly is just a way for me to journal. I like to get my thoughts together, keep track of my reading for the year, and sometimes spout off a bit on things going in my world.

I guess the spouting off was read by someone who took my earned, educated, 6 years in the making, opinion on certain matters and construed them as 'bashing' a local group I once belonged to.

Oh well. Don't need the lurkers. Don't need the drama. So I've made it a bit more difficult for them to find me, in case they were tempted to keep lurking.

I could make the blog private and shut down access. But, I do have some people in my life who enjoy reading my short, off the cuff comments each day.

So, welcome to the new blog, or at least the new name.

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

just the two of us

The department is now down to just two. We have plenty of work to keep us busy. The magazine needs to be sent to print and the website launches Saturday. Oi Vey. My coworker will be back June 2 and then she leaves us for good the beginning of August.

Never a dull moment. It was a long day yesterday. Going to be a long one today even though I'm leaving early to take the boy to the orthodontist for yet another retainer.

Hot and sticky weather has moved into the area, but I did manage to walk for 20 minutes at lunch yesterday. It got up to 90. Crazy!! What happened to Spring?

Off I go. The dog is waiting by his leash.

Monday, May 12, 2014

great weekend

It was a great weekend! Makes it even more difficult to get up and moving today. My coworker leaves Tuesday for Brazil. We'll see her again June 2. She goes to visit every 2 years. Hard to believe I've been in the department that long now.

The weather has turned rather warm and sticky. Yesterday we had a nice breeze and were able to sit outside and enjoy the patio. Always nice to be able to eat outside.

The week has me going in early every morning in order to leave early Tuesday and Thursday to take the boy to the orthodontist and the dentist. Ugh.

Okay, better get moving! Enjoy the day.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

off to college

I've seen quite a few Facebook comments from friends who are watching their oldest child graduate high school. One even shared a link to an excerpt from Rob Lowe's book. Lowe wrote sending his oldest off to college and the struggle he had with the whole experience. One dad posted a comment about watching his final soccer game with his daughter on the pitch. I remember that feeling so well.

I talked with the middle kid for a while yesterday afternoon about her freshman year. How quickly it went. Had she been homesick? Things she learned. People she met. All of the reflective questions that normally come up in such a conversation.

It is such a neat time in life. The whole college experience is wonderful in many ways. The confidence and independence it can foster. The broader world view that can result. The knowledge, both book and life, that can be gained.

Later last night, the oldest finally received notice that her Thermodynamic II grade had posted. She had told us she would be ecstatic with a B-. It is one of the toughest classes and on the advice of her research professor,she took it with the toughest teacher. She finished with a B+. She was beyond thrilled. But one of her comments stuck with me. "If I can get a B+ from Puzi's class, I know I can do anything! Other teachers ask how you did in Thermo II, who you had, your final grade. Getting a B+  from Puzi is like getting a golden ticket."

So happy for her, but even more happy and pleased at how immersed she is in her major, her college, her university life.

Both of the girls have embraced the whole college experience in a way, that if I could do it over again, I would try to do. They are way more confident and outgoing than I ever was at that age.

So, for the folks I know who are watching their children get ready to graduate from high school, it will be okay. Those young people are about to start a great journey, a grand adventure, a wonderful opportunity.

Watch them soar.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

bone scan day

Today I get to have my bones scanned! I've had this done once before and I guess I'm due for another round today. See what is going on with my skeleton.

It seems like the topic of aging has been in the news a lot. From old mice being injected with young mouse blood to a show on the 'oldest of the old,' aging and what they are learning about it is a hot topic right now. I watched a report on 60 Minutes about studies they are doing in California with a group of folks who are over 90 and what they are learning is rather interesting.

A social drink is okay. Being a bit overweight, but not obese, is okay. Moderate exercise, 15 minutes a day, is good for you. Learning new things is good for you. Being social, that is good for you too.

But the real science is coming to play after the study participants pass away. Many of them have donated their brains to the study, and what they are learning is casting doubt on the whole brain plaque-Alzheimer's link.

Memory, cognition, higher thought processes.....to me that is interesting stuff. We don't truly understand our own brains and the research going on continues to show us how little we actually know.

What sort of exciting science and medicine will come along in the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years?

The boy told us that most likely, the first person to live to 150 is already been born. Fascinating stuff.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

nice

I took the Duke for a stroll in the morning, we walked on our lunch break, and I sat outside until the sun set after work. It was so nice yesterday! Gorgeous weather, no humidity, clear skies, a light breeze. Perfection.

This is truly my favorite time of the year. Spring rocks. Allergies and all.

My cold seems to be gone. My nose still hurts a bit, but it is getting better. The ladies cleaned the house for me while I was at work. That is my mother's day gift from them. They did a deep clean and it looks awesome.

I started reading a new Nook book and was pulled in from the start. Exciting!

Things are pretty good. Happy Tuesday!

Monday, May 5, 2014

and they're home

The ladies are home from college. Their rooms are filled with boxes, bags, bins, and assorted other storage containers in various stages of unpacking.

We spent Saturday, the middle kid's birthday, down at our town square. The Fair on the Square enjoyed some amazing weather this weekend. It was great to be out walking around and seeing all the neat arts and crafts. We did notice that several of our favorite food vendors, however, were not there. Either we missed them or they changed location. I fear that the last 3 years of bad weather on this weekend may have prevented them from participating.

But, we weren't really down there to eat since we took the girl and her beau out to dinner for her celebration. Fabulous meal at one of the famous restaurants in the big city next to us. We had cake and strawberries at home for dessert.

Yesterday we puttered around the house. Hubby and the boy worked on the lawn, I worked on laundry, the birthday girl worked on a paper, and the oldest worked on watching Star Wars movies.

Yes, it was May the 4th be With You day.

Happy Monday!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

quiet

It might be very quiet at work today. The boss was out sick yesterday. He either celebrated too much after the Grizzlies' overtime win or he has the crud I brought in the office.

My coworker took the day off to attend a luncheon at the university. She was awarded a fellowship to begin her PhD work.

So, I might be alone! I already made a list of things I need to do. The day will go by quickly and tonight we have the high school theater-communications department banquet. Fun times.

My cold is finally going away! My nose is less sore, but more discolored. The girls will be home in the next 48 hours!

Today is May Day.

Enjoy.