Straight As and Es

So I heard through the family grapevine that my niece and nephew came home yesterday with straight As and Es on their report cards. Sounds like D-daddy and Grammy owe some kids some money. I keep trying to get in on that action with my college grades but it isn't working yet. Anyway, congrats to Mason and Morgan !! I am very proud of them.

Speaking of which, since it has been a lifetime since my last post, JoLynn and the kids were here last weekend for something called Destination Imagination. Mason has been in it a couple of years I think and Morgan was in for the 1st time this year. It is kinda hard to explain what it is all about so click on the underlined link above to learn more. Here are some pictures from the event :

[after the long bus ride from Abilene, the team gathers and gets their game faces on]

[the leader of the pack doles out some advice to the team who seems enthralled]

[high finances ensue....hopefully not to bribe the judges]

[the team poses for their press photo]

[last minute strategizing before the competition]

[let the show begin]

[the team performs their skit]

[Morgan's singing debut - composed originally as a Christian rock song by Mason]

[her adoring fans]

[the competition is over - some successful shopping at the DI store
yields some new head gear in this final press photo]

Overall the competition was long and tiring - but the team did great and obviously had a lot of fun in the process.

Another blog update tomorrow......really.

Ugh....

So, I just realized that it has been almost a week since my last blog, what is wrong with me ?? I guess, as predicted, with school etc. my life has started to get a little mundane. Right now, I am sick. I know, I never get sick......but I have a sore throat and some congestion. Of course, much to my mother's dismay, I have not gone to the doctor. I know I should have yesterday while I was off but, I didn't.

Let's see....in school this past week we had a test in Statistics. It was easy. Maybe because I dislike my Stats teacher so much and think he is incapable of teaching, I studied harder, unsure of what the heck he might put on there. But, I was done in like 12 minutes with the whole test....I know I missed one, maybe two that I just didn't know or guessed at, but sitting there any longer wasn't going to help. Dr. Kuban, Environmental Science, gave us Wednesday night off for Valentine's day so it was a nice short evening for a change.

I had DVR issues again this week.....grrrr. I had been recording every episode of Veronica Mars for my sister because she doesn't get it on her cable and I finally figured out how to move it to a VCR tape on Thursday. So, I started doing that. Then Friday, yesterday, when I woke up I went in to kick off another recording and nothing on my DVR would play. I messed with it and called Time-Warner cable but they said there was nothing they could do except trade out the cable box.....grrrrr. So, if anyone can tell me what happended on One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives and Criminal Minds this last week - I would appreciate it.

Well, there is a little bit about my week. I know I say it all the time, but I will try to get more regular with my blogging again.

Have a good weekend.

Back home.....

....well, I got back home around 7:30p on Saturday night.....a little later than I had planned but still earlier enough to settle down for the night. I had a great time, as usual, in Abilene. I had lunch with the kids on Friday and then picked them up at 3:15p from school. I managed to get a little studying in there and also got ready for a little after-school project I had for them. We did our project and then when JoLynn got home, we went to Cracker Barrell for dinner, the kids choice. It was nice, even though neither of them ate very well.

Basically, we had an early night with a little Scooby Doo movie marathon before bedtime. Saturday morning we got up and milled around the house until it was time to leave for Mason's basketball game. It's hard to get pics there but here are a couple :

[during the game - the ref makes a call]

[after the game - snack time and rewards]

He plays for a league called Upward Bound through the church. He got a RED star after the game for BEST DEFENSE. I wanted to get a shot of him blocking his assigned guy during the game but it was hard to get the shot. He did really awesome on defense and also had an NBA-like save on out of bounds line during the game.

Overall, a great weekend....now back to work and school.

Just a quick one.....

....I had a funny quote from Dr. Kuban from last night but instead I am just posting a quick update. I am leaving after work today to go to Abilene for a couple of days. I'll have lunch with the kids tomorrow, do some studying while they are in school and then pick them up. Mason has a b-ball game Saturday [pictures to come] and then I will head home with some fun stuff in between, I am sure.

So, no new posts until Sunday - everyone reading, have a great weekend.

P.S. Courtney noticed a new element of my blog design - when you hover over any links, like the title of this post or the stuff to the side, you will see a sparkly background. I found this on someone else's blog and stole it - the color scheme doesn't really match, but it is fun.

Joe Kuban : Plants are easy to measure because they don't run away from you.

Well, Professor Kuban was fairly tame last night....but I thought the above quote was fairly insightful. He was talking about measuring the population of something and these were his words of wisdom. It was a toss up between that one and "It's a keeper." - which was uttered during the story of a foot fungus he acquired in Peru in 1994 and has never had treated because he likes how it turns his nail blue when the spores do something. Sadly, apparently, even his dermatologist thinks it's "cool".

The rest of the evening was fine.....I'm not really digging my Stats class. I don't mind the topic but our teacher is not very good at explaining stuff and goes really fast. When we finish a chapter, the homework for that chapter is due during the next class period. Last night, he said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you we finished Chapter 4 last Wednesday....so that should have been due today. So, we will finish Chapter 5 tonight and it will all be due Wednesday."

WTF ?

Guess how many problems are due for Chatpers 4 and 5 tomorrow night ? And, let me tell you these are not 2+2 problems - they are "story" problems sometimes with 2-5 parts.

65

Yep, I had last night, today and tomorrow to do 65 problems. RIDICULOUS ! So, I promptly raised my hand and asked him if he accepts late homework. He wanted to know why I was asking and I simply said, I have to work all day tomorrow, I have class tomorrow night and work all day Wednesday so getting 65 problems done in there will be tough. I'll try but it will be tough. He said he didn't like late work but he would accept it. And, get this, he said "The answers are in the back of the book so you just have to copy them." Are you kidding me ?? He wants me to just copy all the answers for the 65 problems and not even work them. While that might sound appealing in the short term - I doubt that is going to help me much on the 1st test.

By the end of class.....without any more comments from me......he modified his earlier deadline for the whole class and stated that Chapter 4 would be due Wednesday and Chapter 5 on Monday. Much better. Of course, someone then raised their hand and said, "If we finish it all, can we turn in both on Wednesday ?"

Bastards.

Congrats Peyton and the Colts.....

.....on their Super Bowl XLI win !! I was kinda rooting for the Bears just to be different - but I am glad the Colts won.....and thank goodness, otherwise these guys would have felt really foolish walking around downtown Miami last night.

I spent the evening at my friend Charles's house watching the game. We all agreed that while the half-time show with PRINCE rocked, the commercials were LAME this year....nothing really worth remembering. Another NFL season in the books.....maybe with a new coach we can be cheering for the Cowboys sometime in the near future.

WOW ! Big update time.....

...settle in for a long read.

As predicted, I am having trouble being as diligent with my blog updates as I had been because I am so busy. Basically, the routine of my busy-ness keep me from having any unique and interesting thoughts.....grrr. Well, I needed to find a muse or maybe more than one.....and I have.

Meet Dr. Joe Kuban. Professor of Environments Science at Nolan Catholic High School. A singer for his own band, Joe Kuban and the Lost Chizo Band. Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas - Arlington.

Dr. Kuban is my Environmental Sciences teacher and he is h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s. A new feature of my blog will now be occasional titles that say :

Joe Kuban : [and then some quote from him here]

Now, don't get me wrong - this is in no way intended to make fun of him. He is an amazing guy who has had experiences in life that you and I will never have. He is soooo full of life that basically, his thoughts and in turn his vocalization of those thoughts, are completely un-edited. So, look forward to those posts with Dr. Kuban's words and then a school update as well.

School update for now......everything is going well. Statistics is going to be OK - just lots of homework. Physics is just plain going to be hard. I can tell that half of that class will probably drop after the 1st test. It is a lot of math and it is supposed to be an overview of the subject for people teaching K-8th grade. However, it is being taught by a Physics genius and he is having trouble bringing it down to a level that even my nephew could understand. Environmental Science as I mentioned above had the potential to be boring but is fun with Dr. Kuban.

Since my last post.....nothing else is really going on. I've won a couple more incentive awards at work which has been nice. I am enjoying the cold weather unlike most of my fellow Texans. I've been to the No Frills Grill the last couple of Friday's. Congrats to Courtney for turning PINK /PURPLE last night !! One of my school friends, Mandy, joined us last night with her son Zachary. It was nice having new faces around the table. Oh, and you've seen me mention on occasion, that there is a local celebrity there hanging out....Barry Corbin. He is currently playing "Whitey" on One Tree Hill. He was there last night, and we snuck this picture of him with Courtney's camera phone :

He hasn't been on the last few episodes of One Tree Hill, so I stopped and talked to him at one point last night to see if he was done for the season and he said no, he had just come back from filming and was going back again in two weeks to film some more. Yay ! You can read more about Barry and what you might have seen him in on my post from last year - Why I love the No Frills Grill. He's a super nice guy and so is his friend Barb who is sitting next to him in the pic...they always say hi.

So, today, I am making chocolate chip cookies for a Super Bowl gathering I am going to tomorrow at my friend Charles' house. I also have a free movie ticket, so I may go to a movie later. But, until then, I am just studying and updating the blog.

I'm back on track......promise.

Uh oh.....

....I'm afraid with this new school schedule my blogging may slow down a bit. Don't give up on me, I have not stopped blogging - like some people [you know who you are] - I just need to get adjusted to my new schedule. The thing is....on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all I do is get up, work , go to school , go to bed. So, not much to really say.

I am going to try and stay current on the internet with the news, etc. and start making some posts about that since my life is so boring. But, keep checking in ... I am here even when I am not here.

To get us started - here is a headline I saw today :

Gaining weight may influence earning power

Really ?

Duh - how much did we spend on this study ?? Sheesh.

Peace out.

Keeping you up to date.....

...so I've had a busy few days. I went to my WW meeting on Thursday - lost one pound - which is good. It takes me a week or two to get on plan 100% so I was happy with the loss.

Friday I had lunch with my friend Eric and then got a manicure in the afternoon. Ran a couple of errands in between and then headed to the No Frills Grill for dinner. I am back on a Friday night routine for trivia which I like. Charles joined Courtney and I for dinner and afterwards we went to see a movie, The Pursuit of Happyness. It was good, some parts were a little slow but I always enjoy seeing movies based on true stories and it was a good story.

Saturday, I did my Physics homework and then went to IKEA to check it out for the 1st time. It was pretty neat - now that I know what they have there I may make plans to go back some day when I have some money. I did get a set of 6 steak knives for $2.99 which I thought was a good deal.

Last night, just read some physics and caught up on some TV recordings. Today, I am working, doing laundry and baking cookies. With all of the recent inclement weather, my classes have not started yet for Monday/Wednesday so I am looking forward to that tomorrow night and will give you an update.

Have a great week !

P.S. Check out this TURTLE CAM - apparently these guys are saving sea turtles on the coast of Texas due to cold water temps.

Snow !

Looks like I took the snow off of my blog just in time for the real thing. I woke up to about an inch on the ground today and it was still coming down. No school tonight, UTA is closed for the day as are most schools. Here are a couple of pics out my balcony :

[if you look close you can see the blur of the snow coming down]

I guess the only bad thing about working at home is that you can't skip work due to bad weather - oh well.

You ! Inspire me !

I've posted on this topic before but decided maybe a reminder would be nice for the new year. I am going to blog even if no one ever reads anything I write but I must admit that it is more inspiring when I know people are reading.

Sure, I can see more than 4000 visitors since May of last year in my hit count but that could be random people hitting the NEXT BLOG button at the top of the screen. The real way I know you are reading is when you comment. You don't have to be a blogger member to comment and you don't have to have a website - just click on the COMMENTS link and then select OTHER and just type your name - or nickname - no website required. And, then say hi or make some comment on what I had to say. It's easy. And, it lets me know you are keeping up with me.

Just a request, please.

THEA results

Well, oddly, I already got my THEA test results back. If you remember from a previous post, this is a test for college placement and also the test required to enter the Education program at UTA. There are three parts to the THEA; Reading, Writing and Mathematics.

So my results :

Reading : Needed a 270, got a 287
Writing : Needed a 220, got a 270
Mathematics : Needed a 230, got a 286

Hurray ! I don't have to take any of it over.

chane, chane, change......

Along with the new healthier me, comes the new healthier blog design. Hope you like it.....

A couple of updates :

• I did join weight watchers this morning - so woo hoo !!
• I saw DREAMGIRLS last night and I have to say JENNIFER HUDSON deserves every award she is nominated for and more for her role in this movie - wow !
• I am going to Abilene in the morning for a quick 36 hour turn-around. So, probably no blog again until Sunday.

Have a great weekend.

The mindset.....

I am completely of the belief that the mindset you have when changing the way you eat/live is 100% key to your success. I have often said, that any diet will work for anybody if they have the mindset to commit to it and change. So, how do you get there ?

I don't know.

For me, I have also believed in mind over matter when it comes to getting sick. When I get a sniffle or a symptom - I tell myself, no, no time to get sick and I don't want to be sick. And, I don't get sick. Obviously, there is not much I can do about food-poisoning which I recently experienced but overall this works for me. If I say, ugh, I am getting sick, where's the bed, I want my mommy....then my body will react accordingly and I will get sick.

Now, this is just me.

So, what am I doing to get ready for my healthier change in 2007. I am talking to myself, talking to my mind and body. I am acknowledging the challenges, worrying about the stuff I am going to miss and crave and generally getting my mind ready for the change. I know it is not going to be easy and that is the thing I really think I need to work on from a mindset stand-point so I don't get discouraged. I am joining Weight Watchers tomorrow....it is a good place for support and the accountability of a weigh-in. I started last week trying to walk 0.5 mile at lunch...and once I am not huffing and puffing when I get home, I will increase the distance. I'm not meeting my goal of every work day yet by 100% but I am working on a gradual improvement to get there - I am doing more than I was two weeks ago and that is a good start.

Let the change begin.

First things first.....

....so I made a few changes effective January 1 that I am putting in place right away. NUMBER ONE ... be healthier. Seriously, I have an overall goal for 2007 of getting healthier and part of that was telling myself that I am smart enough to know what food to not put in my mouth...and first to go on that list is fried food. I am no longer eating anything fried. Period. Really, I don't think it is going to be that difficult. There are plenty of things to eat at restaurants, etc. that are not fried. A few more items immediately on the banned list are white rice, white bread and regular pasta. I may eat the whole grain versions of these on occasion but overall....banned.

More updates on changes later.

The story of their lives....Bob da*n it.......

Well, I finally got past my EIGHT days in a row of working - ugh !! It was so exhausting. And now I am officially on my new schedule. So, I had Friday and Saturday off. I spent Friday hanging out with a friend in the morning and then ran errands in the afternoon, I wanted the day to be fairly restful because Saturday I was taking the THEA test at 8:00a. This is a test for college placement and also the test required to enter the Education program at UTA. There are three parts to the THEA, Reading, Writing and Mathematics. I have to achieve certain scores in each one to get into the program.....270, 220 and 230 respectively. I will get the test scores back in 10 days. I thought it was long and tiring but I think I did good.

After the test I went home to relax and took a little nap. I went to the No Frills Grill at 5:00p to hang out, eat, play trivia and watch the Cowboy's game. Well, this picture pretty much sums that experience up :
With less than 2 minutes to play, the Cowboys are losing 21-20, they march it down the field to like the 5-yard line but cannot get the touchdown. So, Gramatica comes in for the 3-point kick to win the game. It's a 19-yard kick, a no brainer. But as is the story of their lives, Tony Romo fumbles the snap, the good snap, and the extra-point is history. He tries to grab the ball and run it in but, it's all over. Even a hail-mary with 2 seconds left can't save them.

It was a screaming, cussing and yelling moment. So disappointing. Which brings me to my last blog topic, swear words. I don't really use them that often. I might say "What the hell?" in a moment of frustrated confusion but I don't really have a standard swear word for those instant moments, like when you stub your toe or are just flat out mad. So, I created a new one. Bob damn it. The beauty of Bob damn it is that you are not taking the Lord's name in vain but it sounds similar enough to the common version that you are still getting your anger across. Feel free to start using it yourself.

Until next time.......peace out.

OK, so it's that time.....

....time to pick the folder/notebook colors for my classes so I can search my warehouse of office supplies to see if I need to buy anything. This semester I gave the task to my cousin since he was so disappointed in my choices last semester. Here are our emails back and forth :

To : Tom
From : Tracy

I am giving you the honor of picking my school folder colors for this semester. Here are my classes :

MATH 1308 - ELEMENTARY STATSTICS
SCIE 3301 - INTEGRATED PHYSICS & CHEMISTRY
SCIE 3305 - ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS

What colors do you choose and then I will blog them for everyone to see ??

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

To : Tracy
From : Tom

okay - well, math is really black and white, so I would pick either of those colors.

physics and chemistry...hmmmmm...i'm not really feeling a color preference...so, YELLOW!

environmental systems - i'm not even sure what this class would entail, but anytime i think of the environment, i hope for GREEN systems.

i'm at work - gotta go

So there you have it.

ELEMENTARY STATSTICS - black
INTEGRATED PHYSICS & CHEMISTRY - yellow
ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS - green

Christmas Recap.....

OK - so here is the Christmas recap.....first of all, of course it was awesome to see my parents even though it was only for a short time. I met them Saturday morning [the 23rd] for breakfast at The Cracker Barrel in Arlington on the their way to Abilene. We had a great breakfast and I gave them my presents to take down with them. I got a tour of the trailer and then they were off. I worked Saturday and Sunday and headed to Abilene at 5p on Christmas Eve. Arrived safe and sound and finished up the thumbprint cookies my dad loves when I got there. The kids were decorating cookies and everything was ready to go.

That evening, we played Mason's 'Show Me The Present' game where he had put together a little present for each of us and then we had to answer Christmas trivia questions. Although Grammy's question was questionably Christmas related. It was a lot of fun and was just another example of how creative he is. We got cookies and reindeer food out for Santa and the reindeer - then I was off to bed out in the trailer with Mason and Dad.

The next morning we all got up to see if Santa had been there and open presents. Here are several pictures from the day.

[before the madness begins]

[emptying out the stockings]

[Mason's favorites]

[Morgan's favorite]

[Morgan's horse jean jacket]

[The Cars tent - taking up most of Mason's room]

[Inside the Cars tent]

[The aftermath]

I got all kinds of awesome gifts from everyone. I got a Playstation 2, some royal blue CROCS, some stereo speakers for my living room to plug my iPod into so I can have music. I got , the KONE, some games for the PS2, some bling for my iPod. I got a lot of ornaments from Mom and JoLynn 'cause my tree needs some work. Overall it was a great Christmas !

Of course I had to work on Tuesday, so I left Christmas afternoon to head back home. And sadly, instead of making myself something to eat when I got home, I went out for a bite. The next day was basically HELL. Somehow, something I ate was not good....and Tuesday was the worst day of 2006 - I was sick and aching all day. It was horrible. I worked for a couple of hours just to get some stuff done but then I was in bed the rest of the day. It was awful. Thanks to Courtney for bringing me chicken noodle soup, crackers and sprite.

Mom and dad ended up coming through town earlier than planned and we had dinner at Steak and Ale where I had some grilled chicken breast and potato - still being careful from my last outing and then they were off the next morning.

Overall - the holidays were great - even though they were short and I didn't get to go back to Abilene to spend time with mom and dad since I was sick. Next year, when I have some vacation time things will be much better and less hectic.

I hope everyone that reads this had a wonderful holiday and was able to spend time with family and friends.

New schedule......

So, this is my new work schedule effective next week - that fits around my school schedule. I am so lucky that I am working for a company that works with me to help accommodate this. I will have Friday/Saturday off also which is great. I worked every weekend for this last 6-months so it will be nice to have one weekend day off.

By the way, the school part of this schedule doesn't start until Monday, January 15th.
I will post tomorrow with Christmas pictures and stories.

Grades !

Just a quick post with my Fall 2006 grades :

TRIGONOMETRY : A
ARITHMETICAL PROBLEM SOLVING : A

What I expected....it was a good semester and I am looking forward to Spring classes.