Weight Loss Wednesday, July 31

 

Okay, first a small tangent.  What the heck has happened to the formatting on my blog?  Most of the page seems to look okay, but random entries have incorrect spacing and strange formatting, and the sidebar of past posts has turned gigantic.  And all of this has happened without me understanding one little bit about how or why.  It’s really quite annoying.  I only just noticed it yesterday, though it’s possible—probably even likely—that it’s been that way a while and I’ve just been too wrapped up in other things to see it.  I suppose I’ll have to do some research and figure out how to get things back to how they should be. 

In the meantime, this week’s report is not particularly exciting.  Almost 500 steps short of my goal, so I am clearly still having some problems with consistency.  Of course, it didn’t help that I ditched the gym on one of my regular days due to too much homework/studying and then I didn’t make it up over the weekend (for the same reason).  The way I like to think of it, though, is that had I spent even 30 minutes on the treadmill as is my norm, I would’ve far exceeded my weekly step goal, so I think I’m slowly getting better at the moving about. 

And, no weight loss this week.  But, no gain, either, and considering I was eating pretty badly (even for me), I think that’s a win.  It’s just about being able to keep on keeping on. 

	Steps	Activities
Wednesday	5,947	--
Thursday	5,260	--
Friday	8,475	--
Saturday	6,531	--
Sunday	10,193	48 mins treadmill, 2.79 miles
Monday	8,854	--
Tuesday	13,801	46 mins treadmill, 2.27 miles

In the Nick of Time

 

Summer school is officially over!  I took my last final this evening (which I don’t feel I did particularly well on, by the way, but I think well enough to maintain my A, so that’s all that matters at this point).  Anyway, as the title says, just in the nick of time.  I know I’ve mentioned a time or two that I have had precious little time to watch my beloved medium, but you can see for yourself. 

And that’s just one screen; I can scroll another one or two more screens and they all look like this.  And, Unforgettable just returned to the air this past Sunday, so I just added another series to my list to record.  As an aside, Unforgettable has been sort of revamped, and it looks like most of the supporting cast is gone.  Of course, Poppy Montgomery remains onboard, and Dylan Walsh, which is good, because they’re sort of cute together.  But the only other familiar face I saw was Jane Curtin, which I thought was a little odd.  She has an interesting character, but she was only on the last ten or so  eps.  Maybe TPTB decided she hadn’t been in enough episodes for anyone to dislike her too much.   Could be.  Either way, she’s there in the new episodes, so I suppose everyone will get a chance to form an opinion. 

Anyway, I digress.  The point is, the ending of classes couldn’t have come at a much better time, from television viewing perspective.  The episodes are really piling up and my lack of storage space will reach critical mass soon. 

Yes, summer school is definitely over just in the nick of time, and I know just what I’m doing this weekend. 

The Latest Theory

 

So, not much has crossed my radar lately that hasn’t been school or work related, but I read an article today that made me pause for a moment, just long enough to shake my head in wonder.  And it got me thinking. 

It seems the Reelz Channel will be airing a docudrama this fall with yet another theory on the assassination of President Kennedy.  Only this time, the second shooter isn’t a mobster or one of Hoover’s henchmen, nor was he a Russian or a disgruntled Teamster.  No, this time around the second shot came from an unexpected and unintentional source: a hung over, poorly trained Secret Service agent.  So I’ll just say it: that just seems unlikely.

Here’s my way of thinking on the whole JFK thing: 

• I believe Oswald was probably not the only one involved. 
• I don’t believe in any of the government involved conspiracy theories, not because I think those in government are above lying and covering up, but because I believe large numbers of people just can’t keep a secret.
• And lastly, I believe we’ll likely never know the truth.  I mean, let’s face it, it’s been almost fifty years; I think if there were a definitive answer to be found, someone would have found it (see#2 above), and it would have been presented in such a way that there couldn’t be any doubt.

Still, I suppose it’s always interesting to hear new theories, even if I think most of them are just something to pass the time rather than anything to be taken very seriously.  Though I’ll also admit that there’s a part of me that wonders why we can’t just let it be.  I sometimes think how hard it must be for his family every time some new theory makes the headlines, and how unfair it is to them, though I’d guess they’ve mostly become immune to such things, which is a whole other story, and kind of a sad one at that.

What tidbits of news have made you stop and ponder lately?

 

Snapshot Sunday, July 28

 

Sad to report that I went through an entire week without taking a single picture.  I snapped a photo last Sunday of the meal I was eating for the “fave food” prompt for photo a day, and that’s the last time I picked up the camera.  (It was a yummy meal, though; take a look:) 

I think it’s likely that Mexican food is really my favorite, but a nice grilled steak comes in a very close second.  Yummm. 

Anyway, so I’ve ditched the daily photos yet again.  One of these days I’ll make it through an entire month; maybe I’ll try again in August, since at least two-thirds of that month I won’t be in school, so maybe things will be a little bit slower paced.

Anyway, then today I happened to look out my window and I saw a first-time bird visitor to the yard.  Not out at the feeder, just wandering around our driveway.  I snapped a few photos through the window, since I knew he’d run off as soon as I opened the door—which he did.

We see roadrunners out and about along the highway sometimes, but I’ve never seen one in our yard.  I wish I could’ve gotten better pictures, but I still enjoy seeing someone new come for a visit.  I was sort of surprised the cats didn’t chase after him, but they were just laying there in the driveway, not paying him a bit of attention.

So that’s it for the shutterbugging this week, pretty slim pickin’s, I’d say, but there’s always next week.  That’s the great thing about the camera; it’s always willing to wait for me and be ready as soon as I give the word. 

Six Word Slug

 

Image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Been tired all day; napping helps.

 

Five Questions Interrupted by a Nap

 

It’s Friday, Friday, Friday!  Of late, this has become the night I get my best and longest sleep of the week, so I’m looking forward to making that trend continue.  So, let’s get to the questions and I’ll get to my bed.

1. What is your best secret cleaning tip?

Hahaha!  If you could look around my house, you’d know the answer to that without asking.  Actually, my big tip is to let someone else do it for you!

2. What is your favorite food to snack on during movie night?

Buttered popcorn or Junior Mints.  That’s movie snacks, as far as I’m concerned, at least at the theater.  We don’t really have too many movie nights at our  house, but I’d think similar snacks would be called for.

3. If it was up to you, what would you have named the royal baby?

Not George, I feel quite certain of that.  Nothing against all the fine and upstanding Georges, of course.  And, I have to admit, I’m a big fan of Alexander.

4. If you could be any Disney character who would you choose?

If it’s okay to blur gender lines, I think I might want to be Simba.  He’s got the obligatory traumatic childhood, of course, so that’s kind of a bummer, but he’s good and kind, makes the most of a bad situation, and is willing to step up and do the right thing when called upon.  I suppose on some level, that’s just about a blueprint for any Disney hero, but I’m still going with  Simba.  He’s cute and he’s got good music.

5. What's the most important part of a healthy relationship?

Honesty.  Or maybe laughter.  Or communication.  Oh, that’s hard to say the most important.  But my first instinct was honesty, and I think I’m still going with that.  It really doesn’t matter how much you’re talking or laughing if it’s all lies anyway.

Okay, so remember when I said I was looking forward to my bed?  Well, that was many hours ago as apparently I fell asleep sitting right here on the couch typing up these answers.  I must’ve needed that sleep more than I even knew.  But, it’s now just after 5:00am, and I can tell already I’m going to have a kink in my back and my neck from the weird angle I’ve been at; I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m getting far too old to be comfortable sleeping on a couch.  My bed is going to feel extra good now!

So, good night, or good morning, and I hope you all have a pleasant weekend ahead.

What’s New

 

“Start where you are.  Use what you have.  Do what you can.” ~ Arthur Ashe

Calley, the girl who’s been training me at my new job, worked her last day yesterday.  So, obviously, that means today my first day on the job on my own.  All in all, I think things went pretty well.  Sure, there are a lot of things I don’t know yet, and I’ll probably ask about a jillion questions before it’s all said and done, but that’s the way new things are, right?  And I think I might feel sort of new for a while.  It’s kind of weird, but now that Calley’s gone, it’s almost like everything is brand new all over again, just like it was a couple of months ago when I first walked into the office.  But it’s going to be fun learning it all.

Also, I think I might’ve mentioned before that one of my professors wanted me to help her get the school paralegal club up and running again.  Well, we’re finally getting that project under way.  I was elected president of the club, so it’s going to keep me pretty busy for a while, but I think it’s a worthwhile way to spend some time.  The officer group had our first meeting last night, and I think we got quite a few things ironed out in the general, big-picture way, plus we’ve started planning a back to school mixer, which will be a fun way to get to meet (hopefully) the new students who are just joining the program this year, plus give folks a chance to get to know better people they might’ve been sharing classes with for a while now.  “Mixer” sounds a little old-fashioned maybe, but I think it’s quaint and should be a fun way to begin our networking, and our new school year. 

So, in the grand scheme of things. even though the summer semester is winding down (just 2 exams to take online this weekend, and one to study for and take next Tuesday, and summer session is OVER!), it looks like I’m going to have plenty of things to keep me busy for quite a while.  Here’s to keeping busy.

What sorts of things are occupying your time these days?

Weight Loss Wednesday, July 24

 

Man, I’m exhausted!  Only two more days of classes, and then I get a short break.   Pretty sure I’m just going to sleep through every spare moment I have.  That may not sound like much fun, but it’s what I’m looking forward to.

I’m also looking forward to the bed that’s waiting for me right no, so let’s get this weekly recap done.

Glad to see that my steps exceeded my daily step goal this week.  (66,871 vs 59,500 goal)  I’d still like to see a bit more consistency, which would mean at least 8,500 steps each day, but I’ll keep working on that.

And, another 1/2 pound down this week; there’s hope for me yet!

	Steps	Activities
Wednesday	8,612	--
Thursday	12,596	1.7 miles treadmill
Friday	8,763	--
Saturday	7,420	3.26 miles treadmill
Sunday	9,180	--
Monday	7,044	--
Tuesday	13,256	2.6 miles treadmill

RIP Dennis Farina

 

 

  Yesterday the world lost a talented actor, Dennis Farina.

  Farina was one of those guys with a recognizable face and voice, even if you couldn’t always remember where you’d seen him before.  I suppose he’s what you’d call a character actor, though he had some leading roles on television, most notably in Crime Story and Law & Order. 

  I used to be a L&O fan, though I’ll admit that I lost interest long before it left the air.  And I’ll also admit that even though I enjoyed Farina’s work, I was never as fond of him on L&O as I was Jerry Orbach.  Still, I thought he brought something interesting to the show—a sort of presence that not everyone has. Really, his overall demeanor was always interesting to me, somewhere between menacing and debonair, like you never knew if he was going to invite you over to the club or break your kneecaps.  I always figured that came in handy back in his previous life, when he began his professional career as a cop.

And, while we’re on the subject of his previous career, I’ve always found that interesting, too.  Sure, lots of people change careers, and plenty of them even do it in their middle-aged years like he did.  But let’s be honest; not too many folks make the change from being an actual law enforcement officer to playing one on TV.  I think it’s kind of cool.

But although Farina spent a lot of time working in television—even an episode of my beloved Hardcastle and McCormick back in the day—it is a movie role that has most endeared him to me:  Jimmy Serrano from Midnight Run.  Midnight Run is a quirky little movie from back in the 80s about an ex-cop turned bounty hunter (Robert DeNiro) who needs to get a former mob accountant (Charles Grodin) back where he belongs before the bail bondsman loses the big bucks he put up on the guy.  It’s literally laugh out loud funny many times throughout the movie, and it’s even better when it’s more subtle.  Of course, it’s likely no surprise to anyone who knows me that the thing I like best about the film is the friendship that develops between the two main characters, even against all odds.  I am a sucker for a good buddy show.

And where does Farina come in?  Well, Grodin’s an accountant for the mob, right?  And Farina has that whole menacing vibe going on that I mentioned; trust me when I say he’s a believable mobster.   Of course, he’s got some bozo henchmen working for him (wouldn’t be much of a comedy if everyone was actually ending up dead all the time), and seeing him at his wit’s end with the hired help is very funny to me.  And, the scene in the airport where he’s making an exchange with the bounty hunter—wonderful.  I’d think it’s hard to hold your own in a scene with Robert DeNiro, but Farina delivers like a pro.  If you haven’t seen Midnight Run before now, you should do yourself a favor and check it out.  Like I said, it wins for me on every level, but Farina’s portrayal of Jimmy Serrano really is top notch.

So, farewell, Jimmy, and thanks Mr. Farina, for bringing him to us.  May you rest in peace. 

It’s a Boy!

 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are finally parents!

Honestly, I can’t tell you why it matters to me if a fancy-dancy couple halfway around the world has had a baby today.  But I can’t deny there’s a fascination with royalty in general, and English royalty in particular.  And, even more so, the younger generation of royalty, who seems intent on living their lives as normally as they possibly can, given their circumstances. 

And I’ll admit that sometimes I wish we had a royal family over here.  Oh, I know, that flies in the face of everything the country has stood for for the past two hundred and thirty some-odd years, but I can still wish every once in a while can’t I?  Of course, when push comes to shove, I’d probably be annoyed if someone got to be in charge of things just because they were born into a ruling family, though I think we’re all deluding ourselves if we still buy into the idea that just any child born into the United States can grow up to be president.  But I digress. 

But, whether it’s PC or not, I like the royals, complete with their traditions and their entitlements and their oh-so-proper ways.  I find it all a little bit charming and quaint, though I can recognize how it all might get a little old if we actually did have a royal family sitting around over here.  Oh, but I do have to say, taking a week or so to name a kid does seem just a bit over the top.

So, congratulations to Prince William and his lovely wife, Kate as they welcome their baby, His Royal Highness Prince Whoever He May Be of Cambridge. 

Snapshot Sunday, July 21

 

I love taking pictures, I really do.  And I especially love taking pictures of things that aren’t just “events”—you know, birthdays, vacations, holidays, etc.  I like to just snap photos of the things I see around me in life.  That’s why the photo-a-day challenge really appeals to me, because it gives me a reason to take at least one photo every day, and even gives me some direction on the kinds of things I should be on the lookout for.  Sometimes people need some encouragement to be creative.  Or at least I do.

What I don’t like, though, is when I feel swamped by life, which makes me feel like I have no time to be creative.  I used to write pretty regularly in a couple of fandoms, now this blog is the only writing I manage to keep up.  And, I used to enjoy playing around with editing the photos I would take, seeing if I could improve them or just shake things up a little bit, but now I click the shutter and hardly even go back to look at the picture once it’s taken.  That is no fun at all.  But I suppose it is life; the things we enjoy don’t always get to be the things we spend the most time on.  How horribly unfair. 

Still, I haven’t given up on photography entirely.  I’m still snapping the daily photo (at least most days), and even more often than that things that I see make me think of a photograph.  I don’t always have a chance to take them, but I’m always glad to know that I haven’t quit noticing the fleeting moments, even if I don’t always take the time to capture them for posterity.  So even in the overwhelm of life, creativity never completely fades away.  Thank goodness.

How do you keep up with the things that are important to you, even when life gets in the way?

Just one of the random photos in my files that I’ve always sort of liked.

Six Word Wish

 

I vote for five day weekends.

 

  Time for another week of Six Word Saturday; join in, won’t you?

Five Questions Before Bedtime

 

Welcome to the end of another very long week.  I am so glad to say that the summer semester is winding down, as I’ve decided I’m just getting too old for this non-stop schedule of mine.  I actually felt like I might fall asleep driving home today, and I have to tell you, that’s not a very good feeling.  I got home and fell into bed for a couple of hours, then Brian and I went out to dinner.  It’s the second Furlough Friday, so probably we should be more frugal with our funds since there’s another couple of months of furlough days coming up, but I was far too tired to cook.  And he’d been out mowing all day, so he was pretty beat, too.  Chili’s was much easier, and besides, they have these yummy jumbo pretzel appetizers.

But enough of that, let’s get on with this week’s questions.  Thanks as always to Mama M for hosting.

1. What is one thing you have too many of in your house?

Probably plastic souvenir cups.  We don’t stand on formality around here, and most of our beverages are served in a plastic cup.  So if we’re out somewhere buying a drink and getting a reusable plastic cup is an option, I usually do that—especially if I’m someplace that I actually want a souvenir from.  The ones from vacations and such I always want to keep forever, but I’ll admit that we could probably stand to get rid of a few that came from the local football stadium.

2. Did anything go not quite as planned on your wedding day?

Well, of course.  Does any wedding day ever go completely smoothly?  Thankfully, though, I don’t remember anything too drastic going wrong.  Brian’s car had broken down the day before.  Something relatively simple (well, you know, for a car guy like him), so he could fix it up, but that meant he had to spend the morning of the wedding actually fixing it.  But since we were driving down to Dallas to catch the flight to our honeymoon destination, we sort of needed a car.  I don’t remember now why we couldn’t drive mine and let the repair wait until after we returned, but I know that’s not how it worked out.  Also, as Brian and I were walking out of the chapel, my dress caught on the hinge or something of the door, not only snagging me and slowing down our exit, but it ripped just a little bit.  Fortunately it was only the underskirt, but it still made me sad.  My guess is there were other small things that didn’t go as they were supposed to, but that’s all I really remember, so I’ll consider that a win.

3. What is your favorite summer smoothie recipe?

Nothing too fancy; I prefer a piña colada flavor, pineapple and coconut.  Though I actually make mine with a splash of orange juice, too, so it’s got a slightly different tang than just proper piña colada.

4. What is the weather like where you are?

It’s warm, hot even, but not the kind of miserable swelter that it often is this time of year.  We had some rain for several days earlier this week, so things were significantly cooler then—in the 80s—but it’s warmed back up now.  It’s supposed to be mid 90s for the next week or so, which isn’t too bad at all.  Nice summertime weather. 

5. What is your favorite book to read to your kids?

My kid is long past the reading to stage, but anything Seuss was usually a big hit in our household back in the day.  Also, I have to say that much of my fondness for the Harry Potter books likely stems from the fact that Billy and I sort of read them together.  The first one came out when Billy was about six or seven, and I read that one to him, with him watching the pages intently.  A year or so later when the second one came out, we took turns reading it to each other.  By the time the third (and subsequent volumes) came out, he was reading them on his own and we had to buy two copies because we both wanted to read them right away.  Fun times.

And, that’s that for the questions this week.  I’ve done my juvenile law worksheet, but won’t be able to upload until tomorrow due to routine server maintenance at the school.  I am considering doing one section of math homework, but the reality is I will probably jog in place for a few minutes (because I’m about one thousand steps short of my 8500 goal) and then go to bed.  Nap or no nap, I am still mighty tired.  As I might have mentioned, I am not getting any younger!

Goodnight, and happy weekends to you all.

Too Attractive?

 

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So, have you heard about the dental assistant in Iowa who was fired for being too attractive?  Yeah, apparently after ten years, her boss (and his wife) decided that the assistant was too great a temptation, and that he might act upon his temptations if she remained.  So, she sued him for gender discrimination.  And lost.  

The story is making the rounds of the Internet, and it seems a lot of people are siding with the assistant.  Now, I’ll be the first one to tell you that getting fired sucks bit crime.  And for the termination to be for something so seemingly trivial seems even worse; I get that.

But, the reality is, last time I checked, attractive people were not a protected class.  As such, terminating an employee for this reason might seem shallow and heartless, but it is not illegal.  And, we’ve got members of truly protected classes that are suffering abuse and discrimination of all sorts that should never have happened, much less be happening in 2013.  Yet somehow we don’t seem nearly as offended by that as by the fact that a “hot” woman was fired for her looks.

Makes me think maybe we’ve got a long ways to go.

Weight Loss Wednesday, July 17

 

So, as you can see from the chart, I didn’t get anywhere close to my step goal this week.  But, even though I missed it by a huge margin, I don’t feel nearly as bad about it as I did last week, even though I was much closer then.  But, the reason is simple: I know now I’m on the right path.  I had two really lazy days brought on by far too much homework and a short illness, but I know that’s not going to continue.  (Well, at least not to such an extent, though I’m still quite a ways from being done with homework for good.)

But, to help keep moving in the right direction, I joined a gym last week.  Really, all I want is access to a treadmill, but the one I want is too expensive to buy, and the gym at school keep ridiculously short hours, so I decided to join up.  My sister said she’ll go with me on the weekends, and a friend from school is going to go with me during the week after class, so that should help keep me a bit accountable—and be a bit more entertaining.  My goal is to get at least three visits in per week, and four if I can possibly swing it.  I obviously only made it twice last week, but I didn’t join up until Friday night, so I think I’m off to a pretty good start.

And, to the point of it all, I dropped 1.5 pounds this past week, so yay for that.  It’s a start, and I’ll take it gladly.

 

	Steps	Activities
Wednesday	6,583	--
Thursday	8,648	--
Friday	8,830	--
Saturday	9,257	3.26 miles treadmill
Sunday	1,838	--
Monday	2,236	--
Tuesday	10,030	1.75 miles treadmill

Cartoon Saturdays

 

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you may or may not have picked up on the fact that my brain goes on these tangents from time to time.  For instance, today, it was something like this . . .

I still can’t believe I let myself get sick yesterday.  Not only get sick, but call in sick.  Glad I’m feeling a little better today because I don’t really have time to be sick anyway.  I should’ve stayed up late last night and finished those case briefs for Dr. Johnson; now everything is going to be off schedule all week long.  One little thing goes wrong and everything is out of whack because this treadmill I’m on right now is unforgiving.  I think this is how George Jetson must’ve felt.  George Jetson, I miss cartoons.

So, that’s how it came to be that I thought I should talk a little bit about Saturday morning cartoons today.  First, let’s just think about the idea of “Saturday morning cartoons”.  I’m pretty sure that’s a concept that today’s generation of kids can’t even comprehend, what with prime-time animated programs and 24 hour cartoon networks.  I mean, I’m sure there are still cartoon on on Saturday morning, but I’m not sure kids look forward to them the same way that we did, back when those few hours once a week was all you had.  Oh how I loved Saturday mornings.

Obviously, I liked to watch The Jetsons.  And Fat Albert and Josie and the Pussycats.  And the Saturday morning shows that weren’t really cartoons at all:  Land of the Lost, Shazam!, H.R. Pufnstuff.  Man, I’m telling you, I loved those shows.  (Yes, my love of television started at an early age.)

But the very best of them all was Scooby Doo, Where Are You?  Is there anyone in the last couple of generations who wouldn’t recognize the phrase, “Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?”, or “those meddling kids!”? 

Young “kids”—teenagers supposedly, but I was never really buying that—who were out solving crimes in their Mystery Machine, that’s what Scooby Doo was all about.  And it had all the types: good-looking hero, a pretty heroine who needed rescuing an awful lot, a smart girl, and a guy (and a dog) who were really just sort of trying to live life one day at a time, having some fun along the way, with nothing to “heavy” to come along and mess things up.   You sort of have to wonder how they even became such good friends.  It’s like they were the Breakfast Club of the 70s or something.

It sounds a little goofy, and, honestly, it was a little goofy, but that didn’t keep it from being an awful lot of fun.  Heck, I bet I’d enjoy watching an episode of Scooby Doo even today.  It makes me sort of sad that kids of today won’t know the fun of waiting all week for their favorite cartoon, getting up early on the day they could be sleeping in, and sitting glued to the television set for just a few hours every week, seeing their Saturday morning favorites.  Those really were the days.

What were your Saturday morning favorites?

 

Changes

 

“Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change.”  ~Herodotus

I don’t know about men, but I’m pretty sure that for this particular woman, that idea sometimes holds true.  At least as far as dealing with the physical requirements of change.  When I was offered this new job, set to begin the exact same day as the summer semester, Brian really didn’t want me to take it, though he recognized the wonderful opportunity it was to be working in my new field even before I graduated.  And, there’s no denying a little extra income has helped.  His second choice after turning down the job was for me drop at least one or maybe even two of my summer classes.  Well, for a whole lot of course scheduling reasons, I didn’t want to do that, either. 

Now here we are, six weeks later, and I’m worn to a nub and woke up sick today.  Nothing drastic, just some sort of stomach bug/headache thing, but it kept me in bed most of the day, so I had to call in absent to that still-newish job.  That sort of sucked.  And, I’ve tried to do a bit of homework the times I’ve been up, but I’m pretty sure I’ll have to be taking advantage of the fact that our professor will accept a very few late assignments, because I don’t think all three assigned case briefs will be done by tomorrow night.  I mean, they could be, if I stayed up half the night, but I can’t do that.  I’m going to try and find two more cases before I have to head back to bed, but there’s no way they’re going to be read and briefed tonight.                                                                      Image courtesy of Ohmega1982 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Still, even though I feel pretty cruddy right now, and even though the change of adding a new job to a full load of classes may be partly to blame, I’m still happy with the choices I’ve made.  The legal classes I’m taking are interesting to me, and they were not available any other semester, so I’m glad I kept them.  Even the math class, though I am in no way enjoying it, will be beneficial by allowing me a second degree, so I’m glad-ish that I kept it as well.  And as for the job, well, I’m gaining experience every day and getting the opportunity to see some of the things in real-life that I’m still reading about in textbooks.  How cool is that? 

So, this bit of upheaval in my life can’t possibly be a bad thing, even if it is wearing me down little by little.  It’s a short-term situation (just under three weeks of class left!), and I anticipate the fall semester will be much better.  I just need to get through July and then things should settle down considerably.  Just have to keep remembering that this is all change for the better.

 

Have you had any changes lately that are leading you down the path of illness?  Are they worth it?

Snapshot Sunday, July 14

 

So, there will be no photo-a-day pictures this week.  I took them (though I have an inkling I missed one day somewhere along the week, but I’m not certain), but I usually pull them all off my phone and/or camera and edit them all on Sunday.  Because, after all, Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, right?  Unfortunately, I took a bit of a rest day yesterday, sort of a mental health day.  Which means I pretty much ditched my homework and most everything else that needed doing.  Oh, I did a tiny bit of my Juvenile Law reading, and I worked quite a bit on stuff for our new Paralegal Club, but beyond that, pretty much nothing.  And what I really didn’t do was all the math homework I needed to be doing.   Consequently, I had a lot of catching up to do today.

So, this is what I’ve been doing all day.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but math and I do not really get along; my brain just doesn’t work properly for equations and rules and solving for X or whatever.  Today’s chapter was probabilities, and even after a solid day of reading the text, working through the homework assignments, and going over countless examples, I still could not tell you a single thing about them.  Except that maybe if I’d known how to calculate probability a few months ago I could’ve used that knowledge to calculate the odds that taking this stupid course would totally jack up my GPA.  That might have been a useful application.  Though, in truth, I’ve surprised myself so far by managing to hold on to an A in the class, but I’ve still got a couple more quizzes and a test to get through, and only a 95% average so far.  I’d feel better if I had a few more percentage points to play with, since I am seriously lost on this crap we’re doing right now.

Anyway, the whole point, of course, is that no pictures got edited or even moved from their current storage location, so they will have to wait until next week.  Because while I’ve finished with the math for now, I’ve still got to get back to the juvenile law stuff that I only sort of read over yesterday, and then answer the fifty or so questions that go along with it.  Fun times.

Oh, I do have one other photo to share—a picture from someone on Facebook that amused me.

If you’ve been around here much, you know I’m not given to too many political statements, but this made me laugh.  Now, don’t get me wrong; like most of America—and certainly most of my Facebook friend list—I’ve got an opinion about the George Zimmerman verdict.  However, unlike many of my Facebook friends, I have not been posting it all over the web for the world to see and argue over.  And the one reason I haven’t shared my opinion is because I recognize that I don’t really have the facts to back it up.  And that’s true for most people.  The media gives us bits and pieces, and even if you could trust all of those pieces to be 100% accurate—which is unlikely—you still wouldn’t have all that facts about any given situation.  Only the people in that courtroom know what really went on.  Not that being in a courtroom guarantees you all the facts, of course.  In fact, it probably guarantees that some facts won’t be made known to you.  But, it does (mostly) guarantee that all the facts that are legally relevant to the case are known to you, and that’s the piece of the puzzle that I don’t even pretend to have.  So, while I might have an opinion based on emotion or gut instinct, that’s not really good enough when it comes to casting a verdict.  And that’s why my opinion about the verdict isn’t being broadcast all over social media.  And that’s why this picture gave me a chuckle.

And now I’m back to a bit more homework before I absolutely must turn in.  I felt like I caught up on a little bit of sleep this weekend, so I’d hate to start the week off putting myself right back into a deficit.  The summer session only has a couple more weeks to go, so I need to stay rested to make it through the final push. 

I hope you all have a great week ahead. 

 

Six Word Two-Fer

 

 

Image courtesy of Thanamat at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Feeling refreshed after good night’s sleep.

Think I’ll do it again tonight.

 

 Play along with Six Word Saturday.

Five Questions and a Helping of Exhaustion

 

A big, huge, TGIF!  Only three more weeks of summer session, and then I’m hoping life will begin to feel just a little bit normal again.  And maybe I’ll even start getting a normal amount of sleep.  Tonight, my goal is to be in bed by ten.  That sounds absolutely glorious!

Anyway, it’s Five Question Friday, so let’s check in and see what’s going on.

1. Would you rather pay for house cleaner or spa day?

As a one time splurge, or a regular happening?  If it’s the former, then spa.  I’d like to treat myself to a nice massage and a bit of pampering.  But if a regular thing, I’d rather spend the money on housekeeping.  I sorely hate cleaning; consequently, it doesn’t get done all that often.  If I had quite a bit of disposable income, I’d definitely spend some of it on house cleaning services.

2. Who plans what gifts you get for holidays, you or your spouse?

Me, entirely.  Every once in a while Brian might accompany me on a shopping excursion and put in some small amount of feedback, but neither of us really enjoy that too much, so I try to keep it to a minimum. 

3. How many hours of sleep do you get? Do you need more?

Right now?  I’m getting by on an average of about five hours a night.  Do I need more?  Absolutely.  As I’ve probably mentioned at some point, my perfect amount is about nine hours, though I’m pretty functional on about seven.  Fewer than that, and I start feeling it after only a few days.  Fewer than five, and I feel it immediately.  I’m on week six of that five-ish average, so, yeah, I definitely need some shut-eye.

4. Do you like your hair long or short?

I’ve been wearing it shortish for quite a long time now.  If all things were equal, I’d probably prefer it longer, but all things are not equal, and when it was longer, my hair was so heavy it caused me to have pretty frequent headaches.  I have enough headaches without putting another five pounds on top of my head making it worse.  Besides, even with my hair short, it takes at least fifteen-twenty minutes to dry my hair; there’s no way I’d want to spend the time necessary to dry long hair.

5. When was the last time you were pulled over and what was it for?

Ummm . . . It’s been long enough ago that I really don’t remember it.  I’m sure it was for speeding, though now that I write that, it sounds pretty bad.  It’s not that I speed often, it’s just that that’s what people get stopped for.  I’ve tried to rack my brain, and I’m going to guess it’s been about ten years since the last time I was pulled over.  I hope that doesn’t mean I’m due sometime soon.

 

And that’s it.  Now I’ve got about an hour before my self-appointed bedtime, so the question becomes whether I should do a little homework, spend it browsing Facebook, or just add an extra hour to my sleep cycle.  Oh, that last one sounds oh so tempting.

Happy weekend to you all.

What’s Playing, Part II

 

The first (and second) time I told you about a song that tickled my fancy, it was for a little ditty popular at the time.  Tonight, it will be about a song popular almost five decades ago.  Strangely, even though I most often listen to country music, tonight will not be a country offering any more than the last was.  It’s true that of the six primary pre-sets on my car stereo, three of them go to country stations.  One goes to a top 40ish type station, and two others go to oldies channels.  The top 40 channel is usually my last choice when I’m looking for a song (I’m a channel surfer from way back) as I’d usually prefer older top 40 songs to today’s chart toppers.  That’s a sure sign of aging, but I’ll just have to live with that I guess.

Anyway, sometimes (and more and more frequently it seems) I hear songs of my youth on the oldies channels, and that really does make me feel old.  But tonight the song that caught my attention was a true oldie, even for an old woman like me.  (And apologies to anyone reading who remembers this tune as part of their own childhood.)

“Bad To Me” is a catchy little song that came out in 1963 (‘64 here in the US), so I suppose, technically, it is a song of my youth, if my infancy counts.  But for me, an “oldie” is anything that was old when it first came to my attention, so this fits the bill.  Anyway, back when I was a kid and first heard this song, I always thought it was the Beatles, and then when I found out it wasn’t, I thought I was just goofy, as apparently I thought all British groups sounded alike.  It was much later that I discovered the song was written by John Lennon, and then I didn’t think I was so goofy at all for being confused.  In fact, I thought it might make me really musically savvy somehow, that I could recognize a songwriter’s style, even if I couldn’t recognize his voice.  Pretty silly the things kids think, isn’t it? 

Anyway, regardless of who sang or wrote it, I always liked it, and I still like it today.  I don’t hear it often, but I did hear it playing tonight, and I turned up the volume, rolled down the windows, and sang along.  Maybe you’ll want to do the same.

 

What’s playing in your world tonight?

Weight Loss Wednesday, July 10

 

So, last week I decided the first stop to really getting back in control was to regain control of my steps, and I set a goal of 8,500 daily.  I recognize that that’s not a huge goal, but I also recognize that it’s just about at the outer limit of my ability most days.  I have to make a concerted effort to ensure I get those steps in—usually involving jogging in place of the last couple of minutes before the clock strikes midnight before I realize the target.  Which I suppose that’s what a target should be, right?  Difficult, but not impossible. 

And, with that in mind, I am sad to report that my step count for the first week was a bit short.  A couple of days I might’ve been ahead of the game, but a couple of other days I couldn’t quite get to where I wanted to be.  So, my weekly goal of 59,500 steps fell short by 543 steps.  My goal for this week will remain the same; I’ll just have to be more aware of the daily step count.

On the list of good things, though, I dropped that pound I picked up last week, so that’s a plus.  Now if I can just manage to keep it off.   On we go.

	Steps	Activities
Wednesday	8,529	--
Thursday	8,552	--
Friday	7,594	--
Saturday	12,197	--
Sunday	8,772	--
Monday	4,652	--
Tuesday	8,661	--

The Heat, My Take

 

UPDATE:  The sleep gremlins strike again.  Or, rather, the lack of sleep gremlins.  My Live Writer has the most annoying habit of giving an error message the first time I try to publish a post, so that I have to do it again to actually get the thing to go live.  It doesn’t happen all the time, but often enough that my process is to wait and make sure that I see the post on the web before I know I’m done.  Well, last night I hit publish, and I was waiting, but that must’ve been when I fell asleep, then when I woke up I didn’t remember what I was waiting for and simply went on to bed.  I know this because this morning when I came to peek at my email, I found the post sitting here with the annoying error message.  Oh, well; things happen.  Better late than never.

 

 

 Well, let’s just say this right up front:  Yes, I am using my television post slot to talk about a theatrically released feature film.  But, as I said back in the day at the beginning of Tube Day Tuesday, TV can be a starting point.  In this case, the starting point is the star of a current weekly television comedy, Melissa McCarthy.

For those who don’t watch a lot of television, maybe you don’t know that she’s currently starring in the fourth season of Mike and Molly (jeez, I can’t believe it’s been that long already), but that’s kind of her “day job” these days.  Incidentally, I could fill a whole post with the things I think about Mike and Molly, but we’ll let that wait for another time.

But this summer, we see her along side Sandra Bullock in the new movie, The Heat.  In a nutshell, you’ve got two law enforcement officers, one local and one fed, who seemingly have nothing in common except their desire to solve a case.  The same case.  So, of course, they have to work together.  Comedy ensues. 

So, first, a tiny bit about my biases:  comedies are rarely my first choice because, frankly, good ones are hard to find, but I could watch a good buddy cop movie any time.  Oh, that, and I usually like Sandra Bullock, and I like McCarthy in her series.  So, basically, I went into the movie figuring I wouldn’t hate it, but I didn’t have particularly high hopes, though I had heard rave reviews about it.

In terms of the odd-couple bit, Bullock plays Ashburn, a straight-laced and driven federal agent who knows her business and gets the job done, but doesn’t make a lot of friends along the way.  Then you’ve got McCarthy as Mullins, a local Boston police detective who is a brash and loud, f-bomb dropping antitheses to everything Ashburn stands for, who also doesn’t make a lot of friends.  But as I mentioned, they have to work together to catch the bad guy.

Here’s another bias for you:  I don’t find foul language particularly funny in and of itself.  Not that I’m all puritanical about it or anything, I just find it a pretty cheap and lazy way of establishing a character.  Oh, and in real life, I just usually consider it unnecessary and often unbecoming.  All that being said, Mullins was a funny character.  Over the top sometimes?  Well, yeah.  But still funny, and manages to make it all work.  My sister tells me that it ought to work, because that’s essentially the McCarthy movie role, that she’s pretty much the same in all of her films.  Well, I’ve never seen any of her other films, so I can’t really speculate, but I can say that Mullins is not the same as Molly Flynn.  Oh, Molly is opinionated, and she can pop you with a quick, sarcastic zinger, but she’s not quite as loud-mouthed and in-your-face as Mullins.  And, she’s not even given to the more limited cursing that would be allowed on network television.  Still, even though McCarthy made it work, I think the character could have worked just as well even without all the f-bombs. 

Bullock’s Ashburn character is definitely the good cop and straight man in this partnership.  She’s more reserved in everything that she does, and she’s easily frustrated by Mullins’ seeming inability to dial it down a notch.  She’s also totally wrapped up in her job and about as socially awkward as a teenager at their first boy-girl party.  She’s just starting to come to grips with the idea that maybe she’s not everyone’s favorite fed, so she’s working through some insecurity issues that hadn’t really reached her professional life too much before.  That probably shouldn’t be funny, but it is, and it makes her more susceptible to going along with Mullins and her crazy way of doing things.  Plus, working successfully with the local officer has been made part of her assignment if she hopes to end up with the big promotion she’s chasing, so she’d determined to make it work.

And, of course, it does work.  In the spirit of the best buddy cops around, the two characters are equal in their basic abilities as well as their desire to do the right thing.  Their differences are many, and they’re glaring, but in the most fundamental ways, the two are alike.  So of course they click, of course they bond, and of course they catch the bad guy.  I will say that’s one thing about cop comedies that I can totally get behind: the good guys pretty much always win. 

And I think the audience wins with this movie.  It’s not deep, not likely to win any awards, but it’ll make you laugh, the characters move it forward, they’re characters that you can feel attached to and cheer for, and watching them work through their own quirks along with their partner’s makes for an entertaining evening.  And, there is already talk of a sequel.  Whether such chemistry can be repeated remains to be seen, but it’s been done before.  And I’d pay my money to give them a chance at another go round.  And, if you haven’t seen this one yet, I vote it’s worth your money to treat yourself to a few laughs.

 

A Student's Lament

I'm taking a short break tonight to share with you a minor rant about school life. Bear with me.
  
I will be the first to admit that I am not a particularly organized person. I keep a cluttered desk, things around my house are rarely where I should keep them, sometimes I lose track of a bill date (thank goodness for auto bill pay to help me out with that one!).  

But, when it comes to my school work, I really make an effort to keep on top of things.  Separate notebooks for each class with the syllabus right in front, detailed notes from lectures, color-coded case briefs.  And, most important, I try to organize my time so that I know which class/assignment I need to be working on at any given time.  Now, I will not go so far as to say that I never put off doing homework so that I can do something a little more fun, but I will say that when I do that, it's carefully calculated time, and I always know how much I'm going to have to buckle down later to stay on task. 

So it was this holiday weekend that I not only had quite a few assignments to get through, but also quite a few fun things to do, so I had it all balanced out.  A chapter on lunch here, a late night there, squeeze in a quiz before the concert and a test on Sunday, etc.  Well-oiled clockwork.  And last night, knowing I was down to just a bit more work, I even took an extra break to--gasp!--watch TV.  I don't get to do that nearly enough these days, and you know that's a real sacrifice for me!

Now, the truth is, I shouldn't have watched those three episodes of cop shows off my DVR; they would've been just fine sitting there for another few weeks until the semester is over.  But that's not the point.  The point is, it was a holiday weekend, and I wanted to do lots of fun stuff, dammit.  So, in addition to hanging out on the 4th and a movie on the 5th and a concert on the 6th, I watched some television on the 7th.  I knew I'd have to work a little bit harder on the 8th, but it was worth it.  

Then, right before I went to bed last night--just after midnight, mind you--an email came through from one of my professors.  The same one who gave us a five page take-home exam and four chapters to read over the weekend.  Yeah, that one.  Well, it seems she's decided she'd also like us to read and brief two more cases.  At midnight!  Sunday!  Seriously, I should've stayed up a while last night and done some of it, because I knew that I wasn't going to have time to get it all done today.  And, of course, I'm sitting here now at 12:30, still not quite done with it all.  

So, my rant is the same one that students have been ranting since time began:  teachers need to remember that their class is not the only thing going on in their students' lives.  We have to plan and juggle to make sure things get done.  And, sure, forty hours notice might seem like a lot of lead time, but not when ten of it needs to be devoted to sleep, 16 to work, four to a commute, about three to getting dressed for work, and at least another two or so to meal preparation and eating.  Oh, and four or five had already been allotted to finishing up the assignments that I knew about. By my calculations,  I simply don't have time for two more cases.  And, you notice, there was no blog time accounted for in there, so this twenty minutes is coming out of the sleep cycle.  ;-)

Anyway, that's what's annoying me tonight: instructors who mess up my precariously balanced schedule, and make me regret that I took a couple of hours to watch some TNT drama.  Thanks for listening.  /rant.

Got anything making you cranky these days?

Snapshot Sunday, July 8

 

I have to say, the thing I might dislike most about having a job again is that Sunday night feeling.  You know, the one where you feel like your moments of freedom have dwindled to nothing and the next break you’re going to have is far too far in the future.  Still, it’s all part of the workaday world, and this was a really good weekend, so at least I put my moments of freedom to good use. 

As for this week’s photos, some of them are sort of cheats, but more about that later.

 

  Prompt: Happiness Is . . . Notwithstanding what I said earlier about the whole Sunday night thing, I have to admit that it feels pretty good to be drawing a paycheck again.  Not for the money, which is certainly nothing to write home about, but just because it seems like that’s what people do.

 

 

  Prompt:  Shoes.  One of the first things I do when I get home from work each day is kick off my shoes, even if they’re not particularly uncomfortable.  And, they usually stay right in that same spot until the next time I want to wear them, even though “that spot” is rarely the place they actually belong. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Prompt:  Cold.  One of the semi-cheats, since I took this a day late.  Still, what’s a day between friends?  Anyway, this was my first attempt at making a fruit slush—pina colada flavored—and I have to say it was not only refreshing on such a hot afternoon, but it was also quite tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Prompt:  Red White and/or Blue.  It’s nice of Chantelle to think of us when making her prompts, even though she’s in Australia and probably not the least bit concerned with the 4th of July.  This was part of our festive table wear for the occasion. 

 

 

 

  Prompt:  Love.  Me and Brian.  Another cheat, and this one a double-whammy: taken a day early, and (as you might have guessed) I didn’t even take it.  Too bad; I’m using it anyway.  I did take a photo of us on the 6th (a day too late for this prompt), but I never got one on the 5th, even though it was our anniversary.  I tried at the theatre, but my aim was off and it turned out to be a picture of just Brian.  Well, at least, it was part of Brian.  All in all, this one is a much better choice.

 

  Prompt: Favorite Smell.  And one last cheat to round out the week, this is a recycle from last year’s challenge.  The prompt then was “smell you adore”, and while I can’t say for certain that baking bread is absolutely my favorite smell, it’s certainly way up there.  The vast majority of my time the day of this prompt was spent in an outdoor stadium in 90+ degree heat with about 65,000 other people.  Believe me when I tell you that there weren’t really any smells there that were particularly enjoyable.

And that brings this week to a close, which means it’s time for me to head off to bed.  Past time, really, but that’s what happens sometimes.  I hope you all enjoy your new week, even if you do have to go back to the workaday world like this working stiff.