Monday, June 30, 2008

Stop telling God how big your storm is, and start telling your storm how BIG your God is, and then watch and see what happens to the storm. Unknown

SD and I are off tomorrow to sleep at the Zoo. We are having a zoo snooze with the church. We get a special encounter with the nocturnal animals at the zoo!

My parents sold their house today after only 60 days on the market at exactly their asking price. I know they are excited. It is something we have all been praying about.

HH got the green light today on the background check, drug test, and poly from the FBI. If you are on the list get ready the FBI is coming to your house to ask questions about HH.

Had 3 classes start today. I guess rather than fooling around on the computer...and the blog...I should get busy.
Ha!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

“Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.” Saint Augustine

Where has IPG been?

I had to take a certification exam to teach one of my courses this term. I took a crash test in it, and passed. I needed 680 to pass...and I scored a big fat 680. Ha!

SD and I have been doing whatever we wanted on a daily basis. If we didn't want to do something...we haven't done it. Unfortunately that doesn't include work. Which is still demanding my attention like a Chinese gong. However I have been moderately off for the last few weeks enabling me to really cut loose and enjoy myself. I feel like I am getting to know myself all over again. I used to be a really nice person until I became such a stress nazi.

I have made zero amount of progress on my dissertation. It is comic how little I have gotten done. I am supposed to be working on it this summer. :( I hope I am more motivated in July than I was in June.

SD has been here one full month today. The time is going by too fast. I don't ever want her to leave. :(

I gotta get to bed. SD and I have a busy week ahead of us. We are spending the night at the zoo on Tuesday then we are headed for the coast. Nearly two weeks of fun in the sun for us. WHOO Hoo! :)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

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

Sometimes my students seem to be trying to make me lose my hair. But I know they are worried about their grades as worried as I am about mine! So I remind myself that they work hard, and even if they didn't work hard they think they work hard! :)

I have been having too much fun to write. A serendipitous set of circumstances has left me practically on VACATION this week. It is NICE! I have been enjoying myself, and spending quality time with SD.

Today was HH birthday! Happy Birthday darling man. I love you more today than I have ever loved you. You better not ever let anything happen to yourself. I couldn't live with out you.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

In our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are. Ovid

Although I have quite a bit of work to do today...I still made time for fun.

I took SD horseback riding for a few hours. We had a lot of fun, but I didn't use a high enough SPF for my arms and shoulders. I compounded this mistake by going swimming at our local swim club for a few hours. Hubby and I decided to join this year, golf, tennis, and the pool. We had a fantastic time! SD got to play with her friends.

SD didn't do so hot on the horses today. She got really frustrated, and her fear turned the normally good natured horse into a stubborn mule that just wanted to stand at the barn. ;) She will get better though I intend to give her some more lessons this summer.

My dissertation is not going so well. I am enjoying my summer and not worrying about my paper near as much as I need to do! I will be spending several hours paying for my laissez fair attitude this weekend. I guess it is better to be penalized for having such a great time! :D

IPG

Slip and Slide Fun with SD's Friends


SD getting the slip and slide ready.

SD's friend on the slide
Backward sliding for SD.

There she goes!

Friday, June 20, 2008

SD and her Sister Shug



SD's Welcome Party




Sd's Shiner


I think I wrote about this! In a previous post. But here it is in...all its bruised glory!

Awesome Storm




This storm outside our house was AMAZING. I snapped a few pics while it was happening.

Handsome Hubbby and the Mighty Mississippi


Here is another NOLA pic.

Here is our Jeep Project! This Wrangler is going to look brand new!


I personally like the primer color.

Thanks for helping George! We couldn't have done it with out you.

Notice the gorgeous Auburn Orange!
I am so happy it is DONE!

HH and I in NOLA


I don't know why it looks so red here. Just funny camera thing. My face is hilarious here!

His face cracks me up! Like he has some big secret!

I love our faces in these pics.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

To be good is to be lonely. Mark Twain

Now I sit me down to write
Hoping words will come with out a fight.
If I fall asleep before I finish.
Find me a Red Bull and replenish.


Working on my dissertation tonight. Hopefully I am going to make some progress. I am trying to write one usable page per day. If my proposal has to be 100 pages then in just 3 short months I will be ready to propose. One usable page per day takes me around 2 hours. I could probably bump up to 2 usable pages per day and 4 hours, but at this point I am not willing to cut into SD's time. When she leaves in August, I will be full speed ahead, and maybe putting in 6 hours per day. When I say usable page, I mean a page that is properly cited with all relevant literature, grammar and spelling free. So that is why it takes up to 2 hours per day. Because I am not just slopping it down on a page. :)

Work has eased up for me. Although I spent this past weekend SLAMMED. I will be semi off until mid July. By semi off I mean all my work is only taking me 5-6 hours per day rather than 15.

Ok off to bed. I had to move my gym schedule around for SD. I don't want to be hanging out at the gym when she is awake so I am getting up every morning at 5:45 and working out from 6-7 so that I can get home when her dad gets up for work. This way I work out, and she isn't home alone. Ah the things we do for our kids!

I need ideas for 3 year anniversary for hubby. This year is the leather year. Any suggestions I am happy to hear them. He wants a new recliner. But...I want something different.

Monday, June 16, 2008

You know you shouldn't work here when....

For those hunting for jobs...here is where you don't want to stay working.


You have 2 live none required for students chats TALKING to students. If students don't show you still have to talk for an hour.

You have to have one office hour per week. You have to have 2 faculty meetings per term (2 per five weeks). Grades must be turned in with comments on individual assignments up to 35 students per class with in 72 hours. Regular announcement, discussion board postings, and email rules apply.

Here is where I had moral objections. If a student turned in 100 percent of their work on the last day of class I had to grade it. I could only take off up to 20 % for tardiness. So you have 5 weeks 3 assignments per week and every term I had 5 or 6 students turn in 100 percent of the course on the last day, and I had 72 hours to grade it.

The student is always right at this institution. It is very shoot the faculty first ask questions later. Also very little is done about plagiarism. I had students I would turn in for plagiarism charges 3 or 4 times in my course and it wouldn't hold up. These are students that turned in an assignment with someone else's name on it. On "accident", and there was not enough "proof" to give them an F. Don't you type other people's names on your assignments all the time? ;)

There is no chain of command and students can contact, their advisor, your boss or the company president if they don't like their grade.

The discussion board requires students to respond to at least 2 students positively and at least one student "constructively." Which they all interpreted to mean flame thy neighbor.

You are not allowed to give an F on an assignment as long as it is submitted. The lowest grade you could give is a D. Finally you were required to do 3 or so in services a year that were NOT paid and took anywhere from 20-30 hours to complete sometimes.

I just couldn't do it anymore. I had to let that school go.

2,000 per class for a 5 week class and you go 3 classes per term
I still didn't care!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Why you shouldn't trust Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_anniversary
SD and I updated 16th and 17th in the table to read Super Mario and Harvest Moon.
I wanted to show her why you should not use Wikipedia as a source.

I am sure it will be taken off!
So check it while you can! :)

Online Adjunct some more tips of the trade/ ONE YEAR BLOG ANNIVERSARY


Working...and picking jobs...I want to point out that as you build your online teaching portfolio you can weed out schools that require hand holding if it isn't your bag.

I have an algorithm that I use to determine the true pay scale of a school.

For example, say one school pays 2500 for 8 weeks but hassles me constantly. Sends me billions of emails, makes me go to tons of training, requires my attendance at all these synchronous chats and faculty meetings. Versus a school that pays 2000 for 10 weeks, and they assign my class and leave me alone. According to my algorithm I make more at the 10 weeks 2000 dollar school.

We all have our own pet peeves. Me personally, I hate training, and I don't want to go to synchronous meetings. I don't like being told to be somewhere at a certain time...which is why ...I teach online. So I am interested in teaching places that do not tie me to my phone line and desk at a certain time.

However because I have been doing this for awhile I can pick and choose. I turn places down if I don't care for the classes, or I want some time off or I merely just don't morally agree with what goes on at that school anymore.

I know that as you are starting out you take every class that is offered and then some. :) But the longer you are at it..the easier it is to find schools that are a good value, and meet your own personal algorithm.

______________________________________________________
Personal stuff

My house is not a kid friendly house, as one of my friends so kindly put it to me this week. Well...hmmm two so-called adults and a small dog live here full time. There is no reason for the house to be kid friendly. Most of the children that come into my home are well behaved, and I don't feel the need to baby proof just because people stop by and visit on occasion.

There was one incident last year when a 4 year old drank some of my jewelry cleaner because he thought it was Kool-aid, however this is not my fault. The jewelry cleaner was clearly NOT in a glass. And children should be supervised by their parents shouldn't they?

SD is not the type of kid that gets into stuff. Or plays with toys. So even when she is here the house only resembles a house with children because she doesn't pick up after herself. Apparently there is a fairy that does it at her mom's house...but this fairy doesn't like humidity I don't think. ha! Actually her mom disclosed this is her biggest complaint about SD. The mess!

I am not used to this kind of mess. Two so-called adults don't make the kinds of messes kids can make. I have mashed potatoes on my bathroom door knob and I can not fathom why. Surely it goes with out saying I never have mashed potatoes there when there are no children present.

The other thing is that I am not a big fan of children. Except my child, of course. SD is the perfect lady in public, and around adults. She would never wipe mashed potatoes on someone's door...so it must be one of her friends that was here. When her friends come visit I laugh a lot. They are puzzled by the lack of toys and other activities children enjoy such as the Disney channel. I love watching kids minds work; they are honestly horrified that I don't keep a big tub of Barbies right in the guest bedroom just in case they stop by. ha!

Finally, and this kills me. SD is all her dad's child. Her voice, mannerisms, looks, body shape, are 100 percent her dad. She operates at 2 speeds dead still and wide open. (This is hilarious because her dad and I both have those same two gears). An example, she went to the library to get in on the summer reading program. They give prizes for hours spent reading.... she has been reading for 6.5 hours now. She wants to fill up her whole sheet tonight. This kills me because that is something both her dad and I would do.

One thing that we have started in our family is that her dad and my anniversary is her anniversary too. It is the day I married her and her dad and we became a family. So this year is our 3rd anniversary. I have to look up the traditional gift for the 3rd anniversary. (We are doing the whole traditional gifts such as year one paper, year two cotton etc.) Then I have to find some kick butt 3rd year anniversary presents.

Some other fun summer facts...SD has to be told to take a shower and brush her teeth. Again it should go with out saying that I am not used to telling someone to take a shower and or brush their teeth. Sometimes 2 whole days go by until I ask "Did you take a shower?" Just as I am starting to get the hang of it she goes home. ;) Perhaps I should practice on the dog in her absence.

Her mom told me I get "Step Mom of the Year" for giving her the shiner. I think that is hilarious too. As long as no one calls Child Protective Services...I will keep laughing.


____________________________________________________

Today the blog is 1 year old! Happy Birthday Blog! :)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Know your place

One of the toughest parts of working from home as an adjunct professor is that I work alone. I have students I am reaching out to. I have a husband that comes home for lunch (occasionally), I go out to lunch with friends a tiny bit...but mostly I am on my own.

So for the online teacher wannabe...I devised a quiz. This should let you know whether teaching online is for you:

Do you have a computer?
Do you have reliable high speed internet access at your home?
Do you have a back up plan for when your internet does not work?
Can you convey your experience, your personality online?
Are you comfortable enough to communicate almost entirely through writing?
Are you a self starter? Can you be self disciplined enough to work with out a direct supervisor? Do you have the proper credentials (in most cases a masters degree or higher)?
Are you willing to take training of up to 6 weeks with out pay to get your online teaching position?
Are you a salesman? Can you sell your self via email or by phone to get additional courses?
Are you willing to follow up for up to a year to attain a job?
Do you have the time to participate in the teaching process?
Are you willing to work 6 days per week?
Are you able to absorb the risk that comes from working for yourself?

If you answered no to any of these questions then getting into online teaching might not be for you.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving



We are having Thanksgiving tonight at our house. Just as soon as my maids finish up, SD and I are going to get in there and make Turkey, stuffing, green beans, homemade pumpkin pie.

SD asked the other day while I was at the store, so I agreed. I am a sucker for SD. :) Thanksgiving in June...no problem. I did however draw the line on having Christmas next week.

We took the boat out on Sunday. We had our friends meet us with their boats out there. So more folks go to go. The first shot at the top is HH getting ready to wake board. He isn't quite up to Olympic level wake boarding but he can do a few tricks.

I accidentally elbowed SD yesterday when I was trying not to let our towable raft be flipped over. HH has this habit of stopping the boat with out letting those of us on the raft know he is doing it. If you don't level your weight out on the raft you will flip it over. :( I was quickly scrambling to level our weight out, and accidentally gave SD a small shiner. I felt so bad about it I was nearly in tears. However when asked about her favorite part of the day yesterday SD claims it was getting the shiner, "cause she looks like she could be tough in a fight." So I don't feel quite as bad. :(


SD wasn't the only casualty yesterday. One of the guys driving the boat decided to knock us off the raft. Sarah, Samantha, SD, and I all went tumbling. I was literally catapulted across the river. I lost 2 hair holders, another pair of sunglasses, and one of my most favorite earrings. But poor Sam lost her wedding band...not her diamond thank goodness, we had taken those off together before going out on the boat. From now on I am going to have a jewelry party as everyone gets on, and take all the jewelry off and put it in a small safe we have on the boat. And it is a good thing that I have a deep love for cheap sunglasses. That is the second pair in one week I lost on the boat. Last week I had to choose either I lost my bathing suit bottoms or my favorite pair of sunglasses. It was a tough call but I went with keeping the bottoms.

River 2 IPG 0

Friday, June 6, 2008

I believe you are your work. Don't trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than dollars. That's a rotten bargain. Rita Mae Brown

I have a lot to say this morning. ;) School in Blue, Work in Green, Marriage in Black, Family in Brown

I passed my orals and have been admitted into candidacy. That is the big news around our house this week. My adviser was knocked out! She told me I set the new standard in how students should do on their orals. I feel like I am still in a dream. Happy to be done.

I had one committee member try to give me a hard time during the exam. Ha! She came into this game way too late. I am the daughter of an accomplished attorney. I can argue, debate, and prove my point with the very best of them. This sounds like I am bragging, but I am lightning fast on my feet. It comes from years of arguing with my father as I was growing up. It was verbally kill or be killed in my house, and I am no one's victim. :) (All that said I have never actually won an argument with my father. I always end up losing. Fast on my feet as I am...he is still faster...guess that comes from 25 years plus experience he has on me).

Finishing my oral examinations has not lifted the cloud of laziness that has been following me around the past month. Let me rephrase that...I have not felt lazy about everything just WORK and SCHOOL. Playing video games, gardening, going out in the boat, spending time with family, cleaning my house, running errands, taking care of finances, and a myriad of other things I enjoy. I haven't been lazy a bit. But ask me to do some work or do some school work, and I fall into a coma. I did get caught up on a few tasks I have been putting off embarrassingly long. That is one reason I have not been blogging with the regularity I usually enjoy.

On the school front I need to get serious about my dissertation. It would be nice if I could get my proposal done before August. However it is not exactly what I would call reasonable. I am devoting this summer to SD. She deserves it, and this summer is all hers. I was in a big hurry to get to where I am. Now I am not in such a big hurry. Perhaps this is why there are so many ABDs in the world. I will finish; I just need a small break then motivation will come. I plan to start working on my dissertation every day beginning July 1. I want to spend at least one hour per day working on my dissertation.

Work wise, I spent nearly 15 hours at work yesterday. So maybe the lazy cloud has lifted. I hated having to do it while SD was here. But I was doing the whole work now play later thing. One aspect of working online is that sometimes you have a lot of control over how much work you have while others you have almost no control. I had had quite a few things come at me very quickly that had to be taken care of almost immediately. So yesterday was spent doing them. I traditionally take Fridays off! So today I am off. (I work Saturday and Sunday though). Being the dedicated employee that I am I work 6 days usually.

One of the schools I work for has started a huge push for retention. Attrition rates and retention are something that have always fascinated me in colleges and at schools. I don't know why, but I always want to know what makes a student leave a course, or leave school. Additionally it seems like several schools lately have gotten on the retention push bandwagon. I wonder what is going on with enrollments. I am not involved in any aspect of that for the organization. But logically if they are all pushing about it...it means enrollments and drop rates are not good.

Finally, I think I am going to stop reading a message board I joined a few years ago. It is for Online Faculty, and I used to really like it. It gave me a way to connect with other online faculty. It also gave me a way to interact with peers that I may never meet, but at least would be able to talk to about similar issues. However the board has really gone down hill lately, and I can hardly stand to even read the board now. This is a dissatisfying development. Perhaps I am being too harsh, but the board has turned into nothing but constantly asking for help finding a job. I personally consider the search for the position part of the initiation process thus the board has begun to look like whiners to me.

HH took me to dinner last night for a steak the size of my head. It was in honor of passing my comps. I appreciate the gesture, but wish he would take a bit more interest in this topic. The passing of comps topic. He is a great hubby, and usually hangs on to my every word. But I just didn't feel like I got the attention I deserved about passing quite as quickly as I wanted it.

While I don't consider myself a high maintenance person...I have great hair that never needs to be dyed or cut expensively, don't get manicures/pedicures, do get my eyebrows waxed, don't fake tan, don't spend exorbitant amounts on clothes, bags, or shoes (ok sometimes shoes). I can be emotionally high maintenance. Meaning that I can get my feelings hurt easily if the proper attention is not provided. At least he made up for this by taking me to dinner, but I am not that easily bribed. :)

Things are going well with SD. She has never acted better. I mean it she has been an angel. Her dad and I were discussing it yesterday. I can not believe how good she has been. The only negative there is to her coming is the clutter. I forget this every year, but when the house is just me and my hubby there is no clutter. It stays neat. When she comes the clutter threatens to strangle me. Yesterday we had a talk about not putting stuff away. It won't work, and won't last but at least this morning the house looks neat. ;D

This morning is so gorgeous. When I went outside and drank my Café au lait on the deck I was astounded at how perfect the morning was. The weather was warm with a hint of a breeze, and it smelled delicious all honeysuckle, and fresh cut grass. I wish it could stay that way, but it won't...it is going to triple digits today with 100 percent humidity no less.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Psssssssssstttttttt!!!!!!!!

I passed!
I passed my Oral Exams.


Quote from hubby, "You always were good at..." well you get the idea. No sense being vulgar on the blog.

Second quote from hubby, "I am taking you out to celebrate. It seems like you have been in school a long time!" (Yeah me too baby, me too!")

Sunday, June 1, 2008

I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom. Sumner A. Ingmark

SD is here. I picked her up from the airport and whisked her to a movie. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Something Or Other. We are an Indiana Jones kind of family. Everyone really enjoys Indiana Jones movies so it was the perfect outing. The movie is good, but my least favorite of the four.

Saturday was a busy day of preparations for our enormous BBQ. There are so many people here that love SD. We had almost 35 people visit last night. It was enormous. I had the most fun I have had in a long time. Preparations took almost the entire day. It was the right amount of people to be loud, fun, and have a great time, but not force the neighbors to call the police. All her best friends in Mississippi were here to welcome her back. The hilarious part is that I had been dying to throw a party like this the entire month of May so the perfection of the evening was not lost on me. All the kids fished in the lake. While very few caught anything, we did have to say goodbye to an old friend the Sponge Bob Square Pants fishing rod that we purchased for SD three summer's ago. The rod finally broke beyond repair forcing SD to graduate to a grown up rod.

Sunday is a day of worship in the morning at IPG's home. Then it is on to the river to enjoy the boat. SD was scared at first on the boat. Then she was even more scared to swim in the river and ride on the towable raft. However by the end of the day she was a pro! Holding on to the raft for dear life as it shot 5 feet in the air across a wake! I am so proud of her. We live 5 minutes from the river, and SD was asleep in the car before we made it back. It is very likely that she will sleep for the rest of the evening. Tired little girl is probably still a little jet lagged.

Funny things SD has said already. "You are tall! You are taller than me." (I am 5'4" not tall by any standard).

"It has been my experience..." I love this one. I use this phrase frequently. That she has already picked it up is hilarious.