Late Night at the Library

So here I am at 1:28 AM (Friday/Saturday) in the library trying to finish reading and grading. Guess what...... I'm tired. Now I am writing to stay awake and soon I will bust open the box of Milk Duds. (yum) The thing is, I got nothing done today because the prof that I TA for wanted to come to my class today for evaluation, so I was busy all morning preparing for that. Normally, I totally wing it in class but I thought I should be prepared today. It went pretty well until I brought up the whole China/Tibet/Olympics thing before I realized I have very, very little knowledge of the China/Tibet thing. Soon I looked stupid and said some things that made the prof cringe. Oh well. We can't all be genuises. Besides, I have learned that the students don't really listen anyway.

After class I got obsessed with why my TV suddenly had no sound a few days ago. This makes no sense, I thought. I have picture, but no sound. So I am ashamed to admit that I wasted hours figuring out that problem because it was driving me absolutely bonkers. I did fix it, but I am not really sure how. All I know is that I was able to watch GH and that made me happy.

So, with nothing productive done today (unless you count the TV thing), I decided that I needed to get to the library. I have only a few days left to study/read/prepare and I am very behind in all that. The problem at 1:36 AM is that now I need to stay through the night because I promised my mother that I won't walk across campus this late by myself. I think the sun comes up around 5ish...... only 3-1/2 hours to go.........

*UPDATE* It is now 2:31 AM and a guy just walked in with his pillow, a loaf of white bread, and books. He is definitely here for the long haul. This is a fascinating place after midnight!!!! Only 2-1/2 hours to go now, but I am almost out of Milk Duds......

**2ND UPDATE** It is now 3:35 AM, I have consumed my box of Milk Duds and now my stomach doesn't feel too good. But I have finished grading and I have read (sort of) 2 books. I only have 2 more with me, so I will try to get through those in the last 1-1/2 hours. By the way, dude with pillow is still awake....... for now........

***FINAL UPDATE*** I couldn't take it anymore even though I did not get through my last 2 books.  I left a 1/2 hour earlier than planned and now I am home.  It is 4:46 AM and I am going to bed!  yeah!  I think I will sleep in........

Here is the newest member of the family, Nicholas.  He was born April Fool's Day.  Both mom and baby are home and doing well, although I think maybe a little sleep deprived (mom is, at least).  I also included a couple of my favorite shots of Nathaniel.  I am trying to be more "artsy" in my photography.  Not to be too sacrilegious, but WWJD has taken on a whole new meaning for me..... what WOULD Jessica do???

New nephew!!

Good morning!  This is a very early blog for me because I am on my way to LA to see my new nephew!!!  Julie started having contractions late afternoon/early evening so they went to the hospital and he was born April Fool's Day at 10:32 pm.  His first name is Nicolas - they are still thinking of the middle name.  I will post pictures as soon as I can.  The birth was actually quite good for Julie.... everything started happening so naturally and so soon that they tried a vaginal birth and it went well.  Crazy.  I talked with her last night and she sounded great.  Have a great day!

Arabic exam

YIPPEE!  I successfully completed my Arabic proficiency exam this morning.  Well... I should hold off on the "successfully" part until it gets graded, but I feel quite good about it.  There was a 20-30 minute oral portion where I stumbled on a few words but at least I understand everything the professor was saying to me.  Then I had a written portion with some reading comprehension/answering questions, some grammar parts, vocabulary where they give me the word and I put it into sentences, and then 4 paragraphs about myself.  That was pretty easy - I am good at talking about myself.  

So now I am totally focused on the MA comp exams coming up in 3 weeks.  It feels good to have this hurdle over.  I even feel like I can speak some Arabic!!  Woohoo!!  In the meantime, Spring Break is next week and I am going to mom's house in Indio and then up to LA because Julie is having her baby on the 4th.  

I just had to share something very funny that a friend sent to me.  It is a Guide to Hiring Women from a 1943 issue of Mass Transportation magazine (I already checked it out on Snopes.com and they confirm that it is real and even scanned in the magazine to their website so we can see for ourselves).  I will only type a few of my favorites:

"Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women"

1.  Pick young married women.  They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they're less likely to be flirtatious,... they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.  [it's true that us old single gals have lost all desire to work or live]

3.  General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.  [until you try to snatch a cookie from my hand.... then you'll see my temper!]

8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day.  You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology.  A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day. [clearly, this is for the young married employees because us older, single, hefty girls could care less about our hair or lipstick - why do they think we are old, hefty, and single?]

11.  Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit.  This point can't be stressed too much in keeping women happy.  [totally true -- one time my friend took the larger size bridesmaid dress even though she was smaller than me and left me to shove my hefty body into the smaller size bridesmaid dress and look terrible in pictures.  I wasn't happy.  I'm still a little bitter............]

Happy Tuesday to everyone!  I am finally updating my blog.  I have spent the past 2 weekends in Portland/Seattle doing work for Franklin again.  I absolutely loved the hotel in Seattle, so I took pictures of the hallway and my door.  How appropriate to have a picture of a woman holding a globe on my door!?!?  I loved it... and they had the most comfortable robe I have EVER worn!  If I had an extra $125........

While I was in Portland, my brother, his girlfriend, and his best friend flew up to visit some of their friends and to check out Portland State University.  So I have included a few pictures from our campus tour (my bro is the one in the middle with the Drew Carey glasses).  What you don't see is me.... all bundled up because it is crazy freezing!!  I know some of you in colder climates are laughing right now, but for us it was really, really, really cold.  But the campus was nice - it's very urban so there is no real quad area and the buildings are kind of scattered around several downtown blocks.  I don't know if they will end up at PSU, but I think it was good to get an idea of what other schools are like.  

So now I am back home and back at school.  I have exactly 1 week until my Arabic proficiency exam and 5 weeks until my MA comp exams.  You can definitely say I'm feeling the pressure.  But, I have always been a procrastinator so I know that I do some of my finest work under intense pressure.  Not that I plan to wait until week 4 to start my reading, but I feel confident that I will actually finish!  That will be a great feeling.  

hilarious and very sad

Okay, so I have been cracking up over this pie chart for about a week.  My brother is the one who found it and now I am stuck with that song in my head!  Anyway, I found other ones like it that are even funnier, but the images don't seem to get bigger than the size of a pea.  So this is the only one I am able to share....... enjoy.

Now for the sad part.  I caught one of my students cheating.  At first, I was all about the tough talk with her, but today I discovered who she actually is and my tone softened significantly. We still failed her for the class and have to report it to the university, but I was much nicer when I told her than what I had planned on.  I don't feel bad - because she's still a cheater (let's not get crazy) - but I don't want to tar and feather her in front of the class anymore.  I know.... I'm really nice. :-)

My weekend in OC/San Fran was good.  I saw a few of the students I recruited for Franklin years ago and they are fantastic.  It was great to hear them talk about how much they loved the school, how it changed their lives, what they are doing now, etc. etc.  Made me feel good.  I am off to Portland/Seattle this weekend.  I will write again after I get home.  One of these days I will talk a little politics.... I know y'all will love that!!