Short Week, Short Weekend, Short Temper

I think I owe my dear hubby an apology. I think I was short-tempered with him this weekend. With school activities so demanding at the moment, I get very wrapped up in my own little world. It's just that everything that I am doing is SO IMPORTANT to the exclusion of all else. Ha! This is just not true, and not fair. What I'm doing is cool and wow, but it is not sliced bread, and is not the answer to everything. So, I'm trying here to apologize to mi amor. But also, I'm trying to get some balance in my life. I want to have fun, I want to do cool things, but I also want to sit down on occasion and enjoy the wonderful life I have with my man at Six Mile, Texas. Life is good...I just need to stop running and notice it now and then.

Class 3 Complete

We just finished our 3rd class session, and it was as invigorating as ever. I feel like such a dweeb in class since I continue to be excited about the things we are learning; I mean like overly excited. The team I'm on is really a good one, and that helps too. My biggest problem right now is money...I've been working steadily at EOM, but what I do for them is never a sure thing, so it often leaves me scrambling to make sure I have something planned that I can "handle" (time-wise) and that I can make an income with (>4 hours of work).

This week is a back-to-back week, meaning that I have to go to Austin two weekends in a row. We still have a LOT of reading and homework to do before Friday, so I do not have time to take a break at all. Still, I'm finding ways to work around the issue.

Multi-tasking seems to work for me sometimes. For instance, here is a photo of me studying and fishing at the same time. If you look carefully, you'll see I have my fishing line run under my right arm so that I'll know if I've got a bite. See how all of my studies about innovation are helping me? While the guys (Leo and Jess) get a kick out of it, it does accomplish a couple of things for me. First, I still get to fish. Second, I still get my homework done. Third, I still get to enjoy the outdoors, the water, birds, and wind, without wasting precious time. Yes, I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this "innovation" thing.

P.S. The book I'm reading is "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey A. Moore. I'm just getting into it, really, but like it a lot already.

My Official BS

Friday night, I graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science in Technology Leadership and Supervision. Today I found out I had a 4.0 semester, so I made the Dean's List once again. Although my GPA calculations show that I have a 3.796, which would round up to a 3.80, UH shows the unrounded 3.79 version. Oh well. Close enough. Believe it or not, I'm not bragging. I wanted better grades, and often deserved lesser ones. I never would have made it this far without Leo's help and a little luck along the way. I've learned there are two ways to make good grades--one is to be smart enough, and the other is to work hard enough. I fall into the latter category. I've also learned that grad school is a different story, however, and the hardest worker is not always the recognized achiever. My UH achievement is somewhat dampened by my foray into the big, bad world of grad school. I am in a class of overachievers, and often feel like a duck out of water. Today I spent the entire day working on what is probably to most students a simple accounting assignment. I struggled all day long and feel like I got close to the mark, but have no way (no expert to turn to) to verify my answers. Not sure what to do next, I've decided to move on to another subject. I slept a tremendous amount over the last two days, but still feel like I haven't caught up. In the morning, I head back to Houston for a couple of days of "real" work, and hope I don't forget anything I learned this weekend when my focus is so entirely shifted. I had a very nice Mother's Day, visiting with my mother at her house in the hill country. It made for a long weekend on the road, but was still a fun thing to do. She and I are both getting the hang of skype now, so we can say hello to each other, quickly and for free, throughout the week. After a long weekend on the road, Leo and I were ready to stay home for a day. We saw something in the yard today we've never seen before. We've seen deer, bobcats, hogs, javalinas, rabbits, squirrels, armadillos, racoons, and more bird varieties than I thought existed. But today, for the first time I can remember, we saw a paisano (a roadrunner) in the yard. He was alone, which is unusual, and put on quite a little show of strutting and popping his tail for us. We were entertained for the longest time. Tomorrow and Wednesday, I'll miss all the yard critters, and will look forward to getting back on Thursday. I apologize for this posting being such a "rambler", but it's the way my mind works today. Enjoy the summer! I'll try to post again soon.

A Visit with my Friend, Rachid

I have a handful of friends that I skype with on a regular basis. [Skype is a free internet service that allows people at different computers to talk with each other, whether in chat mode, audio mode, or video mode, for free.] Of course, my UT teammates and I get together several times a week, my UH friend Debbie and I try to talk once a week, I'm trying to get Mom set up so she and I can talk once a week, and my husband and I skype daily when I am away from home. Today, however, was my day to skype with Rachid. My friend Rachid lives in a village in Morocco. Before today, all we have done was "chat" just a bit, but today he convinced me to spend a few minutes with him on a voice call, and I'm glad he did. When he got on the line, he chastised me a bit for being too busy, and reminded me that life is too short to rush through. He's right, of course. I assured him that my whirlwind existence is just for another year, then I will settle down and begin enjoying life. There are two problems with this story however. One is that I really do enjoy the whirlwind most of the time, and the other is that I am not so sure after all these years I can slow it down. I guess a year from now, we'll see. Rachid also talked about his business and his town. He told me that he runs a shop that sells items of interest from other parts of his country. I think it focuses on handmade items from craftspeople in the area. He explained that these people are very creative and very knowledgeable about their crafts, even when they do not have any higher education. His shop is near the tomb of a holy man, so he gets a lot of business from pilgrims making the journey to the site. When I asked if he traveled much, he told me that he has only been to other parts of his country and other parts of Africa. He told me of transporting wares in a camel caravan and promised me that the desert skies are much bigger than our own and that the desert stars are an amazing sight. When I told him his stories were making me want to buy a airline ticket, he joked that a flying carpet was more authentic (and warned me that I would not enjoy such a long camel ride). We had a very nice visit and talked of many things. Although there are a lot of my friends who would find the conversation as engaging as I did, I got the idea he thought my openness and acceptance of other cultures and ideas was not typical of Americans. I hope he's wrong on this point, but wonder if he's right. I promised that if Leo and I get a chance to come for a visit, we'll let him know ahead of time. He said he would be sure and prepare a nice meal, "fit for a queen". In the end, I told him that I would try to talk with him again next Sunday, if possible, since the conversation was so enjoyable. Now I'm thinking I might like to invite some others, with interests similar to mine, to join us for a discussion of how our lives and ideas are similar, how we are different, and how much fun it is to explore those amazing facets of who we are. En shala, Rachid, God willing.