Ten Things

I think I should start posting my list of Ten Things to do before graduation, and Ten Things to do after. If I don't post them now, graduation will come and go! Still, I've only been fleshing out a few ideas in my mind, so I'm thinking the list won't be complete after one sitting...no way at all.

UPDATE: Added a new list that is specific to my computing and completed all three lists. Still, now that I've started, I seem to be on a roll with my listing. I keep thinking of things to add. So, again, don't be surprised if you notice the list change over the next day or two.

10 Things to Do Before Graduation

1. Pick up my class ring in Austin--DONE!
2. Finish Rhonda's OIMS audit project
3. Finish Javier's PM database project
4. Make sure I have contact info for all my classmates--DONE!
5. Post ice skating pix of my nephew and sis
6. Buy 2 pairs of new shoes--DONE!
7. Buy 2 new business wear outfits (if you know me, then you know I'm a jeans girl so this is a REALLY big item!)
8. Buy nails (since I can't seem to grow them)--DONE!
9. Cut and color so I'll look presentable
10. Visit each of my daughters

10 Things to Do After Graduation

1. Spend one whole day cleaning my apartment
2. Movie marathon with my sweetie
3. Take the grandkids fishing
4. Visit my mom
5. Start writing my book (nothing exciting...a book on Excel)
6. Read 10 mysteries, spy novels, or even sappy romances...ANYTHING but business books!
1. Hornet Flight by Ken Follett (excellent diversion!)
2. St. Peter's Fair by Ellis Peters (16th century crime solving monk stories)
3. Hooked by Matt Richtel (wickedly addictive thriller...wow!)
4. The Company by Robert Littell (long, detailed novel of the CIA...really good)
5. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (complex mystery involving recluses, twins, and ghosts)
6. No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (unusual, insightful story of a Botswana woman determined to follow her dream of running the first female-owned detective agency in the country)
7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini(profound story of friendship, secrets, and betrayal, a story almost too sad to listen to, but one that also cannot be ignored; I'll have to switch to something lighthearted for my next book!)
7. Create 3 paneled 24"x48" images to hang near my entry at the P.L. house
8. Lose 50 pounds (could stand to lose 100, but know that 50 is doable)
9. Complete my application process to Texas Tech (PhD program)
10. Put together a team to discuss software creation business plan

Ten Things to Do With My Computer After Graduation

1. Clean out my email inbox
2. Finish my Creative Suite (Photoshop) training series
3. Build a custom iGoogle theme
4. Transfer one of my databases (Training Tracker?) to a VB application
5. Watch 50 of my favorite podcasts (TWIT, Mr. Excel, Dog & Pony, etc.)
6. Get active in Pownce
7. Start working on my [inactive] Wordpress blog
8. Design a new webpage
9. Document all my database designs and details
10. Design a webpage to support my new [Excel] book
11. [Oops!] Buy a DivX Connected device and set up my home system to use it

P.S. Don't be surprised if you see the lists change as I think of more important items that move up to the Top Ten ranking.

Homework Lags while Granddaughter Shines

For one more night, Zoe has Mom and Dad all to herself.

After making some progress on my homework and final exams, I knew there would be no way for me to go to the hospital for another visit. So...I lined Leo up with all kinds of instructions and kept working while he got ready to go. As he was headed out the door, I realized that some things were just too important. So, I ditched my homework, grabbed my camera, and headed to the hospital.

 

Dress rehearsal for the little princess.

We stopped by to pick up Michelle so she could play aunt for the evening and drove to Baytown once again. The news is that Zoe seems to be healthy, happy, and ready to go home. The family should be leaving for home by 10m tomorrow. We tried on the new dress that the princess will wear for her exit photos tomorrow. Thankfully, it fit just fine, and more importantly, Mom and Dad seemed to like it. It was a wonderful visit and it felt good for grandma and grandpa to get to hold the baby a while longer. Now the evening is over and it's back to the grindstone for us, but just for the evening I got to get away from it all and bask in the joy of having one more little one around to shower with love.

Grandpa takes a turn with the little sweetie.

Welcome Zoe!

This is my granddaughter Zoe and her proud daddy Lee. She was born at 10:44 this morning among a great deal of hoopla that undoubtedly has not affected her one bit. Her mother, Rachael, went to work as usual this morning. She talked to her sister on the phone and mentioned she was not feeling up to par. She was on the phone with another friend when the contractions started, about 8:45. She has had contractions off and on for a few weeks now, so she didn't think much of it at first. Her friend encouraged her to go to the hospital and Rachael agreed, but not until she took care of a few last minute items.

Somewhere around 9:00 she called her dad and asked if he would drive her to the hospital. He agreed, but said he wanted to take a shower first. Rachael put her foot down on this one (thankfully!) and said if he did, she would drive herself. He gave in and away they went, heading from Liberty to her hospital in Baytown.

She called her husband to tell him she was on the way and said she would let him know when she arrived since he works about a 10 minute drive from there. I was about an hour into one of my final exams (a take-home exam) when she called me. I told her that Leo and I would head that way. (I figured if it was a "false alarm" we could just eat lunch somewhere and come back.) I asked her to let me know when she arrived at the hospital if she could so we would know if they were going to keep her.

Leo and I stopped for gas, and I sent a text message saying we hadn't heard from Rachael yet. As I was finishing it up, I received a text message with just two words from her. The message was "she's coming". Of course, I thought that was my notification that the hospital verified Rachael was in labor. I had no idea that it meant "SHE'S COMING!" Within ten minutes I had another call saying the baby was here. I couldn't believe it. Here's what went on during our drive...

Rae said her dad was trying to make conversation during the whole drive, and that all she could think was, "I'm busy here...could we just ride in silence?" When they got to the hospital, she reports that her dad said, "do you want me to find a parking spot, or do you just want me to drop you off at the front door?" Rachael said that she was able to resist hitting him at that point and had him drop her off. He wanted to get her a wheelchair, but she said she was fine and at 10:34 she walked in the door and headed for the elevators. Somehow during all this she got a phone call off to her husband that she had arrived and thought he should hurry.

When she got to the nurse's station upstairs, they took one look and sent her straight to the labor room. The nurses called her doctor as Rachael laid down on the bed. As the nurse was about to examine her, her water broke. Rachael said the nurse took one look and began scurrying around, calling for "backup" and getting things ready. Rachael asked her a couple of times how dilated she was and when the nurse finally heard her she said, "honey...you are at ten! Do me a favor and DON'T PUSH." Rae called Lee and said (in his re-telling, he exclaims it was more of a scream) "You better get here quick!" The doctor on call walked into the room and repeated the request, "DON'T PUSH". Rachael said, "I can't push. My husband isn't here yet."

Zoe had other plans, however. Within minutes, with her dad standing out in the hall and her husband, mother, and stepdad on the way, ten minutes after arriving at the hospital, Rae delivered a beautiful 8 lbs 3 oz baby girl. Lee was just pulling into the hospital parking when he got the message and Leo and I were just crossing the bridge into Baytown. Two hours after Rachael went into labor, it was all over with.

Leo and I arrived at the hospital about 15 minutes later. When I got a look at Rachael, I thought I must have been mistaken. She was sitting up in bed and said, "Hey Mom" looking as good as she had when I last saw her. Then I saw Lee with a little pink bundle and realized that it was definitely all over with. Zoe was all bundled up and sucking sweetly on her right fist. Leo took the baby first while I went to check on Rachael. Both were absolutely fine, and neither looked like they had been through much of an ordeal at all. Zoe is absolutely beautiful, and Leo and I fell in love with her at first glance. Lee was all smiles and definitely the proud papa. "Have we decided on a final name yet?" I asked. Rae looked at Lee and said, "Have we?" Lee answered, "Her name is Zoe Danielle Rives."

We oohed and ahhed over the baby for an hour or so, then Rachael asked for her laptop and cell phone. While Lee and Leo rocked the baby, Rae looked up a phone number on the web and made a phone call. "I'm sorry I didn't get back with you earlier, but I had a bit of an emergency this morning," she said. She then proceeded to arrange to reschedule a court appearance that her employer was going to have to miss. In other words, an hour and a half after the baby arrived, the girl was working again!!!

As soon as business was taken care of, everyone had taken a turn with the baby, and we had gotten a few pictures taken (with a cell phone...I forgot my camera and Rae didn't have time to get hers!!), she was ready to spend a few minutes with the baby. Leo and I went down to the cafeteria while Rachael fed Zoe. We stayed at the hospital for several hours, then decided to let Rachael get some rest (although, admittedly, she didn't look like she needed it).

What a wonderful day. Although my schedule was blown and I didn't get to finish my exam, it was definitely worth the loss to get to spend some time with my family. So...I'll try again in the morning and see if I can get through it. Perhaps I'll be ready to go back to work on Thursday. :-)

Grandbaby on the Way?

Rachael just called to say she's on her way to the hospital. Leo and I will be heading that way soon. I will be posting updates on twitter, so be sure to check out http://twitter.com/beaamaya if you want to watch the progress. Bye now!

School Lunch

I'm on a 15 minute class break here and the online chatters are talking about FOOD. So I thought I'd show off and let you know the kinds of things that Honey fixes for me when I'm in class. This lovely salad has fresh cooked bacon, avacado, bell peppers, l&t of course, cheese, ham, and turkey, and a very hot and spicy dressing that I love. It is absolutely yummy!

Michelle's BDay

Daughter Michelle had her 28th birthday (WOW!) yesterday. Although I was not able to get her on the phone, I did send a couple of text messages. I just received her text reply and thought I would post it here for you guys.

April 16, 2008 4:10PM

Thank u so much i love you guys and i had a great day yesterday tell the girls and uncle jess thanks for the wishes

(P.S. I notice she did not pass a "thank you" on to Leo who sang "Happy Birthday" to her message recorder! Just kidding Leo...I'm sure she LOVED it!)

Tour Continued

Picking up where we left off last week, a drive along the south side of Hwy 35 and along the bay brings us to the marina. I haven't ever been in a sailboat, so I can only imagine how much fun it would be. We don't get a lot of visitors in from the water approach, I think, but we do get some. I love the way the marina looks, though, with its mysterious inhabitants and beautiful boats and sails.

Across from the marina is our very own local theater. Not only is it fun attending the wonderful small town productions, with all of their mishaps, occasional forgotten lines, and the ever popular use of someone's real name rather than the character's name in the production (always good for a chuckle from the audience), but attending theater productions is always just a really great way to interact with friends and neighbors. Many of the people who attend are those who "star" in other productions, but most are friends and family of the cast members (remember, in a small town, it would be surprising to attend a production and NOT know the actors). This is high on my list of things I've had to forgo in the last few years while pursuing my education that I want to bring back into my life. I love our little theater.

A short drive down the coast, I think it's about 9 miles south of town, is the small town of Indianola. Once the largest city in the area, it was wiped out by hurricanes and cholera and finally evolved into just the quaint small town that it is today. There is a lovely beach there, and we were surprised to see a huge increase in the number of beach side hookups available for all the snowbirds. The statue in this photo is of French explorer La Salle. It was late in the day when I took the photo, so the details of the statue are a bit lost in shadow. For a more detailed overview of this town and a better photo of the statue, check out this article titled "Indianola, Texas Ghost Town".

Just next to the statue is the bay itself. A boat ride 13 (or so) miles to the left (north) in the photo would take you to my house. The same ride to the right would take you closer and closer to the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The wildflowers were in full bloom and it was an absolutely beautiful day to be standing bayside. I'll have to remember to take the grandkids to this area, called Magnolia beach, when they come for a visit in the summer. Of course, any of you that come for a visit can look forward to this little trip as well!

We enjoyed our little drive out and about town, but it was time to head back to the house at this point. Now we come to the part where I have to make a little admission. This is a photo of the Six Mile park, which is right next to our house. There is a small playground, a very small beach, a place to put boats in the water, and a wonderful lighted fishing pier. My admission is that for the last few years, Leo and I have this little ritual that we often perform. When we are approaching the drive to turn down toward our house the driver will say to the other, "Do you want to go to the pier?" and the other will answer, almost every time, "Sure, why not." Then we drive to the pier, circle around, and point the vehicle toward our house while we sit and look at it for a few minutes before heading back home. Over the years, it has been a wonderful way to mark our progress, our upgrades, and our changes from this vantage point. These last few years, it has been a wonderful way to bask in the satisfaction of having a home that we love. (Note: Standing in the direction shown in this photo, our home would be back over your left shoulder.)

Finally, our day trip was over and we arrived back at the house just as the shadows were beginning to deepen. We always take pleasure in this view of our house when returning home from being away. The house looks surprisingly small and plain from this direction. This really works in our favor since visitors walk through the front door unprepared for the view that opens up to them as they realize the back of the house, bayside, is almost entirely glass. The other thing we like about this view is that by placing the house on the very edge of the high ground, just before it drops off to the bay, our drive in makes it look like the house is "floating".

Whew! Tour over now, and my Risk homework still waits to be completed. Hope you enjoyed the trip. Feel free to visit any time as we love to show people around our little neck of the woods.

My Home Town Tour

Last weekend, Leo and I took a drive around our home town and enjoyed, once again, the wonderful quaintness about small town life. The only problem with such diversions is they make it so very hard for me to go back to the big city. I love my job, love the people I work with, and love the challenges of database development. But I would be lying if I said I love Houston. It's a nice place to visit, I guess, but I don't like living there.

Anyway, how about a tour of my hometown?

Just out the drive is the little church we attend. Yes, it is a converted garage, thanks in a large part to my guys Leo and Jess. But it is just right for the small congregation that attends each Sunday morning. These days, Leo is ten times more faithful than I am. He makes jokes about keeping me out of the fire by attending for us both. Hopefully, when school is over, I'll get back into the routine of attending regularly. And yes, I know that it is not "fashionable" to attend church for the highly educated and scientific minded. Sorry if this startles anyone or shakes their view of me, but yes, I am really a believer. And this kind of church suits me perfectly. (Note: Our house is in the back right side of the photo. Click on any of the photos to see them larger.)

Here we go with a picture of the "county barn". I'll give you a minute to guess why, in this period of election hoopla, I would include a picture of the county barn. Any guesses? Ah yes. This is where I go to vote! The voting booths are cute little cardboard setups, and going to vote in a place like this makes me proud to be a citizen with such a privilege, although I'm not sure why.

Ever wonder why the place we live is called "Six Mile"? A click on this photo will let you read the whole story, but basically, it's because our location six miles north of town was, for early area settlers, six miles to fresh water. I told you our place is quaint.

Although I've only enjoyed this venue a couple of times each year over the last few, this is one of our very favorite spots in town. This is a photo of our famous Twin Dolphins Theater. It's a lovely theater, with two screens! The movies are always affordable, the theater rarely full, and we almost always bump into an old friend or two when we go. We especially love it when two movies are playing that we want to see and will sometimes watch them back-to-back. Generally, a trip to the movies includes popcorn and diet cokes, followed by a meal out in town (Mexican food...always Mexican food!) I LOVE movie dates!

Not something that is generally enjoyed by the locals, I am including a photo of our lighthouse nonetheless as it is a bit of a local landmark. If any of you have ever driven south along our stretch of Highway 35, I'm sure you've seen our little lighthouse just after crossing the causeway between Point Comfort and Port Lavaca. Not much to look at, I admit, but every town needs something, and for us, this is it.

I'm hitting a sleepy spot now, and have a long day tomorrow, so I'll have to finish the tour in another posting. Don't worry...it won't be long.

Curious about "Twitter Ups"?

At the top right corner of my blog window, you should see a listing of something called "twitter ups". Twitter is a service (admittedly, used mostly by young'uns) that is the ultimate in connectivity. Why would someone like me use it? Well, probably for the same reason that I use Facebook, have tried out Second Life, and write a blog. I guess it's really because in my business, in my education, and even in the areas where my interests lie, the best way for me to know about tools being used to COMMUNICATE and INTERACT is to actually try them out. So...I now have a twitter account.

The way I use it, and will use it, is still in discovery mode. Twitter allows me to share something, and only a little something at that, about what's going on in my life at any time from any where. Generally, I twitter in from my cell phone. So far, I use it at those times when I'm thinking to myself, "I wish I could share this with someone". So, when we encountered the goats on the side of the road in a beautiful spot on a country drive, I couldn't help twittering the message. By the way...this blog is not the only place my twittered activities show up. Anyway, perhaps you understand a bit about twitters now.

"But why," you might ask. "I mean, really, why?"

Well, I am all about communication these days. Mostly, I think a lot about communication in the way that it affects business, education, and life in the world we live in. I am also thinking of pursuing PhD studies in the area of communication as it applies to the transfer of knowledge. My focus would be in the way that people on different levels in the workplace communicate effectively. My very specific focus would be on learning about, with the ultimate goal of improving, the way that blue collar workers with an abundance of tacit knowledge communicate with white collar workers in their codified knowledge environment. I've lived both of the lives, worked both of these environments, and highly value the kinds of knowledge found in both. I just sometimes wish that both groups were as highly valued by the other for their contributions to the knowledge pool as their own "kin" are.

So...one of the things I pursue in my life is communication. I find that I am a poor communicator in many environments, and do better in many others. For example, I am typically not very good in one-on-one encounters, and certainly not good at interfacing with people that I have little or no history with. Leo, on the other hand, is excellent in this role. Instead of focusing on what I'm not so good at (although I do consider it, a lot, when thinking and planning out strategies), I tend to gravitate toward the kinds of interactions that I am perfectly comfortable with. These include brief encounters of the digital type for which I am (typically) highly suited.

Ah well, enough of that. My whole intent here was to explain about twittering, and I seem to have gone off on a tangent once again. Gee, I'm such a "rambler". Now that my newly repaired tooth is beginning to throb a bit again, I'm headed off to a nice nap. And now, you all know that the silly little blurbs at the top of my page, which may or may not continue for very long or at very regular intervals, are a bit like (please pardon my French here) "brain farts"--those little random thoughts that occur at the oddest places and times that make me smile and think to myself, "Gee, I wish someone was here to share that with."

It's My Birthday! Yippee!

Yup...that's right. Today is my birthday and I am 48 years old. I'm spending the day at home with my beautiful view and my sweetie, and so far, enjoying every minute. I can't "goof off" all day today since I have data due for my marketing simulation team project (a lot of fun, but a lot of work), but that's okay...just being home for the day is celebration enough. Anyway, Happy Birthday to me. And so far, it IS!

Countdown Continues

Classes Left	2 weekends
Days until End of School	34
Days until Graduation	47

Yippee!! There is something to celebrate right around the corner!!

In PAIN!

I am in such pain...and boy, am I NOT good with this kind of pain! (Poor Leo)

I have a toothache. I have a VERY BAD toothache, and my dentist, author of the book "I Hate Dentists" by the way, is out of the country until next week. Yikes! I am currently living off of Orajel and acetaminophen (people with no insurance learn to use generic drugs) and hoping I can survive the rest of the week.

Anyway, I thought I would warn you all that if you exchange email with me or chat with me online, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE for my actions this week. Take a really bad toothache, a hot work project with an impending deadline, and top it all off with a TON of homework requirements, and you'll see that this is probably not a good week to interact with me. So...I am apologizing here and now, giving you all fair warning, and heading back to my project. I'll be sure and let you know when I can sleep through the night again, eat a comfortable meal, and smile when I talk to people. THEN I'll be ready to be pleasantly chatty!