Digging out.....

Sigh. So here's the problem with having to do a system restore on your computer. It's just incredibly time-consuming...not that I haven't made wonderful new friends at Dell Support and not that I don't enjoy learning new tricks (like how cool is it that I can import all my email stuff ?!) But time is just something I don't have these days...so how, might you ask, do I possibly have time to devote to posting here if I am so incredibly busy???? Good question.....um, er...what can I say, I am a slacker at heart and am looking to take a break from digging out from under the rubble of work that has become my virtual office. (Boy, do I need a REAL office).

Anyhow, so as much as I have so much to say about the current state of events and all, I'm a little preoccupied with meeting my numerous deadlines (which are ridiculously too soon and which I can't see how I can possibly manage and yet, here I am, laughing in the face of the odds....and wasting time here, I know).

So, Peg, there's an update for you!

And I STILL want to get some pics uploaded here as well as get good use of that bootleg Quicken disk Laura gave me. It would be so nice to finally have my finances in order!!

The Weekend! Yaa-hooey!

I don't know why I'm so excited about the weekend...it's not like it's much different from any other day for me (you know us stay-at-home-moms...the days all kind of run together!) Actually, that's not entirely true, Rich is around a bit more, which is nice, I don't have to pack everyone up in the car to drive to Vivi's school twice a day, and things are generally a bit more laid-back. Not to mention that work slows down a lot...people don't tend to email me stuff (other than students who tend to email me ALL of their work on the weekends....I have found that as we approach the end of the week deadline--midnights on Sundays, the rate of student's handing in their work increases exponentially....Conclusion--there are still a heck of a lot procrastinators out there!)

But I digress....So, I am frantically trying to get all my student projects graded before the midterm grades are due (Sunday night) and before my lovely (NOT!) computer decides to crash on me. I think I'm doing good, though, just a few more projects to go and then I can dive into the next mountain of stuff I have to do! The college is going through a platform change, which means BIG changes in the way we deliver our content and so, guess who was lucky enough to be considered competent enough to help out with uploading courses on the new platform? That's right, you guessed it. I should be honored (or so they tell me). I could be even more honored if they threw a bit o' cash my way! No such luck.

Anyhow, we had a successful first week (well, half-week, really) of Vivi being back in school...the transition was almost effortless, I couldn't believe it. She must really like her new teacher (which is a relief for overwrought mother thinking her poor baby would be traumatized by a change in guard at the school!). Plus, tomorrow is our good friend, Erin's, birthday, so we are SO looking forward to that! Erin turns four, and Vivi adores her. And then, it's off to yiayia and Deda's to take advantage of babysitting services so I can crank out even more work. (Do I seem to spend a lot of time working? It sure seems that way...even as I write it!)

I can't believe how long I can go on typing away about nothing in general....this must be therapeutic. I REALLY need to get the uploaded pictures thing going...although, since my brother-in-law so consideratelly scanned and emailed me some lovely childhood pictures of mine,perhaps I should rethink this. Most of the pictures were your loveable old Lug, cute as a button (of course), but there was that one pre-teen awkward stage photo that is fit for combustion....you know the look---long stringy hair (in ponytails, no less, what self-respecting 10 yr old kid still wears ponytails?!), big Jackie-O style glasses (with lenses as thick as concrete) and my lovely round form....hmmmmm, perhaps an incentive NOT to look into the picture uploading thing!

Well, probably have about 6 more hours til the kids are up, so I guess I better call it a night.

The Saga Continues....

Hoo boy! I must have been really tired when I wrote the last post...tons of typos and spelling errors everywhere...and I'm too tired to bother going back and fixing it...although I really have to do that, as an educator, it doesn't do to well to blow off such academic considerations...

Ah, yes, well to update on the whole computer saga. In a nutshell, I'm still in trouble. Stupid, two-faced, lying, cheating....ahem! as I was saying, it appears that my computer is still vulnerable crashes. And how do I know this, you ask? Two more crashes in the last two days. Sigh. It looks like the only way out of this abysmal hole is to do a TOTAL SYSTEM RESTORE. (sob!) I did it once before (well, OK, I shelled up bucks to have a professional do it for me, but I wasn't as poor back then), so there's hope, but I am totally dreading it. And, I have to wait until next week to do it when I won't have any classes (in case I completely destroy my laptop).

On a happier note, Vivi starts school tomorrow and we are all so exited...there's nothing than a cutie-patootie four-year old beaming from ear to ear with her new Disney Princesses backpack strapped on practicing for the big day (like they get any work to take home, anyway) or stating emphatically, "I am so excited about seeing my teacher!" We were considering changing schools this year because Montessori is not cheap, but seeing the joy she gets and the growth we see (she's doing pretty well in her vocabulary and phonics workbooks that she does for FUN!) we figure we can go that much more in the hole for the important start to her education!

Natasha is suffering a bit more than her sis...more teeth coming in and a pretty nasty rash have made her kind of cranky...and she NEVER gets rashes! But, she is such a little trooper...toddling around all over the place, climbing and exploring. She was delighted today when I let her wear my watch and toddled all around the place showing it off to anyone who would look...unfortunately, when her eyes lit upon the temptingly shiny headband on the edge of the counter, she hurled it to the floor to snatch up a new treasure. She's so cute, she knows a headband goes on her head, but can't quite get it on there herself...she'll sort of prop it on haphazardly and smile so proudly. It's really kind of amazing how much she learns only from imitation and socialization..without any explicit teaching...she was like, what, 10 months when she started stealing toothbrushes to shove in her mouth, snatching the phone to hold to her ear or press buttons on it, she knows necklaces go on your neck and shoes (especially mommy's) goes on her feet! The cutest part is when she can barely do the task, but you can tell she understands where all the stuff goes. She is so bright! She can identify parts of her body and carry out simple instructions ("Give this to Vivi," "Where is your hair?" etc.) Although, to be honest, yesterday she showed me her toes when I said "Where are your fingers?" Oh well, some of us do have long, grasping toes!

OK, enough slacking off...back to work.

Ay, Carumba!!

What a dreadful couple of days! So, it turns out my trusty laptop decidcd to crash on me last night...thankfully it was after my last seminar of the week, but when I say crash, I mean it TOTALLY crashed! It kept shutting down on me, and when I'd boot back up it would temptingly let me get on for about 5 or ten minutes and then boot me right off again with the ever dreaded "BLUE SCREEN MESSAGE." Hopefully, you are not lucky enough to know why this is an everdreaded "BLUE SCREEN MESSAGE," but as my pals over at Dell Support have now assured me multiple times, the "BLUE SCREEN MESSAGE" is something they know well. Not to be confused with just an "Error Message" (which is only serious enough to warrant initial caps) . So, after spending the better part of an hour troubleshooting with my pal from Virginia (I think that's where the first one was from) OF COURSE we get disconnected! At this point it was about 12:30 or 1 am, and I think, "Hey, at least he has my phone number " which I know for a fact since after repeating my information (expressive service number, name, phone number, height, weight, ss number, parents maiden name...blah, blah) for about ten times to the pleasant recorded operator, I had the joy of doing it all over again when I got my humanoid buddy! (Why do they bother asking you for all that crap if they're just going to ask you when they get you live anyway?!...I digress)

SO, after waiting patiently (well, more like pathetically, emotionally, panickly ) and my pal, whom I thought we had BONDED with blows me off (so like a man!) I decide to got through the entire initiation yet again and spend another 15 mins waiting to get yet another humanoid.

This time by buddy is from Manila, Phillipines...hey, at least I'm getting some culture, right? I figured at least they log all this stuff so I don't have to go through the entire past hour all over again with my newfound best buddy....oh, wait, what? No? VA pal didn't note this in the system? (Two-faced rat!!) So, let's begin all over, shall we? Joy.

So, what, maybe another hour and a half, my buddy (this time I was clever...I got his name!) Francis (whot took an entirely different approach to the problem...and gee, that's comforting, I guess there's no set standard for resolving these things) determined that in addition to messing up my computer by using a non-compatible formatted disk (with DirectCD or something of that nature) instead of Sonic contributed to the problem,not to mention that I had a ton of Adware/Spyware crap in my system!

Oh, but you thought Adware and Spyware is harmless (albeit annoying) dormant stuff that just hangs out mellowly in your computer? HAH. So, they tell me that these "parasites" (I am so up with the lingo) now are much like viruses that can cause problems in your computer. Which meant Francis felt that I was outgrowing him and he, in good faith, could not continue this relationship with me...he was sending me on his way to his dear buddy at "Spyware Specialists" (courtesy of Dell) which meant, you guessed it, yet another late-night rendezvous. But, the night was young! It was only 3 am, and my new buddy, John, was in Ottawa, so I continued my jet-setting ways.

Now, with my psych background, I've always been pretty inclined to get to know people who can serve me well...show some interest, get a little personal, ask questions about their work, what they do, through some compliments there way (it NEVER hurts to have friends that are more technically savy than you!) ...this, unfortunately seemed to have released the floodgates, and John ended up telling me his whole life story (which I am not averse to hearing except at 3:30 am when I am DYING from fatigue and just want to get my stupid computer running...NOte to self: save the psych crap for daytime hours).

SOOOOOOO, to make a long story short (hah! You thought this WAS the long version?) I am now back up...things seem to be going ok (knock wood) and I am faithfully followign John's advice of running my super-secrete-special Adware/counter-spyware software every day for a week, and then wean myself down to once a week unless I start getting more spyware again. I also broke down and shelled out the bucks for McAfee Anti-Spyware (I know, I know, should have done it before now...that's the Clifton side of me trying to save a buck!)

So, why, you ask, am I wasting time composing this incredibly long post with details no one is surely going to be reading about all the way down to here? Because I'm avoiding work, you say? Maybe, but also to share my nifty-cool links with you:

Straight from the techie people at Dell; http://doxdesk.com/ and http://www.dsvs.org/

TAKE THAT YOU ALIEN PARASITE!

I know, I know...I need some pics!

So, yeah, I know I need to figure out how to get this whole picture-posting thingy down pat...even I will admit it's kind of boring to read a blog with just words, blah, blah, blah...not that I don't weave them so artfully, together, mind you, but still...

So, I just finsihed up my third week seminar with my Child Development and Learning class and it is just so awesome! After teaching the same course year after year, term after term, things can get a little stale! This is such a breath of fresh air and I am so into the topic! Even the readings that I have to do (because I can no longer "wing it" like my older classes) are interesting! Downside is (and why must there always be one?) is that it takes a lot more prep time...I have to do the monumental amounts of readings, I have to actually draft responses to the projects, create new seminar notes, etc. , etc. Still, it's still not such a bad deal...not to mention that I think this Education angle is going to make me much more marketable down the road (like for when I figure out how to make the REAL BUCKS in education---except this is an oxymoron!)

Anyhow, I am so proud of my incredibly smart big sis who got a promotion at work (some people just have no business being so damn smart and successful---and to have had the good sense not to pursue education as a career!) May she always remember the little people she knew way back when as she climbs the corporate ladder!!

OK, so even though I knew up front this blog would be an excuse to goof off and not work, I am going to wrap it up, put on another cuppa coffee for the next couple of hours of work tonight.

And that stupid clock thingy! Why does it INSIST that it is 8:00 here! In my dreams! Gotta fix that AGAIN!

Fix the time thingy!

This is actually not a real post...I"m messing with the clock on the site and trying to figure out if this will work....let's see, does it actually say 2:42 am?

Lovely Bar-B-Q!

So we had a delightful day with Aunt Antoinette and Uncle Denny and the rest of the family clan...Rich's aunt and uncle were visiting from FL and it was a good excuse to get some of the extended family members together...and it was really nice. We saw quite a few people we haven't seen in a while, and better yet, both Vivi and Natasha were pretty independentin terms of me being able to actually have a conversation with people that lasted more than 4 seconds at a time!

Natasha looked so adorable in her little teeny-Pippi-Longstonking-ish pony tails shooting out like antennae on her head (I HAVE to figure out how to download pics here) and Vivi was pretty much out of sight the whole time playing with her cousins, whom she ADORES!

The downside of all this (and there always is one, isn't there?) is that I had to pay my dues and do work until about 5 minutes ago (2:30 am--yes, the clock thing on this site is OFF) and now am trying to wind down to actually catch some zzzzz's.

Do I bother waking up Rich who has been snoozing on the couch for the past few hours while I am laboring away here or do I let him spend the rest of the night on the couch? (hee hee, wouldn't that make yet another nice picture to post here?) I am so bad.

More on New Orleans

Sounds like the issue of US being overextended in other places is on target...

One National Guard soldier who asked not to be named for fear of punishment from his commanding officer said of the lack of medical attention at the center, "They (the Bush administration) care more about Iraq and Afghanistan than here."

The Louisiana National Guard soldier said, "We are doing the best we can with the resources we have, but almost all of our guys are in Iraq." http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050903190909990012

Also the fact that there are these rumors about people being killed for no reason, six babies born in the Superdome and rapes....I just can't comprehend that this is happening in the US.