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Post by gadgetgirlil on Apr 28, 2024 6:14:36 GMT -5
Greetings!
We had really nice weather for the hike yesterday. There were a lot of people out on the trails besides those that signed up with us in order to get a patch. It was close to 80 degrees in the afternoon when we packed up. I fit in 2 shorter hikes which was just enough given how stressful this past week has been.
Lots of rain overnight so if I do anything in my flower beds it will be in the afternoon after some of the moisture on the vegetation has dried off. I probably will still be a muddy mess when I finish. But first I will go to the fitness center then tackle the mountain of paperwork so that I don't have to worry about making sure my credit card payments are scheduled.
I still have some work to do to get tomorrow's final ready but I'm only going to deal with fixed the diagrams that the students will label since I have to use my MacBook as it has my preferred graphic editing software. The rest I can wrap up tomorrow on campus as the exam isn't until 11:15.
Time is absolutely accelerating. I have a lot of things to do before I can be out of town for 6 nights. Yes, I'm making lists.
Have a great day!
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pepper
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Post by pepper on Apr 28, 2024 7:30:56 GMT -5
Howdy!
Don’t ever let me drink Diet Coke late in the afternoon again, ok? I’m putting y’all in charge of this because apparently I can not be trusted. I don’t think I slept at all last night. Now I want to not do anything the rest of the day. We’re expecting a storm any minute, so I may go back to bed and enjoy some storm sounds while I snooze.
My tomato plants that I started from seed are big and bushy and covered in blooms! I planted more than I thought I would need, just in case some didn’t make it. All of them survived, so I had to do quite a bit of thinning out yesterday. That’s a good problem to have.
I am mightily pissed off at my sourdough starter. It should be fine by this time next week, though. From what I’ve read, it could take 7 to 14 days to get going, and today is day 7. It started off with such a bang that I hoped I would be in the 7 Day Club, but that’s not happening.
Have a great Sunday!
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on Apr 28, 2024 8:36:05 GMT -5
good morning Ladies: Yesterday was full and ok. Today is 'not leaving the house day". I have a few jobs to do and some TV to watch. Just saw a Netlix movie advertised about continuation of Forrest Gump I would like to see. Water plants, file dog nails.....really exciting Sunday activities.
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pepper
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Post by pepper on Apr 29, 2024 5:26:02 GMT -5
Hi!
How is it Monday already? Yesterday was a rainy, kind of boring, kind of mopey day and I don’t feel refreshed at all. Fingers crossed that today is uneventful.
Have a great day!
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Post by gadgetgirlil on Apr 29, 2024 5:43:52 GMT -5
Happy Final Exam Week!
Time for the students to show that they learned something this semester. I am giving exams today, tomorrow and Friday. Should have just been Friday but the track team is in South Carolina for a meet Thursday-Saturday.
Yesterday was productive. I dug through my archives in the basement at the rental property and came up with the documents that the State needs so that I can get $50 from the unclaimed property fund. For some reason, one of my dad's old brokerage firms issued a check in 2005 when he died. It was sent to his condo but he had moved into assisted living several years prior. It is in my name but with his old address so I had to come up with documents to show that it is really mine. I found old 1099s that had both our names on them with that old address. I also uploaded a form that I signed to claim his State tax refund for 2005 which shows both our social security numbers. I think that is all they need. Fingers crossed as this will be the easiest $50 I've earned this year!
Then I tackled my pile of bills and stuff. Got enough dealt with that the rest can wait until I'm back from my trip. I was really behind. Then it was a trip to Fruitful Yield before coming home and pulling weeds for a little over a hour. The rain had stopped in the morning and it was very windy so everything had dried off. The yard needs a lot more work but at least I made a small dent and filled up the yard waste bag that DH had started when he mowed the lawn. After some kitty time, I worked on the diagrams for today's exam. I just need to print and proofread it when I get on campus this morning.
Have a great day!
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on Apr 29, 2024 7:57:20 GMT -5
Good Morning Ladies: Yesterday accomplished a lot off of my To Do List. Today is pick up groceries and meds and BOGO's. Making Brunswick Stew (will last a few days). Have a Nice Day.
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Post by newmoose on Apr 29, 2024 9:03:51 GMT -5
Good morning!
We had a wonderfully weird weekend. The concert was fantastic. Spending time with DS3's family was good. Seeing new places in Nashville was good. However, DS1 did not pass the bar. DS3 is in rehab for alcohol abuse. Our car got towed from a spot that was not marked "no parking". We found out a longtime college friend has cancer, and the prognosis is not good. Another longtime friend died yesterday. To say the weekend was a mixed bag is an understatement.
I have a list of all the lasts of paperwork I need to get done this month. It's not a lot, but it has to be done. Some of it will be filing and such, nothing big.
I hope you all have a great day!
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pepper
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Post by pepper on Apr 30, 2024 5:23:01 GMT -5
Howdy!
Remember when I rented the garden plot and Mom laughed because it was the dumbest thing ever? When I got home last night, she showed me this raised bed with a greenhouse-like cover that was on sale at Amazon. She thinks there’s one spot in the back yard that gets enough sun, so it will be here Saturday. It’s really late in the year here to be planting, but here we go. Also, on-sale raised beds don’t account for the double-the-price-of-it cost of the soil to fill the thing. It will probably be fun and interesting for Mom to see growing, though. And I’ll get a workout moving dirt over the weekend.
The sourdough starter seems like it is at least trying to do better. I’m seeing now why people name their starters: It makes it easier to cuss at it. I’m going to name it something with a middle name so it knows I mean business. 😁
Have a great day!
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Post by gadgetgirlil on Apr 30, 2024 5:45:32 GMT -5
Greetings!
Annual checkup with my doctor this morning, then more final exams. Bonus exam now on Thursday as one of my students didn't realize that the baseball team is heading to Rockford Friday morning for a game/// Wednesday is the only day that I'm not giving exams///
Wowza, the spin machine is working overtime from administration. An excerpt of an email being sent to students and parents:
Over the past several months, ..., have been developing an exciting, visionary strategic plan. This plan is crafted to confront today's challenges head-on while preparing us robustly for tomorrow's uncertainties. Grounded in our mission, inspired by the xxxx intellectual tradition and xxx values, the new strategic plan is designed to ensure our institution not only survives but thrives amidst these challenging times. ... In the coming months, we will unveil more details about our strategic plan and how it will redefine the future of xxx. We will introduce initiatives aimed at igniting academic excellence, elevating our mission, expanding access to opportunities, ensuring financial health, and deepening community engagement. These pillars of transformation will guide us as we adapt to the evolving educational environment.
Seriously? I guess we can't cause panic among the students but people will be losing their jobs in 2 weeks (staff will learn their fate on 5/13-5/14). The fate of faculty is still very much up in the air with the latest proposal from some faculty members for us all to take a 20% cut to save faculty lines. NOPE - that is the point where "the juice isn't worth the squeeze" for me. We have yet another special faculty assembly on Friday afternoon. It is a mess. The handbook really protects tenured faculty and there are provisions about severance not only for time served but time still to be served (not specified is the end date - death? Certainly not age 65 given how many older faculty we have). So the only way some of us see cuts being made is to target untenured folks like me as well as adjunct faculty. But I don't even think there are enough of us in that unprotected category to hit the $$ amount they are trying to cut. It is a mess and everyone is on edge. My sleep is crap and my focus is missing. I'm trying to concentrate on my trip next week but feel very distracted.
Ugh. Hope you all have a better day than me.
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Post by newmoose on Apr 30, 2024 8:14:25 GMT -5
Good morning!
I finally made the Indian Butter Chickpeas recipe. I thought I had all the spices I needed, but ended up winging it with what I had. We thought it turned out pretty good. I had some broccoli that needed to be cooked, so I fixed that, too.
Tonight I will finally cook the kale, bean, and sausage soup. If the salad I have hasn't gone bad, we will have that with it. I hate when I buy food and then don't use it.
Not much going on right now, and that's good.
I hope you all have a great day.
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on Apr 30, 2024 8:39:38 GMT -5
Good Morning ladies: I will be busy packing today for tomorrows departure. I also have book club today, also would love to get my nails done and a haircut.........LOL
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Cyn
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Post by Cyn on Apr 30, 2024 9:16:54 GMT -5
The baby owl has died from rat poison. We stayed with it until the collision monitor retrieval group came as sort of an honor guard. 💔
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on Apr 30, 2024 11:06:35 GMT -5
Pepper, we are going to the World of Golf Resort in St. Augustine. An absolute ton of fun stuff to do. Gorgeoous pics of it. Ghost Tour, Wine Tour, Historical Tour, Hop on and Off Trolley and whatever else we can get into. Hoping for a dinner theater of some sort.
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Post by gadgetgirlil on May 1, 2024 5:18:16 GMT -5
Happy Humpday! Today is the only day this week that I'm not giving exams. My co-worker/friend and I are treating my student assistant to lunch today. She graduates on Saturday so we got her a card and chipped in for a gift. She is an anatomy geek like us so we got her a very nice model of the heart to remind her of the times in the lab. She also has a big heart and loves to help others so we thought this would be appropriate. If she doesn't like it, we will fight over who keeps it Stuff is coming together for my trip. I changed the tires on the heavy bike when I got home yesterday as I won't need the studded tires any longer. I'm baking brownies to take with for hiking snacks this morning. My pile of stuff to pack is growing. I will do a lot of packing tomorrow night as I expect I will be home later than normal on Friday as I have to finish all grading of exams and post the grades. My two official finals are on Friday. I will have 25 exams to grade for one course and 23 for the other. Ugh. My student assistant will be able to help with one set of exams. We found out yesterday that faculty who are being terminated will find out on 5/13-5/14, same as staff. No details on if any severance or continuation of benefits will happen. Health insurance will stop on 5/31 for those affected. Ugh. I had my annual exam with my doctor yesterday. All is fine, but I have scheduled the followups with the dermatologist (needed a new doctor as the other one flaked out on me back in December) and fracture clinic (never was able to find a time for a followup due to my teaching schedule after last year's DEXA) for this month. I will get my labs done tomorrow. Prescription refills have been ordered and will ship before the end of the month. Yes, I know COBRA is available but I also know from previous experiences that sometimes the transition gets screwed up. Had several issues back when I was on DH's policy and he got laid off. My sleep has been crappy since all this news started to drop. Everyone is on edge. But, hey, put on a happy face for graduation on Saturday, would you??? //// Have a great day!
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pepper
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Post by pepper on May 1, 2024 5:30:55 GMT -5
Howdy!
Mom is so excited about the garden! That’s nice to see. There’s not much in her life to be excited about, so this is good. I asked her if she wants to plant vegetables or flowers or both and she said, “Whatever.” I’ll plant whatever vegetables the county Extension Agency says should be planted this time of year, and some flowers that attract pollinators. Home Depot will deliver 18 big bags of soil at the end of my driveway on Thursday. Whee.
Even though we have had lots of rain lately, two of the lakes that supply our drinking water are only 38% and 42% full. That’s scary. This drought is unnerving. What happens when there’s no water in those lakes?
On that happy note 😁, have a great day!
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Post by sherrydorlando2 on May 1, 2024 8:18:57 GMT -5
Good Morning Ladies: Plans to leave at 1. Finished packing/adding/taking away/more jewelry/more snacks/just in case meds/drinks/"my pillow"/another hat/another pr shoes/LOL. Good luck to all of you! Will be back later on Sat. A Bourbon tour is at noon before we head home...and I'm not driving.
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Post by newmoose on May 1, 2024 9:11:02 GMT -5
Good morning!
The kale, bean, and sausage soup turned out to be really good! I added some extra herbs and such to jazz it up. It will be delicious as leftovers!
Tonight is trivia. I hope it is not some random topic like Twilight movies or Care Bears. I would sucketh mightily at those types of things. The woman that does the trivia is a bit of a flake, but she it fun and seems to really like DH and I.
We found out another person we know passed away yesterday. This getting older is not for the feint of heart.
This is the last "normal" week of school. Next Tuesday we start our SOL (end of course) tests. Then comes exams. The last day of school is the 29th and it will be here before we know it. I actually was involved in a testing session yesterday.
I keep watching the weather for this weekend. The concert we are going to is supposed to be outside. We have rain gear and all, but it would a lot more fun if we didn't need it. My hope is they will move it inside, if it's too nasty.
I hope you all have a Wonderful Wednesday!
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pepper
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Post by pepper on May 2, 2024 5:23:55 GMT -5
Howdy!
I finally got a good night’s sleep last night. I’ve been reading a really good book (“The Women”) before bed that makes me think too much when I’m trying to sleep.
I need to find a long-ish term project to occupy my brain in the evenings. I think that’s why I’ve had a case of the blahs lately. Work, sofa, sleep, work, sofa, sleep isn’t serving me well at all.
We’ve had a few people out sick. More than a few, really, because yesterday I had the entire half of the building all to myself. I’ve been trying to get in touch with one of my co-workers since Monday. Yesterday I started asking others if they had heard from him, but they hadn’t and were concerned. Turns out he’s been in the hospital. His wife had texted someone in the office (not the employee’s manager) from the employee’s phone saying he was in the hospital and wouldn’t be in all week, but the employee thought it was a fake text. (I work for a Defense Dept contractor that does a lot of cyber security work. We rarely believe odd texts or emails are legit. 😝) I texted him and he said he was being dismissed but didn’t say what got him admitted in the first place.
Have a great day!
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Post by newmoose on May 2, 2024 9:18:53 GMT -5
Good morning! Trivia was a bust, but the flaky woman that runs it gave us $50 in gift cards anyway. Getting money off our food every week will keep us going there. I started the day with meetings and will do more of the same all day. I will only get a break for lunch, but that is being interrupted by another meeting. At least I don't have my after school student today. I may actually run home before my chiropractor appointment this afternoon. WF and I are on our own for GN, so I am going to meet her in her little village for dinner. She lives about 15 minutes from Podunk. He town is a trail town and some of the restaurants are just now opening for the season. We will eat at one of those. I need to look and see if they have posted the menu so I can get an idea of what I want for dinner. I hope you all have a terrific day!
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Post by gadgetgirlil on May 2, 2024 10:18:36 GMT -5
Happy Friday Eve and Happy Last day of the Semester Eve!
Busy day thus far. Another student athlete finally realized that he wouldn't be able to take his final exam tomorrow because the baseball team is playing in Rockford at noon. When I told him that it would have been helpful to have known this in advance, he said it kept slipping his mind. He is heading off to a masters in athletic training. Hope he gets he act together by that time. So I have 2 finals to give today. This makes 8 student athletes who needed accommodations between my 2 classes.
This morning was fasting blood work and the place doesn't open until 7am. This is not good for someone who regularly gets up early. At least I knew to get there before they opened as I was the third person in line. By the time they finally opened the doors, 9 people were waiting and there was only 1 technician. Another tech finally rolled in at 7:15am. Even more people had come in and there were no seats left in the waiting area. I found out at my check up at the fracture clinic right afterward that lab locations have been consolidated and many people are experiencing very long waits. The fracture clinic ordered more bloodwork but that doesn't need to be fasted. I think I will try to get it done this afternoon on my way home since if the results require more tests/treatments, I want to get them done this month.
Tonight I will do some packing as tomorrow is the day of exams and staying on campus until everything is graded and posted, damnit!
Have a great day!
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Post by gadgetgirlil on May 3, 2024 5:04:35 GMT -5
TGIF!
Last day of the semester. It is actually good that a few of my students took their exams early since I found some errors when I graded yesterday's exam. One was something I meant to fix at the end of last fall, the other involved corrections that I made on Monday that somehow didn't get saved when I printed off the rest of the copies I needed. I've reprinted the incorrect pages and replaced them in the exams that I'm handing out today.
I got back over to the lab for the bonus bloodwork but wowza traffic at 5pm sucks. By the time I got home, I was pretty unmotivated to do much packing. I did move stuff from one vehicle to the other and loaded up my bike. I was up stupid early today so got my suitcase packed and will get the rest of my hiking gear organized before I head out.
Special faculty assembly this afternoon, again. And our department chair shared what she knows about how they will determine who is raptured away in another week. Basically the evil dean has a lot of say in who is cut from our college. Given how well she handled things summer of 2022, this is not going to turn out well at all for those involved. The dean seems to have taken in delight in reducing our staffing as much as she has from 2022 to now. This is another opportunity for her to force out those that have gotten on her wrong side. My interactions with her the summer of 2022 were tense and while she has lavished praise on me since that time, I wouldn't be at all surprised if she turns on me. Whatever. We are all just sick of having to wait to learn our fates. Telling us 3 weeks in advance that cuts were coming has not helped anyone's mental health nor morale. I can't escape to the northwoods soon enough.
Have a great day!
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pepper
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Post by pepper on May 3, 2024 5:23:12 GMT -5
Howdy!
Finally Friday! It’s going to be very busy, but that means it will fly by.
The raised garden bed arrived yesterday, two days early. The soil also arrived, so hopefully I can get it all assembled and planted this weekend.
My sourdough starter is behaving, so I’ll be making bread over the weekend. I read that adding some rye flower to the starter would help the yeast form, and it did. Yay! I’m eager to try it.
Have a great day!
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Cyn
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Post by Cyn on May 3, 2024 9:21:29 GMT -5
Hi, On my way to donate platelets. This has been such a long week. Hard to type on the L. I just needed to say I love you all, and treasure this group here, though I've been less than diligent about daily check ins.
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Post by gadgetgirlil on May 4, 2024 5:58:05 GMT -5
Greetings!
All that remains of the spring semester is commencement this morning! I was done with my grading by 7pm last night. Thank goodness for Erin, my student assistant, as she got the first group of exams finished up while I was giving my other exam. I graded the second group of exams while sitting in the special faculty assembly. Nothing really new at faculty assembly as lots of ideas were tossed around but the fact is that the clock is ticking and money is running out. Some faculty thought there should have been faculty input on the university's plan. Um, yes, there was. Both the University Planning Council (which has several faculty members) and Faculty Welfare have been engaged in discussions with administration for months. I swear some of my colleagues don't bother to read any of the numerous communications that were distributed by both of these groups over the past few months.
I'm so glad that I will be escaping to Wisconsin and then Michigan in just a few hours. I need separation from all this insanity. My car is stuffed as I have to take more than normal due to all the events that I'm doing.
Have a great day!
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pepper
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Post by pepper on May 4, 2024 6:16:13 GMT -5
Yaaaaaaaaay Saturday!
It’s still dark out, but the birds are chattering away.
It has been such a gray, rainy, dreary week. Everyone at the office has been in a funk. A bit of sunshine on all of us would make the world a better place, but it’s supposed to be cloudy and drizzly. I’ll put a hat on and build, fill, and plant the garden so it gets the benefit of the rain.
I’m excited to get to use my sourdough starter, but my goodness there are a zillion recipes to choose from. The range from highly complex and time consuming to almost instant. I’ve made “almost instant” bread before and it is a waste of ingredients. I need to find an in-between recipe. I might drop a note to the chef who taught my class and ask if she has one that’s easily shareable.
Have a great day!
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