Everyday Life

Categories Everyday Life

Housekeeping

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I haven’t been around much lately. I’ve taken a break from my normal blog-reading/blog-writing ways to do some housekeeping.

First order of business, finish portfolio. (And I’m done. Now I can breathe again!)

Second order of business, figure out my thesis (Yep, I decided to switch to the thesis option. Now I need to get my thesis topic finalized, select my committee, and turn in my MOC. Joy!)

Third order of business, figure out this assistantship thing. (Cleaned the labs today, had a quick meeting. Will be teaching my first lab on Monday!)

And then there’s the “extra-curricular” cleaning.

I decided one day that my computer was getting frustrating and it might be time for an upgrade. So I chatted with my dad about what I might need, and got some input from my brothers (which I decided to ignore ;-)). Then, motherboard manual in hand, I went window shopping at NewEgg. Thanks to a decent insurance settlement for the accident in February, I finally had a bit of money–and so I put in my order for a new hard drive, two new memory chips, a new keyboard, and an optical mouse.

Meanwhile, I’ve been “cleaning” my website–trying to get all my various and sundry web stuff into the same format. It’ll be nice when it’s done. The final format is set up to allow for easy changes via CSS (cascading style sheets.) Once I’ve got everything in the same format, I’ll be able to make changes to my whole website by just making changes to a single file (instead of having to open every file and tweak each file’s code individually.) I’ve decreased my sidebar links down to just the updated ones–and I’ll be re-adding the other links as they are updated. So that’s kept me pretty busy.

But then, my computer parts arrived. I opened them up to discover—I’d bought the wrong hard drive. Instead of purchasing an IDE drive like I knew I had intended, I purchased a SATA drive. GAH! So I repackaged the hard drive, printed a return label, and dropped it off at the UPS store this afternoon. And then I went back to NewEgg and ordered the right hard drive.

I was done with cleaning (the labs) earlier than I’d expected today–so I figured I’d go ahead and install my new memory. After all, hard drives aren’t everything.

But when I opened my computer case, I discovered that I had quite a task ahead of me. The entire thing, inside and out was CAKED with dust. I ended up taking out my CD drive, my DVD drive, my floppy disk drive (I know, ridiculous that I have one of those, right?), and my hard drive and wiped the dust off the exterior portions. I inverted the computer and shook (gently) to leave my carpet flaked with dark grey dust. I removed the case fan and wiped the dust from its blades. I removed the CPU fan–and discovered a MAT of dust. Imagine dryer lint, only composed entirely of dust. That’s what the top of my CPU looked like. I picked the stuff up and it was almost a half a centimeter thick! Disgusting!

So pretty much, I ended up removing every component of my computer, blowing or shaking or wiping it off (depending on whether it was an exposed or enclosed component) and reinserting it after cleaning the case space surrounding it. I use old nylon stockings as dust rags–and I went through three pair on my computer today.

But once I was done cleaning, I installed my two brand new 1 GB (gigabyte) memory cards and my new keyboard and mouse.

I started the computer, and boy does she hum. It’s like she let out a big exhale. “I can breathe again–or maybe even RUN!” And run she does. It takes less than a quarter the “normal” time to load web pages. How did I ever live without all this memory (and a clean computer)?

Categories Everyday Life

A Bit Skittish

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We had a good time last night, if not exactly according to plan. The dairy store turned out to be closed. (Who closes their store for an all staff meeting at six on a Monday evening? I mean, really!) So we picked up ice cream from Super Saver and brought it home. Watched Sweet Home Alabama at Mom and Dad’s–then it was late, so Grace went to bed. Bekah and I stayed up and tried on clothes–and Bekah did my makeup. (I think she wants to nominate me for What Not to Wear. I’m pretty sure I’m not that fashion-hopeless–but in the eyes of a fifteen year old girl who thinks it’s travesty to not wear eyeliner…)

Bekah and I dressing up

Anywho, today we ate, watched more movies, played the piano… Grace and Bekah swam a bit. And Caroline called to say that their van had broken down so they wouldn’t be able to pick Bekah up. At first we planned to just have her stay an extra night, but Bekah changed her mind half-way through the afternoon. So, after we watched an after dinner movie, I took her out to where her parents are staying tonight.

We were driving down the road, the CD player tuned a bit (read: WAY) too high for my ears’ comfort level, singing along with Chris Tomlin to “How Great is our God.” I hadn’t seen a speed limit posted for the road we were on so I was playing it safe at 45. (On the return trip, I saw that the limit was 55). It was dark, as it usually is at 10 pm in the country–even in August. As we crested a hill, I saw him, 5 feet in front of me. I think I tried to swerve, but it was futile. I hit the dog.

So perhaps you can understand why I was a bit skittish for the rest of the drive?

Categories Everyday Life

On tenterhooks

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Waiting anxiously for a very special guest to arrive.

I spent a month tutoring Rebekah in Mexico last summer. Now her family is in the States on furlough–and she’s coming to spend the night tonight!

Ahhhhh! Eeeee! Ooooo!

I’m pretty excited.

So far the plans look like dinner, ice cream at the Dairy Store, watch a movie, and then hang for the rest of the evening and through tomorrow. Grace is going to come over for this evening’s festivities (Grace and Rebekah are the same age), but can’t stay the night since she has her last day(?) of detasseling tomorrow.

Anyway, it should be tons of fun. Maybe I’ll have pictures for you tomorrow. (Or maybe not, we’ll just have to wait and see!)

Categories Everyday Life, Reflections

Traveling a Trail of Fears

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Today, I rode a trail where less than a month ago an attempted rape had occurred in broad daylight.

I rode it mostly as a manifesto against fear.

Having spoken my silent piece, I took a shorter path back: the road.

There I discovered a different danger. Instead of a nameless, faceless man intending to perpetrate a great crime against womanhood in general and me in particular, I happened upon a harried mother, intending no evil but capable of inflicting great harm.

No doubt she had other things on her mind as she came up to the intersection I was riding across. Perhaps she looked both ways, perhaps she didn’t. If she did, she looked right through me. Because she turned her SUV directly in front of me, cutting me off. And then she stopped, nearly forcing me to run into her.

Two different trails–one traveled with trepidation, one with confidence. On one trail, nothing occurred. On the other, I could easily have been killed. On one trail, I feared intentional harm. On the other, I was almost the victim of unintentional harm.

Try as I might like, I can never escape the dangers of this world. I cannot escape the fears that might overcome me–there are things to fear everywhere. So I have choice. I can travel the trails of fear, forever in bondage to potential harm; or I can entrust my life into God’s hands and travel the trail of faith.

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Luke 12:25

In looking for a link to said attempted rape, I discovered that police later issued a recall of the statement, saying that the woman who claimed to be attacked had lied.

Categories Everyday Life

Top 10 Reasons to Work at Home (Single Woman Edition)

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Why I’m more efficient when I’m working from home:

  1. I don’t count potty breaks as work time.
  2. I can take breaks when my brain takes breaks–and pick up the task again when I’m fresh
  3. Don’t have to worry about leaving my water bottle at home and getting dehydrated
  4. Access to much needed snacks to boost my brain glucose mid-day
  5. Access to my personal reference works (tons nicer than relying on the internet alone)
  6. No default home page set to company intranet (how many minutes have I wasted typing in www.google.com?)
  7. No phone with an annoying jingle in the cubicle nearby
  8. No interruptions by coworkers wanting me to “look through these files”
  9. No cubicle-mates who type their letters out loud, including long hisses on every “s”
  10. Don’t have to listen as a woman in a nearby cubicle micro-manages her adult children’s lives

Which is why I’m taking every opportunity this week to bring my work home. I log my minutes and make sure I get my time in–but I don’t have to deal with the minor (or major?) disruptions that add stress to my already massively stressful last week.

Categories Everyday Life

Quasi-Medical Conditions

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Senioritis

A quasi-medical condition characterized by lack of motivation. Generally occurs during the final years of high school or college, but has been noted in other situations (for example, in the last weeks of a dietetics internship.)

See Wikipedia’s article on senioritis

Burnout

A psychological (aka quasi-medical) condition characterized by lack of interest and long-term exhaustion. Generally related to long-term work stress, but occasionally brought on by having only three weeks in which to complete a three year project.

See Wikipedia’s article on burnout

Last Week’s Panic

An overwhelming and crippling terror brought on by the realization that one has only one week to finish everything that must be done. Often results in restlessness, lack of of focus, overeating, and hours of wasted time.

Categories Everyday Life

Local Bounty

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My first job, more than a dozen years ago, was washing dishes for a woman who sold her produce and baked goods at a local farmer’s market. I went to her house across the street every Friday morning and worked all day washing dishes, saran wrapping cakes, and mixing sticky roll dough. She’d get up first thing Saturday morning and pick all the vegetables she’d be taking to the Saturday morning market.

Now, my job once again includes a Farmer’s Market; but this time, I have a completely different role. As a favor to the UNL dietetics student who manages the State Office Building (SOB, lol!) Farmer’s Market, the interns at the health department are helping out with the market. Which means standing in the sun (actually, under a canopy) for a few hours and talking to people about cooking and local food and nutrition. What could be better? I’m not sure. I love it.

And today I remembered to bring my grocery bag and some cash. So I brought home a bounty.

Produce from Farmer's Market

When Anna announced that she wouldn’t have time to make dinner tonight, I ended up with a nice surprise: a chance to make dinner on the fly. So, I put together a quick corn, tomato, and avocado salad (recipe compliments of Megan, the market manager) and tried to think of something to do with the hamburger Anna bought this afternoon.

Here’s what I came up with.

Meat-Wrapped Onions

They look like some sort of weird meat with the bone in–but they’re actually meat-wrapped onions. I washed off some of those beautiful long red onions you saw in the first picture, and wrapped them with meat and then grilled them over a low flame until they were cooked through. They tasted DELISH!

A little trick for whenever you’re trying to wrap something with hamburger: Add some salt to the hamburger and then mash it around with your hands really good. The salt causes the meat to stick together better.

Finished Meal: Meat-wrapped onions and fresh corn, avocado, and tomato salad

Categories Everyday Life, Health

5-4-3-2-Are you serious?

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The 5-4-3-2-1-GO! project is a social marketing campaign aimed at preventing childhood obesity by promoting healthy eating and physical activity. The five main messages of 5-4-3-2-1-GO! are:
5 servings of Fruits and Vegetables every day
4 servings of Water every day
3 servings of Low-Fat Dairy every day
2 or fewer hours of Screen Time every day
1 or more hours of Physical Activity every day.

These are pretty simple, commonplace action steps for kids to take. That is, all of them but one–or more specifically “2”.

Two or fewer hours of screen time means two or fewer hours spent in front of a TV, a computer, or a video game console of any type. It means being intentional with screen time. It means practically impossible.

I’ve been going through the 5-4-3-2-1-GO! program with the kids from a couple of community centers, and sharing similar messages with kids at other schools. And I’ve never felt more hypocritical than when I’m sharing the “2” message.

A quick review of my screen time today:

0603-0646
Wake up to music on computer, get ready for work with the computer as a backdrop

0646-0700
Check e-mail, do SparkPeople.com,Score a couple MyPoints

0728-0745
Read blogs while brushing teeth, short break to clean bathroom sink and toilet

0800-1130
Check e-mails at work, e-mail 5-4-3-2-1-Go! partners, adjust lesson plans for 5-4-3-2-1-Go!, read grant requirements, create 5-4-3-2-1-Go! blurb for church bulletins, check grades, brainstorm 5-4-3-2-1-Go! stuff (all on the computer)

1225-1238
Check e-mail again, turn off work computer

1734-1814
Download some scrapbook freebies, look up some health related sites, catch up on home e-mail, catch up on blog reading (all while reading a flesh-and-blood/made-of-paper book)

1916-1934
Read blogs while changing into my swimming suit for a quick dip in the pool

2103-Present
Writing my blog

Which totals to 5.72 hours and counting. (And that’s excluding the computer being on while I was getting ready this morning.)

And I was TRYING to be good today. After all, I only talked to 4 different groups today about limiting screen time. So I intentionally DIDN’T turn on the computer as soon as I got home from work.

Now, why is so much screen time not a good idea?

For starters, check out your posture right now. I’m guessing it probably isn’t good. I know mine isn’t. Then there’s the fact that you’re sitting like a lump instead of moving around burning energy. And did you know that you blink less frequently than normal when you’re sitting in front of a screen? This contributes to dry eyes. And since you’re focused on a screen always at the same distance from your face, you are more susceptible to eyestrain. Screen time is negatively correlated with sleep quality and academic achievement in children; and is positively correlated with body image issues, violence, anxiety, and fearfulness.

So it’s definitely worthwhile to limit screen time. The question is, how?

Do you have any ideas? I could sure use them.

Categories Everyday Life

A Missed Opportunity?

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“You can just move into that cubicle back there,” my boss/preceptor told me after she’d finished proofing a letter I was preparing to send off to one of the area priests regarding our 5-4-3-2-1-GO! program. “You can run this program.”

I didn’t know quite how to respond. ‘Cause my first thought is to jump on it–“Absolutely! There’s nothing I’d like better.” I’m excited about this project. I think it has a great concept. I like the experience that I’m getting while working on this project. The project appears to allow me to perfectly blend my visionary giftings with my administrative giftings. I love this project. And there’s nothing I’d like better than to see it to completion.

At the same time, I’m currently working for free. I’ve read a bit of this grant and I’m pretty sure they didn’t write in for an extra employee. I’m not going to work for free forever. ‘Cause my bills have to be paid, my tuition taken care of, and I need a little left over to save for a house. That I know of, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department doesn’t have the funds to pay me what I need.

Besides which, I have a graduate assistantship for this fall that is covering tuition and paying me a stipend. I’ve already agreed to that. And that means I’ve agreed to work no more than twenty hours a week at all jobs (including my assistantship, a 20 hour position). Even if Charlotte could pay me, she probably couldn’t pay me what tuition remission comes to.

So I said nothing.

And now I’m second guessing myself.

What if she took my silence as “I don’t want to work for you”? What if she took it as “I hate this project”? What if instead of being the “I don’t know how to respond” that I meant, she took my silence as a “I don’t know how to say it without being rude, but NO WAY!”

Words come to me after the moment in which to say them has passed: “I’d love to stay with this project, but I’ve already committed to a graduate assistantship for the fall. But if you ever find yourself wanting to hire on a community dietitian, keep me in mind.”

Ah, well. Such is life. So I missed that opportunity; there’ll be more. For now, I’m practicing that response so that it’ll flow off my tongue the next time an opportunity arises. Because I’d really LOVE to work for Charlotte in community health.

Categories Everyday Life

Bits of this and that

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I’m become a bit TOO familiar with the definition of the word paresthesia. (And for all you worry-warts out there, NO I do not have MS. It’s more likely a slight repetitive strain injury sustained while bicycling.

That’s right, I said bicycling. I’ve been doing a bit of it because Joanna and I (and maybe my mom and dad and her dad and brother) are going to try to ride the Cowboy Trail next year. Joanna and I did ~13 miles on Sunday, my folks and Anna and I did ~5.5 yesterday, and Anna and I did another 5.5 today. All in all, a fun time. Thank God for a nice cushy seat (or I’d be talking SADDLE SORE!)

Speaking of Joanna, I’m reminded that I need to get to work on another baby quilt (I’m reminded because we generally quilt together). A friend of mine in KC has a baby on the way and I’ve been invited to her shower next month. That means I’d best get moving. I wonder, does she know if she’s having a girl or a boy? (I seem to have a preponderance of little girl fabrics lying about.)

On a completely unrelated note, one of my favorite “male bloggers” wrote a couple of days ago about the Codex Sinaiticus. It’s online now. Really. Don’t I wish I could read Greek.

Another of my favorite male bloggers (okay, he’s the only other blogger in my “male blogger” folder) left a comment on his own page explaining a bit about the pirate poster. Really, I think our police chief is fantastic–and the pirate poster never fails to be amusing.

Did you know that ducks live in trees? Well they do. Really.

Earlier this evening, I Googled “how to twitter at someone.” It’s an unusual sensation–being technologically illiterate. You can follow me @bekahcubed.

And I’m clearly getting a bit spacey–since I just almost took my full round of morning meds instead of my evening ones. Maybe an indicator that it’s time to head to bed?

Ooo–except that I’ve got to get in a last comment. We ate the first tomato from my plants today! It was delish!