Grr, this is frustrating!

I hate when I spend time writing, and then for whatever reason, the post disappears! I'm not going to recreate the whole posting, I'll just summarize it. I've come to the last section of questions for week 1, the personal ones. Am ihappy, have good relationships, have a spiritual life, spend time with nature?

For the most part, yes to all- well not much of a spiritual life, but I try to be grateful for all the good things in my life. I have finally moved beyond the grief that I felt mired in during the years right after my parents death. Not that I don't still miss them, but I have developed a sense of peace about it.

So my goals for this year is to try and develop more friendships, get back to an exercise routine, and eat better. And enjoy my life with John even more.

Week 1: con't

Lifestyle questions:
Healthy diet? Not nearly enough fruits and veggies, way too much refined foods
Caffeine intact? Some chocolate, 1 coffee everyday
Smoker or use recreational drugs? Never
Alcohol? Occasionally with meals
Physical activity: embarassing little
Why? No good answer, but my exercise bike dying is a little to blame
How well do you sleep? Sometimes, fine. Other times, I have a great deal of trouble sleeping through the night
Rate your stress from 1-5: 2
How does stress affect you: get irratible
Manage it? Try not to stress out
What is the main source of stress in my life? Work, school
How do you relax? Soak in a tub, read a book
What do you do for fun? Read a book, spend time with family/spouse
Enjoy your work? Usually

Spontaneous Happiness: Week 1

A few months ago, I won the book Spontaneous Happiness, by Andrew Weil, from Goodreads. I've decided to try the 8 week program it describes.

Week 1 begins with some assessments.
Any illnesses? GERD
Any worrisome symptoms? No
Medications? Omeprazole
Supplements? None
Last physical w/bloodworm? Within last year? No concerns
Illnesses in my family? My oldest sister had a heart attack at the age of 60
Rate your own health from 1-10: 9

Emotional health questions:
Ever diagnosed with mood disorder ? No
Consulted a mental health professional? No
Depression or anxiety? No diagnosed cases
Pessimist or optimist? Tend toward optimism
Emotional state 1-10: 8
What would make me happier? Nothing I can think of
Recover quickly from emotional setbacks? I'm a survivor
Do I experience serenity in my life? How often am I content and/or comfortable? Most of the time, as a rule. I am grateful for my family, friends and life in general. I have a good marriage and a rewarding job.

2011 the year in review

Notes: January:
took aeddon to Rmsc to see the csi exhibit for his birthday
Together we made a chocolate roulade cake
Stopped at marine oasis to buy stuff for the SW aquarium John had gotten me for Christmas
Throughout the year we enjoyed the tank in ILL
Red skunk cleaner shrimp named Shorty, 2 peppermint shrimp named Candy and Tea, who disappeared after a few months, clown fish named Verne, brittle starfish named Jules, blood red shrimp named Phobos.
Aquarium stayed in ILL until shortly after I started my new job, some time around October.
We brought it home and added the fish to our 55 gallon aquarium that we bought off Craigslist in feb for $300, including the buffet.
Also in January, I started my MBA through SUNYIT. Took classes in project management and business law. Never had a free minute, or so it seemed. Still, I decided to matriculated, and took my GMAT in August. Not in time to actually enroll for fall, but that turned out to be okay, since I started a new job in late summer. As an end of semester reward, we went to see wicked at Shea's in buffalo. Bob sold his house in brockport to the college, and during the summer they moved to buffalo.
Corey came out in April and did some work on the bathroom for us. Also out in July for a visit. Then we made a quick weekend visit July 21-25, for his 30th birthday party. 30, how is that even possible? Alden went with us, and we got to spend some time with Matt, too. His job in Indy will be ending soon, and he has interviewed back at the bank in Honolulu for a supervisor position. He takes it, and comes out for a week to NY before flying to HI. In August we go to NE PA to a VRBO, a little cottage located on a gentleman farm. Visit Longwood Gardens, and Hershey Park. Nice relaxing week away. On the work front: Laura's mother suffers a TIA in march and she is out much of the month. In July, bepress comes and gives a presentation on their IR product called Digital Commons. A few of us see it advertised in the Daily Eagle, and Greg, Lori and I attend. I am fascinated by the possibilities, and ask lots of questions. A few weeks later, when it is decided that we will purchase it, they decide to offer me the opportunity to work on it. I jump at the chance, and it works out that Logan and I essentially switch offices, and he takes over ILL,something he has wanted to do for a few years now. Laura starts investigating retirement shortly afterwards.

New iPad2 and shopping with 2 and 3

I love my new iPad2. Never thought I would be an Apple person, but it just shows that I let myself be overly influenced by John for too many years. Christmas is in a week, and John and I decided today would be a good day to start shopping. We are buying the gboys hiking boots, pocket kniVes and flint this year to take with them on their winter camping trip next weekend. We were able to find boots for A1 and A4 online, but not for the other two, so we took them with us to Rochester. In Target, we found their boots, and socks, boxers, 2shirts and 3 pairs of jeans for Brandon. Then Alden and I went to Sears where we found 4 flannel shirts for John. After a stop at Verizon to activate a phone for Tom, we had lunch at our favorite Chinese place in the Sam's Club plaza. Now we just have to get a movie gift certificate for Adrienne and Wayne and do our amazon shopping for the out of staters, and we will be mostly done.

Thanksgiving memories

We had Thanksgiving at Adrienne's this year, for the first time. Adrienne, Wayne, Rita, Aeddon, Alden, Alwyn, Arian, John, Brandon and I all enjoyed a delicious meal of turkey, ham and all the fixings. We brought the turkey, and a pumpkin roulade for dessert. Though we didn't stay long after - John was sick, it was a wonderful meal. 

Thanksgiving always makes me think back to the past. In 1979, Tom and Gerry, John, Adrienne, Brandon and I went out to Glen and Becky's home in Port Clinton, Ohio. We lived in Rensselaer at the time, and had just lost John's sister Mary in a motorcycle accident that September. Although making the trip was a bit of a financial hardship, it was very important for us all to be together that year.

Once we moved to NY, we generally had Thanksgiving at our home, and invited family over there. In 2001, we had a large Thanksgiving, and used the parish hall at Saint Peter. Tom and Gerry, Marge and Earl, and dad; Gail and Lynn, Kelly and Randy, Scott, Kelsey, Taylor and Bailey; John and I, Adrienne and Wayne, Aeddon and Alden; Rita, Jesse and her child; Brandon, Corey and Matthew; all were there. We had just lost mom less than a year before, and it was nice to be together with all our loved ones. 

Another significant Thanksgiving was spent mostly on the road. In 2004, Brandon and Corey drove from Medina to Cleveland, Ohio to pick John and I up. John had just been released from his 3 week stay at the Cleveland Clinic, where they had removed his pericardium, and saved his life. That was a very poignant Thanksgiving, and one that the year before we had no idea if we'd be celebrating together. 

This morning, I was looking over Thanksgiving albums, and noticed that in 2007, dad was missing from the picture. It was the first year he didn't come over, and really marked the beginning of the end for him. Four months later he would be gone from my life, but he and mom live on in my heart, always.

Who knows what next year, or the year after that will bring. But I am always grateful for every year and every Thanksgiving I have to share with those I love.

Building the Digital Repository at 3:23am

Here are the challenges-There is a large body of scholarly work produced by the Brockport faculty - how do we:

• identify all the citations?
• get permission from faculty to post their work?
• find out from publishers if and in what format we are allowed to post?
• come up with the article in publishable format?

Right now we have 1204 identified in the initial round of harvesting. Of those, 105 are eligible to be posted in publisher pdf (the ideal format). Please note this is less than 10% of the total. From here, we have to get the faculty's permission to upload. What about the other 1100? About half of those we do not know what the publisher allows, if anything. They will have to be individually searched, perhaps contacted, and then permission requested from faculty. Or perhaps, we should get the permission from the faculty first, so we don't waste time with the publisher, just to have a faculty member say no. (Do they ever say no?)

Maybe another strategy would be to identify a prolific author from each department, and hope they will approve a publishable article, as well as provide us their CV, so we can work person by person. Then, they could act as a champion in their department, to encourage others to work with us. The biggest obstacle that I see is that you have to balance faculty permission gathering with publisher permission gathering. Some publishers (the minority) will allow the formatted pdf from the journal to be posted. Others will only allow preprints (pre-peer review), or post prints (peer reviewed, but not journal formatted). Preprints have little value, and although post prints are somewhat better, they are potentially hard to come by. I know from my days in ILL that faculty often don't even have copies of their published works, so expecting them to have copies of their working papers might be expecting too much.

Ah, workflow issues. And did I mention the challenge of collating the citations and checking for uniqueness? But that is another post, I guess.

my favorite DSI story

It was a fadabulous day. I got my new ID badge, so now I know who I am, and what I'm supposed to be doing, again. Then, there was the envelope Bob placed on my desk (Kimberly Myers, anyone?). Finally, a nice celebratory dinner with John at the Village Inn. I had the Catch of the Day (lobster meat, scallops, feta stuffed shrimp on a bed of lightly cajuned orzo) - a tad on the spicy side, so I hope I don't suffer from heart burn tonight.

So my favorite DSI story is from last year. It was a night when the boys had dinner with us, and we were sharing stories about our days. When it was my turn, I mentioned that I had gotten a DSI that day. They went wild. I didn't understand their enthusiasm, until we all came to realize that we didn't know what the other party meant by DSI. Sorry guys, no new Nintendos here.

the in-laws

It has been a rough fall for John. Tom has been in either the hospital or the nursing home since early September. Meanwhile, Jean and Gerry may be evicted from their homes, due to either the town condemning them, or because they haven't made a mortgage payment in months. The only way Tom could leave the nursing home would be to move into a handicap apartment, and then only if there were sufficient home health assistance. We have been trying to make this happen since this summer, at Ricky Place, but their name hasn't gotten to the top of the list yet. John also found out about Section 8 housing that is located across from Orchard Manor, but for whatever reason Gerry hasn't gotten the paperwork in to apply for it yet. Glen has suggested an assisted living place in Hilton (Hilton East?), where both his parents could live together, but I'm not sure where that is going. Gerry called John in on Friday, and said that Marsha had said she wouldn't be eligible to go to a nursing facility or assisted living. So John went and talked to the social worker at Orchard Manor, who told him that they would have to talk to her doctor or see if she was able to live on her own. She really isn't. John reported back and she flipped out on him, saying he wasn't going to force her into a nursing home. No one wants to force her into anything, but the fact that she is on oxygen full time, and literally spends most of her time sofa-ridden, seems to indicate to me that she needs some kind of assistance. 

So, the new plan, as of this weekend, is that she and Jean are moving into a 2nd story apartment on North St. 2nd story, seriously? And when it doesn't work out, we know whose fault it will be.

Why yes, yes there was...

I have my first iPhone, and it's pretty cool. We went up to the Verizon store on my lunch hour Wednesday, and while it wasn't crowded, it took a long time there. OK, so part of the probably was me. I admit it. I knew I wanted a smart phone, but didn't know which one. I was torn between the Droid, and the iPhone. It had been months since I last gave the issue any thought, and John sprang the idea of going to get new phones on me with no advanced warning. So, I found myself in the Verizon store going back and forth between the two displays. Despite John's concerted efforts to convince me otherwise, I ended up with an iPhone4. There was no time for any show and tell at the store, so we headed back to Brockport.

No problem, right? It's a college, I work in a library with lots of techno-geeks (ok, I guess you don't have to be a techno-geek to own a smart phone). I sent a message to the library listserv saying "First smart phone, first Apple, who's the guru around here?" Here were the 3 responses:

• Come down anytime. :)
• Ask my secretary
• Apple has help files on the web

How helpful would you describe these? Obviously, I took JS up on her offer, and 15 minutes later I walked away feeling pretty comfortable. Now you might think the second response was somewhat unhelpful. But what if I told you if was from the CIO of the college? I was surprised he even responded! And the third one? Let's just say this person and I are on opposite ends of the service/helpfulness continuum. Not that it would have been a bad response, if I was looking for the answer to a complicated problem months down the line, but in this context - not so helpful. Enough said.

I got my nameplate for my office the next day and took a picture of it. I will try and post it here, once I figure out how to get it from my camera. It will probably be easier than on my old phone, because I could email it to myself.

Could there be an Apple in my future?

I have never owned an "i" anything - pod, pad, phone or Mac attack. But Friday, PM invited me to a Lion demonstration, and I got my first taste of what could be in my future. And I downloaded itunes, because apparently you can download free audio books there, but without an ipod, I will have to convert to a different format? Time to enter the 21st century?

Important days

September 14th (1995), was one of the life changing days. I was working at the downtown DMV, when Peter told me I had a phone call from John. Not that it was an emergency, just that he was on the phone. So, I finished the customer at my window, and took the call- and found out that he and Adrienne had been in a head on collision in the GEO. His folks were on their way to pick me up, and we raced to Medina, where they were both in the ER. Adrienne was having a lot of pain in her abdomen, and they called an ambulance to take her to Strong Hospital in Rochester. I rode in the ambulance, and I remember them saying to her, come on Adrienne, stay with us. They rushed to surgery soon after we got there, and before it was over John had joined me, having made arrangements for someone to watch the boys. Together, we waited and prayed while the surgeons performed their magic on our daughter, removing her spleen and part of her liver, and saving her life. I took today off, (could it really be 16 years later?), and spent it with Adrienne, helping her do some things around her house. Then, John and I took her to lunch at Zambistros. It was a wonderful day, and I am so glad we had it to spend together.

Back to school for the K kids

No Peyton?

So apparently, Peyton had a second surgery on his neck today. No word on how long he will be out. Oh, my.

On the work front, no movement yet to the new office. Word was today, that the movers would be here tomorrow. Then after lunch, it had changed to not for another week. Uggh! This being in limbo is annoying. I'm sure Logan feels the same way.

On the home front, Tom is in the Buffalo VA Hospital. Glen took him there yesterday. At first they thought he had a TIA, but I'm not sure if that is the current thinking. John is going up to visit him tomorrow. He has pneumonia in one lobe of one lung, apparently due to difficulty in swallowing (this is a common side effect of Parkinson's).

Finally, today is the second day of school for the boys. Where did the time go? Aeddon is now in 7th grade, Alden - 6th, Alwyn - 3rd and Rowan is in 2nd. Wow.

Late semester musing

The semester is winding down, at work and at school. It's been a challenging semester in many ways. Starting grad school, taking on Reserves, dealing with Laura being off for most of a month. In the next 3 weeks, I have to write 3 papers and 1 book report, do a last discussion board, read 6 sections on ethics in Business Law. For Project Management, read 4 chapters, Final Project Plan, Peer Review, and study for the comprehensive final exam. Add to that study for and take the GMAT, if I wish to take a summer course. 

Do I wish to take a summer course? The advantage is being able to space out the classes and not have to take 2 every semester, and possibly pick up more financial aid (that would be the kicker). The disadvantage is not having any time off, except the winter break. The other question is do I want to continue on and complete this degree? To what end? One thought I had was to just take the GMAT without doing alot of prep for it. If I scored high enough to qualify for entrance (400+), then I would take that as a sign that I should continue. If not, then I won't. 

I've really enjoyed this semester, but it was a lot of work. There were a few weeks that were just hell. Trying to get 6 papers done - hmm, maybe I shouldn't waited until so close to the due date to start them. And project management was a challenge in itself. Part of that was the professor, though. He is young and inexperienced, and had too grandiose an idea of what was reasonable to expect. 

We'll have to see how it all plays out.

German anyone?

In my attempt to lower costs this semester, I ILLed a few books. Imagine my surprise when one of the major texts I needed came today - in German! Imagine Oswego's surprise when they get it back! Now I have to figure out how to quickly get a replacement for it.

Life after Facebook

I decided a while ago that Facebook was taking up too much of my life, and over the last few weeks, have really cut back. Down to one game now, resisted the urge to try out the new Zynga game (Cityville), which has a huge following. Back to reading for pleasure again, and starting this week will be reading a lot for school. 

John was a little better today. I put away the Colts "shrine", we cleaned in the kitchen - moved the coffee paraphernalia to the north wall, and ran to Greece. Stopped at the school to check on the aquarium and drop off some plants first; followed by lunch at China Town, and a trip to Sams. It looks like the BBQ place in the SamsClub plaza has closed/moved. 

Made cookies (Cranberry/Choc Chunk/Oatmeal) to take to work tomorrow for Laura's bday. Brandon made the rest up to take home.  

Blogging

I blog not to share my life with others, but as a way to figure my life out without sharing it. I tend to write when I am troubled, when I feel that I can't talk about my feelings or problems with other people, but need a way to get them out. 

Bob's retirement a few years ago was both a blessing and a bane to my life. It was a blessing for him, and for me, in that it nudged me in a direction I was ready to go/grow. I have taken on the department, and risen to the challenge. I am much more confident now. My leadership skills have grown, as well. Not having Bob to rely on to fight ILL battles, or to temper my judgment has been a good opportunity for me. On the other hand, Bob was my confidant, and he listened without judging or offering answers (unless asked). I could talk to Bob better than almost anyone else in my life. That I miss. Terribly. Even when we have lunch now, it's not the same. He seems distracted, always looking around to see who is there. 

For 2011, one of my biggest goals is discretion. Not sharing too much with other people, or anything with the wrong people. That seems to be an issue I have.  Work in general. Don't badmouth anyone, don't criticize. We'll revisit this issue as time goes on. 

November 19th

It's Jan 5th, and John has been sick since November 19th, the day we went to see Harry Potter. First it was a cold, then a sinus infection, ear infection, and now upper respiratory again. He sleeps most of the day, and now at 8:30 he is now just waking up.