The bee-box-broken-nose adventure

So I take full responsibility for the broken nose. No, I didn't punch John. But when the bee guy who we called to come and take the swarm from the tree couldn't make it, I said to John, "Now normally I wouldn't mind if you did this, but we have to go to Utica tomorrow, and I don't want to cancel the trip because you got yourself stung so many times that you're in the hospital". Note that I didn't say, that you tripped and broke your nose trying to escape the bees you riled up. He didn't get stung, though. I guess that is something, right?

Happy Mother's Day

Well, mama, it's been a dozen Mother's Days without you now. I love you and miss you so much. Thank you for being my mom. love, Kim

It's all over but the grade

With the submission of the last paper on Thursday, and the posting to the last discussion boards after that, Management 607 - Organization and Management Theory is all but done. All the remains is the grade. Going into the final week, I had 52.5/55 points, with 2 discussion boards (10 pts) and a major paper (25 pts) still unknown.

This has been my favorite class, so far. The workload was reasonable, the teacher was good, there have been no surprises, so far. I enjoyed my classmates, and the subject matter was timely and interesting. If I have one disappointment in it, it would be the fact that the instructor is a little slow to provide feedback, which is fairly common in online courses, I have found.

On the matter of feedback - sometimes it seems that online courses are something that are left to adjuncts, and their "real job" takes preference over this part-time endeavor. The discipline of online courses applies both to the student taking one, as well as the instructor teaching one. At least, it should in my opinion.

And now 24 days until the summer class Quantitative Business Analysis begins. 24 days in which I am going to enjoy life, read books for pleasure, attend two conferences, present at one, and dare I say - clean house? But first, we must celebrate - dinner and a movie, anyone?

Down to the wire

I'm working on my last paper for this class, a  2500 word compare/contrast two books that relate to the course material. Every writing assignment feels like a huge deal, a major undertaking. In some ways, I feel very unprepared for this, as my undergraduate degree was in business, not humanities, so the writing courses I had to take for it were, in the most part the ones I took at Saint Joe's in the 1970s. That being said, I got a 15/15 on the research paper, and an 8.5/10 on the group assignment (annotated bibliography). I should have offered to be the one to put the final document together, but I didn't, so I can't complain about the grade.

A good friend tells me I obsess over grades too much, that the only thing that counts is getting the degree. I keep trying to convince myself of that, life would be so much easier. Still, I can't complain about the workload this semester. Taking just one class makes it much more doable. It drags it out a lot longer, but that is another story.

Well, did anyone notice that this really is not getting my paper written? Yeah, I did, too. So, back to work.

The death of holidays

I wonder when exactly holidays died at my house. When our children were small, and even up to a few years ago, holidays were about religion, getting together for a big meal, and all the other trappings. Even up to two years ago, we had the family over for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. This year, nothing. John and I went to a movie and to Bill Grey's afterwards. Part of the difficulty is the religious differences between the Ks and us. They don't observe these holidays and it is uncomfortable to try and celebrate around them. When dad was alive (so up until 4 years ago), we always made sure to plan holiday celebrations that included him. And then, holidays became painful without him. And then school took over all my spare time, and here we are. The question is, do we stay in this mode, or look for a way to move forward?

Perry Mason

Hallmark ran a Perry Mason marathon last weekend, and I recorded a half dozen episodes. Here are some of my observations:

• Miranda had not been invented yet
• Perry was not above bending the law
• I can't decide whether he was chivalrous or chauvinist
• He liked to contaminate crime scenes
• Dr. Gilbert (Gil) Grissom would have a conniption if he saw how Mason conducted his own pre-notifying the police investigation of the scene.
• Criminals had a conscience back then; they were always confessing on the stand.
• Finally, everything was black and white.

My dear papa

I think that Simon and Garfunkel said it best...

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was

A time of innocence, a time of confidences

Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph

Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you

I miss you dearly, dad.

 Floyd "Rocky" Duane Harris 

3/30/1922 - 3/13/2008