I 'discovered' Microsoft's OneNote today. I've had it on my computer since I upgraded to Office 2007, but never bothered to look at it.
Wow. I definitely want to use this thing! It seems overwhelming right now, since it appears to be so incredibly useful and versatile.
So does anyone use it? How did you get started?
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
My birthday present to myself
My 34th birthday was in August. I bought myself 18 personal training sessions at the gym on campus. I know myself - I hate to go to the gym. I need someone to be accountable to.
Fast forward to last Monday - my last session. She'd taken my body fat measurements (among other pre-training stuff) at the start, and again at the last session. I'd lost three percent body fat in two months. I'll take it! And since I didn't lose any weight, I took my measurements to see what was going on. An inch and a half in both my waist and hips. I'll definitely take that.
I'll be honest with you, I was ready to quit going. I didn't want to pay for more sessions. And I wanted my time back. But Amanda told me that she was recommending me for the gym's "spotlight of the month" because of my successes, and I just couldn't throw in the towel.
So, I changed my plan; I started working out in the mornings. Less awake time to talk myself out of it, and I rarely got a lot accomplished in my office before my first class anyway. It's a win-win. The first week, I went three days out of four (had other stuff to do on Friday, mainly get stuff ready for ERiC's wedding). This week, I slacked a little bit - two days out of five. Not terrible, but not the five out of five that I'm aiming for.
Of course next week is Thanksgiving, and my stepkids are flying in. Plus, the gym is closed Thursday and Friday and the little kids will be home on Wednesday, so I guess it's two out of five for next week as well.
My plan is to find some 10K or half-marathon races in the nearby area to train for. I know I could run a 10K now, as I ran just short of six miles this morning. The half-marathon, I'm not quite ready for yet. There are actually a few running clubs in town that I'd love to hook up with; just need to figure out the child care issue. I hate running outside in the cold, though. Not much I can do about that.
It's been the best birthday present ever. Making time in my day for ME.
Fast forward to last Monday - my last session. She'd taken my body fat measurements (among other pre-training stuff) at the start, and again at the last session. I'd lost three percent body fat in two months. I'll take it! And since I didn't lose any weight, I took my measurements to see what was going on. An inch and a half in both my waist and hips. I'll definitely take that.
I'll be honest with you, I was ready to quit going. I didn't want to pay for more sessions. And I wanted my time back. But Amanda told me that she was recommending me for the gym's "spotlight of the month" because of my successes, and I just couldn't throw in the towel.
So, I changed my plan; I started working out in the mornings. Less awake time to talk myself out of it, and I rarely got a lot accomplished in my office before my first class anyway. It's a win-win. The first week, I went three days out of four (had other stuff to do on Friday, mainly get stuff ready for ERiC's wedding). This week, I slacked a little bit - two days out of five. Not terrible, but not the five out of five that I'm aiming for.
Of course next week is Thanksgiving, and my stepkids are flying in. Plus, the gym is closed Thursday and Friday and the little kids will be home on Wednesday, so I guess it's two out of five for next week as well.
My plan is to find some 10K or half-marathon races in the nearby area to train for. I know I could run a 10K now, as I ran just short of six miles this morning. The half-marathon, I'm not quite ready for yet. There are actually a few running clubs in town that I'd love to hook up with; just need to figure out the child care issue. I hate running outside in the cold, though. Not much I can do about that.
It's been the best birthday present ever. Making time in my day for ME.
slowly gettin' there...
I'm so proud of myself! I ran (ok, jogged) for an HOUR on the treadmill today!!
I'm not sure how long it was, since the POWER WENT OUT about halfway through and I hadn't been paying attention to the stats. In fact, I try NOT to pay attention because then it seems like time is dragging. I think I was at about 25 minutes when the power went out, so when it came back on a couple minutes later, I ran for another 40 or so in case it was closer to 20.
I went up and down from 5.2 mph to 7.2 mph depending on how I was feeling, the song playing on my iPod, and my breathing. Mostly around 5.6-5.8 though. Woo hoo!!
Honestly, I can't remember the last time I ran for an hour. Probably before I was pregnant with Justin...? Maybe even as far back as when I was at the language school in the army...? I graduated from there in 1997.
Now, I wasn't going fast. In fact, I wouldn't have passed my army PT test 2 mile run at the pace I was going. But for now, I want to go for time rather than distance and/or speed. Really, I just wanted to see if I COULD. And I can! And I did!!
When the power went out, all of us on treadmills almost slammed our faces into the control panel. Not cool. Didn't bother to find out why it went out. Don't care, just as long as it doesn't happen often.
I'm not sure how long it was, since the POWER WENT OUT about halfway through and I hadn't been paying attention to the stats. In fact, I try NOT to pay attention because then it seems like time is dragging. I think I was at about 25 minutes when the power went out, so when it came back on a couple minutes later, I ran for another 40 or so in case it was closer to 20.
I went up and down from 5.2 mph to 7.2 mph depending on how I was feeling, the song playing on my iPod, and my breathing. Mostly around 5.6-5.8 though. Woo hoo!!
Honestly, I can't remember the last time I ran for an hour. Probably before I was pregnant with Justin...? Maybe even as far back as when I was at the language school in the army...? I graduated from there in 1997.
Now, I wasn't going fast. In fact, I wouldn't have passed my army PT test 2 mile run at the pace I was going. But for now, I want to go for time rather than distance and/or speed. Really, I just wanted to see if I COULD. And I can! And I did!!
When the power went out, all of us on treadmills almost slammed our faces into the control panel. Not cool. Didn't bother to find out why it went out. Don't care, just as long as it doesn't happen often.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Here's a fun story...
Twin born second is the older of the two
A North Carolina woman gave birth to twins: Peter emerged first, then came Allison. But it's Allison who is the older of the two.
A North Carolina woman gave birth to twins: Peter emerged first, then came Allison. But it's Allison who is the older of the two.How can that be?
"Yes, Peter was born first, it was at 1:32 a.m. [Sunday]," mother Laura Cirioli told WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C. And Allison was born 34 minutes later.
In between, however, came the end of Daylight Saving Time, sending the clocks back one hour.
Thus, Peter's 1:32 a.m. birth time lags behind Allison's 1:06 a.m.
"We just never even thought about it until after he was born, and then we realized it was going to happen. It was really kind of amazing," Cirioli told the TV station.
http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1537371.html
Congrats ERiC!
One of my great college (read: RPI) friends got married last night. Congrats to Eric for a beautiful ceremony, a fun party, and a lifetime with your gorgeous bride.
A few pep banders were there, John C., John S. and his wife Jeannette, and Dave N. It was a blast talking about fun times, although it really made me feel old realizing how long ago those fun times were! There was one picture of Eric from his band days up on the photo collage displayed - it was yellowing with age!! Yikes!
Very glad I went, wish there'd been some more APB folk there. It made me realize how little time I was able to spend with my RPI friends at my own wedding. I'd like to go back and do that part over again... So, those who are reading this who were there, sorry! I'm glad y'all had a great time hanging out together, though.
Anyway, congratulations to Eric and Sherri. I wish you a long, happy marriage together, just like both of your parents! (Eric's have been married for 45 years, Sherri's for 40. Awesome.)
A few pep banders were there, John C., John S. and his wife Jeannette, and Dave N. It was a blast talking about fun times, although it really made me feel old realizing how long ago those fun times were! There was one picture of Eric from his band days up on the photo collage displayed - it was yellowing with age!! Yikes!
Very glad I went, wish there'd been some more APB folk there. It made me realize how little time I was able to spend with my RPI friends at my own wedding. I'd like to go back and do that part over again... So, those who are reading this who were there, sorry! I'm glad y'all had a great time hanging out together, though.
Anyway, congratulations to Eric and Sherri. I wish you a long, happy marriage together, just like both of your parents! (Eric's have been married for 45 years, Sherri's for 40. Awesome.)
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Wow, no change fees!
Darrell's older kids are coming for Thanksgiving!!
We sent their mom the itinerary - and ran into a problem. They had plans on the return day that the flight interfered with. Off to Southwest's website I went. We were able to change the flight for FREE. I didn't realize that was possible any more.
Love it. Thanks, Southwest Airlines.
We sent their mom the itinerary - and ran into a problem. They had plans on the return day that the flight interfered with. Off to Southwest's website I went. We were able to change the flight for FREE. I didn't realize that was possible any more.
Love it. Thanks, Southwest Airlines.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Friday, November 02, 2007
Just so you know...
FO Blogs - The Worst Things You Can Say to a Woman Whose Husband is Deployed
I have a lot of friends with husbands who are deployed right now. For most of them this is at least their second or third deployment to go through as a couple. So the other day I was talking with a friend whose husband is currently deployed and we started talking about the most annoying things that usually well-meaning people say to us regarding deployments. We agreed that we are always polite in our responses and that we realize that the offending person usually had only the best of intentions. But here's what we came up with as the things we get asked or told that really make our skin crawl. They're not in any particular order. Feel free to add some of your own in the comments.
1. "Aren't you afraid that he'll be killed?"
(This one ranks in at number one on my "duh" list. Of course we're afraid. We're terrified. The thought always lingers at the backs of our minds ---but thanks, you just brought it back to the front. Maybe next you can go ask someone with cancer if they're scared of dying.)
2. "I don't know how you manage. I don't think I could do it."
(Though this is really annoying, I feel bad about mentioning it because I know that it is intended to be a compliment. Still, it's not like all of us military wives have been dreaming since childhood of the day we'd get to be anxious single moms who carry cell phones with us to the bathroom. We're not made of some mysterious matter that makes us more capable, we just got asked/told to take on a challenging job and we rose to the challenge.)
3. "At least he's not in Iraq."
(This is the number one most annoying comment for my friends whose husbands are in Afghanistan. As one friend put it, "What do they think is happening in Afghanistan? A huge game of golf? Guys are fighting and dying over there, too.")
4. "Do you think he'll get to come home for Christmas/anniversary/birthday/birth of a child/wedding/family reunion, etc?"
(Don't you watch the news? No. They don't get to come home for any of these things. Please don't ask again.)
5. "What are you going to do to keep yourself busy while he's gone?"
(Short answer: Try to keep my sanity. Maybe there's a military wife out there who gets bored when her husband leaves, but I have yet to meet her. For the rest of us, those with and without children, we find ourselves having to be two people. That keeps us plenty busy. We do get lonely, but we don't get bored.)
6. "How much longer does he have until he can get out?"
(This one is annoying to many of us whether our husbands are deployed or not. Many of our husbands aren't counting down the days until they "can" get out. Many of them keep signing back up again and again because (gasp!) they love what they do.)
7. "This deployment shouldn't be so bad, now that you're used to it."
(Sure, we do learn coping skills. And we figure out ways to make life go smoother while the guys are gone. But it never gets easy and the bullets and bombs don't skip over our guys just because they've been there before. The worry never goes away.)
8. "My husband had to go to Europe for business once for three weeks. I totally know what you're going through."
(This one is similar to number two. Do not equate your husband's three week trip to London/Omaha/Tokyo/etc. with a one-year deployment to a war zone. Aside from the obvious trip length difference, nobody shot at your husband or tried to blow him up with an I.E.D., your husband could call home pretty much any time he wanted to, he flew comfortably on a commercial plane, slept between crisp white sheets and ate well, paying for everything with an expense account. There is no comparison. We do not feel bonded to you in the slightest because of this comment and, if anything, we probably resent you a bit for comparing a combat deployment to a business trip.)
9. "Don't you miss him?"
(Like number one, this one gets a big "duh" from me. Of course we miss our husbands. If we didn't, we'd get divorced.)
10. "Where is that?"
(I don't expect non-military folks to be able to find Anbar Province on a map, but they should know by now that it's in Iraq. Likewise, know that Kabul and Kandahar are in Afghanistan. Know that Muqtada al Sadr is the insurgent leader of the Mahdi Army in Iraq and that Sadr City is his home area. Know that Iran is a major threat to our country and that it is located between Afghanistan and Iraq. Our country has been at war in Afghanistan for six and a half years and at war in Iraq for four years. These basic facts are not secrets, they're on the news every night and in the papers every day ---and on maps everywhere. You've had time to learn it. Do your part by at least knowing what is going on.)
I have a lot of friends with husbands who are deployed right now. For most of them this is at least their second or third deployment to go through as a couple. So the other day I was talking with a friend whose husband is currently deployed and we started talking about the most annoying things that usually well-meaning people say to us regarding deployments. We agreed that we are always polite in our responses and that we realize that the offending person usually had only the best of intentions. But here's what we came up with as the things we get asked or told that really make our skin crawl. They're not in any particular order. Feel free to add some of your own in the comments.
1. "Aren't you afraid that he'll be killed?"
(This one ranks in at number one on my "duh" list. Of course we're afraid. We're terrified. The thought always lingers at the backs of our minds ---but thanks, you just brought it back to the front. Maybe next you can go ask someone with cancer if they're scared of dying.)
2. "I don't know how you manage. I don't think I could do it."
(Though this is really annoying, I feel bad about mentioning it because I know that it is intended to be a compliment. Still, it's not like all of us military wives have been dreaming since childhood of the day we'd get to be anxious single moms who carry cell phones with us to the bathroom. We're not made of some mysterious matter that makes us more capable, we just got asked/told to take on a challenging job and we rose to the challenge.)
3. "At least he's not in Iraq."
(This is the number one most annoying comment for my friends whose husbands are in Afghanistan. As one friend put it, "What do they think is happening in Afghanistan? A huge game of golf? Guys are fighting and dying over there, too.")
4. "Do you think he'll get to come home for Christmas/anniversary/birthday/birth of a child/wedding/family reunion, etc?"
(Don't you watch the news? No. They don't get to come home for any of these things. Please don't ask again.)
5. "What are you going to do to keep yourself busy while he's gone?"
(Short answer: Try to keep my sanity. Maybe there's a military wife out there who gets bored when her husband leaves, but I have yet to meet her. For the rest of us, those with and without children, we find ourselves having to be two people. That keeps us plenty busy. We do get lonely, but we don't get bored.)
6. "How much longer does he have until he can get out?"
(This one is annoying to many of us whether our husbands are deployed or not. Many of our husbands aren't counting down the days until they "can" get out. Many of them keep signing back up again and again because (gasp!) they love what they do.)
7. "This deployment shouldn't be so bad, now that you're used to it."
(Sure, we do learn coping skills. And we figure out ways to make life go smoother while the guys are gone. But it never gets easy and the bullets and bombs don't skip over our guys just because they've been there before. The worry never goes away.)
8. "My husband had to go to Europe for business once for three weeks. I totally know what you're going through."
(This one is similar to number two. Do not equate your husband's three week trip to London/Omaha/Tokyo/etc. with a one-year deployment to a war zone. Aside from the obvious trip length difference, nobody shot at your husband or tried to blow him up with an I.E.D., your husband could call home pretty much any time he wanted to, he flew comfortably on a commercial plane, slept between crisp white sheets and ate well, paying for everything with an expense account. There is no comparison. We do not feel bonded to you in the slightest because of this comment and, if anything, we probably resent you a bit for comparing a combat deployment to a business trip.)
9. "Don't you miss him?"
(Like number one, this one gets a big "duh" from me. Of course we miss our husbands. If we didn't, we'd get divorced.)
10. "Where is that?"
(I don't expect non-military folks to be able to find Anbar Province on a map, but they should know by now that it's in Iraq. Likewise, know that Kabul and Kandahar are in Afghanistan. Know that Muqtada al Sadr is the insurgent leader of the Mahdi Army in Iraq and that Sadr City is his home area. Know that Iran is a major threat to our country and that it is located between Afghanistan and Iraq. Our country has been at war in Afghanistan for six and a half years and at war in Iraq for four years. These basic facts are not secrets, they're on the news every night and in the papers every day ---and on maps everywhere. You've had time to learn it. Do your part by at least knowing what is going on.)
Friday, October 19, 2007
Christmas? It's not even Halloween yet?
I started seeing Christmas stuff in stores weeks ago. Weeks! Ridiculous. Can we please do one holiday at a time??
Anyway, someone recommended an awesome booster seat to me today, so I figured I'd put it on our Amazon wish list. Found a couple cool things the boys would like. Mom, there's our list. *laugh* Darrell, of course, is impossible. I have no suggestions for him. I added a cool link at the bottom of the pictures on the right side of the page. Handy, that...
Kaden has been out of sorts the last couple of days. I'm guessing he has some teeth moving in. They've been taking their time - thank goodness Kaden doesn't get cranky much.
Speaking of teeth, did I mention that J's other top front tooth finally fell out? That thing was dangling for weeks. Very gross. He wouldn't let us pull it; I'm so glad it's out. You can sort of see it in the picture below.
Darrell is getting all kinds of good information about his upcoming deployment. Always better to know what you're about to be dealing with. He's getting to know his team; so far, there aren't any issues. I hope they're all able to get along. It's going to be a long time with just the small bunch of them.
I was able to sell our elliptical today. I made Darrell promise that we won't be buying any more exercise equipment. *sigh* I came back in the house after helping the buyers load it into their truck and Justin was crying. He liked it and didn't want us to sell it. Wow. How do you tell a seven-year old that he gets enough cardio during the day and he doesn't need to work out at home?? *laugh* I had no idea that was going to be a problem.
We also sold our washer and dryer. They're the same units we got when we got married, and for the most part, they're still working strong. Well, the dryer anyway. The washer is held together with 100-mph tape (duct tape for you non-military folk) and unless it's leveled just perfectly, makes an awful racket when using the large load setting. I advertised it as "buy a dryer, get the washer for free" so I wouldn't have any unhappy buyers come back and complain at me. I was completely honest with them, so hopefully they're happy with the deal. The house we're renting has units in it, so we were just storing them until we move again. However, we're not expecting to move any time soon - we'll probably stay in this house for the duration of Darrell's assignment here. We can buy new ones when we PCS.
I've listed the bowflex on craigslist (where we listed the above - I'm quite pleased with it so far) and I've had two interested replies. One just asked me questions about it. I answered and haven't heard back. The other wants to buy it for $500. Yikes. I understand her position (new mom, can't afford more and has no time for the gym), but we paid at least three times that. I told her I'd talk to Darrell about it. So yeah, NO more exercise equipment. We both have handy gyms nearby for free.
I'm swamped in schoolwork right now. I have a few semester-long projects that I haven't started on, plus my thesis proposal that according to department policy, I should be defending before the semester break. Hmmm, not going to happen. I'm hoping to work on it during the two weeks when the kids are still in school/at the babysitters on my semester break. For now, I need to keep plugging along. Taking 12 credit hours as a grad student seemed insane when I enrolled, and it's still insane. Still, it needed to happen for me to make my graduation goal. I'll get it done.
Speaking of graduation, I've decided to finish up my 6-12 teaching certification. I'm so close to finishing that it's really stupid to let it slip by. I'll take the rest of the education coursework next semester, write up the masters thesis over the summer, do my last two masters courses in the fall, graduate in December 2008 with the masters in geoscience ed and the GIS certificate, then do my student teaching in Spring 2009. Just in time to get a 'real job' somewhere by the fall. I'd still much prefer to teach at the college level, but we'll see what's out there when it's time to job hunt. Having the university here results in a LOT of applications locally, so I'm not very confident. Eh, it is what it is... Maybe I'll stick around for another degree.... (Kidding! I think....)
Tired. Going to sleep now...
Anyway, someone recommended an awesome booster seat to me today, so I figured I'd put it on our Amazon wish list. Found a couple cool things the boys would like. Mom, there's our list. *laugh* Darrell, of course, is impossible. I have no suggestions for him. I added a cool link at the bottom of the pictures on the right side of the page. Handy, that...
Kaden has been out of sorts the last couple of days. I'm guessing he has some teeth moving in. They've been taking their time - thank goodness Kaden doesn't get cranky much.
Speaking of teeth, did I mention that J's other top front tooth finally fell out? That thing was dangling for weeks. Very gross. He wouldn't let us pull it; I'm so glad it's out. You can sort of see it in the picture below.
Darrell is getting all kinds of good information about his upcoming deployment. Always better to know what you're about to be dealing with. He's getting to know his team; so far, there aren't any issues. I hope they're all able to get along. It's going to be a long time with just the small bunch of them.
I was able to sell our elliptical today. I made Darrell promise that we won't be buying any more exercise equipment. *sigh* I came back in the house after helping the buyers load it into their truck and Justin was crying. He liked it and didn't want us to sell it. Wow. How do you tell a seven-year old that he gets enough cardio during the day and he doesn't need to work out at home?? *laugh* I had no idea that was going to be a problem.
We also sold our washer and dryer. They're the same units we got when we got married, and for the most part, they're still working strong. Well, the dryer anyway. The washer is held together with 100-mph tape (duct tape for you non-military folk) and unless it's leveled just perfectly, makes an awful racket when using the large load setting. I advertised it as "buy a dryer, get the washer for free" so I wouldn't have any unhappy buyers come back and complain at me. I was completely honest with them, so hopefully they're happy with the deal. The house we're renting has units in it, so we were just storing them until we move again. However, we're not expecting to move any time soon - we'll probably stay in this house for the duration of Darrell's assignment here. We can buy new ones when we PCS.
I've listed the bowflex on craigslist (where we listed the above - I'm quite pleased with it so far) and I've had two interested replies. One just asked me questions about it. I answered and haven't heard back. The other wants to buy it for $500. Yikes. I understand her position (new mom, can't afford more and has no time for the gym), but we paid at least three times that. I told her I'd talk to Darrell about it. So yeah, NO more exercise equipment. We both have handy gyms nearby for free.
I'm swamped in schoolwork right now. I have a few semester-long projects that I haven't started on, plus my thesis proposal that according to department policy, I should be defending before the semester break. Hmmm, not going to happen. I'm hoping to work on it during the two weeks when the kids are still in school/at the babysitters on my semester break. For now, I need to keep plugging along. Taking 12 credit hours as a grad student seemed insane when I enrolled, and it's still insane. Still, it needed to happen for me to make my graduation goal. I'll get it done.
Speaking of graduation, I've decided to finish up my 6-12 teaching certification. I'm so close to finishing that it's really stupid to let it slip by. I'll take the rest of the education coursework next semester, write up the masters thesis over the summer, do my last two masters courses in the fall, graduate in December 2008 with the masters in geoscience ed and the GIS certificate, then do my student teaching in Spring 2009. Just in time to get a 'real job' somewhere by the fall. I'd still much prefer to teach at the college level, but we'll see what's out there when it's time to job hunt. Having the university here results in a LOT of applications locally, so I'm not very confident. Eh, it is what it is... Maybe I'll stick around for another degree.... (Kidding! I think....)
Tired. Going to sleep now...
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Lots of new photos added to the boys' albums
Darrell signed in to post yesterday and starts training today. We knew it was coming for months, but it certainly doesn't make it any easier to return him to the army. *sigh* I think this is my new favorite picture of my boys.
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