Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Completed the First Hurdle

As of today I am an official doctoral candidate! Over the Christmas break I was working on my qualifying exam which was basically a paper discussing my theoretical journey past, present, and future. I had my interview with my doctoral committee who read my paper along with another paper I turned in. The interview went better than I thought and I left feeling very confident. They have been please with my work and notified me right away they wanted me to continue my studies in the program.

So what's ahead? I have a little more than a years worth of coursework left if I can get all my classes, which realistically, doesn't always happen. The next hurdle are my comprehensive exams. Luckily I have a while before I need to think about those.

Scott

Saturday, February 24, 2007

I'm only 26 and I drive a mini-van



We bought a Kia Sodona late Thursday evening. We weren't really planning on getting one so soon, but just like when we bought the Honda, we felt like we were getting a good deal. I couldn't believe they agreed to buy the Honda at the price we needed them too. Then the payments for the Kia are almost exactly the same as the Honda.

The big selling point for a mini-van is that we have four groups of guests flying in to visit this summer, which was going to mean four different van rentals to fit everybody in a vehicle. That adds up. And if people are flying in, the least we can do is have transportation that fits everybody. The Honda and Toyata models were SOOO expensive, so we bought this. It had almost everything on it but a DVD player, which i'm okay with. I really like the dual power sliding doors. That's awesome. And the windows on the slider doors go down like normal windows, not like other vans that do that strange pop out thing.

So yes, I'm 26 and I drive a mini-van, but it's okay. I was bummed seeing my honda go not only because it is a GREAT car (I LOVED THAT CAR) but also because I know that a car won't be as practical for our livestyle for a long time. I may not get to drive a car for awhile. Oh well.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and & Rhymes

Tonight there is and interesting independent film on public television called Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and & Rhymes. The film takes a critical look at the masculinity, sexism, violence, homophobia, etc. that runs rampant through rap and hip hop lyrics and video. I think this film will offer up an interesting conversation. The film is on at 10 pm eastern time so I'm not sure when it runs on west coast time.

Scott

Friday, February 16, 2007

President's Day, Sodoku, and potty training

...yeah, not a whole lot going on here.

First of all, I bet I am the only one who has to work on President's Day. Oh well. Kids don't have school, but we have a professional development day. Not a big deal since we get to listen to Peter Johnston talk about his book, CHoice Words. Once again I am amazed at the great people who my school district get to come talk to us. (Brian Cambourne came to speak to the district in 5/2005) I loved this guy's book (about the language that we use with children, and how it impacts them) and we read it for staff development. Scott read it for one of his courses. It's great.

Second thing is my lack of reading. Fun or professional. I blame this solely on sodoku. I love playing those puzzles, and I found this great site www.counttonine.com where I can print out as many as I want at whatever degree of difficulty that I want. I sit half hazardly watching T.V. and working on the sodoku puzzles. Yes, I know I should be reading but these have me captivated. At least I hear they could prevent Alzheimer's.


ANd finally, Emily has decided that maybe it would be a good idea to potty in the toilet. This has been a very slow process, but one that i would call almost natural. She kind of goes through phases when she will tell us when she wants to go sit on the potty, and she immediately goes. Fabulous. But other times, she is too wrapped up in what she is doing to be bothered. I try not to push. She isn't even two, but hey, maybe she will get it sometime soon. More than any other reason, I just don't want to spend the money on diapers. I truly look forward to that.

Could snow late Saturday night (yeah right over eager weather man on the local news!) I shall let you know!

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Anna Nicole Smith is dead?

That is weird. Anybody know any other details? Doesn't she have a little baby?

Friday, February 02, 2007

Our first snow!


We spent the morning glued to the window and watched the sleet and freezing rain (the weather man says there's a difference) turn into big beautiful snow flakes. The snow was coming down in very thick amounts, and I thought for awhile that we were really going to have a go at getting some inches on the ground. We played in it, and then I heard the school bus... huh? I was shocked. I thought for sure we would be having a cancelation (snow isn't too frequent, and people don't know how to drive) but i had to go in and hurry off to work. While I was getting ready for the delayed school day, the snow turned to rain, and eventually melted most of the snow. Oh well. Emily has now seen her first snow, and she didn't have to leave her own backyard!