Enough already

This really has gone way beyond the point of "comedy of errors" , "a bit of odd luck" or even a humorous story to tell.......it has become downright cruel. I was going to go out to take some pictures and stopped at the bank to check my balance.  When I looked down at my dashboard, my heart jumped to my throat......the "battery" light was on.  Scared of what that might mean and the possibility of being stranded somewhere, I went immediately back to the hotel parking garage.  I turned off the car and started it back up.....battery light still on. I got on the phone to call the only person I know that knows this car inside and out..my firstborn.  He informed me that without seeing it firsthand all indications are that the alternator is gone.  I immediately panicked, but the firstborn calmed me and devised a strategy to try to get the car fixed...he is working things from his end and I lining things up here......I am waiting now to hear from him and for us to decide on next steps......what a freaking disaster.......so much for a calm week in f*****g paradise

V
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Sent from Vicki Timman's BlackBerry Wireless Device

Hmmm.......

Was sitting on the couch this morning, deciding what I am going to do for today, listening to the traffic on A1A outiside my hotel, and the workers outside my room. The door to the balcony was open, which has been my practice since I arrived here, both to bring the smells in from outside as well as take the rarified "hotel smells" outside.  I was drifting off somewhat, when I noted movement out of the corner of my eye, in the direction of the door, and looked up just in time to see a large pigeon crossing the door sill.  He hesitated just for a split second then proceeded to take steps toward the interior of the room.  I shouted "Shoo! Shoo!", which seemed to disconcert him somewhat and he retreated to the balcony.  He was not, however done visiting......I glance up again a moment later to see him again walking in the door, this time with more determination.  I tried to simply shoo him again, but he was not having it this time....I had to get up and chase him onto the balcony, where a cohort was waiting, obviously acting as lookout.  As my visitor ran back onto the balcony with me in pursuit, his partner in crime took flight, my intruder close behind him.  All in all a very interesting early morning encounter......dang it though, the camera is always somewhere else when you could really use it!

That's it for now.....off for a shower and then some lunch.....I could really get into this relaxed kind of schedule.....not much money in it though!  Till later, much love to you.

V
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Sent from Vicki Timman's BlackBerry Wireless Device

Florida

Last night, the youngsters were very rowdy...when driving around in the evening, the boys and girls could be observed roaming in packs, with a smattering of couples, some of the temporary variety, I would imagine.  The noise outside and in the hotel reached its maxmum at around midnight, but even with the door on my "balcony" open to invite in the night air, it did not keep me from drifting off to sleep. 

This morning, I again took to the beach (not nearly as dramatic as it sounds) to watch the sun rise.  In my typical geeky fashion, I waited patiently, taking incremental photos for well over an hour as the water crept further onto the shore (high tide sometime after 9 this morning) At one point I took a movie of the water, the birds and the beach (you would not think there is a lot to hear,but there really is) I will post the movie when I get back home.  Today I may drive the short distance down A1A to Ponce Inlet to take some pictures of the lighthouse there...yes, I know...more pictures..I figure taking them doesn't hurt anyone, if you don't want to see them, you don't have to look, and they are MUCH easier to bring home in the Honda than a palm tree!

That's all for now...till later, much love to you..

V
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Sent from Vicki Timman's BlackBerry Wireless Device

A couple things..

The most important thing, the young one's audition for the College of Music at UT..it went very well, I thought, but anyone who knows the young one can only imagine his impression of it :). We now have to wait for a couple weeks for notice about the particulars, but I personally think that is just a formality!

Secondly, I have taken a week off from work and have limited internet access.  I decided a little while ago to take a trip I have been wanting to take for a long time, and opportunity presented so I took it.  As bad an idea as it sounds, I am in Daytona Beach for five days the week after "Bike Week".  So far it has been nice, except for the construction all day at the hotel that I am in..up side, I wake up, walk out on what passes for a balcony and look to my left and see the ocean.  I was up very early this morning and went out on the beach to watch the tide come in and the sunrise.  I just got back from a walk up to the pier, which I remember with fondness from a visit here a long time ago.  The walk on the beach was nice, cameras in pockets, iPod clipped on...found a couple shells still unbroken from the tide. I will do the typical tourist thing and bring them home to give to some kids I know.

I will continue to post throughout the week here, this way- if you want to get in touch with me, email to my work account or call or text me on my cell phone.  I wish you were here with me... I will do my best to share it with you.  Till later, much love to you,

V
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Sent from Vicki Timman's BlackBerry Wireless Device

Testing email blogging

If this actually works I will be very pleased...it will not replace my preferred way of posting, but from the Blackberry, it will definitely limit the number if time I do the "dot dot dot" thing :). Here we go, send then check it out!   Wish me lluck!    V
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Sent from Vicki Timman's BlackBerry Wireless Device

Angst

(b. Dec. 12, 1863, Löten, Nor.--d. Jan. 23, 1944, Ekely, near Oslo) Norwegian painter and printmaker whose intense, evocative treatment of psychological and emotional themes was a major influence on the development of German Expressionism in the early 20th century. His painting The Cry (1893) is regarded as an icon of existential anguish.

A gifted Norwegian painter and printmaker, Edvard Munch not only was his country's greatest artist, but also played a vital role in the development of German expressionism. His work often included the symbolic portrayal of such themes as misery, sickness, and death. The Cry, probably his most familiar painting, is typical in its anguished expression of isolation and fear.

________________________________________________

Currently, every realm of my experience is rife with it....so much change and turmoil for all the people in my life...so much tumult and confusion in my own head...Spring and all that it represents is the culprit, no doubt...new life, new situations...some positive at their inception, others questionable until given a thorough overview and assessment...

Struggle occurring as we all work to find our way and embrace the changes...so on we go...as it has always been...

Evening: Twilight Time

______________________________________________

Twilight Time, to dream awhile
In veils of deepening gloom
As fantasy strides over colourful skies
The fog disappearing from view

In twilight time, dream with me awhile

A nightingale plays a dark mellow phrase
Of notes that are rich and so true
An aerial display by the firefly brigade
Dancing to tunes no one knew

In twilight time, dream with me awhile
In twilight time, dream with me awhile

Building castles in the air
Whistling to the wind
As nature bows down her head
See what tomorrow brings

Twilight time, dream with me awhile

Bats take to wing, like puppets on string
Prancing in cool evening air
In a sightless glide, no reason to hide
Away from the sun's blinding stare

In twilight time, dream with me awhile
In twilight time, dream with me awhile

So....this whole DST update thing....

Not as good as the "Jump to Conclusions Mat", but very nearly...


For all those who have been working diligently to assure that this "economizing measure" was seamlessly implemented, these last 8 to 10 days have been a nightmare. The impact of this arbitrary change (which was two years in the planning, I understand) was minimized...IT professionals who maintain network functionality and collaborative services have been scrambling to assure that their users lives were only mildly inconvenienced as the clocks associated with every piece of technical equipment they use were adjusted forward one hour, three weeks earlier than their operating systems were pre-programmed to change.

A testimonial to the frustration level of IT professionals can be observed in the exchanges on the very generously made available Microsoft Business Solutions "Community Chat Room", where experts are accessible through live chat session to answer questions about the deployment, problems and solutions associated with the early time adjustment. Hopefully, the change that will take place in October has already been bundled into the patches we all were frantically installing network wide...it would be absolutely ridiculous to have to do this again in the fall....so of course if the warped logic of this follows, we most likely have that to look forward to....

The "good thing" (if there is anything good about it) is that in three weeks, even if you resist assimilation and do nothing at all to your computer, your machine will be in compliance with daylight savings time....however, in those three weeks, you will make yourself a royal pain in the arse for every person you collaborate with, skewing all the time stamping of documents and appointments that come from you so that they are not accurate for users who HAVE installed the patch correctly....

Hopefully, you are all set with your own DST adjustment; if not I encourage you to take care of it, both for your own computer's accuracy and for the good of the "collective".... ;-)

OMEA Contest

The Northview Wind Ensemble performed in the theatre at Southview High School at 9 PM yesterday evening for their prepared part of their participation in OMEA District contest. After the prepared performance, they retreated to a separate performance area for sight-reading. The Wind Ensemble finished the evening with a very respectable "II" rating. Congratulations to Eugene Bohland and the talented performers of the Northview Wind Ensemble.

Musicality

n. - Musical sensitivity or talent.


____________________________________________________


In my opinion, the word is epitomized by the talented musicians of the Sylvania Northview Bands. Featured from the recent winter concert, given in preparation for OMEA contest on Friday March 09, 2007. The link, right, features a performance from the concert, with the Wind Ensemble under the direction of Mr Eugene Bohland. The file is a little large, but worth the wait. Enjoy!

Also, if you are interested in attending the actual OMEA contest performances of the Northview Bands, head over to Sylvania Southview High School on Friday evening; all bands will be performing then, with the Wind Ensemble performing latest at 9 PM. Public is welcome and encouraged to attend; recording devices of any type (audio or video/photo) are prohibited in the performance venue.

Hindsight

"Life is like driving, you don't look behind you to drive...let the past lie."

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Check out this article in the Toledo City Paper about the place that I work, to get an idea of why I feel so lucky!

A Post for Dog Lovers

belladonna

n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.

- Ambrose Bierce

Famous Last Words - My Chemical Romance

Now I know
That I can't make you stay
But where's your heart?
But where's your heart?
But where's your...


And I know
There's nothing I could say
To change that part
To change that part
To change...

So many
Bright lights, they cast a shadow
But can I speak?
Well is it hard understanding
I'm incomplete
A life that's so demanding
I get so weak
A love that's so demanding
I can't speak

I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home

Can you see
My eyes are shining bright
Cause I'm out here
On the other side
Of a jet black hotel mirror
And I'm so weak
Is it hard understanding
I'm incomplete
A love that's so demanding
I get weak

I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home

I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home

These bright lights have always blinded me
These bright lights have always blinded me
I say

I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead

(How can I see, I see you lying) 'Cause I see you lying next to me
(How can I see, I see you lying) With words I thought I'd never speak
(How can I see, I see you lying) Awake and unafraid
(How can I see, I see you lying) Asleep or dead

'Cause I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead

'Cause I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead

I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
(Or dead)
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
(Or dead)
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
(Or dead)
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
(Or dead)
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
(Or dead)
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home

"Clocks slay time..."

"...time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life."

- William Faulkner

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Thinking about time, and our perceptions of it...when I awoke this morning, the first thought in my mind was, "Geez, I wonder what time it is?" When I get in a hurry, with lots to do, the thought, "Oh, crap! Look at the time!" When in anticipation of an event in the future or thinking about the possibility of an respite from the daily schedule, it seems that time passes in an exaggeratedly slow pace; in the company of your beloved or enjoying the warmth and love our your family, the clock hands spin wildly, advancing the hours in what seems like seconds.

How did humans become slaves to "time"? I think of the animals; driven only by the rise and set of the sun, and the changing of the seasons. The earth and heavens guided their actions....it is light, and time to be active, it is dark and time to rest....it is cold and time to stay inside, it is warm and time to be outdoors. What was the moment like in which humans found it necessary to do something at a particular "time", making it necessary to be able to describe to others "when"?

From the time we are born, we become part of "time". Schedules are set for us, some based on the convenience of others around us and some driven by the cycles of our bodies. When we come to have more control over our body cycles, the accepted imposition of "timing" by the meter of the clock kicks in. No longer does the rise and set of the sun and moon have any bearing on our schedules...the clock tells us "when"...to sleep, to eat, to work...

Relegated to the back of consciousness....time to nurture, to grow...things, relationships....result....empty gardens, hollow lives, empty hearts...

Take time to stop time....step out of schedules and routines...step outside of the "time capsule" you are traveling through your life in; LOOK at what is around you...appreciate the garden...be WITH the ones you love, not just in their proximity....your dedication and self-sacrifice to the strict demands of "time" effects them more than you can ever know...and your PRESENCE, the most precious thing, for them and for YOU....

for all time....much love to you....

v

Just a guess...

But...I would imagine that there are a least a few folks who know me who are nodding their heads vigorously right now....

:-)

v

And NOW for something COMPLETELY different....

Follow this link for a special message.....

v

I hope that everyone has someone to feel this way about today....

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."
- Emily Bronte

And so it begins....

The storm of the winter....A trip that has been planned for several weeks now will not happen because of the probability that I would be stranded away from home because the snow is only supposed to continue throughout the day. Snow is light and fluffy and is drifting on roadways, and the surface streets in our neighborhood have not been cleared. Lucas County is in a Level 1 Snow emergency (don't drive unless you HAVE to) and the Toledo Police have announced that they are responding to accidents in Phase 2 mode (injury accidents only - all others exchange information). The estimate is 4 to 8 inches today and another 3 to 5 overnight tonight, with one more inch during the day on Wednesday. By the weekend, the temperatures are projected to rise into the 20's, but on Thursday and Friday lows will be ZERO! Obviously Punxsutawney Phil or Buckeye Chuck or whatever groundhog said that spring was just around the corner is full of crap....it is definitely winter here, and not looking like it is going away any time soon...

Will get out (walking probably) later and take a few more photos to post...till then, much love to you...stay warm...

v

I'm on a mission from "root".....

(think "geek".....you'll get it)

A little background....a few days ago, I worked on a computer for one of our telecommuters in the company that I work for. It was in the context of the process that has been dubbed "PM" (preventative maintenance), and several things were done to her computer to update it and make sure that it was "healthy". I have been doing these PMs on the Windows based computers in the organization for about a month now, and although still new in the IT department, I think I am doing OK at it...OK, I THOUGHT I was doing OK at it until I got a call two days after my coworker was in the office, once she got home and tried to use her computer to retrieve email in that special way that folks have to with our set up. When she told me that email was not working, needless to say, my mind went racing...here was a remote user, who does not work in the office, with a significant problem that impairs her ability to do her job. What did I do to break her machine? Better question, how was I going to fix it?

I tried everything I knew with her help to resolve the problem, with her in the Cleveland area and me in our home office in Maumee. After a day of trying and no success but a lot of good information about how the machine WASN'T working, I broached the subject with my direct boss. He gave me some guidance, and advised that as a last resort, if all else failed, a trip would have to be made to the telecommuter's home to resolve the issue there. I took his last few suggestions and tried them, to no avail. I informed the user and my boss that I would be traveling to Cleveland on Saturday to see her in person and troubleshoot her problem with her computer.

Saturday morning came, and I awoke at a little bit later than my normal time. By the time I finally forced myself to extricate from my warm and cozy bed, the brilliant orange sun was just beginning to paint the sky with the colors of morning. The day had all the appearances of perfect cold and crisp winter; a beautiful day for driving, with plenty of sunshine and opportunity for "shotgun photojournalism", which has become my forte of late (see my Flcker album link, right). I staggered to the shower and gratefully turned the water to its hottest tolerable setting, basking in the glory that is a hot shower on a cold day (and yes, I did remember to CLOSE THE DOOR) While washing hair, I began to go over the strategy for my troubleshooting for the day, walking through all that I wanted to do in my mind, so I would be ready when I got to the user's house and had access to her network and her computer. I was so deep in thought that I was inattentive to the amount of time I was spending in the shower, and my ruminations were rudely interrupted by very cold water on my backside, at which point I made a hasty retreat to the cooler and much foggier bathroom outside the shower doors. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to bring the clothes I had planned on wearing for the day into the bathroom with me, so I did not have to leave the warm and humid air of the bathroom to get dressed. Once done with that, I brushed out hair, blew it dry, disconnected all the equipment I was going to take with me, packed all the things in their bags, pockets and cases, located my car keys and made a beeline to the car (it WAS still doggone cold this morning!)

Once in the car, I remembered that first, I needed to take some cash with me for tolls on the turnpike (the safest, quickest and most direct route to where I was going) and that the car needed oil. The money part was straight-forward (except for the sticky crank window on the driver side that I have to manhandle when I want to do anything drive-up), so that was taken care of in short order. After that was done, I headed to the nearest AutoZone to pick up some oil for the car.

It is very humorous to walk into an auto parts store of any kind if you are a woman, and from my experience, even moreso if you have kinda big boobs and you are blonde. The stares as I walked in were nothing in comparison the the outright ogling that occurred when I proceeded to pop the hood in the parking lot and add two quarts of oil. I almost got the impression that there was some betting going on behind one of racks in the back room on whether I knew how to get the hood open, let alone how to get oil in. I am pleased to say that whoever bet against me lost their shirt!

Oil added, away I went, but not without first making sure that the camera was easily accessible for photo ops on the way. I headed down Rt23 toward the office I work in, which is as easy a way as any to get to the turnpike, and beside that, it is a route that is becoming as familiar to me as the back of my hand. Within what seemed like only a few moments, I was at the automated ticket dispenser (wrestling my window down) grabbing the ticket (wrestling my window up) and hitting the road (80/90 East, that is).

With Cleveland as my goal, and an estimated drive time of 2 hours and twenty minutes as the Mapquest estimates, I figured my 10:45 time of departure would put me at my destination with time to spare, but not much. My last drive to Cleveland was with the young one this past summer (which I have unofficially dubbed, "The Summer of Trips with The Young One" - those trip blogs are housed on the now defunct "Once Burned-Twice Shy", and will definitely be archived for perusing at some future time), when I "forced him" to go see the band "Blue October" with me at the House of Blues. It was a fantastic night, after a bit of a rocky start, and the drive there and back was easy and enjoyable because I had him for company. This time it was a solitary trip, with my little mind and my music to keep me company. I settled in to run a little above the speed limit (between 70 and 75) and enjoy the drive. iPod queued up with my current favorites all available, I cruised along, liking the feel of the car passing over the cold asphalt. This first half of the trip could have been driven in my sleep; the route is as familiar as an old friend, having been our path to see my mom and the ex's parents for lo, those many years since we moved to the Toledo area from our safe haven of tiny little Norwalk. We have traveled the route in winter, with snow blowing and drifting across the roadway...we have driven it in summer, when the traffic at the Sandusky/Norwalk exit literally stops on the roadway in their efforts to exit on the tiny exit ramp, on their way to the "Family Fun Park" Cedar Point, situated on Lake Erie in Sandusky.

Very little has changed since the last time I drove this way, but there is comfort in noting the things that have stayed the same. As I approached the Sandusky/Norwalk exit, I glanced off to the left, noting the NASA Plumbrook Research Center (which is now called Glenn Research Center at Plum Brook) off in the distance. When I was in school, I had a friend whose dad worked there, and when we were in about third grade or so, we went on a field trip there. The highlight of the visit was a "moon rock" under a heavy dome of glass, on a pedestal with lights shining down on it from all around. That made a big impression on me, and for years after, I wrote to every NASA facility there was in the United States and begged for free pictures and whatever else they were willing to send to a little kid with questions about the space program. For a few years they were very generous, sending staff photos of the people of the different flights and such, but after a bit, any written request for information illicited little more than a letter of thanks and a catalog for further NASA information and "stuff". I also noted the large industrial area situated near the "Avery underpass" which used to be Certainteed, makers of shingles and other "tar"-y things...the stench that place used to make especially in the summertime, is legendary...not sure if that is still what the industry is there, but the buildings look just the same as always. As I passed over the overpass that takes the turnpike over Rt 250, a quick glance in the southerly direction showed me "The Homestead Inn", and the location of the tiny little motel where I spent my first night as a married person. Such an odd set of rememberances in that little stretch of roadway...my whole younger life focused on that one exit off the turnpike.

Passing the exit, I then moved on to the areas that were more of a distance and mystery when I was young. My family was a pretty much a "stay around home" bunch, so my most vivid and recallable "Place" memories are of Norwalk and the closely surrounding areas. My recollection of "going away", or driving out of town is pretty negligible from my young childhood; most of my driving "adventures" (mom driving and kids in tow) are from after my dad passed away. My mom was always the one who took care of home and hearth, and after my dad died, she was kinda cut loose...not much experience with things outside of her little circle of grocery, school, pay bills (this was when you went to the offices to pay) and every now and then order something from the Montgomery Ward catalog and then go "uptown" to pick it up. A trip out of town for any reason was not an option unless Dad took us all there, although Sandusky was a straight drive north on Rt 250, one of the main roads that goes through town, and there are also several state route that pass through/around Norwalk on the way to Cleveland and the area surrounding. One such "mom driving adventure" I recall in vivid detail was a very daring trip taken to Elyria (laughable in reflection, considering the great distances my mom has traveled on her own since then). I remember my mom being extremely on edge and my sister and I being very excited...we were going to a store we had never been to before to "shop"...VALUE CITY!!! Any folks who are familiar with this chain know that they are not always located in the most savory areas of a community...in retrospect, I believe that may have been as much responsible for my mom's discomfort as the actual drive there and home. I drove past some of the buildings that I recall seeing during the drive that day as I sped past the exit for Lorain/Elyria...the visual stimulus made me emotionally remember that day, that trip and my mom stretching herself to take on the new responsibilities that life had given her without asking, and in my heart I know that every experience like that has helped me to be able to do what I have done in my own life, picking up and going on, even when the choice was not mine to make. It is those random realizations that come at the oddest times and fill me with such gratitude...I had then and thankfully still have with me today, a great role model in my mom....she still influences me in everything I do every day.

Feeling all warm and fuzzy, I continued my drive, passing many exits, although a few I took particular note of are the ones for Avon. I will be back that way in just a few weeks for a Power of the Pen regional event (I know...groan...ANOTHER long and rambling post!) so I mentally made a little tick mark next to "know how to get there", in my constantly morphing list of "things I need to remember" that takes up a humongous amount of storage space in the RAM disk that is my brain.

Driving, snapping photos, and following the Mapquest directions, I came to the first deviation from the straight line path of the turnpike...time to exit...and it came as no surprise that at the same time, a huge ORANGE sign was also there, declaring that there was construction and delays were to be expected. This truly is standard fare for me and travel, especially using the Mapquest only way (no road atlas for me, bay-bee!) I was prepared, as usual, to fall back on my impeccable sense of direction and logical thinking skills (**ALRIGHT - stop laughing RIGHT NOW!!!**)to get me through the next leg of the trip. Took the exit ramp to head toward the toll booths (done with the turnpike) and as I rounded the curve, I could see that there were some road barrels on the "I have paid to get past" side of the booths...as I pulled up to pay, I could also see that there were some small orange signs posted near the barrels. I paid my toll, dutifully asked for a receipt, and proceeded (after the window wrestling). As I drew closer to the signs, they became legible..."END CONSTRUCTION"...Whoohoo!!! Yet another bullet dodged by the lovely and talented tekkbabe!

The next part of the drive was kinda boring, with lots of paying attention to the road and directions....I had gotten this far without incident and I most certainly did not want to hose things up now....That meant, of course, that the camera was put away, the iPod turned off and earphones off, and full attention was directed to the task at hand. As the miles rolled along, I passed some signs I really wanted to get photos of, including one for "Entering Brooklyn", but alas, I was not quick enough, so that one has to survive on its mention only, with no photo to substantiate its existence.

As I got closer to Cleveland proper, the blue sky, the distinctive skyline and the general coolness of seeing it again prompted me to once again pull out the camera. Anyone who knows the area, and moreover knows me, is already shaking their heads in wonderment that I am typing this now, considering the photos that I was able to take. I was indeed trying very hard to stay in my lane and not be a road hazard as I tried to snap photos of the imposing buildings of Cleveland and the very famous Jacobs Field, home of the Cleveland Indians. Thankfully on that count, on my way back out of Cleveland, the route I took brought me within spitting distance of the main gates so there are some pretty darned good pictures of it, even though they were, again, taken while driving by.

Amazingly enough, the Mapquest directions were easy and extraordinarily accurate. I made my way around a few Cleveland landmarks (The Cleveland Clinic and the Cleveland Playhouse, as well as the campus of Case Western and the Convocation Center of Cleveland State). With no difficulty at all, I proceeded through to Cleveland Heights and the home of my user, Katie (I hope you don't mind my referring to you by name, dear)

I was early, so I had the opportunity to fill the car with gas and drive about a little in the area (I have never been there before) The "Town" area is intimate and very clean, the neighborhood that she lives in is filled with huge older homes, with beautiful yards. I parked on the side street next to her house, and was interested and amused to watch a squirrel as it ran on a wire from one side of the street to the other, apparently migrating his home to a new location, one trip at a time.

Shortly, Katie got home, with her son. He is a very handsome young man and friendly, but was tired from a very busy morning and early afternoon. Once inside her home, Katie put him down for a nap and I proceeded to work on her problem. I got my own laptop out, and while it was loading Windows, I took a look at a few things on Katie's machine. After a little poking, and meeting some more folks in her family, I decided to directly explore the issue at hand, since network connectivity was definitely fine. Got her on the VPN, launched her MS Outlook, which is what we use to connect to our Exchange mail....logon dialog came up and without even looking very carefully, I entered her password. The dialog box came up again, prompting me for her password... this time I took a little closer look...and ZAP!!! all of the sudden, the problem jumped out and bit me on the nose like an angry snake...her user name and server that she was authenticating to were set incorrectly in her log on...as soon as I corrected that, she logged on just swell, synchronized her emails, contacts and calendar, and was able to send and receive emails without error. When I logged her off and back on again, the settings remained remembered correctly and the logon was again successful....still another bullet dodged! Before leaving, I validated that the remote access software was installed on her machine and working, to assure that we could work together in the future if problems come up.

We spent a little time getting to know each other better, so it was enjoyable time very well spent, because I know one of my co-workers tons better, and had a great time as well. When I left her house, I was pleased and happy...her issue resolved, it was a good day...On the way home only one thing of interest was noted...west of the Sandusky/Norwalk exit, in an open field a little lower than the turnpike road bed, a "herd" of deer, numbering at least a dozen, perhaps more, was sighted grazing on whatever tender morsels were hidden under the thin layer of snow. And me with dead camera batteries (OK, you can stop laughing now!).....

Today, after a good night's rest, I commit the trip to print, with the photos (right) and the links throughout...hope you enjoy seeing another part of Ohio through my eyes, and learning a little more about me in the process...back with more later...I know you are waiting in rapt anticipation :-) Till then....much love to you...

v

Get a Mac...

Was watching TV last night and the new "Get a Mac" commercial snuck up on me when I wasn't paying attention...and made me laugh so freaking hard I thought I was gonna wet my pants!!!! Check out the new ad in the link at the right for my current favorite mini-movie...any geek will get a huge belly laugh out of it!

Travel tomorrow to Cleveland for work; will take photos of the cool stuff that I see, and blog about it when I get back. Till then, much love to you...

v

Wildlife in everyday life....

I heard a voice call from the break room as I was breaking my stuff down, readying to go home for the day..."If anyone wants to see them, there are some deer down by the feeder in the woods!" Our group of folks who remained in office at 5:30 in the evening dutifully flocked to the large windows that wrap around two of the four walls of the break room. The effort was rewarded with the sight of FOUR female or younger deer grazing in the low brush and eating some of the seed from on the ground under a bird feeder a little distance from our part of the building. The deer moved relatively close to the building, although after a few minutes a noise grabbed their attention and they moved quickly back into the cover of the more dense bushes. The photo above is one of the good ones, and there are some new ones in the "Flcker" album, right.

As we were watching the deer leisurely strolling outside, one of the folks in the room said sadly, "This is something I will really miss when we move..." It's true...the building here is nestled in a very nice area with trees all around...although the new location has a park very close by as well as a creek. It will be interesting to see how everything shakes out as we move....it was nice to have this ramdom experience today though....makes us appreciate the time we have left here...

Hope you are staying warm and well....more later..till then, much love to you...

v

Anything I say now would sound like pissing and moaning....

I really do NOT like winter...I am NOT a cold weather person (nor a sweltering heat person) and the bitter winds and below zero temperatures reminded me why my heart's fondest desire is to move to Key West and start an internet cafe somewhere in a small corner of Duvall Street, serving iced coffee, fruit smoothies and internet access to the visiting tourists. Never having to wear anymore than flip flops and casual clothes...strapping down some laptops on the counter during the day and locking them up at night...then walking down the street to grab a drink at Sloppy Joe's...especially in the miserable Ohio winters, my mind wanders to that fantasy every now and then...

It has been bitterly cold here since Sunday, and the schools have been closed for two days now due to the sub-zero temperatures during the day. The drive home was horrible tonight, as it began to snow mid-afternoon and no pre-emptive strike was made on the buildup on the roads. The traffic was moving at a snail's pace, and with good reason...the accidents due to the slick conditions were numerous...my biggest fright, a Jeep spun out directly in front of me...lost control on black ice, swerved right then back across left, amazingly without hitting anyone, and then headed for the guard rail in the median, hitting it head on, then bouncing slightly back, to end up facing the wrong way in traffic....astonishing...I was never so happy to be home as I was after that white-knuckle drive...

So...tired, cold and did I say COLD??? That's it for now...more later...much love to you...

v

Power of the Pen , February 03, 2007 – Woodmore High School

OR

“Cool and crisp Howard…winter ought to be cool and crisp…..”


Got up later than the usual crack of dawn this morning, knowing that the drive to the event today in Elmore Ohio would take only about half an hour to make. The sun was fully rising when I finally got my stuff together and was ready to head out (a little after 8 am) and the young one was just getting up to ready himself for an early day at work. He gave me his keys so I could move Viktor from behind is car, and I shouldered my supplies, trudged downstairs and headed out the front door, followed close behind by Woz.

Once outside, I found that the bright sunshine was very deceptive, and that the air was very cold. The sweatshirt (pink “Toledo Rockets” hoodie – one of two favs) was not nearly warm enough to be able spend more than a moment outdoors, which was my intention. Unfortunately, cars had other plans. Viktor started fine, and I moved him to the curb in front of the house to wait for the young one. I climbed into the four-door, gave a few pumps of the accelerator (not fuel injected!) and turned the key. There was a small surge of electricity into the passenger compartment, causing the lights to come on in the dashboard, the radio to come on (loudly, as is always my habit) and then there was NOTHING. All lights went off, the radio shut off, and another turn of the key…nothing AT ALL HAPPPENED. Panic, but only for a moment….I recalled the last time this happened…on a very cold night after work….a call to the firstborn informed me that the clamp/end on the battery cable was not perfect and tends to work loose from time to time. Thankfully I recalled that before I flew into the house and started a flaming rant at the firstborn or young one. I popped the hood, smooshed the clamp back down on the battery terminal, and went back to the driver seat to turn the key. Eureka….another disaster averted… amazing how, from time to time, those logical thinking skills kick in and really come in handy.

Let the car warm up for a few minutes and then off we went. I debated the merit of stopping for coffee or a bite to eat, and decided against it…usually there is food at these events, so I was not too concerned, and really not all that hungry either. Heading toward the expressway, I began to think the route through in my mind, and I realized that I would again be driving the slalom course under the bridge construction(insert link for the bridge here). With the brilliant sunshine and blue sky as my backdrop, I thought it would be ridiculous for me NOT to get the camera out, so, while driving, I located the purse-thingy that I have been carrying my stuff in and set about digging for the camera. In the largest compartment, along with cell phone, Blackberry, eyeglass case and other miscellany, I finally located the case. To dislodge it from the other things, much juggling was done (driving still, you will recall), but I had the camera available in plenty of time to snap a few more photos to enhance my growing collection of bridge pictures. The sun enhanced the “coolness factor” of the structure in progress, but the twists and turns of the roadway underneath (as well as the traffic sharing the pavement with me) precluded me from taking many more photos that I wanted….I look forward to my second opportunity to present itself on the way home. I also want to take a few photos of the community of Elmore to share with you…it is a very quaint “small town”, in the old style…it is nice to see these places from time…harkening to a time long past for most of us.

I arrived at the high school with plenty of time to spare and located the tabulation room, located on the second floor with the help of strategically placed signs in the main hallways. When I entered the room, I approached a woman (Holly) who appeared, by her demeanor and behaviour to be “in charge”….I was indeed correct in my assumption. She was coordinating the judges, tab room volunteers and giving instruction for all the folks about their responsibilities. She directed me to the computer “lab” area in the library, and I selected a large blank space where some computers had been removed (doubtless pulled for service) to get things ready. (Aside – as I sat in the lab area and looked at the condition of equipment, the furniture, etc, I had a serious flood of déjà vu for many of the labs in the old district – systems in disrepair or notes on them not to use – no insult intended, just the problems of lots of stuff and not enough bodies to take care of it all)

In listening to her presentation as I set up my equipment, I learned that she has been working on these events since her daughter was a participant, and now her daughter assists her in managing events, since she is no longer a participant. She was very businesslike and kept to a very tight schedule. She quickly provided the training, and assigned a person to me to read scores. This is the first event of the year that I have had a reader for (only second event, though) and it really is the way that the score entry is SUPPOSED to be done, although I have also done it on my own. We will have some time to kill until data entry will begin, so I am writing and she is grading papers….I think we will get along just fine. Off now to take a few photos of the tab room….back a little later, after some data entry, which is sure to begin soon.


Finally decided that I would talk to the lovely lady that made sure that I had clear space on the counter in the lab area and also who had also cleaned up the dust bunnies for me, to see if I could get online. My cursory try at it indicated to me a couple things…1) this district is probably NOT running DHCP and 2) Filtering of some sort is definitely in place. I asked the person who talked to me earlier (who I am guessing it the IT person, since her “office” looked much like “The Hole” filled with equipment in various stages of “repair”) if I she could help me make a connection to the network. She came to my machine, changing both the brower proxy settings and the NIC properties for the local address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS. Their filtering, I am finding, is very stringent….no access to free sites of any sorts, including those that host photos, sites that facilitate Instant Messenging, Instant Messaging clients that run from the machine level, and blogs (dang!) Interestingly enough however,ironduke.net IS available, so privately hosted sites on regular hosting services appear not to be filtered.

Scores are coming now so surfing is over….back with more later…
I had the very distinct pleasure of working with the lovely and talented Catherine Downing, from Bellevue Schools, who had students here and helped me as my reader to expedite data entry. She made the day go very quickly and the data entry a breeze…such a cool person to get to know…and come to find out she lives in my home town and was at a PoP event last year that I scored. With her assistance, we were done with data entry and processing way before the judges evaluating “Best of Round”, so now here I am waiting for that information so I can print the final reports and close the database for the last time. I will wait till I get home to email the results files to Frank at Power of the Pen headquarters; much easier that way and less likely to make any errors on my part.

While we were doing data entry for the final round, my cell phone rang…it was the young one calling to make sure that I was careful on the way home. The weather here turned from clear and dry to horrible very quickly….I had not paid any attention to the conditions out the windows in the media center until he called. The photos in the current Flickr album show the blowing snow and how much the conditions had changed. I am not looking forward as I was before to the drive home; the rural roads are likely to be treacherous, with the blowing snow, and I am not keen on the idea of running off the road in the middle of nowhere so I will be driving tense and extra cautious (may not even take pictures!) on the way home.

Although I am still waiting now, I will close this for the time being….perhaps to add more once home in one piece, but more likely to post and upload photos when I get home, then pass out for a well earned bit of a nap.

LATER - Enjoy...the photos are up on Facebook and Flickr...check em out!

Bye for now...much love to you...

v

Adding content with Snap Preview Anywhere...

You may have noticed an enhancement to the Country of the Blind site...every link now has the ability to generate in a pop up window a preview of the sight that it is referencing....go ahead, try it! And while you're at it, float your cursor over this link for Snap Preview Anywhere to see the pop up first hand. It is facilitated with a tiny little script embedded in your pages and is very easy to set up. If you want to enhance your user/visitors experience on your site, consider enabling the Snap Preview Anywhere pop up windows on your pages.

Contest Today

Today is the day our district's OMEA Solo and Ensemble Contest takes place at Perrysburg High School The young one and his Sara along with many other musicians from his school in all levels of the instrumental music program will be participating. This is an adjudicated event in which students perform for an assigned OMEA judge and are assessed on their rudiment skills and a solo that they have worked to prepare. The young one is scheduled to participate at 2-ish and his Sara before him 1-ish this afternoon.

The event is an important step in the process in preparing for his (and his Sara's) audition for entry into the College of Music. With this event under his belt, he will have experienced again the pressures of "showing his pro" one on one with an adjudicator observing him, and he will get a chance to be able to practice managing his anxiety. He is very much a perfectionist and will doubtless be unhappy with his performance no matter how exceptional it really is, but the experience is a valuable one, and I am glad that he has taken the responsibility to prepare for it and follow through. I will let you know later how everything goes...for now keep him, his Sara and his friends in your good thoughts for skilled performances and a good showing today.

On a totally unrelated note...at Daytona International Speedway today, the "DURA Rolex 24 At Daytona" begins. Special events include 5k Run/Walk, Chili Cook Off, Wine and Cheese Party at Daytona International Speedway. This is of special interest to me for two reasons: 1) Years ago, I was actually at the speedway once (very cool BTW) and 2) I have a friend who is going today to see the race. Should be very interesting to hear about later after it ends on Sunday. To see the beginning of the race, tune in to your local Fox affiliate for the first ninety minutes and two other segments as well, to be aired through the 24 hour span. (To catch a glimpse of my friend there, look in the infield for the RV with Georgia license plates ***private joke***)

That's it for now...back later with more about contest perhaps, and maybe even an update on the Rolex 24...much love to you...

v

_______________________________________________



6:00 PM - Returned home from contest and dinner with the young one and his Sara. Results of the day...see the photo, right? The ranking is based on a system of roman numerals I thru V, with I being the best and V being the lowest you can get. In the photo, the young one is ID Number 2216 - and......he got a "I" in Class A solo for percussion! His Sara got a "II" in Class A for her euphonium solo as well, so I am practically bursting with pride! Long and stressful day finally over, the young one and his Sara are recreating in the living room watching "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". I will be taking it easy here in my room, and the firstborn and his Ann are secluded in their room resting as well. All in all the house is calm and quiet, save the occasional giggle from downstairs....a good day, with calm finally setting in, snow falling lightly and all seems pretty good in our part of the world.

Checked on the race online when I got home and found a cool race blog on SpeedTV website, written by Mike Johnson (I'm not sure who he, is but the blog is very engaging and informational) Since the race has started, I'm not sure how he will be doing much posting, but it will be interesting to check back later to see what he has to say about things.

Well, that's it from here...good day, eh?...much love to you...

v

On the mend...(I Think)

Everyone in the house save the young one at home right now, although except for the extreme fatigue from being ill (all asleep now but me) all seem to be hanging in. Food not an issue as noone has the inclination to eat yet, to assure that tummies calm down and the easy stuff like water and gatorade will stay down. Both Ann and the firstborn working later today, so the sleep is good for them, and having them sleeping in my room where I can keep an eye on them also helps make me feel better, since I can assure that they are OK easier that way.

While they rest and recover, I have been trying to relax and not work on stuff that I am behind on and have been thinking about. I decided to revisit a project that I was working on a long time ago...one that came to me since my hire-in at my new job. The creativity in the office inspired me to try a project similar to one that the artists execute for new hires...the "Root Wall" artist rendering of new staff. Being inspired by the awesome job that Adam did on my Root Wall portrait, I thought I would try my hand at it in a portrait for my friend "strollerguy". Take a look at the sketch at the top of this post....product of a lot of experimentation and learning....I think it is a pretty good rendering of him.

In any case, may be back with more later...off to take a nap now...all are feeling better than yesterday and apparently on the mend...much love to you...

v

A lull in the action....

So far for about a half hour now, noone taking a trip to the facilities, hurling or any other characteristic action of acute gastro-intestinal distress...everyone currently at home (Ann, the firstborn and myself) are all one stage or another in becoming ill. Seems very nice and convenient though that we seem to have gotten ourselves in sync of sorts, so noone is in misery waiting for access to the restroom. The young one is currently out...if he is not feeling poorly as well, perhaps he would be well advised to stay with a friend tonight, so as not to get contaminated!

Anyhow...for now, this is a sick house...if not better by morning we will all be home commiserating about how awful we feel...more later perhaps...till then, love to you...

v

Breathing Room...

In subtle ways, everyone at my house is making an effort to get set with a little “wiggle room”, as it were…a little extra time, a little extra money, a tiny little bit of “doing something fun instead of something you have to do” time…the last few weeks have been very burdensome on all of us and have taxed our patience, drained our resources and our time, and left us all feeling used, tapped out and very very tired.

As it has always been and always will be, the rollercoaster seems to be climbing the next hill; where the summit will be, there is no way to know. All we know for sure now, we have sluggishly passed through the low part of the course and it is time to travel back up toward the sky and see what is on the other side of the next crest.

Also as always, good is taken from challenge and learning has occurred in the most distressing of situations…our task at hand now is to assure that we retain the learning and move past the disappointments…that is how we can yank some success from the jaws of what seemed like dismal failure.

With that in mind, our family moves ahead…stronger, braver and more adaptable than we were before….we have overcome our current challenges…in the grand scheme of things they are already distant memories…we live, we learn……such is life….

With much love to you….

v

This is MY part of Ohio....

Or.....

(POP Tiffin MS, Part 2)

By about 3:30, I had all my things packed up and was trudging, pack mule style to my car. Once dumping my supplies back in Matt's auto in the passenger seat, I situated myself behind the wheel on the driver side and composed my thoughts. There were several things to consider, not the least of which was how the heck to get back to the route north toward Fremont. Relying on my never ending supply of optimism and infallible sense of direction, I set out to make my way in the nebulous "north" direction (on the one way street grid of Tiffin) with the intention of reconnecting with Rt 53 and proceeding on to Fremont.


The turns I made as I left the area around the school felt "right", so I proceeded with a moderate level of confidence, although little was familiar, landmark-wise. As I passed the courthouse, it seemed that even the statue in the lawn in front was aware of my predicament, as he stood high above the traffic on the street, pointing off in some direction that I did not think I wanted to go (needless to say, I did not take HIS advice!) As I passed under his outstretched arm, I seemed to see him watch and shake his head….he, as so many others before him, indicating his incredulousness at my seeming ineptitude as far as navigation is concerned.

With congratulations to myself, I did manage to make my way back to Rt 53 and on my way out of town without losing my way ONCE! I drove for about five miles, sites seen on the way south earlier in the day further reassuring me that I was indeed where I wanted to be, when without fanfare or warning, all heck started breaking loose inside my purse. My cell phone indicated by its lovely “receiving text messages” tone that I was getting a boatload of them (only ended up being 6, and four of them were reminders to go to the event in Tiffin **rofl**) and the Blackberry vibrated dutifully to let me know that someone was working WAY too hard today and sending email to my work account. I pulled out the cell phone to make a quick call (can you say “communications withdrawl”?) to check to assure that all was well at the homestead. No worries there, so I continued on with my drive, intent on sightseeing and enjoying the brilliantly sunny and crisp winter day in Ohio.


My first stop of interest was an old cemetery that is situated at the side of the road in Ballville Township called Hill Cemetery. It is not situated on a hill, as such, so there must be some “Hill” family affiliation somewhere. I pulled off the road to take a few pictures (these types of places are intriguing in the antiquity to me) and then headed on my merry way.


My next point of serious interest was the “Fremont Airport”. This little patch of land with one large plane situated to face the road was interesting in the fact that I could observe no hint of a landing strip anywhere in the vicinity of the planes. There was one “hanger” with two small planes in or near it, and a sign, also situated by the road, indicating the availability of “Rides”. Hmmm…the next time you think you are inconvenienced at your major national airport with your national carriers, think of it this way…..you could be flying out of FREMONT.

While driving toward Fremont, I considered my options. I often think that I would like to take a little trip over to the Hayes Presidential Center there, as I have not been there in “a coon’s age” (whatever that is”). The ex, the firstborn and I were known to go there with some frequency when the firstborn was young, to make use of the extensive genealogy library they maintain there with records pertaining to the founding folks of that area. At that time, we were extensively involved in researching the history of my dad’s family. With help from the ex’s uncle, Henry Timman, historian for Huron County, and acknowledged genealogy guru, we were able to flesh out a family history for me (and the boys) about my dad’s side of the family, that did not exist in any form, to my knowledge. In the process, I also became acquainted with a real living distant relative, as well, who provided a lot of information that went very far back, so the Presidential Center has some very pleasant memories for me. With that in mind, when the sign came that indicated the turn off Rt 53 toward the Presidential Center, today, I did not drive by; I turned.

The short drive to the Presidential Center, on the grounds of the Hayes home, known as Spiegel Grove, was nice enough. The center is located in an area of Fremont that is obviously older; large stately homes surround the Hayes Center, and the facility itself, with the Presidential Library, the Hayes home and the grounds, sits on a very substantial piece of property in this residential neighborhood. As I approached the gates, I recalled so many other times of passing through, the young one not even a twinkle in the eye yet, and the firstborn most likely asleep in his car seat, lulled into submission during the forty-five minute or so drive. I drove up the shaded winding driveway to the parking area at the Presidential Library and paused a moment there to take a photo. Memories continued to come back of walking the grounds, and becoming familiar with all the staff and resources at the center as we spent so many hours there working. I was saddened to realize how long ago that was, and considered with regret the possibility that some of the people there who had been so kind and understanding to us with our young tag-along had likely passed on. With a hint of sadness at that, I proceeded up the driveway toward Spiegel Grove.


In the afternoon sun, filtered by the tall pines, Spiegel Grove stood, dignified and beautifully understated. This photo really does not do the home justice…to fully appreciate it , you really need to see it in person. I continued on my drive around the automobile accessible parts of th grounds and then taking one last look at the home, I directed myself back to the imposing front gates and headed back toward Rt 53 and home….so I thought.


Once back on Rt 53, I noted a plume of very white “something” in the distance. As I headed toward my ramp to proceed on Rt 20 back toward Toledo, the nature of the something became clear….Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant, on Rt 2 was executing a regular release of steam and the cold winter air allowed the released water to maintain its snowy white appearance for an extended period of time as it wafted away from the cooling tower. Oddly enough, I had recently been engaged in discussion with a friend about just an event such as this, as they too were all too familiar with the processes that can be observed when you live around a nuclear power plant. Deciding that this was too good a photo opportunity to pass up, and although I had no idea how I was going to get there from where I was, I decided to follow the plume to get some pictures. At the first country road that headed in the general direction of the plant, I turned, and off I went, totally clueless as to where I was going other than knowing that I was going to keep turning toward the cloud of steam.

I felt OK about this….I was heading north after all…and north was the GENERAL direction I wanted to head in anyway. I knew that I would eventually cross the turnpike (one landmark) and hit or cross other major roadways, so I figured that this excursion was a low risk deal at best. The only thing I did not check was level of gasoline in the tank (in retrospect, that would have probably been a good idea – lots of rural roads and all that) but as it happened, I passed through several small towns on my travel, including Oak Harbor, so I was very seldom totally out in the “boonies”. And as long as the cooling tower continued to loom larger in my field of view as I drove, I knew I was going in basically the right direction.

And loom it did….as I continued to drive, the plume became more and more prominent in the sky and the facility itself was much easier to see. The tower poked high into the clear blue sky and the brilliant white steam floated steadily from the top. As much as I was totally interested in the sight, I observed as so many people driving on the roads with me were totally oblivious…in my tiny little mind, I wondered how they could not be interested in such a cool looking thing going on in the sky just above their heads.


Route 2 goes past the plant, and is one of the direct routes to the Sandusky area (Cedar Point) from Toledo. There are a lot of cool things to see beside the power plant, including several wildlife preserves and parks. This ironic picture is taken of the entrance to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. No birds falling from the sky, but some can be observed flying….my question…does Blinky the three-eyed fish live here? I also drove past a sign for Bono – not the singer, but the town. There are a couple more photos of Bono-esque items in the Flickr photo album, right.


My last little bit of fun came as I got closer to Toledo, and realized that my trip on Route 2 ended me up at Route 280 as my way to proceed the rest of the way home. All the Toledo folks will tell you that Route 280’s current claim to fame is the slalom track you have to drive under the construction for the new bridge over the Maumee River, which has a name, but I forget what it is. It reminds me very much of the Clark Bridge that I was so enamored with when I visited Alton, Illinois awhile ago….that photo still resides on my computer as my desktop picture. There are some really great photos of the construction area and the progress on the bridge work in the Flickr album, but this one is by far my favorite (I even amazed myself on this one!)

The rest of the drive went by without incident or sights of interest to snap photos of. Once home, I moved all the photos off my camera to my computer and relived my day by looking at them. I’m glad I took the time to explore a little of my part of Ohio yesterday, and I am happy that I have this opportunity to share it all with you.

Hope you enjoyed it…and enjoy the photos in the Flickr album…..back tomorrow with a much shorter post….till then, much love to you….

v

January 20, 2007 – Power of the Pen – Tiffin Middle School

Or......

I hope this is not setting precedent...

(Preface - If you are unfamiliar with the program Power of the Pen , please click on the link to learn more about it before you proceed)

________________________________________________________________________



Stayed much longer at work than I should have last night, with several problems and responsibilities there taking a lot of concentration and effort. When I got home, I had to prep things for today (I know; ever the procrastinator) and when all was said and done, I finally fell into bed to grab a few winks of sleep at nearly 3 AM. I knew that the travel to Tiffin would be relatively uneventful and in comparison to some of the events that I have scored, the distance not long, so I allowed myself the liberty of sleeping till 6 before literally throwing myself out of bed to get myself ready to leave.

I had every good intention; I had my computer ready with drivers loaded, a bag ready to be packed, and my Nano loaded with all the music I could have ever wanted to listen to in the hours that pass between doing nothing to being the center of everything at these events. I stopped on the way out of town to grab a quick nibble, then hopped on the expressway to head toward Tiffin, by way of Perrysburg and Fremont.

The morning was cold, but the car was not; it was a comfortable drive and I was actually taking enough time to grab the camera out of my backpack/purse to snap a few pictures of the beautiful sky as the sun started to rise. The progress to the split in Fremont was quick…because I was distracted by the fact that my Nano had stopped dead (froze) when I tried to use it in lieu of the radio on the last leg of the drive. Frustrated, I dropped it on the seat with my other items of necessity on this trip and redirected my attention to the road.

Tiffin is a college town, but even with that in mind, it has the appearance of a small community. It has a pretty little downtown area and several high schools, as well as Tiffin University and Heidelberg College within its boundaries. It was (not sure if it still is) home to the State Mental Hospital (a standing joke among folks who are long time residents of the area). Tiffin must also hold some sort of world record for the most one way streets in a small town...How do I know all this, you ask?

Well...once crossing the city limits line of Tiffin, all of my magical intuitive navigation skills went totally OUT THE WINDOW, and I spent way too many minutes driving east to west and then eventually north to south, criss-crossing the area in which my Mapquest map indicated the school would be. Finally, I spied a very welcome “School Zone” sign. Eureka, I thought to myself; finally my flawless sense of direction had gotten me to my destination! Alas, it was not to be; the school was Tiffin Calvert High School, and in my desperation I entered its hallowed halls seeking aid in my quest for the elusive Tiffin Middle School. A very lovely lady there actually escorted me to the school from Calvert HS, assuring that I reached my goal without further incident. I cannot express how nice it was to encounter such a generous soul so early on a Saturday morning!

Once at the school, I resituated all the accoutrements of my work in their containers for transport into the building. I first approached (logically) the main doors to the building. All locked, and taking a peek inside, I saw no lights on and no activity of the human sort. Not totally unusual for events of this kind, and after all, even with my “dilly-dallying”, I was still early for any activity of the registration or scoring sort. Nonplussed, I proceeded to a side door; the parking lot there appeared to be the temporary home to quite a number of vehicles. A pull on the door handle….also locked; all four of them. I peeked in these doors; at least there were lights on in the hall! Standing in the cold air (did I mention it was cold?) and with all my supplies in their bags, slung over my shoulder, I stood disheartened at the door, wondering if there was some OTHER Tiffin Middle School that I didn’t know about. Just as I was losing hope, I saw a woman walking in the hall inside. I knocked on the door and gestured to her to let me in. She came to the door and held it open; I queried, “Is the Power of the Pen event to be held here today?”. She responded yes, it was, and offered to escort me to the staging area in the building. Isn’t it nice that so many people are willing to take care of me? I have been twice amazed so far today at how kind and generous people have been.

The event Tabulation Room is in the Media Center. I chose a tiny piece of desk in the Mac (yay!) lab there. The lab is equipped with about thirty eMacs, and the building, as far as I can tell is equipped with at least 4 unsecured access points. My NIC (Network Interface Card) is old and not all that good, so although I can connect to the access points, the signal is not strong enough to support a connection (after some additional investigation, I determined that there was a further complication of a manual proxy in use for filtering services for their district which was impairing my ability to use the wireless access points to surf and use instant messaging). No worries, I thought to myself; I still have my Blackberry and RAZR if I need to communicate with the outside world.

OK, so here’s the deal…there must be some sort of “black hole of communication” in Tiffin. The RAZR can get no signal, even after power off/ power on (I will probably try the “remove the battery” reset a little later) The Blackberry is in exactly the same circumstance; I don’t think that I have ever seen it with NO SIGNAL AT ALL. Coincidentally, both are connecting using Cingular wireless service; perhaps they would be well advised to “enhance” coverage in the Fremont/Tiffin area?

Right now it is about 9:45 and orientation is going on for the students (a Welcome Address) and the tab room staff. When I arrived at about 8:30 the student volunteers were getting their orientation about what runners do and other stuff that they can help with. Once all the registrations are looked over for changes, they will be handed over to me, so that I can change any team members (drop/add) or teams (drop) in the scoring database. After that task is complete, I will wait again, until the first round of writing is over, then I will have some data entry to do. The event has 10 teams today with usually 6 kids per team. There are three rounds of writing for which I will enter scores; not a high pressure day, but accuracy is imperative so it never pays to be complacent.

I think I will save this document for now…go track down some coffee…I think I am gonna NEED it!....back in a bit…

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Been drawing for about an hour….as I was waiting for scores to come to me, I overheard one of the late arrivals to the Tab room explaining to all the other folks in a rather loud voice that she was late because SHE GOT LOST. See, it is not nearly as uncommon as you might have thought, since it was only me up to this point that had a hard time getting here! Again, the issue of the “one way street” plague was mentioned as well. Also, I overheard a person who is apparently a teacher, or AV person for Tiffin Schools complaining with some contempt that someone had used a Whiteboard as a dry erase board in one of the rooms…they need to put the little warning labels on theirs like the ones that have been applied to the ones in our local district!

Scores coming in now (11:25 AM), so off to data entry; more in a little while.

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After a few groups of sheets, I decided to dig up the iPod Shuffle to keep my distracting outside noises under control; nothing worse than hearing people around me speaking the same kinds of numbers and letters that I am trying to enter...can be very confusing...so now Neverending White Lights is my companion as I go back to data entry...back later...

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After many score sheets, two pieces of pizza and a can of Coke that one of the tab room folks very kindly brought to me, it was time to finally rank the scores so that reports could be run for the awards ceremony scheduled to take place at 2:30. I did the ranking on the 7th grade only to find that there were ties that needed to be broken by the representative of POP that was running the event. I generated the scratch sheet for her to use to figure everything out and then waited to see what would happen next. There were two ties of students so evenly matched that it was determined that there was no way that they could be broken, so the tie was left as is. This made it necessary to manually renumber the rankings for all the top people in that grade level so the two students tied would be both be the same rank and then the ranking from that point would continue with the next number. I did not recall the procedure for doing this, so we had to make a call to the Big Kahuna of POP, Frank Merrill. Our unfortunate connections with cell phones caused us to have a significant amount of difficulty communicating, but Frank, much to his credit, was persistent, so the issues were resolved, the reports were run, the newspaper people got their information, the ceremony proceeded only marginally later than scheduled, and as I was leaving, as there always is, I heard the cheers of kids emanating from the gym, where the awards were being...well...”awarded”.... :-)

When I left, I had no idea how to get back to the route I came in on because the lady who was kind enough to get me to the school traveled on the few roads that I had not already driven on my own during my early rambling tour of Tiffin. I decided to head in a general northerly- feeling direction and hope for the best. Amazingly enough, staying the course (so to speak) and trusting in my own sense of direction, rather than some dumb map paid off. I approached an intersection after a few minutes of my northern progress and as I got my bearings, I burst into peals of uncontrollable laughter...I was again at the intersection I had originally turned on to create my “lost” condition; now it was taking me back exactly to where I wanted to be....

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In a change from my usual rambling narratives about the POP experiences, I am stopping here for this day’s entry. I took quite an extensive “long way home” drive after the tournament, and in order to do it justice, I have decided to take tonight to work on it a little more and post it tomorrow, along with a photo companion...stop back tomorrow for the concluding entry for this weekend’s Power of the Pen event saga...."This is my part of Ohio"

v

Meet Hoss Delgado

".......equipped with all options, 4WD, Dana axles, a hefty Chrysler Torqueflite transmission, and to top it all off, its motivated by not the Chrysler 318 V8 but the AMC 360 cid V8. 5.9 litres of house ripping power kids."

- from Jan 18, 2007 post, "Fuel Economy is for Suckers"

"Heaven has no rage..."

"...like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

- William Congreve

Finished

Don't know why and don't even have it in me to care anymore...winter cold and frigid indifference has hardened my heart. No more overtures, no more giving heart and soul for nothing in return....I am too old and too tired to go keep going through this kind of angst; I quit.

This Longing - Neverending White Lights

This endless longing as it was before
And all my angels came alive once more
They said "hey, you in the dark"

Another day spent in a broken shell
And all my demons they know all too well
They say "god..you..take your soul"

This life was meant to take from your breath
Away

I seem so empty
My endless longing goes on
I'm living like I'm lost these days

No comfort in the dark....

I sit alone in the darkness of my room, no pleasure here, nothing to console my aching heart and soothe my troubled mind...so little said, but so much is lost...nothing left...how easily joy comes into a life, and how painful when it leaves it.....and the gaping void that remains...how can it ever be filled again?

So many things to say, yet noone to say them to...so much to give and noone to receive....no second chance, no hope, no forever....all gone...no reason...simply...taken away...

Two strikes.....

One more and I will be totally out...of patience, of time, of money....cars are in bad shape right now, with both Gunhaver and Viktor with transmission problems (read DO NOT GO). The young one is now without his car so that I can get to and from work, and the firstborn has challenges with getting both to work and school. Tempers are short here and frustration levels are high...keep us in your good thoughts as we try to figure out how we are going to fix this. Just figures....

Since I can't afford to hire a skywriter.....

Never had problems saying so, and have many times in my life....don't ever want ego or stubbornness to perpetuate a misunderstanding....if I messed up, I'm sorry (see photo)....please forgive me...

v

From "gapingvoid.com"

Quick post, but massively GREAT news....

The young one received notification on Saturday that because of his HS GPA and college board test results, he has qualified for the maximum amount available under the University of Toledo's "Tower Scholarship". He will continue to be qualified for this scholarship for three years as long as he continues to conform to its criteria, of number of credit hours and college GPA.

He is well on his way, with auditions to the College of Music fast approaching and the filing of forms for financial assistance due very soon. It really is happening....he will be following his dream of music ed...a very exciting time

More later, perhaps....much love to you....

v

IMPORTANT UPDATE.....

In a post pirated directly from the Sea of Quiddity site of author David Wayne Black, here is the latest info on the Dream Warriors project:
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"Thanks only to "my girl Friday," Vicki, ALL 47 segments of the "Dream Warriors" manuscript are now available as audio files. These will work on most mp3 players, including your iPod and Windows Media Player.

If you prefer the text versions, those are online as well.

All at www.davidwayneblack.com .

Please note that, while all of THIS is free, the CONCLUSION of the non-fiction work is NOT. More details to follow soon...

david

P.S. "Dream Warriors" is not to be confused with the most excellent "Dream Reaper." For more on that, please visit www.myspace.com/hackmovies ."

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Keep checking back....big things happening with this project.

v

We embark on the journey.....

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called "Opportunity" and its first chapter is New Year's Day."

- Edith Lovejoy Pierce
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First one awake, and the house very quiet on this very first day of the new year. It is still damp outside from yesterday's torrential downpour, but there is no fog this morning and all is calm (not even a dog barking or car on the street to break the silence)

The firstborn and his Ann spent their first New Years Eve together in the comfort of our home (I am so glad about that) and rang in the change of the year together. The young one, with his newly acquired independence, traveled to an event at his Sara's church and spent a bit of time there before heading on home. I had spent the bulk of the day yesterday in technology endeavors, and although not physically taxing, I was mentally fatigued, so is spent the evening at home, listening to the fireworks from the "First Light" celebration in our town about 9:30 and the fireworks set off throughout my neighborhood at midnight.

There have been successes and failures for everyone here this past year. Those are now in, in every sense of the word, "in the past". This is the forward-looking day, the first one of a year full of potential. Happiness and success wait here to be created...comittment and effort will be involved, but truly that is what makes the successes and happiness all the sweeter.

As I ruminate here on this, so do my progeny, the firstborn at ironduke.net and the young one on his own site at BuddhaofDrumming. For them, this year has much larger implications, and looms imposingly in front of them as they embark on the work of creating their lives to come. They are people of talent and quality (not because they are my children, mind you!) and are not put off by hard work...the year that they will shape will be very interesting to observe.

As you progress through your year, may your successes be plentiful, your challenges all be conquerable and your happiness grow exponentially throughout. I think of you often and with love, and look forward to our shared happiness and successes in the year to come.

v