From The Little Prince...

The Dean of Business and Community Education turned me on to a well loved children's book, (I'd been invited to her house to help her bake cake)
I took this book along with me the last time I'd gone on vacation.
(There were going to be some very, very, very long layovers in the travel plan)
Here's a bit of wisdom from it:

The Fox: It's only with the heart that one can see clearly. What's essential, is invisible to the eye. – from The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Weird thing #1 about me - I LOVE children's
literature and still read it, from time to time - I hope to never out grow it.

Weird thing #2 about me - A long time ago (& in what seems to be another life-time) I began to refer to the bathroom as, "The little freak's room". There's a multitude of reasons why. People, including yourself/myself do things in that room that they'd do no other place... Even people you scarcely know – may have occasion to come to your home and ask to privily use this room. Imagine: Strangers - securing themselves into this private and yet somehow public space. . . and they “do” things in there they’d never do if you were watching them. I’m not just talking about hygienic things… ;-) I’m also talking about snoopy things, like looking into your medicine cabinet, or poking through your vanity drawers – peeking into your linen closet. . . Never a good idea to stow “treasure” away in a bathroom, unless it’s truly a private, private bath…. (my sister lost a "friend" & a special Jade&Sliver ring once to this type of thievery friend asked to use the bathroom just before she ended her visit at the house and we never saw either one ever again! Queen of Panic was none too "happy" & I took note on what not to do with my special jewelery!)
Burfica may remember her sister and I hanging a Bull Whip over the door to the
bathroom in the apartment we shared. It made a handy reference for anyone in
need of answering to nature’s call… “Bathroom? Oh! You mean the little freak’s
room! It’s up the stairs and straight on, it’s the one with the whip over the
door.” Lol! (good times)

Weird thing #3 about
me – I am generally calm, collected and able to do whatever needs to be
done in a trama/drama situation. Drop to my knees, check vitals and begin CPR
til help arrives…, pull the broken bits of sewing needle out of the finger (that
the Singer just ran over) & then administer the first aid…, break loose from
my date and intervene, in a fight-scene-turned criminal assault… but, after the
fact, I’ll seek solace in solitude – I’ll honor the need to ‘defib’ a bit –
curl-up into that proverbial “fetal ball” and process the residuals….

I had to leave this yesterday with something lame like, "um, I gotta go to work!" I'm Fishin' up the rest of the list of 6 now.... which needs to be revised, because the Opie ... never mind!
Weird thing #4 about me - I'm not a big fan of finger pickin' noses, mine or anyone elses! :P I can Soooo identify with Burfica's not wanting anything icky on her hands. If I think it's gotta be picked (not just in need of a clean blow) it's off to the little freak's room we go... where I get down to business with a cotton swab. They do a much better job than any finger could ever do in nose duggery!

Weird thing #5 about me - I'm, I'm a crazy magnate? I am beginning to have this fear... Crazy people seek me out. Really. Some flippy characters have sought my acquaintance over the years and it seems to have gotten worse.... If there's someone in a crowd, who's a fry or 2 short of a full happy meal... they'll find me. I've actually entertained the thought of getting a degree in clinical psychology, figuring if the crazies are gonna keep dropping on by I might as well get the proper skill-sets to DEAL with 'em (as effectively as I positively can). Maybe some nice art theropy...? ***disclaimer! This weird thing is in NO WAY a commentary on anyone in the bloggosphere!!! So if you are reading this, #5!? -> IS NOT ABOUT YOU!!! LOL! ***

Weird thing #6 about me - thinking,,,thinking,,,, ok. okokok. I'm an 'organizer' - in a good way (no this has nothing to do with adult entertainment) My MOM is a pack-rat, terrible bad. I can hardly stand to visit her at her place for more than a few minutes because, well my mind starts to bend over the crap she's got piled every where. My place has gotten messy inbetween semesters because of the time factor -but that was the first thing I tackled at break. I like everything in handy sensible reach, logical storage, for where ever what ever I do in that room. Kitchen I can stand in one spot practically and reach, pull out, put away - neatly everything I have and need there etc.... all over the house. I have a well thought out system that makes sense to me...(& I mean I really think about these things - I don't suppose most people go through the steps I do to put 'abc' here because of this or that bla-bla reason. It's all about flow & usabilty! Like the Entertainment center needs to be close to an "exit" traffic lane from the house so I can easily shut it down on my way out. I try NOT to put the TV opposite windows because of daytime glare sometimes you can't help what you've got to work with in an apt. layout... I'm the dishwasher & right-handed so Glasses, plates, bowls need to be in an upper right-hand cabinet from the Kitchen sink... bla, bla, bla...

Bonus "#7"- I've said a "good-night" prayer every night of my life for as far back as I can remember... they've evolved over the years. I've also said a "good-morning" prayer every morning for the past 10 years - solid. (this one is always a 'gratitude' prayer - rarely asking anything, here, only listing things, places, people, situations, lessons, blessings... that I've especially noticed and that I'm especially grateful for.)

Cheerios 2 all of YOU!

D.~

The Lemonade Game

I just came from Entrepreneur class.
The fist 15-20 minutes of class were spent here: The Lemonade Game
Yes, yes! -> Playing the lemonade game.
This was both great fun & a hands on learning experience for the class.
Try it yourself and see how well you do!

I'll have to have another go at it myself. ... my 'notebook' computer I was using in class 'folded' up on me (unexpectedly shut down) so my first whack at this was lost. Not before a learned a couple tricks at scoring in the lemonade biz, though! (Ice melts , EVERYtime... so not good to stock up on that!)

Sunday night studies and up dates:
from one of my online classes...

The Art of Leadership

art (noun) 1. skill acquired by experience or study. 2. a system of rules to facilitate performance; the use of skill and imagination in applying such rules (the art of building, the art of persuasion). 3. endeavor requiring special knowledge and ability (fine arts, practical arts). 4. the product or result of artisitc faculty (body of work).

leadership (noun) 1. showing the way or direction; the course of action. 2. indluencing or causing to follow by words and deeds. 3. guiding the behaviour of others through ideas, strength, or heroic feats. 4. the position or function of one who leads (the king led his people). 5. the ability to lead (she displayed leadership skill).

I think I'm gonna dig this study. Second page into the text has this question:

What is Leadership? - the answer is social influence. It means leaving a mark. It is initiating and guiding and the result is change. The product is a new character or direction that otherwise would never be... by their ideas and deeds, leaders show the way and influence the behavior of others.
Then, to show the importance of ideas, we are asked to consider the legend of King Arthur, who led the Knights of the Round Table with his vision of chivalry:

My teacher Merlyn, who always remembered things that haven't happened better
than things that have, told me once that a few hundred years from now it will be
discovered that the world is round - round like the table at which we sat with
such high hope and noble purpose. If you do what I ask, perhaps people will remember how we of Camelot went questing for right and honor and justice. Perhaps one day men will sit around this world as we did once at our table, and go questing once more... for right... honor... and justice.

Ok. That's like, page 2. (lol) and I'm lovin it - looking forward to more interesting toss-ins as we go merrily along our way! =)

Better get back "tuit"... wanna keep the grades up. I fished a letter out of the mailbox, yesterday, nominating me for something called the National Dean's List. No cost to send in a Biography and it automatically gives you some leveragible perks. ... (i.e.: scholarship info, etc...)

May you, yes, YOU!!! have a blessed week!

=) Cheerios,

D.~

Sillies from e-mail land...

Ok. I finally posted the answers to that news quiz - I'll post the links to that one later... right now I've Web Design II to attend to! =) yes. happy, happy, joy, joy... I am digging this! As part of "Portfolio" class we'll be creating our own web page to post our Art - cool beans, huh?
This means I'd better quit typing here and start paying attention to the lecture. hehehee

As You Slide Down the Banister of Life, Remember:

1. Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggert have written an impressive new book.
It's called "Ministers Do More Than Lay People."

2. Transvestite: A guy who likes to eat, drink and be Mary.

3. The difference between the Pope and your boss...
the Pope only expects you to kiss his ring.

4. My mind works like lightning. One brilliant flash and it is gone.

5. The only time the world beats a path to your door is if you're in the bathroom.

6. I hate sex in the movies. Tried it once. The seat folded up, the drink spilled and that ice, well, it really chilled the mood.

7. It used to be only death and taxes were inevitable. Now, of course, there's shipping and handling, too.

8. A husband is someone who, after taking the trash out, gives the impression that he just cleaned the whole house.

9. My next house will have no kitchen - just vending machines and a large trash can.

10. A blonde said, "I was worried that my mechanic might try to rip me off. I was relieved when he told me all I needed was turn signal fluid."

11. I'm so depressed. My doctor refused to write me a prescription for Viagra. He said it would be like putting a new flagpole on a condemned building.

12. My neighbor was bitten by a stray rabid dog. I went to see how he was and found him writing frantically on a piece of paper. I told him rabies could be treated, and he didn't have to worry about a Will. He said, "Will? What Will? I'm making a list of the people I want to bite."

13. Definition of a teenager? God's punishment for enjoying sex.

14. As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.

Cheerios 2 all of YOU!!!

=)

D.~

Who's Who News Review

Sooo...
As promissed here's the quiz we used for "table topics" at our Holiday party for the Gazette gang. See if you can work through it without cheating and googling the answers. It's ok to make up answers if you just don't know, matter of fact that was a BIG part of the fun, we had with this thing!!! (No pressure - this is more about fun than facts!)
=)
I'll post the real answers, along with the site I got them from, in a couple days:

Working at a newspaper, we work in an information industry, during a time that's been labeled the 'information age' - how much do we really absorb / pay attention to?

Here are some personalities that may not have been universally famous before the year 2006, but which, nonetheless, became famous by making national and international headlines last year. (For an example: Barbaro - The 2006 Kentucky Derby winner who broke his leg in the Preakness)

Here are the names - what was the story?

1. Claude Allen: President Bush's fromer top domestic adviser, arrested in March - charged with stealing around $5000 worth of merchandise, (ranging from $2.50 items up to home-theater systems) from stores & then returning the products. Plead guilty (in August to a plea agreement) to a misdemeanor count of theft. Allen is to pay $500 fine and $850 restitution to Target.

2. Michelle Bachelet: Chilean doctor and public official, was elected president January 06, becoming Chile's first woman leader. She is a survivor of the Pinochet dictatorship, which was responsible for her father's death & subjected her to prison, torture, and exile.

3. Jill Carroll: Freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped at gun point in January in Baghdad, held for 82 days by a group demanding the United States release all Iraqi women prisoners. She was freed in late March.

4. Sacha Baron Cohen: Actor/Comedian - Best known as Comical fake TV interviewer "Borat". As Borat he starred in the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006).

5. Isabelle Dinoire: Frenchwoman who received the world's first place transplant, appeared at a news conference in February; answering questions about her injuries, explaining that after passing out from taking drugs, her dog chewed her lips, nose, and chin...

6. Taylor Hicks: Singer/Talent Show Contestant Best known as the "Soul Patrol" winner of American Idol 2006.

7. Rev. Ted Haggard: Evangelical minister from Colorado, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in November, after Michael Jones, a gay escort, said he had a 3 year affair with him and gave him drugs. Haggard, who has been a liaison to the White House, initally denied the allegations, but later said he had hired Jones ot give him a massage. He also said he bought methamphetamine from Jones, but never used the drug.

8. John Mark Karr: Schoolteacher, was arrested in Bangkok in August in connection with the 1996 murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey. The case against Karr was dismissed 2 weeks later when test results revealed that his DNA did not match the sample taken from Ramsey.

9. Princess Kiko: Wife of the younger son of Japan's emperor, gave birth to a boy in September; sparing Japan a controversial debate over whether women should be allowed to ascend to the throne. The child is 3rd in line to become emperor.

10. Alexander Litvinenko: Former KGB spy, died in London in November after being contaminated with the radioactive isotope polonium 210.

11. Kaavya Viswanathan: College student, admitted in April that she copied several passages from 2 books by Megan McCafferty for her own novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. The Harvard sophomore received wide attention when she was paid $500,000 in a 2-book deal with publisher Little, Brown. Her star dimmed quickly as Little,Brown recalled all copies of the book. Viswanathan, said the plagiarism was "unitentional and unconscious."

12. Harry Whittington: Texas Lawyer, was accidentally shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in February during a hunting trip. His face, neck, and torso were sprayed with dozens of pellets. Cheney - and the entire Bush administration - faced resounding criticism for not publicizing the incidnet for nearly 24 hours, for placing the blame on Whittington rather than Cheney, and for joking about the accident. (after which time the rest of the nation, it seems, went on to joke about the incident as well!)

Bonus: Zinedine Zidane: Kicked out of Soccor's World Cup, for loosing his cool with 'the headbutt heard 'round the world'

Schooling again...

Classes stated up for the Spring semester this past Monday.
It's all coming together pretty darn fast now.
I've got to keep reminding myself about what is and what is not good for time management!!!
I love the blog-o-sphere so, I'll not abandon things here for too long...
Matter of fact I've started up several other blogs for specific things, few of which are or will be connected to this.

I put a beautiful quick post together earlier today - about catching up on movies while I was snowbound and off on Holiday break... and... and... dang. Blogger ATE it! : (

sooooo... here's m'list again... almost all of these are from the older, cheap isles, the keep 'em for 7 days rentals - because I don't frequent the video rental store like I used to. I don't know why. I LOVE a good movie and I'd never seen any of these before I picked up movies for each week I was on 'vacation':

Round 1:
Billy Elliot
Cinderella Man
Freda
Finding Neverland
The Garden State

Round 2:
X Men
The Matrix (which I still ahven't seen! It quit playing 1/4 to 1/2 into the movie. So I returned it. I found out it was the only copy the rental place had and it was scratched up... so I replaced it with...)
Bad Santa
Miracle
Spiderman
Diary of a Mad Black Woman

Round 3:
Prairie Home Companion
Nanny McPhee
Little Miss Sunshine (so disfunctional that I had to go to the 'sceens' selections just to get the thing to play! lol!)
The Break-up
Pink Panther

Round 4:
Devil Wares Prada
Leagally Blonde
The Work and The Glory
The Lord of the Rings:
•The Fellowship of the Rings
•The Two Towers
•Return of the King

I was impressed with the Lord of the Rings movies, I believe Peter Jackson got it as right as could be done. I had an extra appreciation for them after taking the multimedia class last semester - (we worked with Final Cut Pro... which is what movie makers are using now to edit film / sound) I had a bit of trouble with the sound on my rinky dinky tv some of the dialog was getting lost in the musical score & I noticed you could select sound opitons at the menu portion of the DVD. I settled on English subtitles and that smoothed everthing out plus, gave me some of the whisperings sprinkled here and there that I would have missed otherwise.
I remember I was encouraged to read those books (about 30 years ago) by a friend who looked and sometimes acted rather Hobbit-like, Scott Lorentz. (God rest his soul)

I got that 2006 news quiz with me but I think I'll make another post out of it for tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!
=)
D.~

Another Storm link...

Someone e-mailed this to me and I forwarded it on to a few others... I did want to post it here too. I liked the blogger commentary that the guy put up with the pictures. 'specially the one about the pet exercise sign...lol!
The Queen of Panic! ought to find some interest in these as there's some shots of the damage around Kenesaw (she weathered a few storms there herself!) =)
Anyways, here's the link: http://www.extremeinstability.com/06-12-31.htm... scroll down once you get there and follow along pages 1-4. as Storm Crazy Photoman takes you on a little journey.

In other news... I went to the holiday party for the Gazette Saturday night. If it hadn't been for the fact that they were holding a five dollar bill of mine hostage, I might have skipped the party and a whalloping good time, (as it was snowing again all day that day and into the next, you know? Just makes one want to snuggle up at home!) - the deal was you got your five bucks back when you got to the club house. We had the run of the Heritage Hills (golf course) club house and it was just the right size venue for the festivities. I had been inducted onto the planning committe and practically every idea I came up with got played out at the party- all the way down to the making of silly hats out of old gazettes, everyone there had to do this (at the tail end of the party) - each table sent their best effort forward for 'a fashion show' - and then the whole room picked 2 winners: as king & queen of the paper hats. This was such silly good fun! At one point I turned around to see one of the editors, (big guy) had gerry-rigged a pipe cleaner scaffolding/frameworks deal on top of his boxy little hat and had dangling from the center there, a shinny round silver christmas ornament. I'm hoping someone snapped a photo of that one - lol!
We also played: signature bingo, live body bingo, & "The 2006 who's who in the news" table topics, & there was a mini golf putting tournament... which not every one was immediately aware of, I saw a couple people nearly "taken out" by a put or 2 because they'd unknowingly 'wandered' onto the 'green' - well, my golly! They'd set that up right in front of the acess to the Men's and Women's restrooms hehehee.... you couldn't get there any other way.

We were served a wonderful, catered meal. And each found something very special at their place setting - a troy ounce of silver minted into a LARGE Liberty coin, (Indian head on the front, Bison on the back - ) especially for the Gazette. It's silver reclaimed from the lithographic plates used in the paper's runs by some sort of electro-magnetic process... "just one more example of how we do whatever we can to recycle and reclaim. We thought it'd be special if you each got one of these." ...is what we were told.

I love working with these people at the Gazette. I'm glad they called me back after Thanksgiving to fill a part-timer position in customer services. It's going to fit in great with this spring semester.

I don't have a copy with me, but I'll post that news quiz I dregged up - later on this week. I thought it was way fun... the publisher said they might decide to make that one a yearly event! =)

Love and hugs people!
D.~

Blizzard-shots

I captured some interesting photos on my 'spy-phone' however, I've been having troubles downloading from the dadgum phone off to the computer so I could post 'em up here.
Meanwhile the NTV people have gotten tons of pictures submitted to them under their community correspondent program.
Click here on nebraska.tv
There's some great shots from area viewers...
Meanwhile word is we have another storm moving in!
=)

2007 Spiritual theme - for the strength 0f our youth:

" ...let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly;

then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God... "

-- D&C 121:45

A throw back to New Year's

'Nebraska nation'
Human behavior...
Sportmania...
This is funny... at least it struck me that way! I laughed about it last Sunday night/Mondaymorning:
New Year's eve.... thousands and thousands and thousands of Nebraskans (25-26,000 or more) hunkered down, snowed in, no power, treacherous ice and blowing snow everywhere, down to only 1 TV station at my place.
...the 'NTV' news being broadcast by a couple cub reporters out of the Grand Island station due to serious damage to the main station and tower in Hastings (huge chunks of ice breaking free from the tower and crashing through the station roof!!!)
...and what's the lead story?
Get this! ->
Hundreds of phone calls in to the station from Nebraskans wondering how the hell they're going to be able to see the big Nebraska vs. Auburn game if the dadburn station that's subposed to air the match is disabled and not brought back up on line, by kick-off the next morning!!??? (New Year's Day.) lol, lol, lol.... gotta love these fellow Nebraskan's and their dedication to first things first! Right? Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see the Husker's get their butts-kicked, myself, because the original channel everyone was yelling about isn't one I normally get. Due to all the fuss, though, the one (and only one) I was pulling in got "special permission" to also broadcast the game. Whoo-Hoo!... too bad those Huskers went on to drop the ball - over and over again. *sighs*
In other, yet somewhat related news... I just thought I'd speculate a bit on market 'futures' here....
the President finally got around to declaring this state a Federal disaster area - which will help us, however, no power often times means 'no water' in these parts since alot of wells are electronically switched... this means plenty of live stock where not only near impossible to get to but, they've been 'OUT-there' in below freezing temps and below zero wind chill for days and days without feed & water... they've not counted this cost yet but more than likely there's a few million $$$$ frozen to the ground right now that won't be heading to any market - ever.
I'm thinking the cost of beef is about to go way up.
If you love it, now might be a good time to stock up on all things, beef.
Just a thought...

Update...

Turns out my unexpected bovine was a BULL.
Yes.
That makes it official bull-sh**, that was left behind...
and,
speaking of behinds,
I'm especially glad, now, that I did not run right out there and "check the rear" for this critter's station identification! lol! =)
.

Hello 2007!

Hello 2007!
...and helloooooooo...
(heart - skips a beat, for fleeting fright and 2 more measures, for sheer surprise!)
What is this strange, oddly BIG (and *gasp* moving!) shape standing on just the other flimsy side of my door?
Good Golly, It's barely 8 a.m. and dang it am I glad I'm not nakid right now... pulling on the teddy bear nightshirt - coming straight up out of bed was a good idea... why did I do it?
Ah, yes.
Intuition.
Whispered, "you may have an unexpected visitor" ... and now, coming up out of the basement, I find I - I have ... a ... (pulls the lovely lace curtain aside) COW??? (an unexpected visitor, indeed!) A rather nice looking brown cow ...in my carport.
Parked neatly in, next to the car.
A window peeping cow - apparently.
As close to the house as she could be - 'for warmth no doubt,' I thought.
There we stood.
Gazing at one another.
Looking through the large glass, a window through the door, really, and into each other's big brown eyes.
Humm.
I'll call Rick. It's probably his cow, even if it isn't, he's going to be much more ready, willing and able to deal with her... or is it him? Yes. I'm pathetic. Living in beef country and I'm 'zip' knowledgeable on how to tell the difference, nor do I care, to tell, mind you, between cow and steer. (If I had to lay money on it I'd go with steer though!) ;-)
Rick is a favorite of mine (even though I don't talk to him near enough these days)... and I'm not just saying that because he come along on his tractor Sunday morning - blading all the trails out here, along with a courtesy bumpout, in the driveway directly behind my car - Whoo-hoo! - God Love him! - he's a cousin, who operates the Well Drilling service just up the road from me. And, did I mention he keeps a few cows around the place?
So I call him up and get Lisa, his lovely wife - who asks me, before calling Rick herself, what color is the cow?
"Brown." I say. "It's a very nice, brown cow. In my carport. Staying nice and warm up near the house and out of the wind."
I got to thinking after we'd said goodbye that - that was a good question. The cows across the road are mostly black with an occasional white patch. I guess that's why I immediately thought this was Rick's cow. Because of it's beautiful coloring. Then I wondered if it was the same 0ne that was so watchful over my mowing last summer.
=)
Soooo watchful that it almost made me feel bad I wasn't bagging the clippings and dumping all that sweetness over the fenceline for that cow to savor for real - rather than just standing by - a watchin' and a wishin'.
.
.
.
Any who,
What does the 'Sign of the Bovine' mean exactly?
Especially at the beginning of a brave, new year?
Does this mean I'll have good luck for the rest of the year?
...meat (ahem) meet the 'beef-cake' of my dreams?
... I'm taking it as a good sign - no indication that I'm about to be slaughtered - heh. please!...
...How do I KNOW it's intended to be a good sign of things to come???
Simple.
That beautiful, brown cow left behind a little brown gift... lol...
Now, I'm ready for anything and everything!
Moooove it on over people.
Keep a wide shovel close by
And ...
Let the good times roll!
Love to all who pass this way!
Hugsss,
D.~

Pictures....