Quote of the Week

 Just wanted to remind myself of this as I balance life, work and school!

Student Life the 3rd Time Around - Challenges ahead!

 Getting an online degree is more of a challenge than I first thought it would be.  Now, I chose to go for the MS in Gerontology for two reasons.  One is because I want to continue working with aging populations and this degree fits into that passion better than the MSW did.  And also because, financially, I needed to continue working full time while going to school.  I did not think that I would be able to have the time to physically go to class and also work full time.  My schedule just would not permit that.  So, I went with the online degree.

The challenges that I am facing are all good ones.  I am working much harder at trying to manage my time better.  That has not been the most successful thing I've done in the last two weeks, but it is getting better.  When I've been in school before, I have always procrastinated.  Always.  I kept telling myself that I worked better under pressure.  Now, I think that's bs LOL  I need to start my work earlier in the week so that by the time the weekend comes I am not scrambling to get it done.  Especially since I am also learning so much about technology.  I've had to do things in the past two weeks that I have never done before.  And while I am learning that I can handle it, it's always daunting in the beginning.

One of the biggest things I am dealing with is time management.  Yes, I want to do well in class but I also need to balance school with work and life.  It is not got to focus too much on one thing.  That is going to take some time because it has never been my forte'.  But, again, a challenge I look forward to!  I want to improve my life and work towards my career goals.  This master's will help me do that.  Just keep me in your thoughts and send good energy!

That is all

Amazing Grace, arranged by John Rutter

 Amazing Grace is one of those hymns that I do not seek out.  Normally, I can take it or leave it. I think that is because people tend to over sing it and the message of the song gets left behind.  I do not mind people putting their own spin on a melody, but when it is done just so you can see how impressive the singer is, it does not impress me.  But there are times when I love this hymn and get so much out of it.  This is one of those times and blessed to end my week on it.

Quote of the Week

 Being back in school and working full time, this really spoke to me.

I allow myself to get easily side tracked with any number of things.  Admittedly I am not the best multi tasker in the world...not even close.  I am really going to have to prioritize myself better in order not to stress myself out.  Procrastination is not my friend, being focused is!

That is all

Please Mr. Please - Olivia Newton-John

With the sad passing of Dame Olivia Newton-John yesterday, I ran through so much of her music in my head.  She had so many iconic hits.  Of course, the Grease soundtrack is one of my favorite albums.  I have several of her albums on vinyl and cd.  Simply a beautiful voice.  But this is the song that is probably my favorite and I always come back to it whenever I think about her.  I believe this song won her the CMA Female Artist of the Year in the 70's at some point.  Hope you enjoy.  RIP.

 

To Q-Tip or not to Q-Tip

We all have those little bad habits that we do.  We know that we shouldn't but we do it anyway.  Mine is/was using Q-Tips to clean my ears.  I know I should not do this.  Everything I read about tells me it's not a good idea.  My doctor told me it wasn't good for me, but I kept doing it anyway.  I am a child of the 70's and 80's and, while not wanting to blame my environment, that's what you did with Q-Tips.  They did not have much use otherwise.  Yes, I know you can use them to apply stuff gently to your skin whether it be make up or ointment of some kind.  You can use them in craft projects, too.  But who does that?  My generation, and the ones that came before me...maybe a few after, were shown that Q-Tips were made to clean ears out with.  Plain and simple.

 One of the fun things about getting older is all of the different doctors you start to meet.  At least I say it's fun, anyway.  There are doctors for all kinds of things.  When I last saw my GP in June, I came away with referrals to three different doctors for three different things.  Oh, the joy!  One of those referrals sent me to my first ENT.  I have always had an issue with wax in my ears.  The left ear in particularly.  Several times when I have been to see a doctor, they have flushed out my ears.  This last visit, the nurse was unsuccessful in flushing my left ear out so off I go to the ENT.

The cleaning took about 30 minutes.  It was an odd sensation and although I won't go into great detail, but he finally pulled a piece of hard wax about the size of a small grape out of my left ear.  I felt immediate relief and could actually hear in stereo again.  It was actually pretty amazing.  And then comes the Q-Tip lecture.  I am not to use them to clean my ears.  I need to flush them regularly and use peroxide to soften the wax when I start to feel any build up.  I will try.

We keep a container of Q-Tips in our bedroom.  Now, they are there taunting me.  Every time I walk by them, I want to take one out and stick it in my ear.  It's so hard not to do that.  It's like someone on a diet walking by the cookie jar constantly and not taking anything.  It's almost like they call to me whenever I walk by. "Hey Bob!  We're here for you!  Take one of us out and put us to use.  It won't be so bad.  You know you want to!"  And it's hard not to listen to them.  I really want to, but so far i have not.  I won't say it's as bad as quitting smoking, but it's right up here LOL

I suppose I need to find a craft project to use them on.  Maybe?  We shall see.  So ends today's episode of Escapades in Adulting.

That is all.

Recipe of the Day - Tomato Pie

 When we went to the beach last week, I bought a basket full of locally grown tomatoes.  We used a couple of them for sandwiches, but I brought home a bunch.  I didn't want to waste them, because they were pretty tasty.  I didn't want to use them just for sandwiches, I wanted to try something different.  Mom would make a tomato pie every now and then and she loved them.  So, I thought I'll try that.  I found this recipe on a website called simplyrecipes.com and both Michael and I enjoyed it.  Definitely a keeper!

Tomato Pie

1 9" pie shell

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 to 4 tomatoes, cut in half horizontally so you can squeeze the juice out of them, then roughly chopped and drained

1/2 tsp kosher salt *

1/4 cup sliced basil **

2 cups grated cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp hot sauce

Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350.  

Follow the directions on the pie crust to bake until lightly browned.  While the crust is baking, lightly salt the tomatoes and pour into a colander.  Drain as much of the liquid out as you can.  (I used paper towels).

Once the pie shell is baked, set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Sprinkle onion in the bottom of the pie shell.  Top onions with tomatoes.  Sprinkle basil over the tomatoes.  Combine the mayo, cheese, hot sauce and pepper in a separate bowl until thoroughly combined.  Spread mixture over top of the pie.  

Bake about 45 minutes or until the top is bubbly and brown.

* I used regular salt and it worked fine.

** Dried basil will also work

Enjoy!

Thought for the day - technology and I are not friends

 The last few days I have wrestling with technology and have definitely gotten my butt kicked by it.  I admit that I am an old fashioned guy, so I get very frustrated when I don't understand how things work.  It has been very tempting for me to throw in the towel on some goals because of it.  But, I have to stay focused and use this as a learning opportunity because technology is ever changing and will not be going away any time soon.  

Going back to school, albeit online, I have seen how things have changed so much over the last 5 years.  UNCG uses Microsoft for many of their programs.  Now, they have to authenticate you to make sure that you are who you say you are.  I get that.  Cyber security.  And I guess it would be pointless if it was easy to prove I am who I am, otherwise what's the point in doing it?  UNCG gave me a temporary password that I had to update.  The new password had to be at least 14 characters, including upper and lower case, numbers and special characters.  I tried for 4 days to update this password.  99 percent of them were rejected as being too common.  I'm like how is that possible?  I just made it up.  Are there that many warped brains like mine out there to come up with these?  Finally, yesterday, one was accepted. Thank goodness I wrote it down somewhere.  

But, no, the fun doesn't end there.  Now I have this authentication app on my phone that I literally have no idea or use for, and it's making me prove who I am in two more different ways.  Email and text.  Then it locks me out.  When I try to open it, it asks for biometrics or a pin.  I never set up a pin or was given a pin and I sure as hell haven't done any biometrics on my phone.  Geez!  So, now I have this app that I'm supposed to use but I cannot get into.  I was able to log onto UNCG on the computer, but of course it wanted to prove who I was through the app.  That didn't happen, so I had to get texted a code to log in.  Is it going to be like this every single time I have to log in?  Studying online means that's going to be a lot.

All I can say right now is that UNCG's IT department is going to hate me over the next year.

That is all.

Quote of the day

 

I chose this quote to start off August because I am trying to make some changes in my life and, yes, change is scary.  Today, I meet with my advisor for grad school and I am so not prepared for it.  And that's not because I have not tried, it's because I do not always get along with technology.  I know that I am a very old fashioned guy, but I also recognize the truth that technology is here to stay and I must learn how to deal with it.  I have had very bad luck with it this weekend in preparing for today's meeting and am still at square one.  It has me thinking that maybe I need to wait until I am more computer/tech savvy before I can go forward.  I just don't know.  Today's meeting will help determine that.  Wish me luck!