The Holidays Are Coming

I haven't seen my favorite holiday commercial yet - the Coca Cola trucks winding down the road all lit up with Christmas lights. "The holidays are coming" is the song that plays during the commercial. I haven't seen the Santa slide down the hill on a Gillette razor either. Or the Folgers commercial where the guy comes home early Christmas morning and starts the coffee to wake everyone up and surprise them. Maybe I just need to watch more television. I haven't exactly been watching a lot of television lately so there's a good chance they are playing on one of the hundred channels that I get.

I have been watching the Food Network a lot the last couple of days. It's more listening to than watching but when they mention something yummy then I turn around and watch - multi-tasking is my life! Some of the winter recipes that have been shown look so amazing. I might try my hand at cappuccino cupcakes this weekend.

Speaking of food, I'm back to doing the food journal thing. Back when I first start running I did this and it worked. Basically, I just have to write down everything that I eat and the amount of calories per item. It was eye-opening a few years ago and it's eye-opening now. School has wreaked havoc on my willingness to take care of my body so it's time for drastic measures. I don't want to graduate in May feeling like a defeated slug.

As for beyond graduation, I'm slowing get a handle on things. With the crappy economy I'm not expecting the greatest archive job in the world to suddenly open up in Fort Fun, which is already saturated with people who have Master's degrees in History. I know people that graduated last May that are still search for a grown-up job. It's pathetic what some employers get away with paying in a college town. So, I've decided to diversify my career so to speak. I'm going to multi-task my way through life and ensure that I'm never bored or broke. Once I get the business cards designed and my website upgraded, I'll post them here.

I'm not finished with school, however. So the studying must continue. I have a final tomorrow and then some always entertaining grading!

How much more of this?

Late hours and strained eyes must mean the end of the semester is near. I'm procrastinating as usual. I have a comprehensive final on Thursday morning for my U.S. Reading Seminar. Even with the question provided ahead of time, there is still the overwhelming feeling that I'm unprepared. I've crammed for a week straight and am beginning to question my ability to put words together in correct grammatical form. All of my hard work will likely get me by but until it's all over, all I have is cereal to comfort me.

Stress eating = baaaaad thing!

Holiday Fun!

When I was younger I used to love Christmas time. Loved it! My brothers and I would spend hours decorating our bedrooms. We'd wake up in the wee hours of Christmas morning and sneak out to the living room to peruse our stockings and guess what was in each wrapped box. The novelty of it all kind of wore off once I had to start forking over the cash around Christmas time. Nothing sucks the fun out of the holidays like having no money. I've been creative in the gift buying arena so far and think that I'll sneak by without breaking the bank. Although, I'm still pretty certain that I would be perfectly content playing board games with my family all day rather than exchanging gifts.

I'm attempting to be a little less scrooge like this Christmas. I've been a bit more organized. The outdoor lights and tree were up within days after the Turkey was digested. I even beat my Christmas fanatic mom in decorating! I'm focusing on the inexpensive ways to create holiday cheer - like baking yummy winter treats and watching holiday movies. Of course, it helps to have a roommate around to share in the holiday fun!!

Let it snow, let it snow...

Let it snow! We have flakage! Beautiful white flakage at last! It took its sweet time getting here. I'm not a fan of the cold. I'm sure I've admitted that at some other time, but I do love snow! It makes the cold a little bit warmer having something pretty to look at. I love walking outside at night and having that orange-ish glow to everything. It's not dark because everything is reflecting the amber of the building and street lights. Perfect!

Yes, I realize that this euphoria of the first real snow will go away and I will eventually be swearing at the white flakes and damning winter like no other. But I'm ok with that.

Turkey Break at Last!

Turkey break is the Spring Break of fall semester. For the first time since going back to school I have no large project looming over my head this holiday break. I'm excited about that. Very excited! Why? Because I finally have time to start studying for my exit exams and getting my head in the right gear to get me through March and my exams. One more semester! I think I can, I think I can...

Veteran's Day

Sitting on top of my entertainment center there is folded U.S. flag in a wooden display case. Next to it sits a 5x7 black and white photograph of my grandpa proudly posing in his Army uniform. He looks so very young - too young considering that within months after the photograph was taken he was sent overseas to Korea. All of my life I've known my grandpa fought in the Korean War. Never did an opportunity to tell people of my grandpa's service to this country slip past me, even if I didn't fully understand what his service entailed. It was something he didn't talk about and something I never asked about.

Over the past few years I've learned more and more about the Korean War, more due to school and personal curiosity than talking to my grandpa. It truly is the Forgotten War, stuck between the gloriously remembered World War II and the disgracefully remembered Vietnam War. Our government called the Korean War a "police action," not a war. 35,000 deaths and 104,000 injuries later the WAR ended in a stalemate. While some would consider that a draw, the U.S. completed exactly what it said it would do - contain Communism; prevent it from spreading into South Korea. There was no finite ending and no ticker tape parade. The men returned home and were "forgotten."

I never talked about the war with my grandpa. If he didn't talk about it, there was a reason. In a life of 75 years, 3 years in the Army may have just been a blip on his radar. I know his service didn't consume his life. It was his duty, he did it, and he returned home to his family and moved on with life. As much as I'd like to think that my grandpa was not defined by the experiences of war, he DID experience war. He served this country at a time when the threat of Communist dominoes tumbling across countries and over oceans and consuming America was very real.

It wasn't until I was too late that I had a million questions for my grandpa. But his mind was too tired and his heart was too lonely for me to question him about things. The day that he died we opened a briefcase of his to find some unit patches, pins, service ribbons and his dog tags - a Sergeant, a tank mechanic, a young man identified by stainless steel in case of disaster. He may never have talked about it, but it meant something to him. For 55 years he was a veteran - I never thanked him for that.

Thank you, Grandpa. You will NEVER be forgotten.

F's for everyone!

The worst part about being a graduate teaching assistant is the grading. I enjoy going to the class, interacting with the students, and helping them when they ask for it. I don't enjoy grading. Mostly because there are 120 students in the class and reading mediocre attempts at answering a fairly easy question gets frustrating quickly. It's disappointing to see just how many students don't care at all. I no longer wonder why teachers always thought that I was such a wonderful student. If my fellow students produced work like that which I'm grading, I can understand why professors thought I was a genius.

In other news, I'm not feeling to keen on anything right now. I blame the weather. Crummy winter is approaching and I have no desire to be anywhere other than in my pajamas snuggled up in bed watching a movie. My classes this semester are not very interesting. My Fundamentals of Business Management class is the biggest waste of time. There was a 15 point curve on the last test because the professor can't write a decent, understandable question to save his life. After writing test questions for my history professor this semester I am well aware of how time consuming it is, but it's not rocket science. At least I can take comfort in knowing that I only have to take one more quiz and test from this engineer turned business professor.

I think that only thing that is really keeping me rolling at this point is the fact the end is near...and that Brent and I are headed of to Estes Park for a nice weekend getaway soon! A nice relaxing weekend will be wonderful!! Only one more week!