Eastfield College Closes

So at about 2 or so this afternoon, we got a call to go on lockdown at work. This meant no one could leave or enter the library. This could have been a big issue if it lasted longer than an hour since all the bathrooms in the library are closed for the next 3 weeks. Thankfully, we got a call about 20 minutes later to have the students leave. Thankfully, this afternoon we had few students hanging out in the library. We only closed a little early. It does take awhile to close everything down and they told us we had to leave, like now. We did take a few minutes to turn everything off and lock all the doors before leaving. I actually left while there were still several of my coworkers getting ready to leave, but we were told to get out and there wasn't much left I could do. So I left and still feel a little guilty, but seriously, everything was done, people were just double checking and stuff, I was not needed for that. I guess I'm so used to leaving with everyone when we leave.

Now, I still have no idea what happened. We just got the call for lockdown, then that we could let the students leave, then that the campus was being evacuated and we had to leave now. Anyway, I left work 1.5 hours early. It worked out great because I needed to pick up a couple of packages from the post office and they closed at 4:30 and that's when I was getting off of work. Otherwise I wouldn't have the presents fom my Grandpa in Arizona or the new mineral makeup from Elf. I just tried it on and it seems okay, I'll give it another shot tomorrow.

I hope I find out what happened on campus soon, or it'll drive me crazy with wondering.

EBook Reader and so Much More

So after looking at the Amazon.com Kindle, I started wondering what I would want from a device like this and I reckon I would like a mixture of services from a lot of other handheld devices. I think the Kindle does most of these.

What my ideal reader should be able to do:

• Open eBooks in many different formats including, pdf, jpeg, microsoft eBook, text, doc, and any other text reading format I can't think of.
• Place music from a a variety of formats including mp3 and wma withou needing conversion.
• I don't really need wifi, but it would be cool to have wifi and a small browser
• small keyboard for typing
• microphone
• be able to write notes on the screen that it can traslate into computer text
• at least 10 GB memory with expansion possible
• reasonably fast processor
• able to be read in most any light
• usb connection for connecting a keyboard to type on it.
• some form of a word processing program on it for writing
• various organizational software: calendar, grocery list, exercise entry and food entry for dietary purposes.
• look cool, maybe shiny and black with parts that can be colored so it can look more personal. (The Kindle just doesn't look like something you want to show off to anyone, you know?)
• Video playback would also be cool.

Okay, so that's what I would want it to be. Sort of a mix between an mp3 player, tablet pc, ebook reader, and pda. Oh, and I would want it to cost less than $200 so I could afford it and justify buying it when . Yeah, so that's my druthers in relation to the issues. My laptop does all these things and it's portable, it would just be cool to have something more that could do these things and have it be affordable. I'll just have to wait and see then.

Getting the Little Stuff Done

I love sewing, but hate hemming. I mean, its boring and not particularly satisfying and I wish there was some way to avoid it. I tried that iron on hem tape, but it comes off after awhile. On the other hand it gave my the cleanest edge of any of my hems, so I maybe should use it more often before hemming. So today, I hemmed. It was fun enough, but I am sort of tired of hemming now. I think I hemmed six dresses. I alsosewed buttons onto 1 dress and decided to just remake another that just isn't looking right. Oh, and last night I sewed a jacket, skirt, and pair of pants, hemming included from a modern Simplicity pattern. It ended up looking pretty good, but I haven't put the button on the front. The jacket has a lot of shape any way, so I'll try to consider what I want to do and can get away with :)

I exercised this morning. I did 15 minutes of Turbo Jam and 10 minutes from the Quickfix Cardio Kick, then 20 minutes from the lower body portion on 20/20 The New Method Pilates. Then I sewed and then took a nap this afternoon when the home teacher called and will be visiting after church tomorrow.

Oh, and bro cooked something lowcarb for me, sort of a pizza pie. It did have filo dough, but it was just at the bottom and I just didn't eat it.

This was my Saturday and its not even over yet. Maybe its time to start a new project? I'd intended to go through my unfinished project area (usually there's a good reason a project is unfinished), but I've no motivation to do that right now. What I actually need to do is shred my junk mail, take out the trash, sort through my clothes, organize my sewin area, buy a filing cabinet for my patterns, create a duct tape dress form, and find my mp3 player that has mysteriously disappeared, hmmm.

I would post this to the pattern reiews site, but it's giving me issues. Bummer. So I'll post it later and you all will get a look at it.

Pattern Description:
Misses dress with midriff band and two upper bodice options.

Pattern Sizing:
I made a 14 on top and 16 on bottom.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, this is one of my favorite patterns, I've used it three times.

Here's the back view.


Another version.


And here's another one.

I love the wiggle dress feel of the pencil skirted version. I stuck a circle skirt on the flowered version and the green one was made with Simplicity 3673.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Well, I didn't really follow them, so I've no idea how well they are written. I did try to use them for the pencil skirt and could not understand what they were describing for the back skirt slit. I ended up chanelling my need to wiggle by not sewing the slit.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
The faux wrap upper bodice peice is one of my favorite looks and is really flattering. I think the lining darts and bodice pleats really enhance the bust area. I'm notparticularly fond of the pleats on the skirt of the pencil skirt, I really do not think they are a good idea for people with hips more then 32 inches across.

I also love the back of the pattern, although I can't find that peice right now :(

Fabric Used:
Wal Mart cotton $1 and you can tell. It's slightly see through and the first time I wore it, the back of the skirt was torn at the flap (can't think of te proper name for it right now) On the other hand, I love the pattern and just make sure to wear it with a slip.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
For the pencil skirt version, the only change I made was converting the pleats into darts. It wasn't completely successful, but I'm happy with the look. The others were changed more extensively.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes, I've sewn it three times, I think its' going to become a maxi dress nex time.

Conclusion
This is seriously one of my favorite patterns and I hope to find still more ways to wear it. Oh, and its seriously easy.

Some more random pictures...

Seriously Easy Dinner

So I got home from work tonight, kinda hungry, but not really wanting to cook so I made chicken and penne rosemary alfredo with low everything vanilla ice cream with some sugar free strawberry syrup.

Chicken

1 defrosted chicken brest, sliced
2 shallots
garlic paste
Lowry Seasoned Salt
Olive Oil spray

• So I fried up the shallots and garlic paste in the olive oil spray.
• Then I added the chicken to the skillet under medium-high heat
• Then I added the seasoned salt, although not too much nor too little.

Pasta with sauce and Rosemary

Whole grain Pasta

Bertolli's alfredo sauce

Rosemary

Garlic

• Cook Pasta to preferred tenderness.
• Add enough alfredo sauce to coat pasta with a little left over that swished around the pan
• Add garlic paste
• Cook til heated through
• Add Rosemary to taste

Then it was done and I ate Blue Bell's diet vanilla ice cream with Sorbee's sugar free strawberry syrup.

All in all a seriously good meal and easy too:)

My coursework is done, but I've still got classes...

Well all my Master's coursework is now complete. :jumps up and down, then dances badly: I still need to get my practicum waiver and capstone application to the UNT SLIS office in the next couple of days, but my MLIS is pretty much complete. So what may be the classes I refer to? Well, working at a college means I have access to lots of fun classes and I now have to desice which ones I really want to take. All the DCCCD fashion and design classes are at El Centro and that is just too much effort to go to to be worth the effort, so I'll stick to Eastfield courses.



My potential courses are:

• Ballet I
  
• Painting I
  
• Beginning Spanish Conversation
  
• Jogging I
  
• Guitar Class I

This would be my schedule if I took them all:



Monday
Go in at 10 for Guitar class
Jogging/Triathlon 11-12:30
Work 1-10

Tuesday
Institute 12:30
Work 1-10
Ballet/Pilates 5:30-7

Wednesday
Go in at 10 for Guitar class
Jogging/Triathlon 11-12:30
Work 1-10

Thursday
Take Susan to work at 8 am
Work 1-10
Ballet/Pilates 5:30-7

Friday
Take Susan to work at 8
Painting class 9-3

Saturday
Work 9-2
Spanish conversation 2-5




The Ballet/Pilates class is halfway on my lunch, so I can use 1.5 hours of my lunch and 1.5 hours of wellness.


This means I'll get at least 6 hours of physical activity each week and I'll get to try to play the guitar I've owned since I was 14 and learn to paint(something I've always wanted to learn.) This does mean I will have less time for other things, but I suppose it's worth it. Oh and the Spanish is because my sister was practicing at Church (we're in a biligual ward) and I treid to respond and could barely remember how to respond. Errgg, I've got to get back to speaking it or something. Now, I do know some Spanish, so I wonder if beginning Spanish conversation may be a little too easy for me and I may become frustrated with it, but I'll be auditing it for free, so if it's too easy, I may end up just dropping it, or leaving early or something.


So with all these classes, how much will it cost in money? Well, the Ballet and Jogging classes are free through the wellness program. The Spanish class is free because I'll be auditing it as workforce development. I'll only have to pay for the Painting and Guitar classes for a total of 4 credit hours. Now, I might worry about the extra time it will take, but it's personal interest and physical fitness classes, so I'll not worry too much. Of course, these are all doable only on a space available basis and pending confirmation of my sister's schedule. If a class doesn't make or fills completely, or my sister tells me her schedule is going to change, one or more of these classes may not happen. I also need confirmation from my boss that the one during my lunch/for wellness can happen.

My Poor Little Puppy

When I got home from work last night, there was an odd wet spot on my bed, a big one, like 3-4 feet in diameter. I wondered about it because my Luna is housetrained and hasn't had an accident in well over a year.

So I changed the sheets and blankets, put a couple of towels down to soak it up, the febreezed it and put the new sheet on. I then laid down and everything was fine, but Luna crawled onto the bed and curled up and I noticed another wet spot growing beneath her, so I petted her and put her in the back yard and we played fetch for awhile and then I left her out there for the rest of the night and changed the sheets again. I did notice before I finally put her out that her breathing was a little funny. It's like she would exhale forcefully every few seconds However, this morning she seemed fine. She was her normal cherry self and played a mean game of fetch/keep away. I noticed her food bowl was full. Anyway, the bladder thing needed some help, so I got her into an appointment first thing and the vet said it was probably a problem with her sphincter. She's been neutered since July of 2006 and the lack of estrogen causes this in some dogs. I got a prescription for some pills to give her twice a day. The vet said she might not need to take them for too long, the duration can last from 2 weeks to all her life. I think the vet it hopful that it will resolve itself in the next couple of week because I got enough pills for that long. Here's hoping.

Oh, she also has a subconjunctival hemmorage. While playing fetch this morning she was back to me very quickly and her head rammed my leg and we both got bruises from it. My on my leg, her on her eye. It looks really bad, but the vet said it should clear up in a couple of weeks and she should be fine. This pic is kinda the human equivalent. So this was my night and morning, I hope Luna is doing better tonight.

Aargh, I Hate Math...

So my research methods and analysis course is not fun. No, not fun at all. I answered some of the inferential statistics questions using online calculators, and I wonder if they did the job right. Ooh. I'm frustrated enough right now to just submit it and give up and making the numbers make sense.

For example, there are 4 tests they tell use to use including: Chi Test for Fit, Independent Chi Square Test, Independent T Test, and Independent T Test for Pearson's r. This last one is the hardest because I can find no references to it elsewhere. This makes me wonder if they just made it up to mess with our heads.

Hmmmmm. So what do I have left this semester:

• Final for Research Methods
• Some little questions from the last 3 Modules for Research Methods
• This stats assignment
• Oh, and I never did the midterm exam either(I did have permission for that one)
• Thankfully there's nothing for my Information organization course. Although I am a bit worried. Our project for the semester was creating and explaining a database and toward that end, we wrote a long document in 4 stages with each stage building on the previous one. As this is distance ed, I was supposed to send the prof some envelopes that he could send my drafts to me in so I could incorporate his suggested changes to the next draft and when I sent them to him, they never arrived (love USPS). I ended up going up to Denton and dropping the last one off, but didn't get the edited draft until yesterday and the final paper was due on Monday. Oh bother, there are plenty of changes on the draft and I was marked down on it for not incorporating the changes from the previous draft(yes one I never got) and I'm a little worried on how much the final draft will be marked down because I didn't incorporate the changes. I did ask if I could makes the proposed changes and resend it today, but they've already printed them for the prof, so no dice.

So that's my current existence, how others are having a happier time of it.

Sorry about all the non-sewing posts: This one's about Ireland.

I've not had much time for sewing lately, so my mind has filled with other matters. Like, I really should be working on my SLIS 5080 class right now, but I'd rather blog.

Anyway, so I had lunch with the non-motivated sister and she revealed some future plans so she is no longer unmotivated. :)


I was talking about some of my future ideas including: travling around the world for a year, getting an MA in Archives and Record Managemnt from UC Dublin, and teaching English in Korea for a year or so. Thinking of all these ideas showed me that all my future plans revolve around travel and seeing more of the world. I am doing more than thinking about these plans.

For example, I'm working on my application for UC Dublin and have located a few scholarship sources whose deadlines are in the next couple of months. I plan to go to Denton this weekend to look for a letter of recommendation from my former boss in the Women's Collection and haven't decided who to ask for the other one. The application isn't due until March 30, but I reckon I'll be able to submit before January 1.

On the RTW front, I'm never going to be able to save enough money for an entire rtw trip, so I'm thinking world sections might be best. For example, 3 months in South America and come back to save again, or somthing of that nature.

Now on the teaching English front. I've been looking into some classes here at Eastfield focussed on teaching teachers ESL skills. The problem is that most occur while I'm at work, so going to them would be inconvenient.

Back to Ireland, I made a pro/con list for Ireland and I go ahead and share it.


PRO
I'd have more archivist opportunities
I'd get to wear cold weather wear
I could bring Luna
I'd get another Masters degree
I'd be paid more as an archivist (almost any job requiring a degree would pay more then what I make now)
Irish accents
Study abroad experience
Satisfy itchy feet
Something to brag about later
Will look good on a resume and something to talk about at job interviews
Reasonable prices on flights to rest of Europe
Still access American tv shows online

CON
I'm pretty content
I'd have to quit my job and tell everyone I was moving on.
It's cold
Euro vs dollar
See family rarely
Expensive
More debt to pay back
Pet Quarantine
More school (although I might not mind so much in 9 months)
Procrastinating even more on the whole marriage and kids thing

So I do have more pros then cons and when I was talking about it to Gma, she thought it was a great idea. The only thing is that I am 26 years old and I'd already had some amazing experiences living in Germany for a year and living in Wyoming for a year.

Will my 20s befilled with constant job hopping, even if the jobs are only meant to last a short time? Also, if I do this stuff, I get the feeling I'll never stay in one place long enough to meet someone, fall in love, get married, and have kids. You know? It's not something I worried about at 21, but at 26, I think about it from time to time.



I suppose there's no harm in applying to the UC Dublin program, I understand its pretty competitive, so I could be denied or waitlisted any way. Hopefully, I'll at least get the interview and an excuse to spend money I don't have flying to Dublin in April or May.