Not so great news ...

Poor Mackie is not getting along well. Her whatever-it-is on her lower mouth appears to be growing at a tremendous rate; she drools (sometimes with bloody mucous in it); and she is not/can not keep herself groomed. I doubt if she can still eat very well, but I shut her up in the bathroom and give her canned food. She also has a smell of rot, maybe just beause of that nasty drainage from her mouth. I tried to give her a prednisone pill this morning, thinking that might abate the growth, but it's especially hard to give her medicine now. She's a real featherweight, too, and I wonder if she hasn't lost more weight in the past two weeks. (She lost a pound in the month from the time she had the abcessed tooth until I took her with the pea-sized knot almost two weeks ago.)

Dad didn't tell me this Monday when the vet called with the biopsy results, but Dr. B. said the UT vet school wanted her to "cut off Mac's chin and send it to them so they could study it." Of course we're not going to do that, but looks like we're going to have to face some tough decisions really soon.

Great news!

The vet (Dr. Elizabeth Kline Burress) called today ... said the knot on Mac's chin is benign! ... some sort of calcified growth. Dad talked to her and relayed it to me, but she said the vets at UT Vet School were very interested in it ... they'd never seen anything like it before. It's getting bigger, and Mac goes around with her tongue sticking out more (or more often) than it used to, and she drools some. She said both those things are to be expected, and it may cause her some problems eating, but shouldn't shorten her lifespan. (I thought the drool might be caused from nerve damage to her itty bitty chin during the biopsy.)

After further review

... I think I need 7 more hours to graduate. Unless that includes the one hour I am short in speech but which is going to be combined with another class to give me credit. If so, then I only need two more classes. Yeah!!
I'll find out for sure Thursday (test night!) and also when the TTU people are coming up.

Taking three classes this semester is pretty rough, even though I have almost no work outside class. I guess if it comes down to that, I will take three next semester, too, just to graduate in the spring. They may offer an extra class up here once they get the TTU wing completed, or if not I can take something online, though I don't think I'd like that very much. Might be more work than going to class. Whatever it is, I think it only has to be an upper division elective, so I have some choice on what to take.

I will be filling out an application for graduation, which I presume will ask how I want my name on the diploma. Cast your vote for one of the following:
A. Deborah S. Roy
B. Deborah M. Roy
C. Deborah McQueen Roy
D. Deborah S. McQueen Roy

(It's pathetic that I need input on how to list my name!)

Just what kind of game WAS this???

Homecoming... No Pre-game... Shortened halftime...

"For the first time in 41 years, the Tennessee band did not form the giant 'T' on the field for the team to run through before the game because of the delay. Halftime was shortened to 15 minutes."

- from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/recaps/2006/09/23/34952_recap.html

I'm grading quizzes all weekend to get them done by monday. Lots of test in the next week and a half. Ton of homework I have to get done one top of the grading and before the tests. I hate school.

The new Home Depot commercial talking about the chalkboard paint is cool. I was some of that where I can have a whole wall to write messages, etc.

The creek in front of my apartment is has risen just a little bit from all the rain. the bridge was
almost completely submerged. The "volleyball court" is only visible because of the net.
(click the image for full-size)

One of the first things I learned at SCO...

...was from Dr. Newman. His question: What do you do if an eye pops out? Answer: Put it back in. Next Question: How do you do it? Answer: Any way you can!

Read this for a good laugh and some potentially helpful information: http://www.slate.com/id/2137959/

I'll let you know when my first patient eye ball pops out...

Sick and Tired...

I feel like poo... Have had sore throat for days... fluid in ears off and on (probably always on, but with varying degrees of annoyance), intermittent fever (mild), etc. Found some liquid medicine (Bromplex HD Syrup) that I got last year when I was about to die... it has pseudoephedrine, hydrocodone, and some other medicine all in it. The Walgreens description of what it is prescribed for seems ideal for my malady.

Facing lots of Tornado watches out here. Some tornadoes have touched down a few counties away (can't remember if Arkansas or Missouri). Watch was just extended to 2 am, but thanks to my above-listed drugs I shouldn't have any problems sleeping.

Feel badly about my lab practical today. Bumped the back of my schematic eye while I was trying to put one of the 10 unknown lenses in... so I had to recalibrate. Who knows what the results will be. It counts 30% of my lab grade, which I have to pass in order to pass the whole lecture course... despite the lab only constituting 20% of the course grade. *You figure that one out* Got a 95 on my MSP test... the first test that I have scored above the average (by 8+ points). Have been just about 2.3 points below the avg. Two more testes (orignally a typo, but thought it was funny so I left that one in there) next week.

Time to collapse...

I say coupon, you say cupun...

some kids were going around here selling the school coupon books and I bought a couple of them. They are supposed to be here Monday, so I have an extra one if anyone wants it.

Is it possible?

Tammy,

I had a very pleasant surprise today when I checked my
TTU transcript and found I already have 110.33 credit
hours. At the end of this semester I will have 119.33
(the two TTU classes and the one at RSCC).
The catalog says only 120 are required to graduate ...
HOWEVER, I do not know if I will have the required 36
hours in upper division courses.

Am I actually getting that close?

Also, if they waive the one credit hour I am short in
speech, what effect will that have? Would that, in
essence, give me the required 120 hours?

PS -- If it would help get the waiver, I have a copy
of the speech I gave at the groundbreaking for the TTU
wing last spring. :)

Just wondering about all this.

They're still dragging on getting our classroom
addition completed. Maybe they'll have a ribbon
cutting when they finally get it done, maybe around
Thanksgiving.

Have a good weekend.

Debbie Roy

Smart Boy Story...

Most of you guys know that I've been an little out of it for a couple of weeks. Now that I'm feeling "with it" again, I'll tell you about my smart little boy :)

In my Early Childhood class (infant, child and adolescent development) we recently studied some of the leading theories of child development. Piaget was a Swiss child psychologist, biologist, and researcher who has some very famous experiments on childhood cognitive development, specifically, those that demonstrate the structures of thought and reasoning in children and how these skills advance from stage to stage.

Some of his most well-known experiments deal with the conservation of quantity under transformation. The experiment begins by pouring water from a large pitcher into two identical pyrex measuring cups. Say you have 10 ounces of water in each cup. You ask the child to carefully compare and see if both are the same, or if one has more than the other. After the child determines that the amounts are equal, you pour the entire contents of one measuring cup into a tall drinking glass, and then pour all of the other measuring cup into a short, wide glass, as the child watches.

Children who haven't reached the age of say, at least 8 or 9 (and commonly even up to age 11) will nearly always tell you that the tall glass contains more liquid than the short glass, as their reasoning hasn't yet reached the stage where they can apply the logic of 10 oz = 10 oz, no matter what shape or size the container.

I did this experiment with Ethan with glasses of sweet tea (tea gets his attention, water doesn't). When I asked him to tell me who had more, me (short glass) or him (tall glass), he said that I had more. Of course I was really surprised to hear that. I said, "Are you sure?" He nodded his head, and said, "You still have the big pitcher, too!"

I asked my teacher what to infer from this, and when she asked Ethan's age, she couldn't believe it. She's done that experiment with 45 or 50 kids, she said, and none of them has ever said anything like that.

Omigod....

I opened the door to the laundry room for the first time in 2 days, and phew...smelled AWFUL. I opened the washing machine and sniffed the laundry. Couldn't really tell if it had mildewed or not, but thought, well...it's been in there for a couple of days, so I put more detergent in and restarted the load.

Opened it again a few minutes later to throw away something, and happened to catch a glimpse of the mouse trap I set about two weeks ago. Yep - carcass ensnared. Gag... Eric got to retrieve that one!

This is mousie number two in two months. Wonder how many MORE there are? I hate to kill the little squeakers, but I guess I'll go get some more traps and rebait. I KNOW that they're coming through the laundry room/dungeon area, though. Been finding little bitty turds, and the downstairs storage closet/makeshift pantry was where I trapped the first one.

After I killed the first one, I left Eric a message at work telling him that we caught the critter. I rambled on for a bit and said that it was cute, and that I was sorry I had to kill it. He thought it was so funny that he's been playing it for his friends at work. Glad I could be of some entertainment!

Too old for this ...

My brain does not absorb info like it used to, a condition you all have to look forward to.

Been running through the tutorial for BulkMailer 5 today. It's very different from the old version I have. I think, for our small purposes, it's comparable to using a Sherman tank to squash a bug. Hard to believe they make a version more advanced than this one.

IF I can get my own criteria set up, and IF I can get it to import my files from the old program, I may be able to try this out for next week's mailing. I ran an extra set from last week to use for this week, with minor changes, and may have to do that again for next time if my brain explodes or something. Surely I'll get it figured out sooner or later (and won't have to reenter 1500 names and addresses!).

Can't get this new PC to recognize the HP Laserjet printer .. not sure if it's the driver or something wrong in my network cord. Leaning to the latter, because I couldn't get the ancient old Mac to print anything last week, and for some time had been unable to get online. Need it to print on the laser to print out the mail reports because the label printer doesn't read the PostScript form, or at least the old one wouldn't. May take some detective work.

I do, however, have the new dot matrix printer hooked up but have not tried to run anything on it yet. Will have to format it for the 1x3.5 labels and all the other millions of little things that have to be set up. (Well, it feels like millions.)

Wish me luck . . .

You better watch out... You better not cry...

Dan and Joy are com-ing to town!

We'll be in KnoxVegas this weekend for a make-up guard drill (make-up since everyone else did it Tues/Wed). Don't know what we'll be doing on base, or when we'll be done with it... so not sure how much time we'll have Sat evening for visitation.

That is all.

Lower! Lower!

Saw gas for 2.28/gal. tonight on the way home from school. Where was that when I thought I was getting a good deal at 2.58?

On the other hand, one station that was 2.34 yesterday was 2.40 tonight. So what gives? I just hope it keeps going DOWN.

Matt Lauer's interview with the infamous Debra LeFave is on right now. She is such a LIAR! Wonder if they'll also mention Pamela whatever from Clarkrange? Blame it on bipolar -- funny they never figure out they're wacko until they get hauled into a courtroom. It's not coincidental that the really ugly ones who do this are not "too pretty to go to jail". They're just child molesters.

Where are y'all?

Busy, I know! I log onto the site fairly often, but no new posts in a while from anyone else, so I guess it's my turn.

I had my second Early Childhood Ed class tonight - it's REALLY interesting. Back when I was in college, I always thought of early childhood studies as kind of boring, but I guess my whole perspective has changed now that I have kids and have seen this stuff first-hand.

I've got a good story to tell you on my smart little boy Ethan, but I'm too damned tired to tell it now. I'll catch you later this week.

Hope you're all well :)

@#$% &#=@!!

I had a blog post all written and lost it somewhere when I hit a wrong key... Aargh!!

Anyway, just wanted to gloat that tonight, in the Social Organization of Work class, we got to watch [excerpts from] Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Office Space. The teacher brought those movies because parts of them underscored things we were covering in class. Probably won't get to see more, because only a couple of us in the class "got it".

This teacher, a full-timer at Roane State and part-timer for TTU, grew up in Oak Ridge and had lived in Kingston for several years (after she got married, I guess) before moving back to Oak Ridge last year. She is Valerie Herd; wonder if she knows Danny's family?

I'm not a complete idiot...

...but my lab partner is.


I spent some time today trying to figure out what to do with this week's lab. Last week we looked at neutralizing spherical lenses (equal power in all meridians). This week was some review of spherical lenses and introducing spherocylindrical lenses (combination of sphere and cylinders, cylinders having zero power in one meridian and full power in the other meridan, 90 degrees from the first). This is where all hell broke loose. My lab partner didn't know what she was doing (now verified), but she thought she knew exactly what she was doing. She also didn't work with me AT ALL, and instead wandered away from me to other groups so she could tell them what to do (wrong). So, pretty much everyone around me had no idea what was going on for the full 3 hours of lab (and beyond). Now, after much practice, I have discovered that my points brought up in lab were actually correct --- that's right, I was right after all! Since we are randomly assigned lab partners each week, I can smile knowing that I will probably not have another lab with her this semester!

Memmmmm-ries

It is truly amazing what one can find when doing the first thorough (more or less) cleaning of a room in, say, 10 years, or more likely 12.

That's what I've been doing today, trying to rid Rob's old bedroom of things accumulated since he graduated high school and even before that. Found some vintage (ca. 1957) Mad magazines; some old comic books carefully preserved in plastic slipcovers ; numerous standardized test reports from the ACT and PSAT; an assortment of memorabilia from his trip to Europe in 1999 and his two weeks at Y-12 in 1998; several empty packages from the numerous video games he got for every Christmas forever; and 75-100 empty CD packages. Also bulky and well-worn folders from high school (English, economics, precalculus and accounting), as well English 102 from Roane State.

The find of the day, though probably not worth anything, is my old Beatles Abbey Road LP. The cover is pretty worn, but still, it could make a neat framed piece of art (the back, I think, and not the front).

What is even more amazing is the packet from my high school days, preserved for years by my mother and handed over to me a few years ago, then promptly forgotten. Boy, did that bring back some memories ... and surprisingly, I could recall names for most of the old classmates in my little photo album. Boy, was I skinny back then!

I did not EVEN get all of that room done, partly because I need but do not have another room or basement or garage to move things into so that room can be completely emptied and the carpet can come up, but eventually it will happen.

All that exertion has worn me out completely, so I called it a day, ate a bowl of Crock-Pot chili and tuned in the Vols on the radio (damn it all, Pay-Per-View!)

still looking for a thesis project in AE, but not much luck so far. most likely wouldn't have a funded one if I did find one.

probably going to switch from Aerospace to Engineering Science (still MABE department). very high potential for a funded project for a M.S. that would deal with the lab/SIRC I've worked with for the past 3 1/2 years. would get to have results published in several scientific journals (ASME, ASTM, etc). ES is multi-disciplinary, so i can still keep all my ME/AE courses, but thesis would be more biomechanics/mechanical kinematics related. would be very interesting and get me the hell out of school. my boss could serve on my thesis committee (a big plus).

still finding out information on it. need to talk to advisor next week to clear up a couple of questions, but i'm pretty certain that is the route i'm headed in. it will give me a very diverse education... B.S. Aerospace, B.S. Mechanical, M.S. Engineering Science.

more to come later.

Look into my loco ojo!

I had my eyes dilated today during my comprehensive eye exam (performed by a 3rd year student). This was after I got home, about 2 hours after the drops were first put in my eye. Usually it takes about 20 minutes for full dilation to occur --- it took me about 7 minutes. At full dilation, there wasn't ANY iris showing! The yellow crap below my eye is some dye that leaked out --- they used it (and a blue light) to look for corneal vessels formed from overwearing contact lenses (they didn't find any).

This might make you cry...

http://www.therotunda.net/velcro.html

"A Tribute to a Cat Named Velcro"

We ought to write one for our kitty Velcro. I told Ethan about Velcro and showed him pictures, and he said, "Velcro can play with Ella now!" How sweet. He never met Ella, but we tell him stories about Sarah's sister.

More musical anagrams...is that the right word?

Anyway, you know what I mean. I don't have any (or at least remember any) that are as good as some of Danny's, but here are some random ones that I recall from my years teaching flute and general music:

EGBDF

Every Girl Bakes Delicious Fudge (bakes???)
Every Girl Bites Dead Frogs

FACE

Fat Asses Can EAT (I kid you not. 7th grader wrote this one, I think).

GBDFA

Giddy Brides Do Fall Apart (her sister got married the month before)
Growling Bears Drag Father Away

ACEG

Alabama Can't Eat Gators

I am blue...but not really. That's my aura.

Your Aura is Blue

Your Personality: Your natural warmth and intuition nurtures those around you. You are accepting and always follow your heart. You in Love: Relationships are your top priority, and this includes love. You are most happy when you are serious with someone. Your Career: You need to help others in your job to feel satistifed. You would be a great nurse, psychologist, or counselor.

What Color Is Your Aura?

Eulogy

Velcro

b. April 1989, d. Sept. 5, 2006

She was a good and faithful cat
who blessed us with her presence
for more than 17 years.
We will miss her very much.