Front door 

Front Elevation of "Home" 

Kitchen from Dining Room 

Dining Room from Kitchen 

Living Room from Sunroom 

Living Room from Front Door 

Master Bedroom 

My desk 

Sunroom View 

Hazy Daze

Wow, its spring break already!
And amazingly the time left in it is flying by,... quickly coming to a close.

What have I done you ask? Where have I gone?

I went to Home Dept and Truevalue and Lowe's.
I planted flowers and bought a chainsaw to cut down some trees.
Exciting, huh? Well, it isn't the most exhillarating spring break ever, but hey, when you own a home, isn't this what you're supposed to do?

I also got the taxes done. I thought I'd be in good shape after buying a home. Big fucking surprise that a corporation screwed things up. I owe the state government $700!!! >.< I am NOT happy about it.

The only thing I AM happy about right now is that some friends are driving over from Atlanta today so we can play some Magic: The Gathering (card game). :) Wheee!

I'll take some pics of the flowers when I'm done and post them. =P

Unisex: Violation of Expectations ?!?

Ooh, ooh,.. I forgot to post about this last week. So here it is now.

The Setup
For quite some time I've entertained conversations with a few coworkers about the labeling of what used to be the Men's Faculty Bathroom. Now it is the "Unisex / Handicap" bathroom. We often joke about the fact that very often people will go in to use it and not lock the door. At the same time we wonder if it is strange that people go in and lock the door, since it is afterall "Unisex". We always joke that one day we'll use the urinal and not lock the door and see if people still come in or if they immediately leave. To understand where this is going you need to know what the bathroom looks like.

The Bathroom Layout
There is an exterior locking door. Inside, there is a sink, a urinal (with small walls on either side), and one stall with a locking door.

The Event
One day last week I had to pee really badly. I left my office and went around the corner to the Unisex bathroom because it is closest to my office. (There's a men's room on another hall not 50 more feet away though). I opened the bathroom door to find a young woman styling her hair at the sink. Seeing as I had to pee really really badly,.. I politely said, "Oh, hello,... excuse me." and I walked right past her and started using the urinal. She left in quite a hurry thereafter. Once the door closed behind her I chuckled slightly as the wave of relief washed over me.

The comedy of it all - and the Questions this poses
There's a separator wall between the sink and the urinal. Should she have not felt uncomfortable seeing as it was a Unisex bathroom? Should she not have hurried out but instead finished styling her hair? I think if I walked in and some woman was using the stall, I'd still use the urinal. I mean, really,.. who gives a damn. We're adults.

I know a lot of students probably have not had a public bathroom experience, but I have (and no, I wasn't even in Europe). I know me continuing violated her expectations. As for myself, I think its rather comical. That'll teach her to use the Unisex bathroom! I can hardly wait until these young adults go out into the corporate world and have to use a bathroom where there are 40 stalls side-by-side and people actually *gasp* talk to each other while defecating.

Janet and Chris at my WebCT Vista training session

We're switching over to WebCT Vista at work. I like using WebCT for my courses, and this looks like it has some nice features even though I'm sure I'll spend a few more days figuring out how to make it do what I want it to do. Chris is a nice and very helpful guy. Janet is awesome. She's helped me a lot with WebCT and other distance learning issues. Snapping their picture with my camera phone is somewhat revenge. They're always taking pictures of us (faculty) at their functions and I figured it was time for some payback. ;)

Rock-N-Roll never dies - It just changes venues!

Yesterday I was driving to work and I was flipping through the radio stations. I stopped because I came across some Huey Lewis and the News. They were playing "Heart and Soul" - a great song with a hard driving guitar lick. "Dum Dum Du Dum Dum Dumm Dumm Dummmmmm - She's Heart and Sooouuuull!" Damn that's good. You sing it Huey. Fuckin' A!

I wait until the song is over and then I hear the station I.D. .... [drum roll please] .... it was on the fucking LIGHT FM station!!!! NOoooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Say it isn't so! That's just not right! Damnit, Rod Stewart I can understand, but NOT Huey Lewis' Heart and Soul, No Way!!!

Immediately I thought back to my Dad telling me when I was a kid about how mad he was that he heard Neil Diamond and Neil Young both on a Light FM station. Heart and Soul is a ROCK song! It has a hard hitting guitar lick! It belongs on a ROCK station! Damnit, I AM NOT that old yet!!!! If I had heard him in an elevator I think I would've died right then and there. A Light FM station was bad enough. Ugh. Don't worry, Huey, it's still rock-n-roll to me.

Going well

Things have been going well for me lately *knock on wood*.

Classes are moving along. I changed some policies this semester and I'm really liking the changes, especially since it is reducing my stress and my workload too! :) The only thing going wrong of late is that my laptop is acting weird. All of a sudden I can't do hardly anything on it without it locking up on me. I think it is time to call in the pros and ask them to defrag / reformat / whatever it takes to solve the problem. (And this time I'll ask them to PLEASE leave off all the junk software that they think I need. The hard drive is full!)

The house still needs a lot of things done to it / around it, but oh well,.. I'll get to them one by one. All in all, I am very happy with my new home. If you feel energetic you're welcome to come cut down some of the trees in my backyard. I love trees, but I prefer to reduce the amount of pines and I'll keep the others.

Today is a very pretty day - sun shining, light breeze, blue sky,... I took off a little bit early and just drove around during the daylight before coming home. :)

Today I'm in a great mood.
I am optimistic that it will continue.

My character Swiftangel in front of one dead Dragon, "Onyxia". :") 

Gathering for Onyxia Head Hanging 

Phase 1 Onyxia Raid 

The calm before the storm

Today I figured I'd post something because I know what's on my agenda for next week. Monday student outlines are due. Hoo-boy,.. stand back. Watch out! Here comes the tirade soon enough,.. over stupidity and incomplete sentences. LOL I'm sure this week I'll have some choice words for those few students that didn't follow simple directions. Of course I'll see some excellent outlines as well. :) I HOPE! Let's keep our fingers crossed, shall we?

This weekend I figure I'll unpack some more. Books seem to be one item I've neglected to this point. I guess I ought to get those out considering I need some of them to develop a new class I'm working on for the Fall semester. I'm not sure what else I'll be doing around the house because I feel rather lazy today. I do know I'll play some World of Warcraft since we have a raid on Molten Core today and an Onyxia fight tomorrow. That reminds me,... I said I'd post up some character shots but I haven't taken any yet. I do have some of my guild raiding various things, but not any that are just character shots. Hmm.. I'll TRY and remember to do that soon. Meanwhile maybe a raiding shot will suffice. :)

Like a Virus

These things are like a virus, infecting people's lives and computers all over the world. Don't e-mail me one of these damned things though, as they're meant to just compile e-mail addresses and those lists get sold to advertisers. DON'T DO IT!!! Anyway, I stole this off of Vic's blog, thanks! ;)

Boxers or Briefs - Briefs & Boxer Briefs
Eating in or Eating out - some of each - a balance
Blondes or Brunettes - Both, and at once is better!
Intelligence or Beauty - both, but we all know my tastes are weird ;)
Money or Fame - Money, fame is dangerous
Top or Bottom - Both, but it lasts a helluva lot longer on bottom =P
Books or Movies - Movies
Fiction or Non-fiction - Non-Fiction
Black and White pictures or Colour - Both!
MSN or AIM - AIM
CD players or MP3 players - MP3s
Pencil or Pen - Pen
Dogs or Cats - Cats
Apples or Oranges - Apples baked, Oranges raw
Summer or Winter - Summer if I'm near a beach, Winter if I have skis
Day or Night - Night
Doctor or Dentist - Dentist
TV or Movies - Movies
TV or computers - Computers
Runny nose or frequent coughing - umm.... neither
Crap$ doing something you love or Great$ doing something you hate - Love
Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears - Brittany (is she on top or bottom?)
Up early or sleep late - Both depending on the dream ;)
Give or take - Take
Bath or Shower - Shower
PJs or Nekkid - Not PJs but not Nekkid either
Beach or Mountains - Mountains but I like the beach too
Looks or laughs - Laughs
Pink or Blue - Blue
Chips or Chocolate - Chips
Mary Ann or Ginger - Mary Ann & Ginger with handcuffs and cream pies!
Coke or Pepsi - Root Beer or Cream Soda (or Coke)
Today, are you happy or sad? - Both

Grind Grind Grind

Obviously, I'm back to the Grind of things at work. At least I have some variety this semester, what with 2 new classes and all. I'm teaching 2 x Public Speaking, 1 x Public Speaking for Health Professionals, and 1 x Play & Technology. So far I'm having fun in all of the classes. Is that a bad thing? I hope not. If so, tough shit, life goes on. I'll have fun if I want to, damnit! If students want to learn and have fun too, then great! If not, maybe I'll just have to "encourage" them to do better.

I wonder how teachers "encouraged" kids in the olden days... whips? chains? paddles with nails and holes for faster swings? maybe even ruler lashings on the wrists? hmm... Today it is pretty mild in comparison I guess. Only bad grades and verbal warnings with emotion. Damn wimps of the politically correct system. Down with the man!

I guess in some ways though "the man" is good,.. but in other ways he can be a pain. It's like my friend Saad Ali from Pakistan once told me. We were living in the GSU Village and there was a suburban pumping bass so loud it made our window shake on the 3rd floor. Saad and I both had a headache as we peered out of the window to see if he was within egg-throwing distance. Saad told me that the loud bass bullshit would not last in Pakistan more than 3 minutes or so. When I asked why that was, he replied that within 3 minutes' time the suburban would've been bombed, set on fire, or at the very least shot at. "Holy crap" I thought.... what a great way for things to be and what a bad way at the same time. I gues "the man" can stay, but damnit he needs to stop that loud bass bullshit more often than he does.

Anyway, so far it is turning out to be a great semester. My friend Vic hooked me up with a new monitor and keyboard and mouse. Thanks! I can actually read articles on my screen now instead of printing them out!!! :) It's raining today on Friday 13th (I heard it was going to hail). But despite the dreary exterior, I have a positive outlook. And yeah, that guy in the suburban was pissed that he got a baker's dozen. :p Have a great weekend all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!

I hope you all had a Happy Holiday season! And I hope you will have a Happy New Year! Did you start it off right? For 'right' you can make up your own definition - you don't need to ask me. ;)

I had a pretty decent holiday. A new house is exciting despite all the moving and unpacking and oraganizing and trashing and buying and decorating and improvements, etc. Wow, there sure is a lot to do when buying a new home. I've been incredibly busy lately with the house, trying to get moved-in.

As if that wasn't taking up enough time, I got DSL Internet connection and have been playing more WoW on Icecrown as my Hunter. I finally got to level 60 and have been having a lot of fun on raids with the guild. :) I did my first ever Molten Core raid this week. We did up to Garr Wednesday and then went in Saturday and finished up to ..umm... I forget his name,.. but we didn't do Major Domo. I got two nifty items (a Blastershot Launcher & a Giantstalker's Breastplate) that put me into negative points already. >.<

I'll take some pics of the new house soon. Hmm... and a screenshot of my character for ya too! Be well. :)

Can you believe it?!?

I hardly can!
I BOUGHT A HOUSE !!!!
Wow, this is surreal. I've lived in apartments and rental homes for so long I can hardly believe I am actually paying for something that will be an investment as opposed to a waste of money. Moving commences tomorrow. Utilities are being switched over soon (the builder is leaving them on until they're put into my name). We closed today and I now have the keys in my possesion! I went and did some cleaning tonight in preparation for tomorrow.

More to come soon and pictures to ensue. :)

Holy Crap!

Closing is MONDAY the 19th !!!! I'm totally not prepared as far as packing goes. I have a lot of stuff packed, but I know what I'm going to be doing ALL weekend. =/ My last Final Exam is Friday so after I grade those and get those entered I'm going to pack, pack, PACK! Tuesday I have a U-Haul rented and will be trying to move furniture. If you're in the Atlanta area come help me! I'm really worried about not having enough manpower, as many of my friends are going of out town for the week as soon as classes are over. We'll see how it goes. Well,.. going to go pack more. Cya soon! :)

Collage of Mom Pictures. 

Today was difficult.

Today was especially difficult to get through without breaking down. December 1st was Mom's Birthday. I love you mom. I miss you. I did well today, as I kept busy for the most part. I was somewhat in a daze though, not thinking incredibly much about things. It wasn't until later at home that I lost it.

I got home and turned on the television after supper and was watching the movie "trekkies" - funny flick. James Doogan, "Mr. Scott" was talking about a fan writing him a letter that was really a suicide letter, and how he encouraged the lady to come see him at the upcoming convention,.. and at the next convention,.. and the next,... until 8 years later after he stopped seeing her, he got a letter saying she'd gotten her Master's in Electrical Engineering and she wanted to thank him for saving her life. Jimmy Doogan was crying at that point, and so was I, as silly as that may seem. Then I flipped over and watched the last half of the movie "Switch" with Ellen Barkin and Jimmy Smitts. I like that movie, always have,.. but at the end, Ellen (the new mom) dies after childbirth, and the final scene sets Jimmy Smitts and a young daughter placing flowers on her grave as the little girl proclaims, "I love you, mommy." As if I needed anything more to prompt me. =/

I miss you mom. I love you. You are now and always will be in my heart and in my thoughts. Damn, this is tough.