My writing group companion and friend Gary Presley has a Modern Love essay appearing in the New York Times this week. Congratulations Gary!

It’s a real winner. Here’s a little taste:

And so it was that the man in a wheelchair, sardonic and standoffish, and the vibrant young woman who loved science and worried over how she would support her sons, developed an odd connection, a link to a place where hands might touch, but thoughts and feelings and emotions began to flicker like lightning beyond the horizon.

More…

Do you have your own Modern Love story you want to submit to the New York Times? Here’s how you might go about it.

The UMBC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams captured the 2009 George Mason Patriot Invitational crowns Sunday in Fairfax, Virginia. The men, who claimed their fourth straight title finished with 922.5 points, while women, who scored 1,006 points, won their second title in three years.

Read the full article here.

it’s that time of year…time to look at the line up on the dvr and give a little prayer of thanksgiving for the blessing and the curses that have rained down on daytime this year…

if you’ve spent anytime reading this blog, i’ve regularly proclaimed my disgust over the mata hari’s of daytime, most notably, lily winters, mackenzie browning, and the real life dena higley.

but after a moment of reflection and listening to daytime confidential’s top 5 podcast…here are my top 5

#5: mark teschner, GH’s casting director…this is your year!  congrats on the james franco coup, bringing back the original lucky, snagging zander, and the genius casting of GH’s next generation in the younger talents of michael, morgan, molly, and kristina.  bravo!

#4 louise sorel’s return to daytime.  i don’t think i really need to say anything else.

#3 sarah joy brown’s move from GH to B&B…after a lack-luster storyline, sjb went out with a bang (or thud) and turned up as the mysterious sandy on B&B (with slightly lighter locks).  while i’m new to B&B, i’m thrilled that sjb’s amazing acting talents are not going to waste.

#2 elizabeth hendrickson.  chloe is the grown up version of kirsten storm’s maxie on GH.  i love love love her – especially since her arch nemesis is the wretched mackenzie browning – the enemy of my enemy…yada, yada, yada.  bonus, the girl knows how to dress and can rock a short do w/o hair extensions…take that clementine!

#1 doug davidson: the future emmy winner continues to give nuanced performances as the detective with a heart of gold.  for a show where most of the male characters have no (or extremely broken) moral compasses, paul williams is the atticus finch of geneoa city!  witnessing his agony over the increasing madness of his sister patty is a thing of beauty!  here’s hoping the good detective can get a little lovin’ in the new year!

A handful of orange-clad OSU Extension Service supporters lingered outside the Lane County courthouse Tuesday afternoon, basking in the warm autumn sunshine and discussing Extension’s future.

I wandered around, eavesdropping on a number of the conversations. All were full of excitement, hope, and gratitude over the Lane County commissioners’ decision to place a five-year local option tax for Extension on the May 2010 ballot.

I am truly happy for our volunteers and want to offer my thanks for your efforts. Not only do you help Extension teach self-sufficiency, citizenship, and sustainable living in each of our program areas, you now have thrust yourselves into the political arena and are working to ensure that Extension is able to continue serving Lane County beyond next summer.  Thank you for your efforts.

I also want to thank our Lane County faculty and staff for all that you do. Budget cuts have forced us to say goodbye to more than one third of our co-workers over the past 18 months. This has created personal and professional challenges for all of us. I want you to know how much I appreciate the endless hours of personal time that you contribute to our organization’s success.

Finally, I want to thank the Lane County commissioners, Lane County staff, OSU Extension Service administration and the citizens of Lane County for standing with us—time and time again—through our budget challenges. I am hopeful about the future and thankful for all of you this Thanksgiving.

A handful of orange-clad OSU Extension Service supporters lingered outside the Lane County courthouse Tuesday afternoon, basking in the warm autumn sunshine and discussing Extension’s future.

I wandered around, eavesdropping on a number of the conversations. All were full of excitement, hope, and gratitude over the fact that Lane County commissioners had just agreed to place a five-year local option tax for Extension on the May 2010 ballot.

I am truly happy for our volunteers and want to offer my thanks for your efforts. Not only do you help Extension teach self-sufficiency, citizenship, and sustainable living in each of our program areas, you now have thrust yourselves into the political arena and are working to ensure that Extension is able to continue serving Lane County beyond next summer.  Thank you for your efforts.

I also want to thank our Lane County faculty and staff for all that you do. Budget cuts have forced us to say goodbye to more than one third of our co-workers over the past 18 months. This has created personal and professional challenges for all of us. I want you to understand how much I appreciate the endless hours of personal time that you contribute to our organization’s success.

Finally, I want to thank the Lane County commissioners, Lane County staff, OSU Extension Service administration, and the citizens of Lane County for standing with us—time and time again— through our budget challenges. I am hopeful about the future and thankful for all of you this Thanksgiving.

Woot! Tomorrow will completely suck but today is great!  I stopped into work today to test on some of the material I have been studying and checked my email.  I got an email from my supervisor that was a forward and discovered it was a kudos for me.  I tought class yesterday for some reservists and had a Lt. Col in my class, she wrote a note to my commander telling him how much she enjoyed my class and thought I was a confident teacher and did well with making sure that they knew what they needed to.  I am really happy about that, my supervisor told me to save it for my annual review so yay for having another point.

I am watching more scrubs today and in a few minutes I will probably start making those soups to get ready for tomorrow.  It will be a painful next week and hopefully not longer but I will get through it with soup…and the mass of other stuff I bought hopefully.  Any last minute tips for wisdom teeth removal anyone?

I will admit.  I was only watching the AMA’s for Jennifer Lopez’s new song to see why she still is stuck in the 90’s.  As i began to watch, i decided to post by hour on my Facebook page and blow up my Twitter account with what I saw.  I can say while the Award show itself was somewhat entertaining ( Alicia Keys and JAy Z, Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson), the wave of entertainment came from my friends commenting on my FB page and the postings on twitter just made it so much more entertaining.  What twitter has done is give instant info and commentary on awards shows. What used to be water cooler chatter the next day is instantaneous clowning and joking the same time on the same night.  I will say the American Music Awards felt rushed as if they got advertisers to only pay for 3 hrs. Almost every performance was lackluster like everybody was tired.   Also, the fact that Taylor swift won almost everything hit a nerve with most. Taylor is talented but How it is that GAGA won absolutely nothing. FOR REAL!?!?!?

Watching Mary’s performance made me miss 411 Mary. She a lil too happy but I still love Mary.  Whitney didnt try to hard to hit those notes and I dont blame her. Her pipes are not the same.  Rihanna performance left everyone confused and was ridick-ulous.  Black eyed Peas using a Nirvana sample. Um no.. Kurt rolled over in his grave.  Adam lambert closed the show.. AWFUL. and please oh please explain why perezhilton is still relevant? JLola fell on her ass and As my friend said she has enough cushion to bounce back.

LOL

All in all what made the AMA’s was the tweets and the FB comments.  Kudos to my tweet fam and my FB. Thanks for making this show more entertaining.

Several UMBC alumni have contributed to a compilation of songs featuring Baltimore bands covering other Baltimore bands. The mix was put together by Zach Kaufmann of Splicetoday.com with mostly covers of new songs but with a older classics as well. Featured on the mix are John Dierker ‘88 on clarinet, Mike Formanek on bass, Marc Miller (former student)on guitar and Will Redman ‘98 on drums.

You can access the collection here.

Pray4apriest.com is offering a sort of prayer-package to show a priest that you care and that you’re praying for him!  I think it’s a great way to support our priests, especially considering that it is the Year of the Priest.  Take a look at their website, and mail off for your package!  They are no change, but freewill donations are very much appreciated!

http://www.pray4apriest.com/

St.Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney, pray for us!

Hujung minggu datang lagi. Selama ini, aku memang tak sabar tunggu hujung minggu. Kalau boleh jarum jam tu nak aku pusingkan dengan jari saja. Hari-hari yang membosankan dan amat penat buat aku rasa begitu. Tak sabar untuk keluar meringankan kusut di kepala.

Tapi, kali ini mungkin sedikit berbeza.

Kontrak aku mungkin tamat pada hujung Disember tahun ini. Tapi, esok adalah hari terakhir aku di sekolah, walaupun aku bertugas pada 3 Disember ini untuk menguruskan para pelajar yang menduduki SPM ia tidak sama seperti hari-hari biasa yang aku telah lalui.  Tuhan ( dan Jabatan Pelajaran Selangor) saja tahu sama ada aku ini layak atau tidak untuk teruskan pejuangan yang tak seberapa ini sebagai seorang pendidik. Tuhan (dan Jabatan Pendidikan Selangor) saja tahu di mana akan aku di tempatkan selepas ini (jika layak untuk sambung). Hujung minggu kali ini buat aku sedikit sedih, barangkali. Bila aku sedar, aku teramat sayang kerjaya yang aku pikul sekarang. Bila aku sedar, aku teramat sayang berada di samping pelajar-pelajar aku. Bila aku sedar, aku juga amat sayang rakan sekerja aku- para guru yang amat kuat dan kental ( I love ‘em iron ladies and men!)

Teringat aku, mula-mula aku di tempatkan di situ. Betapa marahnya aku. Buktinya di sini dan juga sini. Aku tidak pernah mahu jadi guru. Jangan. Aku tidak pernah suka. Aku serabut dengan budak-budak. Aku juga sedar yang aku tidak pandai dalam memberi ilmu kepada orang lain biar macam mana bijak sekali pun aku. Jadi, aku rimas.

Tapi, kali ini mungkin sedikit berbeza.

Hidup aku sebenarnya lebih gembira. Aku yang dulu penuh dengan segala masalah-masalah yang kadang kalanya tidak wajar difikirkan pun. Sekarang, aku tak pernah berhenti daripada senyum. Walaupun, aku tahu betapa lesu dan penatnya aku dengan kerja-kerja yang perlu aku siapkan. Tapi, aku rasa aku amat gembira dan amatlah rugi jika aku terlupa untuk senyum pada setiap langkah ke mana-mana saja aku pergi, atau pada siapa-siapa saja yang bakal aku tembung.

Kerjaya ini cukup mulia daripada pandangan mata aku. Ya, aku tahu aku belum lagi sampai ke tahap sebagai seorang guru yang disayangi semua. Tapi, nilai yang aku kagum itu sedikit sebanyak ada pada setiap guru-guru yang aku kenal. Di sini, aku belajar untuk bergaul dengan pelbagai lapisan orang yang umur mereka sebaya dengan ibu dan bapa aku, makcik-makcik aku, senior-senior setahun ke empat tahun, junior dan super-duper junior (pelajar-pelajar!). Di mana selama ini, aku hanya akan bercakap dengan rakan sebaya, atau mungkin tua dan muda setahun dua daripada aku. Even dengan makcik dan pakcik aku pun aku jarang berbual. How patheticI I was.

Tapi, kali ini mungkin sedikit berbeza.

Banyak aku belajar bila aku luaskan minda aku. Open minded. Aku belajar macam-macam jenis perangai. Dan tentang hidup. Bila aku cuba berkawan dengan pelajar. Kenal diri mereka, dan latar belakang keluarga mereka. Seolah-olah melihat cermin di masa lampau. Aku dulu tidak kurang hebatnya (nakal) semasa aku di zaman persekolahan. Lebih kurang. Aku seperti mahu mendekati mereka dan berpesan “ kamu tidak akan ke mana jika teruskan perangai macam ini. Bila kamu dah dewasa, baru kamu akan sedar betapa pentingnya pelajaran itu. Ayat klise orang dewasa dan tidak punya kerja yang bagus- aku tak pandai macam kau..” . Tapi, tak tergerak aku untuk lakukannya. Come on, mereka baru 14. Banyak lagi yang mereka belum faham tentang hidup.

Aku pasti akan amat merindui masa-masa aku memerah otak untuk menulis rekod mengajar, kealpaan aku mengambil buku kedatangan pelajar, melempang pelajar, membaling kerusi meja, menjadi serigala jadian dengan membuat muka segarang yang mungkin (the hardest part!), memberi nota dua ke tiga kali papan putih tanpa sebarang penerangan sehingga habis marker pen dalam satu hari, proses aku menjadi separa gila semasa menanda kertas peperiksaan dan ujian pelajar, saat aku tergelak membaca karangan yang tunggang langgang daripada pelajar Cina dan India, lambat ke meeting (kerana terlupa!), menjadi orang yang paling kelam kabut kerana masuk pertengahan tahun dan perlu catch up kerja-kerja yang guru lama tinggalkan secepat mungkin, mencarut akibat ketidakpakaran mengajar bidang yang kali terakhir aku ambil tahu iaitu 8 tahun lepas, perasaan ingin menambah koleksi baju kurung (selama ini hanya pakai masa kenduri sahaja, itu pun kalau rajin untuk ke sana!) dan yang paling penting berjumpa dengan orang-orang yang hebat ini iaitu guru-guru yang selalu buat hari-hari aku penuh makna dan banyak berbeza daripada yang sebelum.

Aida, Ira, Khai, Ina, Syu dan Hadi – rakan seperjuangan GSTT (Guru Sandaran Tidak Terlatih) yang (amat) hebat. Aku harap dapat jumpa mereka lagi tahun depan. Masni, Farehan, Kak Na, Kak Syatirah, Farah – guru-guru posting yang tak pernah lokek untuk kongsi segala macambenda. Kak Milah dan Kak Nora – “orang-orang besar sesi petang” yang selalu beri aku tunjuk ajar dan sering back up kami yang mentah-mentah ini. Kak Tun, Kak Mai, Kak Aida, Kak Indah, Kak Sumayyah, Kak Anis, Kak Ju, Kak Bad, Kak Fai, Kak Rosliza, Mrs. Kwok, Pn. Indira, Cikgu Rahman, Cikgu Rohaizat, Cikgu Nasir, Kak Mazila, Kak Thuraiya, Kak Maswani, Kak Wani dan semua guru SMK Ideal Heights, merekalah yang buat hari-hari aku amat bermakna  dan buat aku renung balik diri aku daripada perspektif yang amat berbeza. Terima kasih yang tak terhingga. Maklumlah, aku ini sangat mentah, dan langsung tak matang. Kadang-kadang ada perangai aku yang terpaksa dipantau supaya pelajar tak perasan ketidakmatangan aku itu. Oh!

Kak Hajjah,Kak Aishah, Kak Siti dan Kak Azila – tulang belakang sekolah yang menguruskan semua dokumen-dokumen dan hal-hal remeh kemasukan aku ke situ. Terima kasih kerana sudi layan loyar buruk aku dan perangai aku yang tak semenggah itu. Aku hanya mahu memberi sedikit hiburan kepada mereka- itu niat aku. Hahaha. Kak Zura – kakak di kantin yang dah tahu apa yang aku nak makan. Sejenis hiburan untuk aku ke kantin. Buat aku mengubah persepsi aku terhadap orang-orang kantin yang kerek (mungkin dulu sebab aku pelajar, kerek-ness is a must!). Akhir sekali, orang-orang besar sekolah yang sentiasa sibuk nak pastikan sekolah dalam bentuk yang paling memuaskan, Pn. Jamilah, Pn. Rasyidah, Dr. Saroji, Pn. Mahesh (Panitia Bahasa yang sangat awesome!) and others that I don’t mention.

Ok, ini sudah cukup panjang. Banyak terimakasih yang aku perlu ucapkan. Kalau ia sejenis benda yang boleh berpindah melalu medium naluri, pasti mudah untuk sampai. Aku mahu jadi pendidik lagi, please?

Have you taken a sneak peak along Broadway ? Have you seen the visions of sugar plums and all things yummy?

“Light Up Lorain and City Hall Square”

Saturday, November 28
Fabulous Fireworks display
Horse drawn carriage and trackless Train rides
Trolley Ride to Lakeview Park to see their wonderful displays
$1.00 per person per ride for all rides
Rain date is Sunday November 29th

photo Mark Teleha

ALL NEW for 2009!“Live” Toy Soldiers & Other Holiday Characters

The evening of November 28 &
every Friday from December 4th to December 18
12 noon to 1:00pm
Come and see live toy soldiers & other
live Christmas characters along Broadway!

NEW! Toyland & Santa Land come to our Downtown
Please join Santa and his elves at his NEW location for this
year.

This display is always a family favorite and sure to
bring a smile to all who come. Also experience the magic along
Broadway with many storefronts decorated in Toyland motif and
dozens of Toy Soldiers adorning the lamp posts! Sponsor one Today!

NEW for 2009!
Trackless Train and Horse – Carriage Rides
Train; November 28th and December 12
Carriage rides; November 28th and December 19
$1.00 per person per ride

“Caroling along Broadway” NEW!
Share the joy of caroling with downtown businesses
and visitors in the Broadway area. Groups,
individuals and families are welcome to sing holiday songs

Several NEW decorations for this year and a lighted corner of City Hall!
Please check our website for a
complete listing of holiday events, dates call the
Downtown Christmas Council at 440.225.2066
A Holiday Tradition
“Creating a Magical Broadway for the Holidays”

ED NOTE: There are a few elves and makers of magic inhabiting our area, they are working so hard to bring smiles and laughter and they could use your help too! This has been a labor of love and a huge amount of work has gone into this by these “positively passionate” volunteers.

Help “Lighten the Load and Light the Night ” won’t you and share the cheer!!!
SEE HOW TO BE A SPONSOR HERE
http://www.cityoflorain.org/announcements/?f=400

Robert Deluty, associate dean of the Graduate School, has published a new book of poems, “Right Simple.” In her review, Adrianna Amari of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine wrote, “One reads through these poems with appreciation, amusement, gasps of recognition, pangs of the heart and then, in their entirety, with something akin to astonishment that Deluty manages to capture the variety and complexity of human experience, personality and emotion in images so purely drawn with words so right and simple. With his singular vision, Deluty gives his poetic ‘subjects’ the gift of life and gives his readers the gift of profound and intimate interconnectedness with humanity in all its vastness and infinite detail.”

“Right Simple,” as well as all of Deluty’s other books, may be purchased at the UMBC Bookstore.

After 32 years of dedicated service to BCC in various departments, Josephine (Jo) Merrette is retiring.

Please join us on Tuesday, November 24^th from 1:00 – 2:00 in Wales 203B for refreshments and to wish her well in her retirement.

A card will be at the switchboard until 4:00 pm on Monday, the 23^rd if you would like to make a donation toward a gift.

Last week students, staff and faculty from UMBC participated in the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Phoenix, Arizona. More than 2,400 attendees participated, and 76 students were selected to deliver oral presentations in addition to more than 1,150 poster presenters.

The UMBC group included 27 undergraduates, two graduate students, two faculty members and three staff members. The students delivered nine oral presentations and 17 poster presentations. Students attended scientific research talks and workshops on graduate school preparation in addition to networking with representatives from more than 250 institutions.

The following UMBC participants received awards for their presentations.

Biochemical Sciences
Patrice Starck ‘13 (oral)
Kedy Edme ‘12 (poster)
Sai Sachin Divakaruni ‘13 (poster)

Cell Biological Sciences
Robert Wardlow ‘13 (oral)
Lydia Grmai ‘12  (oral)

Microbiological Sciences
Nwamaka Dike ‘11 (poster)
Jennifer Onyimba ‘13 (poster)
Sadella Santos ‘13 (poster)

Molecular Biological Sciences
Sonia Metangmo  ‘13  (poster)

Neuroscience
Lana Zhang ‘13 (poster)

Social and Behavioral Sciences
Michael Jenkins, Jr ‘11  (oral)

Sophomore basketball guard Michelle Kurowski ‘12 earned the season’s first America East Women’s Basketball Player of the Week award, the conference announced Monday.

Kurowski averaged 21.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in two games last week, shooting 56 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range and a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line. She was named America East Player of the Game for both contests.

Sim sim, estou a meses parar postar isso.

Yeah, I’ve been stalling this for a long time.

Jen Dress, assistant director of Student Life for Major Events and Programs and advisor to the Student Events Board, has received a prestigious award from the Maryland College Personnel Association. The Dedication to Professional Service Award is presented annually “to a college student educator in recognition of their significant contributions and service in higher education. This professional has made considerable efforts to impact change in student affairs practices in the state of Maryland through their work, mentorship, scholarship, research, consultation, presentations and/or other involvements and participation.”

Today’s kudos goes out to Sabrina S, Visual Specialist for home.  Sabrina is an extremely talented young lady that not only creates beautiful home windows but she paints, styles, sews, funny, comedic and a writer. Im sure she does alot more but that’s all I got for right now.

Here is her

lovely holiday window for JCP NYC

KUDOS LA SABRINA!!!!!!!!

I told my co workers that I would start blogging about our visual exploits at JCP NYC to showcase the talent everyone has.

My first Kudos is going out to Jen J. who styled and created the holiday window. Of course, final approval had to come from the big boss but her window looks great. Jen was assisted by Jess, Lisa and Myself. I helped with lighting hehehe

KUDOS JEN