"Old-fashioned blog challenge??"

Well, we UIS bloggers have been challenged by our fearless leader to an "old-fashioned" blog challenge. How it can be old-fashioned when blogs are a new phenomenon, I have no idea, but I'm going with it. So here it goes...

This Thanksgiving I am giving thanks for my three amazing, funny, smart, beautiful children who are growing up so fast.

I give thanks for my husband who after fifteen years and despite numerous disagreements and all out brawls, still treats me like a queen.

I give thanks for my parents who have supported me all my life and particularly encouraged me to continue with my education, even though there have been, and will be again, times when I was ready to throw in the towel.

I give thanks to my friends, past and present, I have learned something from each of you and gained much from your companionship.

I give thanks for my co-workers, your different personalities and talents all bring so much to our team, and I have been very lucky to get such a great crew to work with. I give thanks to my boss for being a kind and reasonable person, a rarity in my experience.

I give thanks to President -elect Barack Obama for being a man of integrity and for giving hope that our country will recover from our current miserable situation and will once again be the strong world leader we need to be.

I give thanks to myself, for not being a quitter, and for persevering in the face of many challenges, I am a stronger person than I sometimes give myself credit for, and once I power past my own resistance, I can do anything.

I give thanks to my professors for providing interesting and exciting material and introducing me to new concepts on my way to achieve my goal.

For all these things and more, I give my thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a Christmas conspiracy!

So as I was on my way to work this morning at O-dark early, I saw that gas was down to $1.99 per gallon and I got all happy and felt all warm and fuzzy. But then I started thinking - it is about 25 minutes to work after all. So I was thinking, and I realized that just last week I was reading about how the retailers and car dealers are worried because consumers are not consuming as much. Spending is down and people are being very careful about their money. So here we are, just in time for the holidays, and gas is amazingly down almost to what we had been used to in happier times. Hmmm, coincidence? I think NOT! Here's what I think. I think that the oil conglomerates, being in their usual cahoots with big government, have agreed to lower their prices TEMPORARILY to lull Americans into a false sense of security to convince us it is safe to go out and buy those big American made cars with poor gas mileage and to spend spend SPEND on our friends and loved ones to show how much we care for Chrismahannaramakwanzaka! And then, like the sneaky, underhanded, low-down snakes in the grass they really are, they will jack up the prices like a sun-salutation and beat us back into submission again!! That's what I think.

Now I have never been a huge believer in conspiracy theories, but nothing would surprise me these days, and in this case I do believe my idea has merit. I mean, if gas can be pushed down to these rates now, what the heck happened over the summer? Do NOT tell me that the war and the hurricanes and little green men all happened and that's why every fill up was a major purchase to be discussed with your spouse. And why is it that, if the gas costs so much more per barrel then than now, that the oil companies reported, (surprise surprise) record profits!! AMAZING! You mean, if you raise the price of a gallon of gas by double previous rates, the oil barons will become even richer than they were in the first place? GASP!! How can that be??? If it really cost them so much more, they should have reported the same amount of profits as usual. But this is the land of free enterprise of course, would I begrudge them a small pay increase? Oh hell yes I would!! When it comes at the cost of being able to go out to dinner even once a month and means I can't even take my kids to the movies because we have to pay the mortgage, car payments and bills on the same amount of income when every single thing costs more, I will begrudge! Oh yes! Say it with me! Down with big oil! Boo to the oil barons! BOOO!!!!

So my friends, while the price of gas is indubitably dropping, do not be fooled! Save your pennies, for sooner than you think, the pumps will once again be our enemies, sucking away our hard earned cash (and credits) to line the golden pockets of the oil vampires! You have been warned!! Mwaaa haaa haaa haaaaa!!!!!!

Next semester

It's been a while since I posted, I've been busy trying to keep in with my class, but it looks like something is going right since I got an A on my last paper I turned in. There is hope after all! I am undecided what class to take this coming semester, nothing available seems appealing, so I think I will take AST305, I think that's what it's called. The class is credit/no credit but you get class credits by creating a portfolio to show how your prior learning will apply towards actual graduation credits. That's about the only thing that makes any sense to me right now. I am going to have to work with my advisor to rework my whole plan, since it's kind of a hash right now and I'm not sure where I'm at. I've been told I'm closer to graduating than I initially thought, but I still have a long way to go and while I enjoy taking classes, (most of the time), I do have a goal in mind which I would like to reach in the more or less near future. Well, this class should help, I might be able to create more than 1 portfolio and earn enough credits to boost me a couple classes up in the time scale. Which, when you take only 1 at a time is huge! Still waiting to hear from the teacher if he'll let me sign up, I sent him an email last week, so I hope he contacts me quickly!

Well, gotta go. The Master and Margarita awaits!