Dolce Technica

4 full days left

monica — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:14:14 GMT

of work - not counting today. I took this picture this morning when I arrived at work:

I really like how the sun turned out. I shot this with my 50 mm f/1.8 lens, using a technique I learned from the manual of setting the exposure when I wasn't pointed at the sun, locking it, and then taking the picture. That way the school didn't end up all dark. I did give this a little Lightroom/Photoshop love later though to brighten the sky and building tones.

My students took their Outlook certification tests today. Several were successful - those who weren't will take their retest in the coming days. In fact, this entire week is devoted to certification testing, as several students are in various stages of certification and still need to take their Word and/or PowerPoint exams.

Tonight, the hubby and I are finally watching the last two episodes of Lost - between our trip to Carlsbad to Peter's business trip, we just didn't have a chance to watch it. We're about half way through the final episode - it's ok, I guess. I think I'm getting a little bit over the whole Lost thing - just not as interesting as it used to be to me.

I was referred to a company called Borrow Lenses by photographer David Toth on the Fast Track Founders website. I had never considered renting lenses before but it seems like a great idea before committing to new glass that I'm not sure if I'd like to begin with. Now I need to figure out what to rent!

Anniversary Countdown 2008 - Day 2

I know I said I'd post a picture every day, but all the good pictures are on my other external hard drive, and I have two sleepy cats around me, so I can't get up right now, haha. Instead, I figured I'd post a link.

After we decided on Sedona as our wedding location, we needed to find a place to stay. After reading the reviews on TripAdvisor, we settled on the Apple Orchard Inn Bed and Breakfast because of its location, the pictures of the rooms, and the tasty sound breakfasts. It ended up being an amazing place to stay!

I'm sending myself to camera school

monica — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 23:23:09 GMT

AKA reading the manual. I panicked for a moment - actually make that several moments - because I couldn't and still can't find my manual. I've always kept it in my camera bag, but when I looked this afternoon, it wasn't there. Fortunately, Canon has it posted on their website. I've spent the better part of the last hour and a half reading about what is known as the "Creative Zone" modes. I feel fine with Basic Zone modes, but have forced myself to shoot in the other modes almost from the moment I got my camera back in October so that I could take Raw photos. I'd seen early on how much more control I later had in Photoshop and now Lightroom when I was working with a Raw photo. You can't take Raw photos in the Basic Zone modes.

So, I whipped out my Moleskin (I LOVE these notebooks and regularly pick them up with coupons and Barnes and Noble even when I don't need them), got comfortable at my desk, and started taking notes. Jasper came up to visit and found a place sleeping on the couch next to me. This later ended up being convenient for my testing of said modes.

While doing the note taking, I did little practicing. Early on, while reading, I learned about a formula for calculating the minimum shutter speed to prevent blurring caused by camera shake (take the Lens focal length times 1.6, then use the reciprocal - this means my 50 mm lens should use a minimum of a 1/80 shutter speed - who knew?). I decided to try this out in the TV mode (shutter priority). My first pictures, although dark, came out very clear. I did a little more reading, and realized that that the beeping that was going on after I halfway depressed the shutter and blinking with the number in my view finder was for a reason - gee, ya think? (By the way, I'm being very sarcastic here, to illustrate how stupid I'm feeling about not knowing this earlier, haha). The lower number, which happens to be the aperture, blinks when the exposure will be too dark. In order to get the number to stop blinking and beeping, I needed to either pick a higher ISO speed, or lower the shutter speed, or a combination of both.

I experimented and shot nearly 40 frames of Jasper. Sometimes I tried to get his attention, other times I just shot away not really caring how he looked, but focusing more on the lighting of the picture. Basically, my experiment showed me that in order to shoot in that particular light (in our second floor study/office with one window with mid afternoon light coming in at an angle), at a 1/80 shutter speed, I would need to increase the ISO to get the proper exposure (AKA no more blinky beepy camera menu). Or I would have to lower the speed to like 1/40 or even 1/30, but then I still had to increase my ISO to 1600 to avoid the camera shake blur.

My favorite picture of Jasper's first real photo shoot is this one:

The SOOC image

After a little Photoshop love

Hope my new found knowledge helps during my impromptu photo shoot with my students tomorrow. I plan on documenting their last certification testing experience of the 2007-2008 school year!

June is here and my hubby is home!

monica — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:56:38 GMT

Peter came home yesterday! I'm so happy to have him back. Driving to BWI was easy until I realized how dark the sky was getting with the impending rain - now that normally wouldn't be a problem, except I was wearing my sunglasses. My prescription sunglasses. And I couldn't seem to find my regular glasses. So I'm driving along, praying it won't get darker, when I arrive to the I-95 tunnel. Uh oh. I couldn't believe it but it wasn't that bad driving through the tunnel - darker than I'd like - yes - but impossible - no. But as I reached the airport, it was getting darker still, to the point that when I pulled under the building overhang for arrival pickups, that I had to call my hubby and say "hey, where are you? wave around a bit or something". I'm sure he thought I was crazy - like "why can't the wife see me?". But, I found him successfully. Alas, our first few reunion moments back together were spent with me frantically have him poke around the front seat for my glasses which we eventually found and I gratefully switched. Oops. Note to self: Never toss glasses case on front seat, it might roll off and end up under the seat causing driving panic.

We had a tasty lunch at Houlihans before going to see what I consider to be the best movie of the summer season - the SATC movie. I absolutely loved it! I was a totally fan of the show and have seen and own every single episode. I was so happy with the way it turned out - seemed just the way it should. While I'm a total fan of huge weddings, all of the people, the amazing details, the gorgeous clothes and tasty food, I also think there is something so amazing about intimate weddings - just the couple and/or a few of their close friends - I suppose that's why we chose the latter when we got married.

When we got home, Peter gave me two special gifts he brought back from his business trip.

A Hello Kitty Purse from their new travel collection - it has the coolest compartments. I love how the style and colors make this look like more of an adult purse - I'll definitely use it when we go out - heck, who am I kidding? I'll starting toting it to work this week I am sure.

A Hello Kitty fan for my desk at work. How cute is this? You pop her head open and turn on the switch to run the fan!

When I woke up this morning, I took a peek out at my little garden, and saw that my sunflowers are getting ready to bloom!

This brings me to a new blog section for the next few days: Anniversary Countdown 2008! This year, on June 24th, Peter and I will have been married for two years. That still makes a newlyweds don't you think? So every day, I'm going to share one of my favorite pictures from the days leading up to our wedding day, and the main event, along with a brief story.

Choosing the Location

After Peter proposed, we knew we wanted to get married as soon as possible. We'd been dating since 2001, and we were ready. We talked about doing the local thing with family and friends, but while we have a close circle of friends that we would have liked to be there, Peter's family is all abroad, in the Czech Republic, and one of his closest friends lives in India, and no one would be able to make the trip. So we started scouting travel mags and thinking about our favorite spots.

Knowing that this special trip would just be the four of us (my parents and us), I started looking at locations from the photographers point of view. I knew that at the end of the day, the one aspect of the entire wedding that was the most important to me was the photography. I wanted amazing pictures and I knew the location would have a lot to do with that. I've been fortunate to travel to most of the 50 states because my parents took me on many road trips growing up. I had wonderful memories of our summers spent out in Arizona in my early teens while my Mom was attending the University of Arizona through a distance learning program. One location was particularly memorable - Sedona.

The red rocks and mountains out there are absolutely incredible. I also remembered the Chapel at Tlaquepaque in Sedona. I remembered walking in a tiny chapel with beautiful light streaming through and thinking - "One day I should get married here". I found the chapel online and shared pictures of it with Peter who also loved it. So it was decided - we'd get married in Sedona.

We flew out a few days prior to the wedding and did a little hiking.

These were the incredible views I was talking about!

Happy Friday

monica — Sat, 31 May 2008 03:35:00 GMT

-giving my blog a makeover-

First, I thought it was high time for a new blog header. Last time I needed the hubby's help to change it, but I figured it out this time - go me! I chose this picture for three reasons:

#1. Peter and I are always taking self-portraits when we are just hanging out or on a trip and those are some of my favorite photos by far. I played around with my 50 mm lens tonight until I got one that I liked. It was harder than I thought it would be!

#2. I did such a close crop to my face because I thought it looked cool but also because I liked the idea of my eyes peeking out into the world of all my blog visitors (ok "all" is probably an excessive word because I don't think I have anyone that reads this regularly!).

#3. I've made some decisions this week that involve actively pursuing my love of photography - more about that later.

-my hubby is coming home-

Tomorrow. Finally. I've missed him so much. We've talked daily, chatted frequently, and text messaged when I had signal (which means not at my work), but it's definitely not the same. I'm going to pick him up at the airport tomorrow. I guess this means I should clean up the house. I'm hoping I'll be able to convince him to go to the new Sex and the City movie on the way home!

-summer vacation is almost here!-

There are 4 more regular work days left. After that, there are two days of final exams, then make up exams, then the final day which is for staff professional development. I will miss my students, but am definitely ready for my summer vacation.

-dissertation progress-

My advisor wrote me on Wednesday with edits for the first chapter of my three chapter dissertation. With my Mom's help, I made her requested changes and then some and sent it back this morning. I'm so ready to be done and from our e-mail conversations today it sounds like the finish line is approaching - all I can say is "HECK YEAH!"

-#3 revisited-

So last Saturday, after Peter and I had our pictures taken, we had dinner together at this cute restaurant. I mentioned how much fun I had with the pictures, and how cool I thought it would be to be a photographer. It's an idea I've had off and on (and shared with Peter) for several years now, but I haven't taken it seriously. When I brought it up again that night, my hubby didn't for one second blink in speculation or criticism - instead he encouraged me to follow my dream. He always encourages me, no matter how crazy my ideas are - I am so lucky to have him.

I fully expected that idea to pass again in the coming days, but instead I found myself thinking about the idea several times a day. Shortly after flying home, I remembered a blog by a photographer I had subscribed to a while ago - Dane Sanders. I really don't know how I stumbled upon his blog, but I remember thinking it was worth reading and subscribed, and I also remembered some buzz on it at some point about something called the Fast Track Photographer program.

I found the Fast Track site again, and read over the membership details - and get this - I'm now a Fast Track Founder. How cool is that? I've already started posting in the forums and everyone is so friendly!

So back to reason #3 as to why I selected this photo for my new header - I feel like my eyes are finally open to exploring my potential and I'm so excited to see where this will lead.

-photo of the day-

Found these in my closet today - didn't even know I had them! I have these awesome Tupperware-like shoe boxes from the Container store, but I need to find a way to label the outside so I know what shoes I have...maybe little pictures? Yes, I put my shoes in boxes. What? I have a lot of shoes! A girl has to stay organized!

Visiting the old homestead

monica — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:35:19 GMT

Isn't my Mom beautiful?

Here yesterday, gone again today...

monica — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:31:55 GMT

After being home for less than two days, Peter was off again today to Nashville for a work conference. I'm totally going to miss him. We are rarely apart, so that makes it even harder when we are.

Since it's Wednesday, that means it's "Starbucks Wednesday" (the day of the week that I treat myself to a Starbucks treat before work and don't feel guilty about it), and I stopped by this morning to get my favorite drink - a tall, nonfat white mocha with no whip - yummy! While there, I was given a special iced coffee card that gets me a free iced coffee every Wednesday until the end of July! Whoohoo!

After work, I decided to stop by and pick up my free coffee and get my favorite Cheese and Fruit plate to have for dinner. It was tasty.

I miss my husband and need to go to bed.

Peter's 29th Birthday Recap

monica — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:25:59 GMT

His birthday dinner started off with some baked beans...

continued with some hot dogs, buns, and condiments...

...and finished up with some cake (Cold Stone Creamery's "A Cheesecake Named Desire")

And no, I wasn't slacking in the cooking department - this dinner was his request!

One more present to unwrap...

What could this be? This package sure was wrapped well. It's obvious that my Mom, and not me, wrapped it.

Now this last picture is a little misleading because these are the wrong sneakers. My Mom picked up these when she was supposed get these. Oops.

Oh well. That just means we will be taken another trip to our favorite Target when Peter gets back from his work trip.

a birthday wish for my husband

monica — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:58:51 GMT

29 years ago today, my husband, Peter, was born. Peter, although I rarely call him that because we have so many nicknames for each other, is the sweetest, kindest, most intelligent, and handsomest man I have ever met. I always hoped that I would find the perfect man to spend my life with and I knew when I met him that he was it. He is my best friend and partner and I am the luckiest girl in the world to be his wife.

Before posting a few more Legoland pictures, a special birthday greeting:

I knew when I saw this at Legoland that I had to take a picture because I was sure I'd find a way to use it later.

And now a few more favorites...I had fun playing with some Boutwell actions this afternoon:

This morning, I surprised my hubby with breakfast...can you guess what I made?

Happy Birthday, sweetie!!

Back from our mini-vacation

monica — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:46:56 GMT

So my big gift for Peter this year was a trip to San Diego, or more specifically to Carlsbad, to visit Legoland! I'll write a longer post tomorrow, but wanted to post some of my favorite pictures, all goofy self-portraits.

1. In our matching Rock Band shirts - which I wore proudly and Peter hid under two more layers. Ok, he didn't exactly hide it but for some reason he didn't want to go out all "matchy, matchy" either. He ended up being warmer than me though. Although it's blurry, this is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip!

2. On the Carlsbad State Beach - this was our first time ever walking on the beach together - it was about time after 7 years together!

3. Need I say more?

4. On a boat ride in Legoland.

I'm totally excited to see the pictures taken by our photographers Gabriel and Carlie. They were so much fun to hang out with and have inspired me to start taking my love of photography more seriously. I'll be checking their blog every day in hopes of seeing some pics!

It's back to work tomorrow. Not counting final exams, there are nine more days. Oops, does that mean I'm counting down? No way! :)

A few pictures

monica — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:18:16 GMT

The cutest cups my hubby found me at Anthropologie last Friday.

The surprise I found in the freezer tonight before making dinner - isn't my hubby sweet?

Last night's spaghetti with meat sauce - the verdict....it was yummy!

Tonight's dinner - mac 'n' cheese with tomatoes and chicken - surprisingly easy and really good!

Since it's already May 6th...

monica — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:18:12 GMT

I figure it's time for a post. I haven't been all that busy lately, although Peter and I have been out and about a fair amount lately. Thursday, May 1st, we went out to dinner with my parents for my Mom's Birthday. We ate at the Italian restaurant/pizza joint in the Concord Mall. It was an interesting experience to say the least because they was a performance of the opera "Madame Butterfly" going on while we ate. Definitely not my thing, or Peter's, or Dad's either, but Mom seemed to enjoy it and since it was her birthday, that's what mattered!

Friday, I surprised Peter with an evening out after he worked the college's graduation festivities. He always looks so handsome dressed up for the ceremony, so I like to drag him out afterwards. We went to P.F. Chang's for dinner and watched a late night showing of Iron Man. I love P.F. Chang's. I love Chinese food in general, but have found as I have gotten older that I really can't stand take out Chinese food. But this restaurant is as far from take out as you can get, yet has positively yummy leftovers.

Saturday, we were completely lazy all day. I celebrated National Scrapbooking day by hitting many digi sales online, and Peter played his new game, Grand Theft Auto 4. Sunday, I drove down to Dover and went to the Dover Days House and Garden tour. We actually ended up visiting only one home, which is still the home of a childhood friend of mine, and we got to reconnect which was really cool. In fact, I'm sending her an e-mail after I write this. Turns out she lives in Dover and works up in Wilmington by us. Delaware really is small!

Yesterday, for Cinco de Mayo, we headed out to Don Pablos for dinner. The food was ok, but it was way too loud and packed with people only interested in drinking way too many Coronas. I guess I'm getting too old to enjoy that sort of thing. Wow - two references to age in this post and I'm only 26! What's wrong with me? Haha.

We've been doing a lot of eating out lately and while I do enjoy it, I'm definitely ready to stay home and cook this week. I found some great recipes off the Kraft Foods website and am following one of their Healthy Living Bags this week. Tonight's dinner will be Spaghetti with Zesty Bolognese sauce. I'm serving it up with some Joe Corbi Cheezee Bread. I'll post a pic of my results tomorrow.

Comic Con 2008

monica — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:25:23 GMT

Yesterday, Peter and I took the train up to New York City to attend Comic Con. It was definitely not my idea to go because I've only read one or two comic books in my entire life. Truthfully, I wasn't looking forward to spending the day looking at people dressed up in odd costumes. HOWEVER, we had a really good time. There was definitely some people (ok, a lot), dressed up in odd costumes, but we got to see some cool new games.

One of the most interesting things for me was the chance to meet and talk to Sid Meier. This is a pic that Peter caught and I edited a bit.

He has created a ton of different computer games over the past twenty years and seemed to be really cool guy. I realized later that while I was playing the newest game Civilization Revolution, that he was even watching people play! I think that was pretty cool although I'm sure he must have thought that I was terrible. I plan on getting it though. I think it comes out for Xbox in June. I even got an e-mail address from someone in his company so my students could e-mail him questions. I think it would be really cool for them to be able to develop a list of questions like "What's it like to be a game designer" and so forth. Here are some of my favorite pictures from yesterday.

In the car, leaving for the train station...

Inside the convention center...

Me and Yoda...No he is NOT taller than me, I'm on the floor!

The UglyDolls had a really cool booth

We also had a chance to view some unreleased video footage for the new Batman and Hulk movies coming out this summer - both look like they will be really good. And we even had a celebrity spotting - Eva Mendez was on the panel for a new movie coming out in '09 - Spirit. Very Sim City-ish looking.

Oh, and one final picture. Peter was interviewed by MTV for a Total Request Live segment - hopefully airing on May 1st - and although I know he was embarrassed, I thought he looked so cute!

While it was a long day, we also discussed that we should take day trips like this more often to New York because even though it's a long day, it's MUCH cheaper than staying overnight and it's really not that far from home - only two hours by Amtrak.

Love this spring weather

monica — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:44:26 GMT

I'm so happy that spring finally seems to be here. I'm up so early on a Sunday because Peter and I have two important things to do on our schedule this morning:

Go to the Bagel shop - gross bagel with fish spread for him - yummy energy bagel with Peanut Butter for me; read the newspaper
Workout at the gym - our first time back since before Prague when we were both sick!

Yesterday we went to Dover and had lunch with my parents. It was nice to stop by and visit - we need to do that more. Afterwards, we hit up some of our favorite stores that we haven't visited since our spring break: Target, AC Moore, Costco, and Borders. Later, we had a really neat dinner. Applebees just opened up near us, or rather has been getting ready to open up. We stopped by for dinner, thinking they were open, and discovered they were doing a training exercise where people could make reservations, donate $5 a piece to the fire company and get dinner for free! So we did. It was decently good, and the service was fine (something that has been going down with many restaurants in our area), but we weren't all that impressed with the menu. We haven't been to an Applebees in 3-4 years, and only a handful of items were new. It's still nice to have a late night option open in the area though.

Here's us outside. I thought it was cool that I was able to capture the sign in the reflection of the window:

After the gym, we're headed back home so I can do something extremely important - take my practice LSAT. Peter is timing me. Yes, that's in reference to my news from yesterday. Wish me luck!

I'm back and Daily Dissertation Update #5

monica — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:33:47 GMT

Ok, so my daily updates didn't work out so well. Let's see, what has gone on since I last posted, almost a month ago on March 14?

1. We went to Prague and did some touring

Peter with his Dad checking looking off of Charles Bridge

Us on Charles Bridge

Peter with his Mom and Dad

2. Peter's dog, Ramu, passed away shortly after we returned home from Prague. I'm so sad for Peter and his family - I know his parents miss him a lot. They've had Ramu for 16 years and that's such a long time. I am glad we had a chance to see him on our trip. Here's Peter and Ramu:

3. My Podcasting workshop ended - I had the same number of participants take the beginning Pre and Post Surveys and beginning data analysis reflects that my participants' knowledge and/or skills have increased - hopefully this means my methods work!!

4. Four of my students were accepted to attend a special Microsoft camp - crossing my fingers that all important people in my school district approve so we can go and I can chaperone - that will be decided by the end of this month, hopefully.

5. The HRS Committee finally approved my study today. Thank goodness. This weekend I am entering my final data into my paper and sending it my Mom to review before e-mailing it to my advisor on Monday. I'm still crossing my fingers that I can defend by the end of May.

6. I decided what I want to do next year academically speaking because I'll be done my doctorate program. More on that in June because I don't want to speculate until I have the official word. Let's just say it's huge for me and I definitely hope it works out.

Daily Dissertation Update #4

monica — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:43:46 GMT

So my daily dissertation update was actually written yesterday, but I'm going to leave it as written since nothing else has happened with my dissertation...

Well I feel as if I am in the home stretch with my dissertation. With the exception of entering the information regarding the remaining weeks of my Podcasting workshop, as well as the data from the LoTi Survey that will be taken by teachers during the last week, I have finished writing my paper. It's a strange feeling to be mostly done because I feel like I have been writing this forever - even if in truth I only began writing in earnest around Thanksgiving/Christmas of this past year. I sent my finished paper to my Mom to read who then took it to my Dad to read - who is an incredibly picky reader, which is good. I just finished making the corrections my Dad found, and adding my appendices to the back. I can't believe it but my paper is 86 pages so far! Wow! I think that is the biggest thing I have ever written. With the remaining weeks of the Podcasting workshop information entered, along with the post workshop survey data, I know I will be over 100 pages which is good.

Daily Dissertation Update #3

monica — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:30:52 GMT

I guess this really should be #4 but I didn't post yesterday (or work on my paper yesterday - I needed a break!), so it's going to be #3. I spent a couple of hours on my paper today, expanding my existing sections to include more nationwide and Delaware technology-related statistics. I think it feels more complete now.

I ordered some stuff for Prague yesterday and today. Yesterday, I visited Yves Rocher and ordered some new hair and body products for the trip. Mom went in on the order with me so we qualified for a free umbrella (mine), tote bag (Mom), and $75 mystery goody box (depends on what's in it, haha). Today, I did some ordering from Victoria's Secret and got some great deals on clothes. Ended up getting some free stuff from there too - yea! So I'm going to look forward to watching the mail this week waiting for those new treats to arrive.

Peter's Mom, Svetlana, e-mailed me today with some information about our trip. It sounds like she has been planning our trip for months. Actually, it's quite possible she started planning things for us to do the moment they knew we were coming for sure, which I think is totally sweet of her. According to Svetlana, we will be going to the theater twice while in Prague. The day we arrive (I see a lot of caffeine in my future during this trip!), we will be seeing "Angelika", which according to my Google search is an "immortal story of a beautiful lady and her life created by Anne and Serge Golon." And later during the trip we are going to see Don Giovanni, the famous Mozart concert. I love getting dressed up so this should be fun! Svetlana is telling me not to bring dresses - I think that means she has something planned for me - but I'm bring two black favorites just in case. I picked up these shoes in black from Victoria's Secret - they will match anything!

I'm starting to feel a little sick - which makes me mad because it feels like just yesterday when I was so sick I had to stay home for two days from work. That's definitely very unlike me. I never stay home. But I had a terrible cold that turned into Bronchitis, Strep, and Ear Aches. I definitely don't want to feel like that again. But on Friday, I started coughing. And I was coughing more on Saturday, and even more today. My throat doesn't hurt, but I feel it coming. I'm going to see what I can do to get some Vitamin C tomorrow. I have so much to do in the next two weeks that being sick just isn't an option.

Week 3 of my Podcasting Workshop started today. This week teachers are going to give their Podcasting lesson to students, reflect on how it went, and talk about it with each other with their colleagues in Blackboard. They're also going to learn how to set up their own Blackboard site to make distributing existing Podcasts with students easier, and to have a place to upload their own Podcast that they are making during Weeks 4 and 5. It's hard to believe that this workshop is already half way over with!

Tomorrow, I'm working more on my paper. I intend to get Chapter 3 most outlined and filled in as this is the chapter where I talk about what my technology plan is. I figure that I can definitely finish the part where I talk about my pilot program. I'm also headed to the gym tomorrow. Ordered all my pants in size 2 so I have to make sure I'm fabulously fit!

12 days until we leave for Prague!

Dissertation Update #2

monica — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:57:23 GMT

It was a rainy day today. I'm not a huge fan of rain - especially when I'm wearing cute shoes. It seems like I always find a puddle somehow and get my feet when and then my feet are squishy in my cute shoes and that makes me mad. Sigh.

Today, I put together my final Human Subjects Review (HSR) packet. It's been approved by my Advisor, and I stop by the Post Office after work to over night it to her. She should get it by 3 PM tomorrow. It feels good to be done with that.

I didn't do all that much on my dissertation today - just a little reading. On Saturday and Sunday I will be busy writing.

In other news...

Two weeks from today we fly to Prague! This sure feels like the trip that will never come. I've been searching Amazon to try and find cute travel sets of makeup/body stuff to bring with me. I have to bring something on the plane. I get so nervous that the plane people will lose our luggage. In fact, they lost/misplaced my luggage the last time we flew to Prague, 7 years ago.

Part of me thinks I should just get this:

and fill the bottles up with my favorite products. But (a) that feels like too much work and (b) part of what I like about getting mini travel stuff is trying new products! And after all, we will be gone for a week and most travel stuff will last that long, right? I use a lot of shampoo though. Hmm.

And this is just seriously cute:

I totally don't need it but I like it!

Daily Dissertation Update #1

monica — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:02:06 GMT

So, I have decided to push myself to post "Daily Dissertation Updates". My hubby is in the midst of his "40 Days of Blogging" for Lent, he was on day 28 yesterday, and has been doing very well - hasn't skipped even one day. I saw that he had his first commenter the other day - yea!

There are only 14 days until we leave for Prague, and I have a ton to do on my paper. I'm self-imposing a deadline of finishing up my paper - chapters 1 through 3 - by Sunday night. Chapters 1 and 2 were already written, but I was told to add additional information to it by my doctoral advisor, so I've spent the past few weeks finding additional sources, and I think I finally have enough now. I just have to sit down and finish writing.

In other news... my Podcasting Pilot is finishing Week 2 and I'm pleased with the results so far.

Snow Day, yea!

monica — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:55:42 GMT

Peter and I both had off from work today because of the snow - our first, and maybe only, snow day of 2008. I seem to recall a few years ago, having some snow days as late as March, but lately it seems like snow days have already come and gone by now. We had a nice lunch today at Olive Garden - Calamari, Soup, Salad, and Bread Sticks, yummy! Afterwards we had a chance to do a little free reading at our local library, also known as Borders Bookstore, haha, and now we're home for the night watching BBC. It makes Peter laugh hysterically when I say "BBC" with my fake British accent.

Vacation News...

There's just one month left until our vacation to Prague - I'm really starting to get excited! I've finally gotten all of my hoped for camera accessories...

I picked up the two SanDisk cards at Costco this past week for great prices. It was around $60 for both. The Cybershot battery was a little pricier than I would have liked but mine is dead, and the lens - well I've been wanting that for what feels like FOREVER, and it is pretty much the cheapest, decent lens out there.

Dissertation Update

I developed a pilot program of my suggested staff technology professional development plan for my School district. Wow, that sounds like a mouthful. The course is a hybrid professional development experience - only two meetings in person, the rest online through Blackboard - and it will run for six weeks. It begins this Monday. The focus is using Podcasting in the Classroom. Teachers will learn what Podcasts are, how to use them in the classroom, and how to create their own. I am extremely excited about this! I will be working all weekend to get the Blackboard course up and running. This is totally a geeky dream come true for me!

I also need to get back to writing my dissertation. I need to add additional material to my Chapters 1 and 2, and write Chapter 3.

Etc..

I baked a homemade Cherry Pie tonight for Peter. Ok, I should be honest. I used pre-made pie crust from Acme and dumped this in:

It's from a company called Chukar Cherries. Definitely pricey for pie filling - but I have a feeling it will be awesome! We first had Chukar Cherries when we were out in Seattle in the Spring of 2004. It's making the house smell so good - so that counts as homemade to me! I'm not really a pie person and I think I'll try a bit.

Pink Shoes=Happiness

monica — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:42:32 GMT

Found these today:

Love, love, love them!

Well, the best laid plans...

monica — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:10:04 GMT

don't always turn out the way you want them to. Sigh.

My doctoral HSRC (Human Subjects Review Committee) meeting was an interesting experience. I walked in with some expectations - of having my proposal signed off on and moving forward to finish up my dissertation and graduate this May. I put all my eggs in that basket so to speak.

It ended up that my committee members felt my dissertation needed some work - specifically more background information about technology integration, additional sources and so forth, and more current information about what is going on with technology integration in high school classrooms nationwide and in my district. The big piece was that my committee wants me to implement a pilot program with teachers in my school district, and collect data before and after the program by having those involved take the LoTi survey.

Now that's a good idea - really it is. If I'm honest with myself, it makes my proposal a better plan overall. It's better to collect data, research, run a program, and analyze it, and then suggest a plan of action to my school board, then to just suggest a plan based on a know gap that exists. This means, however, that I won't be graduating in May. But I was/am so disappointed. And it was Valentine's Day.

But I have the world's best husband. I came home and he totally made my night.

First, I got these beautiful tulips:

And then this awesome Hello Kitty Balloon:

And then this...

A new ZUNE!!! You can't see it from the picture, but it's engraved with a special message and a really cute design from my hubby. I've already named it. Yes, I name all of my electronics. "Her" name is "Ruby".

I made Peter dinner...

Pasta - it's heart shaped but you can't tell from the pic!

And has some pretty cool gifts for him, if I do say so myself...

A fuzzy "XO" card, A Sweetheart Spud Mr. Potato Head (it's Cupid and cute, but a little strange), and some Chuckar Cherry Sweets (specially shipped from Seattle - yummy!): Dried Bing Cherries, Cherry Pancake Mix, and Cherry Pie filling. I plan on making the pancakes tomorrow for his breakfast, and the pie Sunday night for him to enjoy this week.

I taught professional development today for my district - two sessions called "Getting Started with Podcasting". Both went really well - active participation for the most part and teachers who really seemed to want to be there. While there I came up with an idea for my pilot program for my dissertation. Hopefully I'll have some news if my idea is a go.

Big Day Tomorrow!

monica — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:48:18 GMT

1. Driving to Dover to attend the BPA State Grading day event. Turning in one of my groups of students' competition materials - super excited about that.

2. The day has come - my HSRC Meeting! 4 PM at Wilmington University. Hope I'm ready.

3. Driving home to see the hubby. Have one super sweet gift ready. Three little sweet gifts hopefully arriving by UPS tomorrow. Making dinner - pasta - red and tan pasta!

Oh, and one more thing - I gave my students really cute Valentine's Day treats today. Peter tells me I should start giving them carrots, but those aren't half as good as these are:

it's hard to believe Valentine's Day is almost here.

monica — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 02:00:56 GMT

It feels like yesterday that it was the Christmas holiday! Work has been really busy lately, as has my doctorate class. This semester is my final regular class, Managing Human and Material Resources. Only two more sessions to go. Thank goodness! I'm feeling a little antsy at this point.

Important things going on right now (or recently!)

...This past week 27 of my 38 students took their Microsoft Certified Application Specialist Exams in Word 2007 and 20 passed! Woohoo - I am SO AMAZINGLY PROUD OF THEM! They are only in 10th grade so this is a huge accomplishment. Oh, and they are the first students in Delaware to pass this test - wow!

...Peter and I are finally going back to Prague - for the first time since August 2001. We've reserved the hotel, and booked our flight. The plane tickets arrived this past week. Thank you, Uncle Sam, for paying for this spring vacation! 40 days until we leave. Oh, and my passport just arrived too:

Nothing like doing things last minute, I know. My last passport wasn't expired yet, but my name changed when we got married, so I had to get a new one. I'm really looking forward to seeing my in-laws again!

...I meet with my Human Subjects Review Committee this Thursday, Valentine's Day - hopefully that's good luck!

...I'm going back to the gym tomorrow. I've been a bum and haven't been working out. I've been working plenty, just not exercising. As much as I hate to admit it, I really feel better when I work out.

And 28 pages later...

monica — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:02:05 GMT

my dissertation proposal is done. I think. I hope.

One last review by my Mom, and it's off to my advisor tomorrow.

a productive kind of Saturday

monica — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:51:47 GMT

I spent over two and a half hours this afternoon working on my dissertation proposal. I think I'm finally done gathering material for it. Next comes APA formatting (ugh, I HATE APA FORMATTING). My official proposal reader AKA my Mom (I love you, Mom!) is now reading it. She's going to give it the big old virtual red pen so I can fix it up before sending it to my advisor hopefully tomorrow, or Monday night at the latest.

A pizza is baking in the oven right now making the house smell totally yummy. And Acme had my favorite mozzarella balls, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing salad in their pre-made salad bar. So I'm looking forward to dinner.

I even scrapped a page this morning:

Credits can be seen here.

It was a good day.