What's for supper? Rozanne's variation on a green bean casserole--cooked French style frozen green beans, sliced piece of red pepper & diced fresh Roma tomato if you have any. Add one diced small-medium red potato or whatever potato you have. Stir in can of mushroom soup with about 1/3 cup leftover cooked diced ham if you have any. Put in prepared dish (butter spray like Pam) and bake an hour or until potato is done. Oh yes. I sprinkled fresh cut onion rings on top, and when it was nearly done I put a small handful of prepared bread crumbs on top spraying with the Pam. Fantastic meal. Actually you can substitute whatever you have on hand, and it will be good just be careful on adding butter, cheese, cream and other things to raise calorie count. Oh and you want to be sure and have green beans or you can't call it green bean casserole!!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What's for Supper--Variation on a Green Bean Casserole
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 6:19pm ·
What's for supper? Rozanne's variation on a green bean casserole--cooked French style frozen green beans, sliced piece of red pepper & diced fresh Roma tomato if you have any. Add one diced small-medium red potato or whatever potato you have. Stir in can of mushroom soup with about 1/3 cup leftover cooked diced ham if you have any. Put in prepared dish (butter spray like Pam) and bake an hour or until potato is done. Oh yes. I sprinkled fresh cut onion rings on top, and when it was nearly done I put a small handful of prepared bread crumbs on top spraying with the Pam. Fantastic meal. Actually you can substitute whatever you have on hand, and it will be good just be careful on adding butter, cheese, cream and other things to raise calorie count. Oh and you want to be sure and have green beans or you can't call it green bean casserole!!
What's for supper? Rozanne's variation on a green bean casserole--cooked French style frozen green beans, sliced piece of red pepper & diced fresh Roma tomato if you have any. Add one diced small-medium red potato or whatever potato you have. Stir in can of mushroom soup with about 1/3 cup leftover cooked diced ham if you have any. Put in prepared dish (butter spray like Pam) and bake an hour or until potato is done. Oh yes. I sprinkled fresh cut onion rings on top, and when it was nearly done I put a small handful of prepared bread crumbs on top spraying with the Pam. Fantastic meal. Actually you can substitute whatever you have on hand, and it will be good just be careful on adding butter, cheese, cream and other things to raise calorie count. Oh and you want to be sure and have green beans or you can't call it green bean casserole!!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Good Start to a Sunday
I've revised "Turning Points," the poem I wrote yesterday for my blog, WBB. This will be your only notice due to a change in procedures with the buffalo.
I fixed Hoover and me scrambled eggs for breakfast. He is now hooked on having scrambled eggs and chicken broth mixed in his dogfood. He's a happy contented dog.
I'm wearing pearl earrings and a seed pearl necklace with my nightgown, and it's 1:38 pm.
I've had two cups of coffee with half and half and a cup of tea as well as my vitamins.
Nothing like clipping out on Sunday a page of exercises from Family Circle magazine and recipes for lowfat doughnuts and cherry tomato & prosciutto focaccia ( otherwise known as pizza) to jumpstart your weight loss program.
Makeup artist did a complete makeover on my face, a look created especially for seniors who are really rebel teenagers at heart, no Botox or plastic surgery involved. Cost effective in these hard economic times, in that I was the makeup artist.
Big decision--do I want to spend most of the afternoon in a union meeting on the other side of Turner field or do I want to take a walk? The women are outnumbered by the men ten to one. In my book Sunday afternoons are made for naps.
The dishes are done, the clothes are washed, but the taxes and the IATSE reimbursement form for my medical expense is yet to be started.
If you've read this far, you will know the check is in the mail for my amends I have at this time turned down interviews on 60 Minutes, with Barbara Walters for 20/20, and the Oprah Show to make public amends for my untold number of mistakes as a mother. At a later date I will make a public apology to the entire world not only for my mistakes as a mother but my contributions to global warming as well as to the decline of western civilization in the 20th and 21st century.
For now this is all. The big decision awaits my answer immediately: union meeting, walks or nap for Sunday afternoon. I only have 50 minutes left to dress and drive across town. Looks like the nap is 3 laps ahead of the meeting!
I fixed Hoover and me scrambled eggs for breakfast. He is now hooked on having scrambled eggs and chicken broth mixed in his dogfood. He's a happy contented dog.
I'm wearing pearl earrings and a seed pearl necklace with my nightgown, and it's 1:38 pm.
I've had two cups of coffee with half and half and a cup of tea as well as my vitamins.
Nothing like clipping out on Sunday a page of exercises from Family Circle magazine and recipes for lowfat doughnuts and cherry tomato & prosciutto focaccia ( otherwise known as pizza) to jumpstart your weight loss program.
Makeup artist did a complete makeover on my face, a look created especially for seniors who are really rebel teenagers at heart, no Botox or plastic surgery involved. Cost effective in these hard economic times, in that I was the makeup artist.
Big decision--do I want to spend most of the afternoon in a union meeting on the other side of Turner field or do I want to take a walk? The women are outnumbered by the men ten to one. In my book Sunday afternoons are made for naps.
The dishes are done, the clothes are washed, but the taxes and the IATSE reimbursement form for my medical expense is yet to be started.
If you've read this far, you will know the check is in the mail for my amends I have at this time turned down interviews on 60 Minutes, with Barbara Walters for 20/20, and the Oprah Show to make public amends for my untold number of mistakes as a mother. At a later date I will make a public apology to the entire world not only for my mistakes as a mother but my contributions to global warming as well as to the decline of western civilization in the 20th and 21st century.
For now this is all. The big decision awaits my answer immediately: union meeting, walks or nap for Sunday afternoon. I only have 50 minutes left to dress and drive across town. Looks like the nap is 3 laps ahead of the meeting!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Turning Point
You come to a corner
and go straight
or turn left or right
but unless there's a barricade,
man-made or natural,
you rarely turn back.
But in a life turning points
may be a zigzag or a curve,
even a dead end with no choice
but to backup and start over.
A book The Stranger by Camus
a philosophy course, a friend or
a trip to Spain, a broken marriage,
a loss of trust in those you love.
A life or death decision,
the death of a friend--
for you it was not one thing.
(2nd draft)
****************************
Turning Point
We all know the meaning
you come to a corner
and you go straight
or you turn left or right
but rarely, unless there is
a barricade man-made or natural
would you ever turn back.
But in a life these turning points
are sometimes a zigzag or a curve
and even a dead end with no choice
but to backup and start over.
It may be a book you read,
Camus' The Stranger,
a philosophy course, a friend or
a trip to Spain, a broken marriage,
a loss of trust in those you love.
A life or death decision,
the death of a friend,
for me it was not one thing.
(first draft) still in progress
and go straight
or turn left or right
but unless there's a barricade,
man-made or natural,
you rarely turn back.
But in a life turning points
may be a zigzag or a curve,
even a dead end with no choice
but to backup and start over.
A book The Stranger by Camus
a philosophy course, a friend or
a trip to Spain, a broken marriage,
a loss of trust in those you love.
A life or death decision,
the death of a friend--
for you it was not one thing.
(2nd draft)
****************************
Turning Point
We all know the meaning
you come to a corner
and you go straight
or you turn left or right
but rarely, unless there is
a barricade man-made or natural
would you ever turn back.
But in a life these turning points
are sometimes a zigzag or a curve
and even a dead end with no choice
but to backup and start over.
It may be a book you read,
Camus' The Stranger,
a philosophy course, a friend or
a trip to Spain, a broken marriage,
a loss of trust in those you love.
A life or death decision,
the death of a friend,
for me it was not one thing.
(first draft) still in progress
Friday, February 19, 2010
Random Thoughts
Feb 19, 2010 at 7:40 AM, Rozanne
A Zebra was running on the expressway yesterday. He escaped from the circus at Phoenix Arena.
(First grade class yesterday waiting for counselor to come speak to class)
Me: What does the counselor do?
Student: She does what she does?
Atlanta has Las Vegas weather for a while. We will have a high of 60• tomorrow, and 55• today.
Teacher who doesn't want to teach today--I take the phone off the hook and don't return messages.
It's good everyone who's frustrated with the IRS doesn't fly a plane into one of its buildings. I'm also glad every professor who doesn't get tenure doesn't shoot and kill her coworkers.
I can't wait to see Ralph, the world's largest bunny, on The Early Show. That's right up there with more about Tiger Woods' apology for adultery. Who needs God, a 12 step program, therapy, priests and confession when you can call a press conference? Guess it's a slow news day.
I wonder if I should call a press conference and publicly apologize on TV to my children for all my shortcomings as a mom and promise to be a better mom for the rest of my life.
Maybe today I'll start the Southbeach Diet and resume the battle of the bulge.
Thrill of the day--I take off the CPAP mask and get a cup of coffee in my new favorite cup. I am not giving up coffee on the Southbeach Diet.
Question: What should I give up for Lent?
Answer: Skydiving; hiking in the dessert; trying out for American Idol, Biggest Loser, and Survivor; watching The Bachelor, Jerry Springer, and The 700 Club. I hope that will be enough of a sacrifice.
It is time to meditate and clear my mind of any other random thoughts left after sharing my random thoughts on cyber paper with my two sons. Have a great day. I love you much.
Mom
Feb 19, 2010, at 10:39 AM, David
So within 6 months zebras *and* fish have been on the Atlanta expressways.
You don't need to hold a press conference. Checks will do just fine. ;-)
I wonder if the professor's emotional volatility had anything to do with his not getting tenure?
Is the CPAP working?
Love you,
David
Feb 19, 2010, at 11:32 AM, Thomas
I don’t watch TV anymore. For months really. I think it’s uncreative. I do however have dreams similar to zebras walking down the street. Nice visual of the fish and zebras. Mom, I cancelled my Bank of America account. They screwed me for the last time. Now I’m going to devote a lot of photography to smear them. I’m joining teams with a lawyer in town to combat them. They will eat themselves alive before it’s all over. As one of my friends says, it’s really Bank of India. She sends payments to them, Bank of America/India. Nothing has been returned yet. They are all crooked liars. They basically kept me on that day you and I went to the bank so they could raise the percent interest up a little more.
Thomas
Feb 19, 2010, at 12:45 PM, David
Okay, I'll bite: what happened with Bank of America? All the credit card companies went nuts last year because of new regulations that kicked in this month. They had to get all their cheating in at the last minute.
I had an automatic transfer set up between my Chase bank account and my Chase credit card. They raised the minimum to $10 over the autopay so I got charged a late fee and they raised my APR to almost 30%. Yes, 29%. That's the kind of thing the new regulations prevent.
Send a thank you note to Senators Dodd and Gillenbrand of CT and NY for sponsoring the legislation.
David
Feb 19, 2010, at 11:57 AM, Rozanne
Good for you. Did you get back with girl at the bank here in town you talked to so she can follow up and see what happened? She'll get something done; she did for me but it took persistence.
Get pictures of the foreclosures in Las Vegas, interview the family, and find out which bank foreclosed on them. Document, document, document. This is as important to history as the dust bowl, the depression, etc. Maybe you can get an artists' grant to do your project. I'm sure Las Vegas has some kind of arts council. There may be grants from national arts foundations. Google them and apply for a grant with all of them. I had a grant from a local civic association to fund my poetry projects for kids in inner city schools. I even got the utility company to publish about 1000 copies of my book of poetry of the elderly though I did the layout and design as well as typed it all in the precomputer days.
The grants are out there, and so is money from corporations. I bet all the small businesses near you would support you at least $500 or maybe even $5000 as a tax write off. Talk to Chamber of Commerce, civic organizations like the Kiwanis, and realtors.
Understate by a photo and an interview of what's really happening to ordinary people like you. Be sure and get a signed release for photo and interview. I think the economy is the biggest issue-- people going under by losing jobs, escalating health bills because of lack of health insurance, and high credit card fees/credit card debt. Start locally and move out. In fact start where you live with your own circumstance.
Mom
Feb 19, 2010, at 12:45 PM, David
Yeah, I agree Thomas. NV is at the epicenter of a historical period. You're lucky to be there with talent to document.
Check out Walker Evans.
David
Feb 19, 2010 1:52 PM Rozanne
Yes, definitely Walker Evans. I think that's who I meant when I said Edward Weston. Check out both of them. You are definitely as good a photographer plus you have more technical equipment than they did
I only had small grants, but it was enough to give me legitimacy so I could do my poetry projects. ($700 or $1000). I also got a grant from a civic organization. This was all about the time of the custody junk-- I was the unstable artist. David was in middle school and you were in first grade when I did the poetry in six or seven intown schools on my little bitty grants. It got me in the door as I was sponsored by city and county grants, etc.
You can do it, Thomas. At least you don't have two young children and a custody suit accusing you of being an unfit father. I was about your age when I did all that. David probably remembers more than you do. I still have all the 100s of children's poems from that era during the child murders. Also I have multiple photos and poems of the elderly in that period. I was quite prolific at the time, but soon I was in so much grief I only wrote about custody for years and abandoned my work with children and the elderly. I bet David would help you write your first grant. Besides I bet he could write some grand haiku to go with your photos and interviews.
I think I told you for years I wanted to travel across country, live in shelters, interview folks, take photos and write poems of folks who end up in such dire circumstances. Instead, I've gone the incognito route, mainstream route, substituting in schools. Now I've lost the desire to go on the road. Do it now because this creative
Mom
A Zebra was running on the expressway yesterday. He escaped from the circus at Phoenix Arena.
(First grade class yesterday waiting for counselor to come speak to class)
Me: What does the counselor do?
Student: She does what she does?
Atlanta has Las Vegas weather for a while. We will have a high of 60• tomorrow, and 55• today.
Teacher who doesn't want to teach today--I take the phone off the hook and don't return messages.
It's good everyone who's frustrated with the IRS doesn't fly a plane into one of its buildings. I'm also glad every professor who doesn't get tenure doesn't shoot and kill her coworkers.
I can't wait to see Ralph, the world's largest bunny, on The Early Show. That's right up there with more about Tiger Woods' apology for adultery. Who needs God, a 12 step program, therapy, priests and confession when you can call a press conference? Guess it's a slow news day.
I wonder if I should call a press conference and publicly apologize on TV to my children for all my shortcomings as a mom and promise to be a better mom for the rest of my life.
Maybe today I'll start the Southbeach Diet and resume the battle of the bulge.
Thrill of the day--I take off the CPAP mask and get a cup of coffee in my new favorite cup. I am not giving up coffee on the Southbeach Diet.
Question: What should I give up for Lent?
Answer: Skydiving; hiking in the dessert; trying out for American Idol, Biggest Loser, and Survivor; watching The Bachelor, Jerry Springer, and The 700 Club. I hope that will be enough of a sacrifice.
It is time to meditate and clear my mind of any other random thoughts left after sharing my random thoughts on cyber paper with my two sons. Have a great day. I love you much.
Mom
Feb 19, 2010, at 10:39 AM, David
So within 6 months zebras *and* fish have been on the Atlanta expressways.
You don't need to hold a press conference. Checks will do just fine. ;-)
I wonder if the professor's emotional volatility had anything to do with his not getting tenure?
Is the CPAP working?
Love you,
David
Feb 19, 2010, at 11:32 AM, Thomas
I don’t watch TV anymore. For months really. I think it’s uncreative. I do however have dreams similar to zebras walking down the street. Nice visual of the fish and zebras. Mom, I cancelled my Bank of America account. They screwed me for the last time. Now I’m going to devote a lot of photography to smear them. I’m joining teams with a lawyer in town to combat them. They will eat themselves alive before it’s all over. As one of my friends says, it’s really Bank of India. She sends payments to them, Bank of America/India. Nothing has been returned yet. They are all crooked liars. They basically kept me on that day you and I went to the bank so they could raise the percent interest up a little more.
Thomas
Feb 19, 2010, at 12:45 PM, David
Okay, I'll bite: what happened with Bank of America? All the credit card companies went nuts last year because of new regulations that kicked in this month. They had to get all their cheating in at the last minute.
I had an automatic transfer set up between my Chase bank account and my Chase credit card. They raised the minimum to $10 over the autopay so I got charged a late fee and they raised my APR to almost 30%. Yes, 29%. That's the kind of thing the new regulations prevent.
Send a thank you note to Senators Dodd and Gillenbrand of CT and NY for sponsoring the legislation.
David
Feb 19, 2010, at 11:57 AM, Rozanne
Good for you. Did you get back with girl at the bank here in town you talked to so she can follow up and see what happened? She'll get something done; she did for me but it took persistence.
Get pictures of the foreclosures in Las Vegas, interview the family, and find out which bank foreclosed on them. Document, document, document. This is as important to history as the dust bowl, the depression, etc. Maybe you can get an artists' grant to do your project. I'm sure Las Vegas has some kind of arts council. There may be grants from national arts foundations. Google them and apply for a grant with all of them. I had a grant from a local civic association to fund my poetry projects for kids in inner city schools. I even got the utility company to publish about 1000 copies of my book of poetry of the elderly though I did the layout and design as well as typed it all in the precomputer days.
The grants are out there, and so is money from corporations. I bet all the small businesses near you would support you at least $500 or maybe even $5000 as a tax write off. Talk to Chamber of Commerce, civic organizations like the Kiwanis, and realtors.
Understate by a photo and an interview of what's really happening to ordinary people like you. Be sure and get a signed release for photo and interview. I think the economy is the biggest issue-- people going under by losing jobs, escalating health bills because of lack of health insurance, and high credit card fees/credit card debt. Start locally and move out. In fact start where you live with your own circumstance.
Mom
Feb 19, 2010, at 12:45 PM, David
Yeah, I agree Thomas. NV is at the epicenter of a historical period. You're lucky to be there with talent to document.
Check out Walker Evans.
David
Feb 19, 2010 1:52 PM Rozanne
Yes, definitely Walker Evans. I think that's who I meant when I said Edward Weston. Check out both of them. You are definitely as good a photographer plus you have more technical equipment than they did
I only had small grants, but it was enough to give me legitimacy so I could do my poetry projects. ($700 or $1000). I also got a grant from a civic organization. This was all about the time of the custody junk-- I was the unstable artist. David was in middle school and you were in first grade when I did the poetry in six or seven intown schools on my little bitty grants. It got me in the door as I was sponsored by city and county grants, etc.
You can do it, Thomas. At least you don't have two young children and a custody suit accusing you of being an unfit father. I was about your age when I did all that. David probably remembers more than you do. I still have all the 100s of children's poems from that era during the child murders. Also I have multiple photos and poems of the elderly in that period. I was quite prolific at the time, but soon I was in so much grief I only wrote about custody for years and abandoned my work with children and the elderly. I bet David would help you write your first grant. Besides I bet he could write some grand haiku to go with your photos and interviews.
I think I told you for years I wanted to travel across country, live in shelters, interview folks, take photos and write poems of folks who end up in such dire circumstances. Instead, I've gone the incognito route, mainstream route, substituting in schools. Now I've lost the desire to go on the road. Do it now because this creative
Mom
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Emory Sleep Center
What a coincidence that I had some testing done for sleep apnea in the Emory Sleep Center, an outpatient center on the campus of Wesley Woods Hospital in Atlanta, the same month that a 25 year old man died during the testing. I was there January 2, and he was there January 23rd. He died of cardiorespiratory arrest (or his heart stopped suddenly and without warning). He had other predisposing conditions--overweight, diabetic, and high blood pressure. His family questioned whether he died of neglect from the Emory Sleep Center staff.
I read the news article with interest and anxiety, wondering if they were, indeed, talking about the same sleep center I visited on two occasions for the testing and treatment of sleep apnea. I was very impressed with the staff of technicians both times. I thought at the time I'd never seen such professionalism and kindness. I had a very cozy and clean room to myself, not unlike a very nice hotel room with a most comfortable bed, bathroom, shower, desk and chair. The technician went to great lengths to make certain I was comfortable, plenty of bottled water at bedtime and orange juice and coffee for breakfast. Each time the technician was very gentle as she prepared me for the testing with all the various wires on my head and body. The second time I was there to sleep with the CPAP machine and mask. The technician was quite patient with me as I took such a long time to decide which mask was more comfortable.
The next morning they brought in paper work for me to fill out while I finished my juice and coffee and to reflect on the night's sleep. I know each different time I was there the technicians were on call for any time I needed them. The first evening a technician came in to adjust my various wires as I had pulled one of them out. Each of them came in at least once to help me get to the bathroom. I had trouble deciding which one I liked best. When I had a different technician the second trip, I was disappointed as I had been so pleased with the first technician. It didn't take long till I adored the second technician. I'd tell her how I didn't know how they could test me as last time I didn't sleep at all. She laughed and told me that's what everybody says, but you did sleep. It's all on record and that I just think I'm not sleeping because I only remember the times I was awake.
We all left together that next morning early January 3. It was an empty parking lot as the other patient had already left. So the three of us said goodbye like we were old friends in a freezing parking lot at 7:00 in the morning of the new year, 2010. Fortunately, as I read the news article about the young man dying, I realized his other conditions must have had more to do with his death than the quality of his care at the Emory Sleep Center. I'm sure more will be revealed if the family proceeds with a lawsuit. I would have the test all over again if it meant finding out that I have serious sleep apnea and what to do about it. With comments from the Mother such as "You don't go to a sleep study to die" may discourage people like me from seeking treatment for sleep apnea; and then they may die anyway from complications of sleep apnea such as a stroke and heart failure.
For further reference, the latest update I found was a post by WSBTV on February 15, 2010. The link: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/22568551/detail.html?taf=atl.
I read the news article with interest and anxiety, wondering if they were, indeed, talking about the same sleep center I visited on two occasions for the testing and treatment of sleep apnea. I was very impressed with the staff of technicians both times. I thought at the time I'd never seen such professionalism and kindness. I had a very cozy and clean room to myself, not unlike a very nice hotel room with a most comfortable bed, bathroom, shower, desk and chair. The technician went to great lengths to make certain I was comfortable, plenty of bottled water at bedtime and orange juice and coffee for breakfast. Each time the technician was very gentle as she prepared me for the testing with all the various wires on my head and body. The second time I was there to sleep with the CPAP machine and mask. The technician was quite patient with me as I took such a long time to decide which mask was more comfortable.
The next morning they brought in paper work for me to fill out while I finished my juice and coffee and to reflect on the night's sleep. I know each different time I was there the technicians were on call for any time I needed them. The first evening a technician came in to adjust my various wires as I had pulled one of them out. Each of them came in at least once to help me get to the bathroom. I had trouble deciding which one I liked best. When I had a different technician the second trip, I was disappointed as I had been so pleased with the first technician. It didn't take long till I adored the second technician. I'd tell her how I didn't know how they could test me as last time I didn't sleep at all. She laughed and told me that's what everybody says, but you did sleep. It's all on record and that I just think I'm not sleeping because I only remember the times I was awake.
We all left together that next morning early January 3. It was an empty parking lot as the other patient had already left. So the three of us said goodbye like we were old friends in a freezing parking lot at 7:00 in the morning of the new year, 2010. Fortunately, as I read the news article about the young man dying, I realized his other conditions must have had more to do with his death than the quality of his care at the Emory Sleep Center. I'm sure more will be revealed if the family proceeds with a lawsuit. I would have the test all over again if it meant finding out that I have serious sleep apnea and what to do about it. With comments from the Mother such as "You don't go to a sleep study to die" may discourage people like me from seeking treatment for sleep apnea; and then they may die anyway from complications of sleep apnea such as a stroke and heart failure.
For further reference, the latest update I found was a post by WSBTV on February 15, 2010. The link: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/22568551/detail.html?taf=atl.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Internet Addiction
Today is like most days except it's Monday, and it's Presidents' Day. It also marks the melting of our weekend snowfall. I notice all the snow is gone in the yard but a few tiny spots here and there, sort of like a pimple on the face of the earth.
My day begins with removing my mask and CPAP paraphernalia for the sleep apnea. I'm still not sure about this new bed partner that is supposed to help me sleep better. Much as I hate to admit it after starting the coffee in the kitchen, I return to bed to check my E-mail, Facebook and Twitter as well as the weather. The coffee's ready so I pour myself a cup of coffee in my new pink cup I got on sale at San Francisco Coffee Shop. I get attached to cups, and this one has been the cup of the month for several weeks.
So now we're ready for serious reading as my morning moves along. I begin with a few pieces in the New York Times, as well as more local news on Yahoo. If it weren't a holiday and I were teaching, this step would be omitted for getting dressed and out the door. In between news items I feed the dog and water the plants. These are my housemates--thirty plants and one wheaten terrier.
With every intention of reading only a few more minutes, I instead check my E-mail again as I get a beep on my iPhone. So far today I've had emails from Macy's, Overstock, Staples, Cook.com, and several other pieces of junk mail. It wasn't really worth the interruption except for my sister's short E-mail to let me know she got my E-mail telling her the article she sent me yesterday about cellphones blowing up if you talk to someone while the phone is recharging was listed as an urban legend on Snopes.com. I guess I really should change my iPhone settings it won't beep when I get Facebook updates or E-mails.
However, this interruption reminds me I'm hungry; thus I eat a banana while I make myself a bowl of oatmeal and pour another cup of coffee. I heard the other day on Dr. Oz that if you take your multivitamin after a meal, it is more effective in making you alert. I don't know that I saw any difference taking the multivitamin, calcium and Vitamin C after eating the oatmeal and berries. I returned to my iPhone to read some more; after all, it is a holiday, and who cares if I'm still in my nightgown. By now I've been up a couple of hours with an early start on a holiday at about 7:00 am.
*********************
I'm continuing this post after a long break looking for an essay I read this morning about how such things as getting E-mails are such a distraction from concentration and trying not to check E-mails are also a distraction. It was an excellent article, but I didn't bookmark it because I felt I'd have no problem finding it again in my history on the iPhone. After checking the New York Times and other news groups I'd read this morning, I never found it. I did find another very good article, however, on the same subject which is the reason I started writing this post today. The latest article, in case you'd rather read it than what I'm writing is: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200910/easily-distracted-why-its-hard-focus-and-what-do-about-it.
Actually I suggest you definitely read it also, but do not read it until after you read my post today. I wouldn't want you to lose your focus. The first article I read got me to thinking about the interruption in focus when you stop to check your E-mail, Facebook, or Twitter. (I do all three, by the way.) It was more a first person piece the woman had written talking about how much time she loses by stopping to answer her E-mail or phone, and how much time she loses by trying not to stop and answer anything.
By the time I read the article this morning, I had settled into an Internet splurge so to speak or in terms of food I guess you would call it a binge. Now I did not consider it thus as I have no demands on my time today, and I like to read. But with the Internet, sometimes it's hard to remember where I read what, and I'm always shifting from one thing to another. For example, did you stop in the middle of this post to read the Psychology Today article. That's the kind of thing I often do. I'm reading along, and there's a link to something else so I'll read it too. I know one site I read the entire article, liked it; then I read multiple posts on the same site only to find out the person's only experience at "mind over matter" in reference to pain was her own experience and a few websites she quoted. Then I noticed she had a consulting fee for so much a minute if you wanted help with controlling your pain threshold.
So before I go any further, there are no fees, and I'm giving no advice on Internet addiction or lack of focus created by interruptions from E-mail, etc. I'm just telling a story of my morning. Then if you can relate to this, you can discuss it with your shrink, your spouse, or whomever it is you talk to about personal things. Unfortunately, or fortunately I might say, the history of my morning is on my iPhone (with exception of the one article I'm trying to find).
In order to be more concise I'm not going to list everything in my history for today, but suffice it to say there must be over 100 entries. I started with a Google search for Bing as I thought I'd rather try a different search engine than Google. That took several tries as for some reason Google didn't want me to find Bing. After a few tries of looking for a friend online, about ten searches, I read an article on CNN about "Happy (former) Presidents Day" that posted 2/14. I read a few things on Fox, the New York Times, local news on Channel 11 (my converter box for my TV is broken), such as which Atlanta stores have sales. Gee whiz, is there a store in Atlanta that doesn't have a sale on President's Day? However, I definitely need to get to Filene's Basement with up to 90% off of their winter inventory
Somewhere in here this morning I have fed the dog and eaten breakfast, but I have not dressed. I decide to check out eDiets Glycemic Index online and find out which diets are legitimate as I am debating on trying the Southbeach Diet again as I sit here and drink another cup of coffee and surf the Internet. Finally, I'm back to searching for the friend another ten or twenty places. I am quite a researcher you know, even in the day before the Internet and Google. This goes on a while, and I check Facebook and Twitter again. I've had some E-mails, all junk except a note from my sister and the senior exemption for my car tag. I did stop long enough from my surfing spree to print the exemption, sign it, and put it in the envelope to mail when it's no longer a holiday. I also read my sister's E-mail. She wrote of three major car pileups on the Interstate today in Kansas City. One was a 50 car pile up, another 30 car pile up, and another 15 car pile up. She said that earlier today there was such a blizzard she couldn't see the houses behind her house. I then went back to googling this friend. I could just ask the friend, but it's so much more intellectually stimulating to search for the person like he were a fugitive.
I must stop this I tell myself. So I get dressed and eat lunch, do one or two chores such as put the recycling in the bin, heat up my leftover homemade spinach soup to which I now add leftover broccoli and cabbage. What a great soup! I must write down what I did; it's so delicious. I'm all dressed, and I could go to the gym to exercise, but instead I check my E-mail, and next thing you know, I have a message on my screen from Facebook, "So and so commented on your picture." Why any rational person would want to see what they said, besides it's President's Day, and I don't have to be anywhere I again remind myself.
I finish this checking Facebook and decide while I'm looking for people maybe I should see if my ex-husband has any remarkable new things in a Google search. That's good for about fifteen more searches including reading his updated vitae. I do ask myself why I'm doing this? I realize it is time to stop when I start thinking how many things on the vitae happened before we divorced. So I do the next logical thing, I decide to Google my own self. That took about twenty-five more searches as some of these things I decided I better read and see what they're saying. Just why for example am I listed in The Hollywood Reporter , and why is there a link in Chinese to my name. "Wait a minute," I say to myself. "I need to have my name removed from Google. It looks like I'm famous; but for goodness sake, I'm just a teacher My blog is almost anonymous as it doesn't even have my last name.
You can see why I'm beginning to question some of the stuff I read about in the first article about E-mail and Internet interruptions. I tell myself I have no interruptions except to stop surfing the net and eat or feed the dog or water the plants. So it's no problem for me or else I'm in denial. Finally after all this swimming in the cyberocean without a life raft, I decide maybe I should do what I had planned to do in the first place today and write. So I go to my blog, The White Buffalo Bonanza, and I begin writing about Internet addiction. It has crossed my mind this morning that maybe I might have this disease. However, before I can continue writing, I need to go back to the Internet and look again for the first article to reread it. In the meantime I read the Psychology Today article and that brings us to the present where I started writing about my day.
I still don't know what to think about Internet addiction, but I have had an enlightened moment about teaching. There are too many interruptions in the school for kids to focus. The last thing they need is the Internet in the classroom. For them it's like having their iPhone in hand, and it's constantly calling them. Elementary kids always want to finish something quickly so they can go play games online. I then recalled a high school student I tutored who insisted on listening to music on his Ipod while he did his assignments. His mother agreed that he definitely focused better when he was listening to music. At the time I wondered if this was a new learning strategy that I had missed. I think I may print out the article and keep in my notebook for the next time a student wants to tell me how good he is at multitasking or listening to music while working algebra problems.
In closing I must say I have not looked at my E-mail, Facebook or Twitter since I resumed writing after I typed the Psychology Today link and began the fifth paragraph. Well, that's almost true, I did look back at today's history on my iPhone to refresh my memory. I'm feeling a little guilty because I think the history was much longer in reality than what I've written about, but the iPhone kept cutting off while I was counting to see the number of searches.
Hopefully, while the encyclopedia of mental disorders is being revised that as they drop Asberger's Syndrome and the diagnosis of bi-polar disorder for children, they will include "Internet Addiction" and a section on Facebook, Twitter, and E-mail. I think one time when they brought it up-to-date, they changed "Retarded" to "Mentally Challenged." The classification I learned in college psychology no longer applied, such as idiots, imbeciles, and morons. I suggest they simplify addiction to everything. I can get addicted to a pencil or my cup as noted in the beginning of my post about my pink cup. Besides another twenty years, Multitasking may be classified as genius and addiction as commitment.
****************
P.S. Maybe I will post this as is, after spellcheck, and then come back for serious editing later, or maybe not. It's a journal, after all!!!! Just for the record, I checked my E-mail for the first time since I resumed writing on my blog today. I have another E-mail from my sister about the weather that says there is now snow in all fifty states including Hawaii. I'm still opening two more E-mails on my other account. One is from my university, "Baylor Proud Newsflash: Starr named Baylor's 14th President (Feb. 15, 2010)." Oh my gosh I am going to be very sick right now. I almost deleted it without opening it, and I would have missed learning that Ken Starr, the Ken Starr, is the new President of Baylor University. I may have to stop right now and read this. The other Email from my cousin about a senior eye exam with print too small for me to read will have to wait till after I finish reading Baylor's E-mail. So much for writing today. Now you know if I had checked my last batch of E-mails earlier, this post might never been written. I am in a totally different place learning that my Alma mater has a new president on Presidents' Day, of all things. That will be my next post. Stay tuned.
My day begins with removing my mask and CPAP paraphernalia for the sleep apnea. I'm still not sure about this new bed partner that is supposed to help me sleep better. Much as I hate to admit it after starting the coffee in the kitchen, I return to bed to check my E-mail, Facebook and Twitter as well as the weather. The coffee's ready so I pour myself a cup of coffee in my new pink cup I got on sale at San Francisco Coffee Shop. I get attached to cups, and this one has been the cup of the month for several weeks.
So now we're ready for serious reading as my morning moves along. I begin with a few pieces in the New York Times, as well as more local news on Yahoo. If it weren't a holiday and I were teaching, this step would be omitted for getting dressed and out the door. In between news items I feed the dog and water the plants. These are my housemates--thirty plants and one wheaten terrier.
With every intention of reading only a few more minutes, I instead check my E-mail again as I get a beep on my iPhone. So far today I've had emails from Macy's, Overstock, Staples, Cook.com, and several other pieces of junk mail. It wasn't really worth the interruption except for my sister's short E-mail to let me know she got my E-mail telling her the article she sent me yesterday about cellphones blowing up if you talk to someone while the phone is recharging was listed as an urban legend on Snopes.com. I guess I really should change my iPhone settings it won't beep when I get Facebook updates or E-mails.
However, this interruption reminds me I'm hungry; thus I eat a banana while I make myself a bowl of oatmeal and pour another cup of coffee. I heard the other day on Dr. Oz that if you take your multivitamin after a meal, it is more effective in making you alert. I don't know that I saw any difference taking the multivitamin, calcium and Vitamin C after eating the oatmeal and berries. I returned to my iPhone to read some more; after all, it is a holiday, and who cares if I'm still in my nightgown. By now I've been up a couple of hours with an early start on a holiday at about 7:00 am.
*********************
I'm continuing this post after a long break looking for an essay I read this morning about how such things as getting E-mails are such a distraction from concentration and trying not to check E-mails are also a distraction. It was an excellent article, but I didn't bookmark it because I felt I'd have no problem finding it again in my history on the iPhone. After checking the New York Times and other news groups I'd read this morning, I never found it. I did find another very good article, however, on the same subject which is the reason I started writing this post today. The latest article, in case you'd rather read it than what I'm writing is: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200910/easily-distracted-why-its-hard-focus-and-what-do-about-it.
Actually I suggest you definitely read it also, but do not read it until after you read my post today. I wouldn't want you to lose your focus. The first article I read got me to thinking about the interruption in focus when you stop to check your E-mail, Facebook, or Twitter. (I do all three, by the way.) It was more a first person piece the woman had written talking about how much time she loses by stopping to answer her E-mail or phone, and how much time she loses by trying not to stop and answer anything.
By the time I read the article this morning, I had settled into an Internet splurge so to speak or in terms of food I guess you would call it a binge. Now I did not consider it thus as I have no demands on my time today, and I like to read. But with the Internet, sometimes it's hard to remember where I read what, and I'm always shifting from one thing to another. For example, did you stop in the middle of this post to read the Psychology Today article. That's the kind of thing I often do. I'm reading along, and there's a link to something else so I'll read it too. I know one site I read the entire article, liked it; then I read multiple posts on the same site only to find out the person's only experience at "mind over matter" in reference to pain was her own experience and a few websites she quoted. Then I noticed she had a consulting fee for so much a minute if you wanted help with controlling your pain threshold.
So before I go any further, there are no fees, and I'm giving no advice on Internet addiction or lack of focus created by interruptions from E-mail, etc. I'm just telling a story of my morning. Then if you can relate to this, you can discuss it with your shrink, your spouse, or whomever it is you talk to about personal things. Unfortunately, or fortunately I might say, the history of my morning is on my iPhone (with exception of the one article I'm trying to find).
In order to be more concise I'm not going to list everything in my history for today, but suffice it to say there must be over 100 entries. I started with a Google search for Bing as I thought I'd rather try a different search engine than Google. That took several tries as for some reason Google didn't want me to find Bing. After a few tries of looking for a friend online, about ten searches, I read an article on CNN about "Happy (former) Presidents Day" that posted 2/14. I read a few things on Fox, the New York Times, local news on Channel 11 (my converter box for my TV is broken), such as which Atlanta stores have sales. Gee whiz, is there a store in Atlanta that doesn't have a sale on President's Day? However, I definitely need to get to Filene's Basement with up to 90% off of their winter inventory
Somewhere in here this morning I have fed the dog and eaten breakfast, but I have not dressed. I decide to check out eDiets Glycemic Index online and find out which diets are legitimate as I am debating on trying the Southbeach Diet again as I sit here and drink another cup of coffee and surf the Internet. Finally, I'm back to searching for the friend another ten or twenty places. I am quite a researcher you know, even in the day before the Internet and Google. This goes on a while, and I check Facebook and Twitter again. I've had some E-mails, all junk except a note from my sister and the senior exemption for my car tag. I did stop long enough from my surfing spree to print the exemption, sign it, and put it in the envelope to mail when it's no longer a holiday. I also read my sister's E-mail. She wrote of three major car pileups on the Interstate today in Kansas City. One was a 50 car pile up, another 30 car pile up, and another 15 car pile up. She said that earlier today there was such a blizzard she couldn't see the houses behind her house. I then went back to googling this friend. I could just ask the friend, but it's so much more intellectually stimulating to search for the person like he were a fugitive.
I must stop this I tell myself. So I get dressed and eat lunch, do one or two chores such as put the recycling in the bin, heat up my leftover homemade spinach soup to which I now add leftover broccoli and cabbage. What a great soup! I must write down what I did; it's so delicious. I'm all dressed, and I could go to the gym to exercise, but instead I check my E-mail, and next thing you know, I have a message on my screen from Facebook, "So and so commented on your picture." Why any rational person would want to see what they said, besides it's President's Day, and I don't have to be anywhere I again remind myself.
I finish this checking Facebook and decide while I'm looking for people maybe I should see if my ex-husband has any remarkable new things in a Google search. That's good for about fifteen more searches including reading his updated vitae. I do ask myself why I'm doing this? I realize it is time to stop when I start thinking how many things on the vitae happened before we divorced. So I do the next logical thing, I decide to Google my own self. That took about twenty-five more searches as some of these things I decided I better read and see what they're saying. Just why for example am I listed in The Hollywood Reporter , and why is there a link in Chinese to my name. "Wait a minute," I say to myself. "I need to have my name removed from Google. It looks like I'm famous; but for goodness sake, I'm just a teacher My blog is almost anonymous as it doesn't even have my last name.
You can see why I'm beginning to question some of the stuff I read about in the first article about E-mail and Internet interruptions. I tell myself I have no interruptions except to stop surfing the net and eat or feed the dog or water the plants. So it's no problem for me or else I'm in denial. Finally after all this swimming in the cyberocean without a life raft, I decide maybe I should do what I had planned to do in the first place today and write. So I go to my blog, The White Buffalo Bonanza, and I begin writing about Internet addiction. It has crossed my mind this morning that maybe I might have this disease. However, before I can continue writing, I need to go back to the Internet and look again for the first article to reread it. In the meantime I read the Psychology Today article and that brings us to the present where I started writing about my day.
I still don't know what to think about Internet addiction, but I have had an enlightened moment about teaching. There are too many interruptions in the school for kids to focus. The last thing they need is the Internet in the classroom. For them it's like having their iPhone in hand, and it's constantly calling them. Elementary kids always want to finish something quickly so they can go play games online. I then recalled a high school student I tutored who insisted on listening to music on his Ipod while he did his assignments. His mother agreed that he definitely focused better when he was listening to music. At the time I wondered if this was a new learning strategy that I had missed. I think I may print out the article and keep in my notebook for the next time a student wants to tell me how good he is at multitasking or listening to music while working algebra problems.
In closing I must say I have not looked at my E-mail, Facebook or Twitter since I resumed writing after I typed the Psychology Today link and began the fifth paragraph. Well, that's almost true, I did look back at today's history on my iPhone to refresh my memory. I'm feeling a little guilty because I think the history was much longer in reality than what I've written about, but the iPhone kept cutting off while I was counting to see the number of searches.
Hopefully, while the encyclopedia of mental disorders is being revised that as they drop Asberger's Syndrome and the diagnosis of bi-polar disorder for children, they will include "Internet Addiction" and a section on Facebook, Twitter, and E-mail. I think one time when they brought it up-to-date, they changed "Retarded" to "Mentally Challenged." The classification I learned in college psychology no longer applied, such as idiots, imbeciles, and morons. I suggest they simplify addiction to everything. I can get addicted to a pencil or my cup as noted in the beginning of my post about my pink cup. Besides another twenty years, Multitasking may be classified as genius and addiction as commitment.
****************
P.S. Maybe I will post this as is, after spellcheck, and then come back for serious editing later, or maybe not. It's a journal, after all!!!! Just for the record, I checked my E-mail for the first time since I resumed writing on my blog today. I have another E-mail from my sister about the weather that says there is now snow in all fifty states including Hawaii. I'm still opening two more E-mails on my other account. One is from my university, "Baylor Proud Newsflash: Starr named Baylor's 14th President (Feb. 15, 2010)." Oh my gosh I am going to be very sick right now. I almost deleted it without opening it, and I would have missed learning that Ken Starr, the Ken Starr, is the new President of Baylor University. I may have to stop right now and read this. The other Email from my cousin about a senior eye exam with print too small for me to read will have to wait till after I finish reading Baylor's E-mail. So much for writing today. Now you know if I had checked my last batch of E-mails earlier, this post might never been written. I am in a totally different place learning that my Alma mater has a new president on Presidents' Day, of all things. That will be my next post. Stay tuned.
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