OSF: Sophomore Year

OK,

Here are some of the songs I remember listening to my sophomore year in high school. Music was quite good in 1997-1998

Janet Jackson: "We go Deep"


Joe: "Don't Wanna Be a Player No More"


Toni Braxton: "Unbreak My Heart"


KC and Jo Jo: "All My Life"

OSF: The Jacksons

I'm sure lots of people will probably pick a Jackson 5 ballad, but I gotta go with The Jacksons: "Can You Feel It". Me and Mr. C. were just talkin' about this song the other day too. Enjoy!

Life is Grand Award

Revvy Rev at Certain Sound passed the Life Is Grand award to me and I am most appreciative. Through his blogging, he provides invaluable insight on social justice and its relationship to the responsibilities of the African American Church. The rules require me to list 5 reasons why life is grand and pass this on to 5 other bloggers. I always try to be obedient and so Life is grand because:
1. God has been good to me in spite of my faults and failures
2. God has and continues to protect me from hurt, harm and danger.
3. I have a loving and supportive husband who supports me in all my endeavors.
4. I have two loving parents who nurture me and provide tough love when I need it.
5. Every day is a day of Thanksgiving and when I count my blessings, I quickly run out of fingers and toes.

I pass this award on to the following:
1) Regina's Family Seasons for supporting and following my blog.
2) The Active Voice for continuing to provide counsel and advice when I need it.
3) Sojourner's Place for providing insight and inspiration when I need it.
4) Miles Per Hour for checking out my blog and making me laugh.
5) Hagar's Daughters for providing intellectual insight that keeps me on my toes.

No Wonder Fast Food Makes Americans FAT!

OK, I'm a bit cranky after a long frustrating day teaching with technology. Apparently, the projector that I hook my laptop up to when I teach wouldn't read my computer signal, so students couldn't see course notes, websites, etc. We were analyzing African American rhetorical and linguistic practices in digital environments while also providing digital rhetorical and visual rhetorical analyses of these sites; hence, we needed a working screen to view these sites together. And just when you were about to ask, I DID have a plan B. I uploaded the notes to Angel (our institution's equivalent to blackboard), since nearly every student carries a laptop to class (and the ones without them always partner up with a buddy who has one). So this didn't alter class too much.

The problem came when the IT people attempted to troubleshoot and fix the projector. As I was trying to carry on with class discussion while IT worked to fix the problem, the IT lady kept interrupting me and asking me to do something to my computer to see if the problem had been fixed. After several interruptions, I finally said forget it, and that we could carry on with class without the projector. She said OK, but returned twice more with different equipment, each time asking me to do something different with my computer. As my students giggled wondering how I was gonna handle her, I finally said politely that this was taking up too much time and that I really needed to get on with class. As soon as I said this, the projector started working. Hmmph.

Anyway, you're probably wondering what the relationship is between the IT story and fast food. Well, there is one. After a frustrating class period, I went to McDonald's to get fast food. Although I'm not much of a junk foodie and don't eat hamburgers at all, I really wanted some fries. And not to feel too guilty, I ordered a 4 piece chicken nugget Happy Meal, so that I could enjoy the junk in smaller portions. I was actually surprised at how few calories those things have. The whole meal was only 420 calories (230 for the fries, 190 for the nuggets, I gave soda away to Mr. Clark and drank water). Plus, the fries don't have any trans fats or cholesterol. Now, I'm not saying that I ate a healthy meal, but at least I won't have to pay too dearly for it.

Although the meal hit the spot, I have to admit that roughly two hours later I'm VERY hungry again. I don't think it's because I didn't get enough to eat with the Happy Meal (I always portion control things). But, because fast food is empty calories. And I think this is why Americans are overweight: We rely on fast food, and then like an hour later, we're hungry and have to eat again. I'm off to get a fiber granola bar and fruit. Hopefully that'll hold me out until dinner time.

OSF: Blues/Songs of Pain

Um, the blues was a lil' bit before my time, y'all. In fact, my only relationship with the blues was on Saturdays when a former beautician would play it on the radio in her salon (and ol' skool women would be gettin' all hot and squirmish in their seats. All little much for me). All those sexually explicit lyrics. I remember telling my mom once how in the world y'all generation can hate on hip hop. Some of the blues was pretty graphic too. (I'm not really interested in debating which genre is most vulgar; they both have their share of sexually explicit lyrics is all I'm sayin'). But I digress. I can respect the blues though. I chose Bill Withers's "Ain't No Sunshine" because I like the song, even though it's a bit too sad for me. Enjoy.

Cooking Hobbies that Ward Off the Perils of Dissertating

A month ago, I had dinner with a couple of friends and wrote about my skepticism of home-prepared dinner dates (particularly those when I don't know whether or not the person can actually cook!). I later wrote about how good that really dinner was! Last week, the hostess finally sent me the recipe to her stuffed chicken cordon bleu and I tried it yesterday. I made it with a tossed salad, but when it was served to me, it was served with asparagus. Pix are above.

I actually thought it came out quite well. Mr. C enjoyed it and said that he liked my version better (I added a lil' extra seasoning with onion powder, paprika, and lemon pepper seasoning to give it an extra zest.) I'm starting to go back to my hobbies of cooking and baking again. Last year I didn't cook as much as I wanted and often relied on Mr. C's decadent version of tuna helper (he makes a MEAN helper!!) Now, cooking seems like a good outlet and break from dissertation, and all the grading I have to do right now. We'll see how long it lasts...

OSF: New Edition/New Edition Members' Songs

I wasn't a huge fan of New Edition, I must admit. But I still love "My Prerogative" by Bobby Brown. I even have a friend who still has this song as the ring tone (not when her phone rings, but when you call her!). This song takes me way back. And did ya know that Mr. Brown gon' be a baby daddy again?

Things that Happened Today

1) I wrote and coded dissertation data. It made my tummy hurt after I was done.

2) I watched women flirt with Mr. C (the spouse).

3) I watched my CBS Soaps and can't wait for them to resolve that whole Kathryn Chancellor mistaken identity story. Seriously, it's really getting old!

4) I got frustrated when I had to pay $6.99 for a big tub of cayenne pepper (when I only needed a couple of teaspoons). Apparently, that's all the cayenne Kroger has.

5) I had to pay top $$ for crab meat b/c apparently, Kroger doesn't have imitation crab meat.

6) I just fell on my a** when I slid on some ice trying to bring the groceries in. Fortunately, Mr. C helped me up. I do have a swollen wrist and skinned knee though. (Did I mention that for the past four or so years I've fallen on ice each winter?)

C'est la vie.

Dissertation Heartburn?

Can dissertating really induce heartburn? Just wondering--I thought I'd ask for a very close friend who happens to be dissertating madly right now (why would you think that I'm referring to myself? No really, a good friend. LOL!). Note to self friend: Coding data and writing chapters are extremely hard to do on a Monday morning after teaching/after staying up watching the Superbowl.