Amazing Sight

one thing i never would have guessed i would see... someone trying to stay awake while taking a test. i know my lectures aren't always riveting so when people can't stay awake i understand that. but i saw a student who was slapping his own cheeks to stay awake while taking the test. amazing. just get some sleep before a test! it is more important to a good grade than people think.

thought of the day prompted by quote of the day

the quote of the day on my google homepage

When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.
- Bernard Bailey

this prompted my thought of the day: most Adventists think we are the center of the universe--theologically and tragically many still think geographically. what am i doing to fix this without hurting the people who think this?

Thanksgiving Table

we are having t-day dinner one day late because david was coming in on t-day. so here's my table this year. i had wanted some large mums, but ended up with small... use what you can get.

Crazy Me

so once again i am silly enough to participate in nanowrimo (national novel writing month). since i don't have much else right now besides work to keep me busy i should enjoy it just to have something to distract me from work. i really liked my general plot from last year so i am going to rescue a couple of things from that and write one this year. it'll be good, i promise. hahahah okay it will be slightly amusing. read it at velnano06.happyhumans.com

Fun Reading

i really enjoy reading snopes.com for misc. things that are likely to come into my inbox or just for fun. there's even a randomizer if you have enough time on your hands to read random things. the part that makes it particularly good is the writing. top notch. funny, thoughtful, and clear you always get a well written article there. today i looked at some of the newest articles and found one on aspartame as an ant poison (false). part of what made it so fun to read is that they actually bought some ant farms and grew their ants on aspartame. another article was about using your pin number in reverse at an atm to summon the police. well worth the read too--thoughtful and informative. and i really enjoyed the author's sign off

Barbara "neither Smith nor Wesson is known to prompt mental acuity in those they are pointed at" Mikkelson.

Ego?

so i've noticed a few of the students who have come by my office so far (mostly people that are either clueless or brown-nosing) have called me mrs. helbley (and i think one quiet one even said miss).
now i don't know if i am being egotistical or if i really should do something about this. i would prefer that students choose from the following three options: dr. helbley, professor helbley, or jennifer. i feel that if a student wants to be informal with a teacher and is comfortable calling me by my first name that is fine. but if they want to use a title it should be dr. or professor. i wonder if some of the guys get called mister. or if it is just women that they assume don't have a ph.d. i'm contemplating asking one of the younger men faculty in the dept. if they get called mister. i'm pretty sure that if i talked to the other woman in the dept. that she would say she's been called miss or mrs. we were talking on sunday before school started and she said just the other day someone doing some freshman orientation stuff walked into her office while on the cell phone and asked her to open a door for them. when she couldn't the cell phone talker requested that she go find someone that could. she's pretty sure that cell phone talker thought she was the secretary. and that if she had been a man that assumption would never have been made.

i could be over reacting. it may not matter at all in the long run. it is too bad that i still think that there is the possibility of gender bias by people because i think in general that isn't true. so what do you think? should i ignore the mrs. or should i try to fix it?

Cooking Essentials

well i finally found the cutting boards at my current place of residence. but this past couple of weeks i have made two purchases which i have determined are essential for a kitchen of mine.
-non-stick fry pan
i purchased an exceptionally cheap one at wal-mart for $5. i didn't find a fry pan at the place i am staying. there was a large cast iron skillet but i am not prepared to try my cooking skills with such a monster. it would take forever to heat and probably require a lot of fat to keep my fried egg from sticking.
-rice cooker
i've made rice twice since getting here. both times i burnt my rice to the bottom of the pot and had to scrub it for a while to get it clean. so i broke down and got a rice maker at target for $15. now hopefully i won't have to scrub for extended periods after cooking rice and i can cook it unattended. i hate having to wait for rice to cook on the stove: i'm not supposed to lift the lid to see what it is up to but i shouldn't leave because the water might boil over since the stove is less than precise in its flaming.