September 2005
Monthly Archive
A Ruling For Parents Everywhere
Posted by Administrator on 30 Sep 2005 | Tagged as: Random Noise, Toddler Tales
Seeing how wild my daughter acts at age 22 months makes me more than a little concerned about what she will be like as a teenager. And the thought of having two wild teenagers at one time is almost more than I can bear right now. I love that I may finally get to sleep in on a Saturday morning. I am terrified by what may be considered “common” and “normal” among teens 10-15 years from now. So, I really loved reading this ruling.
SHERMAN, Texas (AP) - A state district judge has ordered a 17-year-old drug offender barred from sex as a condition of her probation. Judge Lauri Blake made the ruling that bars the girl from having sex as long as she is living with her parents and attending school. It is one of several unorthodox rulings Blake has imposed since she was elected 10 months ago in the 336th District Court covering Fannin and Grayson counties. She has also prohibited tattoos, body piercings, earrings and clothing “associated with the drug culture” for those on probation.
Sign my daughter up! But how are we going to enforce this? I guess I have about 10 years to figure out the answer.
Finally, a post that is not about the weather!
Posted by Administrator on 29 Sep 2005 | Tagged as: Random Noise, Finance and Economics, Running
So, this post is very overdue. I knew that once the fall semester started I would have far less time to write, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. Last fall semester I felt like I was in completely over my head, but now I can look at the new econ Ph.D. students and kind of giggle to myself about how little they know and smile about how far I have come. I am still awaiting the results of my qualifying exams, but I know that I have survived and am moving forward. This semester I am taking macroeconomics, international economics, and a seminar in investments. So far macroeconomics seems like it is not terribly useful. International economics is somewhat interesting and easy, which are two great words to describe my final econ requirement class. The seminar in investments is where we are assigned papers that we present to the rest of the class. So far I have completed 2 of my 5 presentations. The seminar class is challenging, but it is the first real glimpse we have gotten of what we are ultimately supposed to be doing with our lives. I am a little disappointed that my area of interest is investments, but this seminar more closely resembles a corporate finance seminar than an investments seminar. We are supposed to be writing a paper for the class on an original research idea, but so far I have not found the topics of the class to be much in line with any of my interests. I need to start digging harder for an idea this week.
I am still running, but a week into my marathon training for Disney I had to stop. Of course, it could not have been for a better reason…I found out that I am pregnant with our second child! Obviously, it was a surprise, but a very welcome one indeed. I am almost 7 weeks along now and have my first doctor’s appointment in three weeks. It has been even more challenging keeping up with my tough class. teaching, work, and Brooke schedule while fending off the first trimester nausea and exhaustion. So, that is an additional explanation for my lack of online presence.
Hopefully I will have something pithy to say soon and will be able to keep my eyes open long enough to type the thought.
Tornado
Posted by Administrator on 25 Sep 2005 | Tagged as: Random Noise
Okay, so after this post it is going to seem like this is becoming more of a weather event blog than anything remotely related to its title. I promise to get back on track with writing this week. Life has been a bit of a whirlwind in the past few weeks, so this post is actually rather representative of my life.
Some of the spiral bands from Hurricane Rita reached Alabama today, and the result was a lot of storms showing signs of circulation. I went to school for a few minutes today to gather some books and papers from my office, and when I got to the car I heard that there was a tornado on the ground in Tuscaloosa. I was turning around to run back inside the building when they said they could see the storm from this Towercam not too far from the university and that the tornado was 15-20 miles away. So, I decide to get home as fast as possible. Driving over the river I caught sight of what they were describing from the Towercam. And then I saw it again as soon as I turned off the highway right by our house. The tornado was about 8 miles away (and moving northeast away from me), but I think that is the closest I ever want to be to one for the rest of my life. I did not take these pictures, but they are an accurate representation of what I saw.
Picking up the Pieces
Posted by Administrator on 05 Sep 2005 | Tagged as: Random Noise
Life in this part of Alabama quickly returned to its normal pace and style for the most part by late Tuesday-Wednesday. The only signs of Katrina that remain are the downed trees waiting to be cut and removed and the large piles of branches awaiting removal from the side of the road. We do have somewhere between 500 and 1000 refugees in town, many of whom are in a Red Cross shelter at the university. We hear they need help entertaining the kids and stuff like that, so Scott is going to call to see what we can do as far as volunteering is concerned. Brooke is her own 3-ring circus these days and could entertain the whole place by herself.
I did want to post a couple of pictures from one trip to New Orleans several years ago. One is of the French Market, and another is from a fountain outside the Riverwalk area. From what we have seen, these places did not get all the flooding because they are the highest below sea level areas of town. The Riverwalk looked like a mess, but it was there. Jackson Square and my beloved Cafe Du Monde stood empty but unscathed. Perhaps these historic areas will be the site of the city’s rebirth.
