anonymity
This being the internet I've tryed to keep myself relatively anonymous. Not so much so that people who know me and find my site won't know that it's me. I think it's very clear that I'm me, all you have to know if my first name and where I live, and you can pretty much be sure that I'm me. I do this for a couple reasons, first I think it would be creepy for a stranger to find my site and be able to google me, for someone to be able to find me and show up on my doorstep. I don't think this would ever actually happen, but it creeps me out so I do it anyway. I also do it because I'm a photo fanatic. I take a lot of pictures. And a lot of family pictures. So if someone could find me, they could potentially find all the minor children, whose pictures I post all over the internet. And finally, I don't want to make it too easy for people who know me, but not that well, to find me. Not that you can't find me if you work hard enough at it. However, it should be noted that my last name will never be posted here.
The other day, I had a hit on my site meter. It was the full name of a friend and then the city of our highschool. Since the hit came from where she is approximately, I will assume she googled herself, I do it all the time. Otherwise, Heather, someone googled you. This was interesting so I did the same thing for myself. I didn't expect to get any decent results becacuse, I don't post my last name anywhere. But I was wrong. You see, my last name also turns out to be a word, and I've apparently used that word in a post. So, when I typed in my name, ["first name" "last name" "highschool city"] I found myself. I am, in fact, the very first hit. Imagine my surprise. I guess I'm not as anonymous as I thought. Thankfully, if I omit the highschool city part, I am not listed on the first page of hits, or the first 10 for that matter.
So last Thursday I posted about how I wasn't going to set my alarm clock for the first time of the semester, but I knew that I was going to be awakened by the lawn service anyway. Well, they didn't come until I was in the shower, at about 10:30. I was a little confused and had to keep checking the day to be sure that it actually was Friday, and that I wasn't missing anything. This morning (yesterday really) I did set my alarm (for 9:00). I had work to do but I had been up early Thursday morning for class and up late Thursday night, so I figured I'd make up for it since I didn't have anything scheduled for the day. But at 7:00 am they were here again. And they don't just stay for an hour. They were still here mowing away when my alarm went off. And for quite awhile after that. I know that they do a very thorough job, they have to edge and do the hedges or whatever, but I can't figure out why it takes them so long. There's like 6 square feet of grass in from of every house. We aren't talking about acres here. What could possibly take them 3 hours every week?
So I just went down to my car to see if I could find any evidence of when my timing belt was last changed. No such luck. I did find lots of other car service paperwork, more owners manuals than I thought came with a car, 4 different kinds of car light bulbs, and a newspaper clipping from when Nikky was on an under-12 soccer team. Since she's nearly 20 now, I think it's a little dated.
So like...I do actually have a background here. It's green and brown argyle. If you can't see it then you need to clear your browser cache or something. If you're running internet explorer then there is a rumor that all you have to do is hold down the shift key and hit your browsers refresh button. But that's never worked for me. What did work was holding the control (Ctrl) key while hitting refresh. You have to hold the button at the same time you click refresh. If that doesn't work or you are running some other browser then you should
google it.
I had this problem a couple weeks ago and I thought it was just me. But I'm home this weekend had the same problem on this computer. And because there is nothing in the world cooler than green argyle, I thought it was important for me to pass along this information. Besides, I spent WAY too much time saving EVERY SINGLE image file, uploading it, and then making all my template html correspond to the images. It was tedious, and took me forever, since I'm still in html elementary school here.
Tomorrow will be the first morning since the start of this semester that I haven't set my alarm clock. It's default setting is 9:30, though it can get as early as 8, and on rare occasions (like this morning) it sounds at the ungodly hour of 5 am. But don't think I'm going to be sleeping in too late. Tomorrow is Friday, and if there's one thing I've learned since moving here, it's that the lawn service comes Friday morning, VERY early morning, and they stay FOREVER.
Currently I've been up for 21 hours, and my five o'clock wake up call this morning was preceeded by only three, very short, hours of sleep. So...we'll see if the lawn service can still do a decent job of a wake up call or if my lack of sleep wins out.
12 lectures to watch.
Has anyone googled "failure" lately?
So...you know that scene in Home Alone where the kid uses some aftershave and it burns and he screems? Yeah, it's like that. Only with no aftershave and a lot of books.
The National Weather service has a location in Jacksonville. Whenever there are tornado warnings, or storm warnings they interrupt you TV show, I mean like, they blank out your screen and play that stupid tone and then give you some vague description of the storm warnings in your area, they also do something similar on the radio, again with the noise, and it's very comforting for you to hear when you are in the car and have no idea where you are. I experienced this a few times last year, but nothing ever happened. They just wanted to make sure we knew what was going on. EXCEPT that is, when there is a hurricane. I can hardly find anything on TV. And weatherchannel.com doesn't really seem to know it exists. I did find one video, from this morning or yesterday, that talked about it briefly. But I knew from my drive into school this morning that it was sitting out there stationary and the pressure had dropped. This means, for those of you who don't plan your life around hurricanes, that it's future direction is not very predictable, and it is getting stronger, and it's going to get stronger faster than they thought a few days ago. So, I've searched the Weather Channel endlessly, because, you know, it's the WEATHER CHANNEL. To no avail. No maps with a picture of the storm and those nifty storm details. Only a reference to it except the fact that it was out there at one time. At this point I'd just like to say that while Katrina was horrible and all, life does go on, and I need to be prepared too. So...finally I went to baynews 9. As in Tampa Bay. You know HUNDREDS of miles away Tampa Bay. And finally, FINALLY, I found a map with details. And do you know what. It's not just a tropical storm people. IT'S A HURRICANE NOW!!! You'd think it would be newsworthy that they storm had reached that milestone, but I guess weatherchannel.com doesn't think so. I'm not asking that the entire country be put on alert or even informed, but you know, I'd like to know about the HURRICANE sitting in my back yard. You know, the one that's unpredictable at this point. Knowledge is power people. It actually looks like it will be a few days before it causes any trouble, if any, but I need to make plans here. And other people need to know about it so they can make plans because not everyone can sit around searching for weather news. It may only be a category 1 at this point, and not anywhere near the level that Katrina was, but there's no reason for their to be
no bulletins on the weather channel web site.
Note to my mom
I topped off my tank today. I put in 4.887 gallons at $2.869/gallon for a grand total of $14.02. Not too bad considering the price of gas these days. I had been
trying to keep an eye out for prices, but I'm not very good at looking, and when I got to school, there are no stations on the way, but when I went to practicum tuesday I checked out the prices, which were >$3.00, and the place I got gas actually hasn't changed since then, so I think I got a good deal to make up for the last time I filled up. Because the last time I filled up, I got to the pump slid my credit card, and they immediately announced they only had premium. So I was stuck, with premium, and not a happy camper. I'm wondering what the national gas price average is.
Also, I'm going to need a
PDA eventually.
So...This weekend I went shopping. I bought lots of stuff, mainly dress clothes. And I bought these shoes at Target:
They are hot. And of course before I bought them I read all the reviews there at Target.com. Lots of good reviews. They are supposed to be comfy, though they have a short life. Which is okay, because I wasn't really planning to wear them for long periods of time. So...Yesterday, I wore them to Practicum. I'm only there for 2 hours and I figured that I could deal with it for that short time if they weren't comfortable, but that 2 hours of standing would make the decision for me.
I get there and learn that I failed to take notice of the rubber mats they have on the floors. It's like ergonomic or something. You know because pharmacists have to stand all day, so they have matts to reduce impact and make standing more comfortable. A really great idea, that I'm sure many people are much appreciative of. But, spike heels totally poke little holes in it. Opps. So, I spent half of the 2 hours leaning on my toes, to prevent the holes, and the rest of the time trying to stand in places without the matts. All in all, it wasn't too bad. I can't make a definite determination on the shoes because standing on your toes isn't really how you should make shoe judgements. But really, even as I walked out, my feet didn't hurt (the heel is just a little over an inch). When I took them off to drive, there was some pain, but I think that's expected.
I will defintely wear them again, just not in the pharmacy. And I think I'll get some bandaids, because when I just put them on I realized they kind of rub the backs of my heels and I don't want any blisters.
So I'm back to the dress-shoe drawing board for now.
Too Much Information
So, today, after practicum I went to publix, I needed more lunch meat, oranges, and pads. I had everything when except the pads when I went to look for them. It took me a while to even find the brand that I wanted, these are the perils of a new store. But when I found them I couldn't find the ones I wanted. There were long ones and ones with wings, I've been buying them for years. "Ultra thin Mince..." After a couple minutes staring at packages I realize that there are two different packages for the long pads, and it dawns on me that THEY HAVE CHANGED THE PACKAGE!!! It went from hot pink to white with some flower on them. Seriously, why do they have to keep changing the package? And why can't they tell me about it first, so it doesn't take me 10 minutes to find the pads I want.
So then I get home and eat lunch, which I got at the store in less time then it took me to find the pads, and I see a commercial. Do you know what the commercial said? Yeah, they were just telling me that they were changing the package. It's white now with a dahlia on it. They even said why it was a dahlia, but I don't remember that part, I just kept thinking, you couldn't have told me this BEFORE???
More on the Xavier University Pharmacy Students
I think I didn't express in my post how sad it is that, most likely, none of the Xavier University students will ever even know this opportunity existed before it's too late. The offer is being made so that these students won't loose a year of their lives, a year spent mostly waiting, with nothing to do. And I imagine, if I were in their situation, I would feel the loss of another year rather acutely. The thing is, UF is most likely not the only pharmacy college doing this. I haven't heard of any others, but I'm not in the loop that would know about any offers anyway. I do know that Universities across the country are accepting displaced students and helping them with the transition, so I assume that other pharmacy programs are doing this also. The problem lays in that Xavier University is located
in New Orleans. I don't know whether it still stands, but it's computer systems appear to be off-line. There is no web-site they can check in with to see about these opportunities, and with the systems offline, they have no campus e-mail. And there is therefore no way to contact them, even if they did have access to a computer. There really is no way to get the word out. If you haven't read the previous post, there was a letter posted, that asked all students to help in contacting anyone they knew in the Xavier University College of Pharmacy, the problem is, most likely no one knows anyone that is a student there, and even if they did they would have no way of contacting them now. Like I said before I am proud that my school is offering this opportunity and I hope that it is taken advantage of. But at the same time I am saddened because I know that there are so many who might like to know about this chance, and may not learn about it until it is far too late. This is a time sensitive issue, we will be starting our third week, I'm currently behind, it would be difficult for someone who has been through so much and still has miles to go to come in now and catch up, and excel. I would be impossible for them to catch up even if a month goes by. And the problem here is that pharmacy schools only accept students in the fall, you can't start in the spring term. So if there is a student out there who learns about this next month and would have taken the opportunity if they could, it will be too late, and they will spend the next 11 months waiting, and most likely they will be waiting for the unknown, because who knows where the program at Xavier will be in 11 months?
UF offers Displaced Xavier University Pharmacy Students Admission
I recieved the following e-mail today from our campus director:
Dear Jacksonville Pharmacy Students,
It is difficult the fathom the emotional stress the inhabitants of the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina are feeling. Xavier University is currently under water and it is not clear when the University will reopen. As you may know, Xavier has a College of Pharmacy and all of their students are unable to attend classes. In an effort to assist these pharmacy students in order for them to continue their education without having to lose an entire year of school, the University of Florida has offered to admit these students specifically to the Jacksonville campus until they can either return to New Orleans or permanently should they decide to stay. It is not clear yet how many students if any at all will be attending classes here in Jacksonville, but we will be sure to update you as soon as more information is made to us. There may be students without shelter and if you have an extra room to extend to a student, please contact the office and we will place your name on a list.
I must say I'm proud that this opportunity is being offered to those in need. Later I recieved this e-mail:
Dear Kim,
As president of the University of Florida Kappa Chapter of KE, I am asking for your assistance in contacting pharmacy students that may know students at Xavier School of Pharmacy in New Orleans LA, who have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
This morning, the faculty at the Gainesville Campus of the University of Florida College of Pharmacy were instructed by Dean Riffee that our college will do all it can to assist pharmacy students at Xavier in continuing their pharmacy education at least temporarily at the Jacksonville campus at UF. The problem is getting the information about this opportunity to the individual students, who are more than likely displaced from their housing and without University phone or email access. Perhaps you or your classmates know contact information for students at Xavier and could disseminate this information to them. If so, please let them know they should contact Dean Riffee directly to discuss the
possibility of continuing at UF at least temporarily. His
contact information is below; email is probably the best route if that is possible. The University of Florida and the College of Pharmacy have set a tentative deadline of Sept 12th for students informing us that they would like to continue their education here, although students that contact Dean Riffee after that date will be addressed on a case by case basis. Details about reduced tuition and relocation issues are being discussed.
Thank you very much for your help in this matter.
Sincerely, Joanna Peris
Faculty Advisor, Kappa chapter
William H. Riffee, Ph.D.
Dean College of Pharmcy
P.O. Box 100484
JHM Health Science Ceneter
Gainesville FL 32610
352-273-6309 (office)
352-273-6306 (fax)
riffee@ufl.edu
Kappa Epsilon
Sadly, the deadline is not far away, an honestly, I'm not sure how they would catch up. But last year when we had so many hurricanes and schools were constantly announcing closings there came a point when some schools actually cancelled the entire semester, when I heard I couldn't believe it, what would I do if I lost a year of my education. I'm already feeling the years. So, I'm proud to know that we are offering to help those who are displaced save that year. I don't know anyone who attends Xavier University, but I figured I'd post this information. Maybe someone who reads this will know somebody who knows somebody...and the information will get passed on to those who need to know about it.
Pass the word.
So...Today I wondered if anyone in Homosassa blogs. Now, I know my sister has a livejournal and all her friends use it, but I'm really talking about people who
blog as opposed to quoting song lyrics that talk about killing someone and trying to pass it off as their own. So I bopped over to google and typed in "Homosassa blog" and got a TON of hits for people who had blogged about the Jessica thing (I'm not typing her whole name because I don't want to get those hits). I also ended up with a blog I thought might have something. In the search synopsis it lead me to believe it was a blog that mentioned Mandy Rivers who is a DJ in Homosassa. I got half way down the page only to notice that pictures were loading. NAKED pictures. I wonder how it is that I never knew Mandy Rivers posed for playboy? Then I found a site with a man advertising for parties, and then he stated that he had moved to Alaska so he wouldn't be able to have parties in Homosassa anymore. I think the people on that message board were very upset to have one less set of swinger parties to attend. There was a picture of this man. He was OLD and not pretty. Who knew there was so much sex in Homosassa?
Dude, have you ever tried to google yourself? It's crazy what comes up. Well, nothing comes up for me, but that's just because I spell my first name wierd. But for everyone else I google, it's crazy.
The things going on in Louisiana and Mississippi are terrifying me. It is completely beyond my comprehension that people are shooting at the very planes and helicopters that are attempting to help them and others. As for the looting, I can understand that people need to take the food. With houses destroyed, any supplies that they had are probably destroyed. And Insurance will cover everything regardless, all perishables will perish, and they buildings will most likely have to be torn down to build up, which will mean disposing of what is left. As for the people stealing TVs, stereos etc... What are they thinking. There isn't going to be electricity for months. And it's really not feasible for you to be able to carry out that TV. In addition, as a Florida resident who has sat through hurricanes AND watched the news carefully when hurricanes are out there, including Katrina, I can't imagine why so many people would stay. If a category 5 hurricane is coming right for you, you should leave. We would have evacuated our house if a category 5 was going to hit the Tampa area, simply because of the wide spread such a large hurricane has. I can't imagine why so many people stayed knowing this thing was coming at them, knowing that their homes sat below sea level, and that the only thing preventing their houses from normally being flooded were a few levees. There is a time when staying is acceptable, and there are always going to be some who stay regardless, but for so many people to have stayed is unimaginable.
As for this "gas shortage," I've never been really sure that it was "necessary" for gas prices to be so high, and I am pretty sure that the current administration doesn't mind the inflated cost of fuel. I think people are failing to take into account the fact that a good part of Louisiana and Mississippi are not going to need any sort of gas for months now. They have to cars to drive and their houses aren't even standing let alone requiring energy usage. Don't get me wrong, I understand that the cost is going to skyrocket, but this sudden fear of shortage, along with the number of briefs government officials are giving seems to be a little unnecessary. They may be meant to stave off fears, but I think, if anything, they are making things worse. So, in the mean time, I'm conserving gas, and hoping that in a week gas prices will stop hiking up, and this madness about shortages will cease, so I can worry about my class work rather than
getting to class.
