DigitalPenny

Here's an email that I received from a friend. Now, let me put an X in the spaces provided.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Place an X by all the things you've done [think about your entire life], or remove the x from the ones you Have not, and send blog it to all of your friends.

( ) Smoked a cigarette...
( ) Drank so much you threw up
( ) Never been drunk, ever
( ) Crashed a friend's car.
( ) Stolen a car.
( X ) Been in love
( X ) Been dumped.
( ) Been laid off/fired
(X ) Quit your job
( ) Been in a fist fight
( ) Sneaked out of your parent's house [ I was extremely afraid of my mother.]
(x) Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
( ) Been arrested
( )Gone on a blind date
(X ) Lied to a friend
(X) Skipped school
( X ) Seen someone die
( X ) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
(X ) Been on a plane
(X ) Been lost [and I still get lost; especially when driving in foreign territory.]
( ) Been on the opposite side of the country
(X ) Gone to Washington, DC
( X ) Swam in the ocean...
( X ) Felt like dying
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
() Played cops and robbers
(X ) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Sang karaoke
(X) Paid for a meal with only coins
(X ) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
( X ) Made prank phone calls. [I called people to ask if their refrigerator was running. Stupid huh?]
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue.
( x) Danced in the rain
( ) Written a letter to Santa Claus [There's no freaking Santa Claus!]
(X ) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sun rise with someone you care about or love....
( X ) Blown bubbles
( ) Made a bonfire on the beach
() Crashed a party
( X ) Gone roller-skating
( ) Ice-skating....

Don't know what happened to questions 1 and 2.

3. Any nicknames? [I used to be called "APPLEHEAD".]
4. Mother's name? Broome
5. What is your favorite drink? Whisky Sour
6.Tattoos? 0
7. Body piercing? none
8. How much do you love your job? [I like it; I'm not in love with it]
9. Birthplace: Shreveport, LA
10. Favorite vacation spot? [Don't know yet. Haven't hade enough vacations.]
11. Ever been to Africa? no
12. Ever steal any traffic signs? no
13. Ever been in a car accident? no
14. A, B, C, D, DD cup size? [B and a half; probably some blubber left over from kids.]
15. 2 Door or 4 Door? 4
16. Salad dressing? Balsamic Vinegar and Blue Cheese mixed
17. Favorite pie? Apple
18. Favorite number? 21
19. Favorite movie ? The Chronicles of Riddick
20. Favorite Holiday? Any holiday when I get to spend time with my husband and kids.
21. Favorite food? I like lots of foods; If I have to choose, it would be rotisserie chicken.
22 . Favorite day of the week? Sunday
23 . Favorite brand of body soap? Caress
24. Favorite TV show? The Bernie Mac Show
25. Favorite ToothPaste? Crest anything
26 . Favorite smell? Bath and Body Works, Moonlight Path
27. Favorite way to relax? Playing video or computer games
28. Message to your friends reading this? Wish we could all get together talk, laugh, drink good wine, and eat.
29. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Blessed in grace and wealth.
30. What do you do when you are bored? Read something.
31. Furthest place you will send this message? Don't Know.
32. Who will respond the fastest? Don't know if anyone will.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Good morning. I'm up extremely early this morning. I couldn't sleep. I wanted to blog yesterday, and I should have, but as usual, I got busy. Now, I've forgotten what I wanted to say.

Anywho, I've been up sending enrollment forms and information to IIT. I need to get back into school. Like, it's not driving me nuts or anything, but I'd like to finish what I've started. So, at 5:00 this morning, I completed sending forms.

Now, it's about 6:12 am, and I've got to shower, get dressed and take care of the kids. M-sr is out on a job. He left at about 1:30 this morning. We're keeping it together, considering the circumstances.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 06:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For the past three days, I've been learning, reading, reorganizing, and fitting together parts and pieces of documentation for GE. I'm working in a newly formed division called Asset Intelligence. The documentation needed will be used by their customers, installers, sales personnel, customer service personnel, other gatekeepers within the organization, and my manager to conduct training.

I've had to travel from Naperville to Barrington for the past three days. The commute has been tough, but I have time in the car to think about things and people. Anyhow, while driving: on day 1, I got lost; on day 2, I took an alternate route and was 30 minutes late; on day 3, I drove on the highway that I thought I should have taken the day before, it rained, and I was 15 minutes late. Through it all, my manager has been really understanding and I think she'll be great to work for.

What's been really great about this job is that I feel needed. Whenever I meet someone new, after telling them why I'm there, they get excited, smile, and welcome me all over again. Apparently, someone with my skill set was needed. I'm just glad that I could supply the demand.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 06:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Day one went well. I was overwhelmed, excited, and happy. Now, I'm tired, irritated, and sleepy. To bed, to bed, I've got to roll in the a.m. before the sun rises, and so do the kids. It's started!! More this weekend.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, so I've been looking for a job for a few weeks now. Okay, okay, for about a month now. I'm saying a month because I don't count all the weeks I spent while in SNY looking. Anyhow what I recently ran up aginst is the "I can toss your resume out" syndrome. A company does this when your resume is dually submitted by you and a third party. Here's how it works:

1. You're surfing the web, reviewing job boards (monster.com, hotjobs, careerbuilder, etc.).


2. You see a job you'd like to apply for (infact, you see several jobs).


3. You submit your resume.


1. You submit your resume to the hiring company's website.


2. You submit your resume to the contract house.


4. You receive a call from the contract house, and that person asks to submit your resume on behalf of their company.


5. (optional) Compare the job descriptions for each of the jobs you're interested in. (Oh, this should be Step 3!)

What happens somewhere between Steps 3 and 5 is that you've submitted your resume to the same company. What generally happens with the company that you submitted to is that you never hear from them.

Whether your resume is submitted by you via the company's website, or indirectly by two different contract houses to that same company, you've somehow submitted at least two copies of your resume. (Here's the catch:) If your resume ends up on the desk of the hiring manager, and they've seen it twice within the same passing (whether that's been within a few days or a week or so of each other, your resume is "Filed 13"; in other words, your resume goes into the trash. This is a regular practice in industry, I am told. In fact, this happend to me; that's why I can tell you about it. I had never heard of such a shenanigan until now. Guess that's one of the ways companies are doing business.

So, what lessons have I learned:

1. Continue to review the job boards. You never know what you might find.


2. Submit your resume to the company, but not via the job board. Go to the company's website.


3. If working with a contract house, have them tell you the name of the company, and to send you a description of the job for which they would like to submit you.


4. If the contract job even vaguely resembles what you've submitted under the SAME company name, then it's probably the SAME job. So inform the contract house that you've already applied to the job. Believe me, stating the facts up front saves your time and money and theirs too.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From what I've read in a few texts dedicated to rhetoric and composition, voice is extremely important. I've always like listening to other people's voices, but not mine. I even enjoy listening to the imaginary voices that I hear when reading. The woman with the sultry voice. That man who sounds as if he's the tall, dark, handsome, muscular stranger. That teacher with the monotone non-projecting voice. There are so many different voices that we hear and imagine, whether we are reading a text or listening to a speaker. The only voice that I've ever been afraid of is my own, aside from listening to my mother when she's angry.

Why don't I like my voice? I've heard it since I was born, but I'd never listened to it until I had to stand before an audience without a written speech in front of me. I've been told all my life that I sound like a 12 year old; that my voice is squeaky; that my voice was not loud or deep enough. During my high school days, I even took a speech class. In competitions, I won 2nd and 3rd place trophies, but never first place. On the markup sheets, the judges would always state or check that I did not project loud enough. I once thought that if I had taken up smoking, my voice would have been deeper, but smoking was not and still isn't my thing; I hate it.

Fortunately, I had an interview a few days ago, and I asked that person, "How do you prep for a course?" She paused and then gave me what seemed like a two minute talk about course preparation. Within the course of her discussion, she said that preparing your voice is extremely important. It's important when you stand before a classroom of students because you'll be the only person talking, and probably during much of the course. This was a revelation to me because I hadn't really thought of teaching in such a way. Obviously, teachers love to listen to themselves or they wouldn't be in the business of speaking. Teachers are public speakers. Duh! And they do it everyday, while standing in front of their classroom audience.

So, what kind of public speaking training do teachers endure before they arrive in the classroom? If you are a teacher, and you are reading this, what type of public speaking training did you have? How did you learn to listen to your voice, to hear it?

It's not easy to stand before an audience of people and find your voice, especially when you know your subject. But when you have to speak, and you know your subject, how do you listen and continue to talk without becoming redundant or monotonous? How do you train yourself to think, speak, and listen to your students without losing pace, place, and poise?

Posted by Digitalpenny at 07:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's been so long since I've lived in an apartment I'd forgotten how things work. For example, if you locate a good parking spot, it's really not YOUR parking spot. That spot belongs to all of your other neighbors. If your kids decide to go out and play, all of the other apartment kids go outside too. Then they "the other kids" think that they know you because you've allowed your kids to play, so at the most inappropriate times, because you're on the first floor, they come knocking at the patio door asking, "Can T and D come out and play?" OMG! Can they eat lunch or dinner?Aren't you hungry too? I know that my children are friendly, and I really don't mind them playing with the other children, but for goodness sake, do you ever go home?

What's really great about living in an apartment is the fact that there's a central place for garbage, AND you can put as many bags out there as you want. There's no limit!

Now, the couple living above us. They must be in their late fifties. They are extremely nice. Between them, there are four children who live there too, two boys and two girls. The oldest two, one boy, one girl are in high school. After being in the apartment for about two weeks, the oldest girl wrote me a welcome letter, which not only stated that she was happy to have us in the neighborhood, but that she was a great sitter as well. Now that's friendly. What's really interesting about the couple is that they hop hump like rabbits. OMG, every morning at 9:30a and every night between 9:30p and 11:00p, they are at it. Rock squeak, rock squeak, rock squeak! Do they ever stop you ask? Yes, when she's attending to her woman business! It's nerve racking I tell you. They really need to give it a rest. They go at it more than I do. Way More!!

Anyhow, apartment living has been pretty good so far. If it were not for the rock squeaking over my head in the morning and again at night, it'd be better.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been wanting to redesign my blog so I started hunting for images. I do believe that my favorite color is purple. I love that color! There's something about seeing it that puts me in a great mood. Anyhow, I stumbled upon this image. It is a Purple Iris or at least that's how the image was named.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)