"I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac, a little voice inside my head said 'you can't go back, you can never go back.'" --Don Henley, The Boys of Summer.
Live everyday in the present and enjoy every aspect of life. Even if life is treating you negatively, you will never be able to go back - so even those aspects become memory sooner rather than later.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
An amazing book, an amazing man
I recommend "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch (with Jeffrey Zaslow)! I cannot explain how beautiful and inspiring this book is. A great holiday present, and something us, in academia, probably need to read.
For those who have not heard of the book, Dr. Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in PA, who had a part in creating the first virtual reality program, did a sabbatical as a Disney Imagineer, and had a hand in creating the computer programming package, Alice.
For those who have never heard of the book, I recommend visiting the website:
As an aside, I think that teaching about dreams and life's lessons does not occur enough in university/college atmospheres any more. Good reading, all!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Greentree City
So, K-wood is supposed to be the "tree city" of the state; and although they do have laws prohibiting the cutting of trees that are over a certain "age" they will cut down any tree that is relatively new. Go figure...
I woke up this morning to find that the three trees we had in our backyard (of our apt.) were cut to about seven feet in height, thus leaving them looking like some awkward totem pole misplace in a predominately white suburb. So much for natural shade; now we must pay more for our cooling bill.
Since working from home, I have been privy to the types of "goings on" around here. Since this is a bedroom community, no one else is around all day. And so I present the following picture (above). Yes, our tax dollars hard at work. Apparently this is how we roll in K-wood. Go tree cutters!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Happy (Safe) Halloween
Happy Halloween! That is Theron's skeleton photo, I believe it is called x-ray mode on my new phone/camera.This year, since we had no trick-or-treaters, yet again, we decided to be the traveling candy giver-outers. Yep. We walked around downtown K-wood and handed out candy to all the cute little kids dressed in costumes. Of course, parents were skeptical at first, but when we explained that no one came to our "house" so we went out, they all loved the idea. We only traveled about two blocks from our apartment. Apparently, most kids in K-wood go to the big, old Victorian houses, maybe thinking the size of the house represents the kind and brand of candy given out...? Ha, we asked some "kids" (probably 15-16 years old) what they had gotten and they were not too happy with their Jolly Ranchers and suckers. We gave out whole Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and other brand-name candy, such as Snickers and 3 Musketeers. Needless to say, after about 20 minutes, our candy was gone.
However, we did do our good deed of the day. We came upon a little girl (turned out to have just turned 8 yrs. old) who was crying and running down the sidewalk. We asked what was wrong and she cried that she lost her parents and cousins and didn't know where to go. At first, I thought, well they are probably looking for you too. So we decided to walk around and look for her family. Luckily they had two baby strollers with them, so it was relatively easy to ask other adults if they had seen her family. One family pointed us one way and we went that way and found her relatives. However, much to my surprise/dismay, they didn't CARE that she was lost! They didn't even know it! In fact, when I said, "is this your little girl?" They reprimanded her and said, "where you been?!?" I explained that her older cousins (11 and 9 yrs old!) ran off and left her at someone's house. One of the sisters thanked me. Unfortunately, the little girl started crying again and they told her to "stay with them this time." Apparently not realizing that she was LEFT and didn't merely wander off. This was about 8:00 at night, in the dark, in downtown K-wood, i.e. cars on dark streets. I couldn't believe it. And, she didn't even know her own phone number. She did know her address, but was on the other side of town and noted that her sisters drove to this side of town to trick-or-treat, and she didn't even know where they had parked.
Up until this point, I felt that the sex offender laws for Halloween (i.e., can't have porch light on, cannot trick-or-treat with their own kids, etc.) were ridiculous and served the purpose of making parents' jobs easier (not having to watch their own kids). But, this little girl was clearly the victim of poor parenting. And for that reason, I suppose the sex offender laws so save children. Very odd Halloween!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
come a long way...
Wow! I just had a chance to review what I have written since I started this blog. Clearly I have embarked on a new chapter in life, with new hopes and dreams. It is funny how when we are in the thick of things, we may not like it, but we don't want to leave it for the unknown. Luckily for me, this change was in the right direction. However, it is only after struggling for two years, that I am able to tell where it is that I want to go. It is nice not to have a dictator running my life and career, although that person will surely be missed and is thanked for all the life lessons taught while under his tutelage. All is (now) good.
"momma, momma, many years have gone, since I first left home."
--Greatful Dead, "Brokedown Palace"
"momma, momma, many years have gone, since I first left home."
--Greatful Dead, "Brokedown Palace"
Something's in the air...
well, some free form this morning, since my body decided to wake up at 6 am, for no apparent reason. Maybe it's Gustav in the air, (we have been having high winds and rain from the hurricane, now turned tropical storm). My dog has been on edge yesterday and today too...hmmmm, another earthquake maybe?
School and work are going so much better now that I don't work for "the man" anymore. although it defiantly had its perks, I am in a better position for me, now. I am excited everyday I wake up to be able to work on things that are important to me. Thank goodness, I was really hoping this would come soon in my career.
And, for the end, a nice little creativity that has been bugging me for the last few days. Here goes...
The Rogue Tomato Plant
Within the city of asphalt and concrete,
between two slabs of an alley,
a tomato plant thrives.
In a bed of weeds and wildflowers,
it popped its head up one summer morn,
and with no help, but from nature,
the little thing grew.
From where did this come, one wonders.
Surely no one snuck up at night
to pop a seed into the ground
for others' pleasure and feast.
For now, it grows, slowly, but steadily,
vine winding across the ground,
tiny yellow flowers budding, multiple a day,
and now six perfect, smooth, light green
tomatoes are flexing their muscles,
in anticipation of a small fall harvest
for two lucky, city-dwellers.
School and work are going so much better now that I don't work for "the man" anymore. although it defiantly had its perks, I am in a better position for me, now. I am excited everyday I wake up to be able to work on things that are important to me. Thank goodness, I was really hoping this would come soon in my career.
And, for the end, a nice little creativity that has been bugging me for the last few days. Here goes...
The Rogue Tomato Plant
Within the city of asphalt and concrete,
between two slabs of an alley,
a tomato plant thrives.
In a bed of weeds and wildflowers,
it popped its head up one summer morn,
and with no help, but from nature,
the little thing grew.
From where did this come, one wonders.
Surely no one snuck up at night
to pop a seed into the ground
for others' pleasure and feast.
For now, it grows, slowly, but steadily,
vine winding across the ground,
tiny yellow flowers budding, multiple a day,
and now six perfect, smooth, light green
tomatoes are flexing their muscles,
in anticipation of a small fall harvest
for two lucky, city-dwellers.
Friday, June 13, 2008
a quote from current criminology
"When conflict escalates irrationally into a test of dominance and power, people lose sight of their objective goals and become invested in 'winning' the conflict."
--Tom R. Tyler and Yuen J. Huo, (2002) Trust in the Law: Encouraging public cooperation with the police and the courts. Russal Sage Foundation Series on Trust, Vol. 5, New York: Sage Foundation.
Now, how is this concept so new?
--Tom R. Tyler and Yuen J. Huo, (2002) Trust in the Law: Encouraging public cooperation with the police and the courts. Russal Sage Foundation Series on Trust, Vol. 5, New York: Sage Foundation.
Now, how is this concept so new?
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
All things change, but still stay the same...
It is amazing how nothing really ever changes with Crime, yet criminologists are so sure it does. This underlines the importance of looking back over history to understand the true roots of crime.
“Highwaymen for the most part are such that were never acquainted with an honest trade, whom either want of money or employment prompted them to undertake these dangerous designs; and to make their persons appear more formidable, and to gain respect, they dub one another ‘colonel,’ ‘major,’ or at least a captain, who never arrived to a greater height than a trooper disbanded…
“Having made up a party, ere they proceed to act their villainies, they make a solemn vow to each other, that, if by misfortune any one should be apprehended, he shall not discover his complices: and that if he be pressed hard to particularize his companions, he must then devise names for men that never were, describing their persons, features, and discovering their habitations, but so remote one from another, that the danger of the trial may be over ere sufficient inquiry can be made.
“And further, to procure mercy from the bench, there must be a plausible account given, how you fell into this course of life: fetching a deep sigh, saying that you were well born, but by reason of your family falling to decay you were exposed to great want, and rather than shamefully beg (for you knew not how to labour), you were constrained to take this course as a subsistence; that it is your first fault, which you are heartily sorry for, and will never attempt the like again…
“In the first place, you must have a variety of periwigs in your lodgings, and the like you must carry with you, if occasion require the necessity of changing the colour of the hair: neither must you be without your false beards of several colours. For want of them, you may cross your locks athwart your mouth, which is a good disguise: patches also contribute much thereto. And lest your voice should be known another time by him that is robbed, put into your mouth a pebble, or any suchlike thing, which will alter your tone advantageously to your purpose…
“You must instantly fall to work, seizing with your left hand the traveller’s bridle, and with your right presenting a pistol. This so terrified that he delivers instantly, for who will trust a pistol at his breast loaded with a brace of bullets, and a mouth discharging at the same time volleys of oaths, that if he deliver not instantly he is a dead man?
“Having o’ermastered them you set upon, do you carry them into some covert, where you search so severely that nothing can be hidden from you…Having then changed your horse for theirs, if better than your own, the next thing to do is to make them swear neither to follow you, nor to raise the country with a hue-and-cry upon you. Thus, leaving the poor traveler forlorn, you ride to some strange place, or else where you are known and winked at, and there you share that which you unlawfully have got, not without cheating one another….
“All the time they can spare from robbing and undoing poor men is spent in wine and women; so that the sunshine of their prosperity lasts but a moment, no so long as to warm their hands by the blazing fire of their prodigality, before cold death comes and seizeth them. And how can it be otherwise expected?”
--Francis Jackson, famous Highwayman (1674) “Jackson’s Recantation or, the Life & Death of the Notorious High-way-man Now Hanging in Chains At Hampstead.” Writing to warn the public about the acts of such men in order to repent before being put to death. From Half-hours with the highwaymen: Picturesque biographies and traditions of the ‘Knights of the Road.’ Charles G. Harper, Vol. 1, London: Chapman & Hall, Limited, 1908.
“Highwaymen for the most part are such that were never acquainted with an honest trade, whom either want of money or employment prompted them to undertake these dangerous designs; and to make their persons appear more formidable, and to gain respect, they dub one another ‘colonel,’ ‘major,’ or at least a captain, who never arrived to a greater height than a trooper disbanded…
“Having made up a party, ere they proceed to act their villainies, they make a solemn vow to each other, that, if by misfortune any one should be apprehended, he shall not discover his complices: and that if he be pressed hard to particularize his companions, he must then devise names for men that never were, describing their persons, features, and discovering their habitations, but so remote one from another, that the danger of the trial may be over ere sufficient inquiry can be made.
“And further, to procure mercy from the bench, there must be a plausible account given, how you fell into this course of life: fetching a deep sigh, saying that you were well born, but by reason of your family falling to decay you were exposed to great want, and rather than shamefully beg (for you knew not how to labour), you were constrained to take this course as a subsistence; that it is your first fault, which you are heartily sorry for, and will never attempt the like again…
“In the first place, you must have a variety of periwigs in your lodgings, and the like you must carry with you, if occasion require the necessity of changing the colour of the hair: neither must you be without your false beards of several colours. For want of them, you may cross your locks athwart your mouth, which is a good disguise: patches also contribute much thereto. And lest your voice should be known another time by him that is robbed, put into your mouth a pebble, or any suchlike thing, which will alter your tone advantageously to your purpose…
“You must instantly fall to work, seizing with your left hand the traveller’s bridle, and with your right presenting a pistol. This so terrified that he delivers instantly, for who will trust a pistol at his breast loaded with a brace of bullets, and a mouth discharging at the same time volleys of oaths, that if he deliver not instantly he is a dead man?
“Having o’ermastered them you set upon, do you carry them into some covert, where you search so severely that nothing can be hidden from you…Having then changed your horse for theirs, if better than your own, the next thing to do is to make them swear neither to follow you, nor to raise the country with a hue-and-cry upon you. Thus, leaving the poor traveler forlorn, you ride to some strange place, or else where you are known and winked at, and there you share that which you unlawfully have got, not without cheating one another….
“All the time they can spare from robbing and undoing poor men is spent in wine and women; so that the sunshine of their prosperity lasts but a moment, no so long as to warm their hands by the blazing fire of their prodigality, before cold death comes and seizeth them. And how can it be otherwise expected?”
--Francis Jackson, famous Highwayman (1674) “Jackson’s Recantation or, the Life & Death of the Notorious High-way-man Now Hanging in Chains At Hampstead.” Writing to warn the public about the acts of such men in order to repent before being put to death. From Half-hours with the highwaymen: Picturesque biographies and traditions of the ‘Knights of the Road.’ Charles G. Harper, Vol. 1, London: Chapman & Hall, Limited, 1908.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
postsecret
It's almost as if I read my own secret today:
"I long for something I can't understand and sometimes I feel like it will never come and then I get scared that this is all there is."
"I long for something I can't understand and sometimes I feel like it will never come and then I get scared that this is all there is."
Thursday, May 1, 2008
a curious thing
A few hours ago, my picture/poster fell from the top of my bookshelf, for no apparent reason, though it has been there for a year. It fell when i was feeling particularly sad becuase of a "talk" with my boss about his perception of my job performance, which of course is incorrect. The poster is a motivational one, which I inherited with the office I am in. It states:
ATTITUDE: Believe in yourself and in your goals though impossible things may seem.
It made me chuckle, and for that, I re-hung it up, but not in the corner on the bookshelf. Instead, it is now hanging right next to my office door.
Let's hope I get the e-mail I have been waiting for all day!
ATTITUDE: Believe in yourself and in your goals though impossible things may seem.
It made me chuckle, and for that, I re-hung it up, but not in the corner on the bookshelf. Instead, it is now hanging right next to my office door.
Let's hope I get the e-mail I have been waiting for all day!
Today I saw a banana laying in the middle of the highway. What a curious sight! Who put it there, how did it come to get there, and ironically, how come it was not smashed by the rush hour of speeding cars with little remorse for such a perfect, yellow, piece of natural fruit.
I opened a bottle of root beer today. On the underside of the cap were the words: Please try again. I didn't know I was trying, but it is interesting becuase it seems to serve as a metaphor for my life right now.
Einstein said if you cannot receive joy from the little things in life, there is no hope for your happiness.
I opened a bottle of root beer today. On the underside of the cap were the words: Please try again. I didn't know I was trying, but it is interesting becuase it seems to serve as a metaphor for my life right now.
Einstein said if you cannot receive joy from the little things in life, there is no hope for your happiness.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
only 121 hours left!
Stress, stress, stress, stresss.
my creative outlet today was demolished by insufficient computer code to bring you a wonderful poem by moi, and a nice pic by someone out there, unknown to me. Amazing how people can collaborate without even knowing they are doing so.
The Web is so anonymous it is amazing.
my creative outlet today was demolished by insufficient computer code to bring you a wonderful poem by moi, and a nice pic by someone out there, unknown to me. Amazing how people can collaborate without even knowing they are doing so.
The Web is so anonymous it is amazing.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Welcome! This is my first blog and I will attempt to use this vehcile to journal instead of trying to do it the old fashioned way, which has not been able to meet my schedule for the last few (busy) years. I have not yet decided if I am going to tell others about this page...something about being anonymous and/or having no one suspect that this is where I bare my soul to some degree seems appealing. So hold on to your seats, who knows where this journey will take us...
Anyone not undertanding the title of this blogspot should refer to Virginia Woolf's works, especcially the one titled similarly. Although I could have easily named it Tales from a Crim Nerd's Life...
Anyone not undertanding the title of this blogspot should refer to Virginia Woolf's works, especcially the one titled similarly. Although I could have easily named it Tales from a Crim Nerd's Life...
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