Helping Haiti

I'm sure you have all heard by now about the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday. After the 7.0 earthquake, Haiti was still subjected to more than two dozen after shocks, some measuring as high as 4.0 - 5.0. I hope that those of you who have family and friends there have been able to reach them. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who are directly or indirectly experiencing the effects of this "natural" disaster.

I'm calling on each and every one of you to help in whichever way you can. If that help is by donations of clothing or other items needed, so be it; if that help is monetary, so be it; if that help is in the form of prayers, so be it. The Haitian community needs your help!

I'm posting a couple links that I've heard about that are taking donations of all sorts:

• QIFD News
• The White House Blog
• Project MediShare

You can also use your cell phones to make monetary donations. I texted the word "Haiti" to 90999 and $10 will be charged to my cell phone bill. Those $10 will go to the Red Cross for Haiti relief efforts. That's one way. There's another way:

"Those looking to send donations to Jean's YELE Fund should text YELE to 501501 in order to donate $5, which will be directly billed to your cell phone. Each text results in the $5 charge. Ninety cents of every dollar goes directly to the people of Haiti." (Taken from Channel 7 News).

The local TV stations also have information on how you can help. If you know of any other websites or locations that are taking donations, let me/us know by either posting on your blog or by commenting here.

All we have to do is turn on the news or look online to understand the magnitude of the destruction caused by this quake. Countless families have been affected. We can and should do something to help. I hope you will.

Assigned blog topics: ALL CLASSES

Here's your first set of assigned topics:

1) How did you spend your winter break? Did you do anything special? Did you go anywhere fun? Did you stay home and relax, unwinding after last semester?

2) What goals do you have for this new year, 2010. Forget resolutions - I hear that if you make a resolution, you won't stick to it. Goals are at times more realistic, and therefore easier to achieve.

Feel free to answer these in one post, or in two. These have to be answered in the first 3-4 weeks of school (so, in Jan), but I don't have a preference in order.

Here are my answers:

1) Winter break was quiet, but it was nice. The first part of the winter break was spent preparing for Christmas Eve. I made bunuelos and carrot cakes to give out (I make some mean carrot cake! lol), and my son and I sang and danced to Christmas songs. He was getting over a cold so we didn't go out much. But it was a nice slow-down after the fast-paced fall semester!

We were originally scheduled to go to Disney World for New Year's - it was to be my first time ever at Disney for New Year's. However, my son got sick (again) and we decided to cancel the trip, especially since the temperatures began dropping drastically in Orlando during those days. Instead, we stayed home (my husband kept his time off) and we did a winter-cleaning in the house. My mom came over a few times to baby sit so we could run errands, and we spent New Year's Day with both our families. It was nice starting 2010 surrounded by family.

2) I have several goals set for this year. I want to make more time to spend with my family and friends. The new year began a bit sad. My friend lost her husband (he was 33) to Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma. She has a 2-year-old son, my son's age. It impacted me tremendously, and it reinforced the fact that we don't have "la vida comprada" (our life purchased - my dad used to say this a lot). Things happen and life is short (along with all those other comparable cliches). I want to spend more time with my family and I want to let them know how much I appreciate and love them - before it's too late. So that's my number one goal - make time for my family and friends.

The other goals I have are becoming healthier and writing more. I have carved out some gym time twice a week, and I want to do more outdoors stuff with my son. My hope is to improve my health (and, as a perk, lose weight, too). I need to make healthier food choices, cook more at home, and exercise. I also want to dedicate more time to writing my memoir. I have about 100 pages written, and I haven't even reached the middle! So I really need to dedicate more time and get myself out of this "rut." I know I'll have more time in the summer, but I don't want to wait. I want to try to write at least once every day, even if it's for ten minutes.

A Great Start to a New Semester!

Well, I'm officially excited about this semester! You guys have all been great, and I'm looking forward to all the lessons we'll learn from each other in the next 16 weeks. The first "week" is over, and the fun is just about to begin (and so is the work - sorry! lol).

I was playing around with the haiku. For those that don't know, a haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that contains only three line; 1st line has 5 syllables, 2nd has 7, and 3rd has 5. The definition of the term, from The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature is as follows:

"A style of lyric poetry borrowed from the Japanese that typically presents an intense emotion or vivid image of nature, which, traditionally, is designed to lead to a spiritual insight. Haiku is a fixed poetic form, consisting of seventeen syllables organized into three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Today, however, many poets vary the syllabic count in their haiku."

There are a lot of variations today with this form. Here's a website with several examples of haiku (notice the singular and plural are written the same way).

New Year, New Semester

First of all, Happy New Year to all! May this year, 2010, bring much peace, love, happiness, and health to each and every one of you.

As the new semester gears up for it's commencement, I find that I must take down the previous semester's blogs. If you are continuing to blog and would like to keep in touch, please let me know by commenting to this post. That way, I can "follow" your blog! :)

Best wishes to all of my students: past, present and future!

Meet my Pups

I've mentioned them before, but here are my two pups: Buffy and Baxter. =) They're a fun pair, even if they do shed a lot. Buffy is the yellow lab mix, and Baxter is the black lab mix. I took that pic of Buffy today when I was trying to get one of my son; she just sat in front of me and posed.

Grading, grading, grading... and listening to Christmas Music

It's that time of semester where you guys are either done or finishing finals... and I'm grading my eyes out! LOL. I'm trying to get everything done so that you guys can have your final grades via Blackboard soon. I must say, though, I'm actually enjoying this. :) While it is work, I love reading what you guys have to say, whether it's in the essays or in the blogs. Look out for my comments. :) I'm glad no one's around right now because I'd look rather silly - I laugh out loud, talk to the screen, and make hand gestures while I'm reading/grading. Yea, I'll be okay. ;)

While I'm grading, my son is sleeping and I'm listening to the Holly channel on the XM radio (via TV). I love this time of the year and I can't wait to really be able to enjoy it. Our house is decorated (mostly thanks to my hubby), our Christmas tree is up, our nativity set is up, our gazillion stuffed Santa Mickey's and parachuting Santa's are up, our stockings are up, and our advent "house" is up. Oh yea, our countdown to Christmas is also up along with an array of light-up musical toys that my son loves to press all at once, leading to a disjointed chorus of Christmas carols.

I also FINALLY got a semi-decent picture of my son by the tree so I can send out Christmas cards. Of course, my son looks rather gaunt since this stomach bug that hit him this week left him some three pounds lighter. He wasn't much in the mood to smile, but I was able to get a cute one out of some fifty-some pics I took. Thank goodness for digital cameras! (Ah, technology). I wanted a pic with Santa (those have been the pics for the last two years), but unfortunately, health and time haven't been on my side.

I'm not complaining though. I have had a wonderful semester thanks to all of you. I wish you all so much luck and success in every aspect of your lives. If you'd like to stay in touch, by all means, please do! And in the manner of Hamlet's ghost: "Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me."

Final Topic: ALL CLASSES

How was your semester? What new things did you learn (either in my class or in any other class)? Was there a particularly good or funny moment? Was there a particularly challenging moment? Share your final thoughts in a paragraph.