Blogging and Keeping Up

It seems as if many have forgotten that the blog is part of the grade. While I just don't have enough hours in a day to reply to the posts, I do read. And as I read, I notice that the dates start becoming further and further from the current date. For example, many of the blogs have a last post that is dated back to February, and some even to January! I mean, c'mon people. We're at the END of March. Not only that, but I'm noticing that the responses to posts has been slacking, too. I know it's a PITA, especially for those that aren't used to this, but it's still a requirement.

Now, for those of you that keep up with your blogs and your replies - thank you. I truly enjoy reading them and sometimes find myself either laughing by myself in the office (or at home) or remembering quite vividly being a freshman or sophomore in college (among other reactions).

Anyway, this was really just a reminder that the whole blogging thing is mandatory, and if you haven't kept up or you haven't started, your grade will suffer. It was also a thumbs up for those that are keeping up and contributing worthwhile posts and responses.

Harry Potter

So my newest obsession is Harry Potter. I finally read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in preparation for the film's release this July, and now I'm finding that I have to re-read the last book of the installment: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I started backwards, if you will, with the whole Harry Potter phenomena. I had never read the books when I was younger, and instead found myself fascinated with the movies. Both my husband and I love those types of movies. So, after the 5th movie, The Order of the Phoenix, I couldn't wait any longer and bought the last book of the series. That was the first Harry Potter book that I actually read. Then, I bought book 6 and read that one. I'm now anxiously awaiting the release of the film because I love comparing films and books, and I will finally be able to compare Harry Potter. Up until now, I've only been able to talk about the films. Now I can talk about both!

Other than Harry Potter, I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester! I hope to be able to keep up with the grading (not like I have much of a choice, now do I?). We get into interesting territory now, in both 1101 and 1102 classes! And before we know it, the end will be here and we'll be on our way into summer! Hip, hip, hurray!

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, and dry weekend, and I'll see you all next week!

Spring Break is Here!

Okay, so it's been here for the last few days, but only now do I get to blog about it. I have to say that I think teachers look forward to Spring Break just as much as students do! It's either a chance to get away and take a much needed break in between a semester or the chance to play catch up with grading and school stuff. For me, it's the latter. I have been growing very acquainted with Grademark, a grading software from turnitin.com that allows me to grade papers online, with comments and symbols just as if I were writing on the actual paper. That allows you guys to see your essays and grades as soon as I finish your essay; you wouldn't have to wait until I finish everyone's paper. Of course, it's purely online and I'm new to it, so I'm still working out glitches and working on speeding the process, but so far I like it.

Other than that, I'm still nursing my son back to health. Thank goodness it's Spring Break because otherwise I'd be having to take time off! He went back to daycare 3 days last week only to get sick, again. This time, his ear infection from last week did not respond to antibiotics and got worse. He also got another cold which developed into croup. Ironically, I remember talking about croup recently to one of you. :) It really does sound like a barking seal! As a result of being out part of last week and now this week, he missed his class pictures. :( I know it's silly, but I was looking forward to getting a picture of him with all his little friends from school. We missed it last year because he hadn't started yet, so I was eagerly anticipating this year's class pictures (and anyone that knows me knows that I am a sucker for pictures). Stinks.

I am, though, getting tired of walking into daycare only to find kids with green boogers hanging out because that means my son is going to get sick. There's supposed to be a "sick policy" in place but that doesn't seem to be getting upheld. In the meantime, my mom, my husband, my mother-in-law and I (in a new job!) are all having to take time off over a month and a half period because of him being sick. If my son is sick I don't want him a) getting other kids sick and b) getting worse. Sigh. That's part of life in daycare.

Well, I hope you are all enjoying your time off. Hopefully, you can actually enjoy the break and do something fun. If not, well, at least enjoy having some time off from going to classes. ;)

See you all next week!

The adventures of the ER continue...

As you all know from my previous post, my husband's in the hospital. Well, last night I decided to come home to get some rest because what good am I to anyone if I get sick as well. It was a good thought, and I actually believe there was a higher power in making me take that decision. At 2:15 am my mom came frantic to my room with the baby in her arms because he was dry-heaving. She thought he couldn't breathe and was choking; he was actually throwing up massively. In her panic, and in me trying to calm her down and shake off my drowsiness, I grabbed the baby, but as I walked with him towards the room to assess the situation, I slipped on his vomit on the floor and took a nasty fall. Thankfully, I was able to spare L any of the impact; I am now wearing a nice multi-colored bruise on my leg and a small scrape on my arm. Badges of courage.

Anyway, after that scare, L was still throwing up periodically, so I called the doctor's answering service. I had to call THREE TIMES to finally get a call back almost TWO HOURS LATER! I was livid, and you better believe the office is going to hear about that! I was thisclose to calling 911, although I knew it really wasn't that much of an emergency - but he wouldn't stop throwing up. Once they finally called me, around 4ish in the morning, I was told to take him to the ER. Great. So my mom and I gathered everything, Tupperware container and paper towels included, and headed to the nearest children's ER. Well, as if that wasn't bad enough, as soon as we stepped out, we were blanketed by a dense cover of fog. I could barely see five feet in front of me! Driving in that kind of fog at those wee hours of the morning on a Sun morning was not my idea of a fun drive at all. If I don't have to do that ever again, I'll be quite happy. But we made it, in one piece, and five hours later, a couple more sessions of vomit, and a shot to stop the vomiting, we were discharged. He was diagnosed with some sort of stomach virus, and we were told of the lovely possibility of Mr. Diarrhea coming to join Ms. Vomit. Lovely.

I am thankful, though, that the chain of events happened the way they did. If I had not decided to come home to sleep, if L hadn't woken up earlier and my mom hadn't put him in bed with her, the outcome could've been a lot scarier. L didn't start throwing up until my mom picked him up. If he'd remained laying down, he could've choked - a VERY scary thought for me...

SO yes, my weekend has been so much fun. What a wonderful way to spend V-day weekend.

Thank goodness for Wi-fi

I've been seeking some healthy vibes for my family lately. My son had been sick with what appeared to be a mild case of Hand-Foot-Mouth disease, only to get a runny nose and cough right at the tail end of that. Then, my husband has been feeling ill for the last 3+ weeks, only to go in the the ER yesterday and get admitted into the hospital. No one knows what's going on and we get some best case and worst case scenarios. Gotta love those. Ironically, a year ago yesterday, my dad suffered a stroke that sent him to the ER and this morning (V-Day) a year ago he passed away. :*(

We originally got put into a shared room. For the largest part of last night until the early hours of today, the speckled curtains separated our side with our neighbor's side. We could see no one, but we could hear all. Next to us was, it seemed, an older man. I imagined a wrinkly old man with no family. He sounded much like my father did when he had had his amputation surgery back in 1999 (or was it 2000? I can't remember anymore...) and he was on morphine drip to ease the pain. Morphine drip causes the patient to hallucinate. My father would see spiders down the wall and he would act as if he were giving communion (he was a former priest). Well, our neighbor spent most of the night between a seemingly uneasy sleep and crying out random phrases and names, with "Abui" and other names being the ones I remember most. He had a nurse with him at all times, and quite frankly, he was down-right rude at times. But I don't think he knew what he was saying/doing. This morning, out of nowhere, we hear: "Hey, why are you sitting next to that ugly man?" to which the nurse replied, "Papi, you're in the hospital." Needless to say, we didn't sleep much.

In one of the bathroom breaks, the curtain was pulled back some, and to my surprise, the sounds coming from our neighbor were not those of a seventy- or eighty-something-year-old man but of a younger man, probably in his early forties or late thirties. He must have been in some serious pain because of the pain killers, but from the myriad of conversations, we caught that he was on dialysis, that he lived with an aunt, and that he had a wife and child. The few moments he was semi-coherent, we could tell he spoke Spanish and English, but most of the time we could barely decipher the language. It made me sad.

But back to this post's title: thank goodness for wi-fi! Last night, while my mom stayed home with my munchkin, I schlepped my bag with papers to grade, laptop, and some sweaters and miscellaneous gadgets to keep my husband company at the hospital. As it turns out, the hospital now has free wi-fi, so I've been able to keep in contact with you guys via email, and I've been able to go through all the blogs. I've also been able to check my emails and google the various medical terms that have come up during our stay.

So that's about it. It's been a tiring week and it looks like it's going to be a tiring weekend. Is it spring break yet?

Cauley Square and Deering Estates

Today, my husband, son, mother-in-law, and I went down south to Cauley Square. For those of you not familiar with "down south," or to whom "down south" means Miramar or North Dade, Cauley Square is located off of US1 and SW 224 Street. That's on the way down to Homestead and Key Largo, and not too far from home for me.

We originally headed there for breakfast in the Tea Room, one of two restaurants situated in this historic, "nostalgic Village that offers a Glimpse of Old South Florida at its best." All stores and restaurants are housed in quaint, cottage-style homes that lead to the ambiance of Southern comfort. Surrounding these cottages are large trees and ample foliage that are home to many animals, including cats and raccoons. In fact, we saw a crafty family of about 6 raccoons that meandered throughout the trees and roofs of the cottages. At one point, two of the raccoons creeped close to the edge of a roof, peering anxiously downward as if awaiting for someone - or as if looking for who to scare. It was a riot! But I digress. The shops there include antique stores, craft stores, tarot reading stop, and even a wedding location/planner. We only got to wander through one section of Cauley Square, though, because my son was getting very tired (and cranky!) and we new nap time was quickly upon us. If anyone would like to check out the website and plan a visit, here's the website: http://www.cauleysquare.com/.

As soon as we left, my son conched out, so we decided to get gas (15 miles to empty!) and head down historic Old Cutler Road. As we oohed and aahed at the views of the homes and the greens, we decided to make an impromptu stop at the historic Deering Estates at Cutler (http://www.deeringestate.org/pages/our-history.aspx). The Deering Estates at Cutler were the vision of Charles Deering, brother of James Deering (Vizcaya Museum & Gardens founder). As soon as you purchase your tickets, you follow a paved road surrounded by trees and the buzzing of insects. As you look ahead, you see, in the clearing, the Atlantic ocean, crystallized against the winter sun and bordered by swaying palm trees. The paved road empties out into an open space that is composed of the two stone houses, a brick-paved courtyard (which they rent for weddings and which they were setting up today for one), a large field of grass so green you think it's painted, some picnic tables, a plethora of nature trails, and the curved dock lined with palm trees. We made our way to the dock and breathed in the scent of fresh, ocean air. We watched the pelicans dive into the calm sea in search of food, and we watched a lone man paddle in a canoe full of fishing rods.

There were few others there besides us; most were families with young children, enjoying the exquisite weather we were having today. Others were joggers and exercise-enthusiasts taking advantage of the good weather for some outside exercise. One man in the far south corner was doing some movements that resembled yoga, while another man sat on a cement block with his German Shepard. I envisioned sitting on such a cement block with a paper and a pen (or maybe with a laptop with a long-lasting battery...) and writing to my heart's content. Then reality hit - not gonna happen! We left the proximity of the dock and wandered over to the open grass area. We took our son out of the stroller, and he proceeded to run happily throughout the lawn. Every so often he'd trip over and fall, his hands touching the pricking grass, and he'd get back up with his palms outstretched towards us as if saying, please clean! He loved that moment of freedom, away from the constraints of the stroller straps.

Afterwards, we set back out on our quest home. My son fell asleep again in the car, and so our adventure came to an end. It was very nice getting out into that historic landscape, away from the concrete world of our city. It was nice to see nature in all her glory, and to allow ourselves those few hours of not rushing around, meeting deadlines. Of course, that just means that now I have to rush even more to get done what I didn't get done in those few hours, but it's okay. I'll live with that. ;)

"Patchwork Heritage"

Today, our 44th President was sworn in. It was freezing cold in Washington, D.C., but that did not dissuade the sea of people that stood out to witness this historical day. It was a moment that brought most of us to tears - many a grandmother has uttered in disbelief to reporters, "I never thought I would see this day in my lifetime." Barrack Hussein Obama, our 44th President, is also the first of African-American heritage, and coming the day after we celebrate the Reverend Martin Luther King's birthday, this inauguration is especially poignant. It shows us how far we've come as a nation and as a people, and I believe Dr. King would be proud today, very proud.

I was only able to catch about 30 minutes of the inauguration (during lunchtime at my new employee orientation), but those were the best timed 30 minutes - I got to see the new president being sworn in and I got to hear his speech. President Obama is an excellent orator and writer with an almost poetic nature to his words; if anyone gets the chance to read his memoir, Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, I strongly urge you to take that chance and read it. It is amazing and he has a wonderful narrative style. Today was no different. I was particularly struck by his phrase, "patchwork heritage," which I thought was brilliant! This nation, we, are made up of a "patchwork heritage [that] is a strength, not a weakness." Our country is comprised of different cultures, heritages, religions and languages. That's what makes this nation so great! And his words reminded me of how great we can be and how far we've come. He cited examples of important historical events since our nation's inception which added to the wonder of the moment and to the belief that we can change and we can achieve if we want it enough.

I think that was the most important part of the message. Anything is possible if you're willing to work hard, and if you remember what your values and morals are. Don't forget where you came from and work hard to get to where you want to be. If you want to read his speech, check it out here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090120/ap_on_go_pr_wh/inauguration_obama_text.


I hope you all enjoyed viewing the inauguration and that you are proud with how far we've come. This nation is not perfect, but then again, no nation ever is. However, it isn't called the "Land of Opportunity" for nothing.