sonrisa finalmente con una amiga

Of course I was out too late - Sandy was with me!

I'd texted her yesterday about going to improv with me, and, to my surprise, she said yes!

Very nice!

Then, as time neared for the show to begin, she texted at 7 PM that she'd meet me in the lobby - and when I arrived, she was there!

Even nicer.

It's been a hot minute since we two amigas have been together.

We even went out to dine after the show ended around 9:30 PM, going for an old haunt - Carey Hilliard's on Abercorn - for the next two hours.

Talking is still a little ... stilted? hesitant? slow?... but it was good to talk.

 

The Last Laugh improv show had been great fun for both of us, though.

Held at Jenkins Hall on the Armstrong campus, we both felt right at home when we walked in there.

The troupe was a little smaller this time, but the Friday night crowd was rowdy and loud!

That was great!

They like free events, just like we do!

The very first game got things rolling with all players in for "Objection!"

That had been an Odd Lot favorite, too, so I threw "the price of eggs" out there as a topic - and Ro and Nick picked it right up and lobbed it to CJ to start.

And so it went, from that tall cool dude discoursing about eggs until Jordan called him out on the hacky sack playing.

"Sustained!", cried Nick, so then super short Jordan had to explain the rules of that game, until Luke called an objection on her use of "feet" instead of "foot".

"Sustained!", cried Nick, leading to Luke having to talk of parts of the human anatomy...

and so on, until all seven players had at least one chance to speak.

All from the price of eggs!

(smile!)

Sasha was the main player in "Slide Show" of her trip to New Orleans, with the other six striking poses, tabula rasa style, every time she said, "Click!"

Then she would have to explain just what was going on there - hahahaha!

"LCD" started off with Deja as the first person in a deaf world, having to describe with body language that she was at the Waffle House, she was a shoe salesman, and her death was caused by a pair of Air Jordans.

I'll give her credit for getting that jump shot down pat!!!

That doesn't mean Nick, Liana, or Chloe guessed correctly what was going on, but it sure was a hoot to watch!

"Survivor" was kinda sorta like half-life, but instead of time being eliminated, players were.

Luke, CJ, Jordan, and Sasha were in Tahiti, but there was some confusion about who was to have made the hotel reservations and what had been done with the money.

When Sasha was voted off by the audience, the other three had to replay the scene, including all her lines, and then the audience voted off another player.

It ended up with CJ being the last man standing and he had to do the story all over, being sure to say the other three players' lines - and that was crazy!!!

I really did like that game!

So did Sandy.

But I think our absolute favorite was "Sex With Me Is Like...", with all players in.

The audience would give a suggestion, then the players would step forward with their response for that suggested word.

My favorite had to be Liana's for "grill".

"Sex with me is like a grill. I have two racks to put your meat on!"

Hahahaha!!!

I think I just got an insight into her character in "Ride The Cyclone"!!!

Hahahaha!!!

why i love teaching chem1152 (II)

LOL!
I should have continued this on yesterday's post, but that was about soap.
These gleanings are from the Post-Lab Report on hand cream.
Yes, indeed, folks! My students make aspirin, soap, and hand cream in this semester's labs!
They'll be analyzing urine in another few weeks, too.
That one is always fun!
(smile)
No, it truly is!
And, believe it or not, I had a student one year who chose to abstain from performing that lab. Even though I assured her the urine was completely synthetic, she wanted nothing to do with it.
My guess is she did not stay in the health professions field.

Anywho, I was grading the PLR's for the hand cream lab and here are a couple of goodies!

For the sample made without mineral oil, Ricardo wrote:

"As you rub it on your skin, it seems to just sit on top of the skin like a glue. My skin was still dry. I was probably better off putting on glue. At least with glue I would have gotten a smooth layer."

For the sample made without triethanolamine, Madison wrote:

"Without it, the hand cream separates out into waxy/oily and is a frankly disgusting clumpy mess. Worst hand cream ever."


Thanks, y'all, for livening up your work and easing my load!

why i love teaching chem1152

First, let me preface by reminding you, gentle reader, that I teach a two-semester survey of chemistry course. The general chemistry portion is taught in the fall, with the organic and biochemistry portion only taught in the spring.
I very much enjoy teaching the spring course for two reasons.
I already know most of the students...
and most of the students already know me.
(smile)
That fact alone decreases the tension for all of us.
After all, the material is assuredly difficult, but necessary to master if the student is to continue into the nursing program or into a variety of other health-related fields.
But this semester, the spring semester, their second block of chemistry, they know me and I know them.
That allows us a degree of familiarity and fosters good attitudes.
It also allows good humor to spring forth in unexpected places.
I kid around with them, inserting corny jokes as helpful mnemonics. This semester, I have also taken to awarding imaginary red balloons to the first student to answer a question correctly in lecture or lab.
Definitely fun!
A few of them have started responding in kind.
Like in Post-Lab Reports.
Like in this Post-Lab Report for the making of Soap.
The Report tends to ask questions which involve long-winded responses from the students. In other words, I do not usually enjoy grading it, as I have to read every word from every student.
Ugh.
But Kacy livened things up for me!
For the very last question, his response had me laughing out loud!
Hence, my reason for taking a break so I could share it here.

***** ***** *****

6. Soaps that have a pH above 8.0 tend to irritate some sensitive skins. Was your soap good enough to compete with the commercial preparations for sensitive skin? Explain.

"Unfortunately, the concoction that Ricardo and I made was too awesomely powerful for the delicate little flowers of the world to handle. While my partner and I were far too badass to notice any irritation, a soap with a pH of 10 likely wouldn't be acceptable for commercial presentation."

***** ***** *****

Superb!
I just wish I could justify giving him extra credit for making me laugh!

i'm walkin', yes, indeed

Tonight marked the fourth time that I've participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's "Light The Night" walk.
As part of the support group from Armstrong State University, representing the College of Science and Technology, I was team captain of the "Cheering Scientists Toward a Cure" bunch.
I originated the team name, with some help from Cynthia Graves, in 2011, our first year of participation as a group.
Here's the team page and my page.
Even though the event is over in Savannah, donations are always welcomed for the cause!

Here I am with my dear friend, Marilyn O'Mallon. She and I have known each other a LONG time.
She was a student of mine, once upon a time, earning her Bachelor's degree in Nursing.
Now, she has a doctorate and is a faculty member in the College of Health Professions. Here's her team's page for the walk.

She had asked me to be a team captain last year and I had accepted.
After all, I had been part of the Chemistry & Physics Department for almost two decades.
Getting folks there to support the cause should be fairly easy, right?

Silly me!

At least
I had
the good sense
to create
my own
T-shirt
in honor of
the event!




By the week of the Walk this year, I knew I would not earn a lighted balloon to carry, the LLS' commemorative T-shirt to wear, or the title "Champion for Cure". All I needed for that title was a mere hundred dollars to be donated to my page.
I did try to earn the funds.
I sent emails to the professors in each department of my college, to alert them to the team and to request support, either by joining the team or providing funds. I challenged them to give up the cost of just one cup of coffee, one fast food meal, one 6" sub.
I graced bulletin boards in the Science Center with posters of the event. (Just like the one above!)
Two students from CST joined the team.
No one, except me, donated any money.
That's right.
No contributions from Engineering.
No contributions from Biology.
No contributions from Computer Science & Information Technology.
No contributions from Psychology.
No contributions from Mathematics.
No contributions (except mine) from Chemistry & Physics.

Yeah, that last one was disappointing, but hardly surprising.
Still, I had hoped for at least some token support.

I had even appealed to my family and friends, in person, via emails, and by use of facebook requests.
No takers.
Rather, no givers.
(smile)

That's okay.
There's always next year.

how I marked the 13th year

This past week has certainly been a time of remembrances of my days in the military. Ever since last Friday, when I discovered, to my horror, that the Naval stations I had spent my young adult years at were (long) gone, I have had the impact of the military on youth on my mind. During times of peace, the effect is minimalized, primarily manifesting as an increase in structure and responsibility. That's all to the good. Regardless of the reason a person volunteers for service, that time elisted can bring happy memories and long-term friendships.
Today was not to mark a time of peace. This country has been deeply involved in war and peace has been absent for thirteen years.
In honor of this great country I call home, I attended two events at Armstrong State University today.
The first was a fun learning experience. Titled "Star Spangled Banner", the lecture explored the origins of several patriotic songs, not just our National Anthem. One piece in particular caught my attention: "America The Beautiful". Based on the poem "Pike's Peak", written by Katharine Lee Bates in 1893, the lyrics give praise to the World's Columbian Exposition, better known as the Chicago World's Fair. She was a 33-year-old single woman, a teacher from Massachusetts, who had traveled to Colorado for a summer teaching job and stopped in Chicago along the way.
Why did this hold such importance for me?
Well, it appealed to my alter ego, Fliss of Kickstarter! In particular, the reference in the song to "alabaster cities", in conjunction with the knowledge of her trip to the Fair in 1893, immediately placed her in the context of the musical I had backed on kickstarter. 'Wait a minute!', I thought, 'I know that story about the Fair!' Indeed. Thanks to "The Dreamer and The Devil", I am rather familiar with the architect of that White City of which she speaks. I can certainly understand an intelligent young woman being quite taken with Daniel Burnham's gleaming dream, especially after the city grime she knew.
How fortunate for us all that she did not opt to stay at the hotel built by "Dr. H.H. Holmes" during her visit to the Fair. That establishment, self-billed as "World's Fair Hotel", came replete with dungeon, gas chamber, and moratorium, and was the site of at least 27 murders (possibly as many as 200). Had she rested her head on one of those pillows, we might not have ever had this paean to the beauty of America's diverse vistas.
Brrr! Did you just catch that chill?

The second event I chose to mark time in America's history was this evening.
The Armstrong Masquers performed
"A Piece of My Heart", the play written by Shirley Lauro. Her work was adapted from six stories of the twenty-six women in the 1986 book by Keith Walker. The six stories selected cover a broad range of women who served in Vietnam, during their time there (in the late 1960's) and up to the completion of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (in 1984).
Some of these women were so young! Martha, a daughter of a career military man and Army nurse mother, and Sissy, who had just looked for escape from her Pennsylvania hometown, were 18 and 19 years old when they enlisted.
MaryJo, a Texas entertainer in her early 20's, thought a contract to entertain the troops would advance the careers of herself and her band. That was the story her agent told her.
LeeAnn was a hippie and a war protester, thinking that being a military nurse was a way to help folks - especially as she had been told she would be going to Hawaii.
Whitney, in her mid-20's, was an idealistic Ivy-leaguer, volunteering as a nurse for the American Red Cross.
They all believed the stories on the radio, on television, in the newspapers and magazines. America was winning the war over there, but could still use help.
The only one who truly knew what was going on was 35-year-old Steele, a 17-year intelligence specialist in the US Army. Of course, she found out that being a black female was not going to get you too far, regardless of the information you brought to the general's attention.

Yes, I cried.
I wept when the young nurses were thrown into the horror pit of war, forced to learn how to start an iv through OJT. Add to that scene the sound of helicopters,
the endless screaming and noise, and the sight of men, their age and younger, missing limbs and bleeding out before their eyes.
Horrific.
I wept when a dying young man gets to talk to his mom for Christmas.
I wept when the veteran in the group tries to stave off the Tet offensive and failed.
I wept when they all sought solace at the bottom of a bottle, both in Vietnam and back at home again.
Their return to the States was met with more tears, because I know the greeting they received from the civilian world here.
I am so grateful to be a supporter of the Armstrong Masquers.
Keep up the good work, y'all.