giving thanks

i'm finally caught up on my homework. :shoutout: to prof k for patience and understanding. completion (of anything) can be such a stress reliever. like my car. one cause for the delay in homework production.

my front driver's side lights were out. this was made known to me when i decided to make an emergency drive to swansea. my son needed interview clothes and, being low on funds, we headed out to the salvation army family store at 6pm. store closes at 8pm. riding north on 18, we get to the union st lights and i'm noticing dimness on the front end. i exit onto elm st, check the lights. or non-lights. having to take route six = not cool. two shirts, a tie, and one pair of pants later (all laundered) , my son is gaining skills at his new job. so nice to have my couche-tard on a day schedule. now i get to tackle the car.

i own a MY02 hyundai elantra gt (XD). you know what? this is a hot car that gets no respect. i go to elantraxd for help. they're a great crew and they give lots of love and respect to all that is hyundai. and then some. found headlight replacement instructions in the 'diy' section. busted a knuckle. right index. still hasn't healed.

finally got the driver's side bulbs changed (woohoo!), and figured i'd change the passenger side so that the lights don't look wonky. my second attempt had me at auto zone on mt pleasant st. dusk was setting in and, after a squillion attempts at loosening the rear bolt, i left it for the next day. literally. i drove around for two days with a dysfunctional alarm system as well as a new vibration that i was not enjoying. elantraxd to the rescue: i left the low beam dust cap on the engine and that's why the hood wouldn't close properly (causing the two above issues). :shakeitoff:

next: the holidays. i'm a veteran and just so happen to have veteran's day off his year. makes for a weird work week. nice. i'll be refinishing my dull headlights using another elantraxd diy. but, i am working on thanksgiving. no biggie. maybe my sister will bring me a plate for supper. then i'm taking my son to nyc, courtesy of shg activities committee, as an early christmas gift that same weekend.

happy veteran's day.

happy thanksgiving.

the diamond in the window

i read it when i was, oh, 9. 10, maybe. it's ingrained on my soul. and it's the perfect movie - adventure, thriller, mystery, love, fantasy...okay. no angst. but, i'm telling you, it's a movie worth making. tom hanks would love this to be a movie. i just know he would.

after my third purchase of this book, i emailed toni morrison, asking her to submit the author, jane langton, as a nobel candidate. i also asked ms morrison to tell oprah that this book should be a movie. good lord, that must have been ten some years ago. then i saw 'bend it like beckham' and, you guessed it, i sent the writer/director, gurinder chadha, a request to do this movie. not sure, but i think i also sent a request to mira nair. read the book and you'll learn why i did that. or not. read the book.

if you, dear blog reader, can produce this movie, then the hook is as follows: ~the dream is the reality.~ animation until the end, when... read the book! from the very beginning, all animation must be illustrated as in the original book (erik blegvad). maybe with just a touch of color and shadow. to feel like you're watching the book come to life, but still two-dimensional. then, when edward and eleanor fall asleep - boom! - everything is all twinkly and three-dimensional. sorta like pixar. maybe real with a touch of sparkle, even. oh! and the time frame is mid-summer through autumn for the best fall foliage, then into early winter for a great 'christmas' movie. in concord, of course!

and you need to choose actors/kids that know fear and can sweat after hard work. you know. like we saw in 'stand by me'. might be hard to find skinny red-headed, freckle-faced kids, but they're out there.

and i want to be in the first test screening audience.

class assignment - careers

hah! i can only thank myself for where i am today, career-wise. and where i am is about two steps from the bottom rung. coulda-shoulda-woulda. fml.

not exactly sure where i'll end up, but i'm currently working on an associate degree in healthcare information.

taking.
for.
ever.

once that's done, i'll most likely be bumming it until retirement. literally. keying in codes for medical billing. hopefully, from home. sounds ideal, no? my goal is to work in the arena of patient privacy. exactly.

in a previous chapter of fml, i attempted a career in textiles. initially, i was hoping to work with top designers. then i became interested in the environmental side of that business (smelly, that) and moved on to textile chemistry. worked for a while at brittany dye hoping to finish that degree. biggest turn-off of my life. next!

as noted in my profile, i work as a clerk at st. luke's hospital. once my six-month probationary period ended, i think i've applied for a different job every four months. seven year anniversary as a clerk this november.

ftw, i'm currently waiting on a reply for a position as a pc tech. this would require travel to all southcoast-affiiliated doctors' offices to set up a pc system, install some software, test the system, et c. and any time someone has a problem, they call me. easy peasy. i do enjoy helping people. and solving problems. would definitely be a feel-good job.

oh, yeah. did a six-year stint in the air force. telecommunications for the first half. electronic equipment repair for the second half. guess i'd still be there if i hadn't...

another time.
maybe.
maybe not.

mondays

i love mondays - off! working with people who are cranky and/or still hung over, come monday = not cool. my weekends off are normally rotated, but i asked for mondays and tuesdays off this semester. won't be doing that again.



my plan for this past saturday was completely overlooked. annette gordon-reed was on booktv/cspan2 promoting her pulitzer prize winner.



i wanted to watch her segment of the library of congress' book festival, aired on booktv/cspan2, saturday at 1150. missed it. remembered it this morning. went to booktv.org and there it was. more that eight hours of the festival, viewable on their video player.

my tax dollars at work. how very nice.

360+1 = take a hike

coming up on fifty this february and i have to accept that i may never own a home of my very own. but i won't give up on that goal. in the meanwhile, i'd like to explore america's national parks. starting right here in new bedford. really cool to see new bedford listed on nps.gov.



surprise! it's now 1400 and wgbh is showing the first of ken burns' current series - The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

della (stith) andrade

i went to oak bluffs this past july, doing as much as i could in five days. hadn't been back in about six years. weather wasn't that great. fast ferry from new bedford to oak bluffs was smooth and quick. will definitely use them again in future. place was crowded.


stay included required pilgrimage to my grandmother's grave and former home. her name was della (stith) andrade and she lived in this cottage on the east side of pacific avenue, north of the library. she was my mother's [june (andrade) cosme] stepmother. i knew her as nana della and i spent childhood summers here, next door to the devines. tiny place. french guy fixing the place said owner's were to arrive the next day. never got back to them.



looks like her blood family only wanted her property. assessor's database still shows stith on the deed. here's her grave marker. not an 'a' for andrade, but an 's' for stith. what's that about? no respect for nana della's marriage to my grandfather? no other stith buried anywhere near her. i'll look into it on my next visit.

kreiola

the beginning. the place to start, right? well, i did want to blog some time ago. problem was that i'd been feeling a little overwhelmed. but i do love a healthy challenge. penelope trunk's wapo discussion (read the transcript yesterday) is the reason i'm here now. write something.

need a title. here's the end of an lengthy thought process:

• cape verdean: crioulu -> crioula - taken
  
• i like 'k': crioula -> krioula, kreola - taken
• kreeola: eeeeeeee.
  
• kreiola: looks good. could be pronounced 'crayola'. a name i hope no mother bestows on their child.
  
• kreiola: available! i'll take it.

yeah.