Car Issues

Sigh. I am having car issues. Maybe even electrical.
One of the 1st signs was while we were in S FL. At Hollywood Beach, I turned the car on and the radio wouldnt turn on for 2 minutes. Odd. Oh, and the back right window wont go down... Then we had the GPS plugged into the cigarette lighter then the GPS switched to battery power b/c the cigarette lighter turned off. You know how when you put the key in the ignition how it will beep to let you know the door is open- well I opened my door and the car made that sound twice....but before I put the key in it....thats not good. Either I have a psychic car or a major electrical issue. I am hoping for a psychic or possessed car- those are cheaper to fix...
So crap. I need to get rid of it before it gets worse.

Thats my car story.

In other news - we watched My Super Ex Girlfriend. Cute cheesy movie. We also went and saw The Pursuit of Happyness. It was cute but not fantastic. More like a Lifetime movie. Still better than The Good Shepherd though.


Gave the dogs a bath and haircut yesterday. They look marvelous.
We made jello for tomorrow night (minus the cabbage and carrots etc of course!).

More soon.
:)

More Ben

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

Gotta post more pics of Ben. Can you blame me? On his right is his garage of cars. It is really cool.

Mark & PJ

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Here we are with Mark and PJ. They drove up to New Orleans for the rest of the week.

Chaz side of the Gang

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

Here is the Ft Pierce gang on xmas day.

My side of the Gang

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Here is the P' clan on xmas eve.

Ben

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

Man is this a cute picture or what!?!?!?

Amy

Woo hoo! Amy got engaged. I think she will start blogging again but I am so excited!!!

We're baaaaack

It is good to be home.
We almost didn't make it back.
We stopped in Vero to return some shirts on the way home. There we were in our vehicle, fully loaded w/ xmas goodies and 2 dogs, and my car didnt start.
Chaz mom had to drive all the way there to jump it for us. Not sure whats up w/ my ride yet.

Had a great trip. Did Pembroke Pines w/ my fam on Fri- Sun. On Fri we also got to go on a boat ride w/ my sis, Ib, Ben and sis' friends Lori and Jay on the Intercoastal. Saw all the crazy rich peoples homes and their xmas lights. Ben got to drive the boat. Did the family thing on Sat. Went on a date to Hollywood Beach w/ Chaz for dinner. Did the xmas thing on Sun at my sis' crib. Afterwards we drove to Ft Pierce to see Chaz fam. We did xmas that Mon morning then had the 12 hour drunken luncheon. The next day Mark & PJ came to stay w/ us there too. We went out to dinner and saw the movie The Good Sheperd. Not that good. In fact, it was 3 hours long and mainly about a bunch of boys thinkin they were cool b/c they all had secrets. Angelina Jolie did a good job. The boy they picked to be her and Matt Damons son was such a bad pick. We did tons of dog walks down there. Had a fab time. More details to follow.
Just unpacked and am on my 5th load of laundry. Eeiiiee!
How were your holidays?

Ben questions

So here are questions that 3 yr old Ben wants answers too:

1.) What happens when people die?
2.) How do the doctors fix a hernia? Do they really stitch people?
3.) When I get big I'm going to get crazy glue and build myself a crazy house, okay?
4.) How do babies get out of their Mommy's tummys?

hello from Pembroke Pines

Just a quick hello from my moms computer.
We are having a lovely time. Arrived on Friday. Went to the Intercoastal and we went on a boat ride w/ my sis friends and saw all the lights.
On Saturday we went to take Ben to get a real haircut at a salon. At 1st he was so upset but then the hairstylist owners gave him Two peanut butter cups AND Two dollar bills. Score. He has the same haircut as Chaz.
Last night Chaz and I had dinner on Hollywood Beach, then we got the best icecream cones ever, then put our feet in the ocean. It was a good time. We are about to start the xmas madness around noon or 1 at my sis house. Then we will drive to ft pierce. More soon.
Merry xmas eve!

How cool is this?!

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

So here is a look at one of the cool things I got from Nicole.
Doesn't it rock!?!
It holds a pic. It is also the sunset over the water. When Chaz & I were in the Keys - we labored over which one of these to have the guy make for Nicole & Otto but then couldn't decide and left.
I think it is rockin cool.

Is this Dirty Enough?!?!

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

Herlinda needed some help in the garden. The Bougenvillia was growing into the Tabebuia so I called the IT Dept to come help move it. That is a very sharp bush! Too bad it is not enough of a 'dirty job' to get Mike Rowe out here to film yet......

weekend update

This weekend update is a bit late.
Campus is a ghost town which is fabulous. Great opp to get all the odd things done and pre planning- only prob is that with pre-planning, everytime I go to schedule something, the people I need a response from have already left....Argg.
Had a good weekend. On Saturday we went to Texas de Brazil. I think I ate a whole cow. The place is like $140 per couple so I should have eaten two cows! Really cool ambiance there. Very trendy. Went w/ Chaz, Mike, Lynn, Nic, & Ot. Then we went to M&Ls house for a bit.
We also finished 99% of our x-mas shopping. We still have Mark S. and Mary to shop for and we keep hitting a brick wall.
On Sunday we went over to Rob's place after shopping in WaterfordHell.
I talked w/ Abi and Amy this week. Both are doing well.
I have Blepharospasm. Yeah, now that I am a'Dr." I like to self diagnose ;) My eye has been twitching for a month. http://www.eyedoctorguide.com/eye_problems/eye-twitching.html
It's no big deal, rather amusing actually. It is probably due to the holidays.

Mountain Climbing

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

Snuck over to take some pics of the new stadium going up (more on FLICK). It was so gorgeous outside! Climbed up this dirt mountain and got a great view :)

Why FL rocks

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

So Emily's man works out at the Cape and got these rockin pics of the last launch. How sweet is that!?!?

Our tree

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

So this is our oober fabulous X-mas tree.
Its small, its up high so no one will pee on it, it is simple, and straight to the point.
It came w/ bows on it. It even has gold glitter on it.
Hey- its a real tree!
Since we are not havin people over for the holidays, I didnt want to expend the time and effort. Plus I'll get to plant her :)
She is a beautiful tree. You know you are kicking yourself for not getting a real, reusable tree ;)

Jill&Abi

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

A special shout out to Abi for getting me the FLICKR Pro account so I have unlimited space to upload my ginormous pics!!!

My E-Pass story

So years ago, back in the 90s when Derek lived off of Science Drive, he was driving his white jeep but didn't have an E-Pass. A picture of him driving through the toll booth was taken and sent to his house. It was the funniest picture. So of course, I wanted a picture like that. So here is my E-pass story.

The battery died on my E-Pass. Most people get something sent to their home informing them of this, right? So no prob...Well it was registered w/ my old home address and I never got anything in the mail. Hmmm- maybe it was even registered at Amy's old place. I dunno. Mine doesnt beep or anything by the way. So I go to the website to update my info. Ummmm yeah- they want account info. I don't have the account info. It is mailed to a mystery house apparently. So I can't login without it. Crap. So I call and they want me to fax them stuff. After explaining that I dont have 'stuff' I clear things up and fax them my new info. Well their fax broke. I am not meant to have a working E-Pass. Long story short- I got it all fixed. But guess what- this week I received MY picture of me running through the Turnpike toll booth. It is a hot picture and proudly up on display on my fridge. I must find a frame for it.

Job News

So Chaz got a verbal offer for the campus job here. I am definitely leaning towards him taking it. It is a management position. He would have at least 13 people underneath him. His master's was in change management. It's more money. Plus to get ahead at his current job it seems like you have to leave and then come back. He beat out 3 internal candidates which is sooo unheard of. We'd get free insurance (like $180 a month value I hear) all though his insurance totally kicks butt. However, his company is a Global company which is pretty bad a** but again, you have to leave and come back. He'd be working w/ some cool peeps over here. He would have to pay back the past years tuition and a bonus if he leaves his job (but the money at the new job would totally make up for that). This position is like a once in a lifetime opp.... We should know before the new year. We have a pro con list going at home. It's on the table and we are pondering it.
He decided to do the right thing and tell his boss that he has an offer in order to give them time to find a replacement, etc. He didnt have to do that but he did. His boss was a jerk about it. More reason to leave.... So that is the scoop. We will let you know what unfolds.

I am going on baby hiatus/strike

Yesterday I had my annual ob/gyn exam. It sucked. It doesn't help to be surrounded in that waiting room w/ 15 very pregnant people when you are trying not to think about getting pregnant. There were people there that should not be having kids (or pets for that matter). Waiting naked in a room surrounded by baby pics sux even more.
Knowing the test is gonna come back negative again but hoping your wrong only to find out your not sux as well.

I thought I was doing a good job about not thinking about it but its hard when people keep asking you or bringing it up.
And get this- I got my first freaking white hair. Are you kidding me with this? Oh I am not liking the 30s.

So the doc told me once I get my period, I should go on the 21st day after it starts to Quest Diagnostics for blood work or whatever. I might not be ovulating. How the heck does that happen? It showed that I was on Nov. 5th... Granted it was after a 58 day period hiatus. But if I am not ovulating, how did I get that positive result on the ovulation test? WTF? So now I am just confused. Maybe I should go to a different doc b/c I left there with no answers. I gave him my 5 page print out of the basal temperature readings and all that mapping crap. I have to wait till a next period? Where is the plan of action? That period could be another 58 days for all I know then its 21 days on top of that then however long it takes them to get the results from that....thats a freakin semester away to just get a possible answer.

Oh- and me who never cries- I did at the office. Where the heck did that come from? I don't do that girly crap! Schnikes.

So I am bummed. I wanted to have the big announcement at my doctoral commencement when I had the whole family here. That didn't happen. So then I figured I could do it at Charles graduation when everyone was together. That didn't happen. Then I thought I could do it at Thanksgiving. That didn't happen. So surely I thought for x-mas..no luck. So much for being able to do it when all the fam is together. So then I got to work and Em, Mike, Andrew (& Nic/Ot) were all out. It was lonely, and my eyes started to leak at work. Are you kidding me with that? I dont do that sort of stuff. And twice in 1 day in public? Oh hell no! Madi almost passed out when she saw that!

I go home and watch TV so not to think about it. I watch Scrubs where Carla had a baby and JD is expecting one. Schnikes- I can't even watch TV now!

So what does this mean? It means I am throwing in the towel. I am done. I want to think about it no more. I will hop on the wave of the next wave of people who have kids. I don't want to think about it no more. I want to put it off till the end of next semester or something.
That is my story.
I am done.
No comments needed b/c I am not thinking about it- starting now.
:)

Quick update between meetings

That on campus job that Chaz interviewed for- they called his boss for a reference check. That is a really good sign. Looks like we might find out before the holidays!

So Benjamin has an imaginary friend. His name is Michael. I guess he imagines it to be his itty bitty brother. Anyhow- Michael ran away. How much does that suck? So Ben cried. I told my sis to tell him that I borrowed Michael to show him where the Monster Truck show will be held so they don't get lost next month.

Work is crazy busy. My boss is on a big cultivation of prospective donors kick/fundraising, etc. I am waiting to hear back from 21 prospective luncheon speakers as is. I am also heading up the new brick fundraiser campaigne...I can tell you all about sand blasted bricks vs laser and all sorts of other junk that no girl should know. :)

We went to the gym last night. Great, right? Well, on the TV was an IHOP commercial which was right next door and I ended up getting pumpkin pancakes....guess I negated that whole trip to the gym...
Time for a meeting. Gotta go.

Now thats NOT Cute

We have a bulemic dog. Okay not really. Lately Tiger drinks too fast (or too much) and then pukes right away. Whats up with that? Anyone else have this problem?

Came home today and put up more lights. I'll take a pic later this week.
:)

Now THATS cute!

So I have the best story ever. I was talking to my sis and she said how Benjamin asked what a nanny was. My sis replied back with someone who takes care of the kids while mommy and daddy work and they play with you. So Ben replied back that he wants aunt Jill to be his nanny and live with them [Insert ginormous AWWW here]. Let us discuss how cool that was. So I talked w/ Benjamin and told him what a brilliant idea that was only that he should come live up here since we have Monster Truck shows, Gatorland, Disney, SeaWorld, etc. He told me that all of his toys were down there though so I told him if he can convince his mommy [and Ma and Pa of course] to move up here, then I would take him to Toys R Us and buy him all new toys and let him drive Charles car ;)
My newphews cuteness is undeniable!

random nothings

I forgot to mention how at Universal, we went on the ET ride. Holy cow- I have not been on that in like decades! I forgot it was there hidden in the kids section. So as you go on the ride, you tell them your first name and as you leave the ride, ET thanks everyone by saying their name. Mine sounded like ET belched my name since it was just one syllable!

We also were all picked to do a pilot taping of different shows- we each watched a different 'game show' and told our opinions about it and each made $15. Sweet. I hadn't done that before.
Hey Skygirl- we took you up on your recommendation of that movie Accepted. Blah. Didn't like it. We liked Click (Adam Sandler) much better.

This is the last full week of work for quiet awhile.
Hope you all had a good weekend.

Scandalous...?

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

Here is a pic from the last staff holiday party. It was the biggest crowd ever and the Dean's dog had a blast.

Rob n Lisa's Shin Dig

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

Ah ha! Found the cable cord for this camera! Here is a pic from last weekend finally!

Universal

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

Today we woke up early and met up with Mike & Lynn and went to Universal Studios. Holy cow was the weather perfect and there was NO ONE there! Apparently we picked the most perfect day to go. The pics were for my students but they never picked them up and they expired today so I couldn't let them go to waste. We ate at the restaurant on the water and were like the only ones there. The lines had a max wait of 10 minutes. That rocked. We ate at the Hard Rock for dinner. Good time.
Early in the week I was plannin on goin to see Lion King through work but it was the same night as the grad banquet which I hate to miss so I was able to give my tix to Nicole (I know she loves that show). So its been a great ticket weekend!

We had such a lovely visit by the in laws and the fam portraits will be ready at the end of Dec.
Gosh- its not even 8pm and I am ready for bed.

Wet Willie

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Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

Here is what a real wet willie looks like.

What a ham!

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Today was family pic day. We went to JC Pennys to get our photos taken w/ Chaz folks then came home and snapped a few with the dogs. Here's a few on my FLICKR. That Tiger is such a ham.

Here's what sucks about my job

Tonight we had our lovely traditional graduation banquet.
Seated on my left was Jessica who is finishing a PhD in Industrial Engineering and is going to be an astronaut. Next to her is her is her fiancee who speaks at least 3 languages and has studied in Cina and Australia, etc. On my left is Marty who has a PhD and a JD. Next to him is the family of mr.ucf who all speak at least 4 languages and are so well beyond educated. Talk about getting a case of education envy. Is there such a thing? Schnikes- the calibre of people is just so awesome. It's like no matter how much I go to school, it just isn't enough.
I can't complain though. I think crazy educated people rock.

I enjoyed the banquet. Its a cool sociological experiment to see how the staff interacts amongst each other. For example- who is there to help set up and of course to stay afterwards to help pack up. Who offers to give the older coworkers a ride home/back to the building vs who leaves everyone high and dry w/out ever even lifting a finger. Never a dull moment, thats for sure.

Fingers crossed!

Chaz had his interview on campus today and it went really really well. He is up against THREE internal candidates though but is more qualified than all 3. Now we play the waiting game. His current job pissed him off today so the timing might be just right. If its meant to happen, it will.

At work today I was on the phone w/ all of these brick people. We are gonna start a fundraising campaign where we do the personalized bricks....I have tons of brick samples coming to my house. Odd. I learned a lot. Hmmm- I wonder if Mike Rowe would consider it a Dirty Job ;)

The holiday spirit begins

So 3 nice things have happened so far to get me in the holiday spirit.

1st- Officer White who I havent seen in like months and months came by to visit me at work. We used to hang back in the 90s when I worked at the other end of campus. He was friends with Officer How who I dated. He came by out of the blue in his uniform, just ditched his car in front of my building- to come visit me and tell me all of the details about how my ex (who now works for orange county) had his taser wrestled away from him and used on him. Ahhh sweet justice. Oh the scandal of the grapevine to have a fully uniformed officer come ask for you by name in the office!That was funny. He was showing me his taser & even turned it on so people thought I was probably getting tazed!

Today I rushed home to get the lights up before Chaz got home. As I was stringing the lights- my neighbor Colleen just walked over and started helping me. Holy neighborness! How cool is that! I even dug up the missing leg of my deer and set that up. She and her husband showed me how to change out the fuses on the strand. Rock on - my neighbors are the bomb.

Lastly- I got along so fabulously w/ the last luncheon speaker. I sent him the pics from the luncheon (he's the VP of SeaWorld who was talking to Jack Hannah on the phone on the way in). Then we started talking about Monster Truck Shows & I told him how I was draggin my siblings and nepher to it & he should do the same. Turns out he does! I told him I might take the family on a trip to SeaWorld after that and he told me to call his cell and he would get me a tour to blow all other tours out of the water and would 'guarantee that this trip would make me the coolest wife and aunt on the planet.' SWEEEEEEET! I'm sure I will get pics of Ben feeding Shamu and stuff. Rock on.

Lights, Camera, No Action

I rushed home last night to get the x-mas lights out of the attic and up. I had such a great master plan. So I get up to the attic- now keep in mind it is one of those pull down stair unit devices. So as you get to the higher part, each ring of the ladder is now flush with the hole cover so you cant really get your whole foot on there.

I get the new inflatable snowman out that I bought last year after x-mas during the good sales. I set him up. He's cool. I look across the street- they have one that is twice the size of mine. Are you kidding me with this.

I forgot to get down my deer. Maybe thats a good thing. Either his head falls off or his leg does. No- I should get him. I need to represent the disabled deers. But of course, my neighbor has two deer out. Punk.

So I see my x-mas lights box. Great! So I go to reach for it and realize that it is the same weight that I am. Are you kidding me? There was no way I'd be able to safely get that down by myself. Not that high up. After talking with Lynn I now play it a lot safer on ladders. Of course the guy at the end of my street must work for Disney and his house looks like a freakin winter wonderland. Grrr. Down the street my neighbors have a row of plastic jugs along their walk way. It looks like trash but at night time, they have color lights in it and it is absolutely spectacular!
So I wait for Chaz to get home. Turns out he was workin late. Nuts! So no lights for me yet. I tried. I will maybe put them up tonight. Instead I flung poo and did some on line shopping and wrapping.

Speaking of holiday stuff- we drew our Secret Santas. So on year 2 for me, I drew the Dean. On year 4, I drew the Dean. So by golly, year 6- who do I draw? The Dean.
Gotta go do my work now. More soon.

My new Gangstas

My new Gangstas
Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

These are my new kids. Arn't they beautiful!?!?

The New Barbie Collection

The New Barbie Collection
Originally uploaded by drjeeeol.

So this is just clever!
I was walking down the hallway and the feminism class always has their end of semester class projects out on display during finals week. This one is my favorite. It is the new Barbie collection (Lesbian Barbie, Bullemic, Adolescent, Pregnant Teen, etc).

The Weekend

We had a lovely weekend.
We finished the ginormous L shaped desk, hutch and file cabinet. Hot dog! In total it probably took like 18 hours.

We then met Mike & Lynn for dinner at Hooters. I eat there about once a year- just enough times to remind me why I dont eat there more often.

On Sunday Lisa/Rob made us (and Nic/Ot) a lovely Christmas dinner. I will post pics and details hopefully tomorrow when I am not so exhausted.

Chaz has an on campus job interview this Wed. So of course, now that job he interviewed for in NJ (but for down here) is contacting him about taking that position. Of course all of this starts falling into place once he starts to really like his job. Its gonna be a big decision to make.

I am zonked- more later.
xoxoxoxo

The dogs

Tonight we ate chicken for dinner. When we were done we were watching TV and it was still on the coffee table. We think Monkee conjoled Tiger into sneaking the chicken drimstick off the table and onto the floor. We saw this and yelled- so Tiger dropped it and Monkee ganked it. That dog is freakin brilliant. He hadhis bro do the dirty work!

Mike Rowe

So I did it.
I searched and searched until I found an adddress for Mike Rowe from Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs.
I made him a packet to hopefully entice him to an Honors Luncheon. Now that would rock. If I hear back from him, it will prob be in Jan or Feb. I gave him a list of dirty jobs I can hook him up with on campus and locally. I also challenged him to a poo flinging contest in my backyard. Oh and of course sent him the luncheon info!
I will keep you posted.

What no parent should ever have to go through

Today was one of those life lessn days.
Since I have performed weddings I guess it automatically okays me to also officiate memorial services.

That student who died last week, Christina Edwards, has such a great mom. She was an only child of a single mom. They were best friends. She had never even kissed a boy at the age of 19. She died while talking to her mom on the phone the night before Thanksgiving. The phone just went dead. No aneurysm, nmo heart attack. Just poof, gone.. Toxicology results take over 2 months so no one has any answers. She was a double major (english and psych) w/ a 4.0 and went to school at Lake Mary down the road. When the phone went dead, the mom rushed to her Lake Claire apartment. The roommate let her in and they found her dead in her room w/ the phone next to her hand.

So today I threw a memorial service. You learn so many life lessons at these things- I hope lessons that none of you will ever have to learn. It was at 4pm. I was expecting about 15 people. Nothing ever goes expected (lesson #1!). The family (mom, very frail grandparents, aunts, cousins, etc) all showed up at 3. Ouch. What to do w/ mourners for an hour?!?! We also had parking services work with us and reserved a row of parking spots (they were really great about this). So I chatted w/ the faily, roommates and HS friends for an hour.

So guess how many of the 15 I expected showed?
Oh how about EIGHTY!
Good golly!
As if I werent nervous enough! Oh wait- that would be too easy. Then the school news crew shows up and is filming me. No pressure.
It went very well and was a lovely event.
We had a big picture of her blown up and framed and put on the easel. Housing brought food, others brought roses, the weather was cool, the garden was cleaned just for this event.
Eighty some people though- holy cow. There would have been more but people were at final exams and a chorus trip.

I got a lot of ideas on what to say surprisingly from the only eulogy that I recalled (Princess Diana's). Odd the things that stick with us isnt it?
The last one of these I was at I put it together but I didnt officiate it b/c I was too wrecked (I knew the student really well and saw him 4 out of 5 days a week every week). So I was glad to do this one b/c I had already experienced it and knew what to expect and what to say.

The weekend before Thanksgiving the mom and Christina put the x-mas tree up and were going to put the decorations up this weekend.
I would say the hardest part at this memorial were the grandma tears. The grandma is in a wheelchair, very frail, and busted out a super short, straight to the point speech. How heart breaking is that.
Just such a sad thing for the holidays.
Really puts things into perspective.