I've always exercised my right to vote when I've been in the country and even a few times by absentee ballot. Now that I've moved to different state I have to learn a new set of issues and names. The three-way race for governor has been well covered by the media in part because there is no incumbent. Things get a little more complicated when it comes to county commissioner, supervisor for soil and water conservation or school board director. (Where I'm from they are called "members" not "directors".) Growing up in a sparsely populated farm county I could pretty much rely on name recognition/reputation for local elections in addition to the coverage given to each candidate in the weekly local paper. That doesn't work so well since I'm new in the city and I don't know very many people. Actually I doubt name recognition works for anyone here with an additional 1,134,544 people in the county.
My Saturday afternoon plans fell through so I decided to see what Google could tell me about the election. I found the ballot and worked my way through it. I was amazed to find that some of the candidates had no presence on the web. In fact some of the candidates for State senator and Sate representative didn't have anything stating their views on the issues. If they can't even do something as basic as posting a bit about themselves and what they hope to accomplish, I can't imagine them being a very conscientious elected official. The same thing is true of some of those running for county office. Some of the candidates for soil and water conservation supervisor didn't even bother filling out a simple questionnaire that would be posted on another web site. I still feel like I haven't a clue on most of the issues, but if there is no web presence, there is little chance of getting my vote on Tuesday.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Indian summer
It was a beautiful Indian summer day as I headed south on Thurs morning. Signs of autumn were everywhere all weekend long. Cars had to share the 4 lane highway with combines, tractors and wagons. Piles of corn outside just about every elevator I passed pointed to an abundant harvest. While I didn't get home in time to make a round or two in the combine before the men finished up, I did get the harvest report. Yields were very good and Dad had never seen corn that was so dry coming out of the field. That made for a quick harvest and it's very rare that harvest is finished by Oct 21. I guess that is to make up for last year when they finished on Dec 4 in the snow. But besides harvest, there was apples and caramel, apple crisp, Hawkeye football and several pickups full to overflowing with leaves headed for the city dump.
The record-setting rainfall this summer not only resulted in good yields but also many flooded basements. The water that seeped into my parents' basement didn't qualify as a flood but it still took over six weeks for the work to be completed so everything could be put back. An inch of rain fell on Saturday night and confirmed that the 2nd sump pup will help keep the basement dry. My brothers spent a couple of hours Saturday afternoon carrying some of the bigger items down from the garage. I'm sure Dad is glad to have his office out of their bedroom and back in the basement and I know Mom is glad to have her living room back. The upheaval is resulting in the rearranging of the furniture in several different rooms. Maybe I'll actually be able to park my car in the garage when I go for Thanksgiving.
Did you know there are 206 bones in the body and approximately 700 muscles? Thankfully I didn't have to learn very many of either to make it through this week's tests. If I can manage to remember some of the new ones I learned, I'll have a head start on that chapter in Anatomy next fall.
The record-setting rainfall this summer not only resulted in good yields but also many flooded basements. The water that seeped into my parents' basement didn't qualify as a flood but it still took over six weeks for the work to be completed so everything could be put back. An inch of rain fell on Saturday night and confirmed that the 2nd sump pup will help keep the basement dry. My brothers spent a couple of hours Saturday afternoon carrying some of the bigger items down from the garage. I'm sure Dad is glad to have his office out of their bedroom and back in the basement and I know Mom is glad to have her living room back. The upheaval is resulting in the rearranging of the furniture in several different rooms. Maybe I'll actually be able to park my car in the garage when I go for Thanksgiving.
Did you know there are 206 bones in the body and approximately 700 muscles? Thankfully I didn't have to learn very many of either to make it through this week's tests. If I can manage to remember some of the new ones I learned, I'll have a head start on that chapter in Anatomy next fall.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Tests
Students expect tests. It just would be nice if I didn't have four in a four-day span. Maybe they all fell together since we are about half way through the semester. Wednesday I had a test in Sociology which covered socialization (i.e. how we learn what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior), status, roles and social interaction.
Thursday began with a test in math on the most boring chapter yet this semester which covered solving and graphing linear equations as well as finding the slope. I hope the following chapters are a bit more challenging. From there I took a test in Psychology which covered two chapters on learning and memory. I learned some things which would make studying easier if I actually put them into practice. The professor asked us to mentally picture each of the words that he was going to read us. The more crazy the picture the more memorable it is. Normally we can hold about 7 things in our short-term memory but I was able to remember 19 of the 21 because of the mental pictures I placed in various rooms of my house. Somehow that is much easier to do with words like rainbow, gloves and sofa than it is words like vomer, lacrimal, zygoma, maxially, and palatine. I can picture a rainbow but never having actually seen that vomer bone in anyone's face I have a hard time actually picturing it. I guess I'll need to pull out another technique that has something to do with the associations I make with those words. Let's see vomer reminds me of Homer Simpson. Maybe I can remember it by seeing Homer sticking out from under someone's nose - as the vomer is a narrow wall of bone that forms the inferior part of the nasal septum and continues posteriorly to join the sephenoid bone. (If you didn't understand that last sentence a medical terminology class would help.) Now where's the sephenoid bone? and what could I possibly associate with that? ...
Actually, the skeleton and muscles are for the test I need to take by next weekend. Yesterday's test was on dermatology. Learning the parts of the skin was a whole lot easier. I still managed to get a few wrong on the online (and thus open book) test. I do have a bone to pick (no pun intended) with the teacher on a couple of her answers. One is clearly wrong as far as I'm concerned and the other was a very poorly worded true/false question if she's going to say that it is true. So, I'll be asking her about that in class tomorrow.
This week promises to be easier (if you don't count learning the names of all the bones and muscles as well as all the things that could possibly go wrong with both) especially since I only have 3 days of class. Even college students get to benefit from MEA (which is basically Minnesota in-service days). I'm looking forward to a trip to Iowa to see some cornfields and help my niece celebrate her 8th birthday. Oh, and to see Mom and Dad too.
Thursday began with a test in math on the most boring chapter yet this semester which covered solving and graphing linear equations as well as finding the slope. I hope the following chapters are a bit more challenging. From there I took a test in Psychology which covered two chapters on learning and memory. I learned some things which would make studying easier if I actually put them into practice. The professor asked us to mentally picture each of the words that he was going to read us. The more crazy the picture the more memorable it is. Normally we can hold about 7 things in our short-term memory but I was able to remember 19 of the 21 because of the mental pictures I placed in various rooms of my house. Somehow that is much easier to do with words like rainbow, gloves and sofa than it is words like vomer, lacrimal, zygoma, maxially, and palatine. I can picture a rainbow but never having actually seen that vomer bone in anyone's face I have a hard time actually picturing it. I guess I'll need to pull out another technique that has something to do with the associations I make with those words. Let's see vomer reminds me of Homer Simpson. Maybe I can remember it by seeing Homer sticking out from under someone's nose - as the vomer is a narrow wall of bone that forms the inferior part of the nasal septum and continues posteriorly to join the sephenoid bone. (If you didn't understand that last sentence a medical terminology class would help.) Now where's the sephenoid bone? and what could I possibly associate with that? ...
Actually, the skeleton and muscles are for the test I need to take by next weekend. Yesterday's test was on dermatology. Learning the parts of the skin was a whole lot easier. I still managed to get a few wrong on the online (and thus open book) test. I do have a bone to pick (no pun intended) with the teacher on a couple of her answers. One is clearly wrong as far as I'm concerned and the other was a very poorly worded true/false question if she's going to say that it is true. So, I'll be asking her about that in class tomorrow.
This week promises to be easier (if you don't count learning the names of all the bones and muscles as well as all the things that could possibly go wrong with both) especially since I only have 3 days of class. Even college students get to benefit from MEA (which is basically Minnesota in-service days). I'm looking forward to a trip to Iowa to see some cornfields and help my niece celebrate her 8th birthday. Oh, and to see Mom and Dad too.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
French Conversation
When I decided to move to the Twin Cities I was glad to hear that there was an "Alliance Française" here. These are centers that seek to promote the French language and culture both in France and in cities around the world. One of the items on their web site was a list of French conversation groups around the city. That caught my attention because I know my French will get rusty if I don't use it. It's also a way to meet people who most likely have some connection to France.
Several weeks ago I participated in a group at a coffee shop on the University campus. Everyone else was a student with either a French major or minor. I think all of them had spent at least a couple of months in France so their French was pretty decent. Yet, I found myself wondering if I should correct errors or not. The other downside was that the conversation was kept in one big group. It would be better than nothing - but some engaging conversations probably wouldn't happen.
This past Sat morning I finally made it to another group that meets at a coffee shop about 10 minutes away from where I live. I arrived a bit late and there was about 15 people around a line of tables. There was a couple of empty chairs at one end so I sat down next to a young man who introduced himself as Guy. Before long Dan and Ed joined us. All of them had learned French while at University. Dan walked in with his dictionary as he's just beginning to use his French after 30 years of being out of school. He did lots of listening but said that was OK. It looks like I'll be able to interact with some interesting people as I try to keep my French at least somewhat sharp.
Several weeks ago I participated in a group at a coffee shop on the University campus. Everyone else was a student with either a French major or minor. I think all of them had spent at least a couple of months in France so their French was pretty decent. Yet, I found myself wondering if I should correct errors or not. The other downside was that the conversation was kept in one big group. It would be better than nothing - but some engaging conversations probably wouldn't happen.
This past Sat morning I finally made it to another group that meets at a coffee shop about 10 minutes away from where I live. I arrived a bit late and there was about 15 people around a line of tables. There was a couple of empty chairs at one end so I sat down next to a young man who introduced himself as Guy. Before long Dan and Ed joined us. All of them had learned French while at University. Dan walked in with his dictionary as he's just beginning to use his French after 30 years of being out of school. He did lots of listening but said that was OK. It looks like I'll be able to interact with some interesting people as I try to keep my French at least somewhat sharp.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Wedding fun
I went to Dallas over the weekend for a wedding. It was a small family affair with about 30 people present. An aunt of the bride introduced herself to me and asked what my connection was. I responded with "I'm an aunt of the groom," and hoped there were no more questions because beyond that it gets kind of complicated. Greg, the groom, was 6 when I first met him. His younger siblings were 4, 2 and 2 years away from being born. They welcomed me into their family and the love they showered on me helped keep me sane as I went through culture shock when I first moved to France. I've been glad to be Aunt Alice every since even though I don't look like anyone else in the family. I've baby-sat them, shared Christmas with them and was the only family member around when Heather was in the ICU with a concussion while the rest of the family was in the US. Those four kids now range in age from 24 to 17; two are now married and the third is engaged to be married next April. Attending weddings are a big change from playing games on the floor.
I was honored to be a part of Greg and Kari's special day. One of the memories that I will savor is watching the guys polish their shoes and tie their ties just right. Shortly after that I got kicked out of the room and told to go visit Grandma. Evidently they needed some privacy to finish getting ready.
On the way back to the hotel, Karen, the mother of the groom, said the photographer had told her she had never seen such gracious children. I may be a bit biased but I'd agree that they are great kids who are now great adults. I enjoyed watching each of their unique personalities come out as they celebrated. Greg, who says he never dances, sure enjoyed dancing on his wedding day. The next two danced up a storm with each other but Heather was also gracious enough to dance with the bride's grandpa and other family friends she had just met. Meanwhile the youngest was over in a corner deep in conversation. Each of them stayed right in character. Before the end of the evening the whole wedding party was in the pool - though the two younger brothers were the only one's who bothered to change into their swimsuits. I think it had something to do with having paid for their own suits.
Besides the nerves ahead of time and the fun afterward, I will also remember Greg and Kari's heartfelt vows. They may be young but their words showed they understand that life is uncertain and marriage is hard. But there was no question that they wanted to go through whatever the future holds together. Both of them are adventurous and my wish for them is that 60 years from now, by God's grace, they are still going towards the next adventure hand in hand.
I was honored to be a part of Greg and Kari's special day. One of the memories that I will savor is watching the guys polish their shoes and tie their ties just right. Shortly after that I got kicked out of the room and told to go visit Grandma. Evidently they needed some privacy to finish getting ready.
On the way back to the hotel, Karen, the mother of the groom, said the photographer had told her she had never seen such gracious children. I may be a bit biased but I'd agree that they are great kids who are now great adults. I enjoyed watching each of their unique personalities come out as they celebrated. Greg, who says he never dances, sure enjoyed dancing on his wedding day. The next two danced up a storm with each other but Heather was also gracious enough to dance with the bride's grandpa and other family friends she had just met. Meanwhile the youngest was over in a corner deep in conversation. Each of them stayed right in character. Before the end of the evening the whole wedding party was in the pool - though the two younger brothers were the only one's who bothered to change into their swimsuits. I think it had something to do with having paid for their own suits.
Besides the nerves ahead of time and the fun afterward, I will also remember Greg and Kari's heartfelt vows. They may be young but their words showed they understand that life is uncertain and marriage is hard. But there was no question that they wanted to go through whatever the future holds together. Both of them are adventurous and my wish for them is that 60 years from now, by God's grace, they are still going towards the next adventure hand in hand.
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