by admin

Friday the 13th, 2011.

With good news there is sometimes a little bad news as well.

The good news is that I got all A’s in my classes this last semester for a 4.0 GPA. Ever since my issues from Spring 2010, my grades have been steadily improving and for that I am extremely happy.

The bad news is that I was discharged from working at Walmart last night. I am not going to go into specific details about what happened, just that I am upset at loosing what I thought was a wonderful job. I will miss working there and seeing all the friends I made while working there. Luckily most are either friends with me on Facebook or we text occasionally.

Walmart will still be covering the medical bills associated with my leg injury under workers comp. In the mean time, I will be focusing my energy on getting better, working on parts of my dissertation, and preparing for the beginning of my prelims.

by admin

My leg injury, or how to really piss me off.

Okay, so I go to the leg doc, nice man, very professional, explains things if very fine detail.

While I was waiting in the exam room, the A/C came on and I got a major chill that caused me to get goose bumps and the tingling sensation that goes along with them. Well, the tingling sensation stopped just below my right knee on my right leg, but went all the way to my toes on my left leg. I tell this strange sensation to the doc and he discusses with me that I am experiencing the symptoms of nerve compression from the contusion. He says that when my leg got essentially crushed, the swelling and bruising caused the nerves to basically overload and quit responding to stimuli. I go take my paperwork to work, they asked how the doc appointment went and I told them what the doc said to me. Unfortunately, the paperwork did not include this information, so I essentially looked like a lying idiot. I called the doc with a MAJOR WTF!!!

The doc just called me back and I reminded him of the discussion we had in the exam room and how when I went to take the paperwork to my employer, the fact that the information we discussed was not on the paperwork made me look like a lying idiot and that is not something I feel comfortable with. As I stated earlier, he is very professional and said that he would contact my employer and let them know that he inadvertently left that information off the paperwork. I thanked him for doing that and said that I would see him on Monday for our next appointment.

Aside from that, The doc feels that I am improving, that I should start putting weight on my right leg as tolerated, and has placed my work restrictions on alternating sitting and standing for the next week. I do not go back to work until Thursday, and I was told I will remain on door duty for the duration.

So that is what is going on with my leg. As far as the title goes, the part about really pissing me off refers to making me look like a lying idiot. I learned from my mother that lying does not help anyone and telling the truth is easier to remember. I live by that and have lost people I had thought were my friends because of it. Apparently some people do not like it when you tell them the truth, no matter the consequences.

I am done ranting about that, I will end with the poem my mom wrote shortly before she passed away that speaks about her position on lying versus telling the truth.

There once was a woman
I considered my friend
but I caught her in some lies
she could not defend.Liars and thieves I cannot stand
as far as I’m concerned
they go hand and hand.A thief will take the possessions you have
and very likely leave you flat broke
A liar can lie to you right to your face|
then laugh to their self, saying, “What a joke.”Soon it will be her judgment day
I’ll say, “Take her devil and make her pay.”
for our friendship she lost
by lying to me today.Saundra Sue McKeown

by admin

Summer is coming (hopefully)

My BFF from high school, Alicia was talking about snow in the forecast for where she lives up in the Minneapolis area. We here in Purdue land (aka West Lafayette, Indiana) have been dealing with about 57 degree (F not C) weather and lots and lots of rain. It is almost May, and while summer doesn’t officially start until mid June (the 21st to be exact), The weather we are having right now is comfy for me here. I also really enjoy the rain, it was something I missed while living in the desert heat of Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tucson.

But enough about weather.

This summer, I will continue to work at Walmart. Last week I was training for a new position but I think I am going to withdraw my name from consideration from that position. Friday night I may have strained a muscle in my back from climbing a ladder and placing boxes of infant diapers on the top of the back room storage shelves. I have no way of knowing if that were the case, as I woke up the next day feeling like I had been in a major car wreck. I could barely walk or even raise my arms to chest level. I still have a little bit of pain once in a while, but it has subsided for the most part.

Also this summer, I will begin taking my prelim examinations from two of my dissertation committee members. (Dr. Almanza will test me on my research and food safety, while Dr. Nelson will test me on food service industry experience). To do that, I had to register for dissertation credit, of which I am registered for four credits. My third prelim exam will not be until December, as I am taking two statistics courses dealing with linear regression and some of that will be on the third prelim which I am getting from Dr. Jang. After I finish my three prelims, I then have to do my oral prelim, which is where I present my official outline for my dissertation and answer any additional questions my committee might have of me. Once the oral prelim is complete, the clock starts ticking and I have to complete two more semesters of work before I am able to graduate. With all this taken into account, I am planning my graduation for May of 2013.

As for this semester, I won’t know my grades for a couple more weeks, unless I can pry the information from my two professors; however, according to my calculations I will be getting a 4.0 this semester.

by admin

End of the Semester, Beginning of a journey

Tomorrow (Monday April 25, 2011) begins the two week march to the official end of the semester for us here at Purdue. I am anxious for the semester to end, but also pensive about the summer, as I have lots of things to accomplish.

This summer, I will begin working on my Prelims which will allow me to move into Dissertation and Candacy mode for graduation. I have three written prelims and one oral prelim. Once all four are completed, I then have to have two semesters of dissertation credit before I can defend my dissertation and apply for graduation. So if I complete all four by the end of the summer, I can graduate in August 2012; however, if I finish all four by the end of fall term, I am eligible to graduate by December of 2012 and so on.

On the work front, I feel like I am doing well. I have been getting trained in a new department, but I think I did something wrong on Friday night, as my back has been killing me since Saturday morning. It is so bad, I can hardly walk or raise my arms much higher than chest level. Thank goodness I have text to speech on my computers or I would not be able to get anything completed.

If all calculations go as planned, I will end the semester with a 4.0 GPA.

by admin

Less than a month in the semester left.

I am home sick again tonight (Friday), after coming home sick from work last night (Thursday). I hate being sick, but this does not feel like a flu, but more like something else. I have gone back through what I have eaten over the last week, and have found some sketchy items, but nothings that I can narrow down as being a cause of the symptoms. I am lucky that I know the symptoms that are related to certain food-borne illnesses, I can pretty much narrow down where a possible contamination might have occurred. So far, the only thing I can find is a possible issue with a place that Andrew and I went to eat at on Tuesday night. Of course, if could have been from Tuesday Lunch, as I had something that I had not had in years and it may not have set well with me and ultimately, it could have had something to do with my diabetes. Unfortunately, most illnesses can take anywhere from 8 to 72 hours to even up to and including 7 days for an illness to incubate in a persons digestive tract before symptoms are noticeable. Just for that reason alone, I recommend everyone keep an eating diary so that you can go back at least a week or two of food that has been eaten, in case there is an issue.

It is required that two, non related people be diagnosed by a medical professional in you feel that you have been infected with a food-borne illness. The reason they say two, non-related people, is because almost all home cooking is not done properly and the odds of getting a food borne illness from food cooked at home is greater than getting one from a professional establishment. Remember, it is not impossible to get a food-borne illness from a professional establishment, they just have more regulations to deal with that home cooking does not have to deal with.

Enough with that, time for what I really wanted to talk about, the end of the semester.

After today, we have two more weeks of classes, then dead week, followed by final exams the week of May 2nd.

On Tuesday April 26th, I have a meeting with my committee (Dr. Almanza, Chair; Dr. Nelson, and Dr. Jang; Members) to go over how we will be proceeding with my Prelims, which are defined as “…the determination of the: 1- student’s general understanding of the field, including appropriate theoretical constructs, and how this field fits into concerns of the overall industry; 2- student’s depth of understanding of his/her particular segment of focus within the field; and 3- degree of mastery of the methodological approaches and statistical tools appropriate for the student’s field of concentration.”

1. is Food Service (Dr. Nelson)
2. is Food Service Sanitation and handwashing (Dr. Almanza)
3. is Statistics and Methodology (Dr. Jang)

Each professor gets one of those topic areas and asks a series of several questions in which I must answer within a certain time frame, lets say two weeks.

I will be doing parts one and two over the summer with Dr. Almanza and Dr. Nelson; However, since I am registered for two more statistics courses for Fall 2011, the third part which involves statistical tools will be done during that semester. Finally, in last Fall 2011, I will have my Oral examination. It is kind of like the pre-conference I had with my masters committee, where they agreed to my choice and methods of research. It helps when it comes down to final examination and defense when a committee member asks “what about this” and the advisor says “why didn’t you ask that during the oral exam?”

I have received financial aid for the summer, but am only taking one, 1 credit class as I am still considered out of state. My request for in-state tuition is still being processed and I should have an answer shortly. If I am denied, I will appeal the decision. That class is 1 credit dissertation. It feels so strange to type and read. I am getting down to the wire. After I complete the oral exam, I have a two semester minimum wait until I am able to graduate. So that will include Spring 2012 & Summer 2012. The earliest I can graduate is December 2012; however I am giving myself an extra semester to ensure I have a perfect dissertation, so I am shooting for May of 2013.I hope that I can get extra tickets for those that really want to come visit me during this prestigious time in my life. Since both my parents are deceased, I would like my sister to be able to attend with a few of her children, but I also have friends from around the country that I was to invite as well. Even if someone doesn’t get to see me walk across the stage and get hooded by my committee advisor, I would still like to have friends here in town for the part afterwards. If you are reading this, and would like to be included in any extra tickets I may have or just for the party afterwards, please let me know.

I am currently working on about 5 research projects at the moment. putting finishing touches on the gaming chip study, making calls on the festival food competition study, waiting for a custom computer program to be written especially for me by my boyfriend Andrew, to help determine handwashing effectiveness with glo-germ, black-light, and a computer, I will them be Creating a survey of health inspectors inside and outside areas that have festival food competitions to determine their responses to the findings of the other 2 studies (not gaming chips), and a marketing strategy internal branding for the new “School of HTM” within the NEW Department of Health & Human Sciences. It is a class project, for a 600 level class which is like a UNLV 700 level class, where our results will actually be published, so I have been very busy.

My two classes I am taking right now have been very fun. I especially like learning how to use AutoCAD in designing a restaurant concept for facility design, and the use of focus groups and interviews along with surveys for the marketing class. I think I have started to annoy Dr. Nelson with my constant finding of errors or omissions in homework or assignments. But he did ask two special favors of me recently, one was to proctor an exam for him, and the other was to attend a presentation being arranged by the dean of the college. The first one was easy, the second may be a little harder as I generally work on Thursday Night, so the time of the event is during my normal sleep cycle, so I would need permission from Dr. Sydnor-Bousso to skip her class so that I can sleep later into the afternoon and then go to the presentation before work. Or I could contact work and tell them that I am needed at school for an emergency. Not sure how that will work, but we shall see what my options are.

When I had my meeting with my advisor (Dr. Almanza), we were talking about my schedule and stuff, then she told me that my name was being considered for an assistantship next semester. The fact that she brought up the subject was extremely surprising. She even gave me details about what the job would entail, which leads me to believe it is all but a done deal, which makes me really happy. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE working for Walmart. Just having a BS I have more degrees than almost everyone else in the entire building. You have to have at least a BS to move into management. So my MS is overkill, and the fact that I am working on my PhD I think actually scares them a little. They have difficulty talking to me. Like one day, the manager was trying to explain something to me, when she said ‘hold on, I almost forgot who I was talking to” She then proceeded to use bigger polysyllabic words to help me understand what she was saying. Then she said, “you are the only one that I have ever had to reverse the process of dumbing down things that I tell employees. Apparently if she tries to explain something two simply to me I get confused. She has to try and bring it up to a higher level than for other people. At first I thought she was being rude, but then she said “we have never had anyone as smart as you working here as just an associate.” She also told me that right now I have more college experience than the store or market manager. I are proud.

If I get the assistantship, it will start in Fall and I will have to put notice in for Wal-Mart, which I will miss. But I may still work one day a week, if they want me. Of course that also depends on how Andrew feels about this. we barely get to spend any time together now due to my schedule at ‘Walmart. We are hoping that the summer will be much easier to be together.

Finally, as a side not, check this out, I made a web-presence on Purdue, kinda like the site I had a UNLV, but Purdue colors and stuff. Take a look: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~emckeown/index.html

by admin

March 16th, a day between days.

On this date in 1958, Ford Motor Company produced its 50 millionth car, the thunderbird, while ten years later on this date in 1968, General Motors produced its 100 millionth car, the Oldsmobile Toronado.

Only two of the interesting things that happen between the ides of March and St. Patrick’s Day.

That, and it was my day off today, as well.

So, I finally remembered the funny story about my sister, which I spoke about in my last entry.

I was at work, the other night, straightening out the spices, when I was reminded of something my sister did, many, many years ago. I think it was around 1991 or 1992. Anyway, she had been to a bar the night before and she contacted me to see if I could find out some information on a drink she had tried. I asked her if she knew what was in it or the name of the drink. She stated that she could not remember the name, but that from what she was told and how it tasted, she knew it had some form of butterscotch in it, some cream, and a bay leaf. I told her that I had no idea what she had had, as I knew of no drinks that contained a bay leaf in them. Upon a little reflection, I realized that she had misheard the ingredients and that what she thought was a bay leaf was actually Baily’s Irish Cream. Mix that with butterscotch schnapps, and you get a great shot that I do not actually want to post the name of on here.

So anyway, that was my other laugh of the day. I hope you enjoyed it as well.

by admin

Happy Pi day and other musings

Happy Pi day everyone. The day of the year when the date is 3.14.

Anyway, So last night at work I had two things happen. One reminded me of my mom and the other one reminded me of my sister.

While working last night, the manager went on the intercom and called for a specific employee to report the 97 wall. (Just FYI, the 97 wall is meat wall, lunch meat, bacon, etc). So I thought to myself, well at least he wasn’t called to the 86 wall. This reminded me of when mom and I were working at Waffle House in Tucson Arizona. She was working the afternoon shift with a grill operator named Tony. Usually, the grill operator is the person in charge of the shift when the manager isn’t there, but the manager would always leave my mom in charge and mom would let Tony “think” he was in charge. Anyway, Some people were being obnoxious, so Tony was going to throw them out of the restaurant. He told the people “That’s enough, I want you guys out of here you are being 69’ed”. My mom then yelled “Tony! The number is 86!”.

Ahhh, funny stories.

Now if I can only remember what it was that reminded me of my sister, so I could tell that funny story as well. Maybe I will remember later.

by admin

Super China Buffet

First, let me point out that I am not really a fan of buffets. But I do enjoy them every once in a while, and as with buffets, I am not much of a fan of Asian food, but I do enjoy it at times as well.

Recently, I received a group of coupons in the mail for various businesses. While looking through it, I noticed about 3 Asian restaurants that I had never heard of before. So, when the Cubbie came over for this weekend, I let him choose the one we would go to for dinner.

His choice was the Super China Buffet.

The location was south of Purdue, in Lafayette, off of Old Hwy 231 in a shopping center with a Payless grocery store and other businesses. The decor was what I would call typical of most Asian establishments that I have had the pleasure of dining at. Andrew pointed out a lone picture on one of the walls in what appeared to be a faux antique gold frame of a vase of flowers. His comment was “it must have come with the place”.

I found the atmosphere to be very pleasing, and the buffet and dining areas were in a constant state of being cleaned. If a spill occurred, it was wiped up almost immediately. The staff was friendly and ensured that empty plates did not stay on our table for long. Apparently while we were there, a group of locals were also eating. When they left, they each gave the waitress a hug on the way out. Of the other patrons at the establishment, they appeared to be having a great time as well. The occupancy was not crowded but approximately 1/3 full, yet the food was constantly fresh.

At most Asian buffets that I HAVE had the pleasure of experiencing, most had served food that was, in my opinion, dryer than I would have liked it. Everything was served hot and fresh, and the flavor I found to be magnificent. Andrew, who is very critical about Chinese food in general, especially after living and working in China for a year, actually stated that it was the best buffet he has found in Lafayette for Chinese food, even though he stated that the amount of items he felt was lacking in quantity.

Overall, I will give this location 8 out of 10 stars. The food was excellent, the staff was friendly, but several of the dining room chairs had major rips with foam stuffing hanging out. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone in the Purdue area.

by admin

Why is there always room for jello?

I went back to work at Walmart this past evening, after having about almost 3 months off from work. I was actually due to start back a while ago, but the person in human resources forgot to change my status from Inactive to Active, so that I could be placed on the schedule.

But all is well. Had a good time, working aisle 8 for most of the night. For those that don’t know, aisle 8 is the general location for all baking ingredients, spices, marshmallows, Jello, etc.

During the course of the evening, I like to watch people as they shop and offer my help if needed. One of the best things to watch is the college students as they come into Walmart to purchase Alcohol. So then I spend time judging them for the types and amounts of alcohol they purchase in addition to any mixers they purchase. It is a fun game that I like to play while working.

The best part about working in aisle 8, includes the area including all the jello. There is always room for jello. We all should know this. But most of the people that purchase jello at 1am or 2am in the morning, are college students looking for ways to make jello shots. Such amateurs. My boss thinks it is fairly funny that I have spent time talking college students into the proper method for making jello shots, what flavors go well as jello shots, and what flavors do not go well as jello shots.

I don’t just teach people about things like that, I also spent about 10 minutes teaching two really cute guys, I think they were brothers because they were arguing about how each remembers how their mom made biscuits and gravy. So I took the time to make sure they understood the different methods and ways of making gravy for biscuits. Now, I did not give them all my secrets, but I did give them some pointers on how to make sure it cooks properly.

I think it is one of my favorite parts about the job. In addition to putting stock away, I offer people advice on different products and answer questions they might have. I don’t think anyone else in the group of people I work with know the differences between Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Virgin Olive Oil, and regular olive oil.

I am thinking about making a proposal to the general manager that employees should be trained and specialized in different areas of the grocery department, to help people make informed decisions. My recent title as Certified BBQ Judge, should allow me to discuss with customers the different types of BBQ and proper cooking techniques for an excellent BBQ experience.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good day, I am about to head to bed, so I will chat with you all later in the day.

Cheers,

Edward

by admin

Treasured Family (blood & extended)

Recently, several friends have lost family members. Almost all of them talk about the pain of watching their loved ones as they fade away. It, along with my work on genealogy, has made me evaluate the ties to my family.

For those that really know me, I have lots of friends I consider my extended family. As for actual blood relatives, I can count each of them on both hands (and maybe one foot, my sister has 6 kids, that takes up one hand already). Then there is my one and only sister who is 22 months older than me. Other family members I talk with regularly are my mom’s only living sister, Judy & her husband Bob, there son Tommy and another cousin in Pensacola (Mika). Those are just the family members on my moms side of the family. My dads side of the family is very different. They do not regularly speak with me, and as far as I can tell, they NEVER speak with my sister (Kay). Now I can tell you that my dads side of the family considers Kay and I to be sinners, but apparently they feel that my sister is more of a sinner than I, which is really confusing, considering Kay just had children out of wedlock, while I am gay. I think Kay told me one time that she had given up trying to be nice to dads family, while I kind of force my way in during most major holidays and birthdays. They have also apparently shunned two of my cousins (Robbie & Eric), which I would be happy to see or speak to someday.

Anyway. as the song say’s, time keeps on slipping away. and I cry deeply for those that have lost loved ones, especially due to debilitating illnesses or just the passage of time. Even the loss of a young child is hard to grasp and deal with, and I guess that is why we have emotions.

I count myself as one of the lucky ones. When my mother passed back in August of 1999, it was totally unexpected. She had an unknown brain aneurysm that just popped, and while she remained conscience for a very short while, she was gone within minutes. There was no apparent suffering or warning, she was just gone. I can not imagine what it has been like for those that have had to watch their parents deteriorate into mere nothingness and pass on. I know the pain I felt when it happened suddenly, but to watch it happening and knowing there is nothing that can be done has to be excruciating.

My dad was another story. He and I hardly spoke for a long time, but towards the end, we had started talking more regular. He had been in and out of the hospital due to complications with his knee and hip surgery. He was in the hospital due to a nasty infection that had developed within his new hip. So they removed his hip and packed it full of antibiotics. Unfortunately, that was not enough and one evening he went into cardiac arrest and was unable to be saved. That was January of 2000, five months after my mom had passed.

We just passed the 11th anniversary of my fathers passing and are coming up on the 12th anniversary of my moms

To my friends that have lost family members recently, you never truly get over the loss, but it does get better. Certain holidays are still very difficult for me to handle, such as mothers and fathers day, birthdays, and special occasions. I do know in my heart, that they are with me always, as a part of me. What they have taught me, I have gained from their knowledge. I use their knowledge to pass on the information to others, so that the memory stays alive.

For know, all I can say is I am here if you ever need someone to talk to, cause I know what you are going through.