I woke up this morning thinking about my birthday. I suddenly occurred to me that I am going to be 40 years old in seven weeks. I feel like I maybe I should be freaked out by this... but I'm not. Do I wish that I finished up my degree a few years ago so I would be working in a different field right now? Yes. BUT that means I probably would still be in the wrong field. Right in line with that "no coincidences" thing that I completely believe in, Lesley University showed up in my life at the exact right time.
I also woke up thinking about Grad school. Right now I've got three schools I'm applying to. The first one is Sarah Lawrence in New York. They have the only Masters in Health Advocacy in the country. I'm planning on taking a ride up there and seeing what the campus is like. They don't have graduate housing and it sounds like the area is pretty expensive to live in - but they are still on my list. The second choice is Boston University. They have a dual degree program that is a Masters in Social Work and a Masters in Public Health that looks very interesting to me. The program is three years and you get your MSW after two and then continue on and get your MPH. The third one is Lesley but that really is my "safe" school. They say you should have a "reach" school and a "safe" school. I would love to apply to the JFK school of government for their Masters in Public Policy. It's a two year intensive program that makes you live on campus. The prospect of living in Cambridge for two years is very exciting to me. The only problem with this program is that you have to take the GRE's which are the Graduate Record Exams. I don't do well at standardized testing so am not sure how I would do with this. I'm going to take the practice test online and see how I do. If I do OK I may sit for it and give the JRK school a try.
I never in a million years thought I would be in this position where I would be worried about getting "accepted". It's a bit nerve wracking.
Anyone out there with any advice? Who am I kidding I'm just looking for someone to tell me what to do!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Trent Love
I was looking back and I realized that there hasn't been nearly enough Trent love in the past month or so. This is a perfect example of why I love this man. He just gave the whole music business the finger. No one's getting rich off of Trent's music except Trent (the way it should be).
Even disheveled he's hot........
Not really anything more to say...just really wanted to look. yummy
And finally...
Christ - what is it about a scowling man that makes him so hot?
And that Aaron North....the blog police would arrest me if I printed what I wanted to do to him.
This entire page is dedicated to Janedoepa
I Know I Shouldn't Laugh.....
I work in the brass and copper manufacturing sector. Due to the fluctuating cost of copper we have been robbed three times. Thankfully no one has been hurt. So you can imagine my giddiness when I read something like this.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Research and the VA
I've spent all day researching for my thesis. I knew that the subject of Veterans returning from war would be a tough one to read about for hours on end. I knew I would end up pissed off (I did), I knew I would probably end up in tears (I did) and I knew that this sort of information would make me want to finish my degree faster and get out there into the world and do something to help.
Here are some facts that I learned today:
It's no surprise that the Veteran's Administration is chronically underfunded but did you know that this year both the House and the Senate want to change that? The House has set forth a bill that would give the VA a 43.2 BILLION increase and the Senate has a bill that would increase the budget by 42 BILLION. These increases are unheard of and certainly a step in the right direction. Instead of standing by his words of supporting the troops the White House has issued a statement that blasts both the House and the Senate for "excessive level of spending and other objectionable provisions" . OBJECTIONABLE PROVISIONS? What the hell are they talking about? Do they mean things like proper care for our traumatize soldiers? Do they mean proper rehab for our amputees? I'd like to know what is so objectionable about increasing the budget of the government agency that is probably being used the most heavily right now. According to statistics only 7.4 million out of 24 million Vets use the VA services. What happens is they all decide to sign up? We tell them thanks for playing but there is no money? Great - really something to be proud of.
We are spending 12 Billion a month on Iraq/Afghanistan
The man who up until recently was running the VA - Secretary Jim Nicholson was caught twice by the Government Accountability Office for "cooking the books" of the VA. First they found that he had not delivered over 50 million dollars into the VA mental health budget (where did it go??) and then he made up savings and requested less money than the VA truly needed for health care. He was cited by the GAO as misleading congress and said he based the VA budget requests on "unrealistic assumptions, error in estimation and insufficient data" which cause massive budget shortfalls.
Let's hear it for yet another STELLAR Bush appointment. I mean the guy was the ambassador to the Vatican for three years - of course he can run the Veterans Administration. What a jackass.
You will hear Bush (another jackass) say that the VA budget has increased anywhere from 77-87% in the last 6 years. This is true if you don't count things like inflation - employee pay raises and the increased number of vets seeking service. If you count those, the numbers are actually in the negatives.
VA budget funding (with the exception of the veterans disability compensation) is part of the discretionary budget. The numbers that they are using to request money are at least two years old. Think of all the things that have happened in the last two years and all of the vets that have been looking for service in those two years who are new to the system. If the VA was part of the mandatory budget system then managers or directors would have to show their budgets quarterly and an equation would be used based on those numbers. Come budget time the equation would be used and the budget would automatically be set to a number that would cover expenses.
Sounds pretty obvious doesn't it? Currently there is a bill in Congress H.R. 2514 - which would make the VA part of the mandatory budget system. But as Larry Scott from www.vawatchdog.org says "It doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of passing". Mostly because if the VA's budget becomes mandatory then congress either has to take those funds out of something else (Star Wars anyone?) or they have to come up with "another revenue stream" that's Congress speak for raising taxes and since 2008 is an election year neither party is going to be raising taxes - even if it means saving a Veterans life. Does that sound dramatic and a little over the top? Well think about this - in the last ten years 13,700 vets have died waiting for services or waiting for their cases that had been on appeal to be heard.
The average wait right now for a decision on an initial VA claim for disability is 5.5 months. Do you know many people who can live for 5.5 months with no income? I sure as hell don't.
To rule on appeal takes on average three years (see end of above paragraph).
And finally here is a fact that blew me away: 40 million was spent for Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky investigation, while only 15 million was spent on the 9/11 Commission. Nice huh?
Here are some facts that I learned today:
It's no surprise that the Veteran's Administration is chronically underfunded but did you know that this year both the House and the Senate want to change that? The House has set forth a bill that would give the VA a 43.2 BILLION increase and the Senate has a bill that would increase the budget by 42 BILLION. These increases are unheard of and certainly a step in the right direction. Instead of standing by his words of supporting the troops the White House has issued a statement that blasts both the House and the Senate for "excessive level of spending and other objectionable provisions" . OBJECTIONABLE PROVISIONS? What the hell are they talking about? Do they mean things like proper care for our traumatize soldiers? Do they mean proper rehab for our amputees? I'd like to know what is so objectionable about increasing the budget of the government agency that is probably being used the most heavily right now. According to statistics only 7.4 million out of 24 million Vets use the VA services. What happens is they all decide to sign up? We tell them thanks for playing but there is no money? Great - really something to be proud of.
We are spending 12 Billion a month on Iraq/Afghanistan
The man who up until recently was running the VA - Secretary Jim Nicholson was caught twice by the Government Accountability Office for "cooking the books" of the VA. First they found that he had not delivered over 50 million dollars into the VA mental health budget (where did it go??) and then he made up savings and requested less money than the VA truly needed for health care. He was cited by the GAO as misleading congress and said he based the VA budget requests on "unrealistic assumptions, error in estimation and insufficient data" which cause massive budget shortfalls.
Let's hear it for yet another STELLAR Bush appointment. I mean the guy was the ambassador to the Vatican for three years - of course he can run the Veterans Administration. What a jackass.
You will hear Bush (another jackass) say that the VA budget has increased anywhere from 77-87% in the last 6 years. This is true if you don't count things like inflation - employee pay raises and the increased number of vets seeking service. If you count those, the numbers are actually in the negatives.
VA budget funding (with the exception of the veterans disability compensation) is part of the discretionary budget. The numbers that they are using to request money are at least two years old. Think of all the things that have happened in the last two years and all of the vets that have been looking for service in those two years who are new to the system. If the VA was part of the mandatory budget system then managers or directors would have to show their budgets quarterly and an equation would be used based on those numbers. Come budget time the equation would be used and the budget would automatically be set to a number that would cover expenses.
Sounds pretty obvious doesn't it? Currently there is a bill in Congress H.R. 2514 - which would make the VA part of the mandatory budget system. But as Larry Scott from www.vawatchdog.org says "It doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of passing". Mostly because if the VA's budget becomes mandatory then congress either has to take those funds out of something else (Star Wars anyone?) or they have to come up with "another revenue stream" that's Congress speak for raising taxes and since 2008 is an election year neither party is going to be raising taxes - even if it means saving a Veterans life. Does that sound dramatic and a little over the top? Well think about this - in the last ten years 13,700 vets have died waiting for services or waiting for their cases that had been on appeal to be heard.
The average wait right now for a decision on an initial VA claim for disability is 5.5 months. Do you know many people who can live for 5.5 months with no income? I sure as hell don't.
To rule on appeal takes on average three years (see end of above paragraph).
And finally here is a fact that blew me away: 40 million was spent for Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky investigation, while only 15 million was spent on the 9/11 Commission. Nice huh?
Ebay
Ok so as much as I love my Mac - blogspot is not very Mac friendly, in fact it will not let you do one of those funky highlight the word and create a link.
I've just posted three paintings on ebay if you click on the title of the post it will take you to them. This is my first time listing anything - so be gentle.
Happy browsing!
I've just posted three paintings on ebay if you click on the title of the post it will take you to them. This is my first time listing anything - so be gentle.
Happy browsing!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
IPhoto
I'm a complete Mac girl ...I love all of their products (and I don't mean the makeup). I got a Macbook for school and love love love it. Last night I finally taught myself how to use iPhoto (yes instead of studying). I took a bunch of pictures of my work and edited them (cropped etc)- I really didn't do too much with the color because that really wouldn't be fair now would it. Here are some of my favorite pieces.
I love using black and blue together - it gives me the option of light and dark. If I had my druthers all of my work would be dark dark fall colors - but my art teacher keeps getting me to "stretch" and although I grumble about it I usually appreciate it more than she knows. I would say 95% of the time I am pleased with the outcome. One of the best things about watercolor is that you can just turn the paper over and use the other side - I love that!
You can't tell from this picture but this one is actually 5.5 inches wide and 15 inches long. I have to start paying more attention to the sizes. If I don't start standardizing them they are going to expensive to frame. Although you make that back if you sell them - I hate to have to pass on that cost to people. If you can just buy standard frames they are usually much less expensive and you can keep your prices low.
This one is considered "mixed-media" because the black I used is actually ink from a quill pen. I also used salt to get that effect in the blue which I think is pretty cool.
I'm so bummed that this one is a little blurry. Kim introduced me to these really cool wax like crayons and I sat down and did this one and this red and white one. I didn't crop that one fully because I like the ripped edges. Most of my work has those edges but I'm not sure if they are going to be framed to show the edges or not so I cropped them out for the most part.
Ok that's enough self promotion for tonight - I really do need to study.
I love using black and blue together - it gives me the option of light and dark. If I had my druthers all of my work would be dark dark fall colors - but my art teacher keeps getting me to "stretch" and although I grumble about it I usually appreciate it more than she knows. I would say 95% of the time I am pleased with the outcome. One of the best things about watercolor is that you can just turn the paper over and use the other side - I love that!
You can't tell from this picture but this one is actually 5.5 inches wide and 15 inches long. I have to start paying more attention to the sizes. If I don't start standardizing them they are going to expensive to frame. Although you make that back if you sell them - I hate to have to pass on that cost to people. If you can just buy standard frames they are usually much less expensive and you can keep your prices low.
This one is considered "mixed-media" because the black I used is actually ink from a quill pen. I also used salt to get that effect in the blue which I think is pretty cool.
I'm so bummed that this one is a little blurry. Kim introduced me to these really cool wax like crayons and I sat down and did this one and this red and white one. I didn't crop that one fully because I like the ripped edges. Most of my work has those edges but I'm not sure if they are going to be framed to show the edges or not so I cropped them out for the most part.
Ok that's enough self promotion for tonight - I really do need to study.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Art Class
Thursday nights are important to me. It's when I get to sit with a bunch of people that I love and make art. We have this great teacher who doesn't stand at the front of the class and "teach" as much as she wanders around and talks to us all. Sometimes commenting - sometimes questioning a choice you just made or sometimes just making that maddening sound of hmmmmmm. Which then leaves you to wonder - did she like it - did she hate it- should I change it? It's a challenging class and I have seen tremendous growth in all of the students. Our class used to be bigger but just like any situation the people who didn't really want to work that hard or be challenged that much have left. So we are left with a core group of people who really want to work hard. If you click on Art Class you get her blog - I still haven't figured out how to do the link thing with my mac.
Ever since I started painting I have worked quickly. While I watch some people in my class bring in the same piece 3-4 weeks in a row, I tend to do 2-3 pieces a night. Last Thursday was no excpetion. I created three pieces and I was really pretty happy with them all.
This is the first one that I did on Thursday night. I like it but not as much as some other work I've done. When Kim (our teacher) took a look at all three she said something like my first painting of the night is always like that first pancake that you make. It's ok but it's not great. I totally got what she meant about this. With school I hardly get to paint all week - so the first painting of the evening feels rusty and sometimes forced. Although I do have to say that this one I feel is better than most of my "first pancakes"
This is the second one I did. I really like it - but I've always been partial to green. And I love how the watercolors just kind of bleed into each other and create these soft edges. I never thought I'd be interested in anything but oil paints - now I'm not sure when I'll go back to those (although I'm sure I will)
Third and final and quite possibly the most interesting of the evening. I need to keep producing like this for the show in January which is now only something like 84 days a way. So technically I should be producing one painting a day.....oh boy. You can't tell from this picture but this one is slightly bigger. If you click on it you can really see the detail.
Ever since I started painting I have worked quickly. While I watch some people in my class bring in the same piece 3-4 weeks in a row, I tend to do 2-3 pieces a night. Last Thursday was no excpetion. I created three pieces and I was really pretty happy with them all.
This is the first one that I did on Thursday night. I like it but not as much as some other work I've done. When Kim (our teacher) took a look at all three she said something like my first painting of the night is always like that first pancake that you make. It's ok but it's not great. I totally got what she meant about this. With school I hardly get to paint all week - so the first painting of the evening feels rusty and sometimes forced. Although I do have to say that this one I feel is better than most of my "first pancakes"
This is the second one I did. I really like it - but I've always been partial to green. And I love how the watercolors just kind of bleed into each other and create these soft edges. I never thought I'd be interested in anything but oil paints - now I'm not sure when I'll go back to those (although I'm sure I will)Third and final and quite possibly the most interesting of the evening. I need to keep producing like this for the show in January which is now only something like 84 days a way. So technically I should be producing one painting a day.....oh boy. You can't tell from this picture but this one is slightly bigger. If you click on it you can really see the detail.
Friday, October 5, 2007
The Week In Review
Wow - it's been a long and strangely eventful week. I'm sure you are all just waiting to hear about it.....
* Second full week with my new boss. You can see him starting to spread his wings I think he's going to work out great. We need someone in his position with a bit of a firm hand and he's seems to be exhibiting just that. I spoke to him about staying on four days but switching my day off from Friday to Thursday and he was all for that. So I don't have to give up the four day workweek! yayyyyy
* I had my meeting at Lesley University with the Board of Trustees and it went great. I got to meet the new president who is all over the adult learning division. It really gave us an opportunity to educate people about the our program and having the president there was such a huge bonus. He is going to be great for our program.
* Josh Beckett pitched his cute little butt off on Wednesday night to take the first game of the Red Sox / Dodgers series. They play again tonight at 8:30pm with Dice-K on the mound........I'm worried about that. I'd like to see us sweep the series but I'm not sure if that will happen.
* The Yankees got CRUSHED last night 11-3. As a Boston fan you always love to see that. Although I'm not sure if I want the Yankees to lose the series entirely. If they win the series I want them to go in 5 so they are tired.
* I had an extremely productive art class last night and did a couple of pieces that I'm really proud of. I took pictures of most of the class's work and I'll post it when I get home later on.
Ok maybe the week wasn't so busy......then why the hell am I so tired.
* Second full week with my new boss. You can see him starting to spread his wings I think he's going to work out great. We need someone in his position with a bit of a firm hand and he's seems to be exhibiting just that. I spoke to him about staying on four days but switching my day off from Friday to Thursday and he was all for that. So I don't have to give up the four day workweek! yayyyyy
* I had my meeting at Lesley University with the Board of Trustees and it went great. I got to meet the new president who is all over the adult learning division. It really gave us an opportunity to educate people about the our program and having the president there was such a huge bonus. He is going to be great for our program.
* Josh Beckett pitched his cute little butt off on Wednesday night to take the first game of the Red Sox / Dodgers series. They play again tonight at 8:30pm with Dice-K on the mound........I'm worried about that. I'd like to see us sweep the series but I'm not sure if that will happen.
* The Yankees got CRUSHED last night 11-3. As a Boston fan you always love to see that. Although I'm not sure if I want the Yankees to lose the series entirely. If they win the series I want them to go in 5 so they are tired.
* I had an extremely productive art class last night and did a couple of pieces that I'm really proud of. I took pictures of most of the class's work and I'll post it when I get home later on.
Ok maybe the week wasn't so busy......then why the hell am I so tired.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Tomorrow and Settling Down
First of all....I'M HOME.....I was away this weekend but then dog sat last night. I love the dogs and the place I stay but it's nice to be at my house with my stuff. That in itself is an odd feeling for me. I used to be a complete gypsy. Sleeping different places (not like you think - ok well maybe a little) practically living out of my car while paying rent for an apartment I was hardly at. There was this complete restlessness that I just could never get rid of. I think a fear of commitment would be putting it lightly. I believe it worried my parents and made some of my friends scratch their heads - other friend's would just say "that's just Jenn". About 18 months ago I bought a cute little one bedroom condo kind of in between work and my family. Close enough that people can drop by if they are in the area but far enough away that it doens't happen all that much.
The first two months I owned this condo I was feeling like a cornered animal. I actually asked my mom at the end of the first month how long she thought I needed to hold on to this before I could sell it (she's in real estate) I thought she was going to have a small stroke. Of course now the market is down so I have to hold on to it and if I wanted to move I would probably have to just rent it out. The thought of being a landlord does absolutely nothing for me. Anyway it's kind of nice to not have to worry about repainting the walls, or not putting holes in the walls etc. I just put pergo floors in and they make the place look great. The only issue is that I'm already outgrowing the place. It helps that I am now doing mostly watercolors so I don't need the physical space that I did with oils but I know I'm going to eventutally go back to oils.
Right now I'm making decisions about Grad School. I've got three that are on my list so far. Boston University which has a great dual degree program of Masters of Social Work (Macro level) and Masters of Public Health - Sara Lawrence which has the only Masters in Health Advocacy in the country and Lesley which is an interdisciplinary degree wich I could do with a concentration in Health Advocacy. Lesley is my safe school - I'm about to graduate from there and I know the director of the program really well so I know I would get in. I never thought I'd have to deal with this whole "being accepted" thing again. It's kind of freaky.
So, speaking of school - I have been asked by the director of my current program to come to campus tomorrow and address the board of trustees about the program I'm in. I even went and bought a fancy new outfit becaue the director took one like at my clothes at residency (NIN t-shirt and long jeans shorts) and said "remember, you have to look board of trustees for this". Yeah, yeah, yeah - did she think I grew up in a barn? So these are the questions that I have to base my little speech around:
1. What brought me to LCB?
2. What is central to me about my learning experience in LCB and what was meaningful about it?
3. How did it differ from or build on my previous learning experiences?
4. What am I taking away from my experience?
I literally have no idea what I'm going to say - I'm sure something wil come to me.
ADW sent me some great questions that I will finally get to tomorrow.......
The first two months I owned this condo I was feeling like a cornered animal. I actually asked my mom at the end of the first month how long she thought I needed to hold on to this before I could sell it (she's in real estate) I thought she was going to have a small stroke. Of course now the market is down so I have to hold on to it and if I wanted to move I would probably have to just rent it out. The thought of being a landlord does absolutely nothing for me. Anyway it's kind of nice to not have to worry about repainting the walls, or not putting holes in the walls etc. I just put pergo floors in and they make the place look great. The only issue is that I'm already outgrowing the place. It helps that I am now doing mostly watercolors so I don't need the physical space that I did with oils but I know I'm going to eventutally go back to oils.
Right now I'm making decisions about Grad School. I've got three that are on my list so far. Boston University which has a great dual degree program of Masters of Social Work (Macro level) and Masters of Public Health - Sara Lawrence which has the only Masters in Health Advocacy in the country and Lesley which is an interdisciplinary degree wich I could do with a concentration in Health Advocacy. Lesley is my safe school - I'm about to graduate from there and I know the director of the program really well so I know I would get in. I never thought I'd have to deal with this whole "being accepted" thing again. It's kind of freaky.
So, speaking of school - I have been asked by the director of my current program to come to campus tomorrow and address the board of trustees about the program I'm in. I even went and bought a fancy new outfit becaue the director took one like at my clothes at residency (NIN t-shirt and long jeans shorts) and said "remember, you have to look board of trustees for this". Yeah, yeah, yeah - did she think I grew up in a barn? So these are the questions that I have to base my little speech around:
1. What brought me to LCB?
2. What is central to me about my learning experience in LCB and what was meaningful about it?
3. How did it differ from or build on my previous learning experiences?
4. What am I taking away from my experience?
I literally have no idea what I'm going to say - I'm sure something wil come to me.
ADW sent me some great questions that I will finally get to tomorrow.......
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