Whispered prayers

One week ago tomorrow at a faculty meeting, I asked a storm surge specialist (faculty member) his opinion of then tropical storm Gustav. His reply was simply, "This one has got our attention." Discussion ensued and bottom line was this storm was taking a path that could potentially lead to strengthening and devastation. It has taken and continues to take that path. Prayers, prayers and more prayers for the safety of those who are preparing for this storm - including my brother and his family - and for those who will be affected by this hurricane.

Dalton Sherman - A Call to Teachers et al.

This young man made the keynote speech at the Dallas Independent School District convocation. Heartfelt thanks to my kindred spirit Katrina in Eldorado for sending me this with the message- "An amazing child expressing what every child wants to say and every teacher needs to hear".

Strong Man + Strong Will = Strong Faith

Thank you FP Brewer for sharing this amazing story: You may have seen them on a highway billboard. Here's a little of what's behind the story.A son asked his father, 'Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?' The father, despite having a heart condition, says 'Yes'. They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying 'Yes' to his son's request of going through the race together. One day, the son asked his father, 'Dad, let's join the Ironman together.' To which, his father said 'Yes' too. Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island! Father and son went on to complete the race together. Watch this video:

Jen and her Medals

My oldest daughter has a lot of stories, and some of those stories are wrapped up in these:Here is what they mean, by row and ribbon:
1-1 Joint Service Achievement Medal; 1-2 Navy and Marine Corps Achievement; Medal 1-3Meritorious Unit Commendation; 2-1 Navy 'E' Ribbon; 2-2 National Defense Service Medal; 2-3 Iraq Campaign Medal with Eagle Globe and Anchor; 3-1 Global War On Terror Expeditionary Medal 3-2; Global War On Terror Service Medal; 3-3 Humanitarian Service Medal; 4-1 Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, 2 stars; 4-2 Navy Marksman Rifle; 4-3 Navy Marksman Pistol. And this is the prize - her wings - I was given one when she completed her flight training:
and finally this one: received recently on her last tour in Iraq: The Fleet Marine Force medal. The scale is incorrect -- the latter actually is much larger than her wings - way larger. And deservedly so -- a lot of work, courage and time went into getting the FMF medal.

Here is the thing that blows me away -- I didn't know about any of these awards. Jen's brother, Scott, asked me if I knew Jen had received the "FMF" medal. I had no idea what that was and asked - he told me. He also told me that Jen had four rows of ribbons on her Navy uniform.

Jen isn't one to brag or even talk about herself. She just goes through life with this wonderful attitude, always happy, even when in Iraq on her tours (yes, plural). To her, everything is an adventure. Something to be explored. Challenges are nothing but a minor - and very surmountable - inconvenience. I can't tell you the times I would be worried and Jen would say (and I quote), "oh well, it's no biggie Mom. No worries". Jen going off to the Naval Academy; Jen doing flight training in jets, shuttles and helicopters; Jen taking off in helicopters from ships on convoys all over the world; Jen stationed in a military installation in Iraq; and Jen carrying her electronic piano to play at over 30 Christmas services - through enemy territory. "No worries Mom."

A beautiful character and a woman who has accomplished so much. There are so many stories in those ribbons. I love the woman behind them.

Tragedy for a certain 2 year old

Annie called me as I was working late and invited me to go to Gatti-town with her and Audrey. Well heck yeah! So all the way there we were singing the Gatti-town song and talking about the carousel and the balloons and Audrey was quite excited. Me too :) Well, tragedy struck. After looking around and around, Audrey discovered that they have removed the horsie carousel. Yes, MIA. AND, the balloon machine was BROKEN. It was quite a disappointment, let me tell you.
I think we are going to send Mr. Gatti-town a crayoned note: Bring back the horsie carousel and fix the balloon machine!!

Awesomeness for two days

Packing up in DC and getting ready to head to Dallas to see JP before heading home. It's been an outstanding trip! The pic is what I looked at each day from my hotel window. The Andrew Carnegie Washington public library built in 1899. On the front, it says "Science - Poetry - History" and one of the stone blocks is engraved, "Dedicated to the diffusion of knowledge". Inspiring - but I had no idea just how inspiring this trip would be. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say my name came up out of over 2000 others who wanted to be here. I didn't know why - a friend was very instrumental in making this happen, but why was it happening? The reason has become more and more apparent. Leaving the safety of my comfort zone once again, growing professionally. Another leap is going to take place in the future. How and in what context I'm not sure - but it will.

Two days of top scientists from all over the world sharing their ideas on teaching and learning. Awesome and so humbling. I will be sharing some of the interesting keynotes I heard when I get some time. Things we have learned from geckos that are changing industry and medicine to optical properties found in beetles and butterflies. Geniuses turning what were once humdrum and boring science concepts into real, relevant and riveting lessons that cross many disciplines. I couldn't get enough of them and didn't want their sessions to end.

We all have fleeting visions of what we want to do and maybe a hope of ending up there. I am so thankful - my once fleeting visions are coming true, becoming reality - more and more every day. And I never, ever thought they would really get here. A student once told me to keep going and stay on course. She recently wrote to me "to whom much is given much is expected". I thought about that a lot this trip. I want to deliver.

First Night In DC

Within 10 minutes of my arrival in DC after a 9 hour flight (there are NO direct flights from ANYWHERE in south Texas!) I called my friend I was meeting here. After a brief conversation with the concierge, we took off via feet for dinner:

Friend: Cherie, why are the street signs, umm, written that way?

Cherie: Umm, (squinting) that looks...like... like, Asian or something. (Then realizes must sound decisive.) Yes, that's Asian, but...umm, I don't know why. We're in America, right? (nervous laugh)

Friend: Yeah Asian. So, let's just keep walking (more nervous laughter)

Cherie: (squinting again) Is that a Pagoda? I mean, it looks like a freaking PAGODA!

I then realized, we were right next to China Town! Need I say more? We had a great dinner, and quickly figured out that much like Dorothy, we were NOT in Texas anymore!

P.S. Do they have VW vans in Chinatown? I'm looking....

Another trip to the Potomac

Getting ready for yet another trip - let's hope no hurricanes or tropical whatevers cut this one short. It will be busy -- lots of National Science Foundation types talking about how to go about getting their grants. I need grants. Grants = tenure. My last proposal got declined - for good reasons (she admits) - but declined all the same. So, I'm gonna talk to these folks, maybe beg a little while I'm at it. And we'll try again - but I'll have a better plan. Wish me luck. And pray for good weather.

Last Summer Class Day

Two sessions of summer teaching have been going on since June 2nd with a day or two off for some national holidays. The summer push - today is the last class day. Off for another business trip next week and then back to get fall schedules together and grant plans and ...well, a lot of planning and meeting. I am determined to mark off a couple of days to do something - or maybe just nothing. Our fall semester starts Aug 22nd. It will be here before ya know it. Stay tuned. Dr. Mac is going to take a holiday - of some kind.

Edouard The Party Pooper!!

I spent nine -yes NINE - hours getting to Philadelphia yesterday. It's a long trip, involved a couple of layovers, but I finally got here. Now, I am in the airport less than 24 hours after arriving and heading home. ANOTHER storm coming to Texas and a very good chance of Houston shutting down/canceling flights...and I need to get back in time for last class day. Sucks. The place was beautiful - take a look:The people so nice --- profs from all over the country (literally) given the task to write collegiate interdisciplinary curriculum. So exciting to be selected to participate on that kind of project! I got a taste of what kind of collaborative effort that takes but weather forced me to cut the trip short. Remind me to be happy tomorrow when the rains come and I am safe...for now, its a real disappointment. Did I mention the food? Yummy. And the weather? 80 degrees for the high, less than 25% humidity. We had lunch outside today.

Yeah, disappointed. Maybe next summer....

First publication!

One of my daily challenges at work involves being a tenure-tracked professor. That means for the next five years, I have to provide evidence of my worthiness to TAMU-CC through service to my institution and community, have good teaching evaluations, obtain external funding (grants) and be published in professional (science/education) journals. At the end of this term, I put together a complicated portfolio of evidence that is reviewed at the local (TAMU-CC) level, and if it passes muster, goes to the university (TAMU - Bryan/College Station) level and it is also reviewed by three anonymous 'outside' full professors. If I receive tenure, I am guaranteed a job here for as long as I want it - and tenure is sometimes portable. There's also a nice pay increase if you get promoted along with tenure. There are few tenure tracked positions out there -- most universities offer the cheaper route of hiring lecturers and adjunct faculty, and tenured lines are becoming harder and harder to find. Bottom line, getting tenure is a GREAT thing.

I've done well in service, have procured some funding, am working on grants and my teaching evaluations have been very good. The publication thing?? Man it's hard! Finding time outside of teaching and meetings etc. to do the research, gather and analyze the data, then write, submit and get your work published is VERY competitive and an arduous process. However...this week.... I found out MY FIRST PUBLICATION HAS BEEN ACCEPTED. I'm in! Thanks to two colleagues who co-authored with me, we are officially published in an education journal. We collected, analyzed and wrote about our family learning events that we have been conducting at two different universities (hence the co-authors) for the past two years. I will take a pic of the journal cover when it comes out. I am super pumped and ready to start writing the next one!!