New York is a wonderful town!

The Pontifical Chorale from Corpus Christi Cathedral was invited to sing in New York this summer. I went and Jen came along as my 'roomie'! We had a fabulous six days of sight seeing, shows and eating as we made our way through tons of cannoli, pasta, cheesecake and many other assorted goodies! We also walked and walked and walked -- so our no carb left behind tour did little to our behinds! Here are some pics of the city - there will be a blog to follow regarding the singing and the cathedrals....

All the news thats fit to print...


The first Broadway show we saw was "Wicked". It was a good warm-up, but the cannoli and gelato on Broadway afterwards ROCKED!


World's Largest Kiss!


We stayed four blocks from Times Square - an amazing place!


More Times Square:


Wall Street


Breakfast...at a french place...outside...on Broadway. IT WAS SOOOO YUMMY!


Walking in downtown Manhattan....


Jen and Sponge Bob!


The largest Macy's in the world...yes we were EXCITED!


And yes, she made a purchase. We had a blast!


Lunch time!


Ground Zero


The Freedom Building by Ground Zero. Amazing place... those Palm Trees are growing INSIDE. You have several vantage points in there to see the building that is being done at Ground Zero.


Sign inside the Freedom Building:



Fountains at Lincoln Center. We had an insider tour - another amazing place.




We went via ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island:








Happy Girls!


We saw three Broadway Shows - Wicked, Lion King and Phantom of the Opera. The Phantom remains my favorite - has been playing on Broadway for over 20 years. We loved it!



Six days of shopping and sightseeing...how to get everything home???


More to come!

Blog about a Blog

Remember this photo? It was taken at the Texas State Round Rock campus - you can read about that here. It seems a friend of a friend saw this blog and asked several people what they thought the cloud represented. These are the real, authentic answers that I received regarding this photograph:

Jacqueline 6 years old: Two windows. God is looking at who is being good and bad. God wants people to sit for a while in a thinking chair to remember the good and the bad things. We can no longer be babies.

Rosa 11 Years old: a building and two people looking out. I see Jesus writing over a table. Follow God’s Commandments. God wants us to think of what we have done. God is ready to give us good things after we think of the good and the bad things and we chose to do good. God is ready to receive our prayers; all we have to do is open our hearts, that is what the garage door means. So all this means that our happiness is in heaven. The window I see means that it is never too late to look at our life and reflect.

Raquel 48 years old:God wants people to reflect on the environmental damage that is caused to his celestial blanket.Also God wants us to reflect on our behavior and turn towards Him.

I see an adult talking to a child explaining the way to heaven. It is not time for you.

I see two windows, with light shining up to heaven.

I see a house with a garage door.
God is protecting His hidden valley from despair.

Alexis: 9 years old:I see God’s airplane. He is coming to gather His crop.

Chacho: 18 years old: Heaven’s doors are open for the whole world to receive his message. His living world is being poured out to all people and many will receive His blessings.

Sasha: 12 years old:Jesus is coming to fellowship with the owner of a house that has a garage door. God wants us to open our heart to His son Jesus.

Jacqueline: 6yrs. God wants to talk to Mary.


I was so touched by this -- I hope you have been too.

Two Colleagues Take On The Big Guns

Nature Publishing Group is a big gun. These guys publish Nature, a professional journal for science. You get in Nature, you're gonna be famous. The group also has other publications, including Nature Education, an online journal for college science students and faculty. My colleague Kevin Strychar, a coral reef ecologist, and I had an interesting conversation over a year ago concerning genetically modified foods and what his students thought about them -- a side note from his lecture one day. This little conversation turned into a research project to find out just what they did think about this topic. A survey was designed, permission to conduct research on our students obtained,classroom plans made, data collected and later, analyzed. "Great stuff!", we thought. "Let's submit to this Nature Education publication and see what happens". They accepted the article with our revisions!! Yay! Celebrations! Then, a week later, they UN-accepted it! NO FAIR we cried! So we wrote the top dogs and told them the error of the editor's ways. They saw this error, promptly corrected and it and here is the publication.

IT'S IN! WE ARE SUPER EXCITED!!!!! More info from this study coming as we continue analysis....stay tuned!

Can you spell Nacogdoches?

If so, you probably know we have a state university there - Stephen F. Austin State University. Home of the Lumberjack football team. Pretty campus - lots of gorgeous and obviously old oak trees. Nice people, committed faculty. However, too remote for yours truly. Lufkin is the closest (large) town. You have to drive over 2 hours from the airport to get there and the speed limit changes every 10 minutes or so. The saving factor was the fact that my rent car had satellite radio. Oh my gosh! It was AWESOME. THE channel is 'vinyl classics' and they had ALL the great rock and roll tunes digitally formatted. I was in heaven - and had to keep a careful eye on those pesky speed limits. The workshop I gave for science faculty members was very well received and I think I may be invited back. I'll be sure to get a rent car with the correct radio again ... and GPS.

Auntie Pasta's - great baked ravioli and huge assortment of delicious Italian sodas!

Nine months today

A special anniversary. The beginning of a journey nine months ago - I had no idea how many blessings this journey would reap. When I reach a year, and I will, there will be much to celebrate. I owe so, so much to family and friends that have supported me through this process. Thank you to my family, my true friends and to God.

Texas State Round Rock Campus

I love this campus. I come here every quarter for Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board meetings. The THECB knew what they were doing when they invested in the newest addition to Texas State Campus (formerly Southwest Texas State). A new College of Nursing is going in here and several other buildings. The scenery is so picturesque, the buildings fit in beautifully and yes, even the classrooms are something to behold. I could work here. I wonder if they might ever consider hiring a science educator...but then I would have to leave Corpus Christi and my friends. No, probably not. But it's fun to come visit. A nice dinner with a dear friend the night before and then meetings today with several awesome colleagues from across the state of Texas. I am one lucky person.






They don't even use the word "classroom". All such rooms are referred to as ....




Will most happily be returning soon!!

NEW YORK BOUND!

Yes indeed, about 50 members of the Corpus Christi Pontifical Chorale, including yours truly, are headed to New York in a few days to sing in St. Patrick's Cathedral AND in St. Ignatius Cathedral:

and do some sight seeing! We will be seeing three plays on Broadway -- Phantom of the Opera (love it!), Lion King (never have seen it) and Wicked:


And...(drum roll)... along with several fabulous friends, my daughter Jen is going with us! We will be roomies in downtown Manhattan. Am I excited? OH MY GOSH I CANNOT WAIT~~!!! Of course, I will be blogging all about it. Oh and I almost forgot, never having enough to do in the service area, we are singing the National Anthem at the Corpus Christi Hooks game the night after we return. Don't tell anyone, but I wasn't sure if they were baseball, or basketball, or...well, fisherman. Thank goodness for the internet :)