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 :)

Sushi Date!

Having a blast with my favorite Sushi connoisseur and some other friends.

Make the plan, but don't plan the outcome

That's advice I was given a while back that has served me well. This weekend was a good reminder of that lesson.

At 5:30 a.m. Friday, my car was packed with coffee pot, books, computer, papers, clothing and incidentals. A weekend of writing - REAL writing with my colleague at UT Pan American in Edinburgh. I planned to drive to McAllen and spend the weekend as we retooled a large manuscript we began a year ago. More than half way there, my car let me know it lost 25 lbs of pressure in one of my tires. The same tire I had 'fixed' two weeks ago at a repair shop while on another excursion. Sitting on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in South Texas, I had a sinking feeling that this planned outcome was not going to be.

I called my friend, canceled the hotel room, turned around and stopped at every gas station on the way back filling up said tire. Finally, I made it to my repair shop in Corpus Christi at 2:00 p.m. A call from the repair person provided the following revelation, "They missed a nail, Ma'am." Yup. For two weeks I've been traveling around with a nail that was not removed. How does someone "miss" a nail in your tire??

Weekend plans quickly changed. Now, I have some needed down time and rescheduled the trip to McAllen. I'll see a movie, spend some time with friends, go to the gym, work a little, take a long walk on the beach. At least that's the current plan - and you know what they say about plans.

The nail is removed. One that I've had in my tire for over 400 miles and never knew it was (still) there. When I think of the consequences, I know Someone was watching over me. I'm glad He knew the plan.

A letter from Dr. McKinney

You may not know Dr. McKinney. A medical physician, Dr. McKinney is the Chancellor the A&M System. The big bossman. I have never met Dr. McKinney and have only seen his picture on some of our newsletters. Today, in my little mailbox at work there was a letter from Dr. McKinney. I had no idea why he would be writing me.

It turns out I was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award from the A&M University System! Yes, the teaching evaluations collected in May were forwarded to Dr. McKinney's assistant's office -- along with every other teaching evaluation in the A&M System -- College Station, Kingsville, Commerce, West Texas, -- a total of 11 university campuses and 115,000 students participated. And my students rated me in the top 5% of all the faculty in the system! Not just a letter - but a very nice stipend was deposited in my checking account! I am SUPER SUPER SUPER thankful to my students (and to Dr. McKinney!) and this is just one more reason for me to thank God for the job that I have!!!

We celebrated with steak dinner - Katie a bit disappointed in what 500 calories will get you, and Annie went for the crab legs:


And Katie brought me flowers...nothing like friends and family!