<p>oregon101, Regarding recommendations for cruise lines-depends on what your are looking for, where you want to leave from and how much you want to pay. I’ve been on Royal Caribbean,Celebrity,Carnival, and Cunard and liked them all. Azamara is owned by the same company that owns RC and Celebrity and looks great but is more expensive. There are some very upscale, expensive cruise lines out there but they are out of my budget so I haven’t tried them! A cruise is a great vacation for a mom and daughter or family.</p>
<p>arabrab, there is also an add-on called zotero (I think) that automatically puts the citations in the form you need. Technology is indeed good for something.</p>
<p>I know it sounds trivial in comparison with “real” problems, but please send prayers/good thoughts/positive energy toward the middle of the country today as D takes the GRE. She has MAJOR test anxiety. We thought it might be a good strategy to take the GRE when she wasn’t applying to any actual graduate schools at the time, but while still in school mode. She doesn’t go back to school until Saturday, so also thought not having to balance her academic schedule with the test would make it easier. No pressure, right? Sigh.</p>
<p>arabrab, funny about your D not recognizing the BMOC. I had a similar experience in college. Post-midterm in a huge lecture class, I was sitting on the floor outside the professor’s office sifting through piles of blue books, when a male classmate came by to look for his. I asked his last name, offering to look for his test while I was looking for my own, and he looked at me strangely. “Jones” he said. So I asked his first name, adding “since Jones is such a common last name.” It was only after I stood up later that I realized “Jeff Jones” was extremely tall, and in fact one of the stars of the basketball team (we made it to the NCAA final four that year). In retrospect I decided it was okay I didn’t recognize him immediately, since he probably received lots of star-struck treatment from other classmates.</p>
<p>Sending out the good vibes to c_q’s D.</p>
<p>C-Q, funny story on the basketball player. Good luck to your D on the GRE today. I wanted S2 to take it over winter break, but no such luck.</p>
<p>Sendin the light to cq’s d!
Mch does not have DVT, at least, they found no clot so if there ever was one, it’s gone now. Has some other tests tomorrow but this is good news. He’s feeling quite smug about it, as both my employee and I were pretty certain that was what was wrong with his leg.</p>
<p>So, this am it’s ZERO degrees and mch called from en route to an early meeting to tell me that. I suspect he’s thinking I ought not climb the hill this a.m., but I am thinking so long as I cover my face I should be able to manage. If I start asking exceptions now, where does it end?</p>
<p>kmc- glad to hear that your H does not have DVT.</p>
<p>I was thinking of many of you when I saw the weather this AM. Stay warm!</p>
<p>Our thermometer read 15 degrees this morning. Brrrr! That did not deter sabadog in the slightest. KMC, you need a sabadog equivalent to pull you up that hill. </p>
<p>Good luck to C_Q’s D today! KMC, very, very glad McH does not have DVT. Hope they can get to the bottom of his medical issues.</p>
<p>Low-fat egg-white, spinach and cheese mini-frittatas are on the buffet along with the oatmeal, yogurt, fresh fruit, and cold cereals. Teas, coffee, and fresh-squeezed orange juice are at the end of the table. </p>
<p><a href=“Those%20of%20you%20not%20on%20diets%20can%20follow%20me;%20I%20know%20where%20the%20bacon,%20muffins,%20croissants,%20Brie,%20and%20marmalade%20are!”>i</a>*</p>
<p>Regarding automatic citations, they will still need to be checked for proper information and formatting, and you don’t even want to know why I know that! (I don’t even want to know why I know that!)</p>
<p>Good Morning! Back from our get away to meet up with friends in Chicago.</p>
<p>Welcome home owlice! We have missed you!</p>
<p>PRJ…hope you are feeling well.
missypie…sending prayers your way for the funeral
TA…glad you had a wonderful vacation. So nice when you can meet interesting people.
c_q…sending test karma to your D!
FallGirl…whew! So happy to hear your good news! Yay!!! 
shaw…sending good luck to shawson on getting things done. My D2 has the grades for Summa but decided against doing the thesis so will graduate Magna. She chose to spend her time working in the real world and making money. I hope she never regrets her decision.
kmc and sabaray…heading to the gym in a few minutes. Too cold here to walk outside today. It is -12 right now without the wind chill!</p>
<p>i think NMN and I have the prize on ridiculously cold weather this morning. -11 here with a -47 windchill. But as I like to say - at least it’s sunny in the house! I am not allowed to work out until Friday (as if I’d be running out the door before that?), but I got the stitches out yesterday. Dr said that during my surgery I really didn’t have a lot of fat under my eyes but that the degree of edema was “unusual.” He did remove some of it, but will work to cut out salt and hope that helps? Not really sure, but he did say I had incredibly good skin cause I have no wrinkles. My retort was apparently it’s because my face is full of water retention!</p>
<p>D finally getting her picture taken for the roster today. H was driving to Nebraska for business and then going to extend the trip to visit D to help her change rooms. Totally unnecessary in a functional way, but a good excuse for a visit regardless.</p>
<p>Listed the house yesterday and in writing the other contenders, only got one reply in which they were baffled by the decision - what did we miss, I have 12 buyers, etc. But we are confident we are in good hands. (I think)</p>
<p>TA - that is totally sad about the man on your cruise. I commend the cruiselines for not just leaving the wife there to deal with everything amid her grief.</p>
<p>Fallgirl - What a long weekend to endure, but glad it was great news…</p>
<p>owlice, I’ll sample your healthier breakfast. I hope my frittata has feta. mmm</p>
<p>c_q, power to the daughter and the GRE! At least they find out their results sooner than they would waiting for SAT scores; less post test anxiety, imo.</p>
<p>kmc, so glad there’s no dvt for husband. Hope your hill climb was uneventful.</p>
<p>Stay warm everyone. The cold front is streaming in here today, but it would not be polite to say what the temperature actually is.</p>
<p>So…change of plans for me today. Got dressed for the gym and bundled up with huge coat, gloves, scarf, hat and mittens. Pulled out of the garage and then the silly door would not stay closed! Have no idea what is up. No ice or snow blocking the bottom. Tried at least 20 times but still won’t stay closed. Guess I am staying home today! Will have to do lots of walking around the house. ;)</p>
<p>I did the same thing a few years ago with Seal on a DC to LA flight. I must have been the only person who didn’t know who he was. He came on with his guitar and told me he had played Letterman the night before. We had a very interesting conversation and he was a pleasant, unpretentious guy.</p>
<p>c_q, Hope the GRE went well.</p>
<p>kmc, Glad H’s test went well.</p>
<p>shawbridge, Great story about Seal. He seems pretty cool. I think the story about the cops in Long Branch not knowing who Bob Dylan was is pretty funny. A complete unknown, a bum just wandering around Long Branch!</p>
<p>She takes the GRE in an hour and 15 minutes, so I’m hoping it goes well! One of her friends posted on FB:</p>
<p>GRE = Gingers Really Excel</p>
<p>so that’s her new mantra.</p>
<p>For those of you in arctic conditions, stay warm! Makes our 23 degrees seem tropical!</p>
<p>NMN… My garage does that sometimes too… I think it’s a default due to frozen something. I know I can usually shut mine if I hold down the button until it’s ALMOST closed, which is typically good enough to thwart a burglar… of course, I would be one hard house to case regardless because I have no set schedule for when I am coming and going. </p>
<p>A friend called from London today. Talked for nearly an hour. So fun to catch up. Better yet, she owns a duplex here that she is renting while they are abroad but tired of being landlords abroad and management companies are not all that worry-free. It’s in a better location than I could even typically look and it’s not like i can buy the thing, BUT, I am excited about the possibility of being in the location of where I want to be AND having the opportunity to act as if we did own it. It might be the perfect interim solution to maintaining residency and yet be able to have the cash available for buying a real house where the nook is! Let’s just say I feel better about the future options at this point cuz H was not convinced he wanted to get into another mortgage in MN that kept us here indefinitely.</p>
<p>NMN, our garage door does that in cold weather. The last door guy adjusted it too far. I push down on the door handle as it approaches the floor to force it down to the floor. Then it has gone low enough to satisfy the mechanism and it stays shut - and it seals the garage better too.</p>
<p>It was only -1 here this AM. I still have not shoveled this winter. D is back for week 2. She has good profs. I am grateful.</p>
<p>Hello, everyone! It feels ridiculously good to be back in the office today. (And none too soon…I think the high where my mom lives is supposed to be 7 degrees today.) Dad’s memorial service was Sunday afternoon. It went very well. My niece’s husband played acoustic guitar and sang while people were being seated. The pastor said nice words and read what I had written, which got a few good laughs. (Always nice to hear funny stories.) My H sang two solos very beautifully. Son and my niece spoke very nicely. My sister also spoke and that part wasn’t as bad as it could have been. My dad’s youngest brother was there, along with 6 of my first cousins and spouses (from as far away as Florida and Virginia.) There was a pot luck lunch after the service…at least three 8 foot tables loaded with home cooked food. It was incredible (and I didn’t even make it over to the cake table.) No one does a pot luck like a small town church!</p>
<p>My nephew’s GF of less than 6 months flew in for the service…none of us had met her. (He had a different GF at his sister’s wedding last summer.) She seemed nice, but pretty much wore stripper clothes to the service…super short tight skirt, very high heels,etc. The pastor was talking about how much my dad was like Jesus. Everyone probably thought “He is so like Jesus that he’s got a stripper sitting with the family.” </p>
<p>None of my cousins color their hair. All this totally white hair on my first cousins. Strange.</p>
<p>Late in the evening of the memorial service, when just my sister’s family and my family was at the house, I got out the barbeque potato chips and pretty soon had a crowd around me…we killed the bag.</p>
<p>Everyone has been so nice to us. Including y’all. Thanks so much.</p>