I've finished!

  

I have a diploma that verifies the fact that I've earned my MISE degree.  It was a great graduation weekend with my wonderful family and many of my new and old friends sharing the excitement with me.

It has been an amazing year and I'm so lucky to have had support and encouragement from everyone to live my dream.  Thank you!!!

Now I'm back in New Orleans trying to figure out what to do with all of the stuff (mainly books) that I accumulated.  My La-z-boy chair will go to good use--my son Brandon claimed it quickly.  I have an office attached to my sewing room downstairs, but I'm afraid I'll be too distracted there so I'm trying to arrange the third floor to be my PhD office where I'll go for my work day.  Next milestone...PhD...

Coma

I think I fell in love with her at first sight.  Brandon was playing in a soccer game at the Butterfly and Coma was sitting with her owner near the sidelines.  She was 5 months old and had so much extra skin.  I knelt down and petted her.  She sort of melted into my lap.  Her owner was moving out of town and in a week Coma was living at our house.  She ran 3 miles with me every morning until one summer when I awakened her and asked if she were ready.  She raised her head, looked at me and put her head back down on the bed as if to say, "no thanks."  She never ran in the park with me again.  Running with her was exciting.  A squirrel or rabbit in the park caused her to tear out after the animal with me holding her leash and running at break neck speed.  In Opine she ran through the woods--down a path and back to be sure I was following.  She was beautiful when she ran.  She never did catch a squirrel or a rabbit.

Coma was the epitome of a dog--couldn't resist food within reach--and all food on a counter was within her reach; the kitchen garbage was fair game if she were left alone; she chewed everything that smelled like a human--stuffed toys, shoes, purses, wallets, my binoculars; she tried desperately to break through the front door whenever anyone outside came near it; and she loved to be petted on the head and scratched under her neck.   One of my favorite memories is the day she took the bag of marshmallows from the kitchen counter.  She must have really liked them because she "saved" them.  We found marshmallows buried between sofa cushions and behind pillows on chairs throughout the living room.

A bloodhound, she was big--95 pounds, with lots of loose skin; her howling bark was a beautiful sound; she shed; she slobbered; and she slept like a log.  She was a good dog--our family dog for 14 years and I miss her.

Almost finished...

If I could spend my days in Auburn and my nights and all but Fall weekends in New Orleans, I'd be so happy.  Learning new things and talking to people about mathematics, modeling and creative ideas is thrilling to me and I expect to miss that in New Orleans.  But, I miss my family and friends in the early mornings, evenings and most weekends and that actually trumps my intellectual pursuits.  I'm ready to run/walk with Susan in the early morning and spend evenings and weekends with Allan, all of our friends and my children.  I'll be finished on Monday...

Callaway Gardens

Yesterday evening, my friend Peggy's 87 year old mother treated us and one of her friends to the Fantasy of Light show at Callaway Gardens.  The four of us took an incredible 45-60 minute driving tour through the resort with light and sound exhibits along the way.  The Nutcracker Suite played and nutcrackers danced, toy soldiers marched, a rocking horse rocked and there were other toys and children; Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf played and squirrels ran up and down trees, rabbits played, birds flew across the road and there were raccoons and wolves; there was an exhibit of the 12 Days of Christmas with animation in each of the twelve days; an owl flew along the road and hooted; a ribiting frog jumped into the water with a splash of light; fairies grew flowers and gnomes frosted them with snowflakes; children had a snowball fight across the road in front of us; there was a butterfly exhibit and an amazing ride through a winter wonderland of blinking lights; and lots more!!!  How anyone could design such a beautiful fantasy is beyond me and then just implementing the design with the millions of lights, animation and music was a feat in itself.  Go see it if you are ever near Stone Mountain, Georgia in December!!

Snow Prediction

They're predicting snow Sunday evening into Monday morning with the possibility of some accumulation.  Wonder what that means for graduation?  I'm so glad so many of my family members will be here--I can't wait.  I've almost gotten everything packed into my tables (AKA boxes), my office on campus is cleared out, I've made arrangements for all of the utilities to be turned off and I will pick up a small U-Haul trailer on Sunday.  I have a final meeting with Dr. Smith and the Chinese visiting professor tomorrow afternoon and pick up my cap and gown on Friday.  I'm almost finished...

It's Great to be an Auburn Tiger

Peggy and I watched Auburn win the SEC Championship at the Arena yesterday afternoon with 1000+ Auburn fans.  It was great!  Individuals led cheers from the stands and the entire population followed.  How fun to watch the game with only Auburn fans--not a USC fan to be seen!  Following the game we walked to Toomer's Corner which was already covered in toilet paper when we arrived.  Fans with rolls of toilet paper under their arms converged on foot from all parts of Auburn and the Auburn Public Safety trucks blocked vehicular entry to the center of town from both College and Magnolia streets.  It was quite an afternoon in this town and for all Auburn fans.  Now, it's on to the National Championship game at the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona.  Wouldn't it be fun to be there!

Last Class

Today was the last day of the DC Design and Operations (I've been calling it Warehousing) class and I presented my group's project to the class and two managers from the Aflac Distribution Center.  I became less nervous as the presentation went on, but I still managed to forget some important things I was supposed to say.  Our presentation was good; we used simple slides with little or no words on them.  We followed the recommendations from Edward Tufte's books about giving presentations that are interesting to your audience.  I think it worked well and from now on, I'll be using the techniques he suggests.  Our group will be celebrating Monday night (grades will be posted on Monday sometime) regardless of the grade we get, but it will be much more fun it we get an "A". 

Bittersweet feelings this evening since this could be my last college class.  My thirty Master's Degree hours count toward my PhD so the rest of my hours for that final degree could be only research hours.  I LOVE school and learning new things, but I really do have a problem with timed tests.  I'm looking forward to learning new things by researching, modeling, simulating and writing.