The good, the bad, and the Mikuni...

The Good

Yesterday we went to this thing where all the top universities in the border region got together at the Mexican Consulate. It was UTEP, NMSU, UACJ, ITCJ, ITESM, LaSalle Institute, UNITEC, Universidad TEC Milenio, and URN (us). We talked mostly about how we can bring the schools together and find a parameter to do more research. I got in touch with the NMSU rep. and if all goes well we might have guest speakers from the university at the URN. I'll keep you posted on the bridges that we can form with this school. My boss is happy.

The Bad

This friend of mine who has deleted her web page because she cannot handle the pressure brought by others who apparently hate her and have released "ye old hounds of hell". The web page was a social page and most of the people there logged in to get that sense of belonging. Now -- I know that most people can get really stressed out about situations that are out of their control, but seriously, to allow these situations to affect you in a way that you would rather give up something you have worked so hard to build -- just because you find it hard to fight for it? BS if you ask me. I have been through tough situations -- and I have found that you shouldn't throw in the towel just because others pick on you. On contraire -- fight the good fight, hang tough, keep the chin up, and stop crying around that by crying nothing will be solved.

The Mikuni

I have a new kitty. Her name is MIKUNI, and she has already become the light and joy at the Rainy household. She has her own little kitty bed, bowl for water and food, toys, and litter box. She is 2 and a half months old. She likes to sleep in high places, chase her own tail, and chase her own hind paws. She plays and plays and then falls a sleep while she's playing. Hates not being around people. She loves my nieces and nephew. She enjoys playing with the plants and the chair. She can now climb into the bed with no help. Yesterday she discovered that she can fuzz.

Mikuni -- WELCOME!!!

I feel like the one in the middle

No word yet on TKT late fees. I am beginning to think that I should just pay for the June test and take the bullet. It's not like we're not going to do the thing, we're just going to postpone it -- AGAIN. But I don't want to postpone it. I want to make this work. It's the responsibility deal of me. And I'm cold. It wasn't cold when I left the house... now I am cold.

Yesterday it was the disaster of the expositions. The topic for the English VIII class was "World Cultures" and they were supposed to research cultures and bring a presentation about them... but not culture as "the department of culture in Brazil has issue a statement..." No. It was more like "In Japan, people bow as a sign of respect; the lower the bow, the more respect you show". I explained this detail about three times a day for about two days. They had a week to do this. And I said "If you have questions about the presentation, please tell me because I will count the spelling and grammar errors". So, yesterday they show up... and voiala! The England presentation was more about the history of England... (from 1823 to 1826, the prime minister...); the Sweden one was about the geographical territory (it is located 2330 miles north of...); the Japan one had beautiful background images, but the letters got lost and since the letters got lost, and since the students were reading off the screen, then it was a lost cause; the India presentation was taken off the Slum Dog Millionaire movie, so that was another lost cause; the North Korea presentation was "North Korean" and it basically sucked... Oh! And did I mention they had 10 minutes to present it? If they had not read the entire class, they would have more than enough time to do it... but nooooooooo! They read and read, so their times were up before slide No. 5 came up. The shortest presentation was of 20 slides! 20!! Not even my DVM degree thesis was 20 slides long! Today I plan to have a looong conversation with them -- break the rules and scold them in Spanish, because I swear that if I scold them in English they will not understand diddly squad of what I'm saying.

UTEP Miners won last night and are now in the Final 4 of the Regional Tournament. And It's not like I'm a UTEP fan, but I follow this radio show, "Sports Talk" in 600 AM and I've been following the ups and downs drama of this basketball team all season... so I'm kind of happy that they've made it this far. Plus, this kid, Stephan Jackson? He should play in the NBA.

(sigh!) My father has to go to the nutritionist today. It's a lazy-ass situation. He doesn't wanna go, I don't wanna take him. Is there any way that we can compromise and find common ground?



POST-NOTE (LATER IN THE AFTERNOON)

----- I dunno what's going on, but apparently the images are back on line. Cool! I can see the banner now (at least some of the images are up...) I have decided to take the bullet train with the TKT ... one more month behind. PSHAAH! My boss is not going to be happy about it, but there is not much he can do about it, now is there?

---- Decided to tell students if anyone has ever told them what a "Power point presentation" concept is. So, I've also decided to give them extra credit work in reading comprehension (we're Mexicans, we don't read --- SAD BUT TRUE, PEOPLE!)

--- I am torn between Suky's party and a date... can I bring the date to party? Can I go on Friday to Date and Saturday to Suky's Poker bash?

-- I am torn between e-mailing Federico (one of my old teachers from college) or not. I stumbled upon his wifey the other day at the plant shop (Oh yeah, me and mom went back to get some chili plant... and it was funny because my mom thought it was my BBF Ofelia and Federico's wife and Ofelia HATE each other's guts) and she said he wanted to contact me. Still torn about that.

- Metallica... I want to go to the Mexico City concert.