Step Into the Nexus · Stimulation is the Goal

After work today, I headed to the ice machine to load my cup with ice and water.  As I passed the breakroom, I saw Breaking News on CNN: Michael Jackson taking to UCLA after cardiac arrest.  I paused and wondered if he was okay and then I went on about my business.  Of course as I met JT in the car, I immediately told him the news.  Five minutes later as we arrive at daycare to pick up the twins, a radio personality announces that Michael Jackson is dead.  I screamed.  What the hell just happened?

I had to shake it off of me a bit so I could try and focus while picking up the children.  I called my mom first, asking her to turn on the news to verify this horrible news. I then called my best friend.  Mama called me back to say that Headline News and CNN did not report Michael Jackson as dead.  This is when the denial set in for me until later.  I kept hoping that this was not true.  There were conflicting reports everywhere.

Later, CNN finally confirmed that Michael Jackson died.  I was truly amazed to find out that he passed away much earlier than I originally thought.  He probably did in fact pass away when TMZ reported it first and later flooded to the radio and other mediums. Right after I left work.

I have truly been numb for a great deal of the evening.

Michael Jackson was a big part of my childhood.  I listened and (pretended to) dance to all of his music.  My husband is proably taking it worse than I am… and I am sure this really hit my brother and father hard.  I tried to call my father but he did not return my voicemail.  Still wondering about that one.

Thank you for the great music Michael Jackson and changing our lives.  My husband has declared karaoke night tomorrow as Michael Jackson night.

Rest In Peace King of Pop.  You will truly be missed.

Technorati Tags: Michael Jackson

I just bought two tickets for the midnight show of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen tomorrow. Actually it starts at 12:01 am on Wednesday, but yeah you know what I am talking about.  JT’s sister is going to pick up the twins from school and they will spend the night with her. I also have a doctor appointment tomorrow evening.  After the appointment, I hope to come home and take a nap before the movie.  Otherwise, no matter how good the movie is, I will fall asleep and this would be a major FAIL.

This will be the first midnight show of a movie that we have seen in a while. Before the twins were born, we used to do this all the time (for example: Star Wars, The Matrix, Spiderman… etc).

Now I am thinking about what food or candies to sneak into the theatre.  Or should I just eat before the show? *ponders*

Technorati Tags: appointment, doctor, family, fun, health, Keisha, movies, pregnancy, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, twins, William

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers, grandfathers, uncles, godfathers and anyone else fulfilling the role of a father.  A special Happy Father’s Day to the love of my life, my husband, my soulmate… JT. He is a wonderful father to our twins, William and Keisha.  And I know he will also be a wonderful father for our little one growing inside of my womb.

I love you.

Technorati Tags: family, Father's Day, holiday, husband, love, marriage, parenting, personal, pregnancy

The graduation ceremony last Saturday was everything that I thought it would be plus more. The turnout was very nice for a classroom of about 21 children. There were many loved ones and friends supporting the graduating preschool class of 2009. William and Keisha, along with their classmates performed songs and dances in the following categories as stated on the program: Finger Plays and Poems, Year in Review, Directions & Positions and Rhythm and Movement.  My favorite part was the dancing.

Keisha sat in the middle front row and William was directly behind her.  For many of the initial pictures, I could not see William because he stayed right behind Keisha.  Then he later moved around and I was able to capture some shots when I placed the big boy lens on my Digital Rebel.  JT stood to the far right of the audience to capture everything on video.  I have not watched the video yet, but I look forward to seeing it.

Immediately following the ceremony, we had cake (marble cake, not a favorite but it was moist and tasty) and punch, socialized a bit and took pictures.  William did not want to smile in almost all of the pictures. I was only able to get him to smile after the crowd started to disperse.

After we left the preschool, we headed out to Kirkwood to take my brother home (he had to work that evening, despite me telling him to take the entire day off months ago).  Then we drove two hours to Lambert’s Cafe, known as the Only Home of Throwed Rolls.  What are throwed rolls?  Throwed rolls are rolls that the waiters throw at you during your meal… yes, they throw them at you and you have to raise your hands high (and even yell) to get their attention.  Once you get their attention and catch a roll, you better get a grip on it and lay it down on your plate soon because they are very hot.  We never dropped any but I saw lots of people miss the catches or caught and dropped them onto the floor.

I had a fantastic Saturday with my family and I am thankful to be blessed with such wonderful children in my life.

Technorati Tags: education, family, food, graduation, headstart, Lambert's Cafe, life, Missouri, personal, preschool, restaurant, school, Sikeston

On Saturday, June 13, 2009 my wonderful children, William and Keisha, will graduate from headstart.  My husband and I are very proud of them.  They have learned so much over the past school year… things like: writing their first and last names, counting to 100, improving on handwriting skills, letter recognition in words, spelling two, three and some four letter words and tying their shoes.

Of course the gross motor skills have also improved.  Cutting a variety of shapes with rounded scissors, skipping and tumbling and I cannot forget their latest adventure, learning to swim.

And this is just a brief synopsis of what you have learned over the year William and Keisha.

You have a grand adventure ahead of you my dearest twins.  Tomorrow you graduate from headstart at a location where you have gone to daycare since you were seven weeks old.  I remember when Daddy and I brought you to the school for the first time to meet everyone.  After graduation, your next adventure will be kindergarten this fall.

Whenever I think about this, I pause for a moment and wonder where has the time gone.  I am so blessed to have you two in my life.  I do my best to cherish every moment I have with you because you are growing up so fast.

Dearest William and Keisha, thank you again for your hard work at school and being wonderful children.  Congratulations and I hope you enjoy the surprise that is forthcoming from Mommy and Daddy.

I love you.

Technorati Tags: celebration, children, daycare, emotions, family, graduation, Keisha, kindergarten, life, love, parenting, personal, preschool, relationships, school, twins, William

Yesterday, a  good friend of mine told me about a syncing feature available through Google.  Google Sync allows you to synchronize data in your calendar and contacts between your PC and mobile phone.

Click the image to the right to enlarge.

If your mobile phone has Windows Mobile go here:  http://www.google.com/mobile/winmo/sync.html

If you have a different phone, check out this link: http://www.google.com/mobile/

The setup is very easy and can be done in well under 5 minutes.  My husband and I have AT&T Tilts and we are now in sync with our calendars and contacts.

If you need assistance, Google has a video on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt_-qHczCMg

The three things I like about this service most are:

1. Free. I can never get enough of Free.

2. When you make changes on the phone or PC the synchronization is almost instant.

3. Convenience.  If you have a lot of editing or updates to enter, the mobile phone keypad is not always convenient.  Hope on the PC to make the changes and you are done.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: AT&T Tilt, calendar, contacts, free, friends, google, Google Sync, internet, mobile phone, social, technology, Windows Mobile

Sadly, it does not take much for me to get addicted to internet crack. My recent addiction was Spymaster and now Restaurant City.

Restaurant City is a simple Sims-like game that is integrated with Facebook. What makes the game simple is that there are not many actions that you can take. Your job is to run a restaurant, cook food, keep your customers happy with food and other services and make money.

Were I begin to lose patience is the ability to learn new dishes. You have to accumulate ingredients by different methods such as trade, purchase and winning them on a daily quiz. Just seems like there is a slow process for advance in this area of the game.

I am now on Level 8 and have about 5,000 in coins (the currency of the game). When you level up you receive items such as being able to hire another employee and adding space to your restaurant. I have 5 employees and it would be nice to have another one now so she can clean the restaurant full time. I have to wait until about 2 more level increases though.

Do you play Restuarant City?  Drop a comment with some tips.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, free, friends, fun, games, internet, Restaurant City, social

Week 332

Say … and I think … ?

1. Hockey :: I am not a big hockey fan, but this makes me think of the of once when I went to a St. Louis Blues game.  I had a great time especially when there were fights.

2. Twirling :: My twins dancing around in the living room.  When they smile it fills me with so much joy.

3. Montreal :: Montreal Expos… now known as the Washington Nationals.

4. Better :: Weekends are so much better than weekdays.

5. New :: With a baby on the way, our family needs a new (used) vehicle. I am hoping for a van that seats seven people but my husband really wants an SUV that seats seven.

6. Rally :: I immediately think of the Barack Obama rally that JT and I went to last October at the St. Louis Arch grounds.  This was an amazing experience.

7. Stanley :: You can tell than that I am not a hockey fan because I thought of Stanley from The Office before I thought of the Stanley Cup.

8. USB :: I have many USB devices at my desk area and way too many cords to keep up with. I really should start labeling them. Some are mini USB others are not.  Some have the same shape but only work on particular devices.

9. Scouted :: Looking for good sports players in preparation of drafts.

10. Cough :: During this pregnancy I have not have a bad cough like I normally do.  I also have not had any asthma issues.  I do not think I have taken a puff from my inhaler in several months *knocks on head* I keep my cough medicine (gel capsules that make me very drowsy) available in my bathroom just in case.

http://subliminal.lunanina.com/um/ind/week_332/

Technorati Tags: meme, random, Unconscious Mutterings

Last weekend, I debated about seeing Angels and Demons or Terminator Salvation.  I asked friends on Facebook and Twitter which I should see.  There were mixed opinions as I suspected but we ended up seeing Angels and Demons.  And I am glad we did.  Angels and Demons was a very good movie.

Tonight we decided to see Terminator Salvation at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.  This was my first time at this theatre *shocking.*

Terminator Salvation was full of action but not much else.

This tweet sums it up nicely when comparing the two movies:

_glurch @ nexy Action+ disappointing story vs. Great story that you fall asleep on?

They spent millions of dollars on some pretty good action but forgot about the story line.  What happened?  The first Terminator scared me to death and now we have this.  My skin did not even tingle once and I sure did not jump out of my seat.

Angels and Demons has a great story line and I admit that I did doze off once early on in the movie.  But as the movie progressed, I became more interested and did not fall asleep again.

I really think that James Cameron should have directed Terminator Salvation or they should have left the series alone.  Time to retire this series on film… but Dear Fox Network please oh please do not cancel the television series, Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  I love this show.

Technorati Tags: Angels & Demons, entertainment, film, movies, television, Terminator, Terminator Salvation

I received the following email last week from Kirkwood High School Alumni.  My high school orchestra has been selected to perform in a concert at Carnegie Hall next year.  I am very proud of Mr. Jackson and his students. Congratulations.

The donation link does not work at this time. If I get it to load later I will update this post.

From:   KHS Alumni

KHS Symphonic Orchestra’s Road to Carnegie Hall

Dear KHS Alumnus,

While it takes some people a lifetime of practice to get to Carnegie Hall, as the saying goes, the Kirkwood High School Symphonic Orchestra students will have that honor as young musicians March 26-29 when they perform at the 2010 Instrumental Music Festival at the prestigious hall.  The Kirkwood orchestra was one of three instrumental groups selected nationwide.

Orchestra Director Patrick Jackson and approximately 60 students will follow in the footsteps of some of music’s legendary greats, including Isaac Stern, Leonard Bernstein, Nell Carter, Duke Ellington, the Beatles and Harry Belafonte, to name a few.  The orchestra will perform in the main concert hall on Sunday, March 28, 2010, as part of the annual festival.

The largest concert hall at Carnegie has served as the premiere classical music performance space in the country since its opening in 1891. Its striking curvilinear design is embraced by five levels of seating and Baroque-style plaster walls that have absorbed the sounds of Gershwin, Bach and Beethoven.  It is here where Kirkwood students will leave their own sound in the historic walls.

“It has been said that the hall itself is an instrument,” said the late violinist Isaac Stern.  “It takes what you do and makes it larger than life.”  In 1996, Carnegie’s Main Hall stage was dedicated the Isaac Stern Auditorium.

The orchestra’s selection to play at Carnegie reflects the excellence and dedication demanded of KHS students and the sense of pride generated throughout the Kirkwood community.  When the orchestra students step out on that prestigious stage next March, it will be because of the support generated by the Kirkwood alumni and residents of this proud community.

Former Kirkwood orchestra students have won first-prize awards at prestigious competitions including the Avery Fisher Prize, Banff International Chamber Music Competition and the Sphinx Competition.   Jackson’s students have also attended top music schools nationwide, including The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music, Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, The New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  Added to the annals of Kirkwood’s orchestral history will now be an unprecedented appearance at Carnegie Hall.

The Symphonic Orchestra students have embarked on their year-long fundraising campaign, “The Road to Carnegie Hall.” We encourage your support in their endeavors as they not only raise the necessary funds for the trip, but rehearse for the performance of a lifetime.  The students need to raise $72,000 to cover the cost of their four-day trip.

To make a tax deductible donation, you may donate online by selecting the “Donate Now” link below or go to www.kirkwoodschools.org and select the “Road to Carnegie Hall” link on the left.  You also may mail a check, please make checks payable to the Kirkwood High School Orchestra and send to:  Kirkwood School District, Attention: Ginger Fletcher, 11289 Manchester Rd., Kirkwood, MO 63122.

On behalf of the students and the orchestra program, thank you in advance for your support.

Cathy Bailey, President
Kirkwood Orchestra Parents Association (KOPA)