Storyline of a wounded soldier

For the past week and a half one of the blogs I read daily, Missing Mississippi, has turned into a news center for me. Haley is the wife of an A&M grad that works at Sandia with my friend Mike Sconzo. On Friday, March 18, her brother Aaron Rice was wounded in Iraq. Her site has been filled with daily updates since then on Aaron's condition. Check it out and say a prayer for the Rice family and the families of all the men and women serving abroad.

Train a child in the way he should go, ...

and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

This verse really hit home for me this afternoon. Lidia and I were preparing for her party/baby shower at home. After everything was clean and the food prepared it was 2, time for a late lunch. I knew there was a large bowl of chicken salad and a veggie tray in the refrigerator that would really hit the spot. However, I found the cheese, crackers, and salami (equally good stuff itself).

Why? Because I remember growing up when my mother would be making mints, punch, sandwiches, or whatever for a shower and being told that I was not allowed to touch any of it. I was given every bowl and spoon the lick clean and given samples selected by mom to enjoy, but I was never to touch anything myself. A 6 year old boy has all the delicacy of a bull in a china cabinet.

I suspect now, especially since I put one tray together myself, that I could take a snack without destroying the tray. But it has long been in my head that something for a party isn't to be touched.

The chicken salad sandwich for dinner tonight is going to be good.

beer and cookies

Sometime last year I made a batch of Mrs. Field's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and discoevered that Shiner and cookies was a great combination. Today I found that girl scout thin mints and Shiner are pretty tasty together too. Not as good as chocolate chip cookies, but pretty close.

Shiner bock and thin mints... who'd a thunk it?!

Gmama and Mac-Mac

We're still a little over three months away from the arrival of Baby Girl Smith, and the funny names have already started. My mom (who has given herself the name G-mama) and sister were in town this weekend to help setup the baby's room. My borther and sister-in-law also came down to help out. The crib and dresser/changing table are in place now, along with curtains and bedding that are awesome! Mom also got us a sturdy cabinet for the telvision so when our little one starts pulling up she won't pull the tv down on her. She is an amazing woman who continues to do so much for us. Thanks, Mom!

Gmama and my sister have already started our little one's wardrobe (sis got the baby her 4th of July outfit already) and have a few small toys for the crib and changing table. One of them is a small yellow duck. When it was purchased I asked Lidia what sound the ducks made in Romanian. I know from previous discussions that dogs make a different sound in Romanian sometimes (they say "hamp hamp" or "woof"). Mom and sis objected to the thought of different sounds in different countries for the same animal, so when Lidia told the group that ducks in Romania say "mac mac" instead of "quack quack" I dubbed the little duck Mac-Mac to irritate them (I'm a great son and borther I know).

So there you have it. G-mama and Mac-mac... and its only March.

You know you've been a grad student for a while when...

you cite a solution you gave to a problem in the previous homework for a class and think the professor shouldn't have a problem with it.

I have a homework assignment due at 11:10, and a meeting from 10 - 11. One problem to go, and the solution really is the exact same as the solution I gave to a problem on a homework I turned in last week. Irritating that the prof would do something like that. Anyway, I have 40 minutes to get this last problem done and get to my meeting, so I better get back to it. I just caught myself citing a homework and thought about how citations have become such a part of my life that I do them at the oddest times myself.

UPDATE: Ok, the prof had a point. Writing up the solution I realized something interesting about the architecture in question (we are examining the properties of parallel machines arranged in a hypercube layout. Cool stuff. Still, I cited a previous homework and that is odd. Homework is done. Now off to the meeting then class!