In Memory Of My Grandpa

It's taken me a long time to write this entry because I wasn't quite sure what to say.

I am grateful I was able to spend some time with my grandpa before he passed away. I'll remember the conversation we had the evening when I was "charming him awake". He had taken a pill to help him sleep. I was talking to him for a half-hour or so waiting for it to take effect. My aunt came by and asked if he was feeling tired yet, and he joked not at all and that I must be charming him awake.

He's the man that named his dog "good-boy" which I think is mighty clever.
He taught me how to fish. I also remember the time he took me and Suzanne out in the smaller row boat. Then Suzanne and I decided we were going to walk on this inlet on the lake. We both came back with stickers all over our sneakers. I believe "stickers" may be a Texas thing.
I remember the power boat rides on Lake Granbury. And the time when he was visiting Atlanta and Michelob Ultra had just come out. We tried it and both determined it was "no good". And he was a man who liked a good deli sandwich like the kind he used to get in New York.

Estes Park - Elk Bugling

My cousins, uncle, aunts, mom and grandfather took a trip up to Estes Park to see the elk. It's mating season and the male elk duke it out for the women. The males "bugle" which is a funny noise they make to attract the females or scare off other males. Later in the afternoon around 20 or more were gathered in the meadow. We watched as one male was trying to figure out how to cross the street and get past the cars and people to try and steal some of the females from another group. Here's a pic of one of them bugling. They stretch their necks out. Check out his antlers. (He should be able to keep the other males away.)

And here's a picture of me and my mom.

John Mayer at Red Rocks

So I finally got to see John Mayer at Red Rocks. He's the only musician I heard for myself first and decided to go buy the CD. All other CDs I own someone else got me interested in the group/musician. I remember dragging Eileen to a free "On the Bricks" concert in Atlanta back in 2002 so I could hear him. Eileen didn't understand why I was so persistant. I think she finally got it in 2003 while watching the grammys. She called me from St. Louis, "Shelley, it's that guy and he won." Yup, no surprise, he's good.

I like his lyrics. Part of it is that many of the early ones reference Atlanta, and I know what he's talking about. The other is that he's about a month older then me so he's pretty much at the same point in his life. His latest album was just released and he's going for more blues/jazz sound. I liked the single that was released early "Waiting on the World to Change". Some of the songs at the concert makes me think he was a little depressed. I admire musicians that perform. I believe song-writing, if you're serious about it, is extremely personal. Then you just get on stage and tell thousands of people what's going on in your life and inside of you. I recently learned that he's a middle child...why is that not surprising.

Let's Do Tea

I went to Megan's house in Longmont; she was holding a "Let's Do Tea" event for a friend. It's similar to the Pampered Chef idea. We tried several different types of tea. I bought a mug that can be used to make one serving of tea. After that I got a tour of her house. Megan's favorite color is blue, so she has it throughout the house. I finally got to meet her dog Beatrice (a beagle). Very cute and well behaved, one of the guests brought two guinea pigs and Bea was falling into hunting mode. She wouldn't take her eyes off them.

Fall

Whew. I took a long break from the blog. I was a bit distracted by figuring out if I was continuing the MBA program. The first week back was a bit disappointing. I considered dropping out and applying to a higher ranked program (CU-Denver is 25th), but instead I just added another class to my schedule. I didn't realize at the time that 9 hours in graduate school is considered full-time versus the 12 hours for undergraduate. So I suppose I am a full-time student right now. Although one of my classes only counts for 1/2 of a real class. It's the one that almost made me drop out of the program. Let's just say 70% of my grade is the performance of 2 plays. Not kidding on this one, costumes and props encouraged. Yup. The prof is extremely well educated - Yale, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and a law school - she's just a bit dramatic. She's a dancer and enjoys ending her phrases with the extension of an arm or a dramatic sweep across the room...everything just short of a plie. The other two classes are Managing Teams & Individuals and Management of Operations. The latter is almost a repeat of all IE stuff only applied to healthcare (for those IE's that read the blog - remember the Monte Carlo simulation)? The Mgmt of Ops professor balances out the dancer. He teaches the class exactly as someone as analytical as I would want it. The syllabus was about 10 pages long. He already has all his slides binded into a book so you don't waste time copying stuff off the board, and he incorporates recently published articles. Much more my speed.

I went to a Happy Hour for the Health Admin students. There are some interesting students in the program. I sometimes feel that I might be missing out on some of the fun of going back to school full-time as Suzanne did, but right now I like the idea that I'm not racking up debt and continuing to get work experience in healthcare.

The Pathways small group I visited a few times this summer has actively started for fall. I think I will be much more consistent in my attendance. I go straight from class, which makes it easier then convincing myself to leave home.

Oh, and the blog entry from July about Sarah heading off to GT - she preffed Zeta and AXO, but Zeta won out in the end. She is enjoying Tech so far.