C J's World - Welcome

Frappacianos

Hank — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:39:20 GMT

Starbucks knockoff. Does anyone in pnn land know how to make a frappiciano that is as good as Starbucks caramel light? that is the only cold drink that i like at this particular coffee house, but at $3.65 for a small and almost $4.50 for a large, I don't partake as often as I would like. I also love their hot chocolate but I would be better off to relish a piece of cheesecake than to drink one of their hot chocolates which is loaded in fat and calories.

Work 101

Hank — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:46:48 GMT

Today was orientation for the new Kroger Marketplace located about 9 miles south of Delaware. The managers and supervisors are really pumped up over this new store. Apparently it is the biggest Kroger Marketplace built,though I do not know if they meant in Ohio or across the US. It will have a full service Chase bank - not the mini-banks they have now, a Starbucks coffee, and a full service deli - bigger than the ones they currently have in their other stores.

I am going to be a courtesy clerk - AKA - bagger. My other fellow baggers are at least 20 years younger or more than me. Hopefully I will not have to lift to much heavy stuff, not at my age anyway. I took the job because i wanted to be on the move - makes the day go by faster. The downsize is that i have to be outside in all kinds of weather. I hope that I do not get sick - going back and forth numerous times a day from a warm store to a cold windy blustery outside or the reverse, a 90 degree day and an an air-conditioned store.

I hope I get enough hours to survive and yet I worry that I will exhaust myself trying to work 2 jobs on the days when I am substitute teaching.

Help! computer glitch - can anyone help?

Hank — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:49:36 GMT

I need help! I had to print something off something from one of my education class webpage - its called Carmen. The first two things I printed were fine, under 20 pages in length, but the last one never listed pages. As i clicked on print - the size of the documet became apparent - 3000 pages plus. I tried to find some place to cancel the print but there was nothing. So I accessed "Help" which said to double click on the print icon and then hit cancel. My computer is stupid - now it thinks that since i double clicked on the printer icon that i want an additional 6000 pages. I tried everything to get the computer to cancel the print job but nothing worked. In desperation I turned the printer off. Howevr, just as soon as i turn it back on, the printer will start printing once again. This happened once before about 6 months ago, and i lost 3/4 tank of ink and 180 pages of paper because the computer would not recognize cancel.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to waht to do? I do not see anything on my tool bar that allows me to cancel this. I am in desperate need of help.

Slavery in America?

Hank — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:04:06 GMT

It is rare that I sit down and read a book in one sitting, but this book captured my attention. It is called "The Sacred Bath" by Theresa L. Flores. It is about an American teenager who was forced into slavery - sexual bondage. This isn't a story about an American living in another country, it is about a young girl, who is forced to have sex with many men, right here in the United States. She lost her virginity when she was raped. This was just the beginning of a two year sexual nightmare of the most horrific abuse imaginable. What is amazing that her family knew nothing about it. She would get calls on her private phone to be at the designated spot for pick-up. Why did she not call the police your thinking? She was in mortal fear for her family. They had already killed her puppy, found dead birds in their mail box, and had threatened to do far worse if she did not submit. She was followed constantly, they knew the whereabouts of her family as well.

They used this knowledge to keep her under their thumb. Although this is graphic, remember, if she went through it, we should be strong enough to read it. We need to read it to keep our own daughters, granddaughters, and sisters safe.

A visual delight

Hank — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:46:53 GMT

I have not traveled much outside of Ohio, but when i had the chance to visit Raleigh, North Carolina, I jumped at it. Now, I remember very little about the city, but what impressed me was the interstate as we traveled through North Carolina. At every single on and off ramp there were hundreds of cannas planted. This was such a visual delight and though it has been more than 10 years since I saw this site, it is still vivid in my mind.

I was always disappointed that Ohio did not have such things, but this week I got to see a little piece of heaven about 5 miles north of here on 23. For all of you who live in and around Delaware, you know of the segmented 8 highway lanes that are just north of the Delaware state park entrance. It is that 4 mile long section of highway that ODOT (Ohio dept of transportation) uses to test different road bases for future highways.

Normally, this is a dull boring section but this week that has all changed. As far as the eye can see, if you look forward - from berm to berm - all that drivers and passengers can see are waves of light blue and white, wave after wave after wave. The Blue Chicory and Queen Annes Lace are blooming - it is simply stunning. So hats off to ODOT for being behind on their mowing. If I get a chance I will see if I can get a picture and post it.

Short hiatus

Hank — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:25:26 GMT

For the next 2.5 weeks I must take a hiatus from pnn. I am swamped with my two classes - both are accelerated with 10 weeks worth of material crammed into five weeks. Macroecon is kicking my butt and i am not doing very well in it. I must pass it with a C- so for all of you who believe in the power of prayer, i would appreciate all you can give me. In fact, I must pass all my courses this summer with at least a C-. Mind you I only received 2 C's in my five years at OSU. I have one class the following five weeks, equally as hard, microeconomics. I am not looking forward to it. So adios for now. I will keep you up to date on if I passed them or not.

The mug has arrived!

Hank — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:30:38 GMT

My mug arrived about 10 days ago but I just got around to letting everyone now as I am swamped with life and homework. It arrived all in one piece and had bubble wrap around it so tight I had to WORK to get it off. It is indeed very beautiful. For those of you who do not as as of yet have yours, it is textured on the outside - not glazed like the inside of the cup is. Almost feels like smooth concrete but obviously not. It is not microwave safe so I must keep it upstairs until this fall so no one accidentally grabs it and nukes it for rewarmed coffee or tea. Have a great day pnn. Off to class - macroeconomics.

Wearmanyhats, this is for you

Hank — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:39:50 GMT

In your post about the family farm and how big farms keep sucking up more and more land, you will appreciate this article i spied in today's Columbus Dispatch.

In Fairfield County which is in the southeast part of Ohio there already is a group of 25 farmers who have applied to the state preservation program which pays land owners to keep thie property permanently agricultural. Many are taking this avenue as a way to make some extra income while preserving the farming way of life in perpetuity for the land they have put in trust.

The idea is doing this is to protect farmland against the onslaught of developers who want to change the quiet peaceful countryside and good earth into a paved heavily forested (houses so thick and close together that a fire could easily ignite the whole neighborhood) housing development. Ohio farmland shrank by 618,000 acres in five years. 205 farmers have applied this year but it is competititve. Judges score and rank farmland on the soil type, historic value, proximity to other protected land and a host of other criteria.

The easements are legal agreements that restrict development and assurance that the land will remain agricultural permanently. The land stays on the tax rolls and the landowners can sell it or pass it along as a gift, BUT the land is safe - it can never be sold to a developer, it will always be a farm.

Here she is!

Hank — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:06:52 GMT

I have one picture of my new granddaughter for all of you pnn'ers who want to see what she looks like. I have not got done pat how to exactly do post pics yet. I would have liked to put her picture in along with some text. Did I do it backwards? Just scroll down once you get into my homepage. It is not included within this post.

Yea, hurray, zippity-do-da

Hank — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:01:21 GMT

Wow, it looks really weird to see one single blue cup with a 10 imprinted on it next to my vote count. Seems like forever to get my single cup but I did it.

I think I was pulling some all-nighters on pnn. Comments are often hard for me, not necessarily to say something profound, but words don't always flow freely. All of you pnn'ers write so beautifully and I think to myself, "Wow, if I could only write like that." I guess I just think of my life as mundane and all of you have so much more to offer. Anyway, I try to always be as supportive and upbeat as possible when commenting on other peoples posts.

Help

Hank — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:22:28 GMT

I want to combine a couple of my tabs. How do i do it without losing the articles I have posted. Or can you do it? As you know I am often computer challenged so any help must be so simple a 4th grader could understand.

Also, under profile, i see the word Avatar. What the heck is that?

Not again!!!

Hank — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:58:47 GMT

Good golly miss molly, gas prices are on the rise again. Didn't the oil trillionaires make enough money last year? I hope they don't use the same tired old excuses, like "the hurricane forced us to shut down," - the hurricane season has been over for six months and the new one for 2009 hasn't started yet, or "we need the extra money to build new refinery's" - they haven't built any new refineries for years and years but still use the same excuse. As I drove to school yesterday I was happy to see that gas was down to $2.55 a gallon. When I came home 6 hours later it was up to $2.75 an hour. Times are tough on millions of Americans. The want ad section in the Columbus Sunday Dispatch used to be 8 pages long, and now it is only 4 pages in length. There are no jobs, and now we have yet another generation of high school and college students graduating and they will be competing for the same jobs in many cases. I saw an ad in our local paper to muck out horse stalls on friday, saturday, and sunday's -- hey, I am not 30 years old anymore - I wouldn't last one day, or I should say my back would not last one day, and they probably wouldn't hire me anyway.

Remember the movie Scrooge with George C. Scott playing the part? Remember the part where Scrooge is looking at the family living under the bridge and the mother said "we are not separating, I would rather stay here then go to one of them poor houses." Remember what the father said when his kids wanted to know where he got the potatoes? he said, I didn't steal them. I want to work - these hands are willing to work" and so that is the plight of everyone now. We want to work, are willing to work, and no one is hiring. The cost to live in this generation is thousands of times over that poor man, but are we any better off when no one will hire you even if your are able and willing. Lets hope I find a job soon, or there won't even be enough money to pay for gas, now that it is on the increase again, and then how will anyone look for work.

Trapped in a classroom with 2nd graders

Hank — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:11:08 GMT

I subbed for a second grade class today and man-oh-man THEY DO NOT LISTEN. They are a chatty bunch of youngsters. There was an assignment I had to teach - diamond poetry - good grief, i had never heard of it. I had to read and re-read the lesson over and over and over before i finally figured it out. The kids learn to write poetry by utilizing a tier of five levels. The 1st line is a single naming word, what the word is about - like Stream. The 2nd line contains 2 describing words, like Sparkly, and Gently.The 3rd line has three action words like Tumbling, Whooshing, and Speeding. The 4th line tells how the first naming word is growing or changing in some way like crashing in wild winds and the last line contains another new naming word. It tells wha the naming ward has evolved into - like Ocean. Then students are to make up their own diamond poem. A diamond poem looks like 2 triangles with their bottoms placed side by side. Examples include rumble/earthquake, seed/flower or veggie,

.I was "lucky" enough to be picked by 8 students today to have lunch with the teacher. My only time to undwind and have a quiet lunch, oh well, better luck next time.

A night in the museum

Hank — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:17:29 GMT

I am trying to play catch-up as I never get to see some of the first run movies until they are several years old. My encounter with "A Night in the Museum" was Sunday evening. I loved it - especially the T-Rex who thinks he is a dog, chasing the bone throughout the museum. As funny as it was, it was a way to introduce children and adults to history. Wouldn't it be great if history really could come alive in the museum every night.

Funked out and in a tizzy

Hank — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:28:42 GMT

Do you ever feel like your life is out of control and that you have no way of fixing anything? I am currently in a funk. I should be on cloud nine with the arrival of my first grandchild, but I find that I am just miserable, and sinking further and further into the quicksand of life.

Most everyone knows that reads my blog (is that what you call it) that I have returned to college to try and become a teacher. My college degree is not in education so in order for me to become a teacher I must go to grad school. this past year I have racked up even more debt to add to the huge, humongous, planet size debt I already have.

For any of you who are considering returning to college, whatever you do, do not get a private loan. These companies do not have to abide by the same regulations that federal loans have. Substitute teaching is almost done for the 2008-2009 school year, so I do not have a job again until the fall. In the meantime the student loans are due for repayment to begin in early June. I do not have the money. I did not apply for any additional loan money for this summer. would not have done any good anyway, no one is lending money. So I have to somehow come up with $600 a month to pay for my bare-bone basic needs which doesn't include food.

Going to school has not been easy for me. I am not brilliant by any standards and i have to study long hours to pass my courses. that has left me with little to no time to work for the past few years. i tried working and going to school but I kept falling asleep - you get that way when you're older and nearing senior citizen status.

So I am in another funk, not knowing what to do. Maybe I should just chuck it all, forget about becoming a teacher, and find a job or two and work. It is just frustrating to be so near and yet so far from your dream. Maybe I should do what my mom said she heard on the news the other day - that many women are turning tricks to get extra money to help pay the bills - now wouldn't that be a hoot, especially at my age.