Summer Reading List

Today I am giving my final exam for AG 342. You know what that means? It is summer reading time! In the last month, I have read Something Borrowed, East of Eden, The Glass Castle and The Help. But that is just the beginning.Here is what I have on my shelf to read for the summer:

• Travels with Charley by Steinbeck (Sept 2011)
• Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Sept 2011)
• The Hangman's Daughter by Joseph Pozysch (Sept 2011)
• Charming Billy by Alice McDermott (Aug 2011)
• Stillpoint by Pat Kowal (August book club)
• Time is a River by Mary Alice Monroe (8/11)
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (8/5)
• Shoeless Joe by WP Kinsella (7/21)
• Mockingjay (3rd in Hunger Games Series) (7/10)
• Catching Fire (2nd in Hunger Games Series) (7/9)
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (7/7)
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (7/5)
• The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick (6/29)
• Bossy Pants by Tina Fey (6/14)

Any suggestions? Read anything good lately that I should add to the list? Read anything on my list? What did you think?

Peonies and Irises and more, Oh my

Last Saturday I went to some farms in and around Brooks, Oregon. We started at 9am in the cut peony production fields at Adelman's. It was the first truly perfect weather weekend we have had this year. The honeybees were working hard. Although the fields were not completely in bloom, there is nowhere I would have rather been that morning that photographing peonies with Shawn and Betsy.

 

  How many honeybees do you count?

The first bloom in this field.

  

 The thing I like most about peonies is that they look like structural impossibilities. A plant that small should not be able to support a bloom (or 2) that big!

   

 

 

We left there around 10:30 and, after hitting the gas station for a snack, cruised over to Schreiner's for some display gardens. Amazing!!!!! I couldn't get enough of this place.

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

  

 

   Betsy taking a photo of me taking a photo of Betsy.

 

  

  Afterwards, we shopped Keizer Station and grabbed some Mexican food in Salem before hitting up Costco. It was a great Saturday.

My life is a soap opera

My life is a soap opera. Not in the My-cousins-fiancée-was-married-to-an-oil-tycoon-who-was-actually-her-own-half-brother kind of way. Nope. My life is a soap opera in the you-can-not-follow-it-for-months-and-pick-right-back-up-where-you-left-off kinda way. Seriously - It used to amaze me as a child. I would get sick and spend a day at home from school with my mother watching As the World Turns - and nothing had changed since the last time I was sick.

I haven't blogged in a while and, if you are perceptive you have already figured out, you haven't missed much. But, just in case, here is the recap since my last actual post:

• Numerous students have defended and are going to receive their Master's from this department. Some of them already have jobs. The others will soon.
• I have Skyped with a ton of friends in an attempt to not feel alone and disconnected.
• We are almost done with the term. I give my final on Wednesday. Graduation is this weekend.
• I went to the Chinook Winds Casino with friends on May 21 to watch Joel McHale. Hilarious!
• I went to Coeur D'Alene Idaho for 5 days for the National meeting of the American Association for Agricultural Education. The conference was good. I presented two papers from my dissertation research. The chance to see mentors and old friends, while making new professional connections, was priceless.
• I booked plane tickets: home (for the 4th of July and the family beach trip), Denver for ALE in July (two accepted posters to present), and Columbia in August to see friends I left behind and have missed terribly.
• I hosted my book club's discussion of 'The Glass Castle' - I recommend it to anyone.
• I held a focus group (the last qualitative component of a year long mini-grant funded study). Glad to have data collection behind us and ready to start writing.
• We held interviews for the fledgling CAS/COF Leadership Academy. We admitted 10 students who will start their experience next fall.
• My class finished their team service projects. We had a beach cleanup, a softball/T-ball tournament for the Boys and Girls club, clean up of a community garden that donates its food to the food bank, a group made jam and jelly for the food bank and a group put on an adoption event for the local humane society and got a dog adopted. Two other groups went and worked with local high school students by implementing some leadership activities. It was a proud moment.
• Watched the season finale of the Office.... summer long cliffhanger. :-(
• Advised students for fall term. That seems never ending.
• We set a date for our faculty retreat: June 29-30.
• I spent my Memorial Day holiday vegging - I put together a puzzle while I watched 'Easy A', 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', and '127 Hours'. Good day.
• The weather has finally turned in Corvallis. We had our first 80 degree day this past weekend so I went with friends and looked at the Peonies and Irises. (That will be its own blog post because there are lots of photos.)
• I have enjoyed the view out my window....blooming rhododendrons everywhere.
• I got in a mood and rearranged my office. Not quite done but I like it.

There. All caught up. Now I don't feel guilty about not blogging and can get back to posting regularly.

Who wants to talk about themselves "winning"?

Who wants to talk about themselves "Winning"? - I mean, except Charlie Sheen. Not me!

That is why it is so convenient that someone else blogged about the recent Celebration of Student Excellence award ceremony for the College of Ag Sciences. Check out the New Fields blog - written by one of the members of the College's Ag Exec officers.

And, Betsy managed to capture a good picture of me (and that is quite the accomplishment)

Blogger works again

I have had some major issues with Blogger... mostly it would not let me log in! That makes posting difficult. I am finally back. And, I have a ton of updates. First, I need to get through today at work.... then I will post.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Wordless Wednesday 5-18

This cutie turned 3 on April 29th and her Aunt Misty has yet to mail a present. Bad Aunt Misty. Plan for this weekend: Mail Emily's Birthday Present!

Walking for Water

Saturday was the Corvallis Walk for Water 5K. My church was supporting the Corvallis-Gondar Sister Cities Association. Gondar, Ethopia, is our "Sister City" and their most critical need right now is local access to fresh, clean water. The average female in Ethiopia walks about 3 miles a day to collect fresh water for drinking and cooking. They walk halfway with empty clay containers, walking back with pots which weigh, on average, 44 lbs. I paid a $10 entry fee: $9 went to dig a well and $1 went towards facilitating the Sister Cities association and their mission to educate and serve. Not too shabby.

All I had to do was roll out of bed, brush my teeth (with my conveniently located clean, safe water from the tap) and drive to meet friends. So, it was really a chance to walk and talk with friends. The walk started on the corner of 2nd and Western and went to Avery Park and then back. I did the 3.1 miles in about 56 minutes. Not too shabby for my first 5K. I didn't take any pictures of me (that was implied when I said I had just rolled out of bed and walked a 5K), but I did get a picture as we started the walk.

I checked "complete a 5K" off my bucket list. Afterwards, we went to brunch. All-in-all, not a bad way to start a Saturday.

Water is an issue in many places around the world. Here is a video about the Living Water Project featuring my favorite new artist: Page CXVI

Joy from Living Water International on Vimeo.

Wordless Wednesdays- Seen on campus

They have to stop paying those Assistant Professors so much....

How NOT to write an email

I am not the best at email. I tend to be all business and forget about the formalities that make them read well when received. However, I do try. I make a conscious effort to think about how my email will come across.

Below are two examples of student emails I have received about missing class. Guess which one received a written response and which one received a rant to myself at my desk and no email back (because if you don't have anything nice to say...):

Dear Dr. Lambert,

I locked my keys in my car this morning and I spent all day trying to find a way to get into it, and that is why I missed class today, did I miss anything important?

Thanks,
Student A

And 

Dr. Lambert,

I will be unable to attend class tomorrow because of my sorority's audition for the Greek Sing (the time was just changed, sorry for the late notice). I will have one of my classmates turn in my POR and Conflict Resolution Styles assignment and I will get the notes off Blackboard. Is there anything else I will need to do to make up for missing the class?

Thanks
Student B


If you haven't seen this, enjoy!

Mother's Day...the only way I could

How do you celebrate Mother's Day as a) a single girl, b) not in a serious relationship, c) with no kids, d) who doesn't live near any "motherly relatives".  This means I am not a mother, I don't have to celebrate someone else's mother,  and I am not near enough to my own mother/sister/sister-in-law/aunts/grandparents to facilitate a celebration with them.

What to do?

My solution was simple. I went to church and enjoyed coffee while sniffling my way through a sermon reminding me that God is Great. Then I treated myself to lunch out. I know this seems nuts on a holiday when everyone is treating their mother to a "day off" from cooking, but hear me out. Everyone at the restaurant was a large group - every kid and their kids with mothers and grandmothers. I was a table for 1. Their wait = an hour and 15 minutes. My wait = less than 7 minutes. And they had a bar. Cocktail? Yes, please!

What to do after a peaceful lunch? A solo movie. I had recently read 'Something Borrowed' by Emily Griffin, so I Googled movie times and hit the jackpot: a matinée was starting right across the street. It wasn't as good as the book (I know everyone says that, but in this case, it was true), but half a Sunday spent not in my apartment or office (but not outside in the overwhelming allergens of a blooming Corvallis) was priceless. (I only had to leave the theater twice to blow my nose or quench a cough.)

Of course, when I made it home I called my mom and wished her a happy Mother's Day. (And, it is a bummer that she is 3,000 miles away on a day I am keenly aware of all that she has done. I just want to give her a hug.) Now I am home and grading papers (in between nose blows) and preparing myself for the rush of a week with a grant deadline at the end.... but my morning was great. I know that if I become a mom someday, Mother's Day will take on a whole new meaning. But I am not sure, even then, if a quiet lunch with a cocktail and a movie alone wouldn't sound like a perfect way to celebrate.

Currently Dreading: Friday's grant deadline (Grants are the devil!)
Currently Anticipating: my first 5K next Saturday (any of my Corvallis people want to walk with?)
Currently Enjoying: The rainbow I can see out my living room window. All that rain has its rewards. But, did I mention my allergies are going nuts?