Oh, by the way...

In 2011, it was my goal to post something to my blog once every day for the entire calendar year.  But at some point, I realised that I was posting for the sake of posting.

In 2012, I realised that I wanted my blog to have a direction.  So I pondered.  And pondered.  And pondered.

Wedding blanket finished this summer

In 2013, I decided that I would just blog when the mood struck.  When I had a book review to share, I would.  When I had an exceptional recipe that I was excited about, I would let you know.  When I finished a knitting/cross-stitch project and I wanted to show it off, by all means...

But I wouldn't feel pressured.  I wanted my blog to be something people WANTED to read -- not something that was a chore to read.  And I decided I'd ease back into blog writing.  We're into September, and I figure an average of one post every four months should give you plenty of time to catch up.

Let's catch up on a few things that have happened this year, shall we?

I had hip surgery where the surgeon went in and cut some extra bone off of the joint.  The rehab is going really well.  In fact, the surgeon says I'm MONTHS ahead of schedule!  For the first time in YEARS, I'm walking without either a cane or crutches!

I got reunited with a friend I'd lost touch with several years ago.  She's local, and we just happened to run into each other on the sidewalk outside of work one day when I was walking to lunch and she was walking to a parking garage to pick up her car.

I got accepted to a doctoral program in my field; it was my second time applying.

I quit my job so I can go back to being a full-time student.

I just joined three fantasy football teams, each with a different format (not that I'm excited about football season or anything).

But that's pretty much all I've had going since the last time I wrote.  

Like I said...  I'll just pop in and write when I have something to say.

See you again in another four months!

RIP President Papadakis

I am sitting here shocked and saddened. Having not read or watched the news yesterday, I just found out this morning that the president of Drexel University, Constantine "Taki" Papadakis passed away on Sunday, from complications of lung cancer. Part of what makes this so stunning is that it was just LAST WEEK that he announced a six-month medical leave of absence.

I never met Taki, but I have some excellent pics of him from graduation.

Here's Taki speaking to us about the responsibility of being a Drexel alum:

And here's Taki with our commencement speaker, Acting Surgeon General Rear Admiral Steven Galson. Note Taki's commencement bling:

I have attended two other colleges, and to save my life, I couldn't tell you who the president of either college was. And those colleges COMBINED aren't as large as Drexel.

Never before have I received an email from a university president telling me to email him at any time with ideas or concerns. Never before have I heard of the university president holding town hall meetings with the students.

Taki saved Drexel. Within two years of his taking the helm, Drexel went from being $2 million in the red to being $2 million in the black. At his first faculty meeting at Drexel, he told professors that if they continued to take summer Fridays off, they could expect to see a 20% salary reduction.

Under Taki, Drexel acquired a med school, a law school, a school of public health, and an expanded school of education. Drexel's co-op programme grew and flourished and currently places approximately 4,000 undergrad student in paid internships in 1,400 community organisations and businesses.

He was dedicated to academics and to ensuring that one could say with pride that one graduated from Drexel University.

He will be profoundly missed.

The Blogspot Virgin

So, obviously, this is my first post on my new blog.

For those of you who know how the hell this works, feel free to drop me a line and give me the advice you wish you'd known when you started your blog here.

And for those of you who are so inclined, grab some popcorn, sit back, and watch me experiment with figuring out wtf I'm doing here.

Speaking of figuring out wtf I'm doing here... I have homework calling my name. So I'll be back later with something a bit more exciting to say... I hope!