Whoops forgot to post Monday and we have no idea where Tuesday went :(
Good morning. Again. It’s already 10:25 and we’re trying to calm down yet. Might need to take another aspirin, but we’re going to wait on that a bit. Our mind has a funny recess to it right now coming from the middle left side aside or in back of our eye. I can see ok, just that it’s a weird space that’s hard to explain. It’s almost as if some part of us is holding on to the accident earlier this morning, and is starting to cause us a little discomfort. Neck feels sore too … Hmm, maybe we didn’t sleep so well? *Big sigh* Need to straighten out and fly straight!Yes, you could imagine that we’re going to need doing some more homework then. We are being very conscious that Bears play at 2 pm and that’s not a real long time from now. Can we say for a minute though that our sweetie came by last night … almost hit that 8 pm time on the button! We had been doing our schoolwork before that and then we had talked to our oldest son and then we’d talked to Deb. THAT’s about when he came over.
The schoolwork was going pretty good … just slow … we read careful and quizzed ourselves on the material from the study guide, then with that framework, we thought we should look at the chapter in the text. Then we figured we better read it all because so much wasn’t included in the guide. It might have taken an hour or two to get into the text and then we read until around 6 or 6:30 pm So 49 pages to read in about 4 hours cept we only read 43 pages … So that’s about 10 pages per hour. It’s got to be good enough … because you can’t just slice through text … it’s not like reading novels. I will need to finish up soon these next 8 pages and then find and read an article and then do the outline and then do the report. There’s no easy way of imagining this is going to be done before the game. Let’s pray to get it done today … Has to be done today.
Can’t go into what we talked about to our son or Deb … but, I think both are doing ok … Each let me talk too and I that was very important to us. So God Bless them for that! Oh, and because they are so entirely neat!
Nothing else has happened in our life that you don’t already know about, so it would seem the thing to do to get busy right away. Ok you … You can do this … Let’s count 1 … 2 … 3 … Jump!
*************************************************
Well, Good morning again … now it’s the next day … I wanted to say for the record that I did finish reading that chapter and I did comment on my peers papers, but other than that we’re still working on things. It is now 8 am the following morning and we’re struggling to gain consciousness … seems like we’ve been at the keyboard sleeping in and out of moments awake. We just took our medicine and refilled our coffee, and have made a determined effort to break the pattern of sluggishness.
Actually, yesterday we were studying to the degree that we missed the first 30-40 minutes of the game. We were pretty involved in what we were doing … our inability to hold time stretches over everything we do. Once we realized we were missing the game though, we got straight to that. We are very, very happy for the BEARS!!!!! I see this morning that we are already being made underdogs again and I don’t like that so much … I really don’t want to be hearing a bunch of negative stuff against our guys for the next two weeks. It was a real game yesterday and they proved themselves. At 15-3, they’ve earned their way to the big game the hard way. We need as fans to now stay behind Grossman all the way. I believe that boy has a goal to wear the pretty ring. I for one of many would like to see that happen. I sure did like to see them play in the snow though. Kind of made me feel like they were being frisky. So … that said and done … I’d like to ad my own GOOOOOOOOOO BEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRS!
Pretty sure there will be some more of that later ;)
On the sweetie alert … Our friend may be stopping by tomorrow after work, but he said he would be working from home today … I don’t know something about invoicing. Like ok … if that makes you happy. Not too much else to be said though … There is one rumor he had 3 hard lemonades … Well, no I couldn’t think of our friend as a boozer, but I think we’re going to need challenging him to getting those other 3 lemonades to our fridge. Hmpf! Someone at our house was the only one not drinking hard lemonades. Hmpf!
So, so … what next? Anything beside school? Well, of course there is work. I would like to get something done there too. I have a dentist appointment at 2 pm, so will also have to keep that in mind. I would much prefer to be working on the Tiger program and straightening out the codes on the next section. But, I need to get this other done too. I’m already extended there. Best get to doing something right away … don’t want to lose out on our time. So … how is it again that we start? Let’s take it a step at a time.
First … we finished reading, but will probably now have to read an article. Ok, so now we are at the research database at our library. Which words shall we use to pull up information? I don’t want to get into sexism, so I should probably stay away from racism too. Do I want to go toward prejudice, or go toward discrimination? I look now at prejudice is the way you feel negative about other groups and discrimination as the way you act out at them. Definitely then let’s look at prejudice. Hmm, prejudice and what … need to make it interesting.
Prejudice alone … there are 379 articles at psycarticles. Hmm, turning down the ones on prejudice with disabilities and overweight. Let’s try again. AHA! This one sounds promising … Here is what we just read … it is the article’s abstract.
“The present article presents a meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. With 713 independent samples from 515 studies, the meta-analysis finds that intergroup contact typically reduces intergroup prejudice. Multiple tests indicate that this finding appears not to result from either participant selection or publication biases, and the more rigorous studies yield larger mean effects. These contact effects typically generalize to the entire outgroup, and they emerge across a broad range of outgroup targets and contact settings. Similar patterns also emerge for samples with racial or ethnic targets and samples with other targets. This result suggests that contact theory, devised originally for racial and ethnic encounters, can be extended to other groups. A global indicator of Allport's optimal contact conditions demonstrates that contact under these conditions typically leads to even greater reduction in prejudice. Closer examination demonstrates that these conditions are best conceptualized as an interrelated bundle rather than as independent factors. Further, the meta-analytic findings indicate that these conditions are not essential for prejudice reduction. Hence, future work should focus on negative factors that prevent intergroup contact from diminishing prejudice as well as the development of a more comprehensive theory of intergroup contact.
(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)(from the journal abstract).”
Pettigrew, T. f. & Tropp, L. R. (2006, May). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90(5), 751-783. Retrieved January 22, 2007, from Capella University PsycARTICLES Database.
This is right up the line with what we’ve been reading about in this chapter … “Contact theory” was one of the terms we learned and it basically means that the more often different groups come together, the more often they are going to lessen their prejudice against the other group. Because this study was a meta-analysis … which I love it means that the evidence is fairly strong that intergroup contact is the way to go. Meta-analysis means that they statistically looked at those 515 separate studies and were able to make certain conclusions … in this case they found not only did the theory work for racial and ethnic groups, but for other kinds of groups where prejudice was involved, though they emphasis of course more study has to be done on elements that prevent this theory from being produced and the particulars of how it is this theory works, particularly with large numbers.
Our book defines more conclusively 4 elements that are necessary for groups to diminish prejudices. They are equal status, personal interaction, cooperative activities, and social norms. By this they intend to say that when groups interact the individuals have to share the same status, LIKE the Bear’s team and other football teams are generally a mix of many races, but they are all relatively equal members of the same team. Even Grossman as Quarterback, can’t get the job done without defense, offence and special teams. The personal interaction part is that teams with various races live and breathe the same air. Teams will often study play by play videos to assure themselves that they know and understand the players from both teams, particularly the ones they will be across the line of scrimmage from. The individual teams will work, play, sleep, eat, win and lose together, so they can move as one unit … I would like to say that race isn’t an issue at all, but after yesterday’s wins by Chicago and Indianapolis, there was and will be a lot of press as to both coaches representing the first African Americans to coach Super bowl teams. It seems as if it is going to be a press bonanza over the next two weeks, and we can be sure that the personal part of Bears/Colts interaction between Lovey Smith and Tony Dungy will be plentiful due to their being long life-time friends, with Dungy being Smith’s mentor.
Looking at two groups as being the Bears and the Colts, we can say that their cooperative activity will be in their meeting for the Super Bowl Game. They will both work to put out a spectacular game. It will be interesting as to how the social norms stack up. So far, due to both teams coming from the Midwest and the closeness of the coaches, the press has suggested that the two teams are fairly matched, but there is no doubt of the competitive atmosphere … odds makers are setting the stage for placing their favorite team as probable victor over the other. It is likely that in this effort of guessing who will win, there will be many decisive factors showing the teams in their best and worst light. This is all within the social norms of what we might expect prior to a Super Bowl.
Yeeks, ok, ok … so maybe as a Chicagoan, I still have my head in the game. Not sure how that works. There is one side note here. It is now 9:15 am and my 2 pm dentist appointment is being rescheduled for 11:45 today instead. That means we need to shift gears. Let’s say by 10:15-10:30 am, we will need to jump in the shower. That gives us about an hour. Why don’t we use that time then to read the article.
Sometimes like this I really wish I could print it out, but we will make due. Also, we’re having something to eat in about 5-10 minutes, because we won’t be in shape to eat another meal until a couple hours after the dentist appointment. Hmm, better get going then Hey … Maybe we could copy/paste over so we can highlight? Let’s check that out. Oh dear 32 pages article. Hmm, why don’t we read then just a little from the intro and then skip over to the discussion, k?
Ok, we’re back. It’s almost 11 am now. We’ve taken our shower and given our kitty Missy a massively important rub down. Ohhhh mannn … she was going wild. It was like we hadn’t seen each other in weeks. She’s now settled down and is being cooperative toward us using the keyboard. Whoops lost her … she didn’t like how near the snow plows sounded outside. Hmm, this is a reminder to us that we need to stop earlier so we can shovel off the car before we go. AND, we need to remember to stop at the tire place for air. Our sweetie says we’re low and he’s giving it now serious attention. He says tires go down more in the colder weather. We’ve got no reason to doubt him. Prior to the shower, we were able to complete the paper we were looking at. It’s a good article. We were able to copy it over to Word, so that enabled us to use the highlighter and the comment inserter. I sure do love those tools. I was disappointed for a minute that they were on separate screens, but we figured out how to add the comment button on the ribbon on top … that way it will be available globally, no matter which screen we are using. That’s a handy little feature.
So, now we got to think toward the next step … everythings been read, we’ve done our commenting … we still have to produce a paper. AND, we’re thinking the best way to do that, might be to do the outline. Hmm. How should we do that. First, do we use Word or OneNote (they both work for this purpose). I kinda favor Word, just because we are here in this area, but I’m thinking OneNote is always the more flexible program. So, why don’t we try that first.
Ok, so now we’re doing a little kitty adjustment … The big cat decided to have his way with me. HAH! He has to share the space with my book. That will teach him who is the boss. I figured I would take a few moments out now because I’m a little dizzy. It’s 1:10 and I’m just back from the dentist. I called our friend about it and left a message … I wish he had been there to give me a little reassurance.
Little shaky. I’ve got to wait until 2 pm before I eat or drink anything too. So, that is a little adjustment. I want to make sure the cement is good on the new upper crown and they put some stuff to de-sensitize a couple of teeth from heat or cold. I SURE hope that stuff works … what’s the fun of new stuff in your mouth if things are going to hurt. She used a paint brush like thing to put that on.
The last part was that we’re going to be starting some “Tres” thing where you use these little tooth guards to gradually whiten your teeth. I don’t know how that is all going to work, because we haven’t done it yet, but now since we’re officially 3 days from our 6th month anniversary from not smoking, we figure this is part and partial of the plan. I was glad I remembered to bring it up today, because it has to be done before they choose the color for my partials. I sure hope you all don’t mind me talking so intimately about my teeth. It seems to be going on now for quite some time. I think we started this project at the end of October. So, really … a good 3 months have gone into the process. I still remember the first appointment when she looked in my mouth, poked around a little, then listed off all the things that we’re going to be done within just a couple of minutes. Umm, like what? Can you repeat that again please? There was like 2-3 appointments scraping, and protecting, a tooth pulled out, two teeth fixed for cavities, and two teeth for crowns. Now there will be this tooth whitening, and then finally the dentures and I will be a-ok with the dentist for at least 6 months regular check-up, right? Man-o-man … They’ve really worked us over.
As much as I’ve been intimidated about everything they were going to do, because of fear of pain, or gagging, or bad tastes, etc. I have to admit, I’ve gotten pretty used to the dentist culture. I like my dentist a lot. I’m not thrilled all the way with her assistants, but maybe just because I compare them with her, and they don’t match up. She’s a very intelligent and flexible person and always is smiling.
Well, I wouldn’t want to push that too much, because she’s probably quick to upset too. But, I gotta appreciate that she has a whole lot of business happening and she does it well. Everything is scheduled in tight, there are people coming and going frequently, and maybe like 4-5 rooms that contain clients being worked on at the same time. She buzzes from one room to another like the queen bee. I never feel in danger, because she’s a stone throw away. I like it too that they are all women … it seems to add to the secure feeling and I like the head lady out at the desk. She runs a tight ship. She seems to know everything and everybody. She’s not always in the best moods, pretty much she’s serious and BUSY! But, I doubt she wants someone else in the office messing things up. I still like her because I can count on her to talk to me straight up.
Hmm, Chief is finally deciding to move. Thank goodness because my left arm was pretty darn numb. I’m afraid Missy is right behind him, in that she’s sitting on the back of the couch, watching her stake. I better use the washroom til she decides next to take me over. BRB.
*SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH*
Ok, 1:30 now … better get serious again. I think we were working on an outline before we left, better get back to that pretty quick. There wasn’t any extra email and I can’t think of anything else to take up my attention. D*mn Kitty #1 is back …
He seems to need more attention. Maybe we’ll check his dishes. BRB. There … topped him off just in case. We’re going to need looking toward the left now, aren’t we? This is serious. Opportunity to do work. This is the good stuff … this is the good stuff. One, two, three, JUMP!!!
Ok, ok … We’re here … It’s now almost 6 pm. We just ate, but am not working fast yet. This paper WILL be done before I go to bed … shoot just has to be. Need to be moving on. I’m at the half way point, I think … about there. We’re thinking that we might want to take a break long enough to get our medicine. Yup, yup that seems like the deal. Ok, then we’re going to press on. PLEASE …
Hmm, this is interesting. We took our medicine and then we brush our teeth and then we put on the teeth brightener. I sure hope it is on good enough. We did top and bottom at the same time. It doesn’t taste bad or anything. It’s like a plastic that was lining a holder like they use in contact sports, then you take the holder off and the plastic grips your teeth … to a greater or lesser degree. We don’t have teeth in the upper back, so it doesn’t know what to grip. I’m worried about whether or not it really gets between the teeth or more aptly where they meet. I’m also afraid to let my teeth meet (upper to lower). I’m afraid of some adverse affect.
I’m glad I did it this way though, because I want this over as soon as possible and as it stands, it is going to take 10 days. Ugh. I could have done the one day one at the dentists, but it was a difference of $70 to $500. Uh huh, right … take the bus girl. Oh lordy … 22 more minutes. Maybe I better focus on the paper. Be right over here
posted by Ann Marie @ 1/24/2007 05:55:00 AM
Comments: 0
