Blog Moved

After I wrote the previous post, I decided to take a look at WordPress and see what it would take to get it configured. Next thing I knew, I had my new blog set up. I've even posted a couple of entries on it. So this will be my last post on this blog here in Blogger.

My new blog is at www.ashtonland.com/blog

The new website is not yet finished. I'm slowly working my way through. So if you go and check it out, be prepared for dead-end links.

Bye bye Blogger. You've served me well.

Deanne

Upgrade going well

The new website is coming along nicely. It took me hours to get it set up the way I wanted with the web builder application provided by the web host. I was beginning to think that hand coding was better, because I could not make the site look exactly like I wanted. I had to work within their template limitations. But now that I have it together, I'm happy with it.

One thing I didn't realize was how many files are involved with the new photo galleries I'm creating. Big albums that have several hundred photos end up generating a couple thousand files! Thankfully, my phone has a fast connection so I'm not sitting for hours trying to upload everything.

I'm probably about a quarter of the way through the upgrading and uploading process. I will definitely meet my November 1 deadline. I actually thought I'd get it done by next weekend, but when I was finishing off an album yesterday, I decided I was really quite sick and tired of the whole process. So I don't see me spending the majority of my waking hours working on the website like I originally thought.

I have definitely decided to move my blog to the actual site. When I have WordPress configured the way I like, I will make the move. Until then, I will remain loyal to Blogger. As for the archive conundrum: For now, I'm just going to keep a link to Blogger available on the site. I know Blogger keeps inactive blogs available for at least a year, so I have awhile to figure out how I want to store old posts. I imagine I'll end up cutting and pasting the contents. Which, like everything else involved with this upgrade, will take time.

Today is Saturday and Steve's at work. F1 qualifying has been postponed due to rain. Steve didn't mail off my Netflix on Thursday, so I have no DVDs arriving in today's mail. All of my friends are busy with either school work or their families. I'm not sure what I'll do with myself today. As my friend Beth said on Facebook: I'm living the high life.

New face for Ashton Land

Our web hosting contract with our current provider is up and we've decided to move to a different service. The move will both save money and provide greater perks. I'm excited. I haven't done anything to our website in ages, and I'm totally caught up with the notion of redesigning it.

I'm particularly thrilled to have discovered Shozam software. Easily 99% of our website is photographs (the other 1% being links to this blog and to some short videos hosted on YouTube). I have wanted a Facebook-esque photo album for our site for years. Steve said he'd create one for me, but he never found the time to do so. Most of the digital album programs out there allow only for the photos and maybe a short tag. I wanted an album that allowed me to write long descriptions of the photos. Happily, Shozam gives me everything I wanted and then some. I've been spending a lot of time (too much, probably) converting all the photos currently on the website into albums. I'm hoping to have them all done within the next few days, so I have time to add new pictures for the relaunch of the site. It's a lot of work, but I'm loving every minute of it.

The hosting service we chose has a lot of perks, including a Premium Web Builder and WordPress. The web builder supposedly will help me make fancier web pages without the need for a lot of coding. Up until now, I've been a purist. I design our site myself and write the code on Notepad. That all stemmed from someone once telling me that since I was a "feeler" type of person, as opposed to a "thinker," I could never write computer code. I set out to prove the jackass wrong. Having successfully done that, I think I may take advantage of the Web Builder this time around.

WordPress creates another conundrum. WordPress is a blog program. I tried using it on this site years ago, but it wouldn't play nicely with our hosting service. That's how I ended up here on Blogger. I really prefer having my blog on my site, so I'm very tempted to use the WordPress. The issue is what to do with the three years of archived blogs stored here? I have found no way to download the files. I may have to just use cut-and-paste and create them in WordPress. Of course, the other issue is that by being on Blogger, I'm connected to my friends' blogs more easily. So I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do.

My goal is to have the new site launched by November 1. Which is also the deadline for UH admissions. I found out that the graduate committee won't make a decision for Spring until after the application deadline. Quite annoying that. Anyway, when the site is ready to go, I will make an announcement via email and/or Facebook. We're talking about changing the domain name for it, too. So it will be all new. I'm so excited!

Which I guess makes me a huge nerd. :-)

Interesting health tip

I happened to catch today's Dr. Oz show. I don't normally watch the show. I happened to have the tv on that channel when I finished watching a show recorded on the DVR. One of his topics was dehydration. Since I have an ongoing battle with dehydration, I watched to see if he mentioned anything of value. He did and I'm glad I caught it.

I know that caffeine is a diuretic. I don't consume a lot of caffeinated beverages, but I don't avoid the stuff, either. When I do have some coffee, or tea, or a diet soda, I don't count those drinks in my daily fluid intake. I thought I was being smart by doing that. Come to find out, that's not enough. It turns out you have to drink extra water to counteract the diuretic in the caffeine! So it's not enough to drink two liters of water along with your two cups of coffee. You have to drink two extra cups of water, as well.

This explains a lot. As I mentioned, I battle dehydration. My body is very sensitive to it and I will retain water the moment I fall short of the needed fluid intake. The other day, I indulged in two glasses of Diet Cherry Pepsi over the course of the day. I also drank about a half gallon of water. The next day, I was retaining water. I was baffled, but now I know why. I didn't compensate for the two large glasses of soda.

It makes a lot of sense, but it's something I never thought about. So I wanted to share with my friends out there this health tip. Especially my friends whose primary fluid intake comes from Starbucks.

Off to Houston

I fly out to Houston tomorrow afternoon. It's a direct (and cheap) flight on Southwest from Jax, so it takes less than 2.5 hours plus airport time. I'm traveling with my aunt Jody and meeting up with my cousin Jason, but my main purpose is to go and see what Houston's like. Where it's a holiday weekend, I won't be able to go and meet anyone at the university. But I hope I can at least go and see the campus and have a walk around.

Mainly, I hope I like Houston. I'm going to be living there for a few years. It'd be helpful if I liked it. When Steve and I travel somewhere new, I always imagine what it'd be like to live there. Some places speak to me when I do that, like New York. Others do not, like Chicago. And others have to grow on me a bit first, like Boston. Here's to Houston being either a New York or a Boston rather than a Chicago.

Master Ashton

I graduated yesterday with my Master of Arts degree in history. It's been an intense but rewarding two years. My friend and fellow history GTA, Amanda, graduated with me. I'm glad we shared the experience. It made it more special. Especially since Amanda leaves in just a little over two weeks for Kentucky, where she's going for her PhD. I'm envious that she gets to start the next round so soon, and in such a lovely place, but I'm also glad to have a few months off before I go for my doctorate. I need the down time. I also have a lot of packing to do.

Festivities began Thursday, but first, I had a paper to finish. I took a Crusades class over the summer and its final paper was due Friday. I wanted to graduate knowing I had finished everything, so I was trying to get the paper finished by Wednesday. I didn't quite make it. I still had a couple of pages of information to add, so I was in the GTA office at 6:15 a.m. doing just that. I spent the morning doing that, getting my haircut, and editing my paper. I wasn't quite done making the edits when my parents arrived, so I schlepped my laptop to their hotel room and, like the good little student I am, got them done and submitted my paper. It was a nice feeling.

Three of my aunts were coming to help me celebrate graduating. Paula and Jody arrived shortly after I finished and we all gathered in the hotel lobby to visit. It was a really fun afternoon. We went to Sticky Fingers for dinner when Steve got off work. It was good, as always, although Jody's ribs were a bit tough (very strange - ribs at SF are usually fork tender). I had some of the best chicken tenders I've ever had! They were super crispy outside and nice and tender inside. Mmmmm. Auntie Bambi arrived just as we finished and we spent the next hour or so visiting in the lobby before everyone decided to call it a night.

Graduation now was a whirlwind of anxiety and excitement. It was also bittersweet, but I made a concerted effort to not think about the sad stuff. The ceremony only lasted an hour (a VAST improvement over Flagler's droning commencement) and we were off to lunch at Olive Garden. My cousin, Kristy, came down from Georgia with her adorable little girls to have lunch with us. We all had a good time. I'm so glad my family came to share the day with me. It was so fun!

After lunch, Steve and I popped by BJ's and visited the Verizon kiosk. My phone isn't due for upgrading until September, but we got a letter offering us an early renewal if we went with a Droid phone. Well, I was planning on getting a Droid X, anyway, so we decided to take advantage of the offer. We got the phone for half price, and then we'd have a $100 mail-in rebate. As the rep was updating my account, though, it didn't require the rebate. It took the $100 off instantly. Verizon must have known I just graduated . My phone's being shipped (all Verizon stores are sold out), so I hope to have it in a week or so. It can't be too soon. My Blackberry Curve is the old 8330 model. I can't update the OS and it simply does not do what I need it to do. I'm thrilled at the idea of having a new phone with great functionality. And it was a fantastic end to a great day.

Today has started like many Saturdays. We're watching F1 qualifying and Steve's munching on some toast. Later on, we're back in Jacksonville for me to empty my desk. And then it's off to O'Brothers to bid farewell to James, the first of my grad cohorts to head off. He starts at William and Mary in the fall and moves to Virginia tomorrow. It will be an emotional day and I think the reality that I'm actually done may start seeping into my brain.

It's weird having a to do list that has no real deadlines assigned to it. I have a lot of possible scenarios on my plate. It's a bit unsettling having to wait and see what develops. I'm very goal driven. It's hard for me to just . . . hover. So we'll see how it goes. For now, I'm just going to try and absorb the fact that I have a master's degree and bask a bit in the accomplishment.

World Cup

I'm totally into the World Cup this year. This is my third World Cup series since I married Steve, but this is the first time I'm really engrossed. I think it's because of my thesis and its intimate ties to the birth of football in Preston. I feel a kinship with the English team, and am rooting for them wholeheartedly.

We went to Five Points Theatre to watch the England - US match live. I went thinking I'd be happy regardless who won, but quickly discovered I was pro-England all the way. A big part of that was the behavior of the US fans. And that continues to be my beef as England and the US advance to the next round.

Soccer is not a big deal in the US, which is a shame, really, because it's a great game. But we have our baseball, football (the one played with your hands), and basketball to dominate our sports channels. So soccer is an also ran. That means, most people don't know the game. Which can be a pain in the ass when you go to a big match like England vs USA. Lots of sports fans attended to root for their national team, but they were pretty clueless on what was happening. They'd cheer when England kicked the ball out of bounds (please folks, it happens all the time) and act all offended if one of their players gets knocked down (this, too, happens all the time). But what really got me annoyed was when the England keeper made the stupid mistake heard 'round the world and bobbled what should have been an easy save. That mistake tied the game at 1-1. I expected the fans to cheer. But what I didn't like was the taunting arrogance declaring the awesomeness of the US. A point is a point, but a goal is not a goal. The US scored not because it was an awesome kick, but because the England keeper (perhaps in his own burst of arrogance) made an amateur mistake and failed to properly block the ball. The US scored not because it was awesome, but because the keeper screwed up big time. The fans really need to get a clue.

Prior to today's England vs Slovenia match, I was hit with another bout of American arrogance that turned me off. During the pre-game show on ESPN, an advert came on with Martin Sheen doing a voice over. The US wasn't even playing England today, but the entire ad was an anti-England campaign. Talk about unsportsmanlike behavior! I felt like I was watching a political commercial. Instead of just talking about how well the US team was doing, it had to trash England by comparison. Yes, it concluded with a oh what the heck, good luck anyway conclusion, but that was too little, too late.

The US has played some brilliant ball so far this World Cup. The come-from-behind goals versus Slovenia and the 91-minute goal by Donovan against Algeria to win today are some incredible feats of athleticism. I want to be proud. I want to be as happy to see the US advance as I am to see England. But it's difficult for me to support a team that carries with it such unsportsmanlike behavior in its fans.

Headless People

Last week, I waited for Steve as he did his physical therapy session at the Brooks facility in Deerwood (he has bone spurs which are wreaking havoc on his Achilles tendon). Brooks also contains a YMCA and the PT office is near the front of the building, so I was in a good position to people watch as folks came to work out. The thing is, the glass door on the PT office has a large stripe bisecting it that effectively obliterates the heads off people. All I could see was torsos ambling about. I could occasionally see hair if a person was either particularly short or rather tall, but I never saw a head.

Let me tell you - it's unnerving. I didn't feel like I was watching people at all. It was like a Doctor Who episode run amok. I know the eyes are the windows to the soul, but I didn't realize that the head was the heart of humanity. I like people watching, but from now on, I want them with heads.

It looks like Houston

After a lot of waiting, and intermittent emails from Dr. Melosi insisting he had not forgotten about me, I got an offer from Houston for a research assistantship. It includes a tuition waiver (the big expense) and a monthly stipend. I will be doing various assistant-type tasks for the Center for Public History. In other words, I'll be working for Dr. Melosi. I don't know the value of the stipend, yet. Dr. Melosi gave me the email addy of the program director with instructions to contact her. I immediately did, but have yet to hear anything back from her. So, I'm back to waiting. But at least now I can work on my application package and know that I'm going to Houston. Technically, there's a chance I wouldn't get accepted. After all, I've done this all backwards and have not actually applied, yet. I sent Dr. Melosi an official transcript of my studies here at UNF, a writing sample, my CV, and a short personal statement. If he didn't think I'd get accepted, would he put all this effort into arranging funding for me? And to assure me that if I don't get a teaching assistantship starting Fall 2011, that he'd make sure I had funding to continue at Houston? No. So I'm celebrating this as an acceptance and going forward accordingly.

This means I'm moving to Houston in January . . . alone. Scary. I mean, I'm not scared to be alone, and I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. But it's scary to think about not seeing Steve everyday. I learned last summer when I was in England that I miss him terribly when we're not together. Being apart a week or two? No problem. For months on end? BIG problem. With any luck, I'll have a schedule that provides a 3 or 4-day weekend. Then I'll just come every few weeks and have Steve time. Or so I think. We'll see how reality messes that plan up come January.

So Houston is my future. My present, however, includes finishing my paper from last semester (the one for which I received an "I"), doing the cosmetic changes for my thesis before it goes through it's final round of approval, doing homework and another paper for my current (and last) master's class, and graduating. So I should probably quit blogging and get working.

Many changes

Wow, the last post I wrote was from February. It was when I got my acceptance at Lancaster. I was so excited. I eventually received acceptances from Stirling and St. Andrews, too. St. Andrews was quite exciting. It's well respected here and my advisor would be the head of the environmental history center there. So lots of excitement and feelings of accomplishment. Unfortunately, none of the acceptance letters came with funding. The economy in Britain is a lot worse than here, and what funding it does have is left for UK and EU students. It makes sense, but it's a big disappointment for international students, like me. After much soul searching, I let go of my dream. It hurt, but it was the right decision. I have moved on, and I know that I will get to spend time doing research in England down the road. So I just consider it a postponement, rather than a cancellation.

In the mean time, I have to sort out my future. I have decided to go on for a PhD here in the US. I still fret about my age upon graduation, but it's something I want and Steve doesn't want me giving up entirely on my dream. I've got three universities within my sight. It's too late for fall admissions for any of them, but one does have spring admissions. Thanks to one of my current professors, Dr. Closmann, I've been able to talk with Dr. Martin Melosi at University of Houston. The history program there matches all of my interests - English, environmental, and public history. So the school is the perfect fit. If Dr. Melosi can rustle up some spring funding for me, I will go to Houston in January. If he can't, I will apply there, plus at Kansas and Wisconsin-Madison, for Fall 2011. Dr. Melosi said he'll let me know by next week at the latest about what he can arrange, so fingers crossed.

In the meantime, the spring semester is done! I had to take an incomplete in one class, because I needed more time to make changes to my thesis. I will finish the paper for that class by the end of this month. Meanwhile, I defend my thesis tomorrow! I'm excited about it. A lot of my friends say they're going to be there for the defense. Then we're all going out tomorrow night to celebrate everyone's accomplishments.

Right now, I'm enjoying a few much-needed down days. And I'm now going to get back to that down time.

Step Two accomplished

Thursday started out like pretty much any other weekday. Steve dropped me off on his way to work, and I settled into my morning routine of email and Facebook. I opened my UNF email account and quickly scanned the inbox. That's when my day changed. Near the bottom of the new mail list was a message from Lancaster University with the subject "The result of your offer has been updated."

My heart thudded in my chest as I clicked open the file. It was an automated message advising me to log in to my application to see the new information. Nerves taut, heart still thumping, I followed the link. And . . . forgot my login name! A few seconds later (thought it felt like long minutes), I got the right login/password combination input and the decision appeared on the screen: Unconditional.

I blinked. Unconditional? Okay, I had read on the St. Andrews site a description of the different statuses. Unconditional there meant complete acceptance. Was it the same here? Then I saw the note at the bottom of the screen advising me that my progress would be reviewed in 12 to 18 months to make sure I was moving along at an acceptable pace with my research. I smiled. Unconditional did mean the same. I was accepted at Lancaster!

Rob, one of our adjunct professors, was in the adjacent office and was actually first to hear the news as I happily exclaimed it. Resisting the urge to dance around, I popped outside to call Steve and then Mom. Then I posted the news on Facebook and spent the rest of the day in a euphoric haze as I fielded congratulations from most of the history department. Dr. Furdell even told me she was proud of me, which meant about as much as the acceptance.

Of course, this isn't the end. I got into Lancaster, which is my first-choice school (even though it doesn't have the reputation here in the U.S. of some of the others). But the history department there won't know what kind of funding it can offer until March or April. And as much as I want to go to Lancaster, it would be asinine to go there using student loans. So now I must wait and pray that they offer me an assistantship.

Stay tuned.

Anglophile dreams

I've heard nothing from Lancaster or Manchester univerisities about my applications. I actually just got everything squared away with Manchester, so I'm not surprised. And I don't care if I do hear from them. I'm not that keen on the program there. Though if they offer me admission and money, I will give them sincere consideration. I did get an email from Dr. Jotischky (man, hope I spelt that right) letting me know my file had been given to a couple of potential advisors and he would get back to me shortly. That was about two weeks ago. I'm trying not to fret. Like I think I mentioned before, even if I get accepted, I still have to wait and find out if I'll get any funding.

But I want so badly to live in England. I've wanted it for some time now, and staying there over the summer just reinforced it. Steve's not keen, though. We had talked about leaving Florida, and I remind him of that when he laments leaving behind the life we've built here. Of course, Steve's right when he says there's a huge difference between packing up a Penske truck and moving to another state and relocating to England. I'm just so desperate to move there that I'm willing to deal with the brutal logistics.

Steve's being supportive. If I get offers from any of the schools, we'll move. He recognizes what an incredible opportunity it would be for me to study in England. I'm an English historian, for Pete's sake! While U.S. universities have British history programs, none offer me what English schools can. Steve sees that and is willing to uproot his life for me.

But what if I don't get offers? I dream of living in England. If I don't get accepted in a postgraduate program there, I honestly don't know what I'll do. So I try not to think about it and keep hoping for the best.

Prayers, good thoughts, and crossed fingers are greatly appreciated.

Eye update

It's been about a week-and-a-half since Steve injured his eye. The doctor declared his retina healed (no more swelling or bleeding), and gave him the all-clear to return to sports. The doc did suggest protective eye gear and I'm very happy Steve followed his advice. He bought a pair of safety glasses designed for raquetball/squash players. They should do the trick, should Steve kick any more balls into his face. Despite all the good news, however, Steve's vision has not improved. His pupil remains dilated, he still has the blank spot in the bottom half of his vision, and he doesn't see as clearly as he used to. The doc says it's a waiting game. Maybe Steve's vision will improve. Maybe it won't. Steve's worried most about the blurriness. His left eye compensates, but is he making its vision weaker as a result? Hopefully the doc will have answers when Steve calls today.

Keeping his eye on the ball

It's amazing how something so quick can have such lasting effects. It was the last few minutes of Steve's soccer game. His team was up 3-2 after coming from 2-0 at the end of the first half. Steve was playing defense. The other team was crowding the goal, trying ferociously to tie the game. Steve got the ball and attempted to clear the goal. He kicked it - hard. He was trying to launch it to the other end of the pitch. But the team's fast runner swooped in from nowhere and was less than two feet in front of Steve as the ball flew. The ball hit the guy in the chest and bounced backward - right into Steve's face. Steve tumbled backward.

Play continued, but I wasn't paying attention. I watched Steve as he rolled up onto his hands and knees. When he slammed his fist on the ground, I knew something was very wrong. I thought he had injured his foot or ankle in the tumble. He crawled to safety on the sidelines. I quickly joined him and asked what was wrong. The ball had hit him square in the eye.

After getting back to the chairs, he washed out his eye. A small bruise, about the size of a dime, already formed at the side of his upper lid. We joked about his pending black eye. Then Steve said part of his vision was blurry . . . and part of it was gone. That statement sent chills down my back. Gone? He was blinded?!

As Steve removed his cleats and put on his trainers, we tried to figure out what to do. He didn't want to bother going to a doctor. It was a Sunday and spending hours in an ER did not appeal. He'd go Monday. As he talked, I noticed how dark his eye was. I thought he had blown a pupil. "Look at me," I instructed. As he did so, my blood ran cold. Steve's eyes are a lovely bright blue. Normally, anyway. His left eye was not blue. Imagine a clock face on the iris. From about 11 to 1, his eye was blue. From 9 to 11 and 1 to about 2, it was lavender. The rest of it was red.

No vision. Bloody iris. We went to the ER. Steve was moved almost immediately to a room, but we were still stuck for four-and-a-half hours in the hospital. He developed a headache so bad that he actually asked for painkillers. Steve, the man who won't touch aspirin, was asking for narcotics. I knew it had to be bad.

The blunt force trauma from the ball strike had ruptured a blood vessel. The pressure in his eyeball was dangerously high, and we weren't allowed to leave until the medicine had brought it down some. He was given three different types of eye drops and instructions to make an appointment with the ophthalmologist first thing in the morning. We got home after midnight - exhausted and starving. I collapsed in bed, unable to keep my eyes open after the long drive home. Steve showered and spent the night on the couch. He had to sleep sitting up, so the blood in his eye could drain away from his iris.

We went to the ophthalmologist the next morning. The official diagnosis: A contusion injury to his retina. The bruising and swelling was causing his partial blindness in that eye. Hopefully, as the eye heals, his sight will return. The risk of retinal detachment is small, but still present. So Steve's been instructed to rest. He needs to keep his blood pressure down, so his risk of detachment doesn't increase.

It's now Tuesday. Steve's injury occurred Sunday. Although his vision has not improved, the exterior swelling is diminishing. Steve's also going stir crazy. Sitting still against his will has never been Steve's forte. And he's not allowed to do anything strenuous. So it's going to be a long day.

From Steve's initial kick to the injury took about a second. It's amazing how quickly your life can change.