QotW #5:
1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?
2) Where is one place you’d like to go?

1) My most frequent "vacation place" in my adult life has, of all things geeky, been Pennsic War, a very large SCA event held each August. There are some fantastic people there (you make friends from all over) and it;s so busy that you never need be bored (and in fact are much more likely to just get exhausted from all the fun!).
2) I would love to go to Britain or Ireland someday.

QotW #6:
What is your favorite type of project to take along on holiday/vacation?

Socks, of course! Just one skein of yarn, one long needle (I magic loop), somce scizzors and a tapestry needle and you're set. Perfect for travelling!

QotW #7:
What is(are) your favorite place(s) to knit? and
What supplies (besides yarn & needles) make the setting perfect for knitting?

I love knitting either curled up on my couch -- additional supplies include tea, comfy clothes, and something good on the DVD player or a podcast/audiobook -- or at one of my 2 LYSs -- additional supplies include tea/refershing drinks, treats, and the fabulous company of other knitters! At home I am free to be as relaxed as I want, but out with others I often relax even more :)

Editor's Note: Writing all the answers isn't' very helpful if the post stays in "draft" for days -- sorry, Secret Pal! Here it is, better late than never...

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I really like soft wools and silks. Anything natural, really, nothing synthetic!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
A shoebox, and a roll-up holder my friend sewed for me.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting about 5 years or so now. Definitely a strong intermediate.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes I do -- Knitting book list here, spinning books here!

5. What's your favorite scent?
I like deeper scents, like amber and vanilla, for perfume, but citrus-y scents for cleansers.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I love sweet treats! Chocolate is always a winner (organic dark even better!)

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I love to spin, now. I'd like to get into felting, too. Otherwise I occasionally dabble in sewing and other crafts.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I really like Folk, Celtic, and world-fusion electronica, but have a very open "ear". I definitely have mp3 capabilities.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I really love burgndies and purples, and also rich autumnal tones (brown, deep green, russets...). I don't really wear blue, and a have very little interest in neons!

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm currently pregnant with baby #1!! We also have two kitties.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Heck yes -- Toronto gets cold!

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Socks and lace. Very addictive!

13. What are you knitting right now?
Socks, when I have the energy.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Metal for pointiness, wood for smoothness.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
A swift yes, a winder no.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Um... maybe a year? It's buried somewhere, so I've forgotten about it!

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmastime.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Faerie art books. Small oil lamps. Yarn. Spinning fibre. Instruments I love but can't play.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I really should get a subscription to Spin Off, but I haven't yet. I am currently coveting a set of KnitPicks Harmony needles.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I'd like to get better at making a sweater actually fit me.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Indeed I am! I wear a women's size 8 shoe.

23. When is your birthday?
February 1st.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
aemmeleia

1.     What hole is the most difficult par on the course?

2.     If Jerry's 15th tee is in play, which hole is the easiest par on the course?

3.      Have you ever been air-pressed?

4.      SMC has an oft-time champion who chips one-handed.  Describe the most unusual golfer you have competed against.

5.      Please state your plan to revise the evaluations at pre-tourney parties for Manning and Weatherwax?    

Thank you for comments and happy flop shotting! 

From a somewhat broad question of “what are students doing to help or hurt themselves” and a greater focus on the financial aspect of that topic, our story has come together rather organically out of our interviews and questionnaires: we asked these questions to as many students and faculty members as we could find. Their answers edified and surprised us.

In her experience many students either do not correctly understand the process or don't contact their offices until they are already in dire financial conditions. "Poor planning" can lead to catastrophe later on, Brady-Glassman said. The office sees its biggest volume the first week, which is often too late for very much to be done as deadlines for various applications to financial aid programs are handled in advance of the academic term.

Financial concerns are becoming a greater issue in no small part because, while costs of higher education rise, the financial aid itself is not increasing. Also difficult is the summer term, as aid is allotted to the main year, with summer being the 'leftover'. In regards to the new student debt policy, Brady-Glassman noted that federal aid can only be used for the current term and not for debts from past terms.

Many students contribute to their financial issues with their spending habits, without fully grasping the "concept of a budget," Brady-Glassman said. This can be especially bad for students whom receive aid at the beginning of a term and find themselves very short through the winter break.

Students whom want to support themselves with a job rather than entirely through aid or their parents don't have it easy, either. Young adults in the 18-24 age bracket with no credit history or work experience can find it exceedingly difficult to find employment, especially in a smaller college town like Corvallis.

In Brady-Glassman's 19 years of experience in the Financial Aid department she has notice that "students seem to be a lot more stressed out" then before. Rates of student depression are much higher. "...money is a stressful topic" to begin with, so students can go from being upset to either angry or relieved depending on what support they may or may not be eligible for.

Family support has radically changed as well. Parental coddling in terms of finances becomes an issue as well, since it deprives their offspring of responsibility towards their own finances that they necessarily must face, not only in college but life afterwards.

It's not entirely negative an outlook, however. Returning students meeting deadlines suggest a greater awareness for some. Brady-Glassman said that offering information through the website has helped lower their rate of phone calls, and that the Financial Aid office is "always trying to improve communication."

As for use of new/social media to help with this goal, Brady-Glassman explained that the Financial Aid office simply lacks the staffing for such an undertaking. However the OSU Admissions Office does have a blog, through which they direct relevant Q+A to the Financial Aid office.

Awareness of the Financial Aid office's location was not perceived as a problem to Brady-Glassman. Students often don't come to Financial Aid until they are dire need of its resources, and even then most do not know how much they can or can not be helped. Brady-Glassman pointed out that there are many "misconceptions about aid" arising from anecdotal information of acquaintances. Such information is both confidential and often a very different circumstance for each student, and as such cannot be relied on for a reasonable expectation.

Financial Aid's primary method of communication is email. Students who don't check their ONID accounts regularly may miss out on opportunities with a strict time limit, costing them an opportunity for more funds.

Brady-Glassman urged students to become more educated about federal aid because it is very limited. The idea of a mandatory class on how to balance a budget for students is a popular one in theory but not so much in practice. Financial responsibility is a "dry, boring topic," Brady-Glassman said, and very seldom are students "on the ball".

When it comes to finances, students are "so hand-held out of high school," said Brady-Glassman. By sophomore year there is a significant drop-off in students coming in to the Financial Aid office.

Bennett believes the biggest problem is education - when it comes to financial responsibilities most students "have no idea," she said. On a scale of one to ten, Bennett would rank students' awareness of their financial aid options as a "4 or 5," depending on their academic major - an economics student might have an advantage in this regard to a liberal arts student, and so on. When it comes to stress, Bennett also observed that students whom are finally seeking out help are most likely "higher than average" in their stress level.

What students can do about this is to be "proactive," Bennett said, attending informational presentations, and doing their own research into possible scholarship opportunities.

Bennett noted that one thing students are very aware of is their long-term financial goals, such as their savings, retirement plans, or social security. Even if they don't know how to accomplish these things many students are aware of them, perhaps from observing their parents' struggles to meet similar goals of their own.

Bennett, whom has worked continuously through college up to this term, her last before graduation, agrees that starting the job process can be "rough" without any experience, and considers starting a savings account set aside for future goals to be a personal financial success.

She hopes the new student debt policy "will motivate students" to be more aggressive about managing their finances.

Financial aid problems can lead to credit issues quite quickly. While financial aid is a considerable stressor it is not the only "issue," Bamba said.

Bamba believes the biggest problem for students is management of funds and lack of aid. Students often try to find jobs during the summer term. Contributing problems might include irresponsibility or online gambling, which can both be quite detrimental to a student budget.

Students, if they are dependent, might be embarrassed to speak to their parents about their financial issues. "Parents are a lot more involved in student's lives...not just [in] K-12 but college" as well, Bamba said.

Because of this increased level of parental guidance, when students are left to their own devices, they may quickly find themselves out of their depth and without an idea of what to do or even what questions to ask regarding financial management.

Among the students Bamba counsels there is a low awareness of financial options, and a need for information. The counselor insists, however, that students are always "open to hearing" about solutions.

Concerns that were common among many of these students included credit card debt, the stresses of trying to balance between school and either employment or the job search, and almost unanimously a call for more information and education on financial options.

The rising cost of not only tuition but books, gas, and other expenses of living did not go unnoticed. 22-year-old Brittany White pointed out that "most students are unable to work and attend school full time, while trying to meet their financial needs."

Accounting major Ben Mathias thought that "most OSU students are actually confused about their financial options." Biochemistry & Biophysics major Kevin Dunn, 19, disagreed: "I'd say students are pretty aware of their financial options...but most students don't understand what they do and do not qualify for, and therefore miss out on valid opportunities."

Surprisingly, many of the students surveyed were not aware of the Financial Aid office's location or had ever even been there - their exploration of their student aid options often being done exclusively online.

Lily Lin, a 19-year-old Business Administration major, said that "the internet is a great way to spread financial [advice] to students." The concept of using new technologies to disseminate financial education was one that many students seemed to find very convenient. Carrie Fox, a 35-year-old Accounting major, makes the case that use of social media "can educate people at a much larger rate than just relying on printed material to do it."

22-year-old Blake Seabough agreed. "Awareness would be the best financial advice."

***

Theodore Mintesnot is a current student of Oregon State University. He hails from Northeast Portland, his hometown, and currently remains undeclared of an academic major.

Depression, fatigue, headaches, memory lapses, weight gain, constipation, cold intolerance, slowed reflexes, hair loss, menstrual abnormalities-these are some of the vague, sometimes debilitating symptoms that, in varying combinations, plague more than 13 million patients with hypothyroidism.
Unfortunately, many patients with hypothyroidism go for months to years, from doctor to doctor, from test to tests without being properly diagnosed. This is because the TSH blood test, considered the gold standard for diagnosis, is simply not an accurate indicator of hypothryoidism. Perhaps more perplexing, millions who are properly diagnosed find themselves undergoing often ineffective treatments for their disorder.
At last, there is a solution: Dr. Blanchard's groundbreaking treatment program draws on emerging research, medical facts, and three decades of clinical experiences as an endocrinologist. It's an individualized program that uses questionnaires and charts to help diagnose sufferers through symptoms, not lab results, and treats patients of all ages with the safe, but little used T3 hormone in the best combination with the more common T4 hormone, as well as with specific nutritional advice and alternative treatments that really work!

Depression, fatigue, headaches, memory lapses, weight gain, constipation, cold intolerance, slowed reflexes, hair loss, menstrual abnormalities�these are some of the vague, sometimes debilitating symptoms that, in varying combinations, plague more than 13 million patients with hypothyroidism. Unfortunately, many patients with hypothyroidism go for months to years, from doctor to doctor, from test to tests without being properly diagnosed. This is because the TSH blood test, considered the gold standard for diagnosis, is simply not an accurate indicator of hypothryoidism. Perhaps more perplexing, millions who are properly diagnosed find themselves undergoing often ineffective treatments for their disorder. At last, there is a solution: Dr. Blanchard's groundbreaking treatment program draws on emerging research, medical facts, and three decades of clinical experiences as an endocrinologist. It's an individualized program that uses questionnaires and charts to help diagnose sufferers through symptoms, not lab results, and treats patients of all ages with the safe, but little used T3 hormone in the best combination with the more common T4 hormone, as well as with specific nutritional advice and alternative treatments that really work!

Order What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Hypothyroidism: A Simple Plan for Extraordinary Results from Amazon for $7.96

Other Kindle Books of Interest
Living Well with Hypothyroidism
Thyroid Diet, The
Feeling Fat, Fuzzy or Frazzled?: A 3-Step Program to: Beat Hormone Havoc, Restore Thyroid, Adrenal, and Reproductive Balance, and Feel Better Fast!
Thyroid Hormone Breakthrough, The
Living Well With Autoimmune Disease

I work in a market research call centre. My job is to call people like you on the telephone and ask you all manner of pointless questions, while you try to prepare dinner or bathe your children, about products and services you don’t care about in order that faceless corporations can work out how better to get you to hand over your cash to them. So now you know the horrible truth. And you wondered why I was so angry?

Market research is where artistic mediocrities come to die. Dispirited by the corporatisation of the arts and the hopeless lack of funding for, or public interest in, anything that can’t be manipulated to sell burgers, we enter the career cul-de-sac of MR with the illusion of keeping our options open but secretly knowing that we’ll be here until we either die or our jobs get outsourced to a company in Bangalore.

I get out of the lift and clock into hell by pressing my thumbprint onto the scanner plate. Yes, they hate and distrust us that much. I sit at a booth with a neolithic computer, a dialer and a headset. Either side of me sit clones of me, broken artists, impoverished students, gambling addicts, the socially, aesthetically, or mentally challenged, society's talking wounded. For four to eight hours at a stretch I sit while the auto-dialer dials for me, I say the words that appear in front of my face and key in the responses as given by the respondent. Creativity and initiative are dismissible offences. My job is to be a phone monkey. Say the fuckin’ words!

Of course, I could get another job. But could I get one that pays this well with so little work involved? Probably not. And there's the rub. It's Boiling Frog Syndrome - getting paid for sitting talking to people, drinking tea whilst gradually having one's creativity, imagination, one's very soul eroded through the dull repetition of mindless research-speak.

If your bank was a person would you be its friend?

Do agree or disagree that your current mobile phone defines your masculinity?

How relevant or irrelevant do you feel your current career makes you to reality? Would you say very relevant, relevant, neither relevant nor irrelevant, irrelevant or completely irrelevant?

Neither relevant nor irrelevant - nice grey area! Is it possible for anything to ever be neither relevant nor irrelevant?

The sad thing this job has really done to me is it's given me an accurate picture of the society in which I live. I used to think most people in Australia were intelligent and open-minded, slightly left-thinking and generally good-natured. I was wrong, that was just the people I came into contact with. The Howard government's longevity should have been a dead giveaway. I know now that most Australians are apthetic, sexist, racist, paranoid, hostile, right-wing, sport-obsessed, binge-drinking imbeciles who can't even spell their own suburb of residence.

How did you get my number?

Well, sir, for this particular project we use random digit dialing...

Don't bullshit me, I've got a silent number...

I understand that sir, what a lot of people don't realise when they pay for their "silent" number is that all they pay for is for it not to be listed in the white pages or passed on by directory assistance. We have a computer program that generates numbers at random...

That's impossible, it's SILENT!!! How can you ring it?

Do you have children?

No!

Do you have friends with children?

Why?

Imagine your friend's child at two years old...

She's four!

...at four years old, takes the phone and just dials a jumble of numbers. If those numbers just happened to be your phone number, your phone would ring, wouldn't it?

Yeah...

Our program is like that child - numbers at random...

Youse are fucked! I'm gonna sue you! You'll be going to jail, mate and then you won't be so fuckin' smart, will ya?

I assure you we're not doing anything illegal, if you don't want to participate, all you have to do is decline.

Ya fuckin' what?

Would you like to speak to my supervisor?

I get a few of these a night. I almost look forward to the stupidity - it breaks the monotony, and dealing with idiots is the only time we're allowed any creative latitude, all within the bounds of professional civility, of course. A co-worker was sings ...I hate people, I wanna kill 'em... Oh, how I empathise.

If you live in Australia, USA or UK there's a very real possiblity that I may have rung you in the last couple of years. I may have actually annoyed you or someone in your household personally. If I have, I humbly apologise. If not, stay close to the phone because tonight could be your lucky night.

Enjoy it :)

[slideshare id=396352&doc=conclusao-final-1210346139556220-9&w=425]

Many women hold onto this romantic notion that one day a man will come riding over the horizon atop a great white stallion and save them from whatever problems they may face in life. That’s the attitude some men have as well. “She’s my fragile little flower. She won’t succeed in life without my protection and guidance.”

I once dated this crazy woman that came from an abusive home. Although she was gorgeous on the outside, inside she was just an empty shell of a person. She was depressed, moody, and extremely irrational at times. I kept thinking that I could save her. I thought that if I gave her enough love and attention I could somehow fill the dark void inside of her.

What actually happened is that she would drag me down to her level. We’d argue about ridiculous non-issues constantly. She would vent about how life sucks, people suck, and how she’d be better off dead. It was emotionally draining just being around her. She was like an emotional sponge. It was a horribly dysfunctional relationship full of unnecessary drama.

Eventually I realized that not only could I not save her, it wasn’t my responsibility. I’m naturally a jovial, happy person. It finally dawned on me that whenever I was around her, instead of feeling happy and enjoying our time together she would just drag me down. She was literally forcing me to feel as depressed as she felt. I think she gained a perverse pleasure from the chaos she created in the lives of those around her.

A partner should complement you. You should each contribute your own unique strengths and positive qualities to the relationship. A partnership isn’t going to work if one member is putting in all the effort. A successful union requires two equally contributing partners.

I finally realized that it didn’t matter how hot she was or how much I thought I loved her. I couldn’t fix her and being in her presence caused me more pain than pleasure. Eventually I broke up with her. Of course she accused me of being just like all the rest of the horrible men out there and even played the suicide card on me. She tried to guilt trip me into returning to her dark world.

I stayed away from her and have now been dating a wonderful, emotionally healthy woman for over six months. Of course the relationship has its ups and downs just like they all do, but we each contribute equally to its success in our own unique way. And we truly care about each other.
---------About the Author---------
Never try to save someone from themselves. It’s just not possible. For tips on how to end a relationship visit Zewb.com

This paper deals with the question of how the general public should be addressed when offering hearing screening. Postal-based questionnaires in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands were sent to users of hearing devices, those that are in the process of obtaining one, or those that have indicated that they have special interest in hearing. Results of the survey indicated that respondents were enthusiastic about the idea of being able to carry out hearing self-screening tests via the internet, telephone, or questionnaires. A questionnaire as a method to screen on hearing was generally preferred above using the internet, which was preferred over using the telephone for the test. About 27% of the respondents indicated to use exclusively one method. Most respondents indicated that either method provided would be of interest (41%), 17% indicated not to be interested in conducting screening tests using the internet.

This post by Dale Schunk provides an excellent overview of some of the main areas in the approach, and includes a definition I particularly like Self-regulation, or systematic efforts to direct thoughts, feelings, and actions, toward the attainment of one's goals (Zimmerman, 2000)

Albert Bandura is a well-known Canadian scholar who researches self efficacy and social cognitive theory. His theory of self efficacy and motivation is drawn on as a contributor to the self regulation construct. For more on his life, go to this site , and if you're interested in Self efficacy in more detail, that site also has a good number of resources. I particularly liked this post on Ability vs Capability.

Self determination theory is a macro-theory of human motivation concerned with the development and functioning of personality within social contexts. The theory focuses on the degree to which human behaviors are volitional or self-determined - that is, the degree to which people endorse their actions at the highest level of reflection and engage in the actions with a full sense of choice.
Once you get past some of the psychobabble, this site has some great resources including validated questionnaires on self-regulation for healthcare, academic and exercise that have been developed for research.

When we develop new habits, we need to use self-regulation to become aware of how we are currently functioning, what we want to do that is new, and then monitor what we do and how close we get to our new behaviour. Senia Maymin's post provides a good review of some of Baumeister's theory, and encourages us to recognise that by developing self regulation and mastery in one area, we strengthen our ability to self regulate in all areas! So setting goals and achieving them in one area makes it easier to apply that same discipline elsewhere in life. Good to know!

Finally for today, Hall and Fong's paper Temporal self-regulation theory: A model for individual health behavior from Health Psychology Review Volume 1, Issue 1 March 2007 , pages 6 - 52, provides a description of a model that frames behaviours depending upon the timescale being considered at the moment of choice - this, it is argued, can explain why so many people 'know what to do' that is best for health in the long term, but actually do things that are self-defeating, and have a short-term positive payoff.

I hope you enjoy this quick swing through some brief readings in self-regulation. There will be more as time goes on, so don't forget to come on back and check in again to see what I've included in this roundup. If you haven't already, remember you can subscribe to my blog using the RSS reader at the top of the page, or you can bookmark. And don't forget to comment - I am always happy to read that someone's reading this blog!!

OK, so I imagine that I am a customer. I own my time. If I answer any questions online it's cause I want to. I choose to. I'm doing you a favour, non?

So, when I get an email invitation saying:

Dear shopper

You bought something from us last month. Click here to answer our survey.

Bob's supermarket

What do I think? Well my mouse is scampering for that delete button so quickly, it's in the bin before the squeak.

Rule 1: Your customers are there to be served by you.
Rule 2: If your customers choose to give you feedback, they are doing you a favour. Tell them why they should use their precious time to do so.
Rule 3: Make the process as easy as you can for your customer.
Rule 4: Give them options to share information with you in the way they want to. If they want to rave, give them a text box to do so, or a number to call.
Rule 5: A survey is an exercise in customer service. Do it well, do it better, test it, and get it working brilliantly BEFORE you send it out. Think, then ask.

Règlements de la tag:
1- Mettre le lien de la personne qui vous tag;
2- Mettre les règlements de la tag sur votre blog;
3- Mentionner six choses/habitudes/tics non importants sur vous-même;
4- Tagguer six personnes à la fin de votre billet en mettant leurs liens;
5- Aller avertir directement sur leurs blogs les personnes tagguées.

Alors woilà!

1-Je suis capable de faire craquer mes orteils... et j'aime le son que ça produit quand je le fais!
2-Je classe mes CD et mes DVD par couleur; ça fait plus beau!
3-J'ai été deux fois aux Jeux du Québec en soccer!
4-J'aime gratter les gales, alors allo les cicatrices hein!
5-Lorsque je mange une toast au Cheezwhiz, je dois impérativment l'accompagner d'un Quick au chocolat!
6-Lorsque je lis des romans en anglais, je me mets à rêver en anglais aussi!

Totalement intéressant hein ;)

Alors je donne la tag à qui la veut bien! Je manque un ti-peu beaucoup de temps pour faire le tour et tagguer à mon tour! Je suis sûre que vous comprenez ;)