28 posts tagged “qotd”

What single event changed your view of the world for the better or for the worse?
Submitted by iASHLEY.

Meeting my husband. I became a Christian as a result of meeting him. Since we've been married and grown our family my views on many things have changed. I can't imagine what path my life might have taken had I not met him.

Jon & Joel

1 comment

What was your major or field of study in college? Did you wind up working in that field or using that degree? If not, what field have you wound up in? 
Submitted by sneuf. 

I have a BSED in Social Science Education. I'm qualified to be a high school social studies teacher. Well, I would be if my certification was up-to-date. I take that back, if I ever completed my certification I would be qualified. After my student teaching experience I did everything to finish my degree, but could no longer even consider completing my certification. I was shell shocked. I just had this overwhelming, panicky feeling that I could not do this. It wasn't the kids. I continued to work with kids at church, camp and in my husband's classroom, but I just couldn't work as an employee in a school environment. Institutionalized was the best word I could think to describe the work environment that I saw over and over again in high schools. It is bureaucracy and power trips gone mad. I just couldn't handle it. My husband, God bless him, manages it fine, but I don't have the sensibilities for it. I thought life is too short for me to go into this line of work hating it.

So, once I graduated I found a job as an office manager for a small graphic design studio / print shop and I ended up making more money than I would have as a first year teacher. That was a fun job. I learned all kinds of neat stuff. I learned a lot about exactly how the printing process works, how to properly setup a design file for printing and ways to do it more cost effectively. I got to see some beautiful design work that really changed my whole aesthetic. I also learned how to use this database program called FileMaker Pro. Now, that is an awesome program. It's kind of funny how it all started. My boss comes up to me one day and shows me this box and says, "I bought this program that's supposed to be great for keeping track of things. I need you to learn how to use it." And that was all I needed to hit the ground running. I built so many things with FMP, from a customer database to a print job tracker. I had it setup to print invoices and contracts at the click of a button. It's amazing all you can do with that program. I also built a print job estimator that did all the figuring for me. I hated estimating jobs before that.  I was always the go-to person to figure out how to do something if no one else new how.

I still use the skills I learned doing various volunteer projects and mostly helping my husband's students in his publication classes.  That's a lot of fun and really keeps me in practice. The trouble is that most of the projects his classes work on are one color (usually black and white), which in one respect is good because I've gotten really good at seeing design possibilities for one color projects, but my inspiration for full color projects has definitely waned. 

I guess if I ever really go back to work, I would like to find a small print shop and be their "Doris in the back on the Mac" (as my former employer used to derogatorily lable the layout person for most print shops).

Audio: What's your favorite carol or holiday song?

My favorite Christmas music is the melancholy, bittersweet stuff, like this:

01 Come On Christmas

Dwight Yoakam

03 Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Tori Amos

4 comments

I also have a soft spot for the funny, whimsical stuff:

01 Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy (Daddy Looked A Lot Like Him)

Buck Owens

What's your alma mater?
Submitted by Lies.

The University of Georgia

Glory Glory (Georgia) - excerpt

Listen to that fight song!
Go Dawgs!

Have you ever recycled an old computer or laptop?  Where did you take it, and what steps did you take to protect your personal information?

Performa

No, but I've never thrown a computer away either. My husband and I have owned quite a few Macs.  Our first Mac was a Performa. Yeah, we became Apple converts before Macs were iMacs and even before OS X. Every Mac we've ever owned has either been resold or given to someone else to use. Even Macs that were no longer working (and we decided weren't worth repairing--upgrade time!), we would sell or give away the parts for someone else to use. I've heard people complain about how expensive Macs are, but you get your money's worth. Over the long haul I think buying Apple computers versus buying Windows/PC's has been a much better investment for us.

As far as protecting your personal information, to be honest we've never taken any special steps. We have just used Apple's own formatting software. If the computer was going to a stranger, we would give it a few more swipes than if it was going to a friend or relative, but that's about it.

Led Zeppelin will finally offer their music online starting next month.   Of the music you buy, about how much of it do you download and how much do you buy on physical formats (CDs, vinyl, etc.)?

Almost all the music I buy now are downloads. I have a large collection of CDs collecting dust in the basement. It's all digital nowadays. I actually just got a iTunes gift card for my birthday.

What was your favorite road-trip of all time? 
Submitted by bodhibound. 

My honeymoon. We went on a road trip down the gulf coast. I get all relaxed and happy just thinking about it.

When was the last time you felt butterflies in your stomach?

It was probably the first time I nursed in public after Emma was born. My comfort level is much better than the I'm-never-ever-going-to-breastfeed-in-public-I-need-a-closed-room-with-just-me-and-the-baby-every-time-I-nurse camp, but I'm definitely not in the let-it-all-hang-out camp for public nursing either. I'm not a big fan of the huge cover-up, but that's just me. If that's what someone else needs to be comfortable, then by all means use it. I never understood the line of thought that says if you're not completely comfortable "letting it all hang out" when nursing in public, then you're not really pro breastfeeding.

I prefer discreet public nursing (no nursing room necessary, although I'm not opposed to nursing rooms) without a cover-up. For those without experience with this either by doing it yourself or by close experience with someone else doing it, you must be wondering how in the world that is possible. I mean, you're pulling out your boob in public for heaven's sake! Don't you at least need some kind of cover-up?! So, here's my tips for discreet and comfortable public nursing without a cover-up.

Realize that the baby's head will cover up most of your breast. When nursing this way it just looks like you are cuddling your baby.

Wear double layered clothing. This is so that when you pull your shirt up to nurse you will have another piece of clothing to cover up the rest of you (your back and any other place the baby can't hide). There are a number of different ways to accomplish this. You can wear specially made nursing clothing. I have a couple of nursing shirts and they are pretty convenient, but they can also be a bit pricey. You can also wear a tank top undershirt. Be sure to wear one that is stretchy enough to pull the neck or arm hole around your breast. I've also read the idea to take old or inexpensive shirts and cut slits where your breast are (this is how many nursing shirts work). My favorite solution by far is the Belly Hugger. It's pretty much like a tube top you wear around your belly. It's great because once you pull up your shirt there's no extra piece of clothing to move out of the way (except your bra of course).

Wear a nursing bra that can be snapped and unsnapped with one hand. You want to be able to hold the baby with one hand and fix your bra with the other hand. If you are strongly right handed or vice versa, you will want to practice doing this with your "weak" hand at home to be able to easily do it in public.

When you're getting ready to nurse in public look down at yourself and the baby. Only focus on the two of you and feeding the baby. Try not to look up and worry about your surroundings until the baby has started to feed and you've covered yourself up to your satisfaction. Looking up and down, up and down, worrying if people are looking at you or if people can see anything will only slow you down and "prolong the agony". You will be much quicker (and therefore less likely to flash anything) if you just focus on feeding the baby. It's of course alright to look up and around once you are situated and comfortable.

Here's how I do it:
When you're about to nurse the baby in public reach through the neck of your shirt and unlatch the side you're about to nurse on, just unlatch it, nothing else. Then reach under your shirt (between the layer that should cover your belly and the outer layer) and finish moving the bra out of the way. Still keep your outer shirt over your breast at this time.  With your outer shirt still down hold the baby like you are about to nurse. Once the baby is in place over your breast pull that side of your outer shirt up to give the baby access to your breast and latch the baby. Remember even though looking down you will be able to see your breast, the rest of the world won't be able to because the baby's head will be obstructing their view.  Once the baby is latched you will be able to pull you shirt down even more right to the baby's cheek.

When the baby is done (and unlatched) the first thing you will do before moving the baby is pull down the outer shirt over your breast. At this time if you have a stroller or carrier with you, you can set the baby down or if you were wearing the baby, you can just hold him/her on your lap while you "put yourself back together." Next reach under your shirt and reposition that side of your bra. This is often the part that I've found most bothersome, because it often involves repositioning and smoothing out a nursing pad with one hand and without being able to see exactly what you're doing. All I can say is that with practice it gets easier. Once you've got that side of the bra back in position then reach in through the neck of your shirt to re-latch the bra. I've found that if I try to latch and unlatch my bra reaching from the bottom of my shirt that I end up pulling up the shirt more than I would prefer. That's just me.

Practice at home in front of a mirror. This will ease any fears that you are exposing yourself in public. It will also allow you to see anything that you're doing that may expose more than you are comfortable with and let you figure out how to correct that.

For those of you with experience nursing in public, what helped you to be comfortable?

What are your plans for the weekend?

Have a baby, apparently!

Emma Cathlyn

Friends, comments, education, amusement:  what's been the best thing to happen to you on Vox so far?

Vox has made me fall in love with blogging all over again and I've connected with some really cool people. I really wish there was a meet-up for the Atlanta area like there are for some other cities.