Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Hiatus

I've been on hiatus.

1) Vacation last week but now

2) Neck and upper back pain. This has kept me away from not only the blog but out of work also.

I have a wedding I'm in this weekend and then will be down in Atlanta for training.

Hope to post pictures from the beach soon!

**Hope my neck gets better too**

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Football Weekend 1

Since last weekend was my FIRST official football game as a Knoxville, TN resident, UT employee, and orange wearing gal I took a few pics. from the game. They actually turned out pretty great! Look for little Smokey at the end!

Teams getting ready.

The Power T line up.

Little Smokey at home cheering on!

Monday, September 15, 2008

My Monday List

I had a really great time at the UT game!

I'm making more friends!

Fall weather is here! Thank God! :)

The Boy and I leave for vacation 6 days from now!

Friday, September 12, 2008

I Choose Love.

Everyday we have choices to make. I choose love. Continuously.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

If you Squeeze an Orange you get Juice.


"When you squeeze an orange, what comes out? … Juice. When you squeeze an orange, whatever is inside, comes out. It doesn’t matter when, who or how you squeeze it, juice comes out. When you put pressure on a person, whatever is inside, comes out…and anger and hatred comes out, its not the person who’s doing the squeezing that makes that come out… its because that’s what’s inside that person… and when someone cuts you off on the freeway and you get mad as hell and you’re going to get in front of them and cut them off and make them see what its like, it isn’t because they cut you off that you're so upset, its because that’s what you carry around inside. When you stop carrying that around inside, nothing that ANYONE does can upset you. "

Think about this folks! I love it. What would we find inside of you...?

The Weekend: My Favorites.

The Backstory: On Thursday evening Mom flew in for her first ever visit to Knoxville, TN to see where her baby was living exactly. Her and I spent the evening listenign to the tunes of legend Leon Russell. The rest is in pictures. We had a wonderful time as you can tell, and I'm sure they'll be many more visits again!

On Friday evening we enjoyed a historical tour of Knoxville, starting out with
appetizers sponsored by the Knox Heritage group.

A daughter and mother. All smiles here~
Another favorite person in my life. Smiles here too.Saturday's trek was into the Smokey Mountains --- this is the BEFORE picture. Yes, I do love that hat!
My woodsman.Hike, hike, see the creek, hike, hike, look ahead to see...and then we made it to the falls!Mom did the Mom thing and we smiled and obliged.
Then we pretended to be Lewis and Clark. Or i did.
Mom and Me!The Boy "less pictures more hiking" :)The AFTER picture.
After hiking we were pretty hungry and had dinner at "Deadbeat Pete's" which from the outside was a little scary. But once we were seated on the porch outside that overlooked the little creek and the food came - we quickly changed our minds. It was some of the best southwestern food ever!

I loved having my mom visit! The weekend was spent with my two favorite people. .

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Inspiration Station


I've been inspired by the NieNie Dialogues and the outpouring of support for the family since the airplane crash. I feel compelled to write about her story because it has impacted me on an individual level.

Stephanie was a woman whose blog emanated love, family, good values, and hope. She shared her life with the blogging community through her pictures, colors, and tales of daily life with four kids and a great husband. In response to the accident the blogging community has responded through online auctions, prayers, donations, and events across the globe to help raise awareness and support for Stephanie and Christian and their 4 kids. Stephanie's sister has kept the public updated on their medical status as well as how the children are doing - CjaneEnjoyit blog. This story has had such momentous support from the community that the family was actually on the Today Show this morning.

This story speaks to the human spirit, specifically the power of hope. Keep life in perspective. There are people whose lives you touch and you may be totally unaware of it.

Monday, September 08, 2008

2:12pm Wisdom

Sometimes a puppy dog is all you need to remind you unconditional love exists.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

What is...A Job Task Analysis

Recently I finished working on producing and tabulating a Job Task Analysis pertaining to Crime Scene Investigators, specifically looking at how applicable our training was to real life tasks.

What is a Job Task Analysis
  • Inventory of tasks related to daily work
  • People from the field are asked to rate the tasks according to Importance (how task relates to success in job) and Frequency (how often task is done)
  • Using a likert scale tasks are rated from 1 - 5 (1 being least important to 5 being most important)
Why is it important?
  • A job task analysis can measure the relevance of job specific training
  • Reveals what the most important tasks are to know and understand how to do
  • Reveals what tasks are done more frequently
  • Each task can illustrate a different depth of knowledge for a given task, therefore showing what depth to teach to E.g. demonstrating, synthesizing, analysizing (Bloom's Taxonomy)
Who uses a job task analysis?
  • Trainers - to create occupation training
  • Teachers - to illustrate depth of knowledge needed
  • Universities and professors - to validate curriculum
** Large companies typically have the resources to create, publish, and distribute job task analysis. These can be extremely useful to ensure quality training for employees.

The Bottom Line of JTA
  • Must have a job inventory of tasks large enough to cover a wide range of activities
  • Must distribute job task analysis to enough people to ensure validity and reliability
  • Tabulation can take large amounts of time
  • After distribution at least 1/3 of those who participated in JTA should assemble to discuss tasks to make sure language used is clear and speaks accurately to daily work