Just Some News….

Good news! Some of you know that I was recently approached by a large firm about becoming their Subject Matter Expert in finance for a project they are undertaking. After some negotiation, taking their test, and talking to their recruitment manager, I got the job! I’m excited about it. I can’t reveal any details as I’m under a non-disclosure agreement but I am happy with it.

I will still work on my novel, blog right here on WordPress, write articles, and, most importantly, spend time with my friends. I’ll be busy but I want to be busy. I have no desire to quit work. It’s not that time for me yet. I still feel the desire to work. Who knows? Maybe I always will.

Many of you wished me well in this venture and I want to thank you!

Rosemary

Posted in education, Finance, Uncategorized, Writing

Mind the Gap: The Knowledge Gap

When I saw this week’s Discover Challenge, I actually heard the big bang that occurred with the collision of my two careers. I received my doctorate degree in Business/Finance in 1988 and taught on a university level for many years. Writing is a second career that began with academic writing during my university career but expanded during and after that time into both non-fiction and fiction writing.

The concept of Mind the Gap is a familiar one to doctoral students. Our real purpose is to learn to do original research, not learn to teach, which is simply a by-product of our education. We learn to teach because we have to learn the material in our fields in order to do effective original research. That doesn’t mean we all become good teachers. That is another essay for another time.

My field was and is finance; specifically, corporate finance and financial institutions. Simply put, I studied larger business and big banks. Everything about larger business. What makes them tick. How to analyze their operations. How to advise them. How to value them. And much more. When I finished my courses in finance, banking, and statistics and was ready to write my dissertation, that is when “mind the gap” really became an issue. Doctoral students have written many papers up to that time. But there is nothing more important than the dissertation, which is nothing more or less than a book that you write about an original concept in your field. Not to mention the fact that you have to write a dissertation in order to graduate.

“Mind the gap” is the gap between existing knowledge, in my case, in corporate finance and banking and knowledge that is yet to be determined. I know that sounds very esoteric but in everything, there is knowledge yet to be determined. Business, science, technology….you get the picture. Else, we would never have the next iPhone. So, my task was to determine what my topic would be for my dissertation. Where did I think there was a gap in the knowledge in my field.

At that time, banking regulation was going out the window. Banks were beginning to merge and expand and the big regional banks we have today were being born. Banking executives seemed to think that bigger was better. At least, they thought it was more profitable and earned their shareholders more money. There was my topic. Was that true? There was the “gap.” No one yet knew if bigger was, indeed, better in banking.

I will spare you the details of my dissertation. (Trust me, you do not want to know.) But, in general, what I studied was whether or not banking expansion caused increased and even abnormal returns in banking. The bottom line was yes, in the short run, but no, in the long run. Think about this. I finished my dissertation on this topic in 1988. The financial crash that almost took down our economy that we all remember was at the end of 2007. What happened? The big banks were engaging in activities that were earning abnormal returns for them. It worked, in the short run. In the long run, many of them failed and many more were bailed out by the federal government.

There again is the “gap” I’m speaking of. The gap in the banking literature in 1988 was in the research on bank returns in the absence of the regulations they had always been under. By 2007, the premise I had studied in my dissertation had been addressed in the “real world” and had been proven to be correct. That gap in knowledge had been filled in. I had proven in my dissertation that banks do not earn excess returns in the long run as they become increasingly unregulated. They did, but only for a short time. Unfortunately, it seems to be happening again. #amwriting #amblogging #writing #banking

Posted in Recipe, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

Appalachia: Thanksgiving Recipe for Cranberry Salad

Hurry to the grocery before all the cranberries are sold out! You need to pick up some bags of cranberries so you can make this delicious Cranberry Salad for your Thanksgiving dinner. This was my mother’s recipe. It’s delicious and she always made it for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter:

Prepare Cranberry/Orange Relish:

12 oz whole cranberries (frozen)

1 orange including rind

Put the cranberries and orange in a food processor. Chop them up to relish consistency. Add 1/2 cup of sugar or equal amount of artificial sweetener. Stir.

Melt cherry jello (large box) in 1 cup hot water. Use 8X8 or 9X9 pyrex or glass dish. Cool on countertop. Don’t let it set up completely. Add relish (above). Add 1 small can crushed pineapple plus juice and 1/2 cup cold water. Add 1/2 cup chopped celery. 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts are optional. Stir everything together.

Refrigerate until it gels. Serve cold. This recipe is easily doubled.

Enjoy! #recipes

Posted in Uncategorized

Veteran’s Day 2016

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Something personal. I want to thank two very special men and veterans who served in World War II this Veteran’s Day for their very difficult service.

My dad, David A. Carlson, who served in the U.S. Navy, on board the U.S.S. Blessman, in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres. RIP Daddy, December 22, 1983

My uncle, who was like a dad to me, Fred L. Cassity, who served in the U.S. Army, on the ground, in hand-to-hand fighting, in the Philippines. RIP Uncle Fred, March 5, 1998

They were the best of the Greatest Generation.

#VeteransDay

Posted in Creative Nonfiction Essays, Lifestyle, romance, Uncategorized

Control, Manipulation, Judgment, and Criticism

People will do almost anything to get what they want. Some of it is evil. Some of it is just plain naive and stupid. My opinion is that using control, manipulation, judgment, and criticism to affect the actions of another person is just plain evil. When these tactics are used in the name of maintaining a relationship with another person, it is particularly evil.

Let’s take judgment and criticism, for example. If two people are in a relationship and one is a stronger personality than the other, then the stronger judging and criticizing the weaker’s actions can have rather dramatic effects. In the dictionary, the word “judgmental” refers to making judgements in an unhelpful or critical way. The stronger person can use this tactic in order to get the weaker to do their bidding in order to try to please them. Any behavior on the part of the weaker person in the relationship can bring judgement down on their head from the stronger one and they become like Pavlov’s dog. They start avoiding those supposed bad behaviors in order not to suffer the judgement and criticism of the stronger partner. The stronger partner may withhold affection in the form of love or sex or perform other punishments when bad behavior, or behavior they consider bad, happens.

If the weaker partner is dependent in some way on the stronger partner, this type of manipulation may simply make the weaker partner increasingly dependent. They start wanting the approval of the stronger partner and start modifying their behavior, even if there is nothing wrong with it at all.

As this occurs, the stronger partner is in control of the relationship and the weaker partner. Of course, this was the point of the judgement and criticism and manipulation. Control.

Would you want to be in a relationship if you had to have this type of control in order to keep it? No, I wouldn’t either. But, some people are insecure enough so that they think controlling another person is the only way they can have a relationship with another person.

Control, in a relationship, is not a good thing. There is something worse and it is called coercive control. Coercive control occurs when the following happens. Here are some coercive methods controlling partners use:

  1.  One partner tries to isolate the other partner and keep them from social interaction with other people unless they are together.
  2. One partner tries to keep the other from leaving the house alone.
  3. One partner monitors social media use, email, mail, and.phone conversations.
  4. One partner spies on or stalks the other partner.
  5. One partner may suggest to the other partner that they need some sort of drugs, either prescription drugs or other drugs for some sort of medical condition.

*Source: Huffington Post

Sometimes, the weaker partner just says “this is the way it is” and gives up their autonomy.

These are only five out of many methods of coercive control that controlling partners may use. The others are just as scary or more so.

What about the controlling partner? How did she/he become like this? Generally, due to childhood relationships. If a child feels no control in its life, that child may grow up as an insecure person who doesn’t feel they have any value in personal relationships. A minority of these children will grow up as people who participate in aberrant behavior. They will involve themselves in relationships with partners they can control which may devolve into coercive control. They can be quite dangerous.

If you find yourself in a relationship where your partner is judgemental and critical, which are both manipulative techniques that turn into control, find yourself another relationship. You may be with a person who is a sociopath or, at the very least, a person with few morals although they may appear to be a moral person on the surface.  These people may try to persecute others for things they have done themselves. #amwriting #amblogging #writing #control #manipulation

Posted in Creative Nonfiction Essays, Uncategorized

Song Lyric Sunday – The Moody Blues

The theme this week for Song Lyric Sunday is “scary.” On the surface, you may not seem why a song called “Forever Autumn” by The Moody Blues could be considered scary. Oh, not scary in the traditional sense of the world. Not haunted house scary where you walk through the house and creatures jump out at you, but the kind of scary that reaches down and freezes your soul.

The lyrics to “Forever Autumn” are below. As you read them, you’ll see that, in the first stanza, the season is changing from fall to winter and the writer feels the winter will be much more bitter because they have lost someone important to them. In fact, they want to leave they are so frightened of winter arriving. Scary. I know the feeling of losing someone important.

That scary feeling is reiterated in the chorus, which is the second stanza and again in the third stanza.

The Moody Blues convey, in Forever Autumn, what a frightening, panicked feeling it is to lose someone important to you, someone you love and they compare it to the feeling some get when the fall season changes to what could be a bitter winter. I know the feeling.

Lyrics to Forever Autumn by The Moody Blues
The summer sun is fading as the year grows old
And darker days are drawing near
The winter winds will be much colder
Now you’re not here.
I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky
And one by one they disappear.
I wish that I was flying with them
Now you’re not here

Like a song through the trees you came to love me
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away

Through autumn’s golden gown we used to kick our way
You always loved this time of year.
Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now
Cause you’re not here

Like a song through the trees you came to love me
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away

Forever Autumn album – Moody Blues

 

Sponsored by Linda

Posted in Creative Nonfiction Essays, Uncategorized, Writing

#SoCS – Oct. 29/16

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Sometimes I struggle with stream of consciousness writing. I have stuff in my head that is private and must remain private even though it would be cathartic to speak about it. I also have stuff in my head that I can speak about but it all gets mixed up together. I want to keep it in, but I want to get it out! Especially today. I’m dealing with a situation that I suspect some of you may have dealt with so I’m just going to put it out there and see if anyone has experienced something similar.

Someone is trying to steal my identity. I suppose that’s what she is trying to do unless she is simply trying to torment me, which is possible. Identity theft is the most horrible thing. In my case, the person I suspect is a computer hacker. So she plays with me as if I were a mouse and she is the cat. She thinks it bothers me a whole lot more than it does as I simply deal with each instance of possible identify theft as it happens. It is a lot easier to deal with than she thinks as companies, banks, other financial institutions have become more savvy about this problem and notify their customers immediately if anything at all suspicious occurs.

So as Ms. Computer Hacker attacks one account or a social media site, I simply close them. I figure she is doing me a favor. I don’t need as many credit cards as I have so, poof!…..they are gone. That much less for her to attack. She started this onslaught with my PayPal account. It’s closed. Somehow, she opened a new one in my name. It’s closed. I’m wondering how many times I will have to do that. She’s attacked my Facebook Messenger site. She wiped out many of my contacts and kept me from getting any Message Requests. Well, ok. I can restore my contacts. I have reported this to Facebook and we will see what happens. I would like to get my Message Requests. I’m hoping Facebook will go after her. I don’t think this kind of thing amuses them.

Then, she made a charge on my American Express card. That charge has been taken off. I’ve been issued a new card. I guess she will also try to hack it although American Express is now after her. There have been other things she has tried to do or done as well.

If you ever find that someone is trying to steal your identity, the thing to do is be vigilant. Check your bank account daily or more than once a day. Look at your credit card statements frequently. If you see anything strange on your social media sites, check it out.

You see, in my humble opinion, computer hackers, especially those people who do malicious things like create viruses. Or hack into other people’s lives such as what I’m  experiencing, don’t have a life of their own. They sit all day and stare at a computer screen and have the screwed up idea that is a life. We all know it is not. In my case, working at a computer is my job. Of course, I do spend other time on the computer – shopping, talking to my friends, researching. The things we all do. What I don’t do is try to destroy other people’s’ lives.

These identify thieves enjoy that. I wonder what they would do if they actually had to live a real life. Oh, I know. They couldn’t. They wouldn’t have a clue how to live a real, fulfilling life. Would they try to destroy people’s lives in person as opposed from behind a computer screen? Probably not. They don’t have the guts. The fragile computer screen protects their fragile egos from the world. I hope my computer hacker winds up in prison. If she crosses the line and I can manage it, she will. #hackers #amwriting #amblogging #writing #SoCS

Sponsored by #SoCS

Thanks, Linda!

Posted in Uncategorized

Collaborative Horror Story

This collaborative horror story is in response to a challenge issued by Chuck Wendig at his blogsite, Terrible Minds. The authors cited below wrote parts 1 and 2 and I wrote part 3. Thanks to Chuck and the other authors!

 

Part 1: Part 1

Part 2: Part 2

Part 3:

“Mother, are you all right?” I cried as my mother tried to get up off the floor.

“Run, baby, run. Get out of here. He’s here to kill you,” she said as the man/monster struggled to rise from the slick floor. Slick with the blood he said he wanted.

I stood there, knife still in my hands, not knowing what to do except that I had to protect my mother and myself from this horrible creature lying on the floor.

The man/monster was screaming in frustration, not able to regain his footing to rise from the floor. As he struggled, I ran to help my mother up. As I did, I asked her who this creature was and why did it want me and my blood. Again, its long arm flew out and almost grabbed me but I dodged just in time. I got to my mother and helped her rise.

“Mother, I don’t understand. Why am I bleeding so much? There is this thing….this creature…..trying to come out of me!”

Crying, almost screaming at her, I told my mother I had to know what was happening, who this creature was, what he had to do with me. My whole body was slick with blood and mucus and some kind of horrible goo coming from the monster. Something was hanging down between my legs. I was only a young girl. None of this made any sense to me. This was only my first monthly cycle and some creature from hell had shown up. I only had on my top and my mother’s baggy black emergency panties. I was so embarrassed and frightened. I was also scared for my mother.

Suddenly, the creature got some traction and sprang up from the floor, not six feet away from us. The dent in its skull had completely healed.

It screamed in an otherworldly voice and said, “Now, young woman, I’m taking my blood back. You’ve had it all these years and I’ve had to do without it. You are giving it back to me now. I’ve been waiting and watching for my first opportunity.”

“Your bitch of a mother thought she could stop me with the salt, the drawn curtains, the silver crosses,” the monster cried in his raspy voice. “But, you broke the salt line,” he said, as he cackled sounding less human with every second that passed.

“Your blood is mine,” the monster screamed as it lurched forward, swinging its reptilian arms at me. I kept backing up until I finally got behind a straight-backed chair. I picked up the chair and starting poking it, pushing it back, frustrating it. My mother, still trying to stand up in the blood and goo, was coming toward them.

“Mother,” she shouted, “what’s it talking about?” She had to find out why this thing thought her blood was his. Her mother made a wide circle around the man/monster. It was so focused on me that I didn’t think it even saw my mother right at that moment. Mother motioned to me to be quiet.

I kept poking at it with the chair while it was jumping from side to side, trying to get past the chair and get to me. I had put the knife I had grabbed into the waistband of my mother’s panties with my hand feeling for the knife to make sure it was still there. All the while, my mother was making a wide circle and creeping up behind the monster.

There she was. Right behind the monster. Mother screamed as loud as she could and when the monster turned toward her scream, she bashed it in the face with the baseball bat with all her strength. Blood spewed from his nose and some of his teeth fell out. I jumped forward, took the knife out of my waistband, and plunged it into the monster’s heart with all my strength. It fell to the floor screaming.

It was still. My mother came around it and grabbed me, pushing me backward, to the rear door of the house. She said, “You have to get out of here. Right now. It’s not dead and it will kill you.”

“Mother, I’m not going anywhere without you and I want to first know what in the hell this creature is talking about.” They heard a noise in the other room.

“It is your FATHER, my dear. He was exposed to a huge dose of radiation when he was working as a scientist in a lab at the university and, for some reason, he did not die. The doctors initially told him that blood transfusions from someone with his own blood antibodies might not only save him but restore him to his former self. But, it’s been too long and he has lost what was left of his mind and escaped from the facility.”

There was scuffling, a dragging noise, and some growling from the other room. I was crying and walked straight to the telephone, dialing the university. I was able to reach the lab, right as the creature who was my father drug himself through the door, growling and screaming as he came. The wound in his chest was almost closed. My mother started screaming and placed herself in front of me. I was determined to reach the lab and get someone to come get him. Then, I would donate my blood to him.

I was on hold, waiting on a Dr. Holden to answer. My father was within 10 feet of my mother and I and reaching his long arms out toward us, trying to knock my mother out of the way. She kept hitting him with the bat she held in her hands. Finally, Dr. Holden answered and I stammered out what was going on. Dr. Holden said the police would be there immediately in order to sedate and pick up my father and return him to the lab.

At that moment, my father brutally knocked my mother out of the way and she fell hard 20 feet away. In one hand, I had the phone. In the other hand, I had my knife. My father and I were face to face. I talked. I tried to tell him that I was going to give him my blood. That help was on the way. He cocked his head back and forth, back and forth. I thought he might understand what I was saying. I heard sirens in the background coming ever closer. Dr. Holden was screaming on the phone, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I heard my mother moaning. I could tell she was terribly hurt.  My hand tightened on the knife.

I heard the law enforcement officers pull up to the house right as my father reached for me and I raised the knife. That’s the last thing I heard.

 


 

Posted in romance, Uncategorized

A Dr. Seuss Quote

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A quote to end the weekend:

You know you’re in love when you don’t want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. – Dr. Seuss

Love and light to everyone. I hope you’ve all felt like that. Have a good week!

Rosemary