Research, research, oh how I love to research

Those of you who know me IRL know how much I like to research random stuff and currently I am working on researching two things. The first research project I am working on is researching my great-grandmother Margaret "Maggie" Smith. This project will probably be put off until the summer though so that I will be able to go to the Big Bend National Park and do some research there. My other research project is about teaching history. I figured since that is what I am planning on teaching, I might as well get started on researching different teaching methods and philosophies about history. I will be focusing more on researching how to teach history this semester since that is honestly easier research than looking up information on my great-grandmother.

I nearly had a happy attack today when I went into ASU's library and found about 20 books on teaching history and social studies. Some of the ones I found are pretty interesting, but a lot of them were really boring and uninteresting. One that I really heavily disliked seemed like the author was talking down to the reader, but the one I liked the best seemed like he was being open and friendly with the reader (plus he wrote a lot of awesome quotes about history). I am gonna check out a few of the books that I really enjoyed and sit down with a notebook and write down all of the tips that I really like and think are useful, and I will probably list them in a later blog. *happy dance* This is gonna be so much fun!

And yes, I know I am a dork for getting all excited about researching. >>

Spring Break

Well as planned I haven't had a really eventful spring break, I mostly have spent it hanging around the house with my boyfriend watching TV and stuff like that. My knee is feeling a little better, but it still hurts quite a bit. I have to go with my boyfriend tomorrow on a six hour drive to pick my siblings up from my dad's, but I plan to be riding in the back seat the whole drive with my knee propped up and iced properly. I am actually glad that I have gotten a good bit of homework done this week. All that is left is to read some short stories for my English class and to read a couple books for my comparative history class.

A couple things I learned this week

- My boyfriend is a sweetie, since I can't bend my knee properly to shave my legs myself he helped me shave them (while I was wearing a pair of shorts)

- My family can't just let an abandoned dog be alone. We rescued a little black scottie this week that I have dubbed Toto.

- I get headaches easily for some reason, especially when my knee is hurting.

Ancestry.com and knee pains

Well if you are one of my facebook friends you may have seen my post last week about me starting to research my family on ancestry.com. Let's just say in the span of a few days I have managed to find so much information about my family that it still shocks me. Below are some things I learned about both sides of my family.

Dad's side
1. A lot of my male ancestors on this side fought in the civil war
2. I am descended from Pope Clement VI's brother (who Clement VI made a pope)
3. I am descended from a french aristocratic family
4. Some of my ancestors were original settlers at Plymouth
5. A lot of my ancestors on this side were either Irish, German, French, or British

Mom's side
1. A lot of the men on this side faked their age to serve in the military (including my grandfather)
2. The majority of my ancestors on this side came from Ireland and Britain
3. One of my ancestors on this side was a Tennessee militia man and a colonial soldier
4. A lot of my male ancestors have the exact same name, and this makes discussing them or finding info on just one of them very hard
5. It is hard to find info on my Great-grandfather's side of the family

On a less fun note, for the past few weeks my knee has been hurting so bad it seems like that crazy lady from Stephen King's Misery has gone after my knee (I forgot her name at the moment). Turns out that I have cartilage wearing on my right knee so bad that if I was older the doctor would recommend that I have surgery. He said I also had some in my left knee. I am supposed to go see him for a MRI later this month, but because next week is spring break I will be taking advantage of my week off and using next week to stretch and relax my knee as much as possible to help it heal. The doctor I went to works at WTMA, and he was really nice. He told me to take two Aleve every morning and another two every evening (I need to get some tomorrow at HEB), a couple exercises that will help strengthen my knee and hopefully lessen the pain, and he gave me a couple tips about how to change my daily habits to lessen the pain.

Changing up my blog

Well due to the lack of time I have to research for my web show, I am going to change my blog into a more normal blog. This means that I will be trying to post every 1-2 weeks about things that are going on in my life like school, work, and etc. I am doing this mostly because I am going to the doctor this week to have my knee (that has been hurting pretty bad for nearly three weeks now) to have it checked out. I am going to be using my blog to update my family and friends about what is going on with my knee, and if I have to get surgery on my knee I will be using this blog to update my family and friends on my recovery and rehab.

Working at the Tutoring Center

Well I am now officially a tutor at the tutoring center, and I have to say I enjoy it so far. It's not super busy, but when I am not tutoring I am able to study and surf the web. I have actually only had one person come in for tutoring from me so far this week, but I am happy with only one person coming in. I enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the tutoring center, and I defiantly look forward to working here for (hopefully) the rest of my time here as an ASU student.