Sports Sunday Fun Day: Maligayang Bati, Papa Jun!

♪Happy ☼Birthday☼♫ to my Dad today!

Go, *Dallas Cowboys* this NFL ☼Sunday!

Throwback: Papa Jun & I en route to our *Dallas Cowboys* game against the Philly Eagles during the ‘BOYS‘ first season at its new home field (then-Cowboys Stadium/now-AT&T Stadium)

Just like any fortunate child who has grown up with a father or paternal figure, I feel extremely †blessed† and grateful to still have mine as a constant part of my life.

Throwback: Papa Jun & I have a good view of *America’s Team* and *America’s Sweethearts from 6 rows behind the end zone!

Papa Jun is one of the most well-rounded people who I know and admire:

• He was a hardworking country boy in his side of the family’s province in the Philippines 
• He served over two decades in the *United States Air Force* both Stateside and overseas
• He continued his almost two-decade aviation career after retiring from the military
• He stays active as he plays tennis and roots on our football and basketball teams
• He taught me many fundamentals, from math to car maintenance to politics

Even as an adult, I still keep learning from my Dad, who always enlightens me everyday, through his example and his wisdom as a prayerful soon-to-be first-time grandfather with whom I attended Church today. Cheers, Pops!

Maligayang Bati, Papa Jun, at ♥Mahal♥ Kita!

✌ R.I.P., Flip Saunders of the NBA ✌

Study Saturday: Conscientiousness

During this week’s conference call with my dissertation chair, she called me

conscientious.

I not only accepted this ~ to ♥heart♥ and absolutely at face value ~ as the best compliment from her (when we were discussing the running and re-running of my statistics for my research results) but also am ensuring that I live up to this standard.

St. Joseph the Worker †prayer† that contains the word conscientiously from my Doctor of Philosophy friend who I idolize

When my cohort members and I were admitted into our doctoral program, conscientiousness* happened to be one of the personality traits for which we tested and that we studied in our leadership theories literature. It comes from the (1b) Big Five psychometric assessment that uses the “OCEAN” acronym:

• Openness (or Originality)
• *Conscientiousness (or Consolidation)
• Extroverion ~ I’ve also consistently tested high for this in the (2) Myers-Briggs (as an ENFJ for Extraversion • Intuition • Feeling • Judging) both when I took it as a psych minor for my undergrad and again in doc school
• Agreeableness (or Accommodation)
• Neuroticism (or Emotional Instability) ~ the reverse of this attribute as leaders and doc students is ideal to deal

According to the (1a) instrument provided by my doctoral degree program, someone who is conscientious is “achievement”-oriented and “self-disciplined” ~ so this implies that conscientiousness involves intentions (definitely something for which I strive).

Currently, my conscientiousness has stuck with me through school ~ as both a scholar and an educator!

Throwback: Some timing that Grey’s Anatomy premiered its 12th season this week ~ I actually reported on it during my 1st year of doc coursework (my Grad Cat is the #PhotoBomb #BombDotCom shortly before baby sis Stat Cat‘s birth Annie-versary) ~ this is an example of a presentation aid that I just covered with my speech students

This past week, I taught my students about literary terms, so I tied them into ♪music♫ and pop culture:

Asyndeton in ♫George Strait‘s ♪The Chair♪

Irony in ♫Alanis Morissette‘s ♪Ironic♪

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication in Jeremy Lin‘s How to Fit in the NBA

Personification plus Alliteration and Assonance in Funny Face that featured Audrey Hepburn!

If it (Quality magazine) won’t speak to me, it won’t speak to them.

~ Ms. Prescott, Editor-in-Chief

D for

• Down * Dreary * Dull * Depressing * Dismal and * Deadly

Banish the Black * Burn the Blue * Bury the Beige

• Think pink * Red is dead * Blue is through * Green‘s obscene * Brown’s too boo

Now I know that my advisor wasn’t trying to flatter me, but her acknowledgment meant encouragement … of the ♥heart.

I challenge you fellow servants and leaders to consider which personality traits that you have in order to enhance your strengths and improve from your weaknesses!

Site Sources

1. Big Five/OCEAN: http://ipip.ori.org/ and http://oaks.nvg.org/big-five.html
2. Myers-Briggs: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

Another Reference (when I minored in psychology)

Oldham, J. M., & Morris, L. B. (1995). The new personality self-portrait: Why you think, work, love, and act the way you do. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

Addendum

After I helped lead my †Church† in prayer at Vigil Mass, Fr. Bob, our Pastor, greeted me as “Soon-to-be Dr. Dispo” ~ to which I replied, “GOD-willing,” and “to glorify GOD.”

Happy Belated Birthday to our Fr. Kumar, our Parochial Vicar!

Working Woman’s Wednesday: GOD’s Work

No matter what job we hold, as long as we are doing GOD‘s work, we truly are serving our ultimate purpose.

So why complain?

Bishop Mike pointed this out to me during my visit with him four weeks ago.

As we approach Easter, we celebrate the most ♥loving♥ gesture of †JESUS CHRIST†, who kept going, knowing that his hardships were well worth it.

Therefore, I am taking off from anything career-related out of respect for our Savior in his most selfless sacrifice.

Our LORD rested upon creating goodness, so we ought to follow in His and His son’s examples ~ as well as Joseph, his earthly father and Patron Saint of Workers.

Meanwhile, I’ll reflect on the rewards that I’ve reaped from my professional pursuits:

Becca‘s No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake (adopted from Martha Stewart Recipe ~ added honey)

• Yesterday, I wrapped up one year of photographing at the hospitals by training my newbie who I interviewed and selected last month to replace me in order to devote more time to my dissertation (on my way to my doctoral degree in 2015) ~ she always smiles and has a sparkling personality, is eager to learn, so I bear confidence that she’s the perfect fit

My new photographer also was fond of these cookies from our hospital bakery: PB * Chocolate Chip * White Chocolate Macadamia Nut

• Recently, my college students presented their informative speech, in which they demonstrated a process, and I was impressed by their work

• 

  No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Demo Speech ~ complete with ingredients!

* An added bonus is that one of my students not only played in last football postseason’s state championship, but he also is delivering a speech as valedictorian (I’ve been proud to have other valedictorians in the past) at their graduation (I also have another from last ☼summer☼ who will speak at her graduation as the student body president)

I couldn’t resist digging in instead of making it keep looking picture perfect! It was perfectly delicious!

Moral of this story: I feel blessed to be surrounded by hard workers!

I was about to have a mini slice of Heaven, but ended up taking more out of my dream pie!

Thirsty Thursday: Pray Hard

Play as hard as you work.

My techie buddy has advised me to do something to this effect, to which I said, “not until I become doctor.”

Throwback Thursday: Pie Chart to track my PhD progress & Doctorate pen to sign when I pass my dissertation defense to become Doctor

Since I’d prefer to stay close to †GOD† and pave my way to Heaven, I’ll switch it up a bit …

Pray as hard as you work!

Now that, I can do. Lately, I’ve noticed myself feeling more inclined to stick with working on my studies than leading a social life (I’d leave parties early, cancel outings, etc.) ~ the one interruption from my dissertation would be a welcome one:

to pray, or ♪♫sing♪♫ a ♫♪hymn♫♪ or a ♫♪Psalm♪♫, which pretty much still will be to pray anyway.

Dr. Díaz pointed out that his own research was something that he happily woke up to and fell asleep dreaming about. My AF pilot friend suggested that my Catholic school goal could almost be an obsession, or at least a positive pursuit that consumes my soul ~ my Ph.D. has been my life and the major step toward that ambition, yet it has been a most prayerful part.

Rather than praying for my own wants or needs, I keep seeking †GOD‘s will†

[youtube:http://youtu.be/AmFM4jZasvs%5D

Sports Sunday: Super Bowl Media

Here are my speech students’ and my favorite Super Bowl XLIX dosages of sports communication coverage:

• Becca’s Media Day story

Marshawn Lynch answers every question the same way | FOX Sports

• Chandler‘s “by far favorite SB interview”

• Shelby‘s “favorite and the cutest Super Bowl Commercial”

• Ms. D‘s “fave Super Bowl commercial”