It has been a LOOOOONG time!

I hope all of you are doing well and keeping it healthy/groovy these days.

It's been almost two years since my last post. My locks are 3yrs/3mos young and I am loving them more and more each day. Whenever I look in the mirror, I am reminded that locking was one of the best decisions I made for hair, body and mind!

My locks are a bit longer than this picture (note to self - upload more current pics). It took 2 years for my ends to seal. I have a few that are sealed with a wispy coil on the end. They each are doing there own thing and I let them be. That makes for a good relationship.

Maintenance - I recently started no retwist after shampoo/condition. I just separate, braid 3-4 locks and wear that style for 3-4 days. Then I take the braids out for a full-look with lots of body.

Until next time love,peace&sunflowers to you all!

I Did Not Keep My Word

I know. I said I was going to get better with posting...I digressed :( I have been lurking on other blogs and not posting a comment. Bad, bad friend of blogger!

The summer quarter of school will be done on Sunday, 12 midnight. My plan is to post to my blog on Sunday :| "We shall see," said the flee.

peace&blessings ~robinc

Pardon this interruption whilst I post for this grad school assignment...

An Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a conceptual blueprint that defines that structure and opeation of an organization. The intent of an Enterprise Archtecture is to determine how an organization can most effectively achieve its current and future objectives (http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid182_gci1081274,00.html).

Michael Pratt views Enterprise Archtecture as containing four points of view:

1. The Business Perspective - defines the processes and starndards by which the business operates on a day-to-day basis.
2. The Application Perspective - defines the interactions among the processes and standards used by the organization.
3. The Information Perspective - defines and classifies the raw data that the organization requires in order to efficiently operate.
4. The Technology Perspective - defines the hardware, operating systems, programming, and network solutions used by the organization.

Some feel the advantages of an Enterprise Architecture include; improved decision making, imporved adaptability to changing demands or market conditions, elimination of inefficient and redundant processess, optimization of the use of organizational assets, and minimization of employee turnover.

Roger Sessions, CTO of ObjectWatch, Inc, wrote a white papter entitled, "The Comparison of the Top Four Enterprise-Architecture Methodologies." Sessions states that, initially, the field of Enterprise Architecture began to address two problems; systems complexity and poor business alignment. He states that many Enterprise Architectural methodologies have come and gone,but at this point 90 percent of the IT field use one of these four methodologies:

1. The Zachman's Framework for Enterprise Archtecture
2. The Open Group Architecural Framework (TOGF)
3. The Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA)
4. The Gartner Methodology

Even though these four methologies, according to Sessions, approach Enterprise Architecture in four different ways, they all contain Pratts four points of view: the business perspective, the application perspective, the information perspective, and the technology perspective.

Today is the last day of the Winter Session and I kept my commitment...

Well, today is the last day of the Winter Session at school. I get a 2 week break before the Spring Session. I don't know what I was thinking about when I graduated from undergrad school! It definitely was not graduate school...my future...2 children...BILLS...ETC!!! So far I have an A for one of my courses (busness information systems, of course - that is my major :) ). My statistics professor is keeping me in stitches. All I need is 125 points to get an A. I AM DYING OVER HERE PROFESSOR! POST THE GRADE PLEASE! ALL EYES ON ME! POST THE GRADE PLEASE! I am normally not selfish...only during the final grading period :)

My gift to myself for doing so well this quarter ( it is really a coincidence, but who's noticing) I go to see my favorite loctician this weekend - SHARON! I can't wait to sit in her client chair and not have to think about school work! (I need to contact her to confirm my appointment. I hope we are still on.)

Stay tuned to my next post. I have some great news to share!

peace&blessings ~robinc

Managing My Time

I know that I have not posted in a minute...okay, a month. My time management has gone amuck (did I spell that right?). Graduate school has been a beast this quarter. Next week is the end of the winter quarter and I get 2 week off before the next quarter begins. So, I promise to do a couple of things:

• get a handle on managing my time better
• post more often on my blog and blogs that I follow
• clean-up my email ( I am so behind on those)
• get back to my exercises in the morning before work
• clean-up my house (at least make a GOOD stab at it)
• do more cooking at home

I found out last week that I may possibly be done with graduate school Spring of 2010. You heard me, I will have my Masters in Information Systems one year from now! I am super excited! There are some data-developer and data-management classes that I want to take which will take another year, but I will graduate next Spring! This means that I will be able to start working on my Ph.D. sooner than I had planned!

A co-worker/friend sent me an article 2 weeks ago. It stated that there has been a study done that resultd in women increasing their chances of living longer if they have an optimistic view on life, http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2009/03/09/trust_me____the_glass_is_half_full/. Check out what it said about African American women, "These differences were more extreme in black women: optimists had a 44 percent lower risk of cancer-related death and cynically hostile women had a 142 percent higher risk of cancer death." More study needed to be done, but thus far I am elated on the results.

My MISM and Ph.D. will not just be a quiet accomplishment of personal satisfaction, but can assist me in making my mark on this earth, in this life.

Well that is all for now. I have got to finish my two final projects, online final, and study for my statistics final.

Next post will be the late evening of Thursday, March 26.

peace&blessings ~robinC

I found someone that made me fall in love with my locks again!

I want to apologize for not posting more often. Graduate school is kicking me in rear this semester and next semester I may possibly take two classes online. I took a midterm last Wednesday that was four hours long. I am reading so much that it is affecting my already handicapped (I wear glasses) eye sight. So, my post will not be many, but I will try to not let too much time past in between posts.

Now that I have that out of the way...

Look at what someone with experience and a love of their craft did for me:






Front view of the before















Back view of the before






Now feast your eyes on this...










Front veiw of the after















Back view of the after



Sharon McGhee is one of the nicest people that I have met. She is a true credit to her craft. She loves what she does and it shows. Sharon has no idea how grateful I am to have her take me on as a client. I was getting very frustrated with my locs and Sharon saved me from making a very, very, very BIG mistake.

If you live or are in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area and you are looking for a very professional, caring, nice, and talented Sisterlock Consultant, who in addition to sisterlocks, also offers maintenance on traditional locks that are interlocked, you may want to give Sharon a call. Please email me for her contact information.

THANK YOU SHARON! SEE YOU IN FOUR WEEKS!

Sharon's Pix from the Sisterlock Brunch on Jan 18, 2009

Sharon asked that I include her pix from the meet-up to my blog! We had such a good time. Can't you tell by the smiles on their faces?!

We had such a wonderful time getting to know each other...

This is a good photo!

I really need to figure that camera out...Sharon these are great pics!

Sharon these pix put my pix to shame (we have the same camera)! I have got to figure out what I am doing wrong with my camera - other than the fact that I dropped in on the concrete last summer :/