Sweet Begeezus, Where does the Time Go?

Once again, I am quite deficient in the update of my Blog. My best blogging usually occurs during work lunch hour, but I have been so busy at work that lunch is a fleeting bite of a sandwich as I pass my desk. Hence, blogging has been on the back burner for quite sometime now.

Let's see, things have been absolutely crazy since we returned from vacation. While I was on vacation several major changes occurred at work. Most notably, would the quitting of my counter-part lab guru for our satellite campus. He was overworked, and had good reasons for hanging up his lab coat, but I can't say that it is a bad thing he is gone. He was not an efficient worker in any sense of the word and he needed much prodding to get some stuff done. It is not in my job title to prod him to get his job done, but if it didn't get done, I would end up getting calls or being needed at most inopportune times of my daily schedule. Now that he is gone though, this creates a vacancy which desperately needs to be filled. It is now a fulltime position rather than half-time. I don't know if he (the previous lab person) knew the job was going to full time this Fall or not. I know that was one of his complaints though.

I am on the committee for the interview and selection. I really don't care for that kind of work, but it is good experience and looks good on a resume being involved in that sort of thing. Also, since I know the job better than anybody else on campus, it would be foolish of me not be on the committee since I am sure I will be working closely with this person for a while. All of this is going of course during this absolutely crazy move we are embarking upon this summer. In short, chemistry will be the only subject that gets temporary buildings. Physics and geology will be housed in other rooms on campus. They aren't happy about it, but are willing to make sacrifices for a new year while we get a new building. With all the changes and the late order of the portable buildings we will not be ready to hold chemistry labs until September 18th. Fall semester begins August 21st. It was decided to keep the curriculum full for the students, that we extend chemistry classes by 30 minutes. All students were contacted and miraculously enough, this only interfered with 4 students schedules. They will be handled under special circumstances. So, the packing and purging continue. I still can't believe how much there is to do. I couldn't pack a whole lot during the summer session because we had labs going on and I needed the stuff for classes. Enough griping. I am fully resolved to this semester being entirely chaotic. I just buy a ticket for the train ride each day, destination unknown. I am not going to stress over it at all. A person can only do so much. Besides, if they give me too much crap, I may just walk. Right over to Missouri!

One good thing during this move at work, my nephew Brad is working with me, and he is helping out a lot! Thank you Brad. Also, we just finished listening to HP "The Half Blood Prince". I had listened to this last year, and he hadn't finished reading it, so he opted to listen to it with me. I have all the books read by Jim Dale on CD. They are wonderful! They are perfect for my 45 minute ride to work. I have never cracked a page of the HP books. He does such a good job with them. On the relisten for me, I picked up several things I had missed the first go around and cemented in a few thoughts I have already on the issue. There is much to sew up in the final book. I can hardly wait for that to come out, but it will be a while for that. Also, movie 5 is under way. I always wondered who they were going to get to play Delores Umbridge and I think they picked a good one! Imelda Staunton is their choice. I think she will do a fine job. I hope the movie has you hating her as much as the book does. She is an evil woman!

Speaking of Missouri. My hubby did not get the job interview this go around. He did last time they had this job open, but he didn't go to the interview. I think that hurt him this go around. They probably figured he would not come again, and it wasted an interview slot that someone else could fill. Hubby would have gone this time around though. Oh well, what can you do?

Apparently hubby got us locked into getting the kids pets. I don't know how it started, but on vacation, I suddenly heard the kids asking their dad, "will this cost from my cat (or dog)?" I had no idea what this meant, but apparently they had asked him about getting pets and he had said yes, if they behave on vacation. Lyd wants a kitty, and Roo wants a Beagle. We knew a dog for him was going to be inevitable at some point. He really, really wants one, and has done so for quite some time. Unfortunately, over the July 4th holiday week, our neighbors (hubby's sister and family) next door had asked us to watch their dogs. They have a Beagle and Roo would always "borrow" him and bring him over to play. It was just about the only attention the poor dog got, so we were happy to borrow him any time. This particular dog (Shiloh) was very afraid of fireworks. He couldn't escape fast enough and it didn't matter how he got out, or where he was was going. He would always get out in maniacal panic. On the 4th, we locked him up in their garage so he couldn't get out. The poor guy was so anxiety ridden he must have chewed 30 holes in stuff while the bangs of fireworks drove him into a frenzy. We would have just brought him in the house, but he wasn't house broken, so no house for him. A few nights later after the 4th, there were apparently more fireworks going off. Shiloh dug under the fence and escaped. We did not know this as it occurred during the night. To make a long story short, I get a call from my sis-in-law (she is gone on vacation), and she tells me Shiloh had gotten out and was hit by a car and killed. I had no idea, and I guess animal control picked him up early in the morning and looked up the dog (who was a known criminal at animal control for his frequency escapes) and called her on her cell phone. Hell of a vacation, huh? They were fairly heartbroken over it. I had to tell my kids. Lyd and Roo took the news rather well. They did have a good cry about it, but once they were done with it, they were resolved. Roo was so cute though, with his big eyes stained with tears, he asked, "can we take flowers to the curb where he was hit?" His little heart was breaking but he had to pay tribute to his "best dog ever". I have to admit, as far as a dog with kids, Shiloh was excellent. He never turned a mean tooth on them, or even a growl. He wasn't the brightest dog, but he was perfect for the kids. Now, we are going to get him his beagle. About three weeks before Shiloh was hit he had asked me for a dog with great big crying sobs. I asked him, "well, do you know what you have to do for a dog?". He said yes, and in between sobs and with a quivering voice told me, "well, (sob) you have to feed him, (sob) you have to water him, (sob)(sob) you have to train him (sob), you have to exercise him (sob), you have to clean up their (sob) poop, (loud sobs), and...then MOOssst important, you haveta LOVE him a WHOOOOLLE LOT!" I practically turned the car around right then to go get a dog. The darn kid was breaking my heart. So, keep your eyes peeled for kitty and puppy updates.

Hubby and I have been married for 16 years, as of July 28th. The day came and went without us paying much tribute to the event. We were both quite tired, and just took a nice shower together and then lay in bed talking for a while about the changes through the years. We finally went out to dinner last night and just had a nice out. I still can't believe that 16 years have gone by since the warm July day at La Purisima Mission . We got married by the fountain in picture number three of the La Purisima Fountain and Gardens Heading. Actually, this site gives a great pictorial tour of the entire mission. I grew up not far from this mission. My brother Steve (who turns 38 tomorrow), and my best friends from next door would hang for hours there playing and helping the rangers. We swam a few times in those fountains at the mission too. Who could resist on a hot day? J and I took a particularly good jump into one well one summer. What a complete riot. Anyway, I recall there would be weddings on occasion there and I said I would always get married there.


Done for today. That was a rather random blog, but alas an update nevertheless.