Happy Sunday!

Ahhh . . . Fall daylight savings . . . I'm revelling in feeling caught up with sleep (slept 12 hours Friday night -- I was VERY tired after a rough week at work + a sinus infection).

I've had a great weekend. Major bonding with my ignored and abused cats (at least if you listen to them. . .). Major sleep, which was my #1 goal. Started washing my winter sweaters. Finally kicked my sinus infection (or at least am starting to kick it). Very happy to be headache free for the first time in a week. Just submitted my online assignment for my online class.

I also worked a lot (big surprise there), had to finish up a LOT of work for an NIH grant proposal that's due on Tuesday.

Just watched a pretty sad Grey's Anatomy. It makes me miss my clinical days, though, sad or not. I have to say TV really stunk this weekend -- no old monster movies! I wanted to watch Frankenstein or Dracula or some other great movie from the 30's. OH WELL. How's this for weird, Bigfoot sightings in Oklahoma. I'm hooked, must watch this dumb show immediately.

I'm having more concrete thoughts about what I want to write. At least the theme. How's that for a teaser? Now I'm thinking through possible plots. More will follow, I'm sure!

NEARLY THERE

This is my THIRD attempt to not lose this post .... bad karma or something today ....

anyway

WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Just finished my FINAL paper for my 2nd to the last class for my degree!!!

Just a little more than a month from now, I will have a degree. Can't wait.

I'm also excited because my best best friend is visiting weekend after this. Yea!

I'm tired, it's late, it's an ugly day at work tomorrow. Off to sleep.

But first, the above photo is the annual Halloween parade from the small town I grew up in. The 5th kid from the left is in a gorilla mask and costume (Sears and Roebuck catalog costume that then become pajamas). That's my brother! I think this was probably in 1972 or 1973. How time flies!!!!

Fall Sunday Update

So I roasted a yam, red potatoes and a yukon gold, all cubed up and tossed in olive oil/sea salt/pepper/thyme/rosemary. YUM. The house was smelling good.

Also roasted my pumpkin, cooled, peeled, and it's now in the freezer.

Also, made "mac and cheese" with my favorite handrolled pasta, ricotta/parmesan sauce, baked it off at the end, froze a bunch for those nights I need comfort food. VERY yummy.

Very food oriented day. It's been a long time since I buried myself in the kitchen. Definitely fun.

Fall Sunday

I love Fall!

This is my favorite season. Chill in the mornings. Crisp in the evenings. Leaves changing colors. Roasted vegetables. Fireplaces. Pumpkins. Apples. Darker earlier. Need I say more?

My cats are loving Fall, too. I have the glass doors open (screen door closed!) to the balcony. Fiona's on the top shelf of the cat "condo," huge smile on her face, sniffing, sniffing, sniffing the air. Molly hasn't sat still long enough yet today to appreciate the gorgeous day.

I really wish I had a yard for these girls.

I was watching The Horse Whisperer yesterday (first time I've seen it!) and fantasizing about living in Montana or Wyoming or Idaho on my own spread. Clean, fresh air. No traffic jams. No all night long sirens. No smog. Well water. Trees!

I've been thinking about this a LOT for the last couple of years, ever since a class exercise asked us to envision our future -- 10 years, five years, one year. I went into it expecting to see myself as a Medical School dean, and then the intermediate steps to get there. Instead, when I went deep within myself, I saw myself living on a farm with my husband and kids, cats and dogs, chickens and rabbits and a cow etc., writing for a living, growing my own food, maybe consulting via email/internet on the side. Wow. That really is what I want in my heart of hearts. Of course, I don't have a husband and kids. The rest I can pull together when I start focusing on it.

I've always written. Wrote my first stories as a little kid, and still have stories from jr. high and high school. I haven't written fiction in a long time, which is what I'd like to do. Every now and then, I start something, it sucks, and I stop. It's been hard to tap into my muse, let alone no time to do so, with school, which I've been completely consumed by for the last four years. But I'll have my degree in December, and want to get something written before school starts again in February.

I'm also driven by my increasing concern about my parents, both of whom are now >65, approaching 70 (how did that happen??!!??). Dad's a work horse, I tell you, always going, never stops, but what if something happens to him? What will Mom do? Mom, however, isn't in good health, is increasingly confused, and it breaks my heart to talk with her on the phone these days. She seems to think that Lost is a reality show, and I can't seen to correct that impression. Conversations now last two hours with her, because she's repeating things so many times, each time starting with, "Oh, I haven't told you this yet!"

My folks will never live in the city. I don't particularly want to live in their little tiny town, but perhaps they would move with me to the mountains. Hard to say, though. Worse comes to worse, I could buy the place across from theirs. They have five acres. This place has five or 10 acres. Dad could continue to farm the walnuts from this place (which he does now, since the owner's away most of the year). I could do major gardening (this place even has a greenhouse attached to the house), writing, and some consulting. My cats would be in HEAVEN.

I'm also sick of living in an area that's unaffordable to live in. $750,000 for a two bedroom house with no yard? That's ridiculous. When I can afford to buy at all, it will be a one bedroom condo on the wrong side of town. No thanks.

There are my musings for the week. I'm getting ready for a conference that I'm going to on Saturday-Tuesday. Thursday's MY LAST CLASS for my in person class. Yea! My online class ends first or second week of December, then I will be a college graduate! Yea! My car's back from the shop (replaced brakes), no more rental Kia, yea! I did my grocery shopping and library trip yesterday, so really don't have to go anywhere today, yea! I'm going to roast potatoes, yams and pumpking today, to eat all week (yea!). I think I'll also make one of my favorite salads: corn, black eyed peas, onions, peppers, quinoa, tossed with a hot sauce/honey dressing. Yea!

Fall is here -- yea!!!

So tired I can't sleep

I hate that!

I'm happy to report that I FINALLY BEAT CASTLEVANIA: LAMENT OF INNOCENCE!!!!!

Addiction is a terrible thing.

Geeky addiction is even worse.

Can I also admit that I'm leaving work Tuesday morning at 9:30 to go buy Castlevania DS (Tuesday's its release date) -- I am so totally excited. WHADDAGEEKEYEAM. And proud of it.

Work is kicking my behind. Doing my usual job, which is really a job for two, + the course manager job (read last post), means I get to work at 8:30 or so, leave for home at 7:30-7:45, log on and work until midnight from my comfy bed. Except for Wed nights, when I'm madly writing a paper or presentation due Thurs night. And except for Thursdays, when I rush out of work ~4-4:30, feeling like a slacker, and sitting in class until 10pm, going home and usually working for an hour or so.

BUT, I think I finally have a direction for managing the course. This is a HUGE course, by the way, two years running simultaneously, required for all first and second year med students, very intricate, complex and difficult to manage. With LOTS and LOTS of problems related to infrastructure, underperforming staff, and multiple levels of miscommunication. Only one of the years is a major problem, so I'm focusing on that year, and am going to have to retrain the coordinator in things like email management, communication skills, time management, computer skills, etc. I'm also reorganizing (no one can find anything), setting up regular staff and faculty meetings, and questioning everything (I'm hearing a lot of "I assumes," and "that's the way we've always done it," and "I don't know").

Hence, wide awake while exhausted at 2:38 a.m.

One of the phenomena I'm seeing in ALL of the staff in my office (one exempt, one temp, four non-exempt) is a pattern of refusal to follow through. For instance, one of the supposed "stars" in my office (I've changed my mind in the last two months, due to literal whining, refusal to follow through, "I just assumed" in every sentence) will NOT check on details. She just refuses. I try my usually successful Socratic dialogue:

• "How will we know if the conference room already has a projector and laptop set up?"
• "The website says it's wired."
• "What does that mean?"
• "I'm assuming it means there's a projector and laptop."
• "What do we do if there isn't?"
• "They have to have it -- the website says it does."
• "What does 'wired' mean to you?"
• "That the room has everything we need."
• "What is a wire?"
• Look of utter annoyance and growing anger . . . just remember I'm her boss's boss
• "Here's what I'd like not to hear anymore: 'I assume.' What I want to hear is how you're going to confirm that there is a laptop and projector already installed and set up for use in that room."
• "I've already done that."
• "Actually, 'wired' normally means that a network connection exists, and has nothing to do with equipment."
• "I'm assuming the conference room coordinator will make sure we have what we need."
• "How will she know what we need?"
• "The agenda for the meeting says that powerpoint presentations will be made."
• "OK, we've spent 15 minutes dickering over this. I want you to either talk with the room coordinator about our needs and confirm that the needed equipment exists. If you can't or won't do that, I want you to walk to the room and look at the equipment and set up. Let me know what you find out by tomorrow evening."

She told me the next day that the equipment existed.

The day before the conference, one of the conference staff reported that only one of the four rooms had the necessary equipment, and this staff member was irate that she had to obtain laptops, and why didn't someone check that earlier?

I nearly went through the roof.

That's it for now. Management is so much fun!