A Bit of a Fun Station Break

So the weightloss has stopped...right before hitting the 170 that I crave but as an entertaining diversion I had a great day at work (meeting with all kinds of fun workshop planning which I love). I gave the term final exam to my math class. Made two year bandiversary appointments for next Thursday at my surgeons office (a bit of a moan about that in a bit). Put the August paper to bed that I write for (volunteer) and finally...attended a coolarific neighborhood luau.

Work-I have finally signed a contract and now on the payroll at our local (and only a 15 minute drive away) university. It is a part time gig planning, collecting data for and doing some research on a grant project the department has gotten. Another part of the job is to assist in program planning and act as an adviser for graduate students. I love good collaboration and we had a program planning meeting on Tuesday that was really inspiring and fun to participate in.

My other job this summer has been to teach a half online half Saturday pre-calculus class at my local community college. Today was the final (Yippeee)..I managed to get all of the papers graded and grades calculated this afternoon and just need ot upload them tomorrow. Next term I am slotted to teach the course again and teach mathematics for elementary school teachers (I love this class so am looking forward to it).

The Doctors Appointment-On Thursday I attempted to make my two year anniversary appointment but failed to penetrate the receptionist force fields of the front desk. Instead of an appointment with my surgeon I got a fill appointment with a nurse practitioner. Instead of pre-arranging another deposit of data for the research study that I thought I was a part of...I got a n0 reply to my phone message and a survey in the mail asking me how my participation and information given by those conducting the study have been. I am not giving them high reviews. I am soo irritated and worked up now that I am going to call on Monday and cancel the appointment and demand to see my proper doctor and not some pass off last minute pinch hitter of a medical person.

The Newspaper-A few months ago I volunteered to write for our neighborhood newspaper. I really don't know what I was thinking as I barely got anything written for my old job but for some reason a good bit of journalism has caused my literary juices to flow and I have cranked out an article on the local July 4th festivities, three articles on the homeowners association arguments and goings on. and one on our neighborhood yearly night-out barbecues. It has been kind of fun to run around the neighborhood meeting people who I have lived near for 10 years and not really talked to before. I get to take pictures for my stories and collaborate with the other volunteer newspaper crew in planning stories, editing etc. Again another fun collaboration. We put our August issue to bed last night and will begin the September issue in a few days.

The Luau-For ten years the neighborhood I live in has offered a variety of fun activities of which I could have taken part...I didn't really. Grace did swim team and I sat and watched last year. For 10 years I showed up at the 4th of July firework show, watched the parade and even judged the floats a time or two but this year I have taken a much more active role in things. I walked the parade with the swim team, spend two hours serving up snow cones at the recreation center festivities, attended a jazz concert and spent many a warm day sitting poolside with my knitting while Grace swam. Tonight they held a luau. For 10 dollars we showed up at the recreation center for pulled pork, sweet and sour meatballs, macaroni salad, cole slaw, fruit preceded by wine (we carried our own) and were entertained by a full troop of Hawaiian dancers and even a fire dancer.

Finally for those of you who have waited with baited breath for someone to notice the weightloss...I had two people say it looked like i had lost weight. Uh..yeah duh just a little :) it is funny but still nice anyway.