Caleb is off to Philmont Scout Ranch

Yesterday Caleb left for Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. I managed to somehow get some pictures of him. He was being super silly in the picture on the left. Then the picture on the right was taken in the car by surprise, but I actually got a smile!I cried when he left. This is the longest I will have ever been away from him. I hope he has a fabulous time and stays safe and happy!

In 15 days I'll see him again!

The #1 most talked about subject in the world

I knew it was too good to last but I was hoping for a little more anyway. I am talking about spring. Somebody went and flipped the humidity switch on Wednesday. We lasted two days until I caved and turned the air conditioner on. Although I don't usually pay attention to the actual percent humidity, I do have my own simple hygrometer. There is an asphalt bike path that I take through the park on my way to work. When it rains in the early morning, leaving the pathway wet, the time it takes the pathway to dry out is directly proportional to the humidity. For example, it rained before dawn yesterday and the path was still wet when I rode home yesterday at 4:45 in spite of the fact that it hadn't rained all day. Obviously I am not taking wind or sunlight into account here but still, it was humid yesterday. More of the same for the next 3 and a half months.

Economy woes

It's now been a year since the flood. As I look out my window, I can see cars driving over a bridge that was closed a year ago. Most of the flood damage has been fixed but there are still businesses that have remained closed. The University took a pretty big hit last year also. Several buildings are still closed. One of them, Hancher Auditorium, is going to be rebuilt elsewhere. The problem is that there is no money to rebuild anything. The State Board of Regents projects a shortfall of over 130 million dollars for next year. That means job cuts. Two weeks ago, Iowa City was named as the city with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. Two days after the government released those data, the University announced that it was going to be cutting 200 jobs. At first the cuts were going to be kept within the hospital but now they will be shared by the College of Medicine (my employer). The first two job cuts have already been announced. Two senior nursing administrators have been laid off. A lot of the positions here at the hospital are covered by two unions which will make it nearly impossible for any of the nurses or support staff (clerks, maintainance, etc...) to lose their jobs. However, researchers are not covered under any union contract. I am not sure whether to be worried or not. I probably shouldn't be since I am paid out of grants and not the University's general fund but you can never be sure what administrators are thinking. Their decisions don't always make a lot of long term sense. A lot of the upper-mid level administrators treat their positions as stepping stones to bigger and better things. This means that they generally aren't here for the long term and as such they make decisions that look good (i.e. saving money) in the short term. They want to be able to point to a reduction in costs while department X was under their purview. Unfortunately, while they move on to their supposed bigger and better thing, the rest of us are left here to clean up the mess they caused. I really hope our current batch of administrators have the foresight to do things the right way.

On the bright side, it looks like we just got the NIH grant we applied for a couple of months ago. That will give us 5 years of financial stability in the lab. The fact that we have money in the lab is very comforting and provides us all with a little more security. The University will probably be a little more hesitant to lay off employees that are bringing in significant amounts of money.

There's another teen in the house.

Here are a couple of pictures from last night's festivities.

Nothing like a little candy to soothe the beast.

He still loves legos. These boys of mine can really build. They will spend hours in their room building things that Frank Lloyd Wright only dreamed of.

We always thought Brenden had more than air between his ears but maybe not, his head looks translucent.

One of those weeks

This past week was the start of summer vacation and all the crazy schedules that go with that. There were a lot of appointments this last week and I thought I made it to all of them, then realized I missed Brenden's dental appointment, so I get to reschedule that for this week.

Caleb goes to Philmont in just 2 weeks in New Mexico and he is super excited about that. He saved up $900 to go to that. I am so proud of him for his dedication in saving so he could attend such an awesome event. We bought him boots last week so he could start breaking them in for Philmont. He wears them everywhere. He has size 15 feet so boots were hard to come by. The price to put that boy in shoes is extrodinary. If he gets one size bigger we will have to special order everything for his feet. Caleb is still working at HyVee and does well there.

Daniel is looking for a job since he is now 14. He would rather fish all summer, but that's not going to happen, he needs to start saving money for his mission.

Jared will turn 13 tomorrow and we will officially have 3 teenagers in the house. Can't believe that, it makes me feel so old.

Brenden is finally ungrounded and started fishing with his brothers this week. He is loving it and tells me everyday of how many fish he catches.

Since the children are home and I still teach aerobics during the day I get to bring them with me to my classes. Alyssa and Scott love this because they love the daycare at North Dodge Athletic Club. That daycare was well thought out and has two giant rooms with a seperate attached bathroom. If you are looking for a gym with a great daycare, seriously consider North Dodge, you will be happy.

I taught 9 classes this week and for once I don't feel tired. However my abs really hurt today so I must have worked my class extra hard in Body Sculpt yesterday. I think I'm getting used to teaching 2 classes a day and I love it. Athough the down side of this is I am pretty sure I have an ankle injury. I had an x-ray last week that showed nothing wrong, but the swelling in my ankle continues, so the doctor suggested an MRI. That was done on Friday and I find out tomorrow what is really going on in there. I feel great when teaching, but when laying down with the foot up it throbs. Makes no sense at all.

The Sports Medicine doctor mentioned that she thinks I have some cartilage missing or torn which would cause these problems, she called it something and I forgot what she said. She said if my condition in the ankle is what she thinks it is then I will have to have surgery which would take me out of teaching for 6-8 weeks. However in the next breath she mentioned that some people with the injury she thinks I have go on forever and do nothing about it. So it depends on my pain threshold.

Jason did a 25 mile bike ride yesterday to train for his triatholon coming up in September.

Yesterday I redeemed my Mother's day gift which was a day at the spa. The local beauty college had an awesome "Day of Beauty" thing which was only $40 and included a pedicure, manicure, facial, hair cut and style. The man named Beto who did all the services at the beauty college needed an updo as one of his requirements to graduate so I walked out of there yesterday with this gorgeous updo. So cool. I took pictures that I'll post another time.

This week has lots of fun things planned from library trips to swimming. Yay for summer!!!!

Riding in Style

There are some things I just let go and some things I think about and say nothing, but seriously, get this:

My son Brenden who is in 6th grade has a friend named Jared also in 6th grade.

Today being the last day of school Jared's Mom is throwing a 6th grade party for her son and he was able to invite a few boys.

Last night this Mom calls and says that Brenden will be picked up in a Limousine after school to get to the party.

Seriously.

So at 2:25p.m. right on schedule, here pulls up the limousine to get Brenden. A very large extended hummer limousine. Holy crap, how much did that cost and for a bunch of 10 and 11 year old boys. I don't see why this had to be such a big deal.

It's only a 6th grade graduation party.

What will the High School graduation party be like?

Birds get a bad rap. I know that they tend to irritate me at 4 am when I have left my bedroom window open. Do you know how loud a Cardinal, a Grackle, and a Robin can be right outside your window? The only thing more irritating is the stupid rabbits that have been eating my roses, crocuses, and tulips. I am seriously considering buying a pellet gun. Anyway, back to birds. Their rap is somewhat deserved. They aren't too bright sometimes (bird brains). We had a sparrow fly though the open door of our biology class in high school. Realizing it was inside, it turned around and repeatedly flew into the large, picture window right next to the open door until it killed itself. They are also devious. We have some pigeons that live on top of my building. The other day, I was talking to a friend of mine. I was facing the huge, plate glass windows that are all along one side of the building (they would be jumping windows if you could open them), when I noticed a pigeon hightailing it directly toward me. At the last minute, he pulled up and emptied his bowels all over the window. I am sure he landed and rolled with laughter at the sight of me reflexively ducking. He had good aim. If there hadn't been a window there, my co-worker's back and head would have been riddled with pigeon pooh.

On the other hand, I think birds are a bit smarter than we think. They are the only adult animal other than primates that I have ever seen play. A number of years ago, I watched an adult Bald Eagle fly slowly to edge of a bluff and suddenly catch an updraft that sent him straight up about 20 feet. He wheeled over and did it again and again. It was facinating to watch. What a rush that must have been.

There really is no point to this post. I am just killing a few spare minutes.