Where there's a will...

I went to set up my will the other day. It won't be ready for another three weeks, but it was important that I have it established. The lawyer I met with was very nice, and very helpful. I would have liked to have waited until Gemma was done with law school, but that won't be for a couple of years and I kind of need this done sooner than that. So instead I made her a secondary beneficiary...I've been trying to reach her to let her know this, but our schedules have been conflicting and we haven't really had a chance to talk. All in all, I'm happy with what I have set up, but I hope I it doesn't have to be used any time in the near future. Patrick and I have set up a joint savings account. It is a little weird for me, just because I have never shared an account with someone before, but we figured this was the best way to start saving money as well as paying for our storage unit. This way, we have "our" money as well as having our individual accounts (which are kept private!). This should be interesting.
Patrick and I have pretty much completed our course work for the summer semester. We are in the middle of Basic Life Support right now which isn't too much fun when it goes from 8 am to 1 pm and then I get to go to work from 2:45 pm to 11:30 pm and start all over again bright and early the next day. Fortunately, it is only 2 days, so after tomorrow we'll be done. Course work for the fall begins on August 22nd, which gives us a nice little break. Just enough to get some light reading in.
Speaking of, I finished the 6th Harry Potter (amid school work and work) and REALLY enjoyed it. It was pretty sad, but I thought one of the better of the 6 books written. Patrick just finished it as well, and I have never seen him read a book so quickly.
All in all, not a bad way to end the summer.

Return to everyday "normal"

Now that all three of us, Patrick, Lois and I are all working, things are slowly falling into a routine.
Work is...interesting. It isn't awful, it just isn't stimulating or challenging or even really intriguing. It is work, and it pays the bills, so I am grateful for that. I signed up for benefits yesterday and made Patrick my "beneficiary" in the event that something should happen to me. If he and I both croak, I made Gemma my beneficiary. I had better call and tell her that. I also found out that I can list Patrick as my "domestic partner" in November-first I have to draw up a will and we have to set up a joint back account, all of which we were planning on doing anyway. This is great because it will give Patrick insurance-including dental and it won't cost more than $120 a month for us both-much better than the $90 a month he is paying now for just himself.
I got an email from Leah, she and Brian are engaged and she is VERY happy. I don't know when the wedding is, but I'm sure we'll get that news as it is decided.
Patrick's best friend Josh and his girlfriend, JoJo are visiting this weekend. Josh had a showing yesterday and tomorrow they are driving back to Texas, just in time for Hurricane Dennis to meet them at the front door. This is the first time I have been able to meet JoJo, and she seems absolutely perfect for Josh. She seems to be very nice and they make a great couple from what I can tell and they both seem very happy. I'm just glad that Josh isn't dating another psycho.
Josh has come out with more art pieces and after seeing some of the pictures (I didn't get to go to the gallery, I had to work), I think there are a few that I want to buy. They will be back for Indian Market next month, so maybe I'll get to see some of the pieces then.
I'm gonna go broke.
Mom is in KY, Chicago, and Michigan this week. She and Ray went up there to see family and go to the O'Sullivan family reunion. I need to get another part of her birthday gift, as it is Wednesday and she won't be here for it, I figure I have a little time.

Job good...

I am now officially and gainfully employed by St. Vincent's Hospital, here in Santa Fe. I start work tomorrow morning at 9 am. Now, while this is by no means my ideal job, it does pay well and the benefits are very nice. It will suit my schedule while I am in school and doing my clinicals and even better, my shifts will be scheduled during the time that Patrick will be at work too. Mary Karshis and Lois are both very excited about my working at the hospital and even Patrick is thinking of applying if Blue Corn doesn't work out well for him. All in all, not a bad situation.
Patrick and I went out to Rio Rancho to visit my dad for Father's Day today. He is doing so well on his liquid diet and has lost 27 lbs. in 3 weeks! I'm really proud of him and the fact that this has become a priority in his life. He and Lizza do water aerobics twice a week and he is really enjoying that. I think he is starting to be a little more optomistic now that he is feeling a lot better.
Patrick and I are still comfortable with our decision to stay here in Santa Fe, especially now that we have work and school going on. Today we took our first Medical Terminology test and we both got 100%. I'm really pushing to earn 4.0s each semester so that I don't have to worry about getting into a good program and grad school. I'm a little worried about A&P next semester, but I think with a little dedication, I'll be fine.
I joined the Curves gym here in Santa Fe and although it is nicer than the one in Ann Arbor, I don't like it as much. I think that after my membership is done in October, I will drop it and join a gym with more of a variety of facilities that will allow for a more thorough exercise routine.
I haven't spoken with Gemma in a while, I need to call her.
Julie is busy planning her wedding and it sounds as though things are going smoothly - Kelly is helping her and from what I can see so far, is doing a great job. I still need to figure out what to give them for their wedding.
Patrick is hinting that it is time to go to sleep.
Nite.

The semblence of a plan

After a lot of run around and quite a bit of thought, Patrick and I have decided to stay in Santa Fe and get our ADNs at the community college here. We spoke with the advisors at UNM and quickly realized that getting into and then through the BSN program there could take up to 6 years, if not longer. We were advised that because we already have degrees, we should just get an associates degree in Nursing and then move on to get our master's degrees once we are done (which we now know is a possibility due to our already having earned a bachelor's degree). So, we have enrolled in the Community College here in Santa Fe, which has an excellent ADN program, and are staying with Lois for at least the time being. This will give us the chance to save some money (once we get jobs) while paying down our credit debt and going to school (also much cheaper than UNM). Since the ADN program is only 4 semesters long, we will be able to get jobs as nurses much sooner and will then be earning enough money to buy a house (probably in Albuquerque) and then enroll in a master's program while also getting experience in our career fields.
The job situation is a little stressful for me. I never heard back from my interview with SED Labs although it is probably just as well because with our decision to stay in Santa Fe made, it doesn't seem feesible to drive into Albuquerque every day for work. I have applied at several places here in Santa Fe and am trying to be patient about waiting to hear something, but patience was never my strong suit. But at least now we have a semblence of a plan that is moving in the direction we want to go. We have a roof over our heads and food to eat. All in all, not too bad for being home only 2 weeks.

Back in the Land of Enchantment

Patrick and I arrived safely in New Mexico Sunday night. While we are happy to be back, it is taking a little adjustment on both our parts. The altitude alone is somewhat of a challenge, but with daily walks and bike rides we are getting the hang of it. We managed to unload the trailer and get everything into a storage unit in Rio Rancho. The one we originally reserved was in an awkward hallway and so we had to ask for an upgrade to something much larger (the only thing they had) and much more expensive. But the good news is that it is done and for now, at least, we are settled.
With the move and various other things going on in our lives, both Patrick and I have been somewhat frustrated and a little snappy with eachother. It isn't easy trying to start over while also trying to maintain a good relationship, but I think we are doing okay. Things seem to be getting easier and I think once we both have jobs everything will fall into place. We have decided to postpone our house hunting until we both are employed as we can't get approval for a loan until we have at least two paychecks anyway, we may as well concentrate on one thing at a time.
Tomorrow I am going out to Moriarty to visit with my family. Truthfully, I don't really like Moriarty, I don't like coming back from my mother's house smelling like I just got back from a club, I don't like feeling like I have to always justify everything I say and do. But, because they are my family and I do want to see them, I am going...and dragging Patrick with me, who I know, would much rather stay here. I guess all's not fair in love and war.
Patrick has started us both on a pretty rigid work out regimine that has me very sore today. I enjoy the walking, but not so much the toning exercises. All good for me, but I am not looking forward to it. Speaking of which, I need to go do my 100 crunches....ick.

Sonny

My new nephew was born on Monday. 7 lbs, 9 ounces. Joanie named him, Salvatore Raymond Casalino, Sonny for short. When I asked why Salvatore, apparently it was for Sonny from the Godfather. I didn't know Joanie had ever seen the Godfather. Oh well. Apparently he is a beautiful baby, with blond hair and blue eyes. I say apparently because I have yet to receive any pictures of the latest addition to the family, despite that Jason was supposed to send them out on Wednesday. But I'm not bitter.
Patrick is in NM. He arrived safely yesterday evening and is happily enjoying his time home. Tomorrow is a rehersal dinner for the wedding and he will be going to that as well as checking out a few of the areas that we are looking at buying a home.
I'm enjoying the time alone to a certain extent. I have lounged around a lot because there isn't really anything to do at work and I can't pack too much more until next week, right before we leave. So, I lounge, watch television, and read books.
Monday I have my work evaluation. I think it will be fine. Not stellar, because I really didn't put any of my usual work ethic into this job. I didn't sign up for all their committees and jump through all their hoops because I don't believe in this work. I quickly became disenchanted with it once I got here. I did my job, no more, no less and I expect my evaluation to reflect that.
As I reflect back on the ten months I have spent here in Michigan, I realize that it hasn't been all bad. Coming here has been, if nothing else, so incredibly good for Patrick and I as a couple. After two years apart, we were able to reconnect and focus on our relationship...before deciding to move into a home together. I was also able to take a step back from my education for a semester (for the first time since I started in 1997) and I realized that while I was moving in the right direction with medicine, I really needed to pinpoint what it was I was working towards. Nursing, MD, DO, etc, were all things that I considered and it took that semester to really evaluate where I wanted my life to go. So while I can't stand the state of Michigan, I'm really glad that we came here.

The End

The semester is over. Finally, I have been able to enjoy a little down time as well as some time with Patrick. The semester ended well for both of us, I got a 4.0 for the first time in my life and although we have both been sick for the last month, we are happy to have ended on a high note.
My birthday was fine. It was pretty much just another day, aside from taking off of work and going out for dessert with Patrick. 28 years old. 2 years from 30. Good grief.
We should find out this week if Patrick made it into the UNM Nursing School, but even if he doesn't, he will keep trying. If nothing else, he is persistent.
He leaves on Wednesday for Bingham's wedding in Albuquerque and will be back on Monday. Just in time for us to leave on that Saturday morning. We aren't really looking forward to the 24 hour drive, but will be glad to be heading home.
Patrick and I picked up our new couch and love seat this weekend. It looks amazing and was surprisingly, a lot heavier than either of us anticipated. While we are happy that it is made of good quality materials, we are a little concerned about moving it. We want to make sure that it fits in the trailer and that we will be able to get it home in one piece. We're a little more confident after getting it to Ann Arbor in one piece, but I think we'll be somewhat anxious until we put it in our living room.
I still haven't heard from TriCore or SED Labs regarding a job, which considering that I am trying to pay off as much of my credit card as possible before we buy a house; as well as pay for summer school tuition has me pretty anxious. Patrick has been very supportive and very confident that I will be okay, but I continue to worry, especially when it comes to finances. I'm sure everything will be fine, but until I have an actual job, I'm going to continue my anxiety tirade.
Joanie is having her second baby today. She has picked the name Raymond Salvatore Casalino, Sunny for short. I asked my mom if Joanie was firm on this name and she said that she was as much as she could be before seeing the baby. Apparently my mom had picked out a name for each of us and then when she saw us changed it. So who knows. I could call this evening and she'll have named him Robert.

Singing in my sleep...?

The semester here in Ann Arbor is just about over and soon Patrick and I will be on our way back to the Land of Enchantment. I'm under no delusions that New Mexico is some great oasis in the desert, but I will definitely be very happy to be back where people seem a little more normal and I don't have to hear about social justice every time I go to a meeting.
We have reserved a trailer and I am nearly done packing up my apartment. It is amazing how much you accumulate over the course of 10 months. I think I have given away more than I brought to Michigan with me, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Classes are going well as we are just about done with them. Final exams and projects and then we are free!...to go back to New Mexico and enroll in summer school. I have to take Anatomy and Physiology I and II this summer and it is going to be a real bitch considering that I will be commuting to and from Santa Fe to work and go to school until we buy our house.
Patrick is getting ready for his trip to NM in May (he is going to Bingham's wedding on May 14th and is taking some of our clothing home with him so we don't have so much). I have to stay here and finish packing because I didn't get cheap airfare in time. Yay me. But while he is gone I will have some time to myself and be able to relax and watch all the "girlie" movies he refuses to watch with me.
I spoke with my family this weekend and found out that Joanie now wants to name the baby, Raymond Crucificio Casalino (Cruz for short). Oh, and by the way, Crucificio is crucifixion in Italian. I give up. You don't name your child after a form of torture and death. It would be like naming a Jewish child Treblinka or Auschwitz. What happened to my siblings??? Well he hasn't been born yet, so maybe she will change her mind again. I hope. Because I won't be there for the birth, I asked Patrick to go in my stead, take some pictures and bring some flowers. He said he would which I am really grateful for. I know he is uncomfortable with going, but that he would do it anyway means a lot to me.
Apparently I now sing in my sleep. Patrick told me this morning that he was woken up at 3 am this morning to me singing in my sleep. He said I was smiling and I was loud enough to wake him up but he didn't remember what it was I was singing. He figured I was okay and went back to sleep. Strange. I don't remember what I was dreaming about, but I guess it was okay.

New Furniture

Patrick and I are the proud new owners of a beautiful couch and loveseat as well as a new breakfast nook table and chairs. We went to a place (only found in the Midwest) called Value City Furniture and for everything we spent $1200.00. It may sound strange that we purchased our new furniture here in Michigan when we are leaving at the end of May to return to New Mexico, but after pricing the available furniture stores in Albuquerque, we decided that we would save money by buying it here and transporting it with us when we leave. We are looking at storing the furniture in Albuquerque until we move into our home around the end of August.
We are so excited about this, not only because it is not dorm or fraternity house furniture, but because we are buying it together, it will actually be "ours". Not his or mine, but something we will share. A little scary, but very exciting none the less.
Speaking of exciting, Julie and Andrew have finally set a wedding date. October 14th! I have been keeping an eye on airfare to make sure that I have enough time to get there and back without really biting into my budget. Fortunately, it is during Fall Break so I don't have to miss any class. Which is going pretty well thus far. I made a 99 on my last microbiology test, which is better than the 96 I got on the test before. I'm ready for the semester to be done though. I 'm going to try to take A&P I and II this summer, which will be very draining, but will be worth it if I can be done in time to apply for nursing school in the spring.
The weather is getting nicer here in Ann Arbor. It is about 55 today and sunny, which is a dramatic change from last week when it was snowing again. I keep telling Adam that I don't believe him that this is spring, I'm waiting for it to snow again later this week. I'm so tired of this place. But...we are almost home. Almost.

DC

We had a great time in DC for Spring Break. It was a good drive down there, with only 17 cops on the highway between Ann Arbor and DC. Patrick drove us into the actual city and within the first 5 minutes we had our first "adventure". At a stop light we watched as a couple sauntered out into the middle of the street right in front of us-which was fine when the light was red. When the light turned green, the couple were still in front of us, not going any faster. Because Zoom Zoom is a standard (and still relatively new) you have to rev the engine a little before letting the clutch out completely. Well these people took this as an attack and started yelling at us. Patrick, getting increasingly frustrated with the fact that they weren't moving any faster (unless you count towards us) yelled for them to move. Which they did...towards us even faster, all the while yelling and screaming at us. I thought they were going to kick my car or break one of the windows. They finally got out of the way enough for us to go through the intersection, thankfully. We found the hotel with relative ease and found out that Lois still wasn't there. Apparently her shuttle took her on the grand tour of DC from the airport (which was all of maybe 3 or 5 miles away), and this took about 40 minutes. Once she got there, we went to our room and relaxed.
The whole vacation was pretty relaxing actually. Cold, but relaxing. We saw the Smithsonian, the Capital (although we couldn't go on a tour because there was something going on when we got there), the White House (which is smaller than I remember it), and the monuments, including the new WWII monument which was pretty impressive.
Gemma arrived early (2 am) Wednesday morning, and stayed until Thursday early afternoon. It was good to see her and I'm so glad that she was able to come.
Thursday, after Gemma and Lois left DC, Patrick and I explored the city a little bit, which was a lot of fun. We found this amazing place, called Teaism, which had the best ginger scones I have ever had. We bought a really nice unique tea pot for Lois as a thank you for the wonderful trip.
www.teaism.com
Patrick and I left early Saturday and enjoyed a pretty quiet drive back to Ann Arbor. All in all a very enjoyable week away.

Spring Break & Stinky Cheese

Tomorrow we leave for Washington! I'm so excited to get out of Ann Arbor and can't wait for the day to be over. We're leaving at about 6 am so hopefully, tonight I'll actually get to bed early. Despite our trying to get to bed before midnight lately, it hasn't exactly been working out that way. I blame the TV. I think that Patrick and I need to turn the TV off a lot earlier and perhaps study or read instead of unwinding by watching Adult Swim or Emeril Live. I think that once we are home this will be a lot easier since there isn't a TV in our bedroom.
We stopped looking at homes for a while because, for me at least, it is making me antsy and aggravated that we can't just buy and move in right now. Besides, we have at least 5 or 6 more months before we can even seriously start shopping. I really want to get my credit card balance down before we try to get pre-approved for a loan amount. Last night I sent my mom the information on the home builders we are interested in so hopefully she can shed a little light on which would be better to seriously consider.
At the end of March I will start applying to a couple of places in Albuquerque that will hopefully pay a decent salary. My first choice is TriCore Labs, they are affiliated with UNM and offer educational benefits (yay!) and flexible schedules. Other than that, I haven't really looked at too many university administrative positions because I really don't want to be behind a desk all day. I'd rather stare into a microscope and learn something useful.
Joanie turned 21 this past weekend. Her pregnancy is apparently going well and according to her, she is "huge". I think every mother to be feels that way though. Tia's birthday is on Tuesday, with Stephanie's a month from today. At least they aren't all during the holiday season - I'd go broke. Speaking of birthdays, Stacey's birthday is on Tuesday as well so Adam and I got her a gift card to a movie theatre as well as a bouquet of flowers and a fruit tart from Whole Foods. Patrick and I went to Whole Foods to get the tart and flowers and as is our pattern we wandered around the store, sampling some of the cheeses that they put out for sampling. We get to one sample station and Patrick backs off because, apparently, it really stinks. I, of course, don't know this. A man that was there eating the cheese says that it is "really good" so Patrick hands me a piece of the cheese and I put it in my mouth. Patrick throws his away (but makes sure I don't see that he does this). As soon as I bite down on the cheese I start to gag. It is absolutely AWFUL! It tasted rancid and rotten and so I spit it out into my hand and go in search of a garbage. In order to get the taste out of my mouth I start picking my favorite olives out of the olive bar and I eat about 5 before the taste goes away. Patrick laughs hysterically as I am shoveling olives into my mouth. Then, to top it all off, I stink from the cheese. But the fun part was that I got to chase Patrick around the store demanding a kiss on my stinky cheese lips.

Hair cut irony

A few days ago, I decided that growing my hair out to donate was becoming a very challenging endeavor. One I didn't think I wanted to keep undertaking. My hair had grown to just past my shoulders and it was driving me nuts. Because it is so strait it doesn't really have any body to it. So my options were to just letting it hang (so it looked like a mop) or putting it up all the time (which could damage it - making donation impossible).
So, I decided to cut it.
I now have very, very short hair. Although my neck is a little cold, I'm very happy with the outcome.
The irony in this whole situation is that while I was having it cut, a woman next to me was there to have her hair cut off for donation. The student who was cutting her hair put it in pony tails to cut it when I told her that she needed to braid it. They asked how I knew that and I explained how I was planning to have my hair donated until it started driving me nuts. Patrick said that this ironic twist happened so that I would know that there are other people out there that are able and willing to donate their hair. Even though I am not.
I think I am just a short hair girl and will leave the hair donating to other people.

12 weeks

Twelve weeks until we are free to go back to New Mexico. While, granted, I have learned a lot here I find that I'm ready to get away from the sense entitlement that plagues this campus. I just want to finish school and get into my career, I'm tired of babysitting these people.
I'm excited for May to get here also because I'm going to get scuba certified the weekend we leave to go back. Instead of going through Chicago we are going to go down to Lexington so that Ed (the same person that taught Patrick) can teach me. Afterwards, we'll just head for home. While it is exciting, it's a little scary because it is not exactly the safest thing in the world to do, but I think it will be worthwhile. It will be worth it if Patrick and I are able to scuba dive together the next time we are in Hawaii.
For the Super Bowl, I think Patrick and I are going to watch it at the FIJI house. Although I would be just as happy watching at my apartment, I think it would be fun with a big group of guys. That is, if they even want women around for it. It depends on if they are having a "brother hood" event for it or if it is open to girlfriends.
Class is moving along. We had our first tests this week and, while I don't have my grade yet, I think I did fine. I'm very proud of Patrick who got an A on his first pharmacology exam! Not the easiest subject matter and he did great.
Right now, in Microbiology, we are talking about genetics which is all review for me. After cell biology, I don't think it can be any more complex. Nutrition is, for lack of a better word, a cake walk. We are talking about really interesting things such as trans and cyst fats and exercise. Things that are pretty practical. Unfortunately, Patrick has a stringent academic teaching his class, so his isn't as interesting as mine is.
Family life seems to be moving right along. Apparently I owe some woman, who owned a video rental place in Moriarty, $100. The ironic thing is that I haven't rented from this woman in over seven years, not since we first moved to Moriarty from North Carolina! She called my mom and told her that she, Joanie, Mike, and I all own large amounts of money to her for late or never returned movies. She said she would call my mom back with a listing of the movies but still hasn't. She also didn't leave a number for my mom to contact her. She says that she will take us to court (over $100!!!) - which I find interesting because she hasn't sent us to collections. Personally, I'm not too worried. Because I can prove that I lived out of the city for the last seven years and for the majority of that time I didn't have a car that would allow me to travel to Moriarty to rent these movies and then never return them. I will, however, be livid if I find out that one of my siblings rented them under my name and then didn't return them. I still shouldn't be liable for the cost of them not being returned, but you never know.
We get to leave for DC in just three weeks! Gemma thinks that she will be able to come late on the 3rd and stay for that Friday and Saturday when we will leave. I'm really looking forward to getting out of here for a week.

A weekend in North Carolina

This last weekend Patrick and I drove to North Carolina. We left Friday evening and came back on Monday afternoon. What prompted this fairly short trip, with the incredibly long drive? Katie's mother-in-law, Tammy, died Thursday after a long and painful fight with terminal cancer. I have known Tammy since I was 17. She was my boss at the movie theatre I worked at during high school, and I briefly dated her step-son (big mistake!). She was a very giving person and she loved her children a great deal. I went, not only because of the role she played in my life, but because I thought it was important to be there for Katie and Seneca. There was no funeral or service.
The trip, in and of itself, was uneventful. I will say that if I never drive through the Smokey Mountains again, it will be too soon. The roads were pretty icy and the truck-drivers drive like lunatics. Patrick and I tried to keep ourselves entertained on the 10 1/2 hour long drive, with books on tape, music, and general discussion about our future. When we arrived in Winston Salem we went out to Tammy's mother's house to see Katie and Seneca. It was a somewhat surreal experience. The majority of these people I hadn't seen in almost 10 years...some of them I could have stood to never see again. But, all in all, we survived and were able to spend some time with Katie and Seneca before the started packing to go back to New Mexico.
The up side of this journey was that I was able to visit, briefly, with Gemma and Josh. We stayed with them the one night we were in NC. They are both doing very well, and it was good to spend some time with them. Hopefully we will get another opportunity to see them before we leave Michigan during our week-long trip to DC in March. Our hope is that they will be able to come up to spend, at least, the last weekend with us. It will depend on Gemma's exam schedule.
My first exam of this semester is Monday, in Microbiology. I'm not worried-but I don't want to be too self-assured about this material, so this weekend will be spent studying. Yay.
Speaking of...time for class.

Hey Baby it's cold outside...

As the title might suggest, it is absolutely freezing here. Just in Ann Arbor it is about 7 degrees F right now. That is without the wind chill of course. I guess we should count ourselves lucky, Chicago is -14. Now I know why we left the Midwest/east coast area. It is too damn cold here! I made the mistake of leaving a gallon of milk in Zoom Zoom last night and this morning, found it frozen. I had to put it in the refrigerator to thaw.
Because of this weather and the accompanying humidity, my knee has been swollen for almost two weeks. Earlier this week the temperatures went up to almost 50 and my knee was a lot better; the swelling went down, there was little to no pain, and I could walk normally. With this drop in temperature it has swollen again and I have to walk with a slight limp. Glucosamine Condrotin and ibuprophen have become part of my daily breakfast. Ick. Patrick wants me to have it looked at while we are here, as I probably need another surgery. I would rather wait until we are back in NM, where I know the doctors. But if I need another surgery, I really should get it done sooner rather than later.
Tomorrow I have to go to staff selection all day. This seems an awfully long and drawn out process with 25 other people, each of whom have their own input. There aren't too many people that I really think would make amazing RAs. I figure that we'll just go down the list. I won't be here next year anyway, so really, it is more about who Stacey and Adam want on staff.
This last week was, for me, spent on duty. Which isn't really a big deal unless you get paged. Which I did, several times. The most "interesting" one was from last night. It came in at about 10:30 pm from Oxford building (which is actually across the street from the FIJI house). A resident had cut her big toe at 1 pm yesterday afternoon. By 10:30 pm it hadn't stopped bleeding, so she decides to call the RA on duty to ask him what she should do. The RA, apparently not knowing either, calls me. I tell the RA to contact Housing Security to take her to Urgent Care and to write an IR. How do these people get into college, let along Michigan!?!?! I don't get it. If you are bleeding, and you don't stop bleeding for a half hour to an hour later, you go to Urgent Care. You don't wait almost 10 hours to notify someone that you need help! Bloody morons.
Lois' laptop came in this week and she is VERY happy with it. She had set up the entire house for wireless, which will be nice this summer when Patrick and I are home. We both have wireless cards in our computers so we won't all be waiting to use the desktop in the kitchen.
My family seems to be doing fine. Apparently Katie and Seneca are going back to NM on March 10th, which they seem to be very happy about. I think that it must be very difficult for them in that house with so many people.
I'm trying to pick up another class, online Growth and Development. Hopefully the instructor will contact me today or tomorrow to let me know if she will let me into the class. My two other classes are fine. The only thing I am debating about it whether or not to buy the Microbiology book, which our instructor says we don't need, but she then puts questions on the labs that specifically require the book. Choices, choices.

Classes begin

I have to say that I am somewhat disappointed in the classes I have been to thus far. I think I expected that the material or at least the expectations of the instructors would be fairly challenging. I'm not finding that. I'm not saying that I would like to have more work than is necessary, I would just like to have a firm understanding and mastery of the material and I don't know if I will be getting that here. I'm told I should be patient and wait to see how I feel as the semester progresses, but I truly don't think that this will be a terribly challenging thing for me. In fact I have contemplated adding a third class to my schedule since I have the time and inclination to do so. I don't know what my schedule will be like when we are back in NM, so I should take advantage of the time I have here.
I think Patrick is enjoying his classes. He is taking pathophysiology and pharmacology on top of microbiology and nutrition. His schedule is more hectic than mine and he'll have more information thrown at him with those two classes, but it isn't anything he can't handle.
The switch of staffs that Adam and I did is working out okay. Not great, but then that wasn't the expectation. So far no major eruptions, just your basic "I'm a Michigan student and I have to question everything that comes out of your mouth" type responses. I tend to tell them that they have every right to question our motives and our decisions. But that they need to be aware that the likelihood of their questioning us will change anything is slim to none. They don't much care for that response. But I'm not here to make friends.
I took Adam, his girlfriend Em and Nate to the airport this morning at 5 am. They are going to Colorado for a week to "ski". Adam has been skiing only a handful of times and only in Michigan (which has hills in comparison to the Rockies). I told him I want to see pictures. I also forewarned him about sunburn and altitude sickness, so hopefully he will listen. I guess we'll find out when I pick them up at MIDNIGHT next Wednesday.
Time for class.

A weekend alone

Patrick drove to St. Louis this weekend for Academy, a conference for FIJI. He left Thursday morning and I have been enjoying a weekend alone since. The majority of it was spent cleaning my apartment and watching movies. I went to see Phantom of the Opera again and enjoyed it this time as much as the first. Amazingly, seeing it on the stage didn't have as great an impact on me as the movie has. Perhaps it is because you can really see the emotion and feeling on the actor's faces more so in the movie. Or perhaps it is because with a movie there is a great deal more that can be done with the sets, etc. Either way, I almost went to see it again today, but restrained myself. Barely.
I got to speak with Gemma this weekend as well. She had left me a couple of messages over the break but because I never check my home voice mail, I didn't get them until yesterday. So I called her back and we were able to catch up. I also got to speak with Will and Pete, which was nice but a little strange. I haven't spoken with either of them since my last visit to NC, almost 2 years ago. It was kind of a struggle thinking of things to talk about. But they seem to be doing well. Will is in his last semester of law school and can't wait to get a job. Pete is still seeing "the once and future Jew" (as Gemma puts it) and they have a bet that if Pete takes off 25 pounds by spring break, she will pay for the vacation. If he doesn't then he has to pay. Interesting bet.
It still somewhat amazes me that all three of them are in law school. They will be perfect at it, no doubt.
Classes start tomorrow. I'm a little aggervated because I was waitlisted for my microbiology class and then got kicked off the waitlist. I go to re-register for the class and it comes up that I have to have instructor permission. This place is so frustrating. I emailed the instructor and advisor to see if they can take care of it before my class on Tuesday. Hopefully it will be cleared up by tomorrow.

A change of staff

Because Adam's staff has been giving him such a hard time these days, we have been encouraged to switch staffs. So I have now inherited a group of people who probably don't want me for their supervisor any more than I want to be their supervisor. I guess we will see how this goes. I'm trying, as Adam is fond of telling me, to be optimistic but the realist in me is coming through. This is going to be a pain in the ass.

A Christmas Break (from Ann Arbor)

Christmas break didn't exactly start off on the right foot. Patrick's and my flight home was scheduled for December 23rd at 5 pm. December 22nd it snowed about 6 or 7 inches. Thinking that I would never get out of this god-forsaken state, I guess you could say I went a little manic. I was shaking and dizzy. I wanted to leave for the airport 4 hours early because I was afraid that the traffic would be so bad we would miss our flight. Fortunately, Patrick was able to calm me down a little bit and we made it to the airport in one piece. Our flight leaving Detroit was only delayed about 45 minutes- and I was starting to feel hopeful that we wouldn't spend Christmas in an airport. We arrived in Dallas thinking that we would have to sprint to the gate to make our connection. It turned out that our flight in Dallas had been delayed an hour. So we settle down to wait. We didn't get on the bloody plane until almost five hours later. The plane we were supposed to be on was late and then the crew we were supposed to have was late. Everyone was late. Finally, we arrive in Albuquerque at 12:30 am (NM time). When, wonder of wonders, they lose our luggage. We had packed one bag for both of us and it had all our clothing and a couple of gifts for Patrick's mom and my dad. No one knew where our bag was, but they assured us that it was probably on a later flight from Dallas and would be in to Albuquerque on the flight arriving at 2 am. We decided to leave and have them deliver it to us. We go to Frontier because both Patrick and I are starving on top of being really angry about the bag and the delays. With full tummies, we head up to Santa Fe and go to bed.
Christmas Eve morning I wake up-only to put the same, dirty clothing back on. We call the airline and still no bag. I decide to go to Target to get some t-shirts, socks, underwear, toiletries and a pair of really comfortable flannel lounging pants (which Patrick hates). I got home and took the best shower in the world.
We saw my dad, siblings and nephew on Christmas Eve and had a nice dinner. Scott is still the cutest baby ever! He has big brown eyes and the longest eyelashes I have ever seen. Joanie's pregnancy seems to be going well. The baby is due May 16th, but we think she will have a caesarian on the 10th. She has finally settled on a name for the baby boy - Oliver Michael Casalino. Oli for short. Enough said.
Christmas morning at around 2:30 am, our bag was finally delivered. Maybe Santa really does exist. In keeping with the Christmas spirit, Patrick left a bag of cookies for the delivery person, which I am sure they appreciated. We spent Christmas morning with Patrick's family and Christmas afternoon/evening with mine. My mom has been really helpful in helping us look for a home in Albuquerque. We actually spent a majority of our time in Moriarty looking at MLS listings. We found two that we liked enough to go look at, but didn't like the area they were in - the student ghetto. Now we are looking at the Petroglyph area of Albuquerque, at some new developments that are being built out there. If you go to this link: http://www.longfordhomes.com/albuquerque/sundoro/index.html
you will see the area we want to build our home. The one I love is the 335, but our budget will really determine what we can afford.
The rest of our break went by very fast. We saw Phantom of the Opera and Meet the Fockers, both of which we enjoyed a great deal. We ate. A lot. And I didn't exercise at all. Ick.
We also planned a trip to DC for Spring Break. Lois wants to go to the new Native American museum and we are meeting her there for a couple of days before we head down to NC to see Katie and Gemma.
Neither Patrick or I wanted to get back on that plane to come back to Ann Arbor. But we did. More's the pity. Work has been uneventful for me, but Adam has had to deal with some of his staff being a bit prickish. Oh hell, a lot prickish. I am just looking forward to the day I can pack up my apartment and get the hell out of here. Five months never felt so long. But! School starts on Monday, so hopefully that will encourage the semester to go by faster. Microbiology here I come!