Weekend

We had a good weekend. I was pretty efficient on Friday; I worked late at school and then went grocery shopping late that night.
Saturday, Josh and me took the dogs for a run at the lake and swimming. Newman ran the whole 3 miles! His leg is doing awesome.
Padme ran a mile with me and kept wanting to stop and lay down on the mile back (we were walking by this time). Newman and Padme swam quite a bit later - Padme looks like a seal because she goes all the way under the water - head and all! I'll have to take some pictures of them next time we take them to the lake. Funny enough, Newman was not sore and still hyper all weekend while Padme has been sore and sleepy.
Last night, Josh and me went to the Acapella concert at church. It was great - I was really impressed with this new group. It was an uplifting night.
Today after church we had potluck. We met one of our "adopted" college kids - they're baseball players. Josh is in Heaven already talking to them about it.
Overall, it's been a nice, eventful weekend!

Newman's Healing

Newman's leg is healing as you might be able to tell from the pictures. He can be outside without a leash for short periods of time now.
He can run and stretch his leg out, too.

Padme and Newman have been playing together A LOT; I guess they're making up for lost time.

BaCk To ScHoOl

It was the first day back to the fall semester today. I haven't ridden the bus in quite awhile due to the 3-digit-weather we've been having. This morning it rained and cooled us off so it wasn't too bad to walk to the bus stop. In the summer, the bus is pretty much empty except for me, the bus driver, and maybe another person. Today, to and from school it was packed. Some people even had to stand (not me, I got a seat quickly).
I met my students today - they seemed like a good group of students. I usually have a good group so I'm not really worried about that. All I had to do today was give introductions and give a spill of safety. Hopefully, I didn't talk too fast, and my students will pass their quiz on Wednesday. Ha!

Chemistry Meeting

So Friday we had our department TA meeting where we get our assignments for the fall and get our annual safety training. Here's what I remember:

1. As usual our head of department was full of jokes at the beginning of the meeting. And as usual I laugh at his jokes. I appreciate his humor.

2. Some new grad student, in his introduction to the department, informed all of us he was single. With the girl/guy ratio in chemistry, not sure if his search will be sucessfull. Especially since many of the women are married/engaged.

3. Another new grad student who is Asian American told us in her introduction (with obvious-American-English) that she was from OKC, and that she was NOT an international student...so please stop asking.

4. I got the lab I wanted to teach, and a good time, too. My friend on the other hand gets the losing end every semester...if she gets a good lab, she gets an awful time to teach (eveningss or Fridays)...if she gets a good time, it's a not-fun lab (too much grading). Maybe she'll grow to love her teaching assingment this semester. Maybe.

5. My students' final is the Friday of finals week - the last possible day of the semester. Which means I for sure will be grading that Friday before break.

6. We watched some safety video about gas cylinders and how to handle them safely. I was hoping they would demonstrate in the video how they can become "rockets" - no such luck.

7. The day ended with another meeting about my lab and me running into an old friend from OC who is about to start his first grad year in the Biochem department. He looked maybe a little shell-shocked. He had a million things to do. Welcome to grad school.

Treadmill Dance

I think I might have mentioned it one time, but I'm not the most graceful on the treadmill. One time, I fell off. I grabbed onto Josh who was on the treadmill next to me. He was going down with me if I was going down! Anyway, go to this link...it's of some guys dancing on treadmills - something I only aspire to do, for I never will be able to synchronize my steps like that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI&mode=related&search=

By the way, many of you may be thinking (as I was), who has time to do this? Of course, you (and I) have time to watch junk on the internet, too.

Summer Reading Recommendation

I've been reading Mary Piper's book Reviving Ophelia this week. I had read another book by Piper called Another Country when I was an undergrad. Mary Piper is a therapist whose books are for the therapists and non-therapists. I really liked Another Country: it was about older people and how my generation can connect with them. It was required reading for a Romans bible class I took. We talked about generational groups within the church and how that can divide us. Another Country gave us ideas on how to close in the generational gap. Reviving Opelia was written before Another Country, but I still think it still relates to our young girls today - if not even more so. Piper discusses all the troubles that teenage girls are faced with in today's world - how radically different it is from pre-80's days. It's given me a better understanding about my adolescent years, compassion for troubled girls, and ideas on how to parent when I one day have teenagers.
I've enjoyed reading a book that is not in my field but still thought-provoking.

Fun Weekend

We had a good weekend. Josh's mom, stepdad, and our niece got to come visit us. We had a good time visiting and playing with Tana. We even went swimming! Saturday, Josh and me went to a wedding. It was outside - whew! was it hot! BUT we got to cool off inside during the reception. It was a beautiful wedding.

Josh and me at the Hill-Gotcher wedding. 

The girls 

Padme wanted to join the fun with Tana and Josh. 

We enjoyed our fudge-sicles! 

We were all tired by Sunday afternoon - including Josh and Brutus! 

LOTR and SBTB Trivia Pursuit

Josh recieved Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit DVD Edition for his birthday last March. Of course, you can't play the game unless you're with other LOTR nerds. We've gotten to play a few times now with other friends who are fans of the movies and books. Sad to say, but I'm actually better at this version of trivial pursuit than I am at regular trivia pursuit. The last time I played the regular version I didn't get any pie pieces - I felt so dumb. BUT apparently, LOTR trivial pursuit is what I'm soppossed to play.
So early in the mornings here Saved by the Bell reruns are playing. Everytime Josh and I would go to spin class we can see the TV with SBTB episodes on (there's back to back episodes the whole class period). We aren't plugged into the TVs so we can't hear the show, we can only see it. If you give me about a minute, just by seeing a SBTB episode glimpse, I can lay out the whole plot of that particular episode for you. I think it's my gift. I think it's time to buy Saved by the Bell Trivia Pursuit DVD Edition.