Browse Category: work

Ladies Night

On Saturday night I went to a bachelorette party for a co-worker and I realized that I hadn’t been out dancing in a very long time.  It started out with a rather tame dinner since we had a few “grown ups” with us.  I made a veil (hand sewn!!) for the bride-to-be and R. brought a pink boa to complete the look.  After dinner, we went to a bar and then a club that was just next door.  Once the grown ups left, there were 7 of us left and we had a good time dancing and booty-bumping with everyone.  The club was CROW-DED but made for a very festive celebration for the bride-to-be.  With a full day of sailing and sun and a dose of Dramamine, I was ready to go home by 11:30 pm.  It certainly wasn’t a crazy late night out but just enough activity for me.  I was asleep by midnight and not too drunk for another day of sailing ahead.

Teaching Day Off

I got the day off work today so that I could give my lecture this afternoon. It was the first of a series that finishes next week and my first official lecture of my teaching career. I had a powerpoint presentation, handouts, and had to wear a microphone. Overall, I think it went well and there weren’t any major audio-visual glitches. I even finished by 3:00 pm and had the rest of the day off. I finally got to tidy up the house and finish the laundry too.

Cross-eyed

Boy, I’m pooped…and cross-eyed from staring at the computer screen for the past 5 hours grading papers.  Every Wednesday, my students submit paperwork to me via a “Digital Dropbox” where I can download their work.  I then go through and make revisions and make comments in the Word Document while “Tracking Changes”.  It’s a great system but I wonder if it would be to my benefit to actually do it on hard copies.  I’m not sure I was built to stare at text on a screen for so long.

We’re mid-way through the semester now and the workload has certainly picked up.  Tonight, I only got through 2 out of 5 sets of paperwork so that means I have another 7-8 more hours to look forward to this week.  Yip. ee.  Each week, the students have to not only turn in their assignment for the current week but they’re also continuing to work on the revisions that I suggested in the past weeks.  We have to go through several revisions before I can feel comfortable signing my name on them.  It’s pretty tedious but I remember that being the best way I learned back in grad school.  They’ve all be very receptive to the feedback and their patient documentation (and treatment sessions) have really improved over the past 3 weeks.

Teaching is fun but the paperwork sucks.

Lucked out

I got up this morning with the full intention of taking BART to work today.  I was even ahead of schedule and had extra time to walk (not run) to the Muni station.  Then a weird thing came over me as I was about to head out the door.  I thought, “Maybe I should just drive.”  So, as I drove across the Bay Bridge, the guy on the radio said that BART was delayed and that no trains were leaving from Embarcadero (my stop) or West Oakland…BECAUSE THERE WAS A FIRE!!!  Dude, close call.  I would have been totally screwed.  It occured right when I was supposed to get on the train.  I totally lucked out today.

Fall is Here!

Boy oh boy…I can’t believe it’s already the 3rd of October.  The season has changed, the sun sets much earlier now, and it rained today!! Soon it will be Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and then we’ll be shopping for a Christmas tree again! Crazy.

After a month of driving to and from work, I decided to go back to my old ways and took BART to work again this week.  Sometimes it’s nice to have a 15-20 minute drive to work.  But then again, I love sitting on a quiet BART train with my newspaper and feeling oh so relaxed when I get to work.  The only stressful part of my commute would be the transitions.  Some mornings (like today), I find myself sprinting from one stop to another.  This morning, I ran across the street to catch the approaching train, got off at Embarcadero and dashed up the escalator, through the turnstile, and down the other escalator to catch the approaching BART train.  Once I arrived at my station, I dashed down the escalator, through the turnstile, and sprinting down to the curb where the employee shuttle was about to take off.  I made it to work in record time…only 30 minutes!!  It usually takes 45 so that was quite a feat.

But I digress…as I was saying, Autumn is here and I can’t wait for the time to change back.  I can honestly say that I never really adjusted to Daylight Saving Time.  I still need that extra hour of sleep.

over the top

At work, we choose names out of a bag each year and provide a special birthday treat for the person we pulled.  With my birthday coming up, I knew something was coming but didn’t expect it to happen so early.  This morning during our weekly staff meeting our Department Administrator poked her head in the room and announced that there would be a birthday treat for me at lunch.  Oh boy…it was quite a treat indeed.

There were banners all over my desk, I was greeted with a lei and tiara, and I got an ice cream cake!!  They sang “Happy Birthday” for me with party blowers galore.  It was a nice gesture but pretty embarrassing too.  All I can say is that it was definitely memorable.