Browse Category: work

Summer Homework

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I’ve been working with a 2nd grader on his handwriting these past couple months.  He’s on a month-long vacation this month and I gave him “homework”.  I like to call it “suggested home program activities”.  Ha.  Anyway, one of his assignments was to write me a letter every Wednesday and mail it to me.  A week and a half passed and I totally didn’t think I’d get a letter.  But, I was wrong.  In my mailbox at work this afternoon was a handwritten letter from my little pen pal Max.  Sweet.  And looking at his writing…we’ve got some work to do when he gets back.  🙂

nice work

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As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve had an intern for a few weeks now and yesterday was her last day with us.  She did a great job and I had a great time having her by my side.  It’s so neat to have a student who enjoys learning and absorbs everything around her.

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Here’s the basket of goodies that she left for me.  The best part of it all was the variety of jarred items that she made for me.  I got some strawberry preserves, apricot preserves, jarred pears, and homemade relish!  I can’t wait to try them all!

Best of luck, Angie!

Experiment Update

So, Month 5 of our “We Have No Car” Experiment has just come to an end and things are going well. Commuting on public transportation, using zipcar, and just plain walking has been fine. The only inconveniences may be day trips or weekend trips that require a little more planning than just hopping in your car and driving off. However, when it comes to daily activities and local weekend activities, I don’t seem to feel the need for having my own car. So, with the money that we’ve saved on just the car payments alone (not including insurance and gas), we have plenty of money to take a nice week-long trip.

belize_map.jpgI got a week off at the end of August and we are heading to Belize! It’s located in Central America with lots of little cayes (keys) to explore. I guess this is a fitting place to visit considering it’s the pioneer of eco-tourism. All the fuel I’ve saved on not having a car will go towards my 5-hour flight each way to and from my destination. I booked our flights on American Airlines last night and I just booked one of our three hotel stays today. My co-worker just spent two weeks there in April and she got me really excited about lounging around drinking rum-spiked punch, snorkeling just outside of my hotel room, and trekking through tropical forests to find ancient Mayan ruins. It sounds awesome.

As for the experiment…it looks as though we may not be able to go carless for much longer. Starting in September, I’ll need a car in order to get to my teaching job. Sure, my teaching job is only 1-2 times per week and it’s in Oakland too but I’ll also be working 9-hour days on my non-teaching days as Daylight Saving Time also comes to an end. We’ll probably be looking for something small, fuel efficient, in the $15-20K range, and won’t be very tempting to the hoodlums in OakTown. So, if anyone has any suggestions on what we should consider, let me know. I just know that U.S. News and World Report ranked Honda Civic, Honda Fit, and Honda Civic Hybrid as #’s 1, 2, and 3, respectively. How boring.

You shall call me Professor Beakatude.

That’s right, baby!  One of my life goals is to teach and it looks like I may finally get to do it for real!

One of my old professors from grad school, who also works at Children’s, recruited me for the Pediatric Clinic course at my alma mater.  It would require taking time off from my current full-time job at the hospital so after about a month and a half of negotiation with my manager, I’ve been given the OK to take it!  Woo hoo!!

So, this fall I will be helping out on Monday afternoons as an Assistant Proffesor.  It involves supervising the grad students with their clients and I’ll be assigned to 8 of my very own students.  That means, I will giving mentoring them and GRADING PAPERS!!!  Wow.  On top of all that, I’ve been asked to give two of their weekly Wednesday lectures.  That’s crazy…can you believe I’ll be TEACHING?! I’m gonna have to get me a new red pen!

My Very Bad Monday

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My Monday started out kinda slow.  I had a hard time getting up and then had to wait a really long time for my train.  When I arrived at work, I realized that I didn’t have my lunch bag.  On one of the rare occasions that I actually pack a lunch, I manage to leave my bag on the train.  Boo….  So someone in SF had an awesome chicken and rice lunch along with half a PB&J sammich, 3 Balance Bars, and a yogurt.  *grr*  He or she also scored an awesome neoprene lunch bag and StainSaver container.

As if my day couldn’t get any worse, my 11:15 patient came in and was quite a handful.  He’s a 9-year-old who was exposed to drugs in utero, which has resulted in erratic behaviors and short bursts of calmness and aggression.  Well, during one of his moments of calmness, he decided to explode in aggression while I wasn’t looking.  He clawed me in the neck and dug his nails into my right arm.  I shrugged it off for the remainder of the session but when it was over, I looked in the mirror to find my neck covered in red lines along with a bleeding mark where he broke the skin.  I also had a large bruise on my upper right arm with 2 more bleeding marks.

Wow, I got a real beating today.  I was ready to just clean up the wounds and put some bandaids on but I had to go to Employee Health to fill out some forms and get checked out.  So, now I have a large bandage on my arm, a new bottle of ibuprofen, and an ice pack for the bruise.  I must have unconsciously known something was going to happen today because for some random reason I decided to take some band-aids to work to keep in my desk this morning.   My Hello Kitty band-aids sure did come in handy today!  AND it’s time for me to buy a new lunch bag.

Raspberry Preserves

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This spring/summer, I’ve been mentoring my third graduate student and she has been so fun to have as my shadow.  She’s very smart, intuitive, calm, and eager to learn.  She also grew up in Sonoma County where her family still resides and grows fresh fruits and veggies.  On Monday morning, I found this jar of preserves on my desk at work and it turns out that she made it with her mom over the weekend.  And I got one!!  The presentation is so simple and yet it’s so pretty too.  I finally opened it today to have a little taste and WOW.  It was so yummy and I can’t wait to make a PB&J sammich tomorrow morning.