Time Goes On

It's been a long time since Nate last posted, so I have decided to take matters into my own hands.
I am thoroughly enjoying my new vibe - so many things can fit into it at the same time! A vibe owner across the alley boasted that he moved his entire bedroom suite in his car.
Nate is finished courses and spending his days basking in the sun. Only one more year and his life as a student may be at an end. What to do?
Since February, I've been doing childcare a few days a week for a very naughty one year old boy. He does not like to sleep, behave, or listen, but we've been diligent in trying to teach him manners. But, after 5 months of painstakingly working with him, we've decided it's time someone else took a turn. This is my last week with him, and we're both looking forward to a change of pace for a few week. We'll see what comes next!
Last week Willis developed some stomach flu symptoms, and after a few days (and a few interrupted sleeps) we decided it was time for some veterinarian intervention. They wanted to keep him for some procedures that would make Bill Gates gasp - so we opted to bring him back home with some pills. They've worked, and for less than half the price. Be firm, animal owners!
The rest of the summer is planned to be filled with sun-basking, house planning, and baby holding. Perhaps there will be another update in 5 months. If you're lucky.

Good News!

The car sold last Tuesday, and Audrey talked the guy into $400 more than he wanted to pay!
In other news, my spring courses are going very quickly, which means that assignments come due very quickly as well. I've done two weeks of classes, and my first assignments are due this Thursday and next Monday. My final exam in one course is one month from tomorrow, and the final assignment in the other is due less than a week after that.
Today we rounded up some awesome relatives and cleared out a bunch of unwanted trees from our lot. It's actually starting to look like a place where someone might want to put a real house. Once the pretend house and its neglected stepchild of a garage are out of there, we'll be set.

Car for sale

Fa la la la la

So I was told I needed to write something here again. I turned my last paper in last Friday, giving me an incredible 2 weeks off before my spring classes begin. Unfortunately, I made myself sick writing that paper (6 hours of sleep in 3 days really does a number on the immune system, leaving one vulnerable to germs), and have been feeling tired and horking up stuff all week. I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, and after June I'll have just 12 credit hours left to do. To complete those credits, I can either just take 4 more courses, or I can write a thesis.
I want to write a thesis, and even have a prof who would be willing to advise me, but I have yet to come up with a suitable subject. I want to conduct an evaluation and cost-analysis on a government funded program, but have yet to find a suitable program to evaluate (although with my other coursework, I haven't looked that hard yet). I thought I had found a good one, but despite the program manager's enthusiasm, the higher-ups in the organisation didn't feel it was the right time.
Sigh. I guess I'll keep looking.

Door

We found our perfect door this weekend at the home show:

oops, one more

Here are some tree photos I need to resize

Fun

I had my big presentation yesterday in my political ethics course. It went pretty good, but with all of the prof's interjections and comments, my one hour presentation turned into a two hour presentation. You know something's too long when even the presenter is getting bored and wants to finish.

It's mostly better

My elbow infection is much, much better. When I hold my arm straight it no longer looks like somebody cut a tennis ball in half and stuck it under my skin. The redness is also gone too. And to think I still need to take antibiotics for another week and a half. Today will hopefully involve much research. Here I go...





P.S. My wife is wonderful.

Hey Hey

Wow, over a month since my last post, I guess I really do hibernate in the winter. I told Audrey the other day that in a month I will start to feel good about where the weather is headed.
I'm keeping busy with school, although some weeks are busier than others. I have to do a presentation tomorrow, but today my outline for next wednesday's class presentation was due, as well as my take-home test. I skipped class tonight, got all of today's stuff finished and emailed, and now I just need to prepare tomorrow's presentation.
My bigger reason for not going to class tonight was that I woke up this morning with a red and swolen elbow. If you google "cellulitis" you'll see some nasty stuff. Mine is pretty mild, and I've already got antibiotics and anti-inflamitory medicine flowing through my body, so hopefully my quick action will help me avoid needing to go in for IV antibiotics. It doesn't make me feel too bad, just a little tired. I mainly stayed home so I could rest up and avoid bumping it into anything and irritating it.

Finally, I have a thesis to start working on. Sort of. I have an idea, which my prof thinks is a good idea, which I need to work on a proposal for. I will be doing a program evaluation on a yet to be determined government run or funded program. I will likely also do a cost-analysis of said program in order to determine its value to society and its funders.