Quickie

1. I got an email from a really sweet student in my class last spring. She was very nice in the email and discussed how great the class was. Was all the stress worth it? I do think the class helped people. That was the goal. I think, if I do it again, it will get better and potentially help more of the students more and I think I've determined some ways to reduce the load on me.

2. Little girls are going to gymnastics camp this week! It is super fun. Last summer, I had mixed feelings about it. This summer, the camp is better organized and the girls are a little older, so I'm really liking it right now. (I took my own folding chair today so I wouldn't have to sit on the hard benches and that helped too!) Next summer, I think I want to do gymnastics camp 3 or 4 times (with a week or two between the sessions). The girls love the bouncing and I think it's really good for them to get exercise. By next summer, I might even leave them on their own at camp (as it's supposed to be).

3. My Dad... We still have lots of questions. We didn't get him to a place that can do an echocardiogram. Today my Mom got really upset with something one of the nurses said, and then she got flustered and didn't ask the questions she had about getting him the echo and how to make it happen.

I tried to get my Mom to realize we don't need to "like" the nurses/doctors, we need to make sure they are doing a good job taking care of Dad and doing what he needs. If we like them, bonus. She disagrees. I get that feeling good about people is important to her, but sometimes, not everyone is your best friend and they are still helpful/good for you.

I agree that what my Mom said the nurse said wasn't very professional, but I also know that I don't know the whole context of the conversation. (Whoa, lots of saids there.)

It's really hard not being there to help/ask questions/be annoying until we get the answers we need. (I'm really good at the last one... heh.)

4. I've been preparing and preparing and preparing for my new class this fall. I feel like I'm close to being ready, and I'm losing steam just preparing by myself. Next up, I need to start making videocasts or podcasts as initial ways to help introduce my students to the readings.... I don't want them to be "lectures" but simply good introductions... Maybe 2-5 minutes per article / reading... I think that might be good. I'll do the first one and let you know how it goes.

5. Another student from my spring class just did the sweetest thing for me. She got me an article I wanted. She did Inter-Library Loan (or whatever it's called now) for me. I didn't have access and she did this for me and then sent it to me when it came in. (Many of my spring '08 students were awesome!)

Enough for now. Sleep!