A Quick Update on My Life
I really need to post in this thing more often.
Let's see. What have I been up to? (Am I really beginning a post with a series of questions to myself? I guess it's been awhile since I've written. Either that, or I'm rambling.)
My doctor is an idiot and I don't have diabetes (or hepatitis - apparently some liver test was off a bit). I was supposed to go back for a follow up after a month (and that was about two months ago), but I haven't followed up on that, and since my doctor didn't even bother to schedule an appointment, I'm not going to bother, either.
Work for the JETS Program is still insane. One of my bosses (who some people have taken to calling "Prada Lady" after Merrill Streep's character in "The Devil Wears Prada") has made my work environment a little uncomfortable by occasionally yelling at me (I think she thinks I'm incompetent), but I've managed to avoid meeting with her for several weeks, plus I've been managing to work less than 50 hours per week, so work is going okay. I've also gotten some compliments lately from clients, parents, and probation officers who are happy with my work, so that feels nice. Now I just need to find a job to start once my current position ends at the end of August.
Things with Nicole are still going well. Her parents adore me, my parents love her, and even though we've spent only two days apart during the past three weeks, I'm not getting tired of her in the least bit. Her mom keeps making me food, and her dad offered to loan me his car last week when mine was in the shop -- that's a pretty big deal. Nicole and I visited my family and friends in Indiana earlier this month. My friends all seemed to like her, and she got along famously with them. She met my extended family, and they were all very warm and welcomed her with open arms. Nicole particularly liked my grandma. Everyone seems to like the idea of Nicole and me as a couple, so I take that as a good sign.
The dissertation is still unfinished. I am painfully close to being done but other things keep coming up (like getting my car repaired). I have managed to work on it for at least an hour a day for the past three days, though, so that's progress.
My car is finally fixed. I've had five, no six repairs done within the past week. Last Monday I drove back to Miami from spending the weekend in Stuart with Nicole, and by the time I got to work, the engine was smoking. By Monday evening, I had overheated the car to the point where it shut down in a left turn lane and I could not get it restarted. So I had it towed to the Buick dealership. The dealership parking lot was gated and closed (in spite of an after-hours drop), so I then had it towed to a Pep Boys. They wanted $80 just to do a diagnosis, so I just had them replace a burned out headlight and drove the car (two miles, overheating, in heavy construction traffic) back to the Buick dealership, where they replaced my cooling fans. They wanted over $200 to replace the battery, though, so I took the car back to Pep Boys and had them replace the battery. That was my Tuesday. I had to cancel several clients since I had no car to get to work. Nicole saved me, though; she is on summer break and was nice enough to come down to Miami and take me to and from work (and auto repair shops), so I only missed half a day of work (Even so, I still worked more than 45 hours last week.). Then on Wednesday, the car appeared to run fine until I was leaving a client's home up north (nearly in Broward County), when it wouldn't start. Not even the door locks would work. Apparently my battery terminals were rusted near the starter, so I had to have those cleaned on Thursday. That was an expensive week. Then last weekend Nicole's dad helped me reattach my hood release switch to the hood release cable and fixed my broken center console lid by cutting a spring (for free, thankfully), making that six repairs to my poor old car in as many days. I hope she runs okay for awhile now.
My brother just got back from his honeymoon. I haven't talked to him since he got back, but apparently he had a really good time, except for a day and a half long unplanned layover and a really rough plane ride.
I also had a fascinating discussion with my friend Kelli yesterday about hypothesized microbial causes of mass extinctions in the fossil record. Seriously. Yes, I'm a nerd.
That's all that's up with me, I think.
Let's see. What have I been up to? (Am I really beginning a post with a series of questions to myself? I guess it's been awhile since I've written. Either that, or I'm rambling.)
My doctor is an idiot and I don't have diabetes (or hepatitis - apparently some liver test was off a bit). I was supposed to go back for a follow up after a month (and that was about two months ago), but I haven't followed up on that, and since my doctor didn't even bother to schedule an appointment, I'm not going to bother, either.
Work for the JETS Program is still insane. One of my bosses (who some people have taken to calling "Prada Lady" after Merrill Streep's character in "The Devil Wears Prada") has made my work environment a little uncomfortable by occasionally yelling at me (I think she thinks I'm incompetent), but I've managed to avoid meeting with her for several weeks, plus I've been managing to work less than 50 hours per week, so work is going okay. I've also gotten some compliments lately from clients, parents, and probation officers who are happy with my work, so that feels nice. Now I just need to find a job to start once my current position ends at the end of August.
Things with Nicole are still going well. Her parents adore me, my parents love her, and even though we've spent only two days apart during the past three weeks, I'm not getting tired of her in the least bit. Her mom keeps making me food, and her dad offered to loan me his car last week when mine was in the shop -- that's a pretty big deal. Nicole and I visited my family and friends in Indiana earlier this month. My friends all seemed to like her, and she got along famously with them. She met my extended family, and they were all very warm and welcomed her with open arms. Nicole particularly liked my grandma. Everyone seems to like the idea of Nicole and me as a couple, so I take that as a good sign.
The dissertation is still unfinished. I am painfully close to being done but other things keep coming up (like getting my car repaired). I have managed to work on it for at least an hour a day for the past three days, though, so that's progress.
My car is finally fixed. I've had five, no six repairs done within the past week. Last Monday I drove back to Miami from spending the weekend in Stuart with Nicole, and by the time I got to work, the engine was smoking. By Monday evening, I had overheated the car to the point where it shut down in a left turn lane and I could not get it restarted. So I had it towed to the Buick dealership. The dealership parking lot was gated and closed (in spite of an after-hours drop), so I then had it towed to a Pep Boys. They wanted $80 just to do a diagnosis, so I just had them replace a burned out headlight and drove the car (two miles, overheating, in heavy construction traffic) back to the Buick dealership, where they replaced my cooling fans. They wanted over $200 to replace the battery, though, so I took the car back to Pep Boys and had them replace the battery. That was my Tuesday. I had to cancel several clients since I had no car to get to work. Nicole saved me, though; she is on summer break and was nice enough to come down to Miami and take me to and from work (and auto repair shops), so I only missed half a day of work (Even so, I still worked more than 45 hours last week.). Then on Wednesday, the car appeared to run fine until I was leaving a client's home up north (nearly in Broward County), when it wouldn't start. Not even the door locks would work. Apparently my battery terminals were rusted near the starter, so I had to have those cleaned on Thursday. That was an expensive week. Then last weekend Nicole's dad helped me reattach my hood release switch to the hood release cable and fixed my broken center console lid by cutting a spring (for free, thankfully), making that six repairs to my poor old car in as many days. I hope she runs okay for awhile now.
My brother just got back from his honeymoon. I haven't talked to him since he got back, but apparently he had a really good time, except for a day and a half long unplanned layover and a really rough plane ride.
I also had a fascinating discussion with my friend Kelli yesterday about hypothesized microbial causes of mass extinctions in the fossil record. Seriously. Yes, I'm a nerd.
That's all that's up with me, I think.