Letter To Mary

I haven't been in touch with too many of my friends lately, and I received a polite enquiry from my cousin.  I responded:

Sorry I've been incommunicado for so long.  I apparently don't do "broke" very well, and I guess I've been suffering from a bit of the blues.  That said, things are looking quite bright!

First off, Jen was a bit stiff & sore as expected, but she found a good chiropractor, and didn't suffer the aftereffects for very long.  The car was ultimately totaled, so there's that.  I'll forward the e-mail she sent me with a couple of pictures she took at the scene.  Carole flew up & spent a week with her.  They got her moved into a new room rental - the one she had was unworkable.  The owner is pretty dysfunctional, and it seems really didn't want a roomer after all.  She's still looking for work, which is tough.  She had a rough three or four years.

In the last month or so, I've had four job calls, three of which resulted in interviews and jobs!  I actually worked for the Post Office for a week, but decided that I much prefer teaching to delivering mail.  I just started teaching last week, at two different schools that are owned by the same holding company, Delta Education.  I'm teaching Web Scripting at Berks Technical Institute (BTI) in Wyomissing, just outside of Reading, and Intro to Computers and Office Documentation (typing - heh) at McCann School in Carlisle.

It's got my head in blender... I have, at last count, eight different accounts for the schools - a couple are common, but a couple are unique to each campus.  In addition, I have two or three (?) accounts with the textbook vendors as well.  I still can't log in to do attendance, which is a hoot!  I also don't have access yet to the account I need for my typing class, that I need to use to track progress.  And one student can log in until *I* log in first.  No pressure.

The good news is, I'm off tomorrow as well as today, because McCann is having some kind of in-service, but I gather it's only for the admin types.  An extra day to track these loose accounts down and nail them to the wall!

Met a couple of local folks thru Twitter, and attended a July 5th party.  It was up in the hills, and I was told to bring my .45, so I did.  If you've looked at the blog since then, you'll pictures of some of the damage we did.  I can see why guns and alcohol don't mix.  When we were done shooting, I wound up putting a pretty good dent in a bottle of something interestingly nasty from North Korea.  I noticed that my right shoulder was sore, down into my right pectoral muscles.  It took me a couple of days to connect the dots that it was most likely from the recoil from the .45 carbine.  (Which shoots quite nicely, by the way.)  I was either just buzzed enough to not feel the full effect of the recoil, or it was somehow not really noticeable but still strong to cause some soreness.

So, I really like McCann, but Berks not quite so much.  McCann is smaller, and I know my director and the school boss pretty well already.  BTI is much bigger, I've met my Dean and the  guy who runs the program, but it isn't as friendly, the the program guys seems to be well known as a micro-manager, and I get the sense he's considered a "dick". (Sorry)  I was chatting w/ the boss at McCann yesterday, and she seems quite OK with giving me a full load of four classes next term, which would preclude me working at Berks.  The commute to Berks is only 10 miles more, but I'm finding it to be psychically much longer.  So there's that.

Suzu is noodging me for a walk, so I'm gonna go do that.

Glad to hear that everyone is OK.  Buying any cannabis goodies?  ;-p

Yes, The P.R.B. - People's Republic of Boulder.  From what I hear, it's getting an awful lot like California (which I do not miss!)

Give my love to all when you see them!

On 7/11/2014 1:05 PM, Mary wrote:

Lee, I just caught up on your blog…….how is Jenny doing?  I hadn’t heard about the accident.  Sounds like she is OK, but I’m sure those first few days she was pretty sore.  How about your job prospects?  Did anything materialize for you?  Hope so.  Has Jenny found work yet?  Hope she has found something that is a good fit.

We are fine.  Summer is slipping by quickly.  Just picked the first ripe tomato today.  You can see that we deal with all kinds of major issues every day. J

Everyone in  Hardin is fine, also in NM.  Susan, Ardell’s oldest, just had her fourth baby, a boy named Benjamin Ardell (“Huck” for Huckleberry) McDowall.  Everyone is very happy with the new addition.  He is quite the porker (as most babies are), but if his siblings are any indication, that will remedy itself in due time.   The guys are still farming (Darell will be 76 in the fall), but have cut their beet acreage down to 125 from 300.  Gerry’s contemplating retirement within the next six months, maybe sooner.  Then he’ll have lots of house projects to keep him busy for a while.

Well, that’s the news in the Republic of Boulder.  Hope you are doing well……drop a note when you have a moment……XO, Mary