I'm at a Loss...

I feel the urge to blog, yet I'm really not sure what to write about. So, I guess we'll just start and see how it turns out. Recently, got to go to Logan and spend some time with my mom and my aunts. We went to lunch at the senior center in Logan (not bad) and we went to a Celtic festival. Sadie got to go with me, which made it a total girls weekend. Dave was going to go camping with the boys, but due to in climate weather, that didn't happen.

I'm feeling good about working and my job. My opinion changes from time to time, but I'm doing good now. Random note, I got a compliment (or two) from my boss, i.e. the Dr. that I work with. He had just mentioned to a lady he knew that it is not being just a medical assistant. He told her about how the MA's in his office do a lot and keep things going. While we hear "thanks for all you do" and that we are appreciated, it just seemed to be more sincere. So, thanks for letting us know that the work we do is noticed.

Last night I spent the night at American Fork Hospital...in the sleep lab. I did an overnight oximetry test at home, which showed my O2 level drops while I sleep. So my doctor ordered a full overnight sleep study, in which I got hooked up to I think around 16 wires and spent the night at the hospital. Evidently, I was rather nervous about doing the study. Once I got to sleep however, it went fine I think. I feel like it was my "typical" night's rest. The results won't be back for a week or two. I think it seems kind of bizarre that I have done a sleep test. In the event that I start using a CPAP or some other aid to help me sleep better, hopefully it will work. From what I've heard, it really can make a difference. I generally think of a CPAP as something used by "older" people; so I guess we'll just see what the results showed and go from there.

Well, I think that should be good and that's about all I've got for now. I'll write again soon and hopefully have some idea what to write about.

Hmm...

Alright, so now that I've posted we're heading back to school, I already need to "update" my progress. I went to take the Accuplacer exam yesterday, which is one of those see how much you know, or don't know, type-tests. The results surprised me and they didn't. Ready for this?

Test & Score:
Basic Algebra 66%
Sentence Structure 99%
Reading Comprehension 52%

Recommendations:
Reading and writing 0900

Math 1010

The report I was given stated that most college majors require at least the ability to do Math 1050 and English 1010. I don't have a problem with that, except that I've already taken Math 1050 and 1060, as well as English 1010 and English 2010. Granted, it has been 7+ years since I've taken those classes, but I think enough said.

Making the Grade

It's that time of year again - the beginning of a new school year. I have gone back and forth about going back to school for ongoing education, and up to this point I have kept putting it off for one reason or another. On a sporadic whim about a week ago, I ended up applying to Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). A couple of days later I received my acceptance letter.

Oddly enough, although I started out at a university, I have done more higher education at smaller schools. The irony is that I have had some pre-conceived notion that "tech schools" and colleges weren't as good as universities. Yet, I will end up spending more time in the smaller schools than I did at Utah State University. I am hoping to just do a few classes through SLCC over the next year to finish pre-requisites for nursing and then I will be applying for a LPN, nursing program.

Dave too is headed back to school. He has tried a few things since he graduated with his BS in Finance, but his latest one is web design. He's pretty excited about it. He is taking just a single course through a tech school to see if he really likes it first, and then if he does he will do a course to be "certified" in that. Wish us luck! :0)

Bittersweet

I've hit a hundred grand! Well, Little ET (my cute little car) just crossed the 100k mile marker. It was bound to happen, and really I've put on a lot of miles. Sadly, my 2003 car has only a few 1000 miles less than Dave's 2000. The good news is that we've done some good work on both cars and they should be around for some time longer.

Quicky

Tried once again to load pictures from the Florida trip, but it was a futile attempt. This is Dave and our neighbors at the Rockies vs Red Sox game. (Best part of our time in Denver.)

In other news, we had hail yesterday and our power went out for the 4th time in a week. Luckily, the outage last night was about the time we were heading to bed. Other, other news doesn't really exist at this point - not too much else going on. Hopefully we'll have more to report in the next post.

Out & About

A couple of weeks ago we were able to go to Smithfield for Mom and Dad Porter's 50th anniversary party. We did family pictures Friday evening, then had an open house/reception for them. It was beautiful and they had a good turnout. On Saturday we had a family picnic, which was also excellent! Here are a few pictures that we took. The professional ones aren't back yet.

The following week was my office's summer party. We went to a Salt Lake Bees game. There weren't a ton of people there, but still a decent group. The Bees won 5-2. It's always fun to see people outside of work.

This weekend is a Utah holiday, Pioneer Day - July 24th. The holiday was observed today by a lot of businesses, including mine. Last night Dave and I went on a date to Trafalga. We played miniature golf, which was awesome. It's been some time since we've done that. It turned out to be $3 Thursday, which was even better. The course really wasn't that great, but it was nice weather and great to just be able to get out.

We went to lunch at Romano's Macaroni Grill today, tomorrow we are getting up at 5:00 to paint the fire zones in our community, hopefully we'll go swimming this weekend, and see a movie. Hooray for long weekends!

End of the Trip

We've been home a couple of weeks now, but here's the end of the trip. Friday and Saturday we played more at the Disney parks. We watched fireworks from the pool Friday night, which was cool. Sunday we started off for home. A long trip...

Before we left for the airport, Dave was getting out of the shower, when some siren went off and we were informed we should exit the building. We didn't leave, but it was just the start of our fun-filled trip ahead.

In order to make sure we got to the airport on time, we arrived 5 hours early. So we got to the airport, where we thought we could get checked in, etc. However, there was a sign that said they wouldn't be checking passengers in until 2:00, which was 3 hours before we took off. Finally got checked in, we weren't sitting next to each other, got our seats reassigned...next to each other...in the row in front of the emergency exit - no reclining.

Got in the air, got close to Denver, and were informed there was a tornado watch. Plane was diverted to Grand Junction, Co (1/2 way back to Salt Lake), and then circled around the Denver airport for another 3 hours of so. Arrived at the gate about 10:30 vs 6:30 PM. Hoped we would be able to start driving part way back to Utah, didn't happen. Finally found a Village Inn that was open at 11:50, restaurant closed at midnight. The employees were very nice and it was great to eat after 28 hours of fasting!

Almost done - stayed with Dave's sister in Fort Collins, then finally headed home. After all we had been through in our traveling, how could we finish without getting a ticket? Yep, speeding ticket through WY. I'm still working on the pictures. Think it's about finished, and hopefully I'll get them posted soon.