Week 8 Ends

Another catchup as I guess I will be doing until the semester ends. Things are going fine and I really don’t have any major complaints. Kelly is doing very well and that is important to me. She is buying furniture for the new house and she send me some fun pictures of Lucia. I don’t think she needs any extra attention from me so I will just stay in touch here and there. She knows if the situation changes I will be there for her immediately. The situation with Claire G is also going well. She has to finish the blocking but then one more semester and she will have a degree in interdisciplinary studies. I can’t wait to attend her graduation. I am supposed to take her to dinner on Monday to discuss her taking my Study of Fiction course and I am sure we will discuss other things. Lou left a nice message thanking me for helping her and I appreciated that. My kayak friend got sick so there was no kayaking trip this weekend. I didn’t care that much about the actual kayaking but I was looking forward to seeing her. We always have such fun, talking and joking. I had lunch with Claire Hall on Friday and that was a lot of fun. We went for a nice walk on the VT campus after lunch. I also saw Gyorgyi for coffee on Wednesday and we had a good chat. She wasn’t feeling that well but we had a good time for over an hour. I hurt my bad knee again when the low level administrator running the Open House sent an incompetent email with the wrong details for getting into the Fitness Building. I parked closest to the supposed entrance but it was an emergency exit and I couldn’t get in, and the next suggested entrance was also an emergency exit and again I couldn’t get in. I had to walk up a hill (or go up about 20 stairs) and my leg was already aching. I told the administrator that she had “really screwed me this time,” and it is just one more instance of her disdain for faculty and her inability to get things right. She also had the audacity of complain to my chair, even though it is apparent that if she had checked the entrances out (with a quick phone call) I would have parked right near the only entrance and not reinjured my bad knee. I showed the email to my chair and she agreed that the instructions should have been checked out. Now I am worried that I may have to have my knee replacement done soon and that may mean I will have to use my sick leave (which I have plenty of) and take the spring semester off. I was trying to be a team player (and have the surgery done in the summer) but now I may just use my sick leave and do it in the spring. Bryan is coming out this week to put in the meter base and according to Jim Casteele, I should have electricity in a month or six weeks. I will be able to have a bigger air conditioner (and that will make the house so much more tolerable in hot months) and a larger electric heater so I won’t have to cover my head with blankets on the colder nights. I have ridden my bike almost every day, done a shorter hike to the orchard almost every day (Tuesday and Thursday morning I am lucky just to do weights and yoga), and played golf a few times despite my knee hurting during every activity.