dress real neat from our hats to our feet

I took a day off from work at the testing center yesterday. I'd looked at the schedule, and it was going to be a light day. We were fully staffed, so I took one for the team and waived my shift. I figured I could get caught up on some responsibilities have a play day. I ended up taking a nice long bike ride, despite the heat, stopped by the library and picked up an indulgent, light-read paperback.

I did have a tutor sesh in the afternoon, so it wasn't a day of total sloth. My high schooler (rising senior) was freshly back from a 2-week summer architecture program hosted by a rather posh out-of-state univeristy.  

We were meeting online, so she showed me the models she'd made and talked about how (surprisingly!) grueling the program was. Seems they really put those kids to work! To me, she seemed to have noticeably matured in those two weeks away, like it's hitting her that she has just one more year left of high school before she goes out into the big world. 

When I was her age, I'd thought about architecture school. It seemed it would be a fun combination of artsy and mathy, but I ended up not going that route and became an engineer instead. As an engineer, I had dealings with industrial designers, which to me, are similar to architects. Instead of designing buildings to be aesthetically pleasing, industrial designers design consumer products to be aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing. 

On one hand, we had design engineers who designed a thing to perform certain functions. On the other hand were the industrial designers who designed the thing to look and feel good. My job was to tweak their combined efforts into a thing that functioned, looked and felt nice, and could also be mass produced at an affordable cost. Oh boo!

The industrial designers had their own building. It was stylish and artsy like the industrial designers themselves. They didn't care to talk about manufacturing costs - too constraining! Who were these nerds (my cohorts, me) anyway!?

Honestly, I enjoyed that job. I don't know if I'm minimal and practical now because I enjoyed the job, or if I enjoyed the job because I was already minimal and practical. Chickens. Eggs.

After our tutor session ended, I was remembering those cool, stylish, industrial designers. Their fashionable clothes, their edgy haircuts, their fancy furniture... jealous much? Maybe. Would I have fit in had I gone that route?

I sketched a Tesla Cybertruck I've seen around town lately. Or it's possibly multiple Tesla Cybertrucks around town - they all look alike, don't they?

Did Elon himself design it? And no one told him , "no"?

bricks and mud

[Brickies (don't call it Lego™ even though it's all actual Legos™) Creation Fest] happened once again in downtown Fort Collins this weekend. Once again, my PEO chapter volunteered to run various activity booths and will receive a nice donation from the organizers. 

Sure beats a bake sale, I say!

I rather enjoy this particular volunteer duty. Fun activities, cute families, downtown Fort Collins... What's not to like? Well, the heat, for one thing. But, what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger.

My duty featured a *Lego* horse race, but I won't bore with the rules. Suffice to say it was enjoyed by many a fest goer, and I somehow managed to make about a 0.4 second appearance in the [instagram promo video] enticing people to come on down.

As with the previous two years I've volunteered, it featured much wholesomeness - attentive parents, cute kids, friendly teens. I particularly liked seeing older kids actually trying to lose the horse race with their younger siblings/ cousins/ friends. One older brother actually confessed, "I'm sorry, I wanted you to win", to his little sis. But it all hinged on the roll of the dice, no real skill involved. He won, fair and square. 

Good times.

Later, last evening, we were absolutely DELUGED  by an aggressive unpredicted thunderstorm. Oh sure, after the thing already moved through, we got alerts for severe weather warnings. 

This morning I went for an absolutely lovely bike ride, and there was a lot of post-storm trash - limbs, mud, guck - around town. Many an underpass was still under a good amount of water along with heaps of "flood mud". 

I confess to actually getting off the bicycle and gingerly making my way through one particularly muddy underpass because it was too spooky to attempt with my skinny tires. That stuff is slippery!

But it's been so hot and dry lately, and this was a nice break from the heat bringing much needed moisture. Everyone I encountered while on my ride seemed to be in a good mood - cheerful greetings all around! Let's not think about politics for a minute!

And all this creation happening reminded me that I've not felt/been very creative lately. 

Feeling heroic from my nearly three whole hours of volunteering, I pulled out the sketchbook.

weekend mash up

From the time we start going to school, I think we become conditioned to school days vs. summer days. Once we've gone past July 4th, I feel like we've passed the halfway point of summer, and I start looking ahead to the next thing. But I'm trying to just enjoy the summer "daze".

Our California vacation helped. It really is good to get away from the same old same old and get a change of place. Now that we've been back, I'm feeling a bit restless, like summer's running out.

• Work at the testing center has been slow, as it tends to be in summer. During spring and fall semesters, we have a pretty steady stream of roughly 50% student tests, 50% professional tests. Summertime brings hardly any student tests - averaging about 1 per day. Unlike last summer, we are now fully staffed, and it feels like we comically step all over each other when something needs to be done. Someone often goes home early.
  
  
• On that note, the college DEI department introduced a "summer reading program" at the end of the spring semester. They provided a list of about 5 books for interested people to rank in order of interest. The survey was to determine 1 or 2 books to be read and discussed. 

I completed the survey, then heard a whole lot of nothing afterward. THIS week, we finally get the word that two books have been chosen, and looks like it will be a fall reading discussion. Oh great, just when things get busy :P .

But oh well, a free book's a free book, so I picked up my copy of [Different not Less]. Seems useful so far. 

The book should be useful for tutoring too. I'd say my most challenging tutees are the ones with unchecked ADHD *give me patience*

• And on that note, I've ended up with 3 college tutees and 1 high school tutee this summer, all very pleasant. A couple of them are REALLY lacking and should probably retake the prerequisite course, but God love 'em, they try.
  
  
• I've almost got my running back to where I was before being befallen with a bum foot followed by a foray into physical therapy. Back to where I was was still trying to get my stamina back after covid two years ago, but it's not awful. I'm glad to be chugging along. 

I also acknowledge that I've aged two more years since then, so I'll take what I can get.

I'm typing this at the downtown library. Just had to get outta the house - that restlessness. Strange mix of cute kids and unhoused adults at the downtown library... 

how they know me

Regarding our trip to Pasadena over 4th of July weekend for a family gathering - it was the first time I'd traveled by air in 23 years.

It's not like I'd purposely avoided it. After we'd had the kids and I was a stay-at-home-mom, we didn't do a whole lot of traveling other than yearly road trips. Particularly after we moved to Colorado, where most of both my and Magnum's extended family lives, there just weren't that many occasions - or casual income - to fly. 

The last time I'd been on an airplane was just before 9-11. How's that for timing? I took baby Meego to Colorado to visit my parents. 

Now Meego's a grown adult and flies when he pleases without me. Remember when he and his friends had a college graduation party? And they broke out the shot ski? And my kids were [all up in my business, coaching me on doing ONE shot]?

I mean, I get it. I left my profession before Meego was even born. The kids mainly know the stay-at-home-mom version of me, where my function was "laundry and stuff" to quote Arthur the Aardvark's little sister D.W.  They know me as someone who can quote Arthur the Aardvark, not someone who air travels and imbibes much alcohol.

But prior to that, my life was much different. I was gainfully employed as a corporate working girl, drank alcohol on occasion, schlepped around airports for both business and recreation... 

I loved my corporate working girl life, I loved being a stay-at-home-mom. Same person, different seasons. 

So this month, there was a bit of "YOU're gonna fly? On a plane?!?".  

Migosh, I'm not Laura freakin' Ingalls.

Yes, I flew on a commercial airline. It wasn't much different than I remember from the "old days", other than beefed up airport security. On a side note, we used to joke that if/ when I did fly after 9-11, I would be flagged and stripped searched because there just so happens to be a known domestic terrorist who shares my maiden name. 

But that's another story, and she has most likely changed her name anyway.

I snagged one of the pics from the gathering - everyone except for 10 or so covid casualties

Our return flight was surprisingly light - 38 passengers for 143 seats. "Take the whole row. If someone sits next to you, ask them 'why?'". I grabbed a photo of my big ol' personal row

So THAT was different. I commented to Wolfang how comfy that was, having the whole row.

"You never fly, then you do and get that. There are people who fly all the time, and will never have that experience!", He pointed out.

See, I know what I'm doing.

tooth or consequences

I had a checkup at the dentist this week. Recall that I'd scheduled it for about a month ago, but got a call that the substitute hygienist broke her shoulder. No cleaning for me.

Regular hygienist is still away on vacation, sub hygienist is still recovering, so it was the good dentist himself who cleaned my teeth. Seemed a bit strange to have the big chief doing the scraping, but he's actually very personable and humble. He did a good jack-of-all-trades job. 

The office recently got a 3D scanner, so the thing spun around my head a bit. After my cleaning, the good doctor summoned me to see my scans. It was like being asked to report to the principal's office.

"Do you have trouble with your sinus?"

Ohmigosh yes.

"Yeah, cuz you don't have any bone there", pointing to the image of the obvious hole in my head. There is a tunnel between my mouth and my left maxillary sinus, from where a tooth used to be.

Honestly, it wasn't anything I didn't already know. Flashback to 2019 when I battled with  a bum tooth - #14 for those in the know.

It ended with a gruesome extraction after a failed attempt to save it.

I didn't even care to try to save it, and was ultimately glad to just be rid of the thing. And it continues to haunt me from the grave. When the oral surgeon extracted the tooth, he had to go up into my sinus to get all of it, thus forming the aforementioned "tunnel". I recall it feeling so weird, like my whole face was open to the air. 

In the few days that followed, mucus from my sinus would trickle into my mouth through the tooth hole. ICK! TMI!

The gum eventually healed over, but the bone never reformed. Denist says I "need" a bone graft. I say, "eh". Really, it hardly bothers me. There's got to be other people walking around with similar holes in their heads, right?

In other news, my weather tab says it's 102 degrees outside but feels like 106. Is there much difference at that point? Relative humidity is 5% - a dry heat it is!

It's my turn to work the Saturday rotation tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the A/C.

might as well be walking on the sun

Welp, we're back from our little vacay. And I'd like to thank all who offered suggestions on what to get Boss/ Cat Sitter. All great suggestions, and "something edible" was clearly popular.

I've decided to get him a gift card from a local [popular deli/ bakery] that I know he likes for their delicioso sandwiches and pies. In fact, I was going to get it today, but learned they're closed on Sundays. 

And I drew this cat to make a card to "wrap" the gift card because Boss actually likes cutesy animal drawings.

Napolion was well fed and well watered upon our return late last night, although seemingly a bit pissed off that we'd left. 

He took his time giving us the what for, but I think all is forgiven for now.

Where were we, you ask? 

We were in lovely Pasadena, CA for the gathering of Magnum's side of the family. My Father-in-law will be 90 years old in a couple of months, so we celebrated that feat. Step-mother-in-law also turns 80 around the same time, so it was a double round birthday celebration.

We spent time with lots of extended family. If I took a moment, I could report a full count, but I'm feeling lazy. Suffice to say there were 4 generations represented. 

We arrived Wednesday evening and got back late last night. The long weekend included lots of food, lots of sun, Rose Bowl fireworks, and culminated in the birthday brunch at the [Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden] - magical place!

Sadly, but maybe not surprisingly, the gathering also include a few revelers getting the crud we all know as covid. By the time Brunch time rolled around, attendance had diminished somewhat, but the party went on, and hopefully, FIL and MIL (or anyone else) will not succumb.

I did not take one photo of the brunch venue because I'm lame that way any photos I'd have gotten wouldn't have done it justice anyway. One of my step-neice-in-law's (?  sis-in-law's second husband's daughter) played the role of official photographer, so I imagine photos will be shared shortly.

Aside from scheduled big gathering events, Friday was a free agenda day. Our brood decided to get an authentic California experience and hit the beach. We went to Santa Monica, mingled along the pier, ate some seafood, got covered in sand...

Lame photography skills here...

It was overcast for most of the morning, which made for easy beach parking and cool temperatures - so no complaints from us Colorado people - especially myself - who rarely see the ocean. I counted, I've seen it only four times - 3 Pacific, 1 Atlantic - in almost 60 years.

Eventually the clouds parted, and we all got sunburned despite sunscreening. As it should be.

So now we're back, and I'm getting caught up on reading blogs, doing laundry, and sleeping. Back to work tomorrow. whoop.

a Japanese cat relic?

 I could use some advice. 

We've got a short trip coming up. Dogs will stay at a local kennel, and the cat will have the house to himself. I feel okay leaving the cat for two or three days with a gravity feeder, big bowl of water, and a pristine litter box at the ready. This trip will be slightly more than 3 days, and I asked my friend/Boss - a card-carrying cat lover - if he wouldn't mind checking in on Napolion, our cat.

He accepted the mission, said he's got nothing else going on those days, and would be happy to do it. He lives just a couple of miles away, too, which is why I thought to ask him. Normally, I would ask a neighbor kid, but I honestly don't currently know any neighbor kids well enough - a ramification of empty nesting, I suppose.

With a neighbor kid, I would just give them some cash. But what to do with Boss friend? Feels cheesy to give him a gift card or such. 

Any suggestions?

For reference, he's about 60 years old - a single (never married)  history buff and Japanophile. Likes to read (history and Japan, duh), hike, and bicycle. Oh, and he's rather fond of cats.

I'm drawing a blank here.