Russian

So, I am in charge of our new summer language institute. We got a hefty government grant to teach 'critical need' languages to ROTC students, and anyone else who wants to sign up and pay tuition. It was all kind of a panicky last minute thing, because we had about 4 weeks from getting the grant notification to the start of classes to find instructors, advertise, organize a training workshop etc. Classes started on Monday. The Russian instructor, the one you may remember me mentioning earlier this year who answers her cell phone in class. Did I mention that she tends to keep the phone tucked in her bra? Small detail. Anyway, she is doing the summer class. Here is what happened on day one. Fernando made a circuit to check that everyone was settled in their classroom. When Fernando went by she was sitting in the back of the room and there was a guy leading the class. At first he didn't see her and thought that there was a room conflict. He went in search of her in the lab. Half an hour later we both went by again and this time we saw her in the back of the room. The mystery man was still up front. She came out into the hallway and explained that the guy leading the class was one of her former students and, get this, is a "professional hypnotist". "if you need one" she added to Fernando. Bear in mind that an hour in this course is not an insubstantial amount of time given how much we are trying to cover (one year in six weeks). She was having him do a whole hour on relaxation, hypnotism and stress management techniques... What does one say????!!! I mean it's an intriguing idea, but could she have run it by us?

Stereotypes

Just back from the awards ceremony for 7th and 8th grade at Catherine's school. Its kind of nice in that they don't tell the kids what award they are getting so we all get to be surprised. She got an award for French. It is very inclusive in the American way - you know, lots of people are excellent. But there were also some totally predictable trends. Hmmm, they started with something called the Academic Team. These are the kids that compete for the school and last year our school team came second in the nation. 95% of the team members were Asian or Indian. But when we got to the choral and dance awards, well, they all pretty much looked like Nordic immigrants. There was an abundance of Olsens, Lindgrens, Lofgrens, etc.

Children in May

Catherine is 14

Here are a couple of pictures from Catherine's party.

Spring in Utah

Here are two pictures taken about a week apart. The first I took on a hike near our house. The second is one Craig took in Moab four hours southeast of here. What a difference those miles make!

TGIF

Had another session of physical therapy yesterday. I highly recommend this to everyone. This time I had 'heat', then massage, then someone stretching my limbs and back, and then more electrodes and ice. All quite lovely. Unfortunately the day went severely downhill from there. We had two long meetings to address the Dean's charge for us to come up with a strategic plan. The first one went ok, but the second had various participants (moi included) behaving quite badly. Some post meeting emails were circulated - fortunately I had the restraint not to join in that continuation of the awfulness. It is the usual conundrum of trying to figure out what to support, who to hire and so on when people really don't agree.
So, I am glad it is Friday evening. I am reading a mystery novel and listening to the din downstairs that is Catherine's 14th birthday party. They started out with a photo scavenger hunt which involved roaming the neighborhood in groups with digital cameras and a list of "must get shots". We have had pizza and ice cream cake and many of the girls will stay the night. The conversation seems focused on who will win American Idol next week and other super important questions.

The ageing body

I've come to the realization that I am an inveterate consumer of health care. Don't know whether this is a by-product of living in the good old USA and thinking, by golly, I better get some care, 40 million people don't, or just a natural result of ageing. The body falling apart and hence requiring more intervention... Those following my health (fascinating topic) will know I had the MRI a couple of weeks ago. It showed (always good that it shows something consistent with the pain) that I have disc degeneration... yikes... disc protrusion... OMG... and Schmorl's nodes... WTF?
All of this is in the thoracic region (at T-11 and T-12 for you in the know). Today I had my first physical therapy appointment with a lovely man called Tyler who clucked and agreed that I couldn't go on in my condition and we needed to get me sorted out. This involved today just learning some exercises and having electrodes and an ice pad applied to my back for 15 minutes. Next time I get to do more exercises and try out "traction". The whole PT practice is a jolly place full of people hooked up to various bits of equipment or doing odd things in the gym. There was one guy repetitively throwing a ball at a small trampoline. I thought repetitive motion was bad for you, but apparently in some cases it is the cure.