student saga continues

I had thought maybe Mr. Letterheaded had realized his folly and was going to take his 'F' and disappear. But today he dropped off another version of the doctor's note on "letterhead". Looks like a homemade job to me. Just a suspicion. Most docs I know actually sign and date their letters. Fortunately, his behavior is now officially egregious enough to get him off my desk and onto that of the dean of students. When I told her the story she remarked that it would be laughable if not so pitiful. I decided not to tell her how many gales of laughter we enjoyed around the office. Made us look a little heartless...


Oh, and had to pick up a check at accounts payable today. I had forgotten that this was where one of our former dim staff members slunk off to when it was clear we were about to can her. She was decidedly frosty.

pictures

Catherine's birthday cake.





Craig adjusting yet another one of his many pillows.

Holiday Weekend

We toyed with going somewhere for this weekend and then decided that we would much rather (?) spend copious amounts of time on home improvement projects. Yesterday we spent four hours shopping at two Loewes and Costco... Came home with such exciting purchases as a new toilet for the front bathroom. The need for this was driven home at last weekend's party when I had to make my way through the crowd listening to the band play with a large plunger. One look at the situation and I settled for an "out of order" sign on the door and adding "new toilet" to our shopping list. We also got a new ceiling fan for the front entryway. Bye bye to the gold and faux wood thing that has assaulted my eyes since we moved in. What else? New fixtures for the front bathroom - taps, towel rails etc. All not in shiny gold - I guess they were to match the hideous fan. Also new door knobs that are brushed nickel rather than, you guessed it, shiny gold. Craig installed outside shades to the west facing living room window so that we will no longer by able to fry eggs on our sofa in August. The sun is pretty unrelenting though so we may still be able to poach one there... Just finishing my coffee and about to head out with the weed wacker (I have never used one) and cut down all the knee high grass amidst the trees out front.

The doctor's note

Here is the famous doctor's note. Student's name removed to protect his anonymity (stupidity).

To Whom It May Concern,
This document is for _______________ saying that he was in the hospital for an expended period of time. Because of his stay in the hospital, he missed school. He was in the hospital for roughly 5 and a half weeks. He had complications with his breathing because he has asthma and he got sick from the Gas Leak that happened at the University of Utah. Please excuse __________ from what he missed or let him make it up.

Sincerely,

forged signature of doctor

speechless

A student wrote to me to appeal a failing grade in his Spanish class. He had submitted a doctor's note and wanted to know why this hadn't saved him from an 'F'. I'll quote the note in full tomorrow when I have it in front of me, but suffice it to say that it is clearly a forgery. I wrote back to him and said that before we could discuss his case he would need to submit a proper doctor's note, i.e. on letterhead with contact information for the doctor etc.
Two minutes later, I receive and email that says:
"What is letterheaded?"

The Floor

As some of you know, we have been without a floor since last summer. In a fit of DIY-ness, we pulled up all the tile and carpet, bought a truckload of laminate flooring and then...nothing. Well, Craig has been working hard the last few weekends and we now have what qualifies as "an expanse" of flooring. Here are the pics. There is still a long way to go, but the trickiest bits near the front door with all the angled walls and the lip going down into the living room etc have been tackled and he has found his stride.

birthday

Birthday was great. We got a new washing machine:) That wasn't my present. I got a bike rack for my car and a bike helmet and biking gloves. All wonderful. I rode to meet Val and Ellen for dinner tonight. Miscalculated a little, thinking in my mind that it was probably equally up and down hill both directions. By the time I was half way there, I was pretty certain that it was going to be relentlessly uphill much of the way home. Imagine my delight when Ellen offered to load bike into her big new lexus SUV and drive me home.