A Crazy Cat's Life

The end of the semester is a difficult time for students, but I forgot how bad it can be for us professors as well. I have been buried in tests and papers waiting to be graded for a couple of weeks now and it's only going to get worse. I'm giving tests next week and finals are two weeks after that. Plus I'm getting in another round of papers from both my classes next week as well. Remind me next time to not give so many tests and papers? At the very least I should give them all multiple choice questions so I just have to slip them into the ScanTron machine and voila! Instant grades. But no. I like to give students flexibility on tests and I'm a sucker for a good essay. Heck, I even give points for effort if the essay is 100% BS. That stress alone is bad enough. Here I am (along with the Hubby) buying a house. We found a really nice townhouse, went through the offer/counteroffer battle, and now have a signed contract going through "attorney review." ...

Wow. I can't believe I haven't posted in my blog since August. Even my cats have been more regular bloggers than me! LOL Why haven't I written? Simple. I'm too exhausted at the end of the day, but in a good way. Both of my jobs are going fantastically. At the library, I got promoted to Adult Services Librarian with a bunch more responsibilities and a hefty pay raise. Plus, I try to work at least 25 hours a week there now if I can. I really enjoy the job and I love the people I'm working with. I even have a boss who is the greatest one I've ever had. I'll put it to you this way. My car was hit the other week while it was at the dealership. I had been depressed and upset about the whole thing. My boss actually called me up the next day just to make sure I was doing ok. What kind of boss does that? Man I'm lucky. Then again, maybe the powers that be are giving me some karmatic respite after the horrible bitch boss I had at my last full-tim...

I was so happy that I got my nice little job at the library, that I was completely freaked out about the phone call I received the night of my last post. The head of the history department of one of the local community colleges wants me to teach a couple of classes this upcoming semester. I had applied to teach there last semester but I had received a "thanks, but no thanks" letter from them. So this phone call came completely out of the blue. At the time, I figured I would teach one class and work less hours at the library. There was no way I was going to give up my library gig since the people there are great and the hours are short. I wasn't going to give up an opportunity to teach either. I figured this would work out ok and not really screw up my disability 'cause adjuncts get paid %$@#. Hehe. Well, not at this college. I hope my jaw drop wasn't too obvious when the guy told me the rate of pay. It was double that of my last teaching gig. This is a big problem...

Well I did it. I managed to get a... gasp ...job. It's not a "real" job where I have to work 40 hours a week. Rather, it's a nice little part time job as a library assistant at a local library. I've been playing with the idea of going into a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program for a few months so I figured I should find out if I would actually like working in a library before I invest all that money. It'll only be no more than 15 hours a week which should be tolerable for my depression. I start today so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will like this job. I don't know if you heard but Dell will be doing a big recall on their laptop batteries , in that they can blow up. Nice thing to know. Since I have a Dell laptop I decided to check out the information up on their website. This newest recall information isn't up yet, but there was a recall in December 2005 for a smaller lot of batteries. Lo and behold, my lapt...

From the NWS... ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING... AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING. HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO CLIMB TO THE MID TO UPPER 90S ACROSS THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY...WESTERN AND CENTRAL LONG ISLAND...AND SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT TUESDAY AND AGAIN ON WEDNESDAY. COMBINED WITH RATHER HIGH HUMIDITY LEVELS...THIS WILL RESULT IN HEAT INDICES CLIMBING TO BETWEEN 105 AND 110 DEGREES EACH AFTERNOON. AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH MEANS THAT A PROLONGED PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A DANGEROUS SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE POSSIBLE. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS... STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM...STAY OUT OF THE SUN...AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS. Ugh. Looks like I won't be going out much the next couple of days. What is going on this summer. Most of the country is suff...

Summer has to be my least favorite time of the year. Why? I do not handle heat well. Some could say it's due to the fact that I'm carrying around an extra human's weight worth of fat on my body, but I know it's not that (it doesn't help though). Even when I was stick thin I hated the heat. I sweat profusely and I feel like I'm going to pass out if I'm outside too long. Every year like clockwork I suffer from at least one bout of heat exhaustion no matter how well I keep myself hydrated. Today was my first case of heat exhaustion for the season. I wasn't even doing much. I was hanging out at the pool, reading, doing a little swimming. Nothing intense. Just relaxing on a nice summer day, right? Even though it was in the low 90s, this is the coolest it has been in a while so I wasn't worried. Right. After about an hour and half I started feeling a bit faint. Hmmm...did I eat breakfast? Yep. That's not it. I figured I would play it safe and head back...

...for Darren at least. Yes, he started his new job today (he took the job in NJ). I pray that things work out and that he enjoys it and the people he's working with. He was so miserable at his last job so I'm really taking his firing as a blessing in disguise. There was one good thing about Darren's involuntary month off: he got to rest. Well needed rest too. He was joking around that he would've loved his time off even more if he got paid for it, or at least the unemployment office didn't have a mix up with his checks. But that's what we get for him losing his job when the NJ government shuts down for a week. LOL Got to love it. I can't really complain about the whole bit though. Considering what could've happened in terms of financial mishaps, we've been lucky. Thanks to my brother-in-law and our meager savings account, we have enough to pay two months of rent and two and a half months of COBRA payments without too much panic. We won't be gett...