Quick Update

The Cirque du Soleil show was AMAZING!  I loved every bit of it, especially since I was with such good company whom loved it just as much.  If I had one regret from the whole night it would be that we didn't take a single photo.  Don't worry I'm sure we'll get all dressed up again for something else someday and we'll get a good photo together.

The draft of the episode from Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin has finally been privately released for review!  That means that instead of airing in January like we were originally told, it might air in April.  We'll see.  I'll post something about it once it is scheduled to air.

The house hunt process is moving along.  I know that's vague but I'll say more about it later.

Thank Goodness!

Christina's trip to Broad Key for field work this weekend has been canceled due to inclement weather.  This means that she is free Saturday and Sunday and I will not have to drive her back and forth an hour each way.  YES!

The housing search is still under way.  It's getting more interesting but there's still a ways to go before I'll be able to find a solid place and be convinced 100% that it's where I want to be.  Prospects are improving though.

My parents are coming in town next weekend!!!

Meet the Parents

First of all, the ticket situation is now officially sorted out.  Thankfully I do not have to sell the tickets that I bought.  One of the 3 instructors of Christina's field methods class managed to swing it so that she will be done at 5pm (March 3), will be taken by boat to North Key Largo where I will pick her up, will drive all the way up to Miami where we will see the show, then I will drive her back down to the place I picked her up very early the next morning.  Sure it's not ideal, but I am utterly thrilled that we were able to work it out because otherwise it would have been a financial loss, a loss of good seats, a loss of time and energy in selling and re-purchasing tickets, all for the same amount of time together.  I'm more than willing to drive an hour to Key Largo to pick her up and drop her off.  I'm thrilled about the show too!  I've never seen Cirque du Soleil before and I'm really excited.  Check out the trailer, it's really cool.

Christina's mother has been in town since Monday and her father arrived Friday morning.  Naturally I met her mother Tuesday and her dad Friday night.  Collectively I've spent 3 evenings with them and had a great experience each time.  Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous to meet them and I kept wondering if I was supposed to be nervous and it got to the point that I was starting to get nervous about my lack of nervousness.  My gut instinct of calm confidence ended up being reasonable after all because I've had a fantastic time hanging out with Christina and both of her parents.  It looks like we might not see each other for about 5 more days but that's alright.  She has a lot going on and we'll get to share time together soon enough.

I have church and climbing tomorrow but if something comes up with houses, then I would drop climbing and go see properties.  The housing search is one of my top priorities these days and really I can't find a house soon enough.  I'm so ready to move into a house of my own that I can't even put my eagerness into words.  Patience is key.

Adaptability

Snapshot of the show.  Photo: www.thegrio.com

Don't you hate it when you try to support the arts while also planning a great night by putting a whole bunch into two tickets for a show and then someone changes your plans and makes it impossible to go?  Yeah, I do too.  I'm quite flustered about it but hopefully I'll be able to change the tickets (which were delivered today).  I need to get it together and do all I can to change the seats to another day.  Yes I'll be hit with a whole lot of talk about massive non-refundable fees and ultimately our seats will be way up in the nosebleeds instead of really close but I need to do what I can to make it still work out the best that it can.  I'll work on that a little bit tomorrow.  My hope is that I'm overreacting and it's not going to be an issue.  Time will tell.

I went to the grocery store tonight and was reminded how in Florida the baggers are trained to use as many bags as possible.  I left my reusable bag in my car and my 7 items were placed in 3 different bags.  I would have been happy with 1 but 2 seemed reasonable so I grabbed the bag that had one thing in it and moved it to another bag, gave her a warm smile, made a kind comment about saving some of her supply, and headed toward my car.

The dean and assistant dean of RSMAS seem to be trying to make a change to the diving program that could change my job considerably.  There haven't been enough meetings and nothing has been set in stone yet but if this new policy goes through, it would not be good, at least for a couple years.  More details will come once more has been decided and made public.