Where is Calluna?

[Brian]

I haven't seen her for a while. I always enjoyed her posts and contributions on more than one forum. Has anyone talked to her lately? I hope she's doing OK.

[Georgina]

Yep, I'm in contact with her all the time, Brian. She's doing great. Just busy, is all.

[Brian]

Could you tell her I said hello? I always enjoyed Calluna's posts and having her as a member of the boards I've been on.

Thanks.

[Georgina]

I let her know that her you were asking about her Brian. She'll wander back around soon.

[Calluna]

Thanks for your concern, Brian. G did let me know you were inquiring. I'm alive and well, just caught up with a hectic life and don't have as much time as I used to have for all the forums.

Most of my time away has been for good things that will help me get promoted (hopefully this year...need to have a talk with my dept chair about that very soon to make sure I haven't missed anything I need to have in my file to be eligible). As soon as classes ended, I started chairing a search committee for a new faculty hire, which is amazingly time consuming, but great experience. I also squeezed in a short vacation to see my boyfriend (we still never see each other often enough...his work is way more chaotic than mine), but then just as my vacation was ending and I was preparing to return to work, my mom called that my grandma passed away, so I was back to work for 2 days while funeral arrangements were being made, then drove back to NJ for the funeral and stayed another long weekend there to be with family, many of whom I haven't seen in many many years, and others I haven't seen in so long that I only know of them by name. So, while the reason for heading back was a little bit sad, there were a lot of happy reunions too (and my grandmother lived a very long life, and had been ill long enough that this was neither unexpected nor much reason for grieving a lot...it was simply her time and she was as ready for it as we were...she and my grandfather got to spend their 70th wedding anniversary together again since that was a week after she passed).

Now I'm busy getting ready for the summer class I am teaching this year and starts this week, as well as preparing a lecture I've been invited to give in MD at the end of this week for nurses (I'm looking forward to this, since I can then tell my nursing students about how important this particular subject is that nurses in another state invited me to give a lecture on that topic...sometimes that helps to just be able to tell a class that the stuff they're learning really is relevant to the career they want).

I'm also still moving ahead on developing the new course for those nursing students. And amidst all this, managed to get several research papers published this year (with a lot of thanks to my coauthors who did some tag-team writing with me when I didn't have enough time to do everything).

I also was keeping extra busy in the spring with yard work and other work around the house. I've been working on landscaping my yard, which is no small task. I didn't do a huge amount, because my soil is so bad here that it takes forever sorting through rocks and clay to dig holes, but am slowly but surely making my yard look like what feels like home to me rather than the barren landscape it was when I moved in. I also got a vegetable garden in this year. It's small, but a start. My neighbor is moving much more slowly with her flower beds, because she's way more meticulous than I am. She's actually sifting through all the rocks as she digs out flower beds, and has been working on one flower bed for the past two months. I don't have the time or patience for that, and instead just dug holes big enough to plant stuff and dumped some top soil over it, and figure digging out rocks is more of a multi-year, long-term project as I need to make new holes. Though, sometimes I swear the rocks are breeding. I was also helped a LOT by one of my coworkers who loves gardening too, and who donated heaploads of plants she needed to thin out of her gardens. I'm just now finding out what color lilies I got from her.

So, while I'm certainly not doing all this stuff at once, it's been a steady progression of projects this year that has kept me busy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that after this week passes, I'll be able to settle into teaching this summer class without too many other distractions and have some time to catch up on other work I've been pushing to the side and really want to do.

[Brian]

Hey!! Calluna's back! Nice to see ya!

I'll post more to you later.

[Brian]

Jun 21, 2010 23:35:10 GMT -5 Calluna said:

Thanks for your concern, Brian. G did let me know you were inquiring. I'm alive and well, just caught up with a hectic life and don't have as much time as I used to have for all the forums.

Most of my time away has been for good things that will help me get promoted (hopefully this year...need to have a talk with my dept chair about that very soon to make sure I haven't missed anything I need to have in my file to be eligible). As soon as classes ended, I started chairing a search committee for a new faculty hire, which is amazingly time consuming, but great experience. I also squeezed in a short vacation to see my boyfriend (we still never see each other often enough...his work is way more chaotic than mine), but then just as my vacation was ending and I was preparing to return to work, my mom called that my grandma passed away, so I was back to work for 2 days while funeral arrangements were being made, then drove back to NJ for the funeral and stayed another long weekend there to be with family, many of whom I haven't seen in many many years, and others I haven't seen in so long that I only know of them by name. So, while the reason for heading back was a little bit sad, there were a lot of happy reunions too (and my grandmother lived a very long life, and had been ill long enough that this was neither unexpected nor much reason for grieving a lot...it was simply her time and she was as ready for it as we were...she and my grandfather got to spend their 70th wedding anniversary together again since that was a week after she passed).

Now I'm busy getting ready for the summer class I am teaching this year and starts this week, as well as preparing a lecture I've been invited to give in MD at the end of this week for nurses (I'm looking forward to this, since I can then tell my nursing students about how important this particular subject is that nurses in another state invited me to give a lecture on that topic...sometimes that helps to just be able to tell a class that the stuff they're learning really is relevant to the career they want).

I'm also still moving ahead on developing the new course for those nursing students. And amidst all this, managed to get several research papers published this year (with a lot of thanks to my coauthors who did some tag-team writing with me when I didn't have enough time to do everything).

I also was keeping extra busy in the spring with yard work and other work around the house. I've been working on landscaping my yard, which is no small task. I didn't do a huge amount, because my soil is so bad here that it takes forever sorting through rocks and clay to dig holes, but am slowly but surely making my yard look like what feels like home to me rather than the barren landscape it was when I moved in. I also got a vegetable garden in this year. It's small, but a start. My neighbor is moving much more slowly with her flower beds, because she's way more meticulous than I am. She's actually sifting through all the rocks as she digs out flower beds, and has been working on one flower bed for the past two months. I don't have the time or patience for that, and instead just dug holes big enough to plant stuff and dumped some top soil over it, and figure digging out rocks is more of a multi-year, long-term project as I need to make new holes. Though, sometimes I swear the rocks are breeding. I was also helped a LOT by one of my coworkers who loves gardening too, and who donated heaploads of plants she needed to thin out of her gardens. I'm just now finding out what color lilies I got from her.

So, while I'm certainly not doing all this stuff at once, it's been a steady progression of projects this year that has kept me busy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that after this week passes, I'll be able to settle into teaching this summer class without too many other distractions and have some time to catch up on other work I've been pushing to the side and really want to do.

Wow. You sure have been busy, Calluna. Hey, I'm sorry about your grandmother. I lost mine in 2005, and was close to her towards the end of her life. So her loss was tough, even though we knew it was coming due to her becoming terminally ill towards the end of her life. You're grandparents were married 70 years? Damn. That's really something. I take it your grandmother was in her 90s then?

I hope you get that promotion, especially since it sounds as if you're putting down roots (with all the house-type work you're doing). In other words, you must be planning to stay put for a while after moving around so much in previous years. You mentioned teaching nursing students. Do you still teach students who are studying to become physicians, too?

It's great to see you back here, Calluna. Thanks for checking in and letting us know how you're doing!

[Brian]

Calluna, I have a few threads I'd love for you to see once you get time. Two are mine and one is by Pax.

whatsnews.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=main&action=display&thread=5339


whatsnews.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=main&action=display&thread=5247


whatsnews.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=main&action=display&thread=5451