Job updates

John and I both have job updates. Well, I have an update...John has ambiguity. So, me first.

Last week I started with my new three day a week schedule. It was weird. We finally hired the new nurse practitioner from the job that posted way back in December. She started last Monday. I now work Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays; the new NP works Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays; and Megan works Tuesdays through Fridays. It's so strange (and sad) to only work with Megan two days a week. On top of all these changes, we also have a nurse practitioner student in the office two days a week (Wednesdays and Thursdays). It's going to take some adjusting...but I know I'll eventually like it!

John's update is a lot more involved. He interviewed for a tenure-track professor position at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan back in February. At the end of the two day interview, they told him to let them know if he was still interested in a week. He decided he didn't want to pursue it, mostly because he would have had to teach calculus every semester forever but also because we've grown to love Chicago and Kalamazoo is the opposite geographical direction for us to move if we're going to go to a smaller city and need to buy two cars.

When he applied to the Western Michigan job he also applied to Google Chicago. He had a phone interview right away but then didn't hear anything for a long time. Friday night he got an email asking if he was still interested. We shall see...

John's current plan is to do more programming with his dad's software company once he's finished teaching for the semester. He's trying to get a website for one of the programs up and running. More to come...but at least for now, we're staying in Chicago!

Parenthood (The TV Series)

I just watched the series finale of Parenthood which originally aired on January 29th. Yeah, I'm a little behind. I also was waiting for the right mood and the right time to watch it because I knew it would be a tough one for me. I think there have only been a couple of episodes in the entire series that I didn't cry while watching. In this last season, I've teared up before the opening credits on more than one occasion. The finale was one of those. Actually, once the tears started, they were hard to stop. I must have gone through at least 12 tissues.

I won't spoil the ending for any of you who haven't watched it. I'll just say that I highly, highly recommend it. I just reread my post about Parenthood from 2011. I'm so glad NBC gave it six seasons...and the advanced noticed to wrap up a lot of loose ends in the series finale. This is a series I'll watch over and over again.

Goals for 2015: 1st quarter update

Work

• Work less. We finally hired a third nurse practitioner and she starts on Monday! Woohoo! More details on what that means in an upcoming post.
• Don't sweat the small stuff. I needed some retail therapy after work one Friday in February but other than that, things have been good. Having Megan, my co-nurse practitioner, back from maternity leave has helped a whole lot in this area!

Exercise

• Run three times a week. I ran 47.85 miles in January, 31.65 miles in February (darn cold!), and 48.07 miles in March. I did not hit the three times a week goal for 4 of the 12 weeks, but only one of those weeks had less than two runs (and that was when I was skiing at Whistler). I also ran my first race of the year, the Shamrock Shuffle 8K the last Sunday in March.
• Do a pull up! I have not succeeded in this yet but I'm getting closer. I've worked out 10 times so far this year and have been to yoga 7 times. I can tell I'm making progress because a few weeks ago I actually did crow pose for the first time ever at yoga. Woohoo!

Personal

• Read books. I've read two books so far this year, Cordelia's Honor and The Charlatans (Remnants of America: Vol 1). I'm now slowly working my way through Young Miles, the book that follows Cordelia's Honor in the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold.
• Stay involved with Chicago Scholars. I officially recommitted to being a mentor as well as an Associate Board member for next year. Exciting things are happening with Chicago Scholars and I'm thrilled to be involved!

Lent

I grew up Catholic and while I'm not a regularly practicing Catholic anymore (Yup, I've turned into a Chreaster.), I usually still give up something for Lent. Last year I gave up going to Starbucks. Instead of stopping in for my thrice weekly chai latte, I drank tea or hot chocolate at work. I had been a little concerned about the cost as well as needing the caffeine. I gave it up without a problem...but couldn't wait to stop on our way home on Easter Sunday! I found that what I missed the most was stopping in to my neighborhood Starbucks and seeing the friendly faces each morning. My baristas know my order and my name and I missed that more than I missed the chai latte itself.

This year, after much deliberation, I decided to give up Facebook and Twitter. I still checked my notifications and, towards the end of Lent, stalked the @BadgerMBB Twitter feed for Final Four news. I also continued to follow my Instagram feed to at least keep a bit of a pulse on things. Additionally, I still posted a few things on Facebook. But I didn't spend time browsing Facebook or Twitter or keeping up with them like usual. I decided to do this because I was starting to feel anxious about not having time to see everyone's posts/tweets. FOMO (fear of missing out) is strong in me, I guess.

Do you know what I found out? I didn't miss it. Well, not really. I missed the news. (Yes, Facebook and Twitter are my main sources of news.) On the plus side, I had a lot of time on my hands. I cleaned up my email inbox including articles I had sent myself to read from April 2014. I actually listened to TED talks (this one and this one) for the first time. My reader (online log of websites/blogs I subscribe to) was at zero most nights.

But (there's always a but) I definitely feel like I need to be back on these social media sites. Most of my friends communicate with me through them. Also, all those articles I finally had the time to read caught my attention from Facebook or Twitter. However, I definitely need to cut down on the time I spend on them. I probably need to cut down on the number of people I follow. My goal for the next couple of weeks is to figure out how to make this more manageable.

Thanks, Badgers!

Last night's game was a tough way to end an amazing season. These guys played so hard all season long. They were so fun to watch! I'm super glad I got to see them in person at Northwestern in early January.

I have a few issues with how the last couple games were officiated. It seems like the teams who are favored or expected to win get better calls. That has to be frustrating as a player and coach. However, in the end, there were opportunities to win. On Saturday, those opportunities worked in our favor; last night they didn't.

No apology necessary, Sam. In fact, thank you. Thank you to each and every one of you for coming to Wisconsin and for being stand up guys and true student athletes. I think it's safe to say Nigel expanded many vocabularies in the last few weeks!