Happy New Year...and here we go!

The Christmas holidays were crazy, as it usually is with young children. My girls were told they could be awake and watch TV on Christmas Eve as long as they didn't bother us. They were up at 3 a.m. (!) and I just found out they watched the PeeWee Herman Christmas special on Adult Swim! (I don't have a problem at all with PeeWee Herman...but what else did they see on Adult Swim?!?). My step-mother, Carol, passed away on Christmas morning...Dad lives on the other side of the country, so it made for a difficult holiday - he called me at 4 a.m. my time (K2, my oldest, brought me the phone).

Oh, did I mention the kids "couldn't bother us" if they were awake? Yeah, that didn't happen. Every hour on the hour. When we finally said 7 a.m. - they were down at 6, 6:15, 6:30 and 6:55. Next year we'll lock 'em in their rooms.

This week I will start teaching my class at the college...it's the 3rd time I'm teaching the same course, and it's pretty easy now. This morning I finished my syllabus - the hardest thing is making sure all the dates are right! Uploaded the syllabus, updated Blackboard, powerpoints all ready (I'm sure I've forgotten something!)

In 16 days I will begin the first course of my PhD program at the university. I'm really looking forward to it, but I've already shown my graduate school geek tendencies. Just before Christmas, I found out the titles of the two textbooks (the names which have been going around in my field - these books would have been very beneficial to me even if I didn't take the class). So....I'm halfway done with the first textbook...guess I'll be all done with the first before the class even starts. I got the list of students who will be taking the class with me - 14 others...4 others are PhD students (but I think I'm the only licensed practictioner so far). The course prof wrote one of the chapters, so I can't wait until I start.

I also asked Dr. P (my official mentor) if I can come for a day to see her lab. I'd better jump into this research business with both feet. Bummer that I still have to work full-time!