Rain is doing much better! Every day she is able to use the right side of her face a little more :)
And for the better news that I'm sure everyone has been waiting for! Chris got a job!!!!! He is know a relief manager/ leasing agent for a local apartment complex company that owns around 50 of the local apartment complexes. He would be working anywhere from 8-40 hours a week for $9/hr. It's not much, but it's a job. If he gets the county job (we find out around August 11th (which is also my birthday!!!!)), there is a possibility that he could work at both. I know he would prefer the county job, but with the economic crisis we have to take what we can get. With this, he could easily substitute teach as well. So anyways, that's our news for the day!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Down to 14 rats. Had to put Fate to sleep on Wednesday of last week. He wasn't getting better and he was trying to fight when he nothing left to fight with. He was losing 10-15 grams a day and when you only weigh 350- ish, that's a LOT. He also had decided that he didn't need to drink water so we were trying to supplement with bread soaked in water. It was just his time :( Rain is doing better. She had lost some control on the right side of her face. The ear infection was so bad that one of the nerves controling that part of her face got damaged, but yesterday she starting using it just a little, so we are hoping that she continues to make progress in getting better. She also finished getting over a bladder infection. Poor thing :( At least she is making improvements!
Work stuff is going. Chris got an e-mail asking him to go in for fingerprinting and a background check for this morning. He went in and they now want an official transcript from Fresno State. They also let him know that they start off with groups of 300 and end down with about 10 and then start the process again until they fill the positions. All this for a temp position... We'll see and doing the steps to get the job, but he isn't too enthusiastic about a temp job that people will only call when they are having issues with their taxes. It's an option, but not high up on the list. He got a call from a local corporation of different properties as a possible leasing agent! Interview is Wed morning. Unfortunately in the mail, he got a letter in the mail from unemployment office stating that since he was working for the university while going to school there, he was no longer eligible for receiving unemployment :( Really hoping that something works out soon since the county thing is also still up in the air.
As for me, I'm hoping to work part-time at the bookstore on campus for the beginning of the semester and go from there. My textbooks are coming out to about $200 for the semester which is not bad at all. About half of that is for 1 class >.<
This past weekend we left Fresno for cooler weather. We were in Grover Beach, CA at Chris' parents' beach house with Matthew and Nichelle (Chris' youngest brother and his wife) and Chris' dad! It was so nice not being in triple digit weather. Got there Friday late afternoon. Got settled and then went to the beach to watch the sunset and then went back to the house and played games. Saturday was spent just doing some lounging, some games, and of course the beach. We were dealing with the cold of the ocean water and just having fun and taking in the weather and bracing ourselves for the next big wave that went a little higher than the last. We also did some digging for sand crabs :) I got burned on my back though :( Not pleasant, but it's already feeling better. Sunday we cleaned the beach house after having used it for the weekend and in the afternoon we went from the beach house to Chris' parents house for family dinner with the in-laws and all of their boys with their wives and grand-children and Chris' grandfather. Total of 11 of us :) After dinner, we chatted a little bit, and Chris and I made the trek back home. I had been suffering from a headache most of the afternoon (I suspect between dehydration, 30 degree heat change in the day, and lot of commotion with lots of family and little kids), and womanly issues going "Don't forget I'm coming soon!"... Plus when we came home and checked the mail, I had a Jury Duty Summons in the mail. Wasn't a good day, but it was still a great weekend.
Now I just need to work on the apartment before school starts up in less than a month and I have some homework for incompletes that I NEED to finish.
Work stuff is going. Chris got an e-mail asking him to go in for fingerprinting and a background check for this morning. He went in and they now want an official transcript from Fresno State. They also let him know that they start off with groups of 300 and end down with about 10 and then start the process again until they fill the positions. All this for a temp position... We'll see and doing the steps to get the job, but he isn't too enthusiastic about a temp job that people will only call when they are having issues with their taxes. It's an option, but not high up on the list. He got a call from a local corporation of different properties as a possible leasing agent! Interview is Wed morning. Unfortunately in the mail, he got a letter in the mail from unemployment office stating that since he was working for the university while going to school there, he was no longer eligible for receiving unemployment :( Really hoping that something works out soon since the county thing is also still up in the air.
As for me, I'm hoping to work part-time at the bookstore on campus for the beginning of the semester and go from there. My textbooks are coming out to about $200 for the semester which is not bad at all. About half of that is for 1 class >.<
This past weekend we left Fresno for cooler weather. We were in Grover Beach, CA at Chris' parents' beach house with Matthew and Nichelle (Chris' youngest brother and his wife) and Chris' dad! It was so nice not being in triple digit weather. Got there Friday late afternoon. Got settled and then went to the beach to watch the sunset and then went back to the house and played games. Saturday was spent just doing some lounging, some games, and of course the beach. We were dealing with the cold of the ocean water and just having fun and taking in the weather and bracing ourselves for the next big wave that went a little higher than the last. We also did some digging for sand crabs :) I got burned on my back though :( Not pleasant, but it's already feeling better. Sunday we cleaned the beach house after having used it for the weekend and in the afternoon we went from the beach house to Chris' parents house for family dinner with the in-laws and all of their boys with their wives and grand-children and Chris' grandfather. Total of 11 of us :) After dinner, we chatted a little bit, and Chris and I made the trek back home. I had been suffering from a headache most of the afternoon (I suspect between dehydration, 30 degree heat change in the day, and lot of commotion with lots of family and little kids), and womanly issues going "Don't forget I'm coming soon!"... Plus when we came home and checked the mail, I had a Jury Duty Summons in the mail. Wasn't a good day, but it was still a great weekend.
Now I just need to work on the apartment before school starts up in less than a month and I have some homework for incompletes that I NEED to finish.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Rats and job stuff
We are down to 15 rats. We lost Aurora on Tuesday night :( I would post a pic of her except that I managed to misplace my camera cord at the moment >.< We technically only had her for about 4 months total. 2 months at birth since she was from one of the 2 surprise mommy rats we have gotten and the past two months since she was one of the 2 that we had found a home for. Unfortunately the person who had them for about a year had their living situation change to where she couldn't keep Aurora or Dolce. It worked out nicely since we still had most of their siblings and were able to take them in without any problems. Unforutunately on Monday Aurora had been acting a little lethargic and we figured it was just the heat since we haven't been keeping the apartment as cool as we normally would. Then on Tuesday evening she was by herself flaked out on her side and wasn't struggling at all when we picked her up to examine her. Not even when on her back. She was so weak that she couldn't fully grip with her paws. We knew we had to take her to the Pet ER to be put down.
On the job front, I have decided to not take the volleyball official position. As much fun as it would be, there were just too many upfront costs involved. I may not be getting the promotion to Event Liaison at my music department job with the budget cuts. Talking with my supervisor today, she wasn't sure if the position would continue to exist or not but that she hoped I would continue on Concert Staff. However, today I received a call from Radio Shack asking for an interview :) It's tomorrow at 1pm. The location is not ideal since it's way out by Shaw & 99, but the steady work would be nice and is definitely needed. I'm also taking part in a psycholinguistic study tomorrow for hearing and vision. For 2 hours of time, I'm getting $30 :D Not complaining!
Chris is still hunting for work. He filled out an hour long evaluation type thing yesterday for the IRS in response to an application he sent in a week or two ago. He also got an e-mail today from one of the county people that had interviewed him for the Americorps position saying that the county may be hiring him for a very similar position. Would be $8/hr with no benefits and 40 hrs/ wk. It's a step in the door for the county stuff that he is more qualified to do with his degrees, so we'll see. We should know mid-August.
So we both of little nibbles here and there. Hopefully something will stick and hopefully the 2 rats that we have on anti-biotics will continue to get healthy.
On the job front, I have decided to not take the volleyball official position. As much fun as it would be, there were just too many upfront costs involved. I may not be getting the promotion to Event Liaison at my music department job with the budget cuts. Talking with my supervisor today, she wasn't sure if the position would continue to exist or not but that she hoped I would continue on Concert Staff. However, today I received a call from Radio Shack asking for an interview :) It's tomorrow at 1pm. The location is not ideal since it's way out by Shaw & 99, but the steady work would be nice and is definitely needed. I'm also taking part in a psycholinguistic study tomorrow for hearing and vision. For 2 hours of time, I'm getting $30 :D Not complaining!
Chris is still hunting for work. He filled out an hour long evaluation type thing yesterday for the IRS in response to an application he sent in a week or two ago. He also got an e-mail today from one of the county people that had interviewed him for the Americorps position saying that the county may be hiring him for a very similar position. Would be $8/hr with no benefits and 40 hrs/ wk. It's a step in the door for the county stuff that he is more qualified to do with his degrees, so we'll see. We should know mid-August.
So we both of little nibbles here and there. Hopefully something will stick and hopefully the 2 rats that we have on anti-biotics will continue to get healthy.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Yet more contemplating
Through the help of friends, counselor, and talking things over with Chris, we decided that the baby thing probably won't happen soon after all. It would be nice, but I think I need to stick to the original plan of finishing school first. Plus it would be nice to be in a bigger place at that point and right now, our finances are tight and our apartment is very convenient to campus. I think I just managed to catch the "baby bug" with family members and friends recently having children or will be having children soon.
As far as the volleyball official is concerned (see last post), my mom brought up a point that made it back up in the air when I was about 90% sure it would be good. She suggested I go back to Kennel Bookstore to do the beginning of semester textbook stuff that I have done the last few semesters since it's on campus and no up front cost. The jobs would be lasting about the same time frame. Kennel would just be a minimum wage average job that I already know how to do and could even start mid-August (week and a half before school starts) instead of waiting until September. Plus then also if Chris finds a job, he has full access the car since school and work would both be walking distance. The only big downside is that you are only allowed to work 20 hours a week with on campus jobs so I don't know if I would be able to do the promotion at work (if it was offered to me) because of the time limits. Guess my next step really is to call find out when the interviewing process for the possible promotion is getting underway and go from there.
As far as the volleyball official is concerned (see last post), my mom brought up a point that made it back up in the air when I was about 90% sure it would be good. She suggested I go back to Kennel Bookstore to do the beginning of semester textbook stuff that I have done the last few semesters since it's on campus and no up front cost. The jobs would be lasting about the same time frame. Kennel would just be a minimum wage average job that I already know how to do and could even start mid-August (week and a half before school starts) instead of waiting until September. Plus then also if Chris finds a job, he has full access the car since school and work would both be walking distance. The only big downside is that you are only allowed to work 20 hours a week with on campus jobs so I don't know if I would be able to do the promotion at work (if it was offered to me) because of the time limits. Guess my next step really is to call find out when the interviewing process for the possible promotion is getting underway and go from there.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Possible job oppurtunity and more
Well, I have a job opportunity that I'm not sure whether to go with or not. By posting it here, I'm hoping to get some input since I only have a week to decide. I managed to find an opportunity to officiate girls' volleyball for the elementary and middle schools in Fresno Unified and Clovis Unified. It pays $34 for the elementary school games and $46 for the middle school games (or $23 if you are one of 2 people working). And of course with middle school, you have 2 games (7th and 8th grade). Plus you can be a linechecker for the Varsity games at the high school level ($35.) All the times work with my schedule so I wouldn't have to say that I couldn't work something. However there are upfront costs. There is a yearly membership fee ($50) to be a part of the officiating services in addition to a starter pack ($68) and official polo ($37). The latter two items can be taken out of your first paycheck though which is nice. And then I would also need to get navy blue slacks and white tennis shoes (all mine have some sort of color on them). It seems like something I could do for a few years in addition to school and my concert staff job. I would make the money back, and if I decided to continue next year all that would be required is the yearly membership fee. There were several people at the first meeting tonight who said that it was a great job and pays well (was getting $92 a day for working 2 middle school games in 1 day). Would this be something you would take advantage of?
My other concerns are with my possible promotion with Concert Staff, although I don't foresee a HUGE problem, although there may be some. And there is also a chance I don't get the promotion since I have yet to get called about it. I'll be placing a call tomorrow to the Music Dept office about that. Especially if I don't get the promotion, I sign up for the events to work so I can not work if I have a game to officiate or a paper or exams to study for. If I do get the promotion, a lot of it would primarily be making sure the events are staffed and that the people show up for their job. Regardless, there are not that many events until mid- late October which is when the volleyball thing would probably be starting to wind down. It could work either way.
Plus I do have an officer position in Tau Beta Sigma for next year as the historian/alumni secretary. Not a concern at the beginning of the year since I mainly just need to forward a few e-mails and scrapbook a page here and there so at the end of the school year, compiling a scrapbook of the year, won't be as much of a daunting task. I also have a counterpart in Kappa Kappa Psi and a committee of 4 or 5 people from both organizations that would, in theory, be helping me.
And of course, with having been married 2 1/2 years, Chris and I are contemplating whether or not to try to start our family. We'd definitely be aiming for a summer birth (June or July). We have a kids on both sides of the family that are around the same age (born within the last year or will be born in the next year). Only thing holding this back really is if Chris can't find a full time job. Already figured out an awesome health insurance plan that I can get through Fresno State that is $25 for a co-pay and 20% co-insurance for just about everything and it's only $908 for me for a year. It would slow down my schooling a little since I may drop down to 1/2 time or 3/4 time student to do everything once the baby is actually here since it's extremely important to have a mom at home.
I guess I just have so many things that are maybes and I just needed to clear my head a little. Any thoughts on any of this or more things I should consider? I know I need to pray about it, but other input would also be extremely helpful.
My other concerns are with my possible promotion with Concert Staff, although I don't foresee a HUGE problem, although there may be some. And there is also a chance I don't get the promotion since I have yet to get called about it. I'll be placing a call tomorrow to the Music Dept office about that. Especially if I don't get the promotion, I sign up for the events to work so I can not work if I have a game to officiate or a paper or exams to study for. If I do get the promotion, a lot of it would primarily be making sure the events are staffed and that the people show up for their job. Regardless, there are not that many events until mid- late October which is when the volleyball thing would probably be starting to wind down. It could work either way.
Plus I do have an officer position in Tau Beta Sigma for next year as the historian/alumni secretary. Not a concern at the beginning of the year since I mainly just need to forward a few e-mails and scrapbook a page here and there so at the end of the school year, compiling a scrapbook of the year, won't be as much of a daunting task. I also have a counterpart in Kappa Kappa Psi and a committee of 4 or 5 people from both organizations that would, in theory, be helping me.
And of course, with having been married 2 1/2 years, Chris and I are contemplating whether or not to try to start our family. We'd definitely be aiming for a summer birth (June or July). We have a kids on both sides of the family that are around the same age (born within the last year or will be born in the next year). Only thing holding this back really is if Chris can't find a full time job. Already figured out an awesome health insurance plan that I can get through Fresno State that is $25 for a co-pay and 20% co-insurance for just about everything and it's only $908 for me for a year. It would slow down my schooling a little since I may drop down to 1/2 time or 3/4 time student to do everything once the baby is actually here since it's extremely important to have a mom at home.
I guess I just have so many things that are maybes and I just needed to clear my head a little. Any thoughts on any of this or more things I should consider? I know I need to pray about it, but other input would also be extremely helpful.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Well, things are going. Chris and I are happy to report that we still have a roof over our head :P May not seem like much but it is. Neither of us have worked for over a month now. Next few weeks, I should be getting called in for a possible promotion with my current concert staff job though with the music dept. It would be an excellent opportunity for me since I have been at the job since Oct 2005 and I have great organizational skills (even though you would not be able to tell from our apartment).
Summer projects are getting back in good standing with the church (or at least working toward it) and cleaning the apartment and putting away some of the boxes that are cluttering the living room. Personally, I'm also finishing 3 Incomplete grades from the last year. Already had to battle with the financial aid office this summer to try to get money for next year. Going to finish those ASAP so my GPA (granted this wasn't the issue, but will be a good benefit) goes up and they can't say I haven't completed enough classes. And Chris is working on finding SOME kind of work. With graduating (YAY!), his student position went poof with him not being a student anymore. There was a chance of him getting hired at Americorps working with the current economic crisis, but went in yesterday for a 2nd interview and they told him they had gone with someone else. The county is looking at trying to add a position for him in a similar capacity, but we'll see. I definitely have doubts with the budget cuts and so forth.
I'm taking 13 (possibly 14 units) in the fall. Using it to determine what I end up taking the next 2 years. Taking Anthropology of Religion (and *hopefully* passing it this time), General Linguistics, Intro to Spanish Linguistics, Advanced Conversation and Reading (Spanish), and whichever wind band I make it into. Orchestra is a maybe with the possible job promotion and wanting more time for studies. Next semester should tell me whether I want to major in Linguistics with a minor in Spanish or major in Spanish with a minor in Linguistics. There is an Interdisciplinary Language Studies option in the Linguistics dept that has me really interested. Either way I'm looking at graduating May 2011.
Tomorrow is the 4th of July and it looks like we might be going over to a friend's for BBQ, swimming, and fireworks :) My 23rd birthday is just over a month away. Might go to Disneyland with their get in free on your birthday deal since we also have accrued enough disney dollars for Chris to get in, but we would still need to worry about gas and hotel...
Our rat count is 16. 3 boys and 13 girls. A lot of them approaching 2 years of age which has been our cap between various illnesses. We'll see what happens in the next year or so.
And enough of a book, but wanted to put a nice sized update up :)
Summer projects are getting back in good standing with the church (or at least working toward it) and cleaning the apartment and putting away some of the boxes that are cluttering the living room. Personally, I'm also finishing 3 Incomplete grades from the last year. Already had to battle with the financial aid office this summer to try to get money for next year. Going to finish those ASAP so my GPA (granted this wasn't the issue, but will be a good benefit) goes up and they can't say I haven't completed enough classes. And Chris is working on finding SOME kind of work. With graduating (YAY!), his student position went poof with him not being a student anymore. There was a chance of him getting hired at Americorps working with the current economic crisis, but went in yesterday for a 2nd interview and they told him they had gone with someone else. The county is looking at trying to add a position for him in a similar capacity, but we'll see. I definitely have doubts with the budget cuts and so forth.
I'm taking 13 (possibly 14 units) in the fall. Using it to determine what I end up taking the next 2 years. Taking Anthropology of Religion (and *hopefully* passing it this time), General Linguistics, Intro to Spanish Linguistics, Advanced Conversation and Reading (Spanish), and whichever wind band I make it into. Orchestra is a maybe with the possible job promotion and wanting more time for studies. Next semester should tell me whether I want to major in Linguistics with a minor in Spanish or major in Spanish with a minor in Linguistics. There is an Interdisciplinary Language Studies option in the Linguistics dept that has me really interested. Either way I'm looking at graduating May 2011.
Tomorrow is the 4th of July and it looks like we might be going over to a friend's for BBQ, swimming, and fireworks :) My 23rd birthday is just over a month away. Might go to Disneyland with their get in free on your birthday deal since we also have accrued enough disney dollars for Chris to get in, but we would still need to worry about gas and hotel...
Our rat count is 16. 3 boys and 13 girls. A lot of them approaching 2 years of age which has been our cap between various illnesses. We'll see what happens in the next year or so.
And enough of a book, but wanted to put a nice sized update up :)
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