Slow Moving, School Starts, Roomba Rocks, Cat Resettlement
After return from the Canada trip, Life has been very busy with moving and school. I also have updates on our Roomba robot vacuum and my cat's resettlement.
The moving process is going slow because of the need to make sensible and adequately sized and organized spaces for moving stuff into. I prefer to do this as a team project with Katrina, who works full time and has been seeking and improved home organization and access to her belongings for years, but finding it hard to make time for this. We are now making progress on these goals. She also helps me pack on weekends and move my 'keeper' stuff down, which has become a more straightforward process than before.
It's hard for me to imagine when I'll get my 'keeper' stuff fully out of the house and go into cleanout/giveaway/ebay and home repair mode, needed for "stage for sale" mode. I know I'll get there soon enough, so long as I keep making progress on the move-in, move-down project.
When we're up North we try to visit friends and family, too. Between work, home, some down time, and some social time, I think that Katrina is fairly fully loaded and can't be rushed faster. That works out very well for me, because I have so much more to plan and attend to.
School has been busy with preparation, registration, and the first week of class. If you are interested, detailed information on the LCC Massage program may be found here at Wordpress.
Preparation included selecting courses, purchasing and familiarizing myself with texts, and joining Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals at the Student level. ABMP's student success workbooks are a useful review of good student practices, and membership provides me with student bodyworker insurance required by the school. I found good deals on new textbooks at Amazon.com and got them two days later via Prime, but one student said BookBytes had even better prices and shipped from inside Oregon, resulting in fast service. I also enjoyed shopping for school supplies at the Office Depot nearby and found some wonderful MEAD Flex NoteBinder notebook/three ring binders. I love preparing for school!
Initially all classes had filled while I was in Canada and when I came back, I could not register. In the orientation, the program director said this often happens but that all students would be accommodated by opening additional sections. Her statement was accurate: I attended every possible class section on Tuesday and Wednesday, instructors dealt with the large initial classes. Last night I was able to register for my classes. Overall I was delighted by the instructor and director response, and I feel impressed with the classes and students, so I'm going to write the director a fan letter.
The classes I am taking are:
All lectures will be on Wednesdays, and I'll be on campus about 9am to 9pm. The advantage to that is that the rest of my week is very flexible for me. The disadvantage is that I will have to apply a little more care in organizing my studying, including resting before each Wednesday and recovering after it.
I've driven to school both days and parked in the city Overpark at 10th and Oak, which is quite inexpensive. I plan to look into bicycling on nicer days, and the bus too - it's only 2.3 miles. On the other hand, with three classes in one day, including all the books and notebooks and sheets, it might be most sensible to have my truck to return to as a mobile locker and catnap space between classes. Although parking is inexpensive, reduced parking rates are available for students, once one is registered.
In other home news, I've had great fun with the Roomba 560 robot vacuum. We found a great deal on a refurbished unit on sale at newegg.com. I previewed several fun videos on youtube.com so I would know what to be prepared for as far as cleaning. The cats seem to have almost as much fun watching it as I do. They don't have to round up cat toys before or clean it out after each run (which I do)... but after a week of daily use I can say our floors are greatly improved, and it has converted a chore put off with exasperation about accumulating hairballs, into something fun that takes much less attention and banishes dust bunnies to hidden low places. It's no replacement for a thorough manual vacuuming with the accessory wand, and a wet mop, but gets about 90% of the dirt and hair up and makes barefoot walking through the house possible again. The product is just plain FUN.
Finally, an update on my cats' reaction to the move. Soleil seems to have settled in almost fully, comfortable in his snoozy places and sometimes playing with the other cats. While Soleil is a home cat, Biji is an outdoor territory boy. Biji hasn't been around much and when he shows up is not purring or greeting the way he normally does. There are no wounds or obvious health issues, and all his shots are up to date. After a rest with Soleil he perks up, enjoying being petted and talked to, purring and raising his tail in greeting. I imagine Biji may be wearing himself out, searching for his old outdoor home, finding it impossible to imagine that his former home isn't findable... suffering from an inability to accept that everything has changed. He will adjust with time, but until then: poor little guy!
The moving process is going slow because of the need to make sensible and adequately sized and organized spaces for moving stuff into. I prefer to do this as a team project with Katrina, who works full time and has been seeking and improved home organization and access to her belongings for years, but finding it hard to make time for this. We are now making progress on these goals. She also helps me pack on weekends and move my 'keeper' stuff down, which has become a more straightforward process than before.
It's hard for me to imagine when I'll get my 'keeper' stuff fully out of the house and go into cleanout/giveaway/ebay and home repair mode, needed for "stage for sale" mode. I know I'll get there soon enough, so long as I keep making progress on the move-in, move-down project.
When we're up North we try to visit friends and family, too. Between work, home, some down time, and some social time, I think that Katrina is fairly fully loaded and can't be rushed faster. That works out very well for me, because I have so much more to plan and attend to.
School has been busy with preparation, registration, and the first week of class. If you are interested, detailed information on the LCC Massage program may be found here at Wordpress.
Preparation included selecting courses, purchasing and familiarizing myself with texts, and joining Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals at the Student level. ABMP's student success workbooks are a useful review of good student practices, and membership provides me with student bodyworker insurance required by the school. I found good deals on new textbooks at Amazon.com and got them two days later via Prime, but one student said BookBytes had even better prices and shipped from inside Oregon, resulting in fast service. I also enjoyed shopping for school supplies at the Office Depot nearby and found some wonderful MEAD Flex NoteBinder notebook/three ring binders. I love preparing for school!
Initially all classes had filled while I was in Canada and when I came back, I could not register. In the orientation, the program director said this often happens but that all students would be accommodated by opening additional sections. Her statement was accurate: I attended every possible class section on Tuesday and Wednesday, instructors dealt with the large initial classes. Last night I was able to register for my classes. Overall I was delighted by the instructor and director response, and I feel impressed with the classes and students, so I'm going to write the director a fan letter.
The classes I am taking are:
- Anatomy/Physiology/Pathology I
- Communication from the Heart
- Introduction to Palpation
- Student Massage Lab
- UO Cadaver Lab Tour for Massage Students
All lectures will be on Wednesdays, and I'll be on campus about 9am to 9pm. The advantage to that is that the rest of my week is very flexible for me. The disadvantage is that I will have to apply a little more care in organizing my studying, including resting before each Wednesday and recovering after it.
I've driven to school both days and parked in the city Overpark at 10th and Oak, which is quite inexpensive. I plan to look into bicycling on nicer days, and the bus too - it's only 2.3 miles. On the other hand, with three classes in one day, including all the books and notebooks and sheets, it might be most sensible to have my truck to return to as a mobile locker and catnap space between classes. Although parking is inexpensive, reduced parking rates are available for students, once one is registered.
In other home news, I've had great fun with the Roomba 560 robot vacuum. We found a great deal on a refurbished unit on sale at newegg.com. I previewed several fun videos on youtube.com so I would know what to be prepared for as far as cleaning. The cats seem to have almost as much fun watching it as I do. They don't have to round up cat toys before or clean it out after each run (which I do)... but after a week of daily use I can say our floors are greatly improved, and it has converted a chore put off with exasperation about accumulating hairballs, into something fun that takes much less attention and banishes dust bunnies to hidden low places. It's no replacement for a thorough manual vacuuming with the accessory wand, and a wet mop, but gets about 90% of the dirt and hair up and makes barefoot walking through the house possible again. The product is just plain FUN.
Finally, an update on my cats' reaction to the move. Soleil seems to have settled in almost fully, comfortable in his snoozy places and sometimes playing with the other cats. While Soleil is a home cat, Biji is an outdoor territory boy. Biji hasn't been around much and when he shows up is not purring or greeting the way he normally does. There are no wounds or obvious health issues, and all his shots are up to date. After a rest with Soleil he perks up, enjoying being petted and talked to, purring and raising his tail in greeting. I imagine Biji may be wearing himself out, searching for his old outdoor home, finding it impossible to imagine that his former home isn't findable... suffering from an inability to accept that everything has changed. He will adjust with time, but until then: poor little guy!