Notre Dame Shame

Well, the new school year has begun! I have three classes. Two of them are block classes though. So far I'm really liking them. It's a lot harder balancing class work and full time lab work than I initially thought; mostly because many of my experiments rely on the parasites' timing, not my own. I've been working late and on weekends, but I'm hoping things will calm down soon (I think I keep saying this every time I write an entry). I went to the Chicago Area Mycology and Parasitology (CAMP) meetings in Chicago on Friday and spent the whole day with my lab members. It was a very small and casual conference, and they provided free food. The conference itself wasn't too stimulating, but I did have a great time hanging out with my lab mates. Kevin's doing well. He's been working long hours and even has to go in on his days off. We don't get to see each other much. Plus, football season has started back up, so I'll be fighting for his attention until February. He got a new calling- he's now the cub master in our stake! I laughed so hard when I found that out, and laughed even harder when I heard he'd have to wear the boyscout uniform. I'm sure he'll do great as the cub master and may even enjoy it at times.

As for other events--Kevin and I did buy season football tickets to the Notre Dame games. Ouch. We went to the Georgia Tech game and left early. We didn't even bother watching the Penn State game. Right now we're trying to figure out how to recoup the cost of our tickets. Unfortunately, the University has revoked ticket exchanges for student tickets. I guess we'll just have to eat it.

Riley is still doing great. He started obedience training last Tuesday and did very well. The training uses collar corrections, which I don't really care for, so Kevin is the main trainer. I also sat in on an agility training class that a neighbor takes his dog to. He said he wanted me to see how it works, but I think he just wanted to show off how great his dog is. It was actually more fun to watch the different owners with their dogs; you can tell a lot about a person by watching them interact with their pets. I think Riley would really enjoy the classes; he'd like all the obstacles and socializing with the other dogs. I don't think we'll start it right away. It'd be too much for us to go to obedience school and agility school at the same time. I'm running on empty as it is. He's still growing, and I don't think he'll ever stop. Meanwhile, he acts like a lap dog. I'm still amazed at how smart he is (spoken like a true mother). Not much else is going on. Just work and Riley. But we're enjoying it!