My Wednesday.

So what was my Wednesday like? Well it was a pretty good Wednesday as far as Wednesdays go.

It was a good Wednesday and it was an interesting Wednesday.

My Wednesday started out with me getting up and leaving a swollen Swell sleeping while I went to work. Two big things in that sentence!

1) Swell is in fact swollen yet again. This is odd as she usually only gets sick once or twice a year and she has been sick twice this month. She was very foolish and regrets it now but didn't go in for treatment at the start of this episode. She has been living with a swollen abdomen for the past week and is on the mend but has been very uncomfortable for the week. For those who have never seen a swollen Swell here it is. This is from a year and a half ago but it gives you a general idea of what HAE causes.





2) I went to work. That's right my second day of work in 6 weeks. This job is a continuous-every-Wednesday job at a private practice close to home. I enjoyed it. It was very easy as the staff is well trained and it wasn't really high volume. I am paid well and will be there every Wednesday that they want me. Hopefully it will increase to a few days per week (although I have a very good lead on a 3 or 4 day job elsewhere. I met with this Lenscrafter's optometrist today and he was impressed more with my life than my optometric skills. Again, an optometry interview which consisted more of me describing our 6 months away and the life of a Palestinian than talking about optometry. Oh, for those interested the Wal-Mart chick decided to go with another "candidate". Too funny.)

During my lunch break at my new gig I walked to a nearby restaurant that had free wifi. Using their wifi I submitted a short 600 word (as opposed to a long 600 word) paper to an optometry journal. It isn't a scientific paper rather it is a simple description of our time away and why I went. If they publish it I'll get an honorarium and will, therefore, be a professional author! They'll let me know in a couple of weeks if they like what I wrote. It's not a big deal so I suspect they'll take it as is or with minor changes.

After a very slow afternoon at work (one and a half patients - there were four scheduled but I'm not allowed to see patients from a certain insurance company so the owning optometrist saw two and a half of them) I came home and worked out. That's right worked out.

I lost about 15 pounds while we were away but have been rapidly putting it back on. Not liking this I decided to search the internet for a work out plan that would take an out of shape former athlete and turn them into someone who could complete a marathon. I found a good program and started it at the beginning of the week. Why did I start when I won't be able to workout this upcoming week? Because I needed to. If I didn't start then I would never start. It has been a good week of short runs and they are getting more enjoyable very quickly. Only complaint is that I've been running with tight shoulders and my left shoulder has really been bothering me this week. For those that don't know what I look like my left shoulder is a hideous mess. A large number of years ago I was hit by a car which caused substantial nerve damage and, in turn, muscle wastage of my left shoulder. It is basically bone. Very freaky looking and, now, painful. I'll try to find a marathon to run 18 weeks from now or so but if none are available I will start the next cycle and run one next spring. I need a goal or I won't continue working out. Here's hoping.

After my workout we had a big condo meeting! It was very juicy. As a condo association we have just fired our management company for questionable accounting practices and poor supervision of the workers. Our board is very upset about the state of our condos (lack of maintenance and cleaning) as well as poor financial record keeping/disclosure.

Our board gave all of the home owners a letter indicating that they were giving the management company 30 days notice and the general reasons why. A few days later we got a very poorly written and very angry letter from the management company disputing all claims made by the board. It was in very poor taste but added to the drama. The big question now is whether or not the old management company will continue to provide the services they have been contracted to provide until the end of the month. Many are betting they won't.

We met our new onsite manager and the CEO of the management company. They both seem quite nice and are going to crack down on many of the things that the old management company has been letting slide. Cleaning, maintenance as discussed above as well as the dreaded renters.

In our bylaws a maximum of 25% of units are allowed to be rental units. Most of the owners believe that this has been drastically exceeded as people are moving in and out weekly. Movers cause damage to the hall walls, the carpet, elevator, etc. Renters care less about the open spaces, etc.

It should make for some interesting meetings in the coming months.

Well. We're off early tomorrow for Florida and will be back late on August 21. I work on the 22nd and have my second interview/meeting with the Lenscrafter's optometrist on the 23rd.

Hope everyone is well and those with new babies are getting at least some sleep. and congratulations?