And the Rat Race Begins Again!

Well, school has started again, this time Dan is joining me in my pain. Except his is worse. Maybe. No, yeah, I'm sure he has it worse right now. But first, a picture! The cake I labored over for hours for Dan. We had a Purdue Party for Dan his last night at Best Buy, to celebrate him now having "regular hours" (so we thought, we'll get to that in a minute), etc. I invited a bunch of friends over, Purdue apparel required, and we decorated and were ready to surprise him when he got home from work. He spoiled the surprise by showing up unannounced after work, due to the large quantity of whipped cream covering him head to toe. This was the Best Buy managers' way of saying goodbye. It was hilarious, and great to know he'll be missed!

For those of you who haven't heard, Dan got the Math TA job we were hoping for, as this saves us thousands of dollars in tuition and gives us a second income at the same time. Yeay! Also, he did SO well at his screening (like an interview/audition combo for teaching) that they decided to have him lecture two algebra courses. Yes, you read that right: LECTURE. As in, no professor, it's the "Just Dan!" show ("Just Jack!" anyone? Anyone? Will & Grace? No? Too bad...). So he writes the lesson plans, writes and grades quizzes, etc. The tests are standard for all sections, so at least he doesn't have to do that. Yeay! Anyway, you'd think this would come with more pay than, say, a grading job, but it doesn't. Arg. It's showing Dan that maybe he really is cut out to be a professor after all though!

In addition to his TA, Dan is taking two undergrad engineering courses (with a lab), a graduate level math course, and a seminar. He pretty much has no life. If we take a few hours out to go to Bible study or go to dinner with friends, he ends up turning in incomplete homework. There just aren't enough hours in a day. Dan has opted to forego sleeping and eating as a solution (literally, he gets maybe 5 hours of sleep a night and only eats one meal a day), which I hope will prove very temporary. If it remains like this, at least it's only for this term and hopefully by winter he will have an RA lined up (Research Assistantship, not an RA like in undergrad, just to clarify). There is one professor in particular who is pretty set on doing whatever it takes to find money for Dan to join his lab, which is great. They already have a potential thesis picked out even! But more on that later, in case it changes.


In my news, I have two classes this term which promise to kick my butt, but at least there are only two. Even though I just joined the lab a few months ago, I have a rotation student right now, which means essentially I have someone working under me. I am training her on how to do things in the lab, and hopefully she enjoys it enough to decide to maybe join the lab later this year. It's pretty intimidating to be training people when I'm still full of questions myself, but I'm catching on. It's really cool to see just how much I really have learned in the last several months, and how much I really can teach someone else!


On the home front, my parents came out not too long ago and helped us tile the guest bathroom. It was great to get the punctured, stained linoleum out of there, and to learn a new skill! Koa and Kai love to lay on the cool tile now too. Attached is a picture of Kai helping me out. He took it upon himself to inspect every step of the project, including my tile-sponging. I've also attached a picture of my dad and I scrubbing out the toilet on the front lawn, just because it was so much fun, and so you can understand why our neighbors look at me oddly sometimes. :) I should add that, the weekend after my parents left, Dan and I took our new-found knowledge to tile the master bathroom ourselves, and, while Dan operated the wet saw, I laid almost all the tile myself! It was not as much of a marriage-testing experience as we thought, and we have lovely floors now to show for it!