I've just gotten over some kind of cold---Saturday night was the first night in a week that I was able to sleep well without coughing myself awake. It wasn't bad enough to stay home from work (plus I'm fantasizing that they'll give me a Perfect Attendance check, as they did last year). To look at me last week, you wouldn't have known I was under the weather until I spoke, revealing a cracked, raspy voice. I had a very stuffed nose but not at all runny; a scratchy, sore throat, sore eyes and a cough. Maybe it was allergies---and I don't even have them. This year was supposed to have been one of the worst allergy years in history, so maybe I've acquired them. Wow, my throat was so sore I couldn't swallow. But today, I feel 100% all better. Darn. Does that mean I have to stop taking that lovely Robitussen that carries one off to dreamland on a cloud of whatever narcotic is in it?

Last Monday, before the cold broke out in earnest, I had a very pleasant interview with the Chair at Armstrong, during which I waxed enthusiastic about peer review, the process approach, interesting assignments, and so on. They don't have the final budget figures yet, but when the numbers come in in July, he needs to see how many of their full time staff will lose their jobs before he knows how many part-time spots there will be to fill.

Liberto found an ad for a non-teaching job that he is positive has my name written ALL over it. I love the way he thinks I'm so capable of so much and says that I constantly underestimate myself. Thus, on Saturday, I re-worked my vita towards this particular job description and created a spot-on cover letter. However, doing this occupied several hours. You can't just shoot off the same generic vita and letter for every position. This gave me a preview of what's in my future. . .

On Sunday, we had a fish pond emergency. Three of them were swimming sideways and looking sick. The pump wasn't working, so we rushed to Home Depot and bought a new and much better waterfall type of pump. I admire people who can put things together in the blink of an eye. Liberto is one of those. He had the new waterfall cascading down the rocks and aerating the pond with white caps in the time it would have taken me to open the box. As of this morning, two of the three sick ones had made a full recovery, but the third one didn't make it. Liberto offered to get me two new koi, to replace the white one who died and this latest one, but I always worry about bringing outside diseases into the pond, which is always a risk when adding new fish.

13 more class days. We're doing Romeo and Juliet.

The Department Chair at school wants to give a farewell luncheon for me and for Jennifer, who was also cut, on the one teacher post-planning day, May 24. Soon after that, I may go ahead and have a hysterectomy, which is somewhat needed right now, but will probably be needed more urgently in forthcoming years. We're afraid if I wait until a merely uncomfortable situation gets worse, I'll be without my own health insurance, and Liberto's will only pay 80%. I've already talked to my doctor about it for the past few years during regular visits.