Day 3 of "Things Corinn Wishes She Was Doing Instead Of Her Homework" was Jazzercise with Jami and Tonya!

Here we are, in our work out gear, getting ready to walk out the door to class.  I didn't think I'd be able to manage the dance-based aerobic workout and my camera, so I took a shot of us pre-sweat.

Jazzercise was very cool, and it also totally kicked my butt!  At first I thought it would be fun, dancing around to up-beat music, but I FULLY underestimated how much it would be.  The instructor was rather funny, she basically talked non-stop for an hour (on such topics as the head lice outbreak at her school, Valentine's Day plans as well as giving us movement instructions).  All of this went on in an incredibly high-energy way, plus the fact that she was jumping around doing the moves.  By about the third song I thought I might die, but by song five I had found a bit more of my groove, and I had also gotten over the fact that I was making all sorts of mistakes and that it didn't really matter.  I honestly can't remember the last time I sweat that much, and that room was air conditioned!    I had a great time, and I have a pass good for seven days, so I may take Tonya and Jami up on their offer to attend again on Monday.

After class we headed to Tonya and Jami's place for dinner.  Tonya had made a very yummy lasagna and Jami had brought home delicious cupcakes from Starbucks.  Ray even made it out of work in time to join us for dinner and a little Top Chef on TV.  I am a tired girl tonight, and I have a feeling that I may be feeling certain places in the morning!

Today is Day 2 of "Things Corinn Wishes She Was Doing Instead Of Her Homework" and today's activity was Hanging out with Danielle!

After work I went to water aerobics at the gym and Danielle met me there to try out the class.  Ray played basketball while we worked in the pool and after our class he offered to make dinner for both of us.  Danielle and I huddled up on the sofa to chat while Ray cooked (yummy burgers).  Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, something had dripped to the bottom of our oven, and burned when Ray turned it on to make the fries.  We were completely smoked out!  We had to open all of the windows in the house, as well as both doors to the porch.  It was certainly warmer today than it has been (all the way up to 46!), but that still made the house rather chilly.  D and I hunkered down under blankets while we waited for the smoke to clear.

Once we were able to close the windows and doors things got better, but it was still pretty cold in the house.  Danielle and I hung out in the kitchen with Ray while he put the finishing touches on dinner, both for the company and for the warmth of the oven!  Ray was pleased to have a more "normal" eater to cook for - it meant he got to have things like raw onion with his burger - which he is demonstrating his appetite for!

Dinner was delish and the company was outstanding.  Yeah for free time and getting to hang out with friends!

So the good news is that I finished my class yesterday!  Today begins my two weeks off, and I've decided I am going to start a series of blogs called "The Things Corinn Wishes She Was Doing Instead Of Her Homework".  Today is Day 1: Movie-Marco's-Monday.

Movie-Marco's-Monday is a bit of a tradition for Ray and I when I have my breaks from class.  So, on a Monday night (like tonight), Ray and I hit up our favorite pizza place (Marco's) for an early dinner and then catch a movie (tonight it was Taken).  Ray got out of work a little bit later than planned, but our movie wasn't until 6:50 pm, so we had plenty of time to grab a bite.

Ray ordered this yummy Italian sandwich and I had two FABULOUS slices of pizza: one with garlic and one with pepperoni.

Doesn't that look yummy?!

We arrived just on time for the movie, and found that we were the only folks in the theatre.

I actually thought that it was kind of hilarious! 

It didn't last forever, about halfway through the previews another couple arrived, but they sat all the way in the back, so it was basically like being alone for the movie.  The movie was pretty good, very intense and pretty fast paced.  It turned out it was also pretty fast, we were home in time to catch the last half hour of President Obama's press conference and ALL of Heroes (thank goodness). 

All-in-all it was an exceedingly great way to start my two weeks of freedom!

Why is it that everytime we do taxes, it has to be so much friggin' work and painful?

In our home, even though Corinn is the CFO, I'm the CTO (Chief Tax Officer).  On a side note, Sam's the CFO (Chief Fuzz Officer) and does a great job at that.  So I've taken on the duty ever since we've been married to complete the taxes and boy do I earn my title.  We've been broadsided in years past due to some huge mix-ups at my company, but in the end, we are still alive.  This year was another one... But I had struggled to make sense of why things didn't go so well for us.  It seems that no matter how well you plan, something always pops up.

I use both software and by-hand means to make sure the taxes come out the way they should.  It usually takes me a good long weekend to do so.  In the end, I verify that all the numbers look good (or not so favorable) and then we move on to sending the fed my forms.  Again, I try to get this done in a weekend ahead of time because I'm slightly impatient and if we are anticipated to get a return, I want to make sure I get it at the optimal time so we can earn interest.  If we have to pay, I usually wait until the week before April's national taxday to mail stuff in for the same reasons.  Ideally you want to owe nothing and the feds owe you nothing.  If you sway too far in one or the either direction, you get penalized (which Mc-Stinks).

So, this weekend, I came upon new stumbling blocks, but in the end, I think everything went as smoothly as it could have.  I'll be working all next weekend at the EMC, and other days will probably be the same way, so I needed to finish everything ASAP before I forgot.

February, March and April will be hell for me as the EMC is finishing up some projects and I'm sure we'll be starting some more.  I'm auditing a class at the college, but I've neglected to do homework for it (though not really required to) because of the lack of hours at the end of my days from work.  I haven't taken a single vacation day yet and still have comp-time leftover.  On a daily average, I'm putting in about 10+ hours, but several weeks ago, I put in 150+ hours within 10 days.  Last week, I put in about 55.  I'm looking at this upcoming week to be at least 70 because I'll need to work the weekend.  This has been a rare weekend recently where I didn't really work (except for checking e-mail).  I could use some time off... but I'm not sure when that'll happen next, when it will be appropriate or if it'll be possible at all.

I think the only things that keep me at the EMC are the types of projects we work on (save the world type stuff) and the people involved.  It's a lot of high stress work, but when I think about it (if I have time to think), the time invested is worth it.  I'm not even sure if I'm doing a good enough job!  I guess maybe I am if my boss kept me on for the past year and 3 months?

I am concerned though that I'm losing much of my life to work and not enough of it is towards spending time with Corinn, friends and family or even home projects/events that I should be doing and want to do.  Maybe life is like this in general... I cannot tell.  It's slightly depressing though that I do come home exhausted, eat, have small talk with Corinn and then eventually go to bed after reading for work, or doing homework.

Is this even the right job for me?  I wish I was the guy running on the ground with the students instead of managing them a lot of the time.  I was supposed to start a Master's degree in November, but I had to put it off due to how much work the EMC required me to do.  I'm afraid that I won't be able to start an MFA or PhD until 2 years from now and it feels frustrating to know this.  Ugh.  At the same time though, I wouldn't want to give up an opportunity that I do have to stay at the EMC and work on projects that do matter to me.  I just wish that things weren't so rushed and that my time revolved around student schedules the way they do.  It's a double edge sword having students be the workforce in a field like this, but at the same time, they're a joy to work with and when they put the right time into the projects, they work well and hard to get tasks done.  For some, the EMC is a side thing, for others, it's a part of their lives it seems.

I'm feeling burnt out.  I cannot enjoy a weekend because as soon as it hits Saturday night, I'm worrying about work or feeling guilty, as I did yesterday, that I didn't work.  I cannot play a game at home without thinking that I should be doing something else instead of relaxing.  Maybe it's just in my nature to be high-strung...

Ugh...

I realize that most of my posts, when I have an opportunity to do so, happen in the late nights/early mornings...

Oh well.  Time to sleep.

I’m going to be an UNCLE!!! 

"Wait... whaaaa?!  Can I be an uncle too?!" - Jason

Yes Jason, you will be an Uncle too! 

So, long story short, my sister is due in July (the projected date of the 13th is on the cow plot)!!!  At Thanksgiving this past year, Nate and Jina announced the excellent news by Jina taking off her sweatshirt, revealing a NY Giants helmet on a white t-shirt with an arrow pointing down to her tummy and words stating “Future little Giants fan”.  The revealing, by the way, apparently was REALLY subtle… So subtle that Corinn stood in stunned silence with her eyes bugging out looking back at my blank-faced family and confused friends for a good 10 seconds.  She wanted to hug my sister, but was frustrated that both my parents on either side of Jina and Nate had not recognized the subtle announcement.  Finally, Corinn decided to SUBTLY drop the hint and blurted out “SO JINA, DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL US?!”

“I’M PREGNANT!” Said my sister with a huge grin on her face!

(highly detailed view of the ultrasound.  Notice how the helmet is starting to form...) 

My parents soaked up the message and before I knew it, my mom’s talking about how Jina needs to do x, y and z, while turning to me and focusing on how I need to immediately get life insurance so I can cover the condo, car, loans, etc.  I was wide eyed; I turned to Dan, one of my student workers from the EMC who joined us, and told him that I didn’t plan any of this.  Meanwhile, our friends and two students from the college were diligently eating the goodies in awkward silence while the talk that dominated the table was all about baby stuff... lot’s and lot’s of focus was towards baby... stuff...

"You mean I won't be the baby of the house anymore?" - Merlin

Wow...

...

I’m going to be an uncle?

...

How the heck did this happen?

Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know how IT happened (I did take a biology class or two, Googled it and I verified it on Wikipedia), but what I really meant was it feels like this event should be years from now, but not NOW!  It kind of feels like one of those “life comes at you fast” commercials of which you see on TV all the time.  I feel like I haven’t accomplished enough in life for this to happen… I almost feel like I should have been the one to have the first kid of my siblings (being the older one).  But Corinn and I decided to hold off on the baby thing so we can experience life and obtain our graduated degrees (I’m slacking on that objective so far). 

I cannot begin to comprehend how I’ll react once I see the newborn.  Am I supposed to sense something like a light switch being flicked on that says, “I’m an Uncle!”?

I imagine it’ll be a phenomenal feeling, but the uncle thing won’t hit me until I see proof of concept. 

"The baby's going to look like me!!!" - Nate

Until then, Corinn and I are preparing funds for an attack to spoil the kid rotten to get back at Jina for all those years of pain and suffering being her older brother.  Corinn will work on training the kid to enjoy Dallas Cowboys Football while I will teach the kid ninja tricks so he/she flips out and kicks Nate for no good reason. 

(Congrats Jina, I'm proud of you.  Love ya lots...)