it's been one monkey wrench after another

So, the last time I blogged, I was relaxing in sunny Honolulu on vacation. I went back to work the morning we arrived and life has been non-stop since then. Before I left on vacation, I had been planning 3 events for one of my grants. I wanted all the planning to be done and if possible completed before I left.

But, you know what they say about making plans, right? 

One drama after another ensued for the first training which bled into the next one. I had a few wrenches and screw drivers thrown my way. Wouldn't you know it...my University of Hawaii at Manoa Maternal and Child Health "Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities" class was happening the last weekend of August. Yup, I flew to Honolulu...FOR. THE. WEEKEND. and slept maybe 15 hours in the three and a half days I was there.  And spent all of Labor Day flying home. I'm still in the midst of getting the third event planned and over with. THAT was supposed to happen the middle of October.

Again, you know what they say about making plans???

Through in some more monkey wrenches. Now I get to fly to JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA the middle of October for a conference that we weren't planning on attending. So now that last event??? Pushed to the middle of November. Nice.

Don't get me wrong. Life hasn't been one wrench after another. I get a reprieve every once in a while. The upside to spending 3 1/2 days in Honolulu and subsisting on 15 hours sleep and lots of Korean food? I met a whole lot of people I will get to know better over the course of the next two semesters. The upside of attending the conference in Florida? I get to visit Florida for the first time (even though it isn't Walt Disney World, I'll take it). The event in pushed to November? Upside is no one can say it was all planned at the last minute. If anyone doesn't have their ducks in a row it's their personal problem.

Then there's today...50 lucky people who work on the University of Guam campus (I would be one) got a tour of the USS George Washington this morning. That was AMAZING! Here's a picture from the navigation deck looking down to the flight deck.