I'm Half Way Done...Sorta

I'm on lesson 28 of 48 in the Microsoft Office Class I’m taking an online from Universal Class. I've learned a few things, but not as much as I had hoped. The class is poorly organized, the assignments are random and the exams are filled with trick questions. I've finished Word and Excel. Hopefully PowerPoint will be better.

I was so frustrated by the class, I took 11 days off. I found another online class that only teaches Excel, which is massively better - the Smart Method. The first two lessons out of seven are free. I can get the book to finish the class for $14.99 or the CD-ROM for $21.99, which isn't bad. I'll probably do that after I finish the free class. Or maybe I'll see what the library has.

I feel like I've mostly been going to work, learning MS Office, eating and sleeping these days. And making sure Amber does her Algebra.

Monday was President's Day, so the kids were off school and I was off work. We went to the Aquarium and looked at the fishes. Note to self: Never go to kid-friendly entertainment on a school holiday again! We got there around 10:00 am (opening time) and stood in a long line that had started to wrap around the building. If we'd bought tickets online we could have walked right in. The aquarium was clean, interesting and well organized, but by the time we left around 1:00 pm, it was wall-to-wall people.

The best part was the sting ray petting pool. Every few minutes a sting ray would flip up the side of the pool into the face of an unsuspecting child. The child would invariably jump back and freak out. Ah, entertainment!

Due to the crowd that never quite dissipated, I enjoyed watching the sharks from afar, swimming in circles past the wobbegong disguised as part of a rock. For some reason, I dreamed about a plethora of wobbegongs last night. I just looked up wobbegong to make sure I was spelling it right. Yikes, they’re sharks, too! That explains why they’re in the shark tank.

Sadly, the otters slept through our visit. At least the part when we got close enough to see them. They slept curled around each other with their heads in the middle, like an M.C. Escher tessellation.

The penguins' liveliness almost made up for the otters' lethargy. I felt sad for the penguins, cramped in their little enclosure. Eleven penguins in a space 1/3 the size of the otters' living quarters. I was glad to hear that the penguins will get a bigger home in the new aquarium.

Apparently Meagan, Zac and Jarom liked the electric eel the best. We'd made it past the big old prehistoric looking fish, the poison dart frogs, the penguins and the spiders and they were still back looking at the eel. Apparently a bunch of kids came and pressed themselves against the eel's glass and the eel kept smacking into the glass in an attempt to attack them. The electric meter above the eel's aquarium kept spiking up. Poor eel.

Cameron and I lost David, so we sat in Calypso's Cafe by the restrooms. David took all his water pills that morning, so we knew it was only a matter of time before he showed up. Our plan paid off within about five minutes...

The coral reef, jelly fish and seahorses were interesting, too. After we'd seen everything the aquarium had to offer, including the $15 otter coin purses and $10 plastic otters and picked up a free *otter* pop on the way out, we decided it was time to go hunt down some food.

We’d planned on going to Texas Roadhouse, but they don’t do specials on holidays, so we ended up at Chinese Gourmet. Yum. I had a big salad, a huge plate of Mongolian Stir Fry and some coconut macaroons. Topped off with lemon water and raspberry lemonade, I had the perfect lunch.

By the time we finished lunch, David, Jarom and Zac were ready to take a nap. Cameron, Amber and I dropped them and Meagan off and headed out to Mom and Dad’s. I don’t think we’d been out since Christmas. I had been out once in January, but not David or the kids. Sheri set out snacks for us and later made dinner for us. Ah, Sheri is so nice. And we got to talk to Mom and Dad and see what they’d been up to. David was off on his adventure to soak in the springs all by himself. He’s an adventurous boy. Or maybe he met up with someone he met on the internet…. If I went on a vacation by myself, it would be to a spa.

Today we went to Uncle Dale's funeral. He died from smoke inhalation from a house fire earlier this week. Who would have guessed that would happen? I certainly didn't see that coming. It was nice to see family again, but I would have preferred to see them at the family reunion, not a funeral.

By the time all the funeral stuff was over and we got to Andy and Tiffany's they'd already finished moving, so we talked to Andy for about 15 minutes and left. Fortunately, they had several people help them this morning, so things went pretty fast. They still have a few small things to move, like clothes, but other than that they're done. We helped them paint for about 6 hours last Saturday, so at least we helped them that way.

Cameron needs to go to the U Fine Arts Museum before the end of the semester. I'm planning on going with him. It looks like the Museum has its own building now. When I went there, it was in the Art and Architecture building.

I guess that's about it. Now to decide if I'm going back to sleep or working on Primary stuff or if I'm going to start with the PowerPoint lessons. Decisions, decisions.

Only other thing is, I'm going to try the NEWO (No Excuses Work Out) Win Tomorrow/Win Today Checklists. See if I can't get some energy. I need to do something!

Algebra 101 - Again!

Amber and I have been spending lots of time doing Algebra lately. I think she's starting to understand it better.

It's really fun doing Algebra with Amber. She reminds me of Holly. Every chance she gets, she ducks into the bathroom or finds something else - anything else - to do. She does better when I sit at the table with her and talk her through problems.

One of these days, she's going to understand Algebra. Or at least be able to pass the class with a C!