Killing Time

So, I have 50 minutes or so before I need to go to the other building to proctor an exam for the evening. It has amazed me that this year has passed so quickly, again.

So a brief update.
June/July-Went to Estonia with for a conference and met Mom afterward. I then went on to Austria, Hungary, London, and a stop in Istanbul on the way back.
August-Finalized the September vacation and school started. I had 2 classes of organic chem and 1 class of freshmen. I was blessed with good classes this year.
September-I went to Copenhagen and Reykjavik for the Eid holiday. I could have stayed in Iceland for a very long, long time. When I got back I started teaching spinning classes twice a week. It has been good
October-Continue teaching labs and spinning class. I finalized everything for the November trip and for the December trip.
November-I went to Italy for the Eid holiday. While I was there I took the Praxis 1 test and should be able to find out some of my scores tomorrow. (I could have called and found out my scores on Friday but it would have costed $30 on top of the $170 I had to pay for the exam. I'm waiting.)
December-It is only the 6th but classes are finishing and I'm counting down till when I go home. I leave at 1 am on the 18th to go to Amsterdam for 2 days. Then, on the 20th I fly to Alaska. I'm flying KLM this year so that should be interesting.

Here is what is coming up
January-Come back from home, recover. Start classes and spinning once again.
February/March- Teach and a Spring Break trip to Belgium and Luxembourg. I made Dad's year by telling him I'm going to Brussells. Then he started GIGGLING, like a little girl! Then he said, "You're going to Brussells, Sprout." Every conversation he works something like that in, I don't think he will ever stop.
April-I'm planning on taking a weekend trip to Abu Dhabi to see a friend.
May-Better get things ready to sell and move.
June-finish teaching summer session and head home.

So, I'm excited about moving home but it is going to be a huge change. Not just going back to be a student again or having to pay a lot more money for gas, but to be back in the US. Also, I won't be going to Europe on an extended vacation, that will be strange, especially after these last few years.

Anyway, Merry Christmas. I hope this finds you all well.

Random Thoughts

So a couple of random thoughts I've had over the last few days.

1. Garbage in, garbage out. If you eat poorly don't expect to feel good.
2. When you start a vacation, and you think you are in shape, or better shape than you were, don't over do it. On Saturday I biked at least 53.5 km, or 33.5 miles, which was a little much for 1 day. My butt didn't hurt (thanks spinning!) but my knees were killing me! I hiked the next day instead of biking.
3. Layne -3, Mosquitoes-7. I don't miss those guys.
4. Mmmmmm, pork.
5. The temp has been a max of 27C, which is fabulous! (look it up folks!)

Gotta go!
Hope all is well with you!

Targets and Quilts

So the physical fitness instructors offer practice archery time for their students but they let any one shoot. So on Sunday I tried it for the first time. I was a little frustrated at first, until I realized that I was closing the wrong eye. After I started closing the left eye my aim got a lot better. The picture below is from yesterday's practice session. It was my 2nd session and I got 4 in the yellow. Pretty good, if I do say so myself, but I'm still glad I buy my food from the grocery store.
This is a baby quilt for a friend. Another friend and I made it. The good news is that no new fabric had to be shipped over for the quilt so I have a little less here.

Aggie Muster is this evening. I'm hoping to have time to work out between the final exam this afternoon and Muster this evening. We will see what happens.

Victory is Mine!

Ok, so the problem with living here is that people don't always act rationally. So, my candy was stolen out of the box that I shipped. This happens here and there isn't anything you can do about it. So, I told the shipping company, Aramex, that since the item didn't make it to me that I would like to be refunded for the amount of shipping that item. Well, after many emails and phone calls I was refunded the cost of shipping the item AND the cost of the item! I won! I won!

Not too much else is going on. I'll be giving finals this week and lab will be done. I'm hoping to get my grading done by the first part of next week so grades can go out.

I bought my ticket to go to Bahrain the end of next month. It was a good deal, assuming that British Airways can fly by the end of next month. It was cheaper to stay 2 nights in a hotel rather than take a different airline and only stay 1 night. CRAZY!!!

I've almost got all the lodging for the summer trip taken care of, only 2 more places to find. I should be able to finish it up this week.

The other good news is that I finally starting to loose weight again. I've lost a total of 52 lbs since last February. I still have a ways to go but I'll get there!

I really wish Jolly Rancher's weren't kosher....

So, today's latest adventure was to find the ministry of publication to pick up my box from amazon. It was a mix of stuff, nothing big just a bunch of little stuff, and 1 giant bag of Jolly Rancher candy. I got the box and no Jolly Ranchers. Somebody in customs STOLE my Jolly Ranchers! They are halal, like kosher but for Muslims, so I knew they could come in the country fine but they are in the box. Any, I had to pay $50 for shipping! What kind of person steals candy? (Well, someone in Qatari Customs does.) I would have given them some if they asked!

The good news, and that is what I'm trying to focus on, is that the rest of the stuff came through just fine. I can start studying for the Praxis exam. This is exciting so I can start the next phase or the post-Doha part of life.

I also found out that I'll be working the in the research lab this summer. I don't like the research lab, if I did like it I would have a Ph.D. now. I keep telling myself that on June 16, 2011 I'll be on my way out of here. Today, it can't come soon enough.

Tomorrow night seems so far away...

So, God is good. I have been really worried that my work visa renewal wouldn't be completed before I leave and it was causing me quite a bit of stress. Well, I got my new visa and my passport back yesterday afternoon which means I can come home. Crisis averted.

Then I saw that British Airways is striking over the holidays. I was very worried since that is who I am flying to Seattle, then I saw that they are striking from the 22nd of Dec to the 2nd of January. I fly on the 17th of December and on the 7-9th of January, so hopefully there won't be any problems.

I have quite a bit of stuff to do before I leave but I'm not too worried. All I need are packed bags and that is almost done. I would like to have a few more things taken care of but oh well if they don't!

I will be leaving Wednesday night at 11:55pm and I won't be back in Doha until the 9th of January, YAY!! I won't be blogging from home (no offense, but I would rather play with the dog) so I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Ten days and counting!

If I were to be really specific it would be 11 days, but I don't like that very much so I stick with the 10 day mark. My plane leaves at 11:55 pm on the 16th, so I do leave on the 16th, I just have the entire day here.

I am working on my to-do list for before I leave. Nothing too exciting, just some things that I want to make sure I get done, like clean out the fridge. So far this is what I have:
1. Clean out fridge
2. Pack suitcase
3. Take out trash
4. Get passport back from HR with new work visa
5. See #4
6. Finish presentation for church and get multiple copies available for presentation
7. Knit Brook a hat out of the red yarn that I dyed
8. Wind into a ball the red yarn that I dyed
9. Do laundry
10. Make mini apple pies for some friends and don't eat the extras
11. Charge all electronics. (This will take a long time, I have 5 iPods, 2 cameras with 2 batteries each, an eReader, a cell phone, and a DS lite. This is a multi-day process.)

Oh, the semester is finished for me. I have to proctor final lecture exams but other than I just have to move and set up a lab.

I hope all is doing well with you.