Back at WLAC One Day a Week

West Los Angeles College called yesterday and said they have one evening a week (3 hours) available until the end of January. This will be good because I can leave a little bit earlier than I did when I was working two days a week. This will help me to not be stressed about time while driving over there. Plus I'll have more time to do what I want to and I won't pay as much for gas as I was when driving two days a week. I'll be able to keep up on student requirements and won't feel lost by being away for so long. And the extra money doesn't hurt either. :)

Spinning Woman

This website is really cool. The woman who is spinning never actually changes, but it looks like she does. You can see her going both clockwise and counter-clockwise if you look at her in a certain way. So far I've only seen one person who was not able to see her spinning both ways. Let me know what you see.

http://www.switched.com/2007/10/15/the-trippiest-optical-illusions-on-the-net/

Also, sometimes it helps to look away and then look back again, or maybe try to not look directly at her to see if you can get her to change directions.

Alex's Bike Riding Injury

This weekend Jake, Alex, and I decided it was time to step up the bike riding, so instead of going to the park, we rode to the riverbed and rode on that for awhile. Alex was doing really well and was going up and down the parts that go under the street. He was even able to get up the far side without stopping almost every time. We rode down the riverbed quite a ways and decided to turn around to come back home. Everything was going really well and we were having a good time.

Then... disaster struck. While going down a particularly steep hill, Alex lost control of his bike and fell HARD. I was quite impressed with his skinned hand, elbow, hip, and knee. He didn't move for quite a while, was screaming/crying. It looked like it HURT.

So we then spent the next two and half hours in the emergency room to get his arm x-rayed. Of course, part way through our wait he was using both hands to play his game boy, but there was no way we could chance sending him home with a broken arm, so I suppose it was necessary.

So, anyway, poor Alex was probably hurt more badly with us this weekend than he's ever experienced in his 12 years of life. And I'm wondering if we'll ever be able to get him back on a bike again. It's too bad considering it took us so long to build up his courage to ride in the first place. Oh well.

But I assume he's doing fine, and of course his arm wasn't broken. He got banged up pretty good, but he'll hopefully be recovered pretty well by next weekend. Good thing he was wearing a helmet too.

Laid Off

Well, they finally did it. West Los Angeles College has not been giving hours to part time counselors. The new important person in charge at the school has decided that she doesn't want any part time counselors working. I'm not sure if this will be forever or if we might get a few hours during the busy times, but any way you look at it, it sucks for me. What's especially unfortunate is that I think she went about this badly. Ideally, she should still have a few part time people working for a few hours a week so that we retain some of our knowledge. Instead, if we are able to get some hours in a few months, we're all going to be straining to remember certain things. Of course, there might also be changes during that time that we know nothing about. How frustrating.

I suppose I understand that they're trying to save money, but for me, I'm losing money by not working. I guess that I should try to use this time wisely and enjoy the fact that I'm not driving to West LA two times a week. I think I'm going to save about $100 in gas by not making the drive.

So there is my sad story. I delayed blogging about it for a few weeks because I was hoping that they might have us come back, but so far no luck. :(

Bike Riding with Dad and Susan

On Sunday we finally had the opportunity to show Dad and Susan the Fullerton Loop bike ride. They had asked a few times about seeing where it is since they actually live in Fullerton and might like to ride it every once in awhile.

We had a really good time, and to be honest, I was very impressed with how well they did. We actually finished in a decent amount of time and although they were tired, they stuck with it the whole way. So good job to them. Now we'll just have to see if they liked it enough to do it again.

We also went over to their place for dinner last night. Afterward me, Dad, Randy, and Dan all played Euchre. I forget how much fun that game is (even if I did lose :). I hope we have a chance to do that again soon.

My First Appt and Serious Nausea

Until yesterday, I wasn't really entirely convinced that I was actually pregnant. OK, I suppose I'm exaggerating, but it didn't seem quite real. But then they did the ultrasound which I have posted below and confirmed that it's true. I really do have a blob growing in me. They even let us listen to the heartbeat. It could hardly believe that only about 5 weeks after conception it would sound so strong. It was at 160 beats per minute.



To confirm matters even more, I was closer today than ever before to actually throwing up. I hung around in the restroom for about 5 minutes trying to decide if it was going to happen, but luckily I think I'm getting over it and am currently eating as I type to try to get my stomach settled.

One last thing, my due date is May 13th, although the second one based on size is May 17th. They say if it's not more than a week off, they stick with the original one. So let's see what actually happens. :)