No Rest for the Wicked

or for those of us who chronically overcommit

This has been one crazy week. I did manage to get both my papers written and turned in on time for my classes, though that last one was submitted with less than two hours to spare. Of course, the class itself keeps on going so I still had more readings and assignments to do for Wednesday of this week.

In addition to taking these two classes, I am also the Get Out The Vote faculty coordinator for our campus this fall and I had two Get Out The Vote events to run this week – one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. The Tuesday event was on and off all day so I had to shift one of my two normal Fleet Farm days to Monday. I hope everyone reading this who is eligible to vote has already voted (you can still vote early through Monday if you live in Minnesota, not sure about other state’s early voting options) or will be voting on Tuesday.

Image is from this article about why every vote matters

ELECTIONS MATTER!!!!

Both events went relatively well though turnout was lower than hoped for; if nothing else I hope the invitations to them and reminders about them got people thinking about voting and when they will do it.

In addition to the Get Out The Vote events both Juniper and I had dentist appointments this week. They both went well though my teeth are in much better condition than Juniper’s. Juniper needed a lot of work done and some of what they vet found has probably been causing her a fair amount of pain for who knows how long. Though nothing was seriously wrong in terms of long-term dental health she does apparently have a few quirks that will require annual dental work (she’s lucky she’s cute).

We’re hoping that some of the issues with her teeth were the cause of (or at least part of) her hatred of receiving oral meds. The way she expressed those feelings was to rear which is not safe for anyone. I’m very glad I waited to work on that because we have hopefully eliminated some of our issues. We hadn’t started that process because I wanted to get through the eye meds before we dealt with anything else but we’re in the homestretch on the eye so hopefully we can turn our attention to that soon; being able to give oral meds is important and I can’t have a pony who rears the moment you put anything in her mouth. This of course is also a good reminder that horses/ponies are never naughty or unsafe just because, there is always something more going on that is the real cause of the issue.

I also had what will hopefully be my second to last physical therapy appointment for my neck issues from the slip down the stairs. Overall, my arms/hands/wrists have been doing much better but I still need to figure out a way to extend my handles on, well the vast majority of our yard tools, but the poop fork in particular. Any suggestions for how to extend my handle?

Lastly I had a meeting with a new group for a side job I did this past spring writing feedback for math homework questions for an online homework system. The first time around I felt like the amount of time I put in to writing the feedback was disproportionately high compared to the amount of pay I got. Thankfully those in charge took our feedback and this new group is putting together what will hopefully be a far more efficient and consistent process that will make the amount of work proportionate to the pay.

All of this coalesced this week to make me realize I really don’t have the time for two days a week at Fleet Farm. Ten hours a week doesn’t sound like much, but with this other side job starting back up for the sake of my mental health I need to cut back on something so I’m cutting back to just one day a week at Fleet Farm – though I did agree to be flexible and work on whatever day of the week they needed me most at whatever time they needed me – you just can’t beat that 20% discount!

Now I just need to get through the rest of the semester with these two classes, balance this new side gig with everything else, and actually put together the two presentations I will be giving at the AMATYC conference in Toronto – which have to be done and submitted by November 14.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Maybe I can work on the presentations while I’m waiting in line to vote…

This image taken from this article on why voting matters for racial justice – GO VOTE!