A few random updates

This week I started my new job at UC Merced, and already I am slightly overwhelmed! Basically there is a large hodgepodge of people I've met and tasks I will be responsible for that is requiring all my attention and memory to try to learn. Simple things like scheduling a meeting, sending an email, and using the printer/copier have taken larger amounts of time than they should as I reread things five times and ask about details that may or may not be relevant to make sure I don't leave something out or there isn't a tip/trick to it I need to know. But, I think I will eventually get the hang of it and the woman who previously held my position is still around and been a major help integrating and training me.

Outside of the office, we need to get used to managing our time and being more disciplined since I'm not home all day to clean and do the grocery shopping anymore. We've grown accustomed to taking it easy every evening, and let things slip. So next week the goal is to stay on top of chores and get a couple nights of exercise in after work.


Garden wise, survivors from the Slug Wars are starting to take off, and while we wait for them to mature, we've enjoyed seeing the plants that were already here upon move-in show off their blooms. You may recognize this flower from the last blog, but since then the plant sprouted a ton of these, as you can see from just this one side.


The tree indeed produced apples! They are smaller than we hoped, and keep falling off before they mature. It is disappointing they aren't ideal for eating fresh or on their own, however, we gathered the best ones from the ground and decided to make apple pie rather than let them go to waste!

We are not experienced pastry chefs. My mom's famous crust fell apart in my hands as I tried to move it onto the pie, so after major "skin surgery" and crust transplanting, it looked like this when we put it in theoven. Not as pretty as my mom's, but it still tasted good!

Steamholes in the shapes of our initials, and vanilla ice cream on the side. This dessert followed homemade pizza and a cold IPA. I started whistling "Proud to be an American" while we were cooking- lol.

This doesn't have to do with much of anything, but it was so weird I had to share it. While hard-boiling this egg, it started oozing out a crack. But mutant eggs still make tasty salad sandwiches.

On the health front, Patrick has been doing physical therapy to heal and strengthen the tendon along his right knee & hip and I've been wearing a brace for a month on my right wrist/thumb to finally heal inflammation I started experiencing last fall. Patrick is noticing a gradual improvement, and I'm scheduled for a cortisone shot to try to move things along. Wish these sorts of things healed faster as we're itching to do some hiking/climbing/kayaking, and even just knitting in my case!

I imagine we'll have slightly more exciting things to post and more pictures of ourselves soon (as opposed to disfigured food) since we'll be having visitors from MI next weekend, and a trip to the homeland ourselves in a couple weeks!