the post where I complain about nothing some more.

Ok.. so I admit that I am a little old to care so much about summer vacations but I really look forward to them. I think the reason for this is mostly because I still get them... sort of.
The temporary relief from the set of self induced stresses and deadlines and workload goes a long way to maintaining my sanity. Grad school is annoyingly time consuming, especially when you choose to drag it out for twice as long by doing it part time. In an effort to compensate I tried the summer session. I thought it would also be a good sounding board to see if I could increase the workload during the normal semesters. I can't. I did fine with the double time pace over the summer and plan to utilize future summer sessions but it was only 8 weeks long (seriously?). I know if I tried to maintain that same pace for a full semester something inside of me would burst like an over carbonated Dr. Pepper left sitting in the car in a Phoenix parking lot during the summer.
I will resume my normal pace of classes after my lavishly lengthy 26 days of no scholastic obligations. Its not much of a summer break, but its mine and I am going to relish it all the same.

In the not school parts of my: life Max is friggin' huge. He has gone from almost too small to easily hold to "holy crap, is that the same kid". He has definitely caught up on the weight charts and hitting all of his milestones in stride (well.. really more like a flail than a stride.) He has discovered the joys of making noises and babbles constantly. We have taken him to a few social events and this kid is definitely a flirt. We have been able to determine he has a thing for blonds and glasses.

Its not over?

Holy cow what a grueling week. I can't believe its not over. I hope this isn't the new standard. Its enough to make a guy pack up his family and move to a deserted island. Although now that I think about it a desserted island would be more delicious.

Motorin'

Rode up to Strawberry, AZ for breakfast this morning with some co-workers. What an awesome ride. There were scattered thunderstorms and by scattered I mean they all ran away from us. The ride up was beautiful weather. It was nice and cool and moist and the pavement was just drying out for us (hooray traction in the curves). There was great scenery and the 95 miles up there seemed like a lot less. A nice long stop for breakfast and then back down the mountains to go home.
The ride down was O.K. too.. but hitting the valley at 11:30 made me wish I was doing the ride in reverse. Even still, it was a great use of 190 miles worth of gasoline.

I am in the homestretch for the summer semester. The last homework set is due Tuesday, there is a test Friday, and next Friday is the final. Then I get almost a month of free life before the fall semester starts! (yes, that was sarcasm).

For those wondering out there.. Max is 16 lbs. now. He can almost roll over and has become an expert at looking around the room and inspecting random things, especially during food time.