retreat!!!

The leadership retreat has finally arrived. As much as my boss assured me 2 days ago that I didn't have to go, I know I'm needed. It's my job to make sure these things get done...and done right.

We'll be carpooling up to the Mt. Hood area with the interns, squeezing 20 people into one cabin slumber party-style, and stuffing our faces with s'mores. Fun fun!

20 oz day

I wasn't joking when I asked for the 20 oz. latte. I am SO tired, and this pumpkin spice latte tastes SO good.

Olive woke us up at about 3am and wouldn't let us go back to sleep. Paul put her in her private room (the bathroom) and I drifted back to sleep, but since earplugs don't fit in his sweet ears, her scratching kept him awake. Sometimes she scratches for a few minutes, gives up, and goes to sleep. Sometimes she scratches forever. She hates being separated. Paul tossed and turned in torment and kept me awake. Poor thing; I feel so bad for him. I got up to use the bathroom, gave her some attention while I was in there in the hopes she'd calm down, and then gave her a q-tip. Sounds like a strange thing to give a cat to play with, but she's obsessed with them. She'll play with it for hours. We won't be able to use that one on our children.

When I finally got back to sleep, I have a very disturbing dream and woke up nearly crying. I couldn't go back to sleep for awhile. Paul woke me up at 7, about 15 minutes before I needed to be out the door. Yay. He made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast and I stopped at the campus cafe (which serves Starbucks) on my way in to the office.

The truth is, Olive really has gotten better. Sunday and Monday nights she slept through the whole night without waking us up. Last night is an example of what I went through by myself for the first 10 months of owning her--she just wouldn't sleep at night and there wasn't anywhere to put her away that she wouldn't damage. So when she wakes us up at 4 or 5am after 7 or 8 solid hours of rest, I'm thankful. Paul doesn't have that perspective, poor thing. I really wish we could find earplugs that work for his ears. I think that'd make it easier because he wouldn't hear her scratching.

Oh. And as soon as I woke up and pulled out my earplugs, Olive pounced on one and ran off with it. Then she brought it to me to play fetch, like she does with the q-tips. Cracks me up! She won't do this with her squirrel, Pimento. I think Grass might be too big for her too. Maybe I should make her some smaller toys, like a mochimochiland snail or mushroom. Something like tiny little prey.

My alter ego, Olive Bumblebirch, is working hard on Harry Potter-themed knitting projects. I've completed both History of Magic quizes so far, and knit a cotton washcloth for Herbology. After messing up the gauge for the Hermione Hat, I went and bought smaller needles. It made me feel better about starting over on my Transfiguration assignment. Maybe my "new thing" is getting gauge. Quidditch is going well so far--we found another spinner and have gotten our patterns. It's a race!

The Hogwarts Kit Swap is also about to start! I hope more people sign up this week! We really need more Gryffindors. It was originally a sock kit swap, but this term there's a choice of bags, socks, dyeing, or surprise. Ever in need of totes, I asked for a bag. There's also trivia and knitting dueling, and lots and lots of competition. Yay competition!

mindless codes

I appreciate fire codes. All health and safety codes were put in place for a reason, and I remember studying them in college, so I know they're there for a reason: to protect building occupants. It's The Code.

But dumb codes, like room occupancies that don't make sense, really bother me. Here's the deal: there are 2 rooms on this campus in the Seminary that can open up and become one large room. The Seminary uses the large room for chapel twice per week. It's required for all Seminary students. Somehow, the lovely campus space coordinator has an occupancy of 100 for that large space. Sure, maybe when it's in classroom setup mode, with tables and stuff. I'll buy that.

But what if you remove those tables? You can certainly put a whole chapel's worth of students in there. And they do, about 160 students every week with wide aisles and extra room in the back. And what about banquets? Big round tables take up much more room than the skinny lecture tables, so there's NO way I would allow 100 people in there. So really, a blanket number of 100 doesn't keep the space safe. No logic here.

I need that space for my workshop!!