Me, the Sugar Mama

People always ask me what I do for my job and I tell them I work at the chiropractic school that Cory attends. Then they ask me "are you, like, a receptionist or something?" I tell them I work in the office of quality and they just look confused. It's always very amusing.

As much as I love my job, I have the hardest time explaining to others what I do for work. I work in the office of Institutional Quality and Assessment (I know, could our title be any longer?) I do some things secretarial (like keep track of my boss, an assistant vice president) but I mostly make use out of the statistics degree I earned from USU. We do a lot of surveying (and when I say a lot, I mean a lot) and trend-predicting. I work with accreditation, strategic planning, protocols and a lot of data. We believe that we are the best chiropractic school in the U.S. and we work really hard to stay that way.

So here's a link so people can actually see the surveys that I have to put together (click on the link that says "data" to see what I mean about a lot of surveying). http://www.nycc.edu/webdocs/ic/IQA/IQAFiles/IQAFiles.htm

I know, it's way geeky. But I love it. It affords me the opportunity to be intimately involved in the school that Cory chose to attend - and lets me eat lunch with him some days. All the benefits are fantastic (my favorite being the free chiropractic care, of course, but discounted tuition for Cory is also pretty fabulous!) And I am truly a geek at heart, so it's right up my alley. I'll be very sad when I have to quit (not for a while though, since Cory still has a year left.) I'm very blessed to work here!

Happy anniversary to us

Happy anniversary to us (yesterday)! That’s right, Cory and I have been married for 4 years. 4 years! Wow, I cannot believe it has gone by so quickly! It feels like I have known him my entire life (instead of just 6 years). He’s my best friend and I couldn’t be any happier having him as my eternal companion. He’s got all the qualities I ever wanted – and even a few bonuses. He balances me nicely, and makes up in the areas that I struggle with. It’s been an awesome 4 years and we’ve done so much together. My mind boggles at all the adventures we’ve been through together, and I know we’re in for some more in the years to come. I couldn’t ask for a better person to share them with. I love you sweetie, more than I can put into words.

To celebrate our anniversary – and Cory finishing his 7^th trimester of school and 2 grueling weeks of finals – I took the day off work so we could spend all day together. We slept in, made pancakes for breakfast and headed north to a couple of state parks on Ontario Lake. We hiked, played in the water, ate ice cream cones, saw very pretty (and very rural) countryside, and had dinner at a yummy restaurant, overlooking Cayuga Lake. It was the most perfect day. Relaxing and not having to answer to anyone’s time schedule but our own was fantastic. It was exactly the type of day that we both needed to recuperate from a stressful last month.

Happy 4 years to us! Next up – Boston! We’re going because we can. Cory has a break from school and it’s the one major city out here we haven’t visited yet. I’m way excited!

Boston?

We're going to be heading down to Boston in about a week. For anybody who has been there (or hasn't been there, but still has good ideas) - what are the things to see? I'm amassing a list, and I'm open to suggestions, if anyone has any.

One week down, one week to go ...

Last week was week 1 of finals for Cory (with this week being week 2). When you have 30 credit hours, the traditional "finals week" that we all dreaded as undergraduates turns into finals weeks. He had 9 tests in 5 days. He did amazingly well ... but by Friday night, he was burned out from so much stress and test taking, and I was burned out from so much work and the stress of watching him study like mad in preparation for said tests. So we ordered pizza and we vegged. Nice.








While vegging, we watched the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics. Man, it was amazing!!!! Amazing doesn't really seem like the right word ... it was a sight to see, that's for sure! I borrowed these images from google and they are something to look at - what a ceremony! Those Chinese sure can throw a party! (click on the images to make them bigger - what attention to detail they have!)

I have always been fascinated by China. Ever since I was a little girl. So when I got the opportunity to go there, in the fall of 2002, I jumped at it. I spent 4 months in Wuhan, China, teaching English to young children. I will be forever grateful for my time spent there. I met my amazing husband there. I learned new levels of patience (though I'm still working on that one). I stretched and grew and matured. I ate some truly disgusting food. I made some amazing friends (both American and Chinese). I saw some spectacular sights. My love for the culture of China grew immensely. China is such a complex country, with amazing people. The music, the food, the smells, the language, the sense of unity and regard for others - China holds a very special place in my heart.

I'm so happy the Olympics are being held in Beijing and I get to watch them on TV. Of course, I would rather be there in person ... but hey ... one day we won't be so poor and we can go back. Plus I love competition and so watching the world's top athletes compete in a country I love is sweet.

I also finished reading Breaking Dawn, for the 2nd time. Yep, it should come as no surprise that I decided I am officially obsessed. I managed to read the book twice (all 574 pages) in a matter of 1 week. I loved it the first time, and I loved it the second time. My opinion that it's perfect and delicious and hilarious was only strengthened by my second time through it. I put more thoughts on our book club blog (here) if anyone wants to see what insights time #2 through the book brought me. Now I'm feeling quite a bit of a letdown ... the series is done (and while done wonderfully) it leaves me feeling ... uninterested in anything else. I've got a couple of books to tackle (the Eragon series is next) but I'm having a hard time getting into anything. Anyone have any really good book suggestions for me?

Breaking Dawn ... at last!!!

**Don't worry - no spoilers here **

I’m finished. And wow, what a ride! The book was fantastic. Perfect, perfect, perfect! I began reading Breaking Dawn around 9 am on Saturday morning, and I finished around 11:30 pm (with a some breaks for lunch, dinner and a walk with Cory, since I was starting to lose feeling in my legs). I tried going to bed as soon as I finished, but I had so many thoughts swirling around in my head that I had to get up and write some of them down – then I could finally get some sleep. Still, I had some weird dreams (which you can probably guess at, if you’ve finished the book).

It was just soooooo good. I loved it!! I’m so happy with the way things turned out, and the way the book ended. I’m not going to give anything away here on our blog, since it has some major plot twists and it would be just plain mean of me to ruin the book for those who haven't read it, so if anyone wants to discuss all things Breaking Dawn, come visit our book blog at http://booksrockoursocks.blogspot.com/. I really want to know what other people thought, so come leave a comment!!

If you still haven’t read these books yet, seriously – do yourself a favor and go get them. They’re tremendous!!!

Transitions Ceremony

To know what's going on in these pictures, you'll need a little background info. Chiro school here at NYCC is 10 trimesters long. They go year-round, with only a couple of weeks off in between the trimesters - consequently, every tri is 1/3 of a year. Cory is just finishing his 7th tri (2 weeks of finals, then done!) The last year of education (8th, 9th & 10th trimesters) are spent doing mostly clinical work, with only a few online classes - very different than going to class from 8am - 6pm, every day. He'll see patients and do everything that comes with that (making a diagnosis, a treatment plan, soft tissue work, adjustments, etc). It's similar to a residency. For this last year of education and all the clinical work, students have the option of staying here in Seneca Falls, going to Depew (in the Buffalo area), or going down to Levittown (on Long Island). Cory and I are staying here, mostly 'cause I have an awesome job here at the school, and we are too lazy to move. Since the class is splitting up, 7th trimester is the last time the whole class will be together (until graduation, July 2009). The school holds what's called a Transitions Ceremony, held at the end of 7th tri, to mark the passage of students into 8th tri, and thereby into the clinical portion of their education. They give out a few awards, have a key-note speaker, repeat the chiropractic oath, and dress the students in their white lab coats.

Yesterday was the Transitions Ceremony, held for Cory's class. It was bittersweet. It's amazing to me that he only has one year left! It's very exciting! He's worked so hard for so long, and now he gets to put all that knowledge into use in the clinics. I'm so very proud of him - more than really can be put into words. At the same time, it was sad because we've made some truly great friends out here, and they are moving to the other clinics.










Cory, getting his white lab coat from Dr. Bobak (Dean of Chiropractic), his class repeating the chiropractic oath, and Cory looking snazzy in his new coat.

The school also hosts a luncheon after the ceremony, where students can mingle with family, friends, faculty members, and take a lot of pictures.









Cory's entire tri in their coats, Cory, Carlos & Jonathan (aka "the three amigos"), and the boys again, goofing around.

We went out to Applebees for dinner, to celebrate. Jonathan & Jaime, and their cute new addition, Brooke, are moving to Buffalo for this last year of school. Carlos & Erica, and their adorable kids Elena & Jacob, are also moving to Buffalo for this last year. We're going to miss them both terribly. They have been awesome friends to us, and it's been so nice to be able to spend time with people who share our values. I'm going to miss girls nights with Erica and Jaime. I'm going to miss lunch with Carlos & Jonathan, and their wicked sense of humor. I'm going to miss playing bocce, badminton, and the Wii at Jonathan's. I'm going to miss sitting next to Erica at church, and playing with her kids. Cory & I are both going to miss having friends to hang out with. These 2 families have been wonderful to us and we'll miss them terribly. They're only going to be 2 hours away, so I'm sure we'll be visiting!