The Best Laid Plans . . . .

It's funny how these things go. Once upon a time I had this plan to publish a 'blog every week. It would be a 'blog of "something substantial," he said, (sounding just a bit like Pooh Bear when he said it.)

(Well, that's what I get for reading Winnie the Pooh before blogging, I guess.)

But it's funny how life gets in the way. I'm trying to recall who said, "Life is what happens when you're making plans for your life," or something close to that. John Lennon?

So my life has conspired to get in the way of my carefully considered 'blogging schedule. Too bad for me.

I darn near got registered to start the RN program at San Antonio College last week, but a glitch in their onliine registration process dumped my registration (and 2,500 other students' as well.) So by the time I found out what had happened, all but one of my courses had closed.

Darn close, though. I'm looking into a more flexible program at another college that I could take over the summer. I could've gotten this done in a year at San Antonio College -- maybe less at St. Phillip's.

In the meantime, the job at the Center for Healthcare services is humming along nicely. Some of the usual clique-ish stuff, but as usual I'm very job-oriented and Customer-centered, so they can pretty much say what they want, as long as I produce results.

And, of course, as much as I'd LOVE to tell you what the results are, I can't do it due to "Privacy Concerns."

Meanwhile, the every-ten-years "Rebuilding of my Mouth" has restarted with a vengeanced. Since we moved to San Antonio (and it's much-lesser fluridation of the water) my teeth have suffered greatly. Northwest Indiana had maximum fluoridation of water, along with significant naturally-ocurring amounts of fluoride in the groundwater. South Texas is a recent convert to water fluoridation, so the fluoride in the water is minimal.

And brother, my teeth can tell. I've broken three teeth since we moved her, and loste a few fillings to boot. So yesterday I had an all-morning procedure to clean and polish my teeth. None of this 30-minute tooth cleaning I'd grown up with; no sir! This requirede full mouth anesthetic (They even offered me sedation, but I just couldn't see that.) Next week is the relacement of the broken teeth, which should be fun.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I had a LOT of dental work done when I was here in 1983-1984 for Nursing school, too. Hmmm . . . .


An aside here; ever notice holw many of John Wayne's movies are made in Texas? I'm watching "The Sons of Katie Elder" this morning on AMC (they're always good for Saturday Morning Westerns), and every 15 minutes or so a Texas reference pops out. Big John just loved this state -- no mistaking it.


Meanwhile, the lovely and gracious Ariane is humming along in her second semester of Nursing school at UTSA. She got 2 "B"'s and and "A" in her Biology, Micro, and Freshman Comp class last semester, and really looking forward to this semester. She's taking more hours -- that's all I know. (She likes to keep me in the dark.)

Julian is out with friends this morning, doing some Math project for school. Apparently he's inherited his gradfather's head for numbers, but his mom and dad's sense of ethics -- so he should go far. He seems to be a very popular guy. He knows every girl in his Middle School, and they all know him.

Popular Kid -- and so much smarter than his Dad, apparently.

I don't know why Miracles surprise me anymore . . .

For the past week we've been waiting for word about Ariane's family in Mauritius. (Mauritius was right in the path of last week's tsunami in the Indian Ocean.) Yesterday we found a website Published in Mauritius(http://www.tropicscope.com/eventreadmore.asp?ID=2142) that says this:

"The tsunami caused by the major earthquake in Asia has not caused any casualties or damages to Mauritius. Although the wave crossed the whole Indian Ocean on Sunday the 26th of December, from the Far East to the coasts of Africa, the people of Mauritius have hardly noticed anything on this Sunday. . . Although the sea level went up and down in an extreme manner creating strong currents in some places, the coral barriers around the island of Mauritius protected the island form drastic rises in sea level. The phenomenon lasted about one hour and has not caused any damage anywhere and no deaths or casualties have been reported."

By the way, Diego Garcia is fine too. Same Coral reefs.

Considering the inundation of the Maldives to the North (76 confirmed deaths) and the incredible death toll in Sri Lanka to the south (8,942 confirmed dead at this writing) this is truly a miracle from God!

I'm sure these small miracles won't be reported in a press wallowing in the sorrow and horror of the tsunami. But they are truly miraculous. I don't know why I'm surprised, really. Yet the Israelites, even after witnessing the miracles in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and the pillar of fire that lead them across thedesert in Sinai, still doubted the power of God enough to build the Golden Calf. ( Exodus 32:1 -- "When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, 'Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.'"

Humans. We're some funny people that way.