Happenings This Last Week

So far my employment has been great at Loma Linda. I realized how important my role is ( I have my own part-time assistant that is a doctorate student from India who does copies and errand for me, not that I have needed her yet)  and yet these last four work days have been relatively boring. The girl I am replacing named Grace is in her 30's, has four children and is married. She is also in nursing school. Her father recently passed away and her mother has a terminal illness. Her husband was just told he might have liver cancer. This woman can't catch a break. Yesterday her husband had surgery to see about the liver cancer. Well he doesn't have it instead it was kidney stones, thank goodness. But while in the hospital waiting for her husband to get out of surgery she gave herself a minor stroke!!! So far I have had about 2 hours of training with her because she hasn't been here. That is why I am somewhat bored. There might be things for me to do, but my boss doesn't know how to train me on anything because Grace did it all. So instead I have been getting to know people and familiarizing myself with the confusing building. Everyone is so nice and helpful. The only thing I haven't liked so far is their jewelery policy. Yesterday Dr. Z pulled me aside very nicely and told me about it. So I guess Seventh Day Adventist don't believe in wearing much jewelery and dangley earrings are a definite no no. She said it might be able to slide if I wasn't in the Dean's office, but that I should be very conservative with jewelery, so I can only wear studs. Anyone that knows me knows that earrings are pretty much the only jewelery I wear except for my wedding ring, so I was pretty sad to hear that.  But I guess it would be like a non LDS member going to BYU and realizing they can't wear tank tops or flip flops. Every religion has its reasons.


Well I got all my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving, I don't think I have done that before. I'm pretty excited to decorate and for Christmas music. Yes, I have withheld myself from listening until after Thanksgiving. Although, Tyler and I did go with our good friends the Frei's to a Christmas tree lighting at the Grove in LA. I guess they were filming a concert there that was broad casted during the Christmas tree lighting which we got to witness parts of. But mostly we just saw Mario Lopez redoing his intros to the artists and the chit chat between them after the artist sung. They even had fake killer snow. If you breathed it in you started coughing like crazy. But at the very end they had fireworks which were so much fun.

After talking with the Frei's we were kind of sad. They have had non stop visitors since moving in August. Maybe it is because they are actually in LA. But we haven't had any friends or family come to visit since we moved here.(Tricia, Pat, and the little girls did come to move us there so I'll give them credit for that).  So if you want to come to Redlands, CA please let us know. We do have an extra bedroom and couch and we are not that far from LA and the beach and Disneyland or even from San Diego. Oh and we would love to have you!