April 9--Into the mystic

[zyzyly]

It was kind of rainy here today, which always makes for a nice day in my book. I got up after Malida left for work and had a phone conference with the other doctoral students in my cohort. We have started doing this every Saturday morning. The nursing program has a conference line that they let us use.

We generally talk about our upcoming assignments and what we are thinking about. Our assignments are generally due on Sunday and Monday nights. We don't get a lot of direction, so it is good to talk it out. Today we talked about the assignments a bit, but spent most of the time just talking about our lives and what is going on in them. I've been in other online classes where you never really know who else is in the group, but this class is different. We will be together for 3 years.

Not everyone participates in the Saturday morning conference. Some people are too busy, and one person has pretty much withdrawn into herself because she doesn't like the program, and wants everyone else to not like it too. It's too bad.

I had to go to the hospital for a while to check up on my students who are doing their preceptorships. They are all doing fine, and seemed happy to see me. The nurses precepting them seemed happy too. I tend to enjoy a good reputation among the nursing staff as a supportive teacher. I was lucky to have a supportive teacher as a role model.

After seeing the students I drove over to a park in the neighborhood and took a nice long walk in the drizzly weather. I captured a bunch of portals in the park then watched some people play bocce ball. There is a great bocce ball court at one end of the park.

There was a Greek restaurant nearby so I went over and had a delicious gyro. I hadn't been there for a while--it is not one of my regular places. The people are very friendly, though, and the food is good. I remembered that the first time I went there was on a date with a pharmacist, almost 11 years ago. We had gone to a Greek festival, but the food was almost gone, and we weren't satiated. I went out with her 4 times, and then I think she got back together with her husband. She was the last person I dated before I got serious with Malida.

I walked again in the late afternoon at the local park. It was still a bit drizzly, but not enough to prevent being out. There was a group of kids all dressed up for prom taking pictures, and then a giant limo came by and took them away. I hope they have fun.

I ran into some angry geese. Most of the geese just move out of the way if I walk by, but these guys make a big deal out of it and start hissing and being aggressive. So I walked around them. I don't need no trouble.

Comments

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

There is probably a great ten-word bio in being the kind of guy who helps women see the virtues of their estranged spouses. I have not had a gyros in years.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Haha yes there probably is, and I would love to read it.

When I was in Boise, there was a gyro place next to the hotel, and I had one, and it was delicious. I have been thinking about them ever since.

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

Geese can be scary. My sister and I were chased by some when we were children. That was enough to convince me to give geese wide berth.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

There are a few in the park that are really aggressive. Most of them are happy to coexist with the rest of us.

[pasticcio.livejournal.com]

Mmm gyros sounds delicious...

Those are pretty healthy looking geese!

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Our Canadian geese live here year round now. They love the climate, I guess.

[thoughtsbykat.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, I like gyros. We have a new place in town that I will have to try.
My girlfriend has geese and I give them a wide berth. When I was there one came up to me and I was a little anxious. He had been patiently waiting for his morning corn and was leading me over to the container.
Your on-line class group is smart, it's helpful to know each other and have the tel-conferences weekly.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Haha--love that the goose was getting you to feed it!

[rejectomorph]

The second time I attended Pasadena City College there was a Greek restaurant across the street that had taken over the location of a defunct Bob's Big Boy. I missed having easy access to Bob's hamburgers with avocado, but the gyros made up for the loss. They had a delightful cucumber yogurt dressing on them, and were served with a few chunks of the tastiest feta cheese I've ever had, along with a few deliciously oily Greek olives. I really miss those gyros.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

My wife came home from work the other day and asked me if there was a college in Pasadena. I guess a new coworker told her that she went to nursing school there. Not sure why my wife was skeptical.

[rejectomorph]

Pasadena has more than one college. PCC is one of the largest and oldest community colleges in the state, and its nursing programs (both registered and licensed vocational) have been around for ages. There's also Pasadena Nazarene College. There used to also be Ambassador College, run by the Armstrong family's Worldwide Church of God, but the Armstrongs' empire got into trouble some time ago and had to retrench and the school closed.

The vanished school everyone in Pasadena misses most is the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts. That was a great place. Then there's still the Art Center College of Design, and Fuller Theological Seminary, and of course there's also Cal Tech, but nobody pays much attention to that place. It's just some sort of trade school for physicists, I think.