Another request for you

As you may know, I am a SCUBA diver. I enjoy the heck out of it and have even done some instructing. I’ve been inactive over the last year or two mostly due to the fact that my favorite dive shop closed and work and family have placed increased demands on my time.

Mona is not a SCUBA diver, nor do I think she will ever be one. I should say that the likelihood of her learning to dive is about the same as it is for me to give birth to our next child. I accept that.

Neither one of us is in the kind of physical shape we were in when we met.

Mona is actually thinner, but when we met she worked outdoors a lot and took regular Yoga classes.

I am about 20 to 25 pounds heavier. When we met I was teaching SCUBA 2 or 3 times a week and was in the gym 11 times a week. Heck, I was almost buff.

Now neither of us do those things anymore.

So Mona, largely in an effort to help me get into better shape and get her out of the house more, has suggested we find a new hobby we can take up.

I’m giving some thought to Krav Maga classes, but it’s not a great deal. And in addition to not being a diver, Mona is not interested in punching someone or worse yet, being punched herself.

Which brings me here. You guys were great when I asked about financial aid for school, so I’m coming to you, my trusted advisors, once again. I need some suggestions for things that we can do together to have some fun and get a little exercise. If we can involve The Peanut so much the better.

One final note of caution: I have 2 mild to moderately herniated discs in my lower back. It has forced me to give up golf (a game I really enjoyed at one time and that Mona would like to learn) because I can’t bend and turn at the same time. Skating whether on ice or pavement also guarantees a back injury for me.

I can carry heavy loads as long as they are on my back. Out in front of me is no good. I am also recognized by Guinness as the world’s second slowest human, so competitive track and field is pretty much out.

Other than those restrictions there shouldn’t be anything I or Mona can’t do.

So there it is. Your chance to pick my new hobby. Have at it, and as always, all suggestions are given full consideration and received with genuine gratitude.

The winning suggestion may be announced and rewarded with heartfelt thanks and possibly a warm handshake should we ever meet in real life.

Of Mice and Men

OK, I still have a couple of things on the list that I might make mention of later, but today I’m all about news. We've had a change of plans.

Over the weekend my air conditioner broke. This was a bigger crisis than you can imagine, because I’m made of 60% butter and 15% ice cream.

I was desperate to get the thing fixed and started calling every heating and cooling company I could find on Monday morning. The earliest I could get anyone out was Tuesday morning. Monday was the longest night of my life. I barely survived the humidity.

At 8 AM Tuesday the repair guy showed up. 2 fuses, 10 minutes and $70 later I was back to living in hermetically sealed, dehumidified, climate controlled comfort.

I decided to work from home and by noon the air was off and the windows were open again because of course it had cooled off and the humidity was gone.

But that was all background to explain what I was doing at home at 4 in the afternoon. Because that’s when the phone rang.

When I picked it up I recognized the voice on the other end and immediately began to imagine the worst. It was the admissions lady from the nursing school that I was accepted to. We’ve had some issues, her and I, and I was expecting to hear that there was a problem or that I wasn’t getting in after all. Even after having sent them my $500 deposit to confirm my admission.

But I was wrong! The program begins every May and goes 12 months. After completing it you have your very own Bachelors of Science in Nursing. It seems that the school has figured out there is a huge demand for nurses and a lot of people who are looking to make a career change. So they added another class that is set to begin in January of 2009.

The admissions lady wanted to know if I was interested in getting started 5 months earlier than planned. Hell yes I’m interested. So I made a quick call to check with Mona and see what she thought (her answer was “Hell yes!) and I sent an email confirming my desire to enter the January class.

So that’s it, I’ve only got to keep my job another 7 months. That should be really doable. I’ll quit at the end of the year and 2009 will be all about school.

I think this will mean buying a PC instead of the plasma, but I may have enough points to buy a decent tower and a midsize plasma with PC inputs that I can use as a TV and monitor. Or should I go LCD now since I want to use it as a monitor?

The only downside is I’ll be giving up 4 months of income on the front side. But we’re doing our best to save up now so we should make it.

So now I have a question. Does anyone know anything about getting scholarships and grants? I’m headed to a private school and tuition for even a year is surprisingly expensive. So far all I know I can get is $4000 from the state in exchange for my willingness to work 2 years in a hospital. I’m not sure if I really want to do that.

As always, your thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated.