Crazy Times

Hi, friends! I hope you are all doing well and surviving the COVID 19 scare. Things are going well here. On Thursday I will have been back to work for a month. Most days I feel like I never left. It took me literally one day to get back into the routine. I realize now that I was not at all happy when I was at home. I feel like I have a purpose when I go to work and help students. Yesterday a student called the phone rotation and I got his call, and after talking him through some things he was so thrilled that he asked if I could be the one to review the paper he was going to send in. It always feels good to know that I am doing something that makes a difference. I will most likely work at my job for a long time--maybe even until I retire.

April found out last Tuesday that she got the instructional design job. Of course she is thrilled. Today was her last day as a CSU employee; tomorrow she transitions over to Waldorf. She was supposed to be at CSU for the next three days for training, but the trainer has decided to do remote training in light of the virus stuff, so I am not sure what is going on. I don't think she is either. She said she was coming in tomorrow at 9:00am, but I am not sure how long she will be there. I will miss her, but I am so proud of her success.

There is a possibility that my department will be going remote for awhile. CSU leadership is trying to get as many people working at home as possible. It's a little tricky for us because we have to talk to students on the phone, but they could set us up with a chat function for the short term. Today my supervisor came around and asked everyone if they have a reliable personal computer and internet connection. Normally, remote employees are given laptops, but there are obviously not 400 laptops laying around, so they are trying to work with what they have. I know they are working as fast as they can, especially since kids are now out of school until at least April 13^th. Some people have no child care options, so life is going to be tricky for awhile. Working from home would definitely alleviate some of the stress for them. We are also not hiring new employees for the foreseeable future. Billie's last day is Friday, so it looks like we are going to be super busy with requests again for awhile. We've done it before, so we will be ok, but that means that projects will go by the wayside again. That is unfortunate, because the new APA Manual was released late last year and we are scheduled to implement it on July 1^st. That means all of our new resources need to be ready to go by early- to mid-May. Fortunately, we have a good start on them, so hopefully we'll be able to push everything out on time.

Susan, to answer your questions on my last post, the birds are doing ok. Dan is a good bird dad, so they are always entertained. The kids are doing fine. April, of course, starts her new adventure tomorrow, and Ben is going to give his notice at the hotel he's been working at for almost a year and a half. He is planning to move back to Omaha sometime next month or early May. It's hard to say how the virus scare is going to affect hotels down here. It's spring break time, but I imagine most of the kids will stay home now. I did find a really nice church not too far from where I live. Dan has been going with me and he likes it too. Last Sunday we had an online service, and I imagine we will continue to do it that way for at least a month. I am still working on my doctorate. I have at least two more sessions to go, but it might take me three more to finish. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the year.

It's bedtime, so I am going to close for now. I will try to do some blog visits tomorrow after work. Maybe I'll have an update by then. Stay safe and healthy!