Time for My Monthly Update

Good morning, friends! I hope you are all doing well. Life is pretty status quo right now. It is summer in Alabama, and we have been getting rain pretty much every day for weeks. I don't mind at all because I love rain, but a lot of people are getting really tired of it. It has been much cooler than normal, and I don't think too many people are complaining about that. Right now I hear thunder, so I am guessing that in about a half an hour or 45 minutes there will be a downpour.

I am still waiting for my dissertation to be published. As soon as I got notification from the registrar that I had met all the degree completion requirements, I submitted my dissertation to ProQuest, which is the company responsible for publishing theses and dissertations. Everything happened really fast at first, but once it was actually delivered to ProQuest, I didn't hear anything, so I went to the Q&A page and found out that it can take 8-12 weeks for the dissertation to make it into the database. Regardless, though, my degree should have been released and I should receive my diploma in the mail before too much longer. My graduation ceremony is this weekend. I really wanted to go walk in person, but my university decided to hold another virutal ceremony, so I will be watching online instead.

Right after I passed my defense, Dan emailed a couple of the administrators in the DBA program at CSU and asked them if I could possibly sit on a dissertation committee, and the program director emailed me a couple days later and asked if we could talk. She called me and told me that she would send me some training links and that after I complete everything, she will pair me with a mentor, and eventually, I will be able to chair committees. I have a lot of training to get through, though, and it is going slow because I am also working on my class. I think after my class ends next month, I will take a month or two off to focus on the training and get that finished. I have to take three IRB classes (Institutional Review Board, which is the body that governs ethical research practices), and one of the classes has 34 modules. I am about 1/2 way finished with my first, five module class. I have a long way to go, but I was told that I could take it as fast or slow as I want to.

In other news, Dan and I have decided to sell our camper and our truck. We really enjoyed camping when we lived in Omaha, but after moving doing here, losing my birds, and starting work, neither of us really has much of a desire to disrupt our lives to go out with it. Right now there is a camper shortage, so we should be able to sell it pretty quickly. We plan to take it to a dealer this weekend and have them sell it on consignment for us. We are going to take a bit of a loss, but right now it is doing no good just sitting in a storage lot. It is a really nice unit, so I would love to see someone use it. After the camper sells, we are talking about trading the truck for a Jeep. I have never had a fun vehicle. We are also talking about a convertible of some sort, but we like the utility of a Jeep. After the camper sells, we will make a final decision.

My kitties are doing really well. I had to take both of them to the vet (one on a Wednesday and one the following Monday). I think they had some kind of infection. The vet gave them an antibiotic shot and two different dewormers. I am still giving them one of the dewormers. I swear that it is a never-ending bottle. I have been giving it to them for a week and the bottle is still more than half full. I hope it magically empties in the next few days. They don't really mind the taste of the meds, but the do not like being messed with, so giving it to them every night is a two person job.

My final news is that I plan to book my cruise today. My mom finally figured out who she is bring with her and we nailed down the kind of room we want, so I wam working with a travel agent friend to try to get a good deal. She said she'd let me know today what she figures out for us. April and I will be heading to Disney World for five days in about six months. I am super excited about that trip. Last time we were there, April was sick and had a badly sprained ankle, so I am praying that this trip is less eventful and much more fun.

I just got my downpour, and now the rain is falling gently. I love the tropical downpours we get here. I live about an hour away from both Mobile and Pensacola, and I heard that Mobile is almost a foot above average for rainfall at this time of the year. A weatherman in Birmingham who I follow said that next week is supposed to be drier and warmer, so the rain haters should be happy. I hope you all have a wonderful week!