Welcome Back!

    I had my welcome back day at work, where the staff get together and meet before the students arrive.  We had a seriously dismal budget projection.  As in the worst I've ever seen.  As is laying off part-timers and closing some departments.  My job is super-secure, but it was a real gut-punch of a talk.
   Then the chief of police gave a presentation on the new emergency preparedness systems and what we can do in the event of an "active shooter" on campus.  Including videos of how to conduct a lockdown.  Which involves making a fort out of desks and hiding in the dark.
   My co-worker turned to me and said, "so the message is 'we have no money and are going to get killed'".

   It'll be an interesting year.

at least you have two kidneys

My dad found he has a 5cm lump in his kidney, meaning he'll have to have surgery to have it removed.  With luck, it'll be local and he'll be fine.  If not, chemo and radiation are generally useless.  On the plus side, it explains why he's been having so many problems related to his blood sugar and mood swings.
    He's getting a scan (SPECT?) monday, they'll know more after that.

   I just finished reading "the emperor of all maladies", a biography of cancer.  It was a tough read, though very well written and really engaging.  I wish it wasn't so pertinent.

Backpacking

Went out for three days and two nights to Lone Pine and the Cottonwood Lakes area.  I handled the altitude quite well this time, my knee felt crappy the second day, probably the result of going off-trail and hopping over rocks, roots and branches for hours.  I went with Kris, the second time we've gone out backpacking.  A fine travelling companion, not too fast, flexible, good company.

It's nice to be home, I've only got a few days off before I have to go back to work!