Quick Takes

Life has been busy lately hence the lack of updates from me.  I'm just popping in with a few quick takes today.

1. I recently hit 29,000 miles on my car odometer.  We bought the car new at the end of 2006.  That tells you how much I drive- less than 7,000 miles a year.  I have a 4-mile commute to work, which takes 10-15 minutes because of the slow speeds, but I know I'm spoiled with that type of drive.  Scott also has 29,000 miles on his car, which we also bought new....in January of 2009!  It's clear who drives more (even though his commute is also 4 miles) and whose car we take on trips.

2. We've recently had a whooping cough outbreak in town.

3. Additionally, we've recently had an outbreak of measles in town.  I don't really get it...are people not vaccinating their school age children around here?  It's a little strange to me.

4. Oh, we've also had the equine herpes virus outbreak.  Thankfully, we don't own horses nor are we around them, but a lot of the local rodeos and horse shows have been cancelled as a result.

5. This has been the spring-o-flooding.  The road near our house is still closed due to water on the road from the nearby river.  I think it's 6+ weeks now that it's been closed, and it's not scheduled to open any time soon since the mountains up the canyon still have a 50 inch snow pack level!

6. For the past 4 weeks, I've been teaching intensive summer courses.  I'd forgotten how time-consuming they are as I've been working 10 hour days as well as through the whole weekend.  Thankfully, next week is my last week and then I'm free until August.  I'm ready for some free time!

7. I've finally joined the digital SLR club with the purchase of my first DSLR!  I just ordered it today, so it hasn't arrived yet, but I can't wait.  I used to love taking film SLR pictures, but haven't done that for at least 5 years.  I've resorted to a digital point-and-shoot, which is nice and convenient, but doesn't produce the same quality of picture as an SLR does.  I did a lot of research on cameras, so I'm quite satisfied with my selection and I'm taking my first digital photography class on Saturday to refresh my photo skills.

And with that, I'll wrap up my random quick takes for the night.