Haulin' A**

It must have been nice for all of you out there that had an actual holiday on Memorial Day Weekend, complete with barbeque, friends, family, beer, etc.  I did not.  I was haulin'. 

I moved to a new domicile on May 8.  When I was packing, I knew I was filling lots of boxes, but I did not count them.  When the movers were moving the stuff into the new place, I had them first put the boxes on and under the dining table, then put the rest in the second bedroom.  When that was fairly full, they said "What about the rest of them?"  I said "The rest of them?"  They said there were about 50 more (!!!).  I told them to put them in the garage, which is, of course, on ground level.  My new condo is on the second floor, and there is no elevator.  Yikes! 

Due to other obligations, before this weekend I was limited in the time I could devote to this project.  I tried to devote an hour or two each evening, but progress was incridibly slow!  I started by grabbing a box, putting it on my left shoulder and puffing up the stairs.  I am no longer young.  My lower back hurts most of the time and my knees are arthritic, so this was not easy.  Since my new place is smaller than my old place, some boxes had to go back down to the garage for storage, and some items were destined for donation to worthy charities, so I was hauling nearly as much back down as I was hauling up.  I needed a new system. 

So, this weekend I came up with plan B.  I found some tote bags and overnight bags.  I would go to the garage with the empty bags, and open some boxes.  The stuff that needed to go upstairs was transferred to bags.  The stuff I wanted to store was repacked in boxes and left in the garage.  The stuff for charity went into the car.  The empty boxes went to the trash.  Then I hauled the full tote bags up the stairs, one in each hand.  Much easier!  I am now down to about 5 boxes!!!  But the entire weekend (except for a trip to church) was spent haulin'. 

In the middle of all this my son called, and I told him what I was doing.  Always one to look on the sunny side, he told me that all that up and down the stairs would give my "core" a good workout.  I told him my everything was getting a good workout.  Including my patience.

Some of you might say I should label this weekend "haulin' b***" since I was hauling bags and boxes.  However, one cannot haul bags and boxes without also haulin' a**.  And my a** is harder to haul than my bags and boxes. 

But there are a couple of trips that I am looking forward to later this summer, so I will have to make up my missed holiday-ing at that time. 

Final exams - a bright spot.

Most of the time, grading final exams is slow, routine, and dull.  But occasionally, something comes along that creates a bit of a bright spot.  Today I was grading a final that required the student to describe a computer related situation that would create an ethical dilemma.  The student described one in which management decided to adopt the use of new software that might eliminate some jobs at the company.  Here is the quote:

"Most of the employees are against the decision made by me and the management.  They think that use of the technology would made some jobs obsolete and reduce the number of employees.  Most of them are in fear of getting laid."