I have the best job, for now anyway

Seriously I very much enjoy my job! Through an temp agency, I have been placed in a wonderful company.

My main tasks center around being a secretary, which is not too demanding but keeps me busy. The great things about my job are that I am get to stay up to date on educational issues and I have had time to learn the new NVivo program. Through work I have found many educational issue blogs that offer a wealth of information about the common core project, research to identify bullies, congress's action to make for profit colleges more accountable for placing their graduates so they can pay for their degree (a very good thing), Secretary Duncan's attempt to learn student's perspective on education as well as the competition for race to the top funding. If you haven't read up on them, I say do it!

This stuff is fascinating and soo far reaching. These choices impact education for millions of people. During our commute home, my loving husband listens to me ramble on about what I learned that day, when I have time to read up on things that is. I have been debating posts about these kinds of issues, so you will probably see some.

I also get to take time to learn the new features of NVivo - a wonderful program that has countless applications but most often used in qualitative research. The new edition includes the ability to code pictures and videos as well as increased usability for survey research. All of which are far different then going through word documents to look for themes. It has taken many tutorials to learn some new features, but well worth it. I have also been able to give a little input on using this program because it's relatively new to people in this company.

Sadly, the person's who place I took is coming back from leave. Sad because she went through something just horrible. She is taking some time to recover a little and then she'll be back. I'm hoping to find a permanent place here but noting is set in stone yet. I'll keep you updated on how things progress.

Memorial Day Bliss

In a nice twist, we both had the day off and got to enjoy the day together. It consisted of sleeping in late, going to the gym and relaxing on the beach. Sleeping in was a treat and we both enjoyed a nice work out. In the afternoon, we took off to Nahant to take in the wonderful beaches we had heard were there. After some searching, we found a parking spot kind of close to the beach and grabbed out stuff from the trunk. This included beach towels, more sun screen, cards, a sand castle bucket and water.

We left the bag on the sand and headed towards the water. I was a little nervous about it being too cold so I carefully waded into the water. My husband was much more adventurous, went out deeper into the water and sat down to get acclimated... Luckily for me the water wasn't too cold. We waded out until the water same to our waist and enjoyed the little waves and took in the scenes. There were kids of all ages enjoying the water, sun and sand. Out much farther many boats were parked with fishermen. There was also lots of glorious sunshine!!!

After coming out of the water we attempted to build a sand castle. It didn't work out his time because the sand was too wet, but hopefully another time this summer we'll make a good one. Only next time I hope to avoid hermit crabs. On this beach they were all very small and very populous. I would be digging in the sand only to feel something wiggle beneath my finger tips. Shuddered again at the thought of that feeling.

Abandoning our pitiful sand castle, we explored the attractive shells and fascinating rocks. We found many exciting examples and decided to take some home. (We want to make an arrangement with them, and when we do I'll post a pic.)

To finish off our beach trip we played uno and soaked up some rays. Overall it was a wonderful day and relaxing break.

What have you been up to lately?