Well I have put all of my notes together, and have put slides for the lesson together, and I'm ready for tomorrow. Why do I feel sad about what is going through my mind? I'm going to tell my co-team teachers that I'm going to stop teaching the Sunday School class at the end of the session in August. I have been teaching this class for the last 8 1/2 years. But right now I feel pretty burned out. I need to take some time off, because I really need to be with my wife while she is still struggling over the death of her mother and father. Perhaps this is a selfish thing on my part, because I will no longer have to gather my wits about me and work on a lesson plan over several days during the week. But, I am starting to feel that I'm getting stale in what I'm putting together to present to the class. I need to make myself available for other ministry opportunities in the future. One thing that I need to do is to be able to sit under someone else's teaching beside myself. You do tend to learn a lot when you're teaching a class by yourself. Now that I have two teachers that I can really trust in to take over the class I don't feel as bad leaving it.

Why, oh why, do I wait until the end of my time on an online class to complete it? I am at home trying to accomplish something that I have been putting off. It's not like I don't like the subject area, simulation, but I guess that I valued my time spent on other things more. Best layed plans and all that.

Well it's the day after Mother's Day and I have seen both sides of the emotion curve. On Saturday, I was with five living mothers who celebrated Mother's Day a day early by having a picnic (my daughter had to go to work on Sunday). Everyone was in good spirits and there was plenty of good food and conversation. My wife was a little quiet mainly because a headache had been bothering her all day. This was life being celebrated and honor was given to those who were alive. Contrast that with Sunday afternoon when my wife and I went by the cemetery to place some flowers in front of her mother's niche. That was a somber moment for me because I remember her mother being so much fun while she lived with us. Funny how you don't think of these things till they are right in front of you. My wife and I went to see a movie together, "The Tooth Fairy." My wife wanted something funny to watch, probably because of the emotions that she was feeling from being at the cemetery. I called my mother later on in the evening and had a nice chat for an hour and thirty minutes. It didn't seem that long to me, I guess because I was feeling a little guilty for not paying more attention to her.

I just happened to look at the rain guage and it indicated 2.66 inches. I had not reset it since before the two big snow storms that we had so this represents what was left of the snow, any rain that we have had, minus any evaporation that has occurred. The 2.66 amount is still pretty high though. It represents a lot more water than I would have thought was there.

Ok, now I need to get really busy getting out the application for LM so that I can get to an interview before I leave on vacation. I also saw a number of other job opportunities that I need to investigate. My focus as of today is completely away from my company. It will be good after 15 years to find out what is available out there. I still would like to get a job dealing with IV&V instead of project management but at this point I need to review the possibilities. I'm looking forward to a bright and happy future.

Well, I installed Turbo Tax on a spare laptop to find out how much I owe Uncle Sam this time around and true to form, it's a lot more than last year. It's really tough to judge after you have eliminated deductions for other members of the household and your house mortgage. I payed off the mortgage last year and only had $86 in mortgage interest for the year. Good news, the mortgage is payed off, bad news, you get hit at tax time. I am going to have to change my W-4 again to either reduce my deductions or take out more money. However this may be mute since I might be working for someone else before long. No I'm not on the street but my resume is out there and I am starting to get bites.