Takin' care of business

We skipped going to see Senator Obama speak this evening in downtown Louisville (instead, we've got Senator Clinton on as she speaks in Logan, WV). Yesterday, I dusted and cleaned the upstairs, and today I called the heating and air-conditioning people who had finished repairing Vincent's upstairs furnace - attaching a thermostat to it - Friday, confirming how to work it. Possibly, next up: a new more energy-efficient air-conditioning unit that we may pay for ourselves, but get the same folks to install. Stephanie met Vincent at the doctor's (pictured above, earlier this winter) after school and got steroids and antibiotics - on top of the anti-allergy, etc. medication and vitamins they've already been taking (some of the allergy medication mine) - to combat their lung inflammation. Their coughs have been keeping them (and me some too) up at night, sapping their strength, the doctor and them have surmised (today, Vincent went to bed at 8 p.m.). However, it's going to be a challenge keeping track of all of those pills (four steroids and two antibiotics each for S and V alone tonight, among many other things - plus I take many of the anti-allergy pills and vitamins). Vincent has just two more weeks of school. He's completed some big projects - the short story with the time-traveling narrator that tried to tie together different themes/events from his Western Civilization class, the interview with the WW2 vet for Western Civ, the mousetrap race in science class - and this Friday goes to our local Six Flags theme park, Kentucky Kingdom, for physics study with the roller coasters. Stephanie has an extra week of school because of snow days, and she and I faced challenging days today, with the power going out twice at school today and my colleagues and me interviewing two job candidates, which helped expose some more office dysfunction. Stephanie's stepfather, Bob, goes to a cancer specialist Tuesday, Nancy goes for a short chemo treatment Wednesday, and my Mom continues to prepare for her surgery - I'll arrive in Tallahassee three weeks from today, the same day Vincent arrives in Denmark. (Stephanie's father, Larry, also goes to court later this week to try to evict a tenant - it's a busy week for all.)

(Something else we missed tonight, along with seeing Obama in person, was a protest march and appearance at the school board meeting, of some of Stephanie's colleagues and teachers' union activists from schools around the district. They have been working for the entire school year without a contract - initially facing a 0% pay raise offer - and today there were a hundred or so teachers clad in the same orange T-shirt that Stephanie has worn to school every Friday - including during one superintendents' visit. Stephanie went to the doctor tonight instead of going to either event, but she's a proud union member nonetheless (though she has less formal power here because she doesn't live - and therefore vote - in the district).