Winter Wonderland!

What do myself and Donny Haley (WC School superintendent) have in common? Well 99% of the time I would say not awhole lot but this morning I got a little jolt of the power that comes with snow falling. Many of you know that for the last few months i have been working the Saturday Walk-in clinic here in Sparta. It has its good and bad sides. It was really good when we were out of income for 2 months. Well yesterday afternoon I talked to the practice manager and she informed me that in the event of bad weather It was my call whether the clinic would be open or not. At that moment i knew that I was doomed and the great power had lots of potential to corrupt me. This morning I was to call my nurse and secretary to see if they were able to make it in. I called the nurse first and she had already talked to the secretary. I heard the words, "Mindy is not 100% sure she can make it but its your call and she will get there if you want to work." and at that moment I was already in another world watching channel 4 Snow Bird scroll across bottom of screen saying "Cumberland Family Care Walk-in Clinic closed Saturday morning". Sure i could have made it work but was not at all fully stoked about going into work. So This morning I was giddy like a little school again just like all those days when school was closed. As i write its still spitting some snow and quite beautiful. On the ground i would say .5in to 1.5 in. Never the less its enough to make my heart flutter with excitement. In other news, yesterday i found myself giddy like a little school girl again awaiting a package from UPS. I'm not sure which one is more exciting...awaiting a good snow? or awaiting a anticpated package arrival. I'm just glad God has blessed me with those two back to back. The moment me and Don got done filing my income tax papers i started to think about all things i would like to do with that money. For about 3-4 weeks now i have been trying to decide between the Newest Nikon release D300, new lens and flash or new lens and older Nikon body but upgrade from my current camera body. Much like Jones flip flops on dome vs. hanger I was up in the air with my decision. Finally after many internet recommendations i decide to drop my money into a flash and nice "glass". Photography lingo for good lens. My day was a little anxious cause the package needed a signature and i knew UPS route ran around our house around noon. which was a problem and keeping the Pizza hut appointment. I called in the Don for back up as i ran to the Hut but it turned out our UPS guy was a step ahead of me and dropped it off at Tara's work cause he thought no one would be home. Which is why I love ole Greg Winton!! God Bless that little brown suited man. The lens is really amazing. It has Vibration Reduction built in which automatically takes away hand shake and essentially giving you more sharp,crisp pictures. It allows you to get pictures in low light and longer zooms that you probably wouldn't have been able to get unless with a 2-3k dollar lens. I have taken many test shots so i will try and pos some on our flickr page to illustrate the difference.
I do have one other bit of exciting news that i will pass along in this every growing blog. About 4 years ago when i was deciding which Graduate schools to apply to. I decided that i would go against some peoples logic and only apply to one school. Most people apply to 15-20 schools at minimum. I wanted to stay local and in making that decision I inherited probably one of the most expensive PA schools in the country. Trevecca being a small Christian school and the graduate PA program being the most expensive program on campus above all doctorate and undergrad degrees makes for a painful debt. Not uncommon for Grads to walk away with total cost well reaching over 100K in only 2 short years. Luckily i was not that bad via help from my family. In October when i was jobless for 2 months I started looking at many loan repayment jobs that would allow me to sign a contract to work and get my loans repaid. We seriously looked everywhere from the Caribbean Islands, snowing Colorado and Indian reservations in north Carolina. Almost pulling the trigger to pack up and leave for 2-3 years just to get this weight off our backs and have a good adventure at the same time. While looking I stumbled on an opening in Spencer,Tn. Intrigued I emailed just wondering if this was true. I got a response back saying it was not available but it was Dr. Ty Webb clinic from here in Sparta. The loan repayment position turns out wasn't available at this time. I started talking to the practice manager and she told me there was a good chance it would become available in about a years time. So that possibility is what led me to take my current job. Because I thought it would be easy for me to slip into that position if I was already associated with the practice. Well it looks that may very well happen. I had a meeting this week with our Practice manager and she said she wanted to make it happen for me that my loans would be repaid. currently i work in Spencer one day a week but to be eligible to start getting money in January 2009 I have to log so many hours in that clinic in 2008. So over the next few months I will begin to take over more responsibilities in the spencer clinic. I'm really excited about the chance to get paid and get my loans repaid but also I have grown to love the flexibility and freedom of only working 3-4 days a week. But hey i wouldn't be able to find this opportunity anywhere else close to this area cause i have looked. It will probably mean i will become only a honorary member of many lunch meetings but will still be there in spirit. i will let you know more as this story plays itself out. Well I have said to much and I don't wanted to be blasted as a long poster.