I am having a lot of problems with time... it is a matter of having too much to do and not enough time to do them all. There is the matter of the thesis I have to work on, but we are also in the middle of a long planning exercise, and on top of that, I have to do a paper and presentation for my elective next week. UGH.

I just spent a few hours reading preparing for tomorrow's classes. I am starting to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work to be done this week. I have my final exam on Friday, an all-day "write-for-life" drill. But the rest of the week is filled with lectures all with associated big readings. I know a few of my classmates told me this is the week to skip the readings, but to me, this week's classes are why I am here. For once, my education here has direct relevance to my next job, and the more I get to read and think about the issues now, the less I have to deal with it when I get there.
I am not that worried about the final exam, I know I will pass... but the mid-term taught me a few things, no matter how hard I prepare, it is what the professors think that counts. It takes a lot to get from a B+ to an A- (Still wonder how I managed it last semester) But in this top tier education, where a B and B- (anything less than B- is failure) is just average, and B+ is "average +" I want more than just being average. I don't think it is a case of being a perfectionist, I think everyone who know me can attest to that, but I think it is more of a case of wanting to feel my efforts and sacrifices were worth more than an average outcome.
There are still the two papers... I will somehow try to squeeze out the one for the elective in the next day. I really want to finish it today, but we will have to see... The thesis is about ready to be written, but my writing discipline is really low, I need to find the motivation to go... maybe it is time to revive the 10/2 method again (10 minutes of writing and 2 minutes of goof off-- or 50 minutes writing and 10 minutes of goof off per hour.) Time management... but what about the unexpected? (Sick baby, sick wife... and maybe my own once the virus makes its way to me) Ugh.... Who said being a grad student is easy?

Following up on Jayden's Night Terror episodes... it is possible they are a function of how much sleep he got. He napped really well yesterday, about 3.5 hours, and he had no N.T. episode lastnight. He did wake up really grumpy... may be I should do what Sid the Science Kid does... observe...compare...contrast. Time to make a chart.

Jayden has had several nights in a roll of "night terror" episodes. He has had them since he was little, but since he turned 2, it has been a regular event at night. Last couple of times he did it, I had to go in and take care of him, but it is such a frightening sight... He looked horrified, and although he had his eyes open, he was still asleep. Every time I see him like that, I get scared too... I am trying to find out more about it, and it seems it is quite common for toddlers. I also read that it could be genetic. Erin also said she had night terrors since she was a kid...

Erin went into surgery at 7:30 am and finished just after 11 am, just as the doctor estimated. He said all is well, and there were no complications. I am really hoping this surgery will bring some relief to her pain. Now I need to figure out how to keep Jayden from hugging his mom for a few days or weeks.

new entry: Still waiting... now it is 4 pm. I went home to check on Jayden, and he seemed to had a great morning. With all the waiting, I got a few phone calls made. Anyway, she has been in the recovery room for 5 hours. I am not allowed there. I think she will be admitted overnight for observations.

Erin went into surgery at 7:30 am and finished just after 11 am, just as the doctor estimated. He said all is well, and there were no complications. I am really hoping this surgery will bring some relief to her pain. Now I need to figure out how to keep Jayden from hugging his mom for a few days or weeks.

Jayden and I playing on a special sailboat designed for the handicapped sailors. This was taken at the Museum of Yachting at Ft. Adams.

Jayden making a lot of new friends nowadays. He is really becoming the "class clown" because he is always doing goofy things to get attention. I am quite amazed by how much he has changed in the past couple of weeks. I think 2 weeks ago, he'd avoid the playground because there are other kids there.

The great thing about living in Newport, aka the original beach vacation town, is the nautical nature of this town. Within a short walk from our door steps, we could take a water taxi that shuttle all the boat owners to and from their boats and get to downtown. This morning, the second day of my vacation, Jayden and I decided to go into town by water taxi. We walked down to the boat landing and went downtown for coffee (for me) and blueberry scone at Starbucks. We then walked around downtown and caught the water taxi home just before his nap. It is amazing to see some of the multi-million yachts and some of the Americas Cup racers on the water. Even Jayden loved it. He is starting to like boats.

It is always fun to watch him do new things. Lately, he has been trying to "read." At almost two years, his personality is starting to show more and more. What I have noticed is that he really has a good sense of humor and sense of adventure.

Jayden just loves music.

My final exam is only a couple of days away, and then a few weeks of doing nothing to pass the time, and then summer vacation! I have to burn about 35 days of leave, but I think it is worth it. It has been a while since I had a real vacation. So what should I do? There are a lot of things I want to do, and if I am by myself, the list would be longer... but with a family, things like backpacking across Europe or taking a motorcycle ride across the country are out.
We are lucky to be in a pretty nice part of the country, and with the price of gas and cost of living in this tourist area, perhaps little day trips here and there will be best. There is Cape Cod, and Boston, New York and the rest of New England. We have not seen a lot. But perhaps I can pick up those personal hobbies I have not done in a while. For example, I just bought a bare bones computer so I can build a dedicated Unix desktop. (Great deal- 99 dollars for the set-- I may have to buy some extra RAM though) There is the sailing center right by the house, maybe now is the time to sail after 20 years since I last handled a sailboat. I think little daytrips with the family is probably going to be more fun.

Jayden sailing for the first time. He is a natural. We were out on our usual morning walk and saw Sailing Newport had a promotion... free sailing in the harbor, so we decided to keep Jayden out for a bit longer and let him do this trip. He just loved the experience from the minute he got on the sailboat (a J22 racing boat) and I really enjoyed watching him beaming the whole time. It was nice. I guess maybe I should add that to my list of things to do this Summer. Hey, it has been 20 years since I last sailed a boat, and I am really rusty, but Newport is the sailing capitol of the world. There are yachts all over the harbor now, and there will be more. In anchorage, there is even a floating drydock ship that is loaded with sailboats to be launched and taken to their anchorage awaiting their rich owners to come up. This is a great place when it is not cold.

Jayden is helping me work on my Iraq paper. I think he is capable of understanding the issues better than me.

One interesting thing about studying wars is that history do repeat themselves. It seems as humans, no matter how much we study the mistakes of history, we constantly go back to them and make them repeatedly. Sometimes we make them worse by taking things out of context and putting them in problems facing us, making it seem like there is only one right way to do things. Such is our human nature. Perhaps one of the professors who lectured us this week was right... as an institution, we don't learn well. As a nation, our people don't learn well, which also means our leaders will fail over and over.