to helen and back

Make of that title what you will. Just a quick entry (like there is such a thing) to say that despite my last whiney entry, things worked out fine. My father came home again on Friday, we spent that night with them and then went on our merry way and had a wonderful time in the wilds of North Georgia. I never have quite figured out the whole keep-him-in-the-hospital-for-another-week thing. Apparently they admitted him so that they could give him bloodthinners via an IV drip for a couple of days, which makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is that when the doctor mentioned keeping him till they do more tests this week, Daddy suggested that since he just lives five minutes away they ought to let him go on home till the next round of tests, and the doctor is like, “Oh! Okay!” And sent him on home.

Well, whatever. He is home, doing very well, walking around outside, and is now driving again so my brother is deeming it time to wean them off of having every meal cooked and served to them. So I’m not planning on going back for a couple of weeks, hooray!!

And it was SO NICE to go to Helen. We had a wonderful time, the weather was gorgeous, and oddly enough it turned into a waterfall trip. We viewed all kinds of waterfalls, and none were more than a few miles hike. That was good, since there really is not all that much to do in Helen proper. As I discovered when I told Baker B that I’d like to do some shopping and we arranged to meet in a little over an hour since he didn’t care to shop – and after five minutes I’d gone up one side of town, down the other, and was wondering what the hell I was going to do for another HOUR. It’s mostly just touristy junk shops. Well, except for Ict Das Leather, or something like that, which is this really bizarre… ummm… leatherwear shop. I think. Kind of a S&M store thinly disguised as a motorcycle clothing shop, apparently. It provided hours of amusement for us, at least. Making fun of it, I mean.

Speaking of motorcycles, though, Helen is WAY too full of them. I think it’s been taken over by bikers. It was really getting on my nerves Sunday, with the noisy annoying things roaring up and down the streets nonstop. I guess the citizens of Helen don’t enforce any noise ordinances since bikers are apparently the bulk of their business this time of year. That may explain Ict Das Leather, actually. The bikers didn’t seem at all rowdy or obnoxious, other than their irritating transportation, at least.

And I may even have pictures tomorrow. Well, I will have pictures – getting them scanned is another thing entirely, though.

Of course I’ve come back to a crisis of monumental proportions, involving the dean calling a mysterious meeting of the student teacher supervisors without consulting Dr. Airhead, who just got back from England yesterday. The supervisors are mad because they don’t have time to come to a meeting – it’s the end of the semester and they’re all doing final visits. And they’re already scheduled to come up next week for our final meeting, and most of them are from out of town. And most of them have said they aren’t coming, despite it being vital and urgent and secret. K and I are mad because we don’t know what the meeting is about other than something about the NCATE visit (NCATE is the board who accredits colleges, and they aren’t coming until NEXT SPRING yet the dean and associate dean have been freaking out about it for several months now already), and all the supervisors are calling us to complain and to say they aren’t coming. Dr. Airhead is maddest, because the dean and the associate dean have done this and a number of other things behind his back and he has actually submitted his resignation. Or so he says, and he’s probably really done it since he was intending to retire next spring anyhow and he did at first intend to retire this summer but they talked him into staying till after the Big NCATE Visit. Obviously there’s more going on here than we’re seeing and it’s not just this one meeting that’s causing this meltdown, but it’s even more of a madhouse than usual.

But, WHATEVER. I really really really have to go to bed now. Short entry. RIGHT.