Some updates

It has been a busy month, for good and bad.  Here are some updates.

My friend Marge visited.  It was bittersweet.  It was great getting to see a dear friend, although I didn't get to see as much of her as I would've liked.  I had a two-day mandatory work retreat, then she had to spend the better part of a week in Santa Barbara for matters relating to her work.  When she got back, Julie's tooth manifested a massive infection.  Julie's had a wisdom tooth in need of removal for years that went untreated because a surgeon accidentally broke her jaw when she originally went to have her wisdom teeth removed 8 years ago.  

I think that the infection might've been exacerbated by stress.  Julie has been depressed for a large part of 2015, and she gets pretty anxious about trying to make a good impression on people I like.  This can be pretty self defeating, which further contributed to an awkward visit.  I still had fun, though.

The surgery went well, except that Julie developed a fever about 24 hours later that kept her out of work for the entire next week, mumbling incoherently on the couch (you can read a review of several movies she thinks that she watched through a haze of pills on her blog).  It's healed pretty well, but I don't know if the infection is entirely eradicated.  Lets just say that the site of her removed tooth looks... fascinating, and leave it at that.

Last week we seriously considered buying a house.  Both Julie and myself are very eager to own a home, and have started casually watching home listings.  Two weeks ago we learned of one that seemed absolutely perfect.  We seriously considered getting it.  We talked to our bank and were approved for a loan which fit within our budget.  Ultimately, I got cold feet.  I still think it was a great deal, but I didn't want to have to live on a tight budget.

It's been stressful, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer.

Oh, and I finished "Nexus".  The ending really held up.  I won't write up a review or anything because I already praised it pretty heavily in my last post, but in honor of this book I'll share a cool X-ray of my poor cyborg girlfriend.

Other news:

- I have a goatee.  I grew it for a costume party.  I'm letting it grow into a normal beard now.

- My boss hired two interns, in addition to our new lab assistant.  So I've now got people to manage.  I'm a real lab manager now!