Tonight, right in the middle of the movie (date night moved to Saturday for this week), my phone "dinged" ... And a quick glance indicated that it was a message from the boss of the DFE. Everybody reports to somebody. I chose not to read it just then ... Maybe I was being a good date or maybe I didn't have my reading glasses. I read it later. It was a nice note. It would be inappropriate for me to say what it said, but it made me feel better about things. I had already realized or accepted that instructing there was going to be a bad situation at best, and as much as I want to instruct it just wasn't the situation for me. I'm done riding that horse ... It was just nice to know that someone somewhere was noticing and not liking it. I'm not feeling vindictive. More like vindicated. Interesting words. I'll look at them more closely later. Anyway, it was nice to get the note. I really do think things go the way they are supposed to. I'm happy (most days) to paddle as well as I can and embrace the ride, whether rapids or calmer waters. Yeah, I say that now. I know. Sometimes I spit and shriek at a face full of cold water ... I fret when my little boat doesn't seem to be moving fast enough ... I know.

Okay, so the note was a surprisingly touching thing. I appreciate it.

Next, I started making arrangements for a trip for late in February. The dermatologist wants to do some magic on my face on the 14th. The last time I saw him he froze a little scratchy spot of skin off ... It looked like a huge bee sting and then became a scab. Boy did it smart! I was afraid it was something bad, but it was no big deal and now it's totally healed. Anyway, while I was there he was able sell me on some more services ... The guy is like a genius ... He was able to imply that I look terrible and that he could fix that without hurting my feelings. And that was after I let him freeze dry a non cancerous blemish about an inch under my eye. I'm rethinking this tonight because I'm not sure I want to travel with whatever kind of spots the next visit will produce. I get to go somewhere on a commercial airline. I like big airports and big airplanes a lot. I was looking at route options today. Do I want to fly non-stop or not. Not, I think. There are a lot of airports that I haven't seen ... And they are not all the same. I love take offs and landings in big planes ... Yes, in little planes too.