One Trip Down...

Hello, everyone!

We just got back from the first of the three planned trips this summer (and definitely the longest!) Jen's work offered her the chance to go to Philadelphia for a conference. The conference ran from Sunday through Wednesday, but since it was so close to Jeff's mission (New Jersey, Cherry Hill, which we found was combined with others and technically doesn't exist anymore), and we both wanted to go to New York, we decided to make a vacation out of it. We flew out of Oakland and landed in Philadelphia Friday night, stayed in Philly until Thursday, and then stayed the rest of the trip in Newark, New Jersey, which was close enough to where we wanted to visit.

Eventually some of the wacky adventures we went on will be posted on here (probably when Jen finishes her homework projects she's behind on) but we did manage to put some pictures on the blog. Now, to the right, there are new Picasa pictures; one from our trip to Disneyland last January, and then all the photos of what we saw back east.

As a small update to whet your appetite, here are some of the other goings-on in the Perry household.

Jeff completed his Spring semester of school, and did well in his classes. He is now working on getting his practicum going. For his degree, there is a three-part series of classes he needs to take in order to get his degree: the practicum, the externship, and the grants project. The practicum involves volunteering for about 30 hours over the course of a term at a child care facility, giving direct assistance to the children and writing up observations. Then, after he completes this, he must complete an externship with another site, like a day care or a hospital, for a set number of hours, depending on how many units he wants, and do more write-ups and observations. The last portion, the grant writing project, involves doing research and creating a presentation for a fictional agency, requesting funds from various sources to accomplish the agency's mission. They have to be taken sequentially, each one a semester's worth of work, along with his regular coursework as well. Slowly but surely, though, he's plugging away.

On the plus side, work is going better for him. A few people that were not working out left, and now he is back to hiring staff. Despite being short-staffed, all appears to be going well for now, so keep your fingers crossed that he'll find great employees!

As for Jen, coming back to work on Tuesday was a little tough. Without going into details, one of the projects she was working on hit a huge roadblock with the budgets, and at first it seemed impossible to get everything done in order to treat the patients and continue the study. But, with a lot of perseverance and work (and TONS of phone calls and emails!) everything came together this afternoon, in time for her patient's visit on Monday and Tuesday. So for now everything is set, and hopefully there won't be any more hiccups!

School is going well for Jen as well. The bad news is, because of our travels, her schoolwork fell behind a little. Fortunately it's a self-paced course, so she didn't miss any deadlines or anything. And on her physiology exam for that class (a tough topic for her) she managed to score 88%, so she is still in range for an A!

Well, it is starting to get late, so we will wrap it up here for now. Stay tuned for some of our stories!

Almost Made It In April...

Hello, all!

We have been putting off updating the blog until something more exciting happened. We have been pretty busy with everything, so apologies for this being relatively short!

Easter was a fairly quiet day. Jen's sister invited her over to the house, and she and her family had dinner there. We brought over lasagna, and Rice Krispie Treats shaped like Easter eggs. They were pretty good, and she mixed them in with Fruity Pebbles to give it some color. We have some pics posted on our Facebook pages, because we've had a heck of a time uploading pictures onto the blog.

Jen started her orientation for school on the 18th, and it went pretty well. It was essentially making sure she had everything she would need to view posts and work on her schoolwork online. School officially starts tomorrow, so she is excited at starting the work for her Master's degree, even though it means school for at least another three years.

Jeff has been plugging away at school as well. His semester will be ending in the next few weeks, just in time for the summer and a few trips we have planned (more on that later). Work is still going well. There have been a few changes with the staff at his store, but everything is settling in nicely.

The past week, Jen's been home from work. We aren't 100% sure what was going on, but basically it seems to be a stomach flu of sorts and she has pain in her lower back. She's had a few labs done, and so far no answers, but she's been handling it well enough. We think tomorrow will be her first day back at work, so she will have a lot to catch up on, but at least she's feeling a little better.

This summer, we have several trips that we've got planned. At the end of this month, we are going to be going back east. Jen has a conference in Philadelphia that lasts from Sunday through Wednesday, so we plan on flying in on Friday, having a day to look around, then Sunday through Wednesday Jen will be at her conference and Jeff will venture off to visit some friends and family in New Jersey. On Thursday we will leave Philadelphia to see DC and New York, and return home that Sunday.

In June, we are planning another trip to Utah. There is a speech-language pathology program in the middle of June that Jen wants to attend, so during the week, we will fly out and back for the conference. And in July the weekend after the 4th, we are going to another work conference for Jen in Denver. So quite a few travels in store for us!

Well, we hope you are all having a wonderful Spring. It's starting to warm up nicely here already, so it should be a pretty summer!

Updates, Because We Haven't Posted in March Yet!

We wanted to try to keep up with our blog posts, so it is time for a brief update!

Jen is getting busy with her work, and taking on more studies. She started out doing the paperwork and submission for a study of heart transplant patients under the age of 4 months (That's right; MONTHS!) that, at first, she didn't think would go through. The financing for the study got to be pretty expensive, and the sponsor at first did not want to pay nearly as much as she had calculated. However, it appears that there is still some negotiations going on, so it may become an active study in the near future.

Jen is also taking over two studies from one of her coworkers, who is leaving to go onto graduate school to pursue his PhD. One of the studies she is taking over involves how a medication plays a role in certain patients (sorry, can't get more detailed than that!) But her other study is the one she has wanted for a while. One of the doctors at Stanford is working on a Genetic Autism study, where they get skin samples of Autistic children, look at them for genetic abnormalities, and try to see if they can correct them in a petri dish. She has wanted to help her coworker on this study for a while, and when she found out that he would be leaving soon, she eagerly volunteered to take on the job, and got it! She's already met with her first patient, and helped out the team this past week, so she is very eager to continue.

School hasn't started for her yet, but as you can see, Jen's already got her desk ready for school. Jeff surprised her by cleaning off the desk, and she was so happy she HAD to get a photo.

Back to school....

Jeff has been plugging away at work and school as well. Now that the transition to the store is continuing to settle down, he is putting in consistent hours and has a consistent schedule. Although he ends up having to get up as early as 3 AM, he is home shortly after lunch and is still able to spend almost all evenings at home.

School is also coming to a close for Jeff. The term is now more than halfway done for him, and one class is already over, leaving him three classes with projects and tests to do. He should be done by the middle of May, in time for our trip to Philadelphia.

Tickets have been bought, and we will be going to the East Coast this May. We plan on leaving on Friday, May 20th, and returning Sunday, May 29th. This is starting to look like a great vacation for us both, since Jeff has not been back East since his mission, and Jen has never been! Until Thursday the 26th, we will be in Philadelphia for Jen's work conference, which ends Wednesday. We don't have the last three days planned just yet, but are working on it as we speak. There are so many places to see, but it'll be hard to get to everything with the conference being all-day.

Well, enough of our update. Here's hoping that our next one will be longer (and with photos!)