"The poets have been mysteriously quiet on the subject of cheese." - G.K. Chesterton

Close. Very, very close.

The Crimea thing is over and has been since the beginning. Thursday they'll vote to join Russia, not surprising given that most of the residents identify as Russians. The Russian parliament has already said that if they do vote for association they'll be accepted. Ukraine doesn't have the resources to object and the West has already demonstrated their impotence on the matter. So we might as well move on. And maybe think about how we can handle the next one a little better. 'cause there will be a next one.

I finished that orientation course a week ago and two days later rec'd an email about what happens next, including the guidelines for teaching. Things like using only the college's email system for communicating with students, turning in all grades on time, insuring conformity to APA standards for all written assignments.... Then it said the next step was a background check for each of us who went through the orientation, after which we'd be assigned a course to teach.
OK. Whatever.

Since all communication is supposed to happen within the college email system I logged in last Friday to see if I had any messages from the college. (I already had an account that they set up for me before the orientation course.)
Except I couldn't log in because my "Access has been blocked."
Uhm...does that mean I flunked my background check?
Do you think they found out that I don't change my oil every 3,000 miles?
Or is it that I don't floss.

I spent some time this evening reading in the shop manual for the truck. Mostly I read in the section about the engine to see how straightforward the rebuild process is going to be. And I may decide discretion is the better part of boldness and let the shop do the rebuild. Sure looks like a lot of ways to screw this up.

The reason I read that tonight is that tomorrow morning I'm pulling the engine. I'll be at the rental place shortly after they open at 7 a.m. to get an engine hoist and balancer, only $30 for the day and $20 for 4 hours (which should be plenty unless I run into trouble). This morning Aron brought his engine stand to church so I wouldn't have to buy one. So by noon the engine should be out of the truck and on the stand ready for disassembly.

Today Steve, our firstborn, turned 39. Pam and I were both in our early teens when he was born. Because it's not possible for us to have a son that close to the top of the hill.

This morning was one of those days when I particularly enjoyed my job. I was working hard but it came out like I hoped. (T'ank you, Fadder.)