Friday evening things

 Stayed over fairly late at school this afternoon (I only have one class on Friday) but at least I'm ahead enough (lab written for next week, reviews for the last in-class exams written) that I don't have to go in tomorrow.

I also did a full workout (30 minutes cardio plus the PT exercises after getting home). I couldn't get up early enough to do them this morning; I lost at least an hour's sleep earlier in the night to a bad dream (fundamentally: an armed home invader I was having to hide from and try to persuade 911 to send someone to help me) and after waking up I decided I better get up and sit up for a while.

Of late, I've had more oppressive dreams like that. I don't know if it's allergies (Honestly, I WONDER. I wonder if they affect your mood and cognition) or if it's stress, or if it's something else (after effects of having lived through all the stuff in the past few years?) I would like them to stop.

Wednesday was a little stressful in lab. We did a field lab, I warned folks to dress appropriately and be prepared for it to be warm and sunny (herbaceous vegetation sampling, so no shade). One of the students wasn't in the lab room as we were gathering up, a friend of theirs in the class said "Oh they are giving blood, they know where the site is, they'll meet us there" and I joked "we better be careful not to overwork them" but didn't think anything more of it. Maybe I jinxed it, because about three samples in, the students said "oh. I don't feel very good." I asked them if they felt okay to walk to the picnic pavilion about 200 feet away (shade and a decent place to sit). They said no, but they could get to the shade of a tree. So they did that. One of the other students (who had driven herself as she lived just a couple miles from the field site and I said she could go straight home from it) went and got some crackers and a bottle of water in her car. 

The student sat for a while, then they said "I'm getting itchy"

I almost panicked; "itchy" can be a sign of anaphylaxis and while that's rare after blood donation, weird body things could happen.

As it turned out, there were some kind of small flies (blackflies? Here?) and they were biting the student. The student said they felt better and I walked them over to the pavilion (figuring if they fainted on the way I could at least break their fall). 

I guess they wound up being OK; they were back in class today. But those kinds of things are scary. The worst thing I had happen in class previous to this was a student who had some kind of food poisoning set in need to vomit....once my dad had a student come in to his office and say "I think I'm having a heart attack" but that turned out okay; he immediately called paramedics and had her sit down and got her water and it was a mild attack (it turned out she had some kind of congenital issue that could be treated once she knew).

IN class, in the classroom, of course, I could have a student call campus police's non-emergency number and report a medical issue, and they'd scramble someone out to help.

But anyway: I have the weekend off, and Monday I only have one class (the afternoon lab is a makeup lab for soils, but no one has requested a makeup time and I told them, if they don't request in advance, they don't get to do it, so. I mean, I would *probably* relent and set it up if someone e-mailed me in a panic Monday morning, if it was something that could be done without them doing prior prep). But I'm going to assume I have that two hours back to work....

So tonight, in a few minutes, I'm going to try to finish the toe on a sock, and cast on for the second one. 

Tomorrow, I do need to get a few groceries (I can get them in town, though) and I should also use the weed-whacker on some of the tall weeds in the yard (the grass is not up enough to mow yet).