2009 October: North

What a busy month! Early on in the month I learned that I won the election for a spot on the student senate at my school. It was a tough campaign season with lots of speeches, fundraising and mudslinging. I won with a landslide victory receiving 100% of the votes cast for my position! (yes, I admit it, I was the only one running for my spot) The Student Senate meets about once a month and discusses issues affecting the students. The meetings are run under Robert’s Rules, which means you have to do all those parliamentary procedures, it’s kind of intimidating. Our first senate meeting was a few weeks ago. The most contentious item on the agenda was a big fancy dance that the school is putting on in a couple of weeks. The debate was over how much students should have to pay. The final decision: $90 per person. That means that if a guy wants to bring a date he has to pay $180! Last time I checked I was still a student, not a doctor, and $180 is too much to pay for one night of dancing and food. Sadly, I was in the minority.

Anatomy is done and I got a B. I’m proud of myself. It was very challenging, and there near the end I lost all motivation to study. But I pushed through and did my best. Becky was my ever-faithful companion all the way through. She always supported me when I had to spend 5 evenings per week studying from dinner until bedtime. I wish I could say that my schedule has lightened up after anatomy, and it has a little bit, but I still spend most of my evenings studying.

I had a Friday off this month and Becky and I decided to take advantage of it and go visit the Nation’s capital. We left early Friday morning and arrived by lunch time. We spent several hours in the D.C. temple Friday afternoon. It was so nice to be back in the temple. And what a beautiful temple it is! I have missed the spirit of the temple. Friday evening we had dinner with one of my former roommates. It was good to catch up on old times. Thank you Josh. On Saturday we went to the National Mall and saw several of the sites there in the area. We spent a few hours in the holocaust museum. That is a powerful exhibit. It makes you appreciate your freedoms and blessings.

Becky got a job this month! Derik do you remember emailing us before we moved out here and joking about a place called the North House, how it was all prepared for us? Well that’s where Becky got a job. It’s the local museum. The man who built the house was named Charles North. It would be interesting to find out if we are related. Becky went there shortly after we arrived and volunteered to conduct tours, or do anything else they needed. Her volunteering eventually turned into a job. It’s the perfect job for her. She works 12-15 hours/week, and makes a decent wage. It will give us some extra spending money and still allow her time her at home to manage our household. It is a perfect fit for our needs!

I finally broke down and signed up for Facebook. I think it’s neat to be able to see how friends and family are doing on a regular basis. I committed myself to not spending more than 15 min. per day on Fb. So far I’ve maintained that; the last thing I need is another way to waste time.

We hope that you are all doing well. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know.

Stewart and Becky North