Puerto Rico!

Our birthday present to me was a quick trip to Puerto Rico. We stayed in Rincon, which is 2 ½ hours west of San Juan, at the west edge of the island. Can’t say much about the towns, and the stray cats and dogs all over were very sad, but our hotel was great – very reasonable, sort of open air, with a cute bar and a great (really great) restaurant (we ate every dinner there), and a nice pool right on a large, very secluded beach. We thought about doing touristy stuff like seeing the glowing bay or whatever it is, but ended up just sitting on the beach all day. Photos (of course) of the hotel and beach, and me wading (my favorite thing to do on a beach).

Calvin wants cake

This is Calvin sitting suspiciously close to one of the cakes on my birthday, looking very evil.

I’m a Master of Science, and 40

I completed my Master’s Degree – surprise! (I didn’t talk much about being in school – sort of embarrassing to be in school and nearing 40). Although I wasn't really looking forward to it, I had many reasons to do it - nearly all positions I hire for are "master's required" so it was odd that I didn't have one, and I was sick of people assuming I did because I work with lots of MDs and MPHs. And I was feeling like I should do something for myself, since all I pretty much do is work, and I thought "if I'm going to do this, I want to do it before I'm 40" (and I almost made it). Oh, and I guess I wanted to learn something. But that was totally secondary. :)

So I looked into three programs in Chicago for my field (nonprofit management) and chose the cheapest and (assumedly) easiest - it was one night a week for a little over two years, plus a final project (or more classes, but I chose the final project). I didn't really talk about it since I literally wasn't sure I was going to do it - I went to the orientation and before I knew it I was well into the classes, and it was pretty easy so I figured I'd finish. I actually finished the classes last year but dragged my heels on the final project - seems it was much easier for me when I knew I had a class coming up and a deadline. Once the classes were done, everytime I told myself I needed to work on the project, somehow I just ended up doing work work instead.

But I finished! With an A or A+ in every class. So now I have an MS - technically an MSNM (Master’s of Science in Nonprofit Management) but I'm just using MS since that's more common. It's from Spertus College, which is small and really only has two programs - this one and one on Jewish Studies.

Also, in April, I turned 40. Mom, Dawn and Lisa came over for the weekend to help celebrate. We went to see a show – The Drowsy Chaperone, which was really good – and had dinner at our house with Jim, Kathy, Cindy and Mike. It was perfect – no need for 80+ people, drunk at a bowling alley like my 30th.

This is a cake my staff gave me - during a meeting, so I had to transport it home (with boxes, signs, etc.) and it didn't make it too well. Still tasted good and was a nice surprise.

Also, on my birthday, I had to be at one of our conferences for Reach Out and Read (a program we do) and we invited the Mayor and he came. Sort of fun to meet the Mayor. He has a photographer who follows him around all the time and takes pictures of everyone he meets, then they send them to you signed afterward. I'd post the picture but for some reason when they sent the electronic version as a PDF and I don't know how to upload it.