Yesterday morning Ray took me to the Red Clay Cafe on campus. I carried my umbrella, my lunch, my water bottle, my computer, and my purse. I sat in a lovely quiet room and worked for over an hour, but the air conditioning was blowing on me and I didn't have a sweater and my hair was wet.

At 12:00, I went in the back of Ramsey. I was supposed to meet two students from my Epidemiology class to work on a project together. I kept trying to get my email and checking my phone, since I just knew Alan was somewhere in the building, getting out of class at 12:15. Finally an e-mail came through: in room 352. I went up two flights of stairs and walked around looking for the room. The numbers went from 351 to 353. I was tired and stressed and frustrated. I asked someone for help and she showed me the room, a nice quiet small conference room. Alan was on his computer and Mai showed up in about 10 minutes, saying how hard it was to find. We managed to do our assignment. Alan emailed it to us as we left.

I tried to paste the graph here, but it doesn't seem to work. It was very interesting, comparing death rates in the South to the northeast. They are quite similar for the younger group (25-44), except for one thing. There is a huge spike in the northeast in 2001. Yes, that would be almost 3000 deaths from terrorist attack. For the older group, 45-64, there are more deaths by about 100 per 100,000 in the South in 1999. The rate here is not declining very much, while it is in the Northeast, so by 2009, the difference is almost 200 deaths. Ray and I said we better move. I should look at the older group, and/or break it down by state.

As I was leaving, I realized I no longer had the umbrella. Ray had warned me not to lose it, so I backtracked until I found it. He picked me up back at the Red Clay Cafe about 30 minutes later. We headed home after a stop at his office and one at Normal Hardware, getting fasteners for the new fence we hope to put up around the garden this week to keep the deer out as they get more agressive. There are way too many deer in Kenney Ridge and they will not all survive, competing for whatever they can find to eat. Our plantings will be casualties.

At home, I worked on the readings and printed the journal article for yesterday's class. Ray cooked some ham steak and broccoli for me to eat before I left again.

Class was interesting, even fun. There was a simulation of what it is like to be old and live in a nursing home. They took away our possessions and self-esteem cards and gave us goggles and earplugs and made us use a walker and drink Ensure. Some of us had stickers on our heads saying we were confused or cantankerous...Then a professor of kinesiology spoke to the class about Physical Function--muscle and bone loss, etc.

At home, I had a little wine and some sherbet and watched a couple shows. I was starting to get a cold, with a sore throat. Yes, it is very predictable: stress is followed by illness. Stuffy nose, headache, body aches and a sore throat. Hopefully, it will be a mild one.

I am grateful for the rain and the cool weather.