Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “happiness”
Wow! It’s been a hectic semester for me. I have a ton of things I want to write about and have fallen behind on my blog. Oh well – life happens. The good news is that the things that have made the semester hectic are generally good things. I’m feeling really lucky with how wonderful my life is right now. I’m a bit overloaded with work (in exchange for a light spring semester), but other than that, there is absolutely nothing I can complain about. So with that, on to my life update.
Back in May, the week after I finished the spring semester of teaching, I saw my chance to do something fun and ran with it. The result: I spent a week doing activities in my discomfort zone.
This summer, I taught two summer session courses during the University of Arizona’s first summer session (June 4-July 5). Teaching two classes in one summer session is tough, as each is two hours a day plus prep.
I am WAY behind on things I want to write about and post here, so I’m going to keep this post short and to the point. In June I went back to San Carlos for some diving, with two of my friends who I went with in April. Here’s a recap, and more importantly, photos.
The word “desert” tends to conjure different images for desert dwellers than it does for our friends from moister climes (points for me for using “moister climes” in a sentence!). You moisture lovers often think of the desert as nothing but sand, and refuse to believe there’s anything redeeming about Tucson’s nature. Though some deserts are admittedly nothing but sand, the vast majority aren’t. Tucson is actually pretty green most of the year, including winter. It gets even greener in the spring and during monsoon season (my second-favorite time of year here). On top of the green, we get all …
A week and a half ago, I made my 5th diving trip to San Carlos, Mexico. Though I’ve been quite a few times now, all my previous trips were in the late summer and early fall. This time, I got to explore the murky, chilly, yet surprisingly bountiful world that exists underwater off the San Carlos coast in mid-April.
This post covers the second half of my spring break trip to Grand Cayman. For a recap of the first half, be sure to read Part 1!
I don’t have any teaching duties while my students are on spring break, so I decided to get in a trip to the ocean. My requirements for location: it had to be warm, have good scuba diving, and be relatively inexpensive. Grand Cayman is definitely NOT inexpensive, so how did I end up there?
For the third time in 3 months, I went south to San Carlos, Mexico for a long weekend of diving. In August, I did my Advanced Open Water (AOW) certification and in September, I wrapped up my Rescue Diver certification. This time, though, I didn’t have any training to complete. It was a recreational trip in the fullest sense – a couple days of diving just for fun and nothing else!
In my last scuba-related post, I mentioned my goal to become certified as a scuba instructor. During that trip to San Carlos, Mexico, I got the second certification level I need: Advanced Open Water Diver (AOW). A few weeks later, I returned to San Carlos to complete the third certification: Rescue Diver. As I did for my Open Water and AOW certifications, I decided to do the Rescue Diver certification through my local dive shop in Tucson, Planet Scuba. They organize a trip to San Carlos at least once a month, and I love their owners and staff.
I’ve made up my mind that I want to become certified to be a scuba instructor. I’m not in a rush; I just know eventually I’d like to do this. In order to get to instructor status, I’ll need to build up my diving experience and also go through several certification levels. First up: Advanced Open Water Diver (AOW). This is one level up from the basic certification, Open Water Diver. I decided to do the certification through my local dive shop in Tucson, Planet Scuba. If you’re in southern Arizona and considering diving, I strongly recommend them!
I took these photos on my recent trip to San Carlos (recap is here). All of these pics were taken while diving in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of San Carlos. Enjoy!