Odds and Ends

What are the odds:
I'm looking at the list of income-earning activities I've said I'd be available for in the next several weeks, and wondering how many will actually materialize.
1. A brief editing job for this weekend.
2. A hearing for the Medical Commission in mid-March.
3. Three federal grant reviews (HHS/HIV, SAMHSA, and Department of Education Safe and Drug Free Schools).
Last year about 95% of the MQAC cases set for hearings were settled. During a similar grant review period last summer, I reserved time to review for four grants...and was selected for just one.
As my late husband always said about odds...the chances are at least three in one!
In the meantime, I can always use the time to write anthology submissions and to study the Victorian underworld, because I've had... (see below)

A happy ending:
You've heard of the irresistible force and the immovable object? Well, I've been hassling for the last month with the University of Cambridge and the U.S. National Trust. The first said I had to pay my tuition costs for Cambridge International Summer School in pounds sterling, and the second said it could only pay my education award for my VISTA service in US dollars, since the money comes directly from the U.S. Treasury. Since I already bought my roundtrip airfare to England, this has been causing me to lose sleep at nights. I even offered to pay the fee in pounds sterling directly through my bank, suggesting that the University send the papers to the Trust, get the dollars, and then give them to me.

Now Cambridge has relented, and said they would accept the money from the National Trust in US dollars, then send me an invoice or a refund for the difference, if any, after the dollars are converted to pounds sterling.

So I can sleep again, and start to read Oliver Twist.