Big steps, baby steps

To my great delight I have discovered that living three blocks from work means 45 min more of sleep. My boss thought this would mean I headed in 45 min earlier. I laughed. Funny man. He should know better. Especially considering the evidence: This quarter I have a class that is located in Bellevue. I have to leave at 330pm to get to class on time. Rather than get into work early everyday to make up the time I've been going in on Saturdays. I get a lot done, and I get to sleep. I'm liking this arrangement.

I am about halfway through my second quarter of grad school. To my surprise I'm doing better in my Business Calc class than I am in the other class I'm in. Turns out with the right prof math is understandable, and I'm doing really well. On the flip side I have discovered I have an adverse reaction to touchy-feelly classes. I never really thought much of self-help books, and I'm now up to my eyeballs in debt to take a class involving one. Ug.

On the bright side I'm meeting people. There is one guy in my math class that works for my company. He helped me pull a prank on a coworker and is easy to work with in class. I also am starting to bond with people in the icky class. One girl has invited me to a girls night she's having, and to attend church with her and her boyfriend. She is a complete doll and I really hope this develops into a friendship. I also ran into a guy from that class while out with my boyfriend. It was fun to be the person that did the introductions.

All in all school is good. I'm signing up for next quarter's classes next week. When going through the listing I found out that there is a chance for me to go to Italy to study next summer. It's only two weeks, and is another touchy feelly class, but it's in the Italian Dolomite's. I'm going to look more into the course, and see if there are other class options, before talking to my boss. Taking two weeks off during peek price change season is going to take negotiating. Have to say life can't be too rough when one of the big decisions involves which class to take in which beautiful country.

My boyfriend switched jobs recently, and not entirely by choice. He's not thrilled with his current job, but it pays the bills. It also pays for school, which he's considering go back to at night. Right now he is considering if he wants to look for a position he actually likes, or if he wants to stay and get a BA. He's leaning towards going back, but I think it will be a while yet.

More importantly we've been having more serious conversations about the long term. Expectations and norms come up a lot, which is good. As much as I don't like the self-help section I'm thinking of getting a book on premarital stuff. We're not yet at the point where he's ring shopping, though he has wanted that for about a year now. The way I'm looking at it asking questions is the only way to make up my mind either way, and we both need me to.

Today we went for a walk and passed through the farmers market in Ballard. I pointed out all of the cute dogs, and corrected him when he pointed out one that wasn't. We also had went to a new restaurant called Señor Moose Cafe. I can't begin to describe how happy I was to find good salsa in Seattle. Even better its within walking distance of home. YAY! It amused my boyfriend how happy that made me. The poor boy grew up eating only okay Mexican food so I have to overlook this. Fortunately I'm here to help correct this misfortune. Now if I could just find good sashimi I'd be set.

Life's a joke, and the joke's on...

I drive a soft top Jeep. Basically that means I drive a giant Tonka Toy. I can remove the back windows, remove the roof, remove the back seat, remove the doors, pop the hood, and fold down the windshield (not kidding) without the need of the car key. Locking my car doors is only a source of amusement for me when my friends do so out of habit.

My favorite incident of this involved a childhood friend of mine. We had just returned to my car and after I put my bags behind my seat I climbed in. The whole time my friend had been speaking to me. When I looked over to the passenger seat I realized she had been speaking to me while standing next to the car. It was summer, the roof was off my car, and both front windows were rolled down. When I asked her why she was just standing there she told me she was waiting for me to unlock the car.

I paused. My brain simply couldn't compute what she said in the current circumstance. When I started laughing she asked me what was funny. Once I calmed down a bit I pointed out there was no roof or windows! All she had to do was stick her arm inside the car, which I never lock, and open the silly door. I think she was bright red for a good half hour.

The point of this is that I have no way of preventing people from getting into my car. To counteract this I have a club that locks the steering wheel and a removable face plate on my radio. I also buy cheap radios. Investing in a high quality one seems to be an exercise in frustration. Two or three thefts and one death by water balloon (long story) only confirm this. So I wasn't surprised that after two years only half the buttons on the latest model worked at all, those when they wanted to, and even then didn't always do what they were labeled.

Previously my radio used to bring up a number of different options if you press a series of buttons in the correct order. If I were more of a music snob I could have made the radio do all sorts of nifty things. Most of these nifty things were discovered recently when I pressed the button for station two and saw gibberish appear on the screen. Half the time the on button worked when it was good and ready to and not before. Getting the face plate to go on had become a challenge, and removing then replacing it only made the on button crankier. Switching between radio and CD often resulted in switching between FM and AM. Just so you know, AM doesn't work well in the very hilly area of Seattle in which I now live.

Fortunately since it always eventually turned on or did whatever other command I issued I didn't really care. Which is why it didn't really bother me to discover this morning that my radio no longer lived inside my dashboard. Someone had decided they wanted it more than I did and took it. Considering the radio's recent behavior I've decided the jokes on them.

Catching Up

First things first. I moved. Currently I live about three blocks uphill from my work. This is great right now and will really be annoying in the winter. I will try to track the number of bruises from slipping then. For now I enjoy seeing the beautiful sky on the way down hill to work, and I like working off my frustrations on the way up hill to home. Other than that the current draw back is no internet access at home. It likely won't get it set up for another month, maybe more.
Forth of July was nice, though I miss the fireworks in my favorite aunt's small town. A really good friend came up that weekend and it was nice to have a girlfriend around again. I did get to see fireworks, but it wasn't impressive.
I'm still working too much. My computer system at work has decided to go haywire. The day we discovered the scope of it I nearly cried. All the work I had done over the previous month, all the long hours and lost weekends, down the drain. I had manager after manager call and ask what had happened to the pricing. Finally the pricing manager sent out a message explaining what had gone kablewy. Sadly that was July 3. Not a great start to the holiday. On the flip side when I told my boss that I was taking a the afternoon off his only response was "me too, don't tell."
My boss is great. He got an iphone and was so impressed with himself when he finally downloaded a song that he announced it to everyone. He even walked from cube to cube to show us. It was cute.
I went camping this past weekend for the first time in a very long time. My favorite tour guide's entire extended family goes every year. That was interesting. For the most part I had fun just hanging out with him, and occasionally one of his cousins. His mother is still campaigning for a wedding, but she's getting better about being subtle. Largely I pretend I don't notice and try to chalk it up to her being nice.
There's more, but it will have to wait. The cafe I'm at is closing.

Tired, Overwhelmed and Jealous

I work a lot. Some weekends I go into work, some I don't. On normal days I work a little more than 8 hours. Most days I'm doing normal stuff. Placing orders, transferring excess inventory, and taking care of whatever problems pop up. On good days I find time to clean up lines a bit. On bad days I don't finishing placing orders. Today I worked 12 hours. I managed to get my orders out and transfer out excess inventory all before my official end of day. I even had time to work on a line clean up that was due two months ago.
Yeah. I'm behind, and not just a little. I've got two price increases that were due back in early April, and another increase due on the same lines on Aug 7. Just to make things more fun I have about ten more increases due between July 1 and 7. Recently I've had to work hard at not feeling overwhelmed. For the past couple of days I haven't had much luck. The good news is that I made some progress today. Not much, but some. The bad news is that I have about four weeks of work, and three business days to do it in. Sadly that means I'll likely be working through the entire weekend, and that only gives me two more days.
There is one bright spot this weekend. My one friend from work is dragging me to some event downtown so I'll see some of the rare sunshine.
In other news my younger sister had a little boy a few weeks ago. He is so very precious and has a full head of hair. I got to see him for a bit, and wish I got to spend more time with him. I talked to my mom today. My newest nephew is opening his eyes now and starting to look around. He is growing like a weed and I wish I could be there to see it.
I’m looking forward to the next time I get to go home. He’ll be even bigger and hopefully more awake. Although I did have fun squeezing his cheeks so he made a fish face while he slept. Mostly because he would curl his lip afterwards and looked like a cute baby Elvis. It was adorable.

Found it!

I came to Seattle a few years ago to visit a friend. While here I was shown around Seattle Pacific University. It is a beautiful campus, and I was impressed by one court yard in particular. The acoustics of the court yard were set up so that if you stood in the middle it would amplify your voice and everyone sitting on the surrounding steps could hear you easily.

I've wanted to go back and see it. Mostly because it is the one place here that I knew. It is something I could show to someone else for once. There are signs posted clearly (for once) on a couple streets I use pointing the way towards SPU. I never followed them, I only seemed to spot them when I was expected somewhere.

Yesterday my church group met at Gas Works Park for a bbq. I grabbed directions off the net and went straight from work. Starting out I drove up a steep hill and just over the other side was a view that took my breath away. Two blocks later I found SPU. Somehow I wound up driving through the center of it by accident. I was so excited when I found it I stopped the car. Fortunately no one was around. A couple blocks farther I found a road I knew and eventually I made my way to the bbq. That means I'll be able to find my way back.

Should have known that it would be in the last neighborhood I explored.

Are you kidding?

My grade in my first grad school class was based 10% on a one page paper, 30% on participation, and %60 on a term paper. I got an A on the first paper and got full credit for participation. That means I may have alienated my classmates, but it turned out to be for a good cause.

Then there is my term paper. It is no where near my best work. I've done much better. The hard part about it is that I've gotten used to business style writing. So now when I write on serious topics it tends to be short and sweet. Flowery emails and memo's annoy me so I keep mine straight to the point. This resulted in my paper only being 12 pages long. I wasn't really bothered by that until I got to class and my classmates had all written 15-20 page papers. All I could think was that not only had I done a poor job writing it, it hadn't even been long enough.

Fortunately I long ago learned to not stress about papers I have turned in. There is no point. It is literally out of my hands so I might as well move on and not think about it. Which I did, until today. Today I went on-line and checked to see if grades were posted yet. I got 58 out of 60 on my paper. My first thought was: I got an A for that?

I think grad school is going to be easier than I thought it would be.

One, maybe two

I think I finally have friends here that I haven't met through my tour guide.
Last weekend my department went to a professional baseball game. Since I was given two tickets I decided to invite my roommate. I haven't seen a lot of her lately. She is pretty much living in another town right now, about 45 min away without traffic. She got a summer job working as a juvenile defender. It is a really long commute so she is staying with her fiance most of the time. When we were at the game we spent most of the time laughing at talking and having fun. Afterwards we walked home and part way I realized we had managed to form a friendship while living together.
The other friend (maybe) is the woman who has been training me at work. I enjoy her company and we are supposed to go to a concert soon. Unfortunately I'm not sure I can trust her to be more than someone to hang out with. She's a bit of a gossip and there are some things I would rather not have people at work know.
Other than that I still just have acquaintances at church. Haven't really connected with anyone yet, but I'm not giving up. School seems to be the only place I'm not making headway. My classmates won't talk to me. I'm not really sure why, but now that I'm at the end of the school quarter I know its not in my head. As people file in and out of class they ignore me. During break they will slightly turn away as I pass, just enough to discourage me from joining the conversation. Worse, a couple of them make comments under their breath whenever I speak in class. At this point I'm writing the class off and looking forward to the fall. Hopefully the next group of classmates are kinder.

Playing catch up

School: For the most part I like it. My prof is great. He has two different MBA's and a law degree. He leads the class discussion well and I love the subject matter. I enjoy the class discussions more now that it is not just myself and two others talking. The draw back is my classmates don't talk to me. When I pass them at break they turn away slightly. Not much, but enough to discourage me from joining the conversation. I'm hoping the fall will be better.

Birthday: Very good. My boyfriend and I met some friends at my favorite wine bar on the night of my birthday. The next day a really good friend and I went on a weekend cruise. It was my first cruise and I really liked it. I had to pretend that I was on a spaceship in order to fall asleep at night. It also helped to do that when we hit rough water.

Work: Overwhelming. I know enough now to get stuff done, I just can't seem to do so. It drives me nuts and I don't know where to start. My co-workers are better now that the character who used to help me is gone. Without his continually antagonizing ways the department gets along as a whole much better. It has meant a lot more cooperation between everyone so we're doing much more cross training than before. Mostly I like that the tension in the department has dropped and its really nice.

Home life: I've found a new place to live. Right now I have the best roommate I've ever had. The only problem is she is engaged and her fiance owns our home. That means that when the get married he is going to be living here. So, I will be moving July 4th weekend to a place much closer to work. I will be renting a daylight basement with a walk in closet and a full bathroom. It is close enough to work that I'll be able to walk there. Better yet, I'll be able to walk to church.

Favorite Tour guide: Make me laugh all the time. We went to the Ballard Locks again yesterday. The sun was out and it was gorgeous out. I finally managed to tickle him by twirling a blade of grass against his skin. He took my toy away from me and tickled me back. It was a lot of fun. We sat and talked for hours enjoying the sunshine and each other's company. Then we went to a friend's house for a bbq. Dinner was filled with more laughing and really good food.

Best for last: My younger sister is on her way to the hospital to have her baby!

Sometimes the best we can do is breathe and reboot. SJP

Easily entertained

A huge part of what I do is "clean" product lines. Cleaning involves making sure each item is in the system only once, has the correct price listed, and most importantly has a unique identifier. Normally the identifier is a catalog number assigned by the vendor, but if I'm lucky its a 12 digit code called a UPC. Most of my lines have had some sort of attention in the last three years, so while difficult there is not a "bang head on keyboard" level of frustration.

I can handle duplications very easily. I just merge the items into a single code. Pricing being off doesn't phase me. Most of the time I'm cleaning the line because the price is going to be changed by the vendor soon anyway. However, a catalog number or UPC is needed. Outside of product lines that have a handful of items, I can't get around it.

Today it was my vendor NWC's turn. I do not like NWC for a number of reasons. The main reason is that no one has gone through and "cleaned" this product line, ever. NWC has over 1000 items active in my system, and has over 4000 items on the pricing spreadsheet they sent me. Of all of the items in my system less than a quarter have an identifier, and there are more duplicates than I want to think about.

While this would be a very good reason to bang my head on my keyboard I decided to take a better approach. I decided to play what I like to call "The Delete Game." To start, I download all of the items in my computer system that I buy from one vendor. Next I sort out the ones that still have the codes from the old system as these are most likely to be obsolete. (Even if they aren't I still have to remove the old code so it is a two for one.) Then, one by one, I enter the item into the system and hit Alt+Del.

Best case, the system tells me to confirm that I want to delete the item by entering DELETE. For reasons hard to explain I find it fun when I get to enter DELETE. Today I got to delete 60% of the items I looked at. This means I'm winning. From the looks of things I'm going to keep winning. I could be upset by all of the bad data, or I could be happy that I don't have to find codes for as many items. I'm going with the latter.

First day of school

My first day of school was on Thursday. To celebrate my favorite tour guide took me to lunch. He also gave me a brand new lunch box. It is shiny black and has a skull and cross bones on it. The skull also has an eye patch. I love it. Reminds me of the gold eye patch with sequins I got my tour guide as a gag gift. Class itself was good and my classmates seem interesting. I'm not sure what I think of either just yet.

After class I met my tour guide for a late dinner. He wanted to take a first day of school picture so after dinner we grabbed my book and my new lunch box and walked to a local square. We took a couple photos and I have to say they were cute.

There were also a couple local musicians in the square practising. One was playing an accordion, and the song reminded me of being in Paris. It had rained earlier making the pavement shine and the blossoms in the trees sparkle. I set my belongings down and we danced until the musicians eventually wandered towards their gig, playing the song as they walked away. It was perfect, and I can't think of a better way to start grad school.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Today at work my boss suggested we sing Christmas carols. When I heard this I pulled out my ear pods and turned around to look at the crazy man. That's when I spotted cold, white, wet stuff falling out the window behind him. Yup. Its spring and snowing in Seattle. I may have lived through a winter here, but I still think snow is something you should visit- not the other way around.

Random moments

I had to post this picture of chickens. They are in the front yard of a house just a few houses down from the townhouse where my community group meets. The townhouse is not out in the country, it is in the middle of the city. This struck me as funny, and I didn’t think anyone would believe me, so I took a picture.
For date night a couple weeks ago we went to one of my favorite restaurants, The High Life, and then to a movie. Once we were seated my favorite tour guide told me that at first the theater owners couldn’t decide what to call their company. Eventually they named it Elttaes, which is Seattle spelled backwards. After the movie we started to walk a few blocks to his car. Halfway there he picked me up and carried me for a bit. What can I say? My guy is romantic and shares my love of trivia.
My orientation for class is Saturday. Once I’ve completed it I can sign up for the Pre-Calc course I want to take. I’m hoping to get it and Business Calc over with as soon as possible. As much as I’m dreading taking any kind of math course again I am looking forward to starting school. Partly in order to make friends, partly to enjoy being in class again.
The best for last: A few months ago I was visiting my family. As usual we were had a family dinner and afterwards my sister said she had presents for everyone. There didn’t seem to be a special reason but I didn’t really think anything of it. She then handed a children’s book to each of my parents. My mom got Katie No Pockets, which is her favorite. While she was flipping through the pages my dad softly called her name and told her to read the inscription on the first page. After she did my older sister and I got books as well. Mine is one of my favorites, Corduroy. In it she had written “For G, To read to your new niece or nephew.”
I couldn’t believe it. My younger sister is pregnant with her first baby! Since she’s discussing it on her blogs, I’m guessing it’s safe to talk about it on mine. She and her husband are very happy and are going to be great parents. They recently found out that they are having a boy, and I can’t wait to hold my brand new nephew. They won’t tell me what his name is yet, and I’m enjoying looking forward to being introduced to him all at once.

A departure from the norm

I don't often talk about my faith. To me it is an intensely personal thing and is the absolute core of who I am. Not everyone gets to be that intimate with me. I will share what I believe to a certain extent, but what I pray about, what I struggle with, and my questions on how faith applies to the practical are for those closest to me. That said, this is something I want to share.

I don't know how long its been since I've been moved by a sermon. I have heard interesting sermons, and have liked some quotes, but not much more than that. Then I read a book called "The Velvet Elvis" and was blown away. For the first time in a long time I heard a new perspective on scripture. It is an incredible book and a fairly easy read. It reminded me that I used to have a heart for God and how strong my faith once was. I realized that I had been starving myself spiritually and a huge part of my unhappiness was a lack of actively living a Christian life.

When I moved to Seattle I was given a list of churches people recommended. One was called Mars Hill, and at the time I thought it was connected to the guy that wrote "The Velvet Elvis." Turns out its not, and the pastor has issues with that author, but this church is what I needed. I highly recommend checking out the sermons posted on line. The current series on misconceptions has been incredible, and very thought provoking for me. This is the first time that I have found a "lecture" outside of college that made me hungry for more information. What I really loved about it though was that for the first time a pastor gave a sermon directly aimed at singles. Most churches I've been to pretty much ignore the fact that there are people like me who are struggling with how to be a Christian adult and do things like date. It was amazing.

I am meeting with a community group from the church for the first time on Monday. I am hoping I will fit in and be able to make friends with other Christians. I want to have a place to call home again, and people that I know have the same core beliefs as me. It is something I have missed, and I'm not sure how I've gotten along without it. Then again maybe I didn't. Life got pretty bad, and I had to move two states away to start over. Maybe a church family can help me to live the life I want, and help me figure out how to become more like someone I can respect.

Here's hoping.

Somewhere Betwen Raising Hell and Amazing Grace

A lot has happened since I last posted. The most entertaining is that today the Denny's in Ballard was been declared a historic landmark. I'm not kidding. Ballard is my favorite neighborhood due to things like this. It’s a quirky area that still sports "Free Ballard" shirt, bumper stickers, and posters. A few weeks ago I went to a wine bar there with my boyfriend and a few friends. We each ordered different wines and sampled each other's choice. We also split a cheese platter and chacutrie. It felt like I was back in Paris.
I also had two really good friends come and visit me. The first was a friend that I've known since I was 13. We got sushi for dinner and it was great to actually have someone around that enjoys the stuff. Afterwards we went to my friend's house to hang out. My boyfriend arrived just after we did. Before the front door opened he had caught my attention, walked up to us, and picked up my friend (literally) and turned her upside down. He has a wicked sense of humor. Luckily she found this hilarious and the two of them got along.
The second friend is the person who inspired me to move to Seattle. She is also a great cook and gave me a couple of cooking lessons while she was here. We went to Pike Place Market for our supplies and had fun poking around the stalls. I discovered a couple of hidden alleys that have really great shops. Everything there is produced locally and is cheaper than going to the grocery store. To an extent the market is a tourist destination, but a lot of locals use it for their weekly shopping. As much fun as shopping was the best part was having girlfriends around again. I love my life here, but I miss having girlfriends closer than on the other end of the phone.
One of the best things to happen recently is that I finally found a church to call home. For the first time in years I found a church where I feel comfortable. I don't believe blindly, and this church encourages questions. It’s also the first time that I've heard a new approach to verses I've heard all my life. They also have small groups, somewhat like a bible study group, for different age groups. I've contacted one of them and hopefully it will be a way to make Christian friends.
In other news work is getting better. I’m learning now in leaps and bounds and I’m making headway. The mountain of work doesn’t seem to decrease any, but that’s okay. I’m just happy that I can function somewhat on my own. Sadly the old guy that I used to work with has decided that because I’m now getting trained by someone he profoundly dislikes that I have gone to the dark side. When he told me this I laughed and told him, “of course I did, they have cookies.” He didn't find that as funny as I did. Mostly because he thought he was missing out on actual cookies.
As for Valentines it was great, but the week started off pretty bad. My boyfriend had been having headaches for weeks. When he finally went into the doctor the doctor became concerned it could be a blood vessel causing the problem. A couple appointments and an MRI later it was discovered that it was a nerve that got infected. He was put on a round of steroids and everything is fine now. The unfortunate result of all this is that he was unable to go on a business trip.
Since he was in town he had to be point man for those that did go and told me that he would have to work late. He called me about eight that night. He told me that he had just got home and asked if I wanted to do a late dinner. I said yes and he asked that I call him when I was leaving. A few min later I grabbed by coat, set the alarm, and then opened my front door with my phone in hand. Sitting in front of my door was a bouquet of flower, a box of chocolates, and a chocolate espresso bar. He was standing around the corner and grinning.
We went to dinner at a local place and he was chatty through the whole thing. This is a guy that has been nicknamed “Silent Bob” by my friend from college. He was also bouncing in his seat and fiddling with everything. When I took the last piece of silverware away from him he finally told me that the side effect of his meds was abundant energy. I laughed and then offered to take him for a walk. After a long tour of the area we ended up at a two story book store. So while the week started off rocky, the holiday for me consisted of roses, chocolate, dinner, wine, and books. I couldn’t have asked for a better night.

Where to start?

Christmas was wonderful. I flew home a few days beforehand and was able to celebrate a friend's graduation from college with her. Even better the celebration lunch was at a fantastic Mexican restaurant. It was nice to finally get some decent Mexican food. I hadn't had any since my family's Mexican Thanksgiving. Afterwards I got to spend time with a good friend, and later had good sushi with a couple of gal pals. It wasn't until I was there that I realized how much I miss have close girl friends near by. I've met some great people here, I'm just not as close to them as to the wonderful friends I left in CA.

The best part of Christmas though was just spending time with my family. No matter what I seem to do to my apartments just don't feel like home. Or at least not completely like home. Don't get me wrong, I like living on my own. I like being able to decorate the places I live, and I look forward to getting back to my own bed after I've been away.

Still, I get homesick. Its not something I really notice until I'm on the road to my parents, and its worse when I'm leaving them. When I first went away to college I used to call my friends on my cell as I was heading out. I would have them distract me until I was too far away to turn back. Its not really any easier to leave now. The only real difference is planes don't wait for reluctant passengers, and my dad can't just drive me home like he did when I missed my train.

After returning to Seattle for a few days I flew to Kauai a spent a week there with a friend. The weather was a huge welcome change and the air there was so incredibly soft. We went all over the island mostly just enjoying each other's company. New Year's was spent in our room watching a good movie and drinking champagne. Before you think that's pathetic you should know beach was twenty feet from my room. Hanging out there was not boring or a hardship in the least.

I think the best part of the week was when we went snorkeling. We paid for passage on a catamaran and took a tour of the Napali coast, which is only accessible by boat and is breathtakingly beautiful. On our way back up the coast towards where we would actually snorkel we saw humpback whales. They weren't very close but we got to see a couple of them breaching and I loved it.

Returning to work was not fun. Things are going better and I'm learning more every day. I'm now working without help, and to my horror I'm discovering that my help created a number of problems. Granted, he was more help than hindrance, but now I have to figure how he did what he did, and then undo it. On the upside my coworkers are warming up to me and I now have people to talk to. I'm also getting to know my boss and he's pretty entertaining. This week he started singing "Mercedes Benz" by Janis Joplin.

The only really odd thing is that I haven't seen my roommate in about three weeks. Between my trips out of town and hers we keep missing each other. It feels like I live with a ghost. At times its nice. I like having the apartment to myself and not having to worry about waking her as I get ready for work in the morning. To celebrate I've been turning the radio up so that I can hear it as I wander from room to room getting ready. Its nothing big, but its a luxury I miss from when I lived alone.

The only other thing I have to update is that I finally had time while I was in Kauai to do some reading. Its been far too long since I had the chance to get lost in a book and drown out the world. I finished five books while I was there and I'm almost done with a sixth. To some that may sound like a waste of a vacation, but to me it was paradise. Actually, I think I'm going to go finish my book now. I should have just enough time before I have to go to dinner. If not, I hope I'll hear the phone when my tour guide calls to ask where I am.