Ch-ch-ch-changes

I'm going to try to decribe briefly the changes that have been happening in the past month or so.

Michael and I are no longer together. It's a really long story and I don't want to bore you with all the details and I feel a sense of obligation to protect Michael's privacy, so I'll just condense it. Keep in mind that this is my perspective and that he is likely to disagree with me on what really happened. From my point of view, Michael was upset that he couldn't get his way about something in our relationship so he threw a fit, tried to convince me that it was about something other than his desire to be in control, involved an innocent third party who wanted no part of it and tried to complicate my life in retaliation. I really feel that he betrayed me in the worst way and, in the process, guaranteed that I could never again have him in my life in any capacity. Anyway, his little stunt backfired and I have managed to stabilize the drama with the third party and remove Michael from the loop. She is free to continue her friendship with Michael, of course, but she has promised not to let him pump her for information.

I was very upset for a few days but my serenity returned more quickly than I could have anticipated. In fact, I had to wonder why it didn't hurt as long or as intensely as I should. Truthfully, the episode highlighted some things about his character that I had known on some level for a long time. For example, at different stages of our relationship, I found that he had lied to me about his age, his job, his education, his heritage and his economic background. To his credit, he came clean voluntarily about all these things, which couldn't have been easy. However, the fact that he felt he needed to lie about these things to begin with, none of which I would have cared about, shows that he lacked the scruples I wanted to believe he had. The moment I found out about the first lie and I chose to continue, I was no longer being true to myself, and for that I have nobody to blame but myself. I think this is why I found myself feeling liberated when it was over.

I know that my earlier posts portrayed a much rosier picture of our relationship. This is because a) I wanted to believe that things were good and b) you just don't broadcast your partner's faults to the world when you are trying to preserve and fortify your relationship. Even my closest friends didn't know about the pattern of lies until after the break-up. Perhaps if I had been more forthcoming, they would have encouraged me to move on much earlier.

The rest is almost all good news. I adopted a new cat named Gus. He's beautiful and wonderful. He and Sugarfoot are now partners in crime. I couldn't have asked for a smoother transition for Gus into his new home. He is happy and we (my roommate, the other animals and me) are all happy to have him.

I had my colonoscopy, upper endoscopy and two biopsies and the news is mixed. The good news is that there is no sign of infection or abnormal growth. The bad news is I have erosive esophagitis (no surprise there), a sliding hiatal hernia and what they are calling a non-specific ulcerative proctitis. Translation: they don't know what's causing it, but they know what's not causing it. The gastroenterologist is operating under the assumption that it's acute and will go away with medication and better diet. It hasn't so far. I have a follow-up appointment next week so we'll go from there.

I was passed over for the supervisor position. This is actually a good thing because now that I've had a taste of what it entails, I want nothing to do with it. The really good news is they have made an offer to a candidate who has accepted and will start in about two weeks. I know who it is and they are a good choice. I look forward to passing some of these duties back onto someone better equipped to handle them.

I started my first class for my Masters program this week. I have been reading like a maniac, not just for the daunting deadlines, but because I'm really interested in the material. Soon I will arrange my accomodations and transportation for the required week-long residency in Tucson. I'm really eager to tackle the material and get everything I can out of this course.

That's it for now. More soon.

Long overdue blogging

Okay, okay, it has been over a month since I last blogged. So much has been going on I hardly know where to start.

First and most importantly, I have been accepted to U of A's School of Information Resources and Library Science. I will begin work on my Master's degree next month. It's a distance program, so I can continue living and working in the Phoenix area. In July I will go to Tucson for a seven-day intensive, but beyond that, I never have to physically return to complete my degree.

My boss' last day was last Friday. For the near future, I will handle all the duties related to supervision and coordination of student workers. They have reclassified her position to Library Supervisor Sr. but, remarkably, I can still make a case that I meet the minimum qualifications. I intend to apply for the position. This would be a significant increase in my salary, but it's still a long shot. I will hope for the best but I won't be too heart-broken if I don't get it.

The paleunderweight podcast is, obviously, done. I felt that I had covered the territory very thoroughly and it was just getting old. I would still love to start podcasting again, but I think I would like it to be a collaborative effort. I know someone on campus that has similar taste in music to mine and podcasting experience, so I might ask him if he would like to collaborate.

I would like to start writing recommendations again soon. There have been a handful of releases this year that I have thoroughly enjoyed. I just have to muster the motiviation to blog more often.

Pooh is still hanging in there. He has even gained weight since his diagnosis. The threat doesn't seem so immediate anymore, though Michael and I both know it is there. We are looking at this as a blessing. Pooh has been given more time in which he can still enjoy life.

I have been having digestive problems for quite a while now, which I had always blamed on poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. In recent months, however, I have improved my diet considerably, started drinking large quantities of water and started working out almost daily. This has not had the positive effect on my digestion I had been hoping for. My doctor prescribed some medications that have not helped either. We are now operating under the theory that I might have a constriction or obstruction somewhere. I have an appointment with a gastroenterologist Friday. Hopefully he will come up with a better theory or schedule me for tests that will confirm or rule out the current one. The best outcome I can hope for is a simple, painless, inexpensive, permanent solution. However, if surgery is necessary, I can accept it if it will improve my quality of life. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. First things first, as they say.

Bedtime soon. Time for my herbal tea. I will blog again much sooner this time, I swear.

Overdue blogging

For a variety of reasons, I haven't been blogging much recently, and I haven't shared anything from my life other than what I've been listening to in weeks.

The bad news is that Poo has lymphoma. He doesn't seem to be suffering at the moment other than throwing up here and there. As I mentioned previously, Michael decided to give Poo a couple of weeks of comfort at home before it's time for him to "graduate" (we aren't using the 'd' word right now - except maybe "denial"). When the time comes, the veterinarian will come to Michael's apartment. This way, Poo can live his last moments at home, rather than at the vet's office. Though these were Michael's decisions, I'm sure I would do the same in his situation and I support him completely.

I am almost ready to send off my application to U of A. I received my official GRE results and transcripts last week and I have both letters of recommendation. I just need to finish my C.V. and letter of intent (hopefully tonight). I would have completed them by now but I have been laid up with a stomach bug since Monday. If all goes right, I will mail it tomorrow and hopefully receive a response by the end of March.

I am anxiously awaiting my copy of Ink, the sequel to Hal Duncan's Vellum. I pre-ordered to through Amazon and it shipped a few days ago. I'm hoping it arrives this week.

That's all for now. I have a lot more to post but my digestive system has other plans for me right now.

Tense day

Today should have been a happy, carefree day for Michael and I to celebrate. Instead, we both have knots in our stomachs, waiting for what could very well be devastating news.

I don't want to go into too much detail just yet, but the long and the short of it is that Michael's cat, Poo, is very sick. His condition has deteriorated over the past couple of weeks. He has now been in the animal hospital since yesterday morning undergoing successively invasive tests which culminated in exploratory surgery and a biopsy. We may have to wait up to a week to find out Poo's fate.

Understandably, we are both sick with worry, especially Michael. Right now I'm just trying to stay in the present and not focus too much on worst case scenarios, while trying to prepare myself for providing emotional support to Michael through challenging times.

In spite of facing some disheartening possibilities, I have some good news to report. I found people willing to write my letters of recommendation for my application to graduate school. I also have a meeting with a former coworker tomorrow to go over my curriculum vitae and letter of intent. I am ordering transcripts from ASU and Phoenix College tonight after my direct deposit goes in. I should get my official GRE results any day now. All this means I will probably be able to submit my application by the 28th.

That's all for now. More later.

Some good news

Friday morning I finally took my GRE. Long story short, I kicked ass. 680 verbal, 780 quantitative. The analytical writing section isn't graded at the time of the exam; I have to wait two or three weeks for the results. I think I did pretty well on the first essay, but I nailed the second one. Without revealing too much about the contents of the exam, I'll just say that I've taken classes that pertained directly to the subject matter of the essay, which gave me a great deal of confidence.

I checked my e-mail when I got home and I was notified that I had been selected to serve on a search committee for a vacant job in the ASU libraries. I've been eager for an opportunity like this, not just because it's the kind of experience that will help me get a supervisory position in the future, but also because I want to participate in the hiring process.

Strangely, the news I am most excited about is the joint Costco membership that Michael and I bought. If you are unfamiliar with Costco, it's a lot like Sam's Club, except Costco won't use the money you spend there to eradicate tolerance and clone Hitler. I've already shopped there three times in the last week. I purchased season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for $17, a 300GB external hard drive for $140 and two pairs of lounging pants for $8 each, along with about $90 in grocieries. Considering that I bought about three weeks of food, it's a fantastic deal. The fridge is bursting at the seams and I am eating raisins by the handful. I'm not really into shopping per se, but I find myself daydreaming about shopping there nonetheless.

That's all for now. I will post more soon about applying to grad school.

Resolutions

No, I haven't fallen off the edge of the Earth. I've just been in that perfect intermediate state between busy and lazy, such that I haven't mustered the time or energy to blog.

My GRE plans are still on track, thanks in large part to a good friend that repaid me a significant chunk of money that I had lent her a couple years ago. Consequently, I was able to pay a couple of bills early and create room in my budget to pay the $130 for the exam fee out of my next check.

Classes start again on Tuesday. I was able to acquire all but one book. The campus bookstore never had it sent from the East campus, despite the request I made over a month ago. So now I have to contact the East campus bookstore myself and I expect it will take about a week to get it. In the meantime, I have found that the previous edition is available electronically and at very low cost from a vendor endorsed by the university. I hope this will suffice until I can get the correct edition.

Supervisory Academy has been postponed indefinitely while the course is revamped. I have been assured that there will be a Spring session but it has not been scheduled yet. I hope so, as any significant delay will hurt my chances of getting hired for a supervisory position.

Michael completed the Walt Disney World Marathon last week. Needless to say, I am extremely proud of him. I know that it took a tremendous amount of resolve to train for and complete this marathon. I find his determination to accomplish his goals incredibly attractive.

I am finished selecting the remaining albums of 2006 that I will recommend. I am going to try to finish the recommendations in the next few days and record the next podcast next week.

Though I'm not usually the kind of person that makes New Year's resolutions, I have been trying, with great success, to make some changes in my life in the interest of improving my health. This is largely the result of having calculated, much to my terror, my BMI. For the first time in my life, I am borderline obese. Among the changes are much more water, much less caffeine, no red meat, fresh fruit every day, breakfast daily and drastically reduced sweets. For the last two weeks, my typical day generally includes about three or four liters of water, a bowl of cereal with skim milk and blueberries, a turkey or tuna sandwich, sushi (non-authentic), an apple or two and two or three cups of fat-free yoghurt. When I get home from work, I am usually not hungry enough to eat a full dinner but I snack on fresh fruit throughout the afternoon and evening. My fridge is stocked with apples, oranges, clementines, apricots, peaches, cherries and whatever else I'm in the mood for.

This has led me to the hypothesis that I may be lactose intolerant. I always thought I had digestive discomfort because my diet was terrible. It turns out that I am still experiencing discomfort but only after having cheese or milk, as far as I can tell. This week I am switching from skim to soy milk and refraining from cheese. Yoghurt, I think, is still okay because of the acidophilus. If I start feeling better, I will likely make it a permanent change.

Last week I read an article about the strategies used by those who have successfully lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off. It appears that my plans already include most of these strategies, which gives me hope for success. The last part of the equation, of course, is exercise. Historically, I have not been very good at sticking to exercise. However, a coworker directed my attention to a website that has an easy plan for beginners. It starts out with walking and builds up to running. I hope to start it soon. I know I can handle the walking; I already walk almost everywhere as it is, and quickly, too. Hopefully, I won't have too hard of a time transitioning to running.

That's all I can think of for now. I will start posting a lot more, I promise. Keep an eye out for more recommendations over the next few days.

Personal update

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.

Christmas was very nice. Michael and I spent the weekend with our friends in Tucson again. He got me the Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man DVD (in exchange for which I agreed never to make him watch it) and a book collecting all of the artwork from the complete output of Factory Records, i.e., albums, singles, promotional materials, etc. I gave him a DVD player (to replace the one that died a few months ago) and two seasons of Will & Grace. I also bought a copy of Vellum for a friend and one for myself, finally. I kept getting it through interlibrary loan and running out of time before I had finished reading it.

I have registered for three online classes, two about music and one on reflective writing, for the Spring semester. The latter will count toward the Journalism/Mass Communication degree and the first two are for my personal fulfillment. I plan to pay my tuition tonight - a whopping sum of $68. Needless to say, I love my employee tuition waiver.

Additionally, I am taking a class called Supervisory Academy for work. This will count as a full year of supervisory experience when I apply for the Library Supervisor position that will open up after my boss finishes her M.A. and departs for greener pastures.

I'm also planning to take my GRE (finally) before February 1st. I keep procrastinating and missing deadlines. The absolutely final day I can apply for U of A's MLS program for the summer is April 1st. This will give me time to receive my GRE results, write my C.V. and letter of intention and gather up two letters of recommendation. I think four months to prepare my application is a realistic goal.

I am way behind on my end-of-the-year project, so it's unlikely that I will get caught up by Monday. However, I am going to see it through until the bitter end, hopefully sometime in January. The podcast will reappear shortly thereafter.

Finally, here is a photo of the first two grilled cheese sandwiches I ever made, strangely enough. I took the photo in the midst of eating them. I didn't burn down the kitchen, to my roommate's relief, though he did derive some amusement from my clumsy efforts. They did taste good, though.

Poo and Milly pictures

Last week, I posted about Michael's new kitten, Shadow. As a result, a couple of readers have requested pictures of Michael's other cats, Miss Milly and Poo Stinky. Here's Poo in the sink:

Here's Milly in bed:

Here they are together:

Who says we want to destroy families?

The other great news I have to share with you tonight is that our family has a new member. Michael adopted Shadow, a beautiful male kitten who was rescued by HALO and with whom we both have fallen in love over the past month.

As you already know, I have had Missy since 2000, long before I met Michael. I adopted Sugarfoot just last year, making Shadow our second child together and my third overall. Our new baby will live with Michael, along with his two other children from a previous marriage, Miss Milly and Poo Stinky.

Preview of what's to come

There has been a lot of excitement in the past 24 hours and thus much to post about. Here is what I hope to accomplish tonight:

• A discussion of surprisingly positive election results here in Arizona
• Photos of a new addition Michael has brought into the family
• No fewer than seven(!) new recommendations

Okay, here goes...

My nipples can cut glass right now...

...because of the score for the new film, The Fountain!

In addition to the trailers looking pretty darn cool, Pitchfork is reporting an exciting (and strangely arousing) collaboration on the score.

Clint Mansell formerly of The Pop Will Eat Itself! Mogwai! Kronos Quartet! ANTONY HEGARTY!!!

Gah! I make happy noises!

You can stream the track here.

No podcast tonight because Michael and I are going to Tucson for the weekend.

Anniversary dinner photo

Here's what I've been listening to today:

1. Tokyo Police Club: A Lesson in Crime EP
2. Subtle: for hero: for fool
3. Snowglobe: Oxytocin
4. Comets on Fire: Avatar
5. M. Gira/D. Matz: What We Did

Anniversary

It's unfortunate that the previous post is such a downer. Actually, I am very happy right now because today Michael and I celebrate one year together.

Happy anniversary, sweetie. I love you.

Here is what I've been listening to since yesterday:

1. The Decemberists: The Crane Wife
2. Beck: The Information
3. The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America
4. Lambchop: Damaged
5. Wolf Eyes: Human Animal
6. Ladyhawk: Ladyhawk
7. Indian Jewelry: Invasive Exotics
8. V/A: The Believer 25th Issue Compilation
9. The Clash: London Calling
10. Broken Social Scene: You Forgot It in People
11. My Robot Friend: Dial 0

Wednesday night

I am listening to Keith Fullerton Whitman's MetLife: Dartmouth Street Underpass EP and steeping my nightly tea. A mixture of Lemon Zinger and True Blueberry this time. It smells like those amazing blueberry muffins I learned to make during my brief tenure at the cafe.

Yesterday I received a cute refrigerator magnet/wedding announcement from my favorite cousin, Shannon. The wedding is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend. I'd love to go but it doesn't seem likely. Even if I could afford the round-trip airfare to Virginia and two nights in a hotel over a holiday weekend, I still can't be surrounded by family without some kind of emotional support. Shannon and my aunt and my other cousins are all great, but almost every other relative that will be there is a lunatic. My mother especially. Michael doesn't think he could afford to go with me, so the only option left is taking one of my friends, most of whom are chronically broke. Barring some miracle, I will have to just send a gravy boat and my regards.

I finally got contacts this past weekend. After my last pair tore a few months ago, I kept putting it off because I thought I couldn't quite afford it yet. Imagine how embarrassed I was to realize I had vision coverage all along! It only cost me $19 for the exam and my insurance will cover 100% of the cost of the lenses up to $130. I am wearing a trial pair of the monthly lenses until I pick up a year's supply on Saturday. Unfortunately the optometrist mislabeled the trial pair and I only discovered today that I had been wearing each lens in the wrong eye. No wonder I've been getting headaches this week!

Paleunderweight podcast 24 will be posted a week from Friday. This will give me a chance to download my Yahoo! Sitebuilder software and possibly revamp the webpage a bit. I'll also use the opportunity to listen to lots of music, of course.

Now I am listening to the playlist I created from the random tracks described in the previous meme. I will post some commentary about those tracks soon, I promise. But for now, I must sleep.

Goodnight.

A post while winding down before bed

I'm up way past my bedtime. I'm waiting for my allergy pills to kick in. My herbal tea - a combo of Celestial Seasonings' Tangerine Orange Zinger and Country Peach Passion - is steeping. I'm listening to the new Junior Boys album, So This Is Goodbye, on my iPod. I reckon I can put off going to bed just long enough to post about some recent events in my life.

I started my new job on the 16th. I am loving it, as I was sure I would. I felt outside of my comfort zone at first, as I am receiving very little direction compared to my previous position. However, I am adapting to my new routine and learning quickly. I'm also using my previous experience on the borrowing side of interlibrary loan to streamline the lending process, much to the delight of my new boss. It helps that the student workers in my department are amazing - the oldtimers are very knowledgeable and dependable and even the new arrivals are eager to help. They are really helping me get through this transition period.

I greeted my 29th birthday last week with a mixture of disbelief and trepidation. I know it sounds silly complaining about my youth slipping through my fingers when I'm still in my 20's, but my anxiety stems from the gradual realization that I can't use my age as an excuse for irresponsibility anymore. I still have areas that need a lot of work, money and housekeeping being the most pressing issues. Despite any lingering problems, however, I feel good about what I accomplished while I was 28. I completed my bachelor's degree. I landed a job that requires a B.A. and that will boost my career prospects. I met Michael. I adopted Sugarfoot. While I didn't cross everything off my list, I still achieved some major goals and laid the groundwork for the coming year.

Since Michael's move was scheduled for this weekend, we celebrated my birthday last weekend. He took me out to dinner and got me Season 8 of The Simpsons on DVD. More than anything else, though, I was glad to celebrate my birthday with the man I love.

I bought my new computer on Thursday and immediately got to work on customizing it for my needs. I spent several hours that night uninstalling all the free trial software and assorted crap that weighed the computer down and slowed its startup. Then I started downloading, installing and tranferring licenses for software that I had on the previous computer. Finally I had to back-up all of my music on the hard drive in case iTunes decided to disallow use of my iPod on the new computer. I lost a few tracks in the process but I was able to replace all but three - all from Wasps' Nests by The 6ths - on iTunes or Emusic. Hoodlums may still have the used copy I sold them last year. If not, I can buy it cheap from an Amazon Marketplace seller.

Michael and I spent most of the weekend working on his move. He hired movers to do all the moving but we unpacked. To be fair, Michael did most of the unpacking, but he didn't ask me to do much. I was mostly an extra set of hands for unpacking large things and a catsitter. We were both surprised that it went as smoothly as it did. Nonetheless, it was very exhausting for both of us and incredibly stressful for Michael. He handled it well, though, and avoided taking it out on me. Not that he's the type to do that, but some of my experiences helping boyfriends move haven't been very pleasant. Michael's graceful handling of the move further reinforced his superiority over others I have dated.

That's all for now. Goodnight.

Blogging resumes!

I installed my new computer last night so I will now be blogging much more regularly. I am helping Michael move into his new place this weekend so I probably won't have much to say until Monday. Happy Labor Day weekend!

Michael gets a new diva

Michael and I did not get to see the Leonard Cohen documentary this weekend because he is ill (Michael, not Leonard). Now we are aiming for next weekend.

Michael listened to the LC mix I made him and found, not surprisingly, that it was not his cup of tea. He did appreciate the effort I put into making it for him, though, and appreciated that I was sharing with him something important to me personally.

This morning, Michael was showing me some old yearbooks from his goofy-looking-adolescent years when he found a Cher tour souvenir book. He proceeded to gawk over several dozen pages of costumes that collectively cost more than the Apollo program. Then we discussed the baffling phenomenon of gay men and their divas. I acknowledged that I collect divas, too, albeit ones that aren't necessarily as obvious for the part as Cher.

I was astonished to find that, though he knew of her, Michael had never heard any of Björk's music. I went online and showed him a few videos, including the one for "All Is Full of Love", directed by Chris Cunningham. Michael got goosebumps. He watched it five times in succession. He loved the video, but he also loved the music! I should have known that the best way to expose Michael to good music was through a diva!

I have made Michael a CD of some of my favorite Björk tracks. Like LC, I left out some great songs, partially because I only wanted to use one CD-R and partially because I want Michael to be able to discover great tracks on his own, if he so chooses. I also did not include any material from The Sugarcubes, Kukl, or any of her bands before her most recent solo albums. I didn't include any tracks from her eponymous 1977 album of children's songs because I have never been able to find an affordable bootleg of it.

Here is the tracklist:

1. All Is Full of Love (single version)
2. Hyper-Ballad (Brodsky Quartet version)
3. Scatterheart
4. Jóga
5. Enjoy
6. Oceania
7. Human Behaviour
8. The Modern Things (Family Tree version)
9. Domestica
10. Bachelorette
11. Come to Me
12. My Spine (Evelyn Glennie version)
13. Unravel
14. In the Musicals
15. Desired Constellation
16. Immature
17. Triumph of a Heart
18. The Anchor Song

Preparing for Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man

Michael has agreed to let me give him a crash course in Leonard Cohen before we see the movie next weekend. He gave me, with some trepidation, his last CD-R for this purpose. I assured him that the experience would not be too painful.

But how does one distill forty years of songwriting genius to eighty minutes? I spent a couple of hours agonizing over the tracks to include and their order. Inevitably, some great songs had to be left off. Here is the tracklist I finally settled upon:

1. Chelsea Hotel No. 2
2. Everybody Knows
3. Master Song
4. Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On
5. Avalanche
6. First We Take Manhattan
7. Field Commander Cohen
8. Night Comes On
9. Bird on the Wire
10. Waiting for the Miracle
11. There Is a War
12. Stranger Song
13. The Law
14. Story of Isaac
15. A Singer Must Die
16. Sisters of Mercy
17. You Know Who I Am
18. Who by Fire

I'm not expecting Michael, whose most recent music purchase was Mariah Carey, to become a die-hard Leonard Cohen fan as the result of hearing this mix. However, I hope he will notice some of the qualities in LC's music that have made me such a devoted proponent.

Update

Since my iPod's miraculous recovery, I have been listening to lots of Leonard Cohen. All of his studio albums from Songs of Leonard Cohen to Various Positions in order of release, to be precise. Since I am probably going to drag Michael over to Scottsdale to see Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man at Harkins Camelview on our 10th mensiversary next week, and he's never actually heard Leonard Cohen, I'm going to make a CD of my favorite LC tracks to prepare Michael for what he's in for.

Additionally, I have been listening to the Pitchfork Infinite Mixtape Series. I highly recommend it, and not just because it includes several tracks that were included in my podcast. It also seems to prove that everything goes better with Antony Hegarty. The world would be a better place if Antony were the lead singer for every band on the planet. It would probably be exhausting for him, though.

I had two interviews this week: one for the four positions at the Downtown campus and one for the specialist position in my department. Both interviews seemed to go very well. I should get answers from both search committees in the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, I will pay for and schedule my GRE on Monday. I still have to practice the analytical writing section, but I think I will do alright. I've decided I'm not going to worry too much about getting the highest score possible. In the end, all I can do is relax and do my best and the score will reflect my abilities accurately. The program I want to get into considers everything, including GRE score, GPA and professional experience. I think I have a very good chance of getting accepted.

Happy 4th

Lots to report on since I posted last.

I quit my job at the cafe this past Friday. The work was much more physically strenuous than I had anticipated. In fact, it was probably the cause of the muscle and nerve problem that resulted in my missing three days of work at my primary job. At least I was able to collect a small paycheck from the cafe, which provided a much-needed financial jumpstart.

The medications seem to be helping. I still have small headaches periodically thoughout the day, but nothing nearly as severe as it was last week. Hopefully the meds will work and I will be completely pain-free soon.

On the job front, several new full-time jobs have opened up at ASU for which I plan to apply. There are a few positions for the Downtown Campus library, but the one I really want is the library specialist position that just opened in my own department. The deadline for resumes is this Friday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Michael surprised me yesterday afternoon with a mensiversary dinner, two days early. He spent hours cooking and setting up his dining room. I was stunned by how elegant the dinner was. He served spinach salad, salmon, curried rice and green beans. Nobody else has ever surprised me like that - Michael has now done it twice. I guess he's a keeper!

After dinner, Michael got me hooked on Google Earth. This is an amazing piece of software. I am amazed that it's still free! Here's some images I captured this afternoon:

Here's what I've been listening to since Monday:

1. Grandaddy: Concrete Dunes
2. Radiohead: The Bends
3. Saturday Looks Good to Me: Every Night
4. Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That