Monday, September 25, 2006

A word to the wise...

When the town is named "Hills" maybe bike somewhere else! Oh my! Okay, here's a few words on my weekend. The people who wrote about this trip on the website were very very misleading, hopefully not maliciously. Gentle, rolling hills they say. POSCH!! Never gentle and only a few rolling. I don't believe I've ever biked in hills like that, even Red Lake to Pakwash. It was insane. And some pretty strong winds as well, which is always a fun combination. granny gear and 3 mph. Some may question the wisdom of biking 55 miles in hilly topography with gusting winds and very little recent training. Others may scoff at such wisdom. Others (same others) may also loose their will to live at about mile 41. Ah well, I should have known I was in for a long day - as we unloaded our bikes and biked over to the registration table, I was feeling great and thinking how fun this was going to be. As I gracefully slowed to stop, suddenly I thought, hummm... why am I flying through the air? Seriously, why?? It seemed so odd. Then I remembered, oh yeah, toe clips. Forgot I had those on. It really wasn't a bad fall at all, but I think, other than looking like a complete dork, I pulled something in my one leg. Till I was done with the trip, I could barely lift it. But as miserable as parts of the day was, now, 2 days later, I feel nearly back to normal, so I think that's pretty good, considering my lack of serious riding lately. Okay, enough about biking. I think from now on, I'll do my big trips in Indiana. It was great to see friends that I haven't seen in awhile and get caught up with them. Okay, that's all for now I guess. I'm greatly sleepy.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Just wanted you to be the first to know...

I found my drivers license! It has been (for over 3 weeks) at a video place where I rented a couple movies. Funny how they never got ahold of me. I celebrated with "some" strawberry twizzlers, then fell into a dibetic coma.

Okay Rhonda...

So, I don't have much to say, but Rhonda told me I have to update, even though I just did. I told her I didn't have any news and she said to stop whining and making excuses. I said, but... and she said if I knew what's best for me I'd get myself to the computer EXPEDITIOUSLY and begin typing. (picture downtrodden, sullen expression, head hanging low, now sitting at computer...) Well, I do desperately want people, and especially Rhonda, to be happy with me, so I here I am. (I'll let you pick the nuggets of truth from above statements...) Can I just say that I love weekends? I have lots I should be doing right now, and I'm not really doing any of it, but I still love that it's Saturday. I'm trying to figure out when to come home and all that. I think I might have snagged enough airmiles to make the trip which is oh so nice. This morning I went with my roommate to watch one of the kids in her youth group play H.S. V ball. Her town was playing the town we live in so we went to watch and the poor team - decidedly lost all 3 games. Tonight I have a supper invite from the family where I stayed for a few months right after I moved here. Also the annual Latin celebration is going on this weekend and that's usually fun to. And the grass needs to be mowed, the house is a wreck, and I should squeeze in a bike ride sometime. So, that's what's going on in my neck of the woods. What about y'all? Happy Birthday LaRonda! Did you do anything exciting? I guess the REALLY big one is next year, eh? = ) Do you love me more now Rhonda? Have I made you happy? TTFN

Thursday, September 14, 2006

I think I'm loosing my mind!

Some thoughts from my perspective - I was struck today as I was racing around at work, that now, instead of just messing up people's money, I can mess up the actual people! huh.

I read this in a Reader's Digest a long time ago and thought it was really funny - not saying it's my exact thought at the moment... "Oh, you don't like your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called Everybody and they meet at the bar."

I was asked by a young person recently - what would you do if someone killed your family, but then you saw them chocking - would you help them or let them die? hummm.....

Derek and Elise, if you still read this, congratulations! He is SO little and cute. Can't wait to see him!

So, onto why I'm loosing my mind... oh my, it's been a rough few days. Where to start... okay, awhile back I got in the mail my little car registration renewal thing. At that point, I was thinking that I was moving north, so I didn't do anything with it. Sometime in the last couple days I had the fleeting thought... hummm... I wonder if I ever sent that in. But it was gone shortly thereafter. Then luckily yesterday I was searching for a credit card bill (another story) and came across the notice. Oh yes, there it was and I'm illegal on the streets as of tomorrow! After freaking out awhile, I was told that I can go into any BMV in the state for stuff like that, but I still wasn't sure if they could do it for me right there. So today I left in the middle of the work day to drive to the BMV (got lost of course) and they could take care of it. whew! BUT, when the lady asked for my license, I whipped out my wallet with nary a thought as to it's whereabouts, and was shocked to discover it wasn't there. Then I figured I had used it during orientation for work, and it was probably at home with all that stuff. Came home, it's not. Have no clue under the sum where it is. Okay, so that's my car/license story. Then there's the credit card. Again yesterday I had the thought that my payment might be due. I thought it was due the 15th so if I posted it online the 13th, that'd be just fine. Due to inferior online services, in this country, you have to post stuff way ahead for the payment to go through on time. In my mind, sort of defeats the point of the convenience of online transactions. So anyway, I discovered the payment was due the 13th, not the 15th (at the same time I found the car thing) so I posted it and am holding my breath waiting for a late charge to appear. So anyway, all that to say, I'm not doing so great at holding it together these days!I hope that wasn't hideously boring to read. Just what's going on in this neck of the woods. I'm supposed to bike 55 miles in a little over a week. Should be interesting. I have done little biking lately due to the following factors: excessive fatigue, not feeling well (I am feeling better, thank you), constant rain, and grooming my new pet buffalo. Hopefully I don't keel over. But it's only 55 miles, how bad can it be?

Okay, well, I'm going to cease and de cyst boring you now and wish you a merry evening and weekend coming up!

Sunday, September 10, 2006

How nasty is this?


So, my dresser had taken to looking like a veritable pharmacy and I'd had enough. There is stuff in this mess that I've had for YEARS - amoungst the treasures - lotion that I bought in 2001 - I only know that because I bought in when my friend Sue was visiting me in Red Lake and that was the year. Also some little things of hand therapy stuff that I got from Robyn for probably my 15th birthday. (I did use some of it, Robyn!) And in addition to all my stuff, my roommate goes through her stuff and gives me what she doesn't want and I add it to the pile. So, although it goes against my grain, I threw stuff away. I really did. I felt a bit more justified in throwing stuff away that's decades old, but some of it I just didn't like and won't use, so I pitched it. And now, I give you exhibit B:






The white plastic is more functional than decorative, but it works - everything arranged according to its genre. I won't begin to tell you the amount of dust and other matter that was removed from the dresser as a result of this little endeavor. Notice that it is shiny now though.

In other news, I don't have too much. I haven't been feeling the best this weekend and I don't want tomorrow to be Monday yet! I have a bunch of training coming up this week which I'm sort of looking forward to - while it's boring, it's not stressful. Hope you all are having a swell weekend!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Where to start?

Let's see - oh yeah, first off, I know Derek lurks on this site, even though he never comments, so HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY OLD MAN!!!! I thought about you a lot today every time I wrote the date, which was frequently, and if that doesn't warm your heart, well then I give up. Did you do anything exciting?

Well, Robyn asked more about the job so I can try to bore you with that for awhile. Last Thursday I was ready to quit. Getting up at 5:30 may have played a small part in that. But it's just nuts. So much information that's really important to learn, but seems impossible to digest all at once. (ironically, a therapist who was hired since me quit I think after working one day). Friday went better, then there was today, which was crazy, but in a mostly good way. This is the first job I've had where I don't really watch the clock waiting for the day to be over. The time just flies, which is nice. It's hard to give a real accurate description of what I'll be doing since I'm still figuring it out and not doing everything that will eventually be my responsibility. Court - yeah, that comes around fairly often. I haven't had to go by myself yet, thank goodness. I think I'm more nervous about parking in a parking garage and trying to find the right place than testifying. Although it's close. The rest of the job - basically coordinating the services and care for my caseload. There's tons of paperwork - reports, forms, and billing Medicaid which is a form for everything you do basically. I feel like I'm just rambling and not answering your question very well. There's all the appointments to keep track of, getting consent for any number of things, meeting with clients, doing assessments, making sure they have what they need, etc. Okay, I feel as though that was really boring, but you did ask... = P

Okay, here's a question for you that you all must answer, okay? Last night my roommate and I went for a bike ride. I signed up for a 55 mile ride in Iowa (Twila and Karla, if you're reading this, maybe we can squeeze in a visit? please??) so I really need to be riding, even though it's the last thing I feel like doing when I get home from work. I've been struggling with all around inertia lately. Anyway, once I finally got out there, the energy seemed to follow which was nice. So anyway, as we were riding, we rode past a minivan with a baby crying in it, unattended. So we rode a bit further and stopped, trying to figure out what to do. After it had been over 5 minutes, I went snooping around to see if it was for sure coming from the van, which it was. Just then a kid came out of the house and told me it was his sister's vehicle and baby. I suggested he tell her the baby was crying. Then he and another kid went out to the van - we assumed to get the baby out. So we rode around the block again a bit later, and from the next street, we could hear that the kid was still crying. Now we really didn't know what to do, because we didn't want to be obnoxious, but it seemed sort of odd. And I thought I really should know what to do, being a social worker of sorts, for all of a week now... Anyway, then we saw an older wider person we knew and talked to her. She said she'd drive by later as well. So anyway, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I'll close with something from the book I quoted from awhile ago - I think Kim asked for more, so here ya go... this isn't overstated at all...
"Erasmus said it well in his famous essay In Praise of Marriage: 'What is more hateful than a man who, as though born for himself alone, lives for himself, looks out for himself, is sparing or lavish for himself, loves no one and is loved by no one? Indeed, should not such a monster be thought fit to be driven away from the general fellowship of mankind."

Yeah, she's kinda hard on men. Okay, I think I've given you sufficient material upon which to comment.