Wow…

Wow, this day is going slow. It is a little after 9pm - I feel like it is 11pm.

My new job emailed me today that my start date is 3/18 at 7am. I’m sure they will email me before then about where I’m suppose to go that first day. I’m excited at the prospect but hate leaving my friends here too.

I really don’t want to start over again - seems like I’m at the age where I’d like where I work and where I live to be a bit more settled. However, I really don’t have a choice so here I am. One more week till my sister and her son gets here!

One pet peeve I want to say right here - when I ask someone on the phone their name, why do they give me only their first name? They are making a report with the police - obviously we will need their first and last names. Why do they make it so difficult?

In Defense of Sharks

I would like to weigh in on something that I just read on Yahoo. It seems a shark adventure dive in Riviera Beach, FL went badly and one of the divers was bitten by one of the apex predators. The man survived the bite but died the next day.

First of all – the dive company chummed the water before allowing the diver’s in. They, of course, do this to attract the bigger, more aggressive, albeit more elusive, species of shark such as the great white, bulls, lemons and tigers. Of course coming up from a dive saying you had seen one of these great sharks would be a mind-blowing high for anyone who loves sharks. However, chumming invokes feeding frenzies which alter the shark’s perception of what is in the water with it.

The diver’s also were not sent down in a cage or with a protective metal suit. Ok, I can understand that because if I were to dive with the sharks – something on my “to do” list – I wouldn’t want to be hindered by any of that either. I think a wetsuit should suffice – but that is me.

George Burgess – director of the International Shark Attack File – said “Ecotourism for animals is a great concept, but it is most successful in situations where people watch their natural behaviors from afar and not intrude,” but I also disagree with this statement. If people are present – even behind glass – the behavior of the shark is altered and therefore no longer “natural”. Sharks in aquariums give us a good look at the beasts close up, but to say that we could learn about their natural behavior there is, in my opinion, wrong. That isn’t to say such a visit isn’t educational, it is, but as a true shark lover – I would like to see one out in the wild, in the water.

The fact that there are so many companies that do so many of these trips and no one has been bitten for years is a tribute to the companies’ safety procedures. Once a bite does occur, the media beefs it up and makes the shark out to be a monster when, in fact, it was behaving as normally as can be expected in that situation. People who go on these dives know there are risks – while it goes without saying that it does – I’m sure the company the diver dived with also discussed this with the customer’s in depth.

Now, if I went diving with the sharks this is what I would want – I would want to dive in less then 50 feet of water, in my wetsuit, in waters that were not chummed, with a company that had an excellent track record and very knowledgeable dive master supervising the dive.

Sharks are very important to the marine ecosystem. I have loved reading and learning about them since I was a child. When one is needlessly killed, it not only makes me sad – it enrages me. People who fish & attack these beautiful creatures are morons. An occasional bite, though I feel sorry for the man’s family, seems like a small slice of justice to me.

Silly Me

Seems like I am just a silly person sometimes. I worry and worry when it doesn’t do me any good whatsoever.

Rather then go into details - let me share a few of last nights calls:

I had two cardiac arrests where neither caller would do anything to help the person who was dying. They were very upset and couldn’t even calm down enough to tilt the head back. It is frustrating.

I had a caller who was just lonely and wanted to chat again. We talked about her family and why she lives down here so far from them. She sounded so depressed.

A woman called in wanting to know the weather forecast.

Death Dance

“Death Dance” by Linda Fairstein is an interesting tale of greed and murder. Set at the Met in New York, the author goes into great detail about the old theaters, ballet, and the theater business in general. I found it very interesting though I’m not a regular patron of the arts. It isn’t that I don’t find the many performances fascinating and fanciful - it is more that I don’t have the time or money to go.

Though slow in spots, I got through the book in about ten hours with constant interruptions. Does it make me want to run out to grab another book authored by Ms. Fairstein? Not really - it didn’t kindle my desire to know more. Should I run across a book of hers and have nothing else to do then of course I would read it. However, she won’t make my permanent collection…once I start a permanent collection again.

I grieve for my book collection that I had to give away…not once but twice now. It is my simple prayer that I find a permanent home to settle into that has a library so I can rebuild my permanent collection…permanently.

Couple of Calls

We had a couple of calls last night that were a bit ridiculous. The one was a woman who was constipated. She didn’t want to spend her money on over the counter stuff because she got free medical if she went to the hospital. Since she didn’t have a ride to the hospital, she called for an ambulance. Guess she doesn’t have to pay for them either. Ridiculous!

Had another woman who called who was sitting right next to her mom when her mom said she thought she needed an ambulance. The woman had no idea why her mom needed an ambulance and wouldn’t ask her why. She couldn’t even describe any symptoms her mom was having for me to code the call. It was ridiculous.

Had a man call in about an injured bird who had what looked like a mangled foot. Now, the bird could walk and fly just fine and wasn’t bleeding…how this guy determined the foot was “mangled” is beyond me. It flew away before animal services could get there.

HUMP DAY

I haven’t thought about “hump” day for a long time - more then 2 years. It will be nice to get over it and be on the downhill swing to the weekend.

Baxter got me up too early this morning - I’m so tired now. We did our two mile walk this morning. There was a woman walking around who had to weigh in around 300 lbs. I thought it was good she was exercising but she was wearing tights with a pair of short-shorts that rode up in the crack of her butt so her lower butt cheeks hung out. How in the world did she make it out the front door without looking in the mirror? She wore a tight sweatshirt too. Ugh…it wasn’t a pretty sight.

I had 30 Days of Nights on tv and there was a scene where a whole bunch of dogs started barking. Baxter was laying down and he jumped up at the sound & stared at the tv for awhile. Once the scene was over and he realized the dogs weren’t coming back on, he went back and laid down. It was so cute though.

Took the car to Jiffy Lube and had the oil and air filter changed. I put in synthetic oil rather then regular oil - it is suppose to prolong the life of the engine and make it run smoother. It will get better gas mileage too.

I’m going to leave my condo locked up - I’m not going to rent it out for awhile. I’m just going to leave it and pay the bills from Iowa. I have a good feeling about that decisions - not sure why.

Guess I best get back to my list.

Laugh Out Loud

Tonight, in the fire pod, I laughed so hard my sides hurt. I have a friend who is just hilarious but was always working on nights. Well, she just started on evenings and had the four of us rolling on the floor. We even got told by the supervisor (humphf) that we were laughing too loudly. Seems we were having too good of a time. It was good to laugh - haven’t laughed that hard in years.

Got home and called my son - had a little freak out over the condo. It helped to talk to him - he is so logical.

I’ve decided to just empty the condo out, clean the carpets and then find a property manager to handle it. Hopefully they won’t need me to do a lot of work on it - I don’t have the time, energy or money to do so. The woman from work who said she might take it on said her husband does most of the work and then they take it out of the deposit. I have to speak to her more about that because that would be ideal. Then I could leave it and let them handle getting it ready - what a load off my mind that would be.

Tomorrow “30 days of night” comes out so I will have to pick that up. I hated the ending but enjoyed the movie.

Life’s Joy

Joy - have you found it in your life? Have you given it to others? Would you say you are content - if not happy?

Life is so short - where do we spend our time and energy? What does that say about how we prioritize the things we hold dear?

My brother and I discussed these things today after enjoying the movie “The Bucket List” with Morgan Freedman and Jack Nicholson. It was a good movie.

Both of us would say we are content individuals - we aren’t always happy over our circumstances but no one ever is. I get down, stressed and unhappy - I throw myself on the floor in tantrums (not really but it sounded good) but at my core I believe my life is going along as it should be.

What is behind this contentment? It’s simple really - I have found myself. It took moving to Florida and being so utterly lonely at times but it was worth it. So many people never take the time or put forth the effort to truly find themselves. It is an old cliché, finding oneself, but a necessity if you ever hope to acquire true peace with life. Maybe some people are afraid of the journey, maybe they are afraid they won’t like what they find, or maybe they are happy being miserable…I don’t know.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step - I don’t know who said that but it is true. Finding oneself requires one to actually start searching themselves out. For me, that could only be done in quiet solitude with times of deep inner reflection. I have come a long way from where I was even a year ago. Finding oneself can take years - it can take a lifetime. But I believe it is worth it.

If you find yourself wondering if there isn’t more to life or feeling disharmony within yourself or feeling like life isn’t going the way it should - then I would venture a guess that you haven’t found yourself yet. Are you looking? Or are you bogged down by happenstance? Can you think of someone you know who seems happy in their own skin? Don’t they seem to have a joy that shines through them? It is because they searched themselves out and have embraced the inner them…all the good and the bad.

Start your journey - you don’t have to move away to do it, just need some regular quiet solitude to search your inner labyrinth - it is so worth the trip.

No idea for a title

It is Sunday and I’m waiting for my brother to arrive so we can go out to lunch and then a movie. It is my day of rest - I’ve been so stressed lately that it will be nice to just relax today. I look around me though and am not sure how relaxed I’ll be knowing I have so much yet to do.

Someone in my neighborhood has a rooster for a pet - it has been cockadoodling all morning. Made me laugh for some reason - a rooster in the city but he must be happy enough to be yoodling so much.

Baxter must be asleep upstairs - I hear him whining and gruffing every little bit which he only does in his sleep. My dog rarely ever barks - he’ll go days without barking at all - which is good. He’ll whine if he wants something but he doesn’t bark. Usually the only time he does bark is when we are playing tug of war or something like that.

Humid again here today - 88% humidity so it is like breathing through a wet washcloth. Ugh. I know it is winter up in Iowa but I am so ready for less humidity. It is 70 degrees out so one could open the windows if the humidity wasn’t so heavy.

It’s getting closer - the moving date. Am starting to stress out even more then before.

Exhausting Work

I do feel like I accomplished a lot today…just not as much as I had hoped to. What amazes me is how tired I am - I don’t understand it. I haven’t felt this bone weary tired in weeks.

The house is as clean as it is going to get tonight. I have to take the trash to the dumpster yet - probably have to make three trips to get it all over there. I wanted to get the patio cleaned but with the rain the patio was all wet so couldn’t vacuum it. Then I used my last vacuum bag up so have to go to Sears to get more - I would think someone would sell a generic brand but I’ve tried several and none of them fit right.

Did I mention how tired I am?

My boxes are all used up so I need to get more or cut back on what I’m sending. Man, I hate this whole moving thing. I hate the idea of moving to Iowa and staying with someone, then having to move again to my own place once I start getting paid from the University, then I’ll have to move again once I buy a house. I’ll probably have to rent storage space when I get up there rather then try to find someone’s house to store this stuff. I need to see about getting a post office box - wonder how much they cost? Are they cheaper in WL or are they the same as IC? Sis, if you read this, can you check WL to find out how much small and a medium boxes rent for there? Would like to have one before I leave so I can forward my mail from here.

I need to take Baxter out for his evening walk but I’m too tired to move right now. I think I’ll catch a half hour nap and then take him out. Why am I so tired??? We did walk our two miles this morning and it was pretty warm and humid out - maybe it zapped me more then I think? Can barely keep my eyes open - I’d worry about carbon monoxide poisoning if I had anything that ran off natural gas…being this tired just doesn’t feel normal. Good thing I’m taking tomorrow off from doing any work.