stepping closer to financial freedom

Well, I did something exciting today. No, I didn't get an engagement ring or set a wedding date...I paid off my car! Doing it early like this will put a bit of a dent in my short term funds, but free me up to put my monthly payment amounts into savings for the events of the next year or so. The cheque, as they say, is in the mail.

Michael and I decided to set up a separate site for information and conversation about our wedding plans. Hopefully this will prevent our regular blogs from becoming boring for those of you who don't want to read all about the details of our planning process! It's called The Big Event, and I've got a link to it on my blog sidebar. If we can find a place to store photos and images, we will include some of those, too.

Big news and post-weekend catchup

Well, Michael and I are back from the Everglades. And we have some really exciting news to share: we got engaged on Sunday by Florida Bay! It still hasn't totally sunk in for me yet, I think--I kind of feel like I'm walking around in a bit of a daze most of the time. Strange how life can be the same yet totally different all at once... Those of you who know me know that I have wanted this to happen for a long time, and that I was actually starting to think that Michael would never be ready to propose! Happily, I was wrong, because he says he decided to ask me in the Everglades right after I suggested the trip. It was not a big, staged event or anything...I think he just waited until he felt like the moment was right and then asked me. Which is really, in my mind, one of the best ways to do it :)

Anyway, we haven't made any specific plans yet as to where and when and how, so I don't have very many other details to share. A lot will depend on where we eventually end up, and things like that. More information will be forthcoming, though I promise that this will not become a boring blog devoted to the minutae of the Wedding Experience. Sites like Going Bridal do it much better, and much funnier, than I ever would!

Anyway. About the rest of the trip. The weather was hot and sunny the entire weekend, with record highs for this time of year topping out in the low 90s. We took our time getting there on Friday, stopping at Homestead for lunch and antique browsing, and at Robert is here, the famous local fruit stand, for Strawberry Key Lime Milkshakes. We stayed at one of the cottages at Flamingo Lodge, which was walking distance from both the main lodge with the pool and the visitor centre and Eco Pond, a reclaimed area that helps filter local waste water and provide a home for wading birds and alligators. Because of the hot weather, we actually spent more time at the pool than we originally planned--the area was surrounded by bug screen walls and ceilings, which lowered the temperatures and kept the mosquitos and biting flies away. We did wander down some of the trails and boardwalks, though, picnic-ed in some of the rest areas, and spent a couple of hours canoeing in the Flamingo canal up to the backcountry. We wanted to take the boat up into one of our favorite ponds from last time, but we couldn't because the lakes were still dry! The rains have been late coming this year, which means some areas are still closed. Makes for good alligator viewing, though!

Our second night was interesting. A vulture flew into a park transformer, starting a fire and knocking out the power for about 14 hours! So we gathered with other guests by the pool and grilled our dinner on the communal barbeque. Things were back up by about 10 the next morning, fortunately, so we didn't experience too much discomfort.

So, all in all, it was a pretty good trip :) We wished we could have stayed longer, but it was back to work on Tuesday morning so no chance there. Anyway, the pool and much of the lodge is closed for the summer after June 1. We were also surprised to see that the Sunset Bay cruise (on an historic sailboat) and the 4-hour backcountry boat trip we took the first time we visited had both been permanently cancelled! Too bad, because we really enjoyed both trips. Guess it's good that we went when we did.

To end, a collection of links gathered from my catch-up on various emails and friends' sites:

• My latest Pause newsletter had links to the Slow Food and Slow Travel web sites. The last one looks particularly interesting. I've always thought that one of the best ways to travel is to take your time and actually get to know part of a place, and it's nice to know there are resources to help you do it.
• Randy notes that SCTV is up and ready for DVD sales. Yay for good Canadian Comedy!
• And also from Randy....make sure you're sitting down and not midway through a snack when you watch the video of Leonard Nimoy performing his seminal work, "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins". It's funny enough to be dangerous to your health otherwise!

One Day More!

Okay...Three and a half hours and I will officially be out of here and on vacation. Wooo hoooo! Nothing but me, Michael, mosquitos and alligators for four whole days! :)

Of course, now we're down to the wire I am looking at my desk cluttered with the stuff I needed to get done beforehand and thinking I will never make it. Why I am stupid enough to procrastinate so much I don't know. I always know exactly what I have to do to succeed at any given venture...I just so rarely seem to be able to get myself to actually do it. And so the cycle of putting things off/guilt/recrimination/putting it off more perpetuates itself. Oh well.

The site is down right now because SLA is in the middle of a move, but their article on trends in blog searching looks like it might be interesting once it's back up (thx mom).

t minus 2 days and counting...sucked into the vortex without escape.

Two more days until we escape to the Everglades. Two more days, and I'm starting to wonder if I will make it! I am so tired and bored and directionless and unmotivated that it's becoming unreal. I read somewhere recently that boredom is really just anxiety in another form. Considering that the physical manifestations seem to be about the same, or produce the same result, anway, I'm ready to believe it. Hopefully four days of walking, canoeing, swimming, and relaxing by the bay in a *gasp* actual natural setting will readjust my brain.

Of course, I hardly need to visit the Everglades really because we are gearing up for the Annual Summer Bug Invasion and so I'm getting lots of visitors right here. Ants at my desk at work. Ants impervious to the usual ant bait/traps in my kitchen. Ants in my bathroom. Not to mention the increase in the local toad and lizard population. Oh well, it could be worse--a friend of mine has his car infested with cockroaches! Thankfully my apartment has been pretty much roach-free since the hole in my security closet was patched, though I have had to kill my share of 1 1/2 inch monsters in my time. Blech.

Comments have been slow lately. Maybe I haven't been saying anything interesting enough?? Please, make me feel loved! Leave a comment!

Links etc.

Cleaning out my email today, which means I have a bunch of links I kept and meant to post but never got around to. So, in no particular order....

Subversive cross stitch. Need I say more??? (thx mom)

And you thought six of one was bad...look at the "informational" web site/expose maintained by the good folks at the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library.

Does this piece of information have any relevance? You decide...

And cat lovers will be interested in hearing about the Kabul Cat Company in Afghanistan.

I'm still fooling around with my blog template, as I'm sure you can see. Hope you enjoy the (slightly) new look and the (slightly) enhanced content. I'm almost tempted to study the template codes enough to attempt making a totally unique template, but I think it will have to wait until I have more free time on my hands...

How Evil are you.....

Wow, This site is really too fun for words (thx Kim)..... going to have to work on my evilness factor, though! :)

Wild waters

Well, it's officially storm season again...welcome to Florida, land of the necessarily-weather-obsessed. We've been lucky ever since we moved here...though we've faced tropical storm conditions occasionally, we've never dealt with a full-blown hurricane. And, if we have our way, we'll move before we ever have to!

Blogger has an interesting new feature in which you can create and share a searchable profile...I've just met a fellow writer, Kim from Texas, who not only shares my interest in bellydancing, but some of my other hobbies, favorite movies, and favorite authors as well. Great minds and all that. Isn't online networking an interesting thing?

The high price of driving

Wondering how gas prices are down here? This image from CNN pretty much says it all. While regular gas is not quite that bad in my area yet, I'm pretty sure the operative word there is...yet. I paid $2.04 per gallon last week, and they're still on the rise.

Just in time to catch all the holiday travellers, too. You think that's a coincidence?????

Worked both Saturday and Sunday this weekend...had Monday off but, as usual, it doesn't seem to be compensating very well. Especially considering the fact that I can't seem to convince myself to sleep at night no matter how tired I am. I'm telling you, the Everglades cannot come soon enough...

DeKlein in intelligence, fruitless torture, and the image question.

Yep, that's my premier. That too. What a guy, eh? (thx randy)

An interesting article on Slate this week about why using torture in interrogations is not only ethically wrong, but also hinders attempts to put terrorists behind bars.

I sent an email to the author of I am a librarian today. She is an MLIS student and photographer working on a book about "real librarians," and she's looking for people to interview and photograph. I wonder if Michael and I will end up inside it? Guess I'd better pack my bellydance stuff for ALA, just in case :)

Mistaken Identity

So here's my story.

When I moved to my current apartment three and a half years ago (OMG has it been that long?????), I got what was obviously a newly-recycled number. So I kept getting calls for Nadine Curcie. As in, two or three calls a day, minimum. While the situation got really annoying, really fast, especially when the person on the phone pleaded with her to "call back, even if this is the wrong number," it was nonetheless interesting to track the progression of these calls. First, it was:

• "This is ABC hospital calling for Nadine Curcie. Please call us regarding your appointment...."
• "This is XYZ Equipment Supply. Please call and let us know how your wheelchair is working out..."
• "I'm calling on behalf of 123 Doctor's Group. Call us right away...."

Then, we got,

• "This is BlahBlahBlah Credit. Please call us immediately regarding your account."

And, finally...

• "This is John Doe, investigator for the Law Offices of Generic, Hancock, and Everyman. I'm looking for Nadine Curcie. Please call me back so I don't have to call you again."

Though I guess I got a vicarious thrill out of watching these bumblers try to track down someone who'd obviously skipped the state (if not the country) to escape her medical bills, the fact that the majority of my calls and voicemail were for someone that I had never even met made me feel like I was being subject to SPAM at home as well as online. So for the better part of three years, everyone who called my house got this message:

Hello. You've reached Darcy Sharman at (my phone number). If you are calling for Nadine Curcie, please be aware that she is no longer at this number, and messages left for her here will not be returned. If you'd like to leave a message for Darcy, please do so at the sound of the tone. Thanks; bye.

I kept this message for so long because, amazingly, it worked. My SPAM calls decreased dramatically.

You know where this is going. Don't you. Yes, within the last couple of months, after some gentle ribbing from friends, I decided to finally banish Nadine's name from my voicemail domain. Guess who most of my phone calls have been for this week?

Give them points for perserverance, I suppose...

Thank you, Kraft, McDonald's and Pepsico. You've helped us create a brand new word for a brand new world: 'Globesity'. Though the other factoid I read on this topic today said that while a huge number of Americans are trying to lose weight at any given time, only something like one in five of them try anything as crazy as...eating less and exercising more.

Not that I'm saying this in a sanctimonious, superior-lifestyle kind of way. I have as much trouble changing my habits as anyone, and it's really only by the grace of genetics that I'm still shopping at Old Navy instead of Lane Bryant. It just strikes me as absurd that people are willing to try anything to lose weight, no matter how crackbrained, unhealthy, or dangerous, except for the one sensible plan. Reminds me of my ex-boyfriend, who regularly went to the bar for a dinner of supersized loaded nachos washed down with 5 or more beers but wouldn't drink milk because it had "too many carbohydrates." Or the article I read in a recent Marie Claire magazine, titled "I gained 40lbs to lose 100," where a young girl, who definitely did not fit the profile for bariatric surgery, describes the tremendous abuse she heaped on her body in order to get access to the procedure. This woman was literally willing to eat herself sick for months in order to get her "quick fix," even though she herself admitted that she had only recently gained weight and that the extra pounds were due to new eating habits spurred by stressful circumstances. Argh....

I'm not a size 4 anymore, but at least I have the brains to know that should I want to change that, eating less, eating better, and getting my ass of the couch is a better option than the latest quick-fix pill, fad diet, or other insanity.

A nice break from the usual Florida Swamp Pit Conditions this weekend...milder temperatures, drier conditions and a nice cool breeze made it feel almost like a nice Edmonton midsummer day. We actually got to spend time outside without feeling like we were going to die of heat exhaustion, which was refreshing on a mental as well as a physical level. I really hate being cooped up at work or at home all the time...makes me grumpy :(

Of course, the weekend went way too fast, so it's up and back to work today, with the depressing prospect of having to work all this weekend looming ahead. Things have calmed down a bit at work lately, but I still feel overhyped somehow, and my regular days off never seem to be enough to refresh or recharge. As a consequence I seem to be getting nothing done, whether on work or personal goals, and spend all my off time crashing on the couch with today's choice of trashy fiction. Which is okay for a while, but not really fulfilling in the long run. And the guilt about not working on my personal goals, not getting my housework done, not doing anything productive on any level just worsens the stressed-out feeling. Ack! I need something to break this cycle and fast! Before I manage to convince myself that I'm a totally lazy, good-for-nothing loser.

Sigh.

Well, welcome to America, the land of the free...unless, of course, you criticize the Bushes.

Whatever.

You know, I was in a really grumpy mood earlier today. The kind of funk where even though you know objectively that your life is not too bad, all things considered, you can't seem to remember one thing that would make the whole thing worthwhile. But Michael and I made reservations to spend Memorial Day weekend in a cottage at the Flamingo Lodge in Everglades National Park. So we can spend the weekend canoeing and hiking and swimming in the pool and doing yoga on the bay and birdwatching and generally hanging out. Ahhhhhhhhh....I feel less stressed just thinking about it. :)

Tech support seems to be having a little trouble clearing Sasser out of our systems. Our lab was shut down entirely last night and this morning; half our public computers were taken out of commission for fixing tonight. Our printing stations seem to have been hit the worst--I think they don't have as much protection. Most patrons have been understanding, thank goodness, though after 3 days of malfunction some are getting a little testy. The old if-we-knew-how-important-they-were-we'd-jump-up-and-perform-magic-so-the-machines-would-work-just-for-them bit. :(

Other than that, same old same old....

You know, I couldn't tell you why, but the fact that the Olsen twins are worth over $150 million dollars each and just got their own star on the walk of fame is unaccountably depressing to me ...

Or maybe I'm just depressed by the fact that I know that, regardless of whether I'm interested or not. My friend Randy had an article on his blog this week that talks about this phenomenon, among other things.

A really really fun weekend at work here, as our systems have all been infected with the Sasser worm. And of course, since our 40 lab terminals need a password after rebooting, we have been up and down all weekend. The information I've seen about it so far indicates that the thing is fairly benign, but I don't know why someone would go to the trouble of creating a worm that would do nothing but periodically reboot your computer, so I am half expecting the "true nature" of this thing to be revealed at a later date.

Other highlights of the week: I danced at the Sawadee on Friday and actually finally felt like I did a decent job. The place was packed, and actually a lot of people said that they came that night specifically because there was dancing, so I guess the idea is paying off for the owners. My biggest fan, little five-year-old Richard was back, giggling all the way through my performance as usual. He is so cute ...

Work has been relatively stressless this week--my boss is back, and the Micromanager was out of the building for the week doing interviews for our open positions. ahhhhh....

And, best of all, after an interminable Sunday at work, it is finally nearing closing time. So I get to go have dinner cooked for me at Michael's, and, if I am lucky, I may even convince him to go hang out at Starbucks afterwards. The rest of the day is definitely looking up!

Well, I'm back.

Back? What do you mean, 'back?' You haven't been anywhere...unless you've been in the wardrobe. Phew, Lucy the Human Mothball!

Sorry...momentary Junior High Flashback. Let's all here it for school productions that turn Lewis Carroll into contemporary musicals...

Tampa was great. As a matter of fact, it was so nice that I really wish I was still there, relaxing by the pool, instead of back at work. No hot tub, no massage therapist, and there was that pesky meeting I had to go to, but overall the socializing and the relaxation were well worth the drive. I even have some fun stories about the Neilson Media trainees that now have the privilege of saying they "partied with librarians and know what we're really like!"

heheheheheheheh. If only they knew....

Things are calming down at work a bit, at least in the last day or two. My boss is finally back, and will hopefully not need any more long absences. The deadline on our database evaluation project was extended, so I don't have to worry about not getting it done on time. Now I just need to find a couple hours for the schedule and the statistics, and we'll be all set.

No other news, really, except I think I made my best attempt at shoulderstand yet in class Monday night.

Ouch.

This week I am feeling the burn. Constant tension in my shoulders, neck and back, daily headaches, constant fatigue ... I think it is a very very good think that I will be away from work for the rest of the week. The trip to Tampa is work, technically, but the meeting has a reputation for not being anything strenuous, and since we have a couple of days in this resort as compensation I am thinking relaxation will finally be possible! The pool, the hotub, the spacious 2-bedroom suite with a bottle of wine in situ... I just can't wait. If I'm lucky they may even have a massage therapist on staff!

Entertaining article on msn today about Blender magazine's list of the worst songs ever written. Why I am I not surprised to see Jefferson Starship on this list? “The truly horrible sound of a band taking the corporate dollar while sneering at those who take the corporate dollar,” indeed. The sad thing is I actually liked this song when I was a kid.

hmmmm...maybe I shouldn't have admitted that....

Danced at the Thai place again last night. This time the people I invited actually came, so we had a decent crowd for once! As usual, I felt like I was doing a terrible job, but the people in the audience liked it so maybe I am just too hard on myself. I know, I know, it's so hard to have people telling you you're good all the time, right? But I am feeling a severe lack of constructive criticism lately. I see the gap between my skills and that of advanced students and professionals--which is totally appropriate given that I've been bellydancing for less than 2 years!--but I don't know how to bridge that gap on my own. I know I should practice more, but what with work and other life stress and my own inertia often by the time I get some free moments I'm too tired to even think of moving. Or my household chores are long overdue and it's a choice between dancing or having clean underwear to wear and clean dishes to cook in. Plus I'm afraid that if I just keep practicing with bad technique, I'll just get better at doing the moves badly. If that makes sense.

Anyway, self-criticism aside, we had a good time last night and ended up closing the place with a Karaoke party. Which actually, seems to happen a lot when I'm there. The staff found out I sing, and now every time I dance there they fire up the machine afterwards and bug me till I go up and sing a bit. Then I get someone up after me, and next thing you know it's 11pm. Not exactly what I expected from a bellydancing gig but I'm not complaining!

Stress at work continues to abound. We're all feeling the burden of being continually understaffed and being worried about my boss, who is still out sick and going for a heart catheterization test early next week. He may or may not end up having some form of surgery the same day, depending on what they find. So he may be back in a few days, or he may wake up to find he's had a heart procedure done and needs to take more time off to recover. Add a couple of other supervisors that are sticking their micromanaging fingers into every pot, and things are not fun. We have just about reached the breaking point here, I think, and the worst thing is that I don't know how to stop it. I've already talked to our uber-manager, but while that finally got some things across it seems to have made other things worse. The stupidest part of it all is that I've kept my boss informed of everything I've been doing, and he's approved of every single thing, to the point of thanking me for sending particular emails or saying things that need to be said. So it's not like I'm out in left field, making naive and idiotic decisions. But the message I'm getting from others here is "stay in your place...don't try to do things that are above you...you are not important enough to be consulted about things that concern your staff or your department." AUGH!

Sorry. Can't discuss this situation without deteriorating into a rant. Some days I just want to pack up and go hide in my parents' basement until I can find another job...

Moving on to other, less depressing topics:

Song number 4 is in the can. I haven't heard the finished version yet, as we just recorded the vocal tracks last Wednesday, but so far it's sounding pretty good, if I do say so myself. I've been listening to the other stuff, and watching how our style/sound as a group is evolving. In the beginning, the vocals I was doing were really more ornamental, or embellishments to the sound, than anything else. Probably because Rob and Bill were used to working mostly in instrumentals. But as we go along, the vocal tracks are becoming more integral to the music and we're developing a bit more of a signature sound. It's an interesting process to participate in, anyway.

I'm In the middle of planning a trip to Tampa for the Florida Library Association Leadership Orientation next week. This is the event that's supposed to actually teach me how to do my job as Continuing Education Committee chair. We'll see if it achieves that objective...right now all I can see is a cheap trip to a resort hotel away from work on County Time. Woo hooo!

Just when you think you've heard everything...along comes something like this.

This has been a crazy week. First there was the time change...losing an hour always throws me out of whack for a little while and really, who has an hour to lose these days anyway? My boss is still out sick, which means extra business at work. And I've been having other problems at work as well--nothing I can really talk about here but the situation is making it reeeaallly hard to come in every day and be civil to the people involved. What with one thing and another I'm feeling a bit worn down right now. I can hardly wait for the weekend!

Michael and I have finally got to watching the DVDs of The Prisoner we bought so long ago. Every time I watch that show it makes me feel like buying a striped umbrella and going to Portmeirion. I must admit that I briefly considered joining Six of One, but I've heard bad things about them lately...

Well, I decided I needed to actually choreograph the dance I'm doing for the University Centre recital this weekend at about 5:30 pm yesterday. Now I just hope I will remember the thing. I brought my choreo. notes to review today, but between having to compile the building statistics and being on the desk 4 hours I may not have much time to read them over. Wish me luck...

Fortunately, the performances tonight and tomorrow afternoon should mark at least a temporary end to the crazy extracurricular schedule. I've only got two restaurant performances this month, and after February and March I decided to scale back on things a bit to try to get more balance. But then don't I always say that?

I was in the studio last week cleaning up a few vocal tracks here and there ... an interesting insight into the process: there's one high passage in our third song that gets up close to the top of my range, and has a lot of difficult intervals, so we decided to redo it. Seventy-nine takes and two hundred and thirty-seven high b's later, we may have finally got one I can live with. Whew!

And hey, I finally figured out that my book and movie review pages weren't archiving. So all of you people who are not reading my reviews can ignore the backfiles, too ;)