Highway hypnosis, part 1

To all the Tyson Chicken truckers out there on interstate highway 40, also known in parts as Route 66, you suck big time!!! If there had been a phone number on the back of your rig asking to please call such and such number to report how you were driving I would have been on the phone in an Arkansas minute, however long that is since I found out southerners seem to move at a pace a little slower than those of us in the west. Well except for the truckers who drive like a bat out of hell! But let's go to the beginning of my adventure shall we. I began this trip flying out of SFO at 6:50 a.m. on Tuesday January 8th. It was going to be a long day since I had had exactly 4 hours sleep the night before and the flight although would only take 5 hours I was going to lose 3 hours due to my destination being Norfolk Virginia which is eastern time zone. Dinner time the west coast trio of me, DIL's mom Tina and little sis Brie arrived and had one of Sailor Dan's buddies Matt waiting with signs like a cute little tour guide to drive us to Gannimal House where the packing and loading of the Penske truck had begun. With the truck full to the gills by 2 a.m. the household tried to sleep and by 8 in the morning of Wednesday January 9th with tearful goodby to sweet neighbor Crystal the convoy hit the highway. Four vehicles, 8 people and grand-dog Juno said goodbye to Chesapeake, next stop Memphis. To be continued...

Joining the 56 club

Last Monday I turned 56 having been born in the year 1956. I somehow had the idea that this should be a magical number and something fabulous would happen to me. As a matter of fact I got to partake in a few fabulous things, my bff took me to Benbow for a weekend in the beautiful redwoods of Ave of the Giants Humboldt county. It was so peaceful and relaxing just hanging out with her in a fab old historic hotel. The weekend before that I got to watch my adorable god-daughter get married to her soulmate and have their gorgeous infant daughter baptised during the ceremony, so thankful that I got to be a part of that special event. Thanksgiving we hosted my mom, sis and sis' boyfriend and got weather and scenery that one can only find in our part of Northern California, well maybe elsewhere you could find it but I'm biased. So this makes me think that if you want to have something magical happen you should probably try to work on getting it yourself. It must be that the idea of publishing my story collection that I've been working on for the last 6 years has been coming to the surface of my subconscious since in dreams I have seen the cover floating through space or laying on a cloud or being held by some unknown person while they are reading it on a train or in a pasture. So I have a year of magical attempts and will work towards seeing The Fridge Magnet Chronicles in print. Happy Birthday to me!

Books, books and more books!

Last Saturday I covered for my friend Jeane at her booth during the Sonoma County Literary Festival. The hubby and I carried several boxes of local author's books to be for sale during the festival. Coming on board as Jeane's assistant is a part-time job from the heart. As a writer myself (although The Fridge Magnet Chronicles is going on 6 years in the making) I love to see the success of other local writer's. I am also old fashioned and love bookstores and the feel and smell of printed pages that I can sit with and loose myself into while reading a well written story. So it was my suprise that sales just weren't happening and alas didn't even earn enough money for Jeane to earn back her investment of the rented spot. What I did notice when folks stopped by the booth was that many took out their phones and snapped pictures of books title pages. Finally after mulling that for a week it came to me what that was about, people who Kindle could probably go home and get on Amazon and download the books I had for sale at a fraction of what a hard copy book goes for. Too late to do anything about it now but it's still annoying. All in all even if the books are bought electronicly the author still gets paid so that's good but next year if I'm at the booth selling local author's books those people who try to take photographs will get a nice picture of my hand instead. What do you think of that? "-)

New job

I have a new job! Commuting to Sonoma for work at Outdora as customer service. Commute seems a harsh word. I leave my house and about a half hour later after winding through pretty country roads over hills and past vineyards I arrive to begin my day in a town that's like a postcard. I've already lunched under the trees in the park at the town plaza and window shopped at Sister's, a consignment store that friends have raved about for years. My co-workers and boss at Outdora are really wonderful so far. With a completed week under my belt, although not really earning a great salary I have to say I feel a good fit has been found for me to work at til retirement. Will keep you posted.

End of semester...

The semester from hell finally ended. Below you will see my grades for the 4 classes I completed. I am on board with the D from BOT 85.4, had decided about halfway through that legal docs made my eyes glaze over. But the F in BOT 56B is intolerable. I turned in my professional portfolio, albeit the biography was a short story about when I was a teen and would sit in the pear tree smoking and daydreaming of leaving Ukiah. Ok, I admit that the cover for the binder was the page I always print out for the cover of my story collection The Fridge Magnet Chronicles. Comments from the instructor were as follows, "Cute cover but highly inappropriate for business portfolio, in fact you didn't follow the instructions at all." Well I think it was inappropriate for a teacher switch-a-roo halfway through the semester. And I also think that there should be a way to test out of a class about joining the 21st century workforce if you've been a worker in both the 20th and 21st centuries! Such as it is I do feel that I got something out of it besides having a dream team to work with (you know who you are Rebbeca, Tracey, and Eli), I figured out that I don't want to be an ace admin assist or a bookkeeper extroirdinare. So will spend the summer looking through all the certificate programs that don't involve so much printing that I go through 2 ink cartridges in one semester or have books that cost an arm and a leg and then are barely refered to throught the whole class. What do you think, lessons learned?

5356	BOT 85.1	LEGAL PROFESSIONS	B	1.00	1.00	3.00
6889	BOT 85.4	CIVIL LITIGATION PROC	D	1.50	1.50	1.50
4306	BOT 56A	WORKFORCE ISSUES	C	3.00	3.00	6.00
4307	BOT 56B	BUSINESS CAREER PLANNING	F	1.00	0.00	0.00
6569	WEOC 99	OCC WORK EXPERIENCE	W	<1.00>	0.00	0.00
Semester Totals				6.50	5.50	10.50	1.615
Semester Degree Applicable Totals				6.50	5.50	10.50	1.615

April showers bring May flowers

Dear Spring, No more showers please. I always forget my raincoat in the truck and get wet. Seeing the lupine and poppies is making me happy though. And I shouldn't complain about the longer days, seasonal affected disorder sufferer that I am. The wind is kind of making more allergies kick in too but nothing like earlier in the year when the dreaded Acacia was in bloom. Have even done a little spring cleaning and put up interesting wall scapes. Getting a lot of reading done although not the homework for school that I should be doing to get a halfway decent grade in May. So thank you Spring for coming along, guess I can live with the rain so I'll be able to shower this summer without water rationing! Sincerely, M

Stepping out of legal and into I don't even know what...

Just took an online career assesment test and have realized that I am not legal office material. SOOOOO... I will start all over once again even with a year of legal assistant paid and studied for and try to figure out where my path shall lead me. If you are interested I have copy and pasted the test results. Open for feedback you all. "-)
As a Blue...
you may be among the most loving, nurturing and supportive people in the world. You often seek to express your inner self.
You do not have to work at it; it is simply your nature. All of us have special talents and gifts, but Blues possess extraordinary people skills. Others easily recognize you because of your soft and gentle demeanour.
One of your greatest gifts may be your ability to love unconditionally. Many think of you as the least judgmental of all people. You tend to focus on what is good in people.
You often communicate from your heart. You are generally sensitive and have a need to express how you feel. This can be construed by others as weakness, if they don’t appreciate sensitivity. For male Blues, this can be difficult because sensitivity in men is sometimes not understood in a society where maleness is sometimes equated with a lack of sensitivity. Because of this sensitivity you may tend to cry more easily than others.
You tend to value honesty and authenticity. You usually enjoy close friendships with those you love. Making a difference in the world is somewhat easy for you because you cultivate this potential in yourself and in others.
You have a great deal of latitude in career choices and may succeed in many fields. In work environments, as a Blue, you are usually at ease with colleagues, and others enjoy your presence. Blues are generally highly creative in dealing with people and are outstanding at inspiring group spirit and getting people together. As a Blue, you may begin to dislike your work environment if the people and the tasks become routine.
You may prefer a family-like, friendly, personalized and warm work environment. You may dislike jobs that require painstaking detail and follow-through over a period of time. Blues tend to prefer people-oriented careers and jobs that allow creativity and variety in day-to-day operations.