Hello Friends,

Still awaiting a much needed kick-in-the-ass to get this year in gear, I thought I would stop being such a lame-o and BLOGALREADY (damnit). I was just checking up on some other people's blogs who haven't posted in a while and found myself feeling kinda left out. Its like I know that they are having full, enjoyable, awesome lives somewhere out there beyond blog land and I have no window to peep at them through. How am I supposed to be bitter about how much cooler your life is than mine IF YOU DON'T TELL ME ABOUT IT ?

Random, yes. But then again, you've probably read my garbage before and know what you're getting into.

My house is a breeding ground for gnats which I assume live in my houseplants. All I know is that quite often will I be in mid-sentence and suddenly find myself slapping my palms together right in front of my own nose in hopes of annihilating what ever that tiny UFO was that just crossed my field of vision and was undoubtedly headed for my nostril. I always miss, end up just looking like I'm bat shit crazy, and freak the cat that's in my lap out enough that they claw the crap out of me.

My newest toy is the SKYPE program ( which I guess has been around for years, silly me). If you're like me you'll have to google it. Then download it(for free) and crank that baby up and give me a call. In short, its a way of calling people over the internet and its FREE !!!! And the coolest part is that you can talk via webcam and see if your friends really are rolling their eyes while you talk. I talked to Morgan in Iraq for a couple of hours the other day and that was awesome!!! There is also conference call capability and did I mention how FREE it is.
Wow, just so ... what's the word? Oh, ... FREE !!!

Winter here is a joke as usual. Today it was about 70 degrees and tomorrow it's going to be 20. WTF. I have no idea what to wear from day to day or where to set the thermostat. I've started getting out of the shower in the morning and throwing open the backdoor while in a towel to check the temp , just to have an idea as to how to dress. The neighbors are going to press charges if the weather doesn't straighten up pretty soon.

Work is work. Pneumonia moves into the nursing homes this time of year and gets passed around like jug of moonshine at my family reunion. The hospital will fill up with really sick people this month and as each one gets better and goes home ( or whatever) , another one will be deposited in their place. Call it job security, but by the end of each shift my dogs are barking and I don't want to even see another person. My goal for this year is to continue to improve on my ability to make each interaction genuine, no matter if its 10 minutes or 10 hours into my shift. I've got plenty of energy, but I've noticed how much of it I use just to chat with other staff or making polite conversation in the elevator. I'm going to really work on walking more of the walk and talking less of the talk. I've even changed some of my log-in names for the systems at work to remind me to pay more attention to the here and now : melbepresent.
By Groundhog Day I'm sure I'll be totally burned out, but I can try for now.

The last couple of weeks have been full of new and old friends and sometimes both at the same time, which is always interesting and a little frightening when the conversation turns to story hour, which it always does. I don't have anything to hide, I just don't know if some people are ready to find out what an idiot I really am. Not like I cover it up really well now...

See, my life really is cooler than yours. I can't wait to tell you more about my superior coolness again soon.

Mel Out