another uneventful weekend

it may be a curse to live in interesting times, but on the other hand, a little excitement never killed anyone either. feeling more than a little stir crazy lately, possibly more so since i actually spent the last couple weeks working.

probably one more day of work left at Hollywood Lights, in which i need to put the final touches on their cable coiler (pics to follow, if i can remember my camera), and weld back together a couple of switch mountings Jason cut down to truck-loading size. after that, it's back to finding a more permanent means of recapitalization. 20,000 people in Washington state lost their jobs again last month, and we now have the 4th highest unemployment of all states at 9.2%, behind Oregon's 12-ish, California's (unbelievably high) 14-ish and another state's (which i'm too lazy to look up at the moment). inconveniently and dispropotionately represented among those ranks are machining jobs supported by the aerospace industry. this complicates my task somewhat, since large portions of my work history and experience are in machining fields, which are predominantly comprised of aerospace jobs. still, running some machine for another mom-and-pop company at grunt wages is not high on my list of career moves, and i've been applying for positions at all kinds of jobs outside of machining & production. i'm once again even weighing my options about going back to school...though i have no idea what i'd like to learn that would actually help me get a job somewhere.

as always, despite my share of adversity, i remain reasonably upbeat and resolute. nothing gets me down for long, and i have high hopes of seeing changes for the better in the near future.

the weather around these parts has taken a predominantly pleasant turn, and while a full week of sunshine still remains to be seen, the temperatures seem to be rising at a fair clip and the Orb of Life and Warmth has been seen shrugging off its thick blanket occasionally. i'm not the only one around here who's feeling fully overdue for a little solar vitamin D. sunshine charges my batteries...it's amazing how much better i feel when i get some regular sunshine. my sorry excuse for a back yard needs a lot of work (still) and Chowder's more than ready to get the rest of his space back. with any luck, i won't be in such a time-devouring job this summer, and i'll have enough motivation and $ and down time to actually finish some of the in-process projects i've started around here.

today i spent most of what started out a sunny morning but turned into a basically overcast day (at least here) screwing around online, doing chores, waiting to see if Loren would show up (he didn't), and listening to music. it's been basically Pink Floyd Day today, which sometimes seems like a quarterly holiday for me.

my Dad recently finished his last chemo treatment. he posted a few pics of before/after and it's a startling difference- not that none of us noticed without the pictures. wouldn't wish colon cancer on anyone. all in all, he's been as lucky as someone who's had to endure life-saving surgery and treatment can be. we're all crossing our fingers around here, and i'm sure i'm not the only one who's not going to be able to relax about all this without a few "negative" monthly follow-up screenings.

we're all looking forward to a little R&R in Old Forge, NY, with family, again this summer. couldn't come at a better time for my Dad, i think. i wasn't going to make it, but he talked me into it. who knows? things look pretty good right now, but it's always possible this could be the last time we get to all spend this time together...and i don't want to be the one who was conspicuously absent from the party if that turns out to be true. you just never know, and there's a part of me that believes, other concerns notwithstanding, it's just smart to take advantage of opportunities- especially rare ones, like spending time with family both close and far flung- while you have them (the opportunities and the family, i mean).

so, this is what a 'personal' blog post looks like when there's not much going on. it's not much, but it's all i got for the moment. time to cook some food and move away from the keyboard. PEACE