Busier than I expected

Wow, life has been ZOOMING by the last few months. My new job has kept me very busy. I'm trying to stay in better contact with my friends now that I don't get to fall back on seeing them at work everyday. D and I have been doing a lot more together in the evenings. I'm trying to squeeze in the last bit of outdoor adventures before winter sets in. I've been dying to write some new blog entries, but for a while lately I'm happy if I can even update my facebook status regularly. But I just downloaded a bunch of photos from my phone and figure it's the impetus I need to actually write some posts.

The travel hasn't been as bad as they said, right now I'm going once every 3 weeks. It would be great if that's how it stayed, but I'm worried it might have to pick up sometime next year. I was all over NC last week, and my next trip is up to NJ. So far getting into the field has been great. I'm learning a lot from the reps and everyone seems really happy with how I'm doing. The odd thing about the travel I do is that I never get to stay anywhere longer than about 30 hours. My record was 1:20 in Raleigh. I drove 3.5 hours there, ate lunch, had a 20 min. meeting, then drove 4 hours west to the next stop. I'm learning how to unpack in the hotel and immediately repack everything I can to speed up the next morning. Did you watch Up in the Air, that George Clooney movie? Whenever it's on I always stop what I'm doing to watch him pack each time. I usually have time to workout in the evening, and sometimes a few hours free to check out some quirky shop I found online and marked to visit. Mealtimes also tend to be really skewed - too-early breakfast, late lunch, ridiculously late dinner. I've found that I pretty much lose track of not only what day it is, but even what time of day. It's all driven by where I have to be next. Wow, that sounds kind of weird and sad, but really it's not. So far I've adapted really well. And D has been wonderfully supportive. I know he hates it when I'm gone, but he doesn't gripe about it at all. He keeps threatening to kill the dogs if they don't calm down, but honestly I'm with them all day long so I know where he's coming from. I'm sure there's some Freudian reason I'm worried you all might be concerned with the tone of this post, but I don't think I need to start exploring that right now.

Googlemaps has a great feature I highly recommend. You can search for shops, restaurants, yoga studios, etc on googlemaps and it'll pinpoint all of them in an area. You can then save the ones you want to a map for reference later. Anytime someone suggests a spot I save it to a map for that city.

And, since all the blogs I follow use lots of photos, here's one of the hostess stand at the Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville. Brilliant!

Timestream

Time keeps passing and passing.  I'm being carried downstream not by my own power.  Thankfully I am safely afloat, worried more about holding on to the flotsam of pending tasks than scurrying around looking for a paddle.    As I swift my way along each day I see others casually tubing in the shallows.  Bumbling along, knowing they'll reach their destination without really caring how long it takes or if they end up weighted down by rocks.  I was a tuber until recently.  Amazing how quickly your attitude shifts once you step into the rapid current and the deeper part of the stream.  At least I'm not getting too drenched yet.

I have several items finished I need to post to Ravelry, but that means getting the photos off my Droid and onto my computer.  Hmm...hadn't thought to try posting directly from the droid, we'll have to see if Ravelry can handle it.  That would save one step at least.  I unravelled my extra big sock and need to try knitting it again.  I also cast on for a Koolhaas hat, which isn't so bad once you get used to the 2-st. cables.  Hmm...I wonder if the twist stitch trick would work for that so I don't have to take stitches off the needles for the cable.  But of course I can't stop knitting on my Clapotis right now.  Thankfully I can knit in meetings and no one is the wiser.  This morning's meeting was so long I also painted my toenails and fingernails.  I'd like to have some photos of things for you to see, but that goes back to having the time to take some and post them.  Soon hopefully!

2009 review post & epiphany

It was so great for 2008, let's see how my 2009 blog review stacks up. Here's the first sentence from the first post of each month for 2009:

Do I talk about fiber and yarn too much on this blog?

Ok, I'm finally back online.

You ever have those days where you really want something chocolatey, but just can't figure out exactly what you're craving?

Now that the weather's brightening up, I'm spending more time outside with the dogs.

Flying Bosoms!

I wish my collection of Legos included an ark of the covenant!

We moved last weekend to our beautiful new house.

Reading another blog (CrazyAuntPurl's) she had a post that I just had to share a bit of.

I've seen some strange things driving on the interstate, but rarely do I have my camera handy to snap a photo.

So remember that pair of socks I was knitting and FROGGING, and just couldn't get the size right?

I just made a trial batch of Southwestern Thumbprint cookies - shortbread cookies made with blue cornmeal and jalapeno jelly filling the thumbprint dent.
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Well, certainly not the insight into my life last year's review post was, but in a way still representative of what things were like this year. Frankly 2009 just disappeared on me. I can't still blame my lack of gumption, organization, or time on moving to our house. After all, that was like 6 months ago! Wow, has it really only been 6 months?

Where does the time go? Seriously. Is there someone akin to the tooth fairy that sneaks in your house and steals your free time? What do they leave you in return? It's certainly not a basket of clean laundry. Oh, I know! They're the dust bunnies! You can tell they've been there stealing spare moments because they leave tell-tale tracks along the baseboards and under the furniture. The more time they steal, the more likely you are to find their remnants in your house. I'm going to go battle them and see if I can win back enough extra time to post a proper new-year's blog entry later.