NEW JOB and other updates

Arg - what is that now, three weeks? My apologies, it's been a bit busy. Here's a short summary:

I GOT A NEW JOB with the corporate offices of my hospital -- whoo hoo! Executive Services Coordinator in the office of the BIG president! More $$$, better hours, no holidays or weekends! I'm psyched, more later!

Grams' mammogram came back with "something" on it -- for a 25-year breast cancer survivor, that's a mega-depressing thing -- BUT, she had a biopsy, and all is well.

Then she had to put her dog to sleep -- he's the last real connection to Grandpa, I think, since they scattered his ashes in the ocean, so it's tough to deal with; but we are all doing what we can to be there for her.

Jenny Craig -- I'm holding steady between 135-140lbs, right where I want to be. Mom & Grams continue to lose, yay!

I'm still truly, madly, deeply in love with Speed. See how happy I am:

We have scheduled TEN WHOLE DAYS off work to just relax, beginning with a weekend jaunt to the Milwaukee area to catch up with M & JK. After that, we may go camping for a few days, who knows...

Lots of A's in school - yay me! Writing a paper (or should be writing a paper) on the ethics of govermental surveillance for my IT class (think USA PATRIOT Act -- shudder!)

Little bro home from school this weekend, family going out to dinner Friday night, whoo hoo!

Thinking of changing my car insurance carrier -- the little gecko says he can save me like $140/6-months -- does anyone have any experience with Geico? Thoughts, opinions?

That's about it, back to work I go -- in the immortal words of Tigger, ta ta for now!

Sad Day

The world is mourning the loss of a great naturalist; a man who took us with him into the wild, to give us a better glimpse at the wildlife that he loved and tried to protect.

Here are a few quotes I thought were really good:

"'Rarely has the world embraced an animal enthusiast and conservationist as they did Steve Irwin,' Discovery Networks International President Dawn McCall said in a statement."

"The consensus of public opinion on the sudden death of the man we called the Crocodile Hunter is 'I’m shocked… but I know I shouldn’t be.' Steve Irwin waded into crocodile-infested waters, hauled poisonous snakes out from under rocks, and scaled trees in further search of things that send most people — and other animals — skittering in the other direction."

"'You need to come with me and be with that animal,' I once saw Irwin tell an interviewer on one of his Animal Planet specials, '…because if we can touch people about wildlife, then they’ll want to save it.

He then turned towards the camera, as I’ve seen almost no other celebrity do before in a soft-light interview. “Come with me!” he said, eyes wide. 'Come with me.'"

"Reports are now surfacing that Irwin, who was filming a documentary when he died, never saw the stingray that killed him until after it struck. His friend John Stainton told Australian media that the cameraman floated in front of the ray as Irwin swam alongside. The animal likely felt cornered. The barb swung.

If the camera hadn't been there, it may not have attacked.

But then again, if the camera hadn’t have been there, we likely would have never known Steve Irwin at all."