Greetings, earthlings!

I am now returned and mostly recovered from my whirlwind trip to Seattle, which involved dropping off the pooch at my dad's place after work Thursday, meeting up with a colleague, and then sitting in traffic for 20 minutes waiting to get onto the freeway headed north. Once we got going, the trip was relatively quick (made it there in about 2 hours, 40 mins) and painless. When we arrived in Seattle, there were a few confusing moments involving the cutting across several lanes of (no) traffic and almost turning the wrong way down a one-way street but on the whole I think I managed to get us to Seattle and our hotel without completely freaking out my colleague. She didn't seem to have any concerns about returning to Portland with me, so I must not have terrified her too badly. (And yes, dad, I maintained the proper distance between my car and the car in front of me THE WHOLE WAY. All that nagging in Boston? Totally worked... :)

ANYWAY. We arrived at Hotel Max around 8:30, checked into our rooms and then headed to The Red Fin for dinner. This restaurant is a sushi restaurant and while I wanted some sushi I didn't particularly want to spend a ton of money and still end up hungry, so I went with medallions of beef with fingerling potatoes. It was pretty good but, unfortunately, a bit over-salted. Upon returning to my room after dinner, I opened a ($5!) bag of gummy bears and a ($4!) bottle of water and logged onto the Internet to get a few things done that I hadn't had time to do before heading north.

Our trip north was for the David Allen seminar, "Getting Things Done: Managing Workflow," which was being held at the W Hotel. In addition to my colleague from Portland, two folks from my company's Seattle office met us at the seminar and we all had a really good time. Despite having implemented and used David Allen's system since late January, this seminar was really great for me from a number of perspectives. My system was pretty good, I thought, but after learning about why David Allen recommends certain approaches and how to use them I was able to implement a few new ideas to really support the work I've been doing thus far.

For instance, I hadn't really been using a portable "in box" or capture mechanism for when I'm away from home or my office, which meant that when I would think of something I'd just pull out my little Pocket Moleskine and jot down the item onto whichever list seemed to make the most sense. After attending the class, though, I added a couple of notecards to my system to catch random thoughts/ideas. Now, when I get home or I'm ready to do a review, I can process the ideas and really figure out what I want to do about them, if anything. Obviously, for items like "get celery" I can just add them to my grocery list, but for bigger ideas I think this will work better for me. I was also finally able to see the value in creating project and "next action" support folders: they give me one place to capture and manage everything so I don't have to hunt around when I want to take an action.

However, the main piece of the seminar that I found most helpful was the illustration of how to get to the root of each of your projects, how to define what you'd like the outcome to look like and to determine the very next action. When I first read the book I think I glossed over this part, thinking, "Oh, I know how to do that!" The truth is, it's a key to making the system work and it seems to take some real practice and thought to get to the very next physical action to take to move a project forward. Obviously, I'm still not great at it yet but I do have a vision for what I'd like my weekly reviews to look like, so that's an improvement!

Continue reading "Trip Report: Seattle Mini-Adventure" »

Posted by Zee at 09:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

So I got a bee in my bonnet the other day (or a burr up my butt? :) and started poking around and adding random people I used to know to my friends list on Facebook. People I remembered from high school but felt sure they would never, in a million years, remember me. Well, low and behold, several of them added me recently! Hooray!

But then, of course, I went poking around and.. my GOD, people. Some of these people are professors at big prestigious universities and/or living abroad and/or doing BIG THINGS. One gal from my high school class is, I kid you not, an astrophysicist living in Australia.

Shoot. I can hardly spell the word.

Continue reading "Why it's never good to hunt down too many people on Facebook" »

Posted by Zee at 07:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So it's been a lovely, relaxing sort of day. I slept late - until 9:30 a.m., which doesn't seem all that particularly late in the grand scheme of things. It seems like it was just a few years ago that I had zero trouble sleeping until noon, but now I can't seem to sleep past 10 a.m. without needing to get up, scurry around, drink a cup or five of coffee and DO something. Might be an aging thing, though I suspect the caffeine withdrawals might play into the equation somewhere.

Anyway, so I got up this morning with only one thing I really wanted to do today: pamper myself. I did do some grocery shopping - because despite having a variety of food I could eat, there was really nothing I wanted to eat. When I got home I put together a Crockpot full of chili and after a couple hours of napping I set about the personal care ritual and I now have a pretty French pedicure, fresh, clean skin and soft shaven legs. Also, I have a freezer full of vegetable chili and most of a can of chipotle chilis in adobo sauce for which I need to find a recipe.

In general, it has been a good weekend: Friday afternoon I spent with my mom's family celebrating Independence Day and my mom's birthday. Yesterday was low-key and (mostly) spent around the house. Nothing terribly exciting but also not a bad way to spend a weekend. I feel refreshed and ready to head back to work!!

And now I'm off to bed because tomorrow I'm going to attempt to get back on the daily exercise wagon, but if anyone has any ideas what I can make with those chipotle chilis (besides making another batch of chili) I'm all ears.

Posted by Zee at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So I've finally gotten around to one of the things on my "To Do" list that has been there for approximately forty bazillion years: I looked into Feedburner.

What is Feedburner? Well, it's basically a way to trick out your RSS feed and make it more useful. :) I originally wanted to use it to stick some ads in my RSS feed, but they are currently not accepting new applications (as I found out after 45 minutes of digging around their entire site.) I'm a bit annoyed to discover this but, ultimately, it's okay for the moment. My whole goal when I put ads on my site was to cover the costs of hosting my own blog. Since I was trying to reduce expenses and bring in more cash, I just couldn't justify the cost of hosting my own blog, so the ads I've got up now cover my blogging costs every month and assuage any guilt I might feel over the (small) amount I spend to host it.

So what does this switch to Feedburner mean for you, gentle reader? Well, a couple things:

First, and most importantly, if you subscribe to my RSS feed: you will most likely not need to do anything. After digging through Feedburner's (rather pathetic, actually) help section, pulling out several fistfuls of hair and then creating an indefinite loop of redirects (which rendered my blog's homepage inaccessible for a short time) I was able to set up the re-directs to the new feed. This means that the majority of you won't need to do anything: the feed you're currently using should be fine.

For those of you whose feedreaders don't seem to be picking up any updates, you'll need to update your RSS links and resubscribe to the blog. The new link is over there on the side bar under "subscribe," or you can click here. My apologies in advance to those of you that this is affecting: definitely not my intent but hopefully this will only need to happen once. (It's looking like this might be the case with Bloglines.) On the upside, resubscribing shouldn't take more than a minute!

And, for those of you not interested in RSS, my "switch" to FeedBurner has also allowed me to offer email subscriptions to my blog's content. That link is also on the sidebar under "subscribe!" or you can click here if you don't feel like scrolling all the way down. :) It, too, is a super-quick and painless process.

Continue reading "Burning Updates" »

Posted by Zee at 10:45 PM | Permalink

Today I had several appointments and to avoid having to scramble around and drive back and forth between my apartment and the doctors' offices, I just took the day off work.

First was a visit to The Good Doctor (my neurologist, for those of you who are just joining us), who - despite having a fairly open calendar - kept me waiting for more than 30 minutes. I make it a point, when I can, to schedule my visits with him first thing in the morning and he still cannot seem to call me in on time. I don't get it.

So, (lack of) punctuality aside, it was a decent appointment. My neurological exam produced nothing to cause anyone any concern and my response to the Tysabri has been good. So, he gave me orders for my annual MRI (oh goody!), a new prescription for my sleeping pill of choice (hooray Sonata!) and sent me on my way with an appointment to see him in three months.

Continue reading "Medical Appointment Day!" »

Posted by Zee at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I think I've mentioned David Allen's "Getting Things Done" book and approach to "stress free productivity" a few times in the past, but now that I've read all but 48 pages of the book I thought I'd elaborate just a bit.

There is a ton of info out there on the web, since this "knowledge management" approach appears to be very popular these days. If you're at all interested, you can check out David Allen's website: DavidCo.com, but I found that reading the book provided the clearest guidance to me for how to get started and for the concepts themselves.

At its base level, Allen suggests that by having a system for remembering everything in your life, you'll be freer to be creative, spontaneous and productive. I'm heavily paraphrasing, and that explanation sounds sort of corny, but the point is that when you know you're in control you don't have to worry so much. And that translates to having more energy and freedom to do creative things. (And yes, I purposely avoided that tired phrase, "to think outside the box." :)

Continue reading "I'm Getting Things Done...Sort of" »

Posted by Zee at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last Friday, my team had an all-day, off-site meeting at McMenamin's Edgefield, a large estate east of Portland (in Troutdale) that is home to a variety of different sources of entertainment: a hotel, a spa and soaking pool, a number of hotel-like places to sleep, a couple of restaurants... I could go on. It is a lovely place and on Friday the sun shone brightly and it was warm and beautiful out. We spent most of the day indoors, but there were a couple of outdoor activities that had us traipsing through the grounds looking for various items.

This was fun, yes, but it went on for about 90 minutes and by the time we all got back to the room in which we were having our meeting, we were all hot and sweaty and many of us had allergy-eyes (and noses and throats) due to the pollen and grasses and whatnot on the grounds of the estate.

After our "formal" event ended, several of us sat outside eating and drinking and enjoying the weather.

Continue reading "That Sun, She's a Bitch..." »

Posted by Zee at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So it's been rather a busy sort of week, and yet here I am - more than a week from my last post - and I've got absolutely nothing to write about. So I thought I'd give a general update of sorts on my activities since I last wrote anything of substance, in case anyone cares or is worried about whether I've suffered an attack of PML:

So, for starters, no PML. I am PML-FREE! I had my second Tysabri infusion on Friday and, as with the first one, I came home, went to bed and slept for most of the day. I'm not sure whether it's the Tysabri itself, the process of getting the infusion (dealing with the needles and setting up the IV, etc., etc., etc.,) or some combination thereof, but sleeping after my infusion seems like the best way to spend my day.

Oddly, though, I've been feeling pretty run down and tired the last couple weeks (beginning before my most recent Tysabri dose) and so I've been sleeping a lot anyway. So perhaps I'm staring a relapse in the face and just not realizing. In that case, I think sleeping a lot might be my best defense.

Continue reading "Things I've Done This Week" »

Posted by Zee at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So it is June 2, and today I turned on the heat. I was COLD, people. And I'd already put on a sweater and socks and my fingers were freezing.

JUNE SECOND.

We are smack in the middle of spring and barreling towards summer, and have had .... lessee ... 3 days of weather in the last two months that could be called summer-like.

Continue reading "Summer Horrors" »

Posted by Zee at 05:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Just wondering...

Posted by Zee at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Monday morning I went out and bought a Nintendo Wii, for the express purpose of being able to play the game Wii Fit. Of course, Wii Fit wasn't available until today, but I made a special gas-is-at-3.89-a-gallon trip up the road apiece because the lady I spoke with at Fred Meyer (when I called to ask if I could reserve a Wii Fit if I gave her a credit card number over the phone) said they had only one Wii system left.

So I got the system, set it up, and then played a few games here and there on Monday evening in addition to poking around the shopping channel to see which old games they had. This morning, not knowing whether there was going to be a crowd, I got up early and got myself to Fred Meyer just before the doors opened at 7 a.m. in order to be sure to get my game. (After all, not getting a Wii Fit after buying the game console with the express purpose of using it with the Wii Fit would just be ridiculous.)

Continue reading "Things I Love: Wii Fit (or Further Proof that I am a Nerd)" »

Posted by Zee at 08:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As often happens while I'm cleaning up the day's dishes, today while standing at the kitchen sink I had a bunch of phrases and blogworthyish thoughts pop into my head. What also often happens is that by the time I get back to my laptop I've forgotten said phrases or ideas. Today that's only half true. The thought I had while standing at the sink this evening was, "warm brownies with butter pecan ice cream on top is like a little piece of heaven right here on earth."

And then, right that minute (because I have no self-control) I served myself up a brownie (left-over from my visit w/ a friend on Sunday), heated it ever-so-slightly in the microwave and scooped the last bit of Haagen-Dasz Butter Pecan on top. And now I'm eating it and writing to you all about it and.. well... YUM.

So I don't have a lot to say tonight; no words of fiscal wisdom, no schemes for World Domination a la Pinky & the Brain, not even much in the way of "life events." But there are a few things I've been meaning to share and a couple things that have sprung up this week that I thought I'd blog about for your entertainment. Or mine. I'm not sure.

Continue reading "Scrapings from the Bottom of the Barrel" »

Posted by Zee at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

So I promised some shots of the house-re-arrangement, and now that I have a little bit of time to sit on my heiny and surf the net, I figured I'd post some pretty pitchers for ya'll to see.

A couple weeks back, during my vacation, I put together a plan using Better Homes & Gardens' Arrange-a-Room tool and over the course of my vacation I managed to schedule an appointment to have a new cable outlet installed, clean the house and rearrange the room. I was a bit skeptical that the plan would work - since BHG's room tool sometimes makes it look like there's more space than there really is - but as I was so tired of my apartment being arranged as it was, I decided to give the new arrangement a shot.

And you know what? It worked out!!

Continue reading "Updates of the Household Variety" »

Posted by Zee at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So. Tomorrow I get on a jet-plane and head back to my beloved Portland, to see my beloved doggie, and sleep between my beloved 300-thread-count sheets in my own beloved bed.

Can I tell you how happy I am to be going home?

It's not that I don't like Pittsburgh; I do. It's been lovely here, the weather has been great and it's been nice to be away from the majority of the day-to-day grind which my usual job entails. But, oddly enough, I like my job and I like my apartment (especially now that I've rearranged it - photos coming soon!!) and I like Portland. There's a reason I left Boston and went back home; and I miss my home and all the things about it.

Continue reading "Last Evening in Pittsburgh: Revelations, of sorts" »

Posted by Zee at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've had a headache - on just the right side of my head, right at my temple - for going on three days now. Sleep hasn't seemed to help; today I took allergy medicine, Drixoral, Excedrin, Maxalt (a migraine medication) and Advil and NONE of these remedies has done anything. (Worry not: I took them at one point or another throughout the day, not all at once!)

I am not amused.

Anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of this stupid pain?? I'd stand on my head at this point if I thought it might help... :-P

Posted by Zee at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

So the first two days of training have been mind-boggling. We're learning all about how to use and configure a special search engine, and like all things that are exceptionally customizable and powerful, it is extremely complex.

Thinking about this stuff all day yesterday was especially trying because I was exhausted: I'd slept poorly on Sunday night (on account of being in a new bed with low-thread-count sheets. I am so spoilt...) and I'd gotten up at what felt like 4 a.m. to my body, so by the middle of the day I was falling asleep and at the end of the day I had such a pounding headache I couldn't even think straight. Even after taking four Advil Liqui-Caps! I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. (EDT!) and aside from a couple of brief wake-ups in the middle of the night I slept all the way through until about 7:30 this morning. Much-needed rest.

The people training us are friendly and pleasant and have treated us to lunches out the last two days (yesterday was a local deli, today Thai) in addition to feeding us pastries and bagels and coffee and snacks throughout the day. I did hit that proverbial wall this afternoon but I am definitely (mostly) acclimated to the time zone now!

We're learning a lot about how to write XPath strings as well as becoming a bit more familiar with XSL. My web design experience is coming in quite handy in these areas, too.

Continue reading "Pittsburgh, Part II" »

Posted by Zee at 07:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So after a day of traveling and dealing with other people (ick!) I have arrived in the booming metropolis of Pittsburgh, checked into my hotel (where I received a "welcome packet" of Hershey's Cherry Kisses on account of my having signed up with the Marriott's rewards program a while back) and eaten dinner at P.F. Chang's with my colleagues. I'm too tired to write much (and I haven't seen much of Pittsburgh anyway) so I'll just say, "I'm here!" and sign off for now. Stay tuned for more adventures tomorrow.... assuming there are adventures to be had... :-)

(Oh, and I miss my puppy. There is no hope for me. Sigh... )

Posted by Zee at 07:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am now, as we speak... errr... read, typing this post from my T-Mobile Dash. Which means, dear reader, that should I ever find myself sans laptop and/or sans Wi-Fi connection, I can still post my innermost thoughts to my blog for your reading pleasure! I haven't ever attempted this before but as I am headed east on Sunday I figured I'd take it for a test-drive.

I also spent some time trying to figure out how to turn off the antennae on my phone so I can still listen to the music while on the plane. You'd think they would include explicit instructions for such a task in the 150 page booklet that comes with the phone, given the phone is likely to be used by air travelers, but no... I had to hunt for that info and ended up figuring it out by trial and error!

Anyway, I'm about 95% ready for the trip (read: I spent the day cleaning) and now I just get to put everything in the suitcase and then actually get up in time! Stay tuned for tales of Zee's Adventures in Pittsburgh... I haven't had this much excitement in years!

Posted by Zee at 09:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I'm on vacation this week, a well-earned, much-needed bit of time off to recover from the Week From Hell I had in early March. (Aside: I now believe that, had my thyroid been mostly normal, said week might have been much more easily dealt with. At a minimum, I'd have been able to function without getting snippy at my clients... But I digress...)

Anyway, so: I'm on vacation. And I'm not actually going anywhere because there are tons of things around the house I wanted to tackle.

But you know what? It turns out, when I don't have to work 40+ hours a week, I have time - and more importantly, energy - to do stuff! And read books! And play with the dog! And practice the piano!

It's shocking, really. Just think how much we'd all get done and how organized we'd all be if we only had to work part time?!

Continue reading "Time to Read" »

Posted by Zee at 12:05 PM | Permalink

...people, I'll be damned if I don't feel BETTER!

I mean, yeah, it's early (it's only been 4 days) but since beginning the Synthroid I feel like myself again!

Myself, as in the person who can clean the house and STILL have energy to go out later.
Myself, who can work a 9 hour day and still feel energetic and clear-headed enough to write a blog post.
Myself, who can go out for a walk and not have to take a nap afterwards just to make it through the rest of the day!

I'm not counting those proverbial chickens, mind you: as I said, I've only been on the stuff for 4 days, but if it continues to work the way it has these last few days (or, dare I hope, better!?) I'm going to be in much better shape than I have been in a long, long time.

Continue reading "At risk of angering the gods of health and well-being..." »

Posted by Zee at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So it's been a while since I last posted, but that has more to do with my being too tired to think after a long day at work than it does with lack of anything to say. Well, that's not entirely true: some days I'm so tired I can't think of anything worth saying.

Anyway. So after talking to a friend who's had thyroid issues for years and doing some research on the web and leaving an unreturned voicemail for The Good Doctor, I finally made a follow-up appointment with my internist to discuss the Thyroid Thing. Because, despite having stopped taking the Copaxone three weeks ago, the fatigue and lightheadedness and cold feet and whatnot continued.

Yesterday I went in to see her and was promptly given a prescription for Synthroid and told to make an appointment in 6 to 8 weeks for another set of labs and follow-up. We're still not entirely sure what is causing what, but I started on the new medication this morning and I'm hopeful that there will be positive change. Perhaps, even, positive enough that I can restart the Copaxone and feel somewhat decent on it.

Continue reading "The Continuing Misadventures of Thyroid Girl" »

Posted by Zee at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So if last week was the single worst week of my professional life, then this one is a significant improvement! I went into the office today for my annual performance review and learned that I'd received a promotion! My boss hadn't been sure when our teams budgets would allow for a promotion, so she initially set my expectations pretty low; thus today's news came as a huge surprise - not because I wasn't ready to be promoted but because I just didn't think it would happen in this timeframe. I was planning for six months down the road!

Until today, my official title was one well below my skill-set, and I was happy there for a variety of reasons: when I was first (re)hired I was still in school and just needed a job that paid well but that I could handle easily and not stress me out too much. And then my MS hit and so I continued to need something fairly low-key-ish. But I've now been working full time again for more than a year and growing increasingly anxious and bored with the work I was doing: I just wasn't being challenged.

It's looking like, in this new position, I'll get to do more of the things I really enjoy doing - planning and management - and less of the day-to-day, in-the-trenches type work. It's also looking like I may get to manage someone directly!

And, on top of the yummy lunch my boss treated me to and the promotion (and a raise!), they also upgraded my laptop to Vista, so it's been an interesting adventure getting used to that... I've been using Windows XP for so long it's hard to get used to doing things a new way!

So it's been a pretty good day. I'm even feeling better rested and a bit more mentally stable. WOO! And I've got a week-long vacation on the books for early next month plus a long-weekend scheduled for the end of this one. Time off is good. Having a vacation in sight makes going to work every day much easier!

Posted by Zee at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I don't think I've ever truly had a nervous breakdown. I mean, I've gotten really freaked out before, and a little bit nuts on occasion (okay, often) but completely losing my shit? Doesn't happen very often.

But, people, last week? Hands down, the single worst week of my professional life. (And I'm including in that the two-and-a-half week, cross-country press tour which culminated in my first - and so far only - bout with Optic Neuritis.) And it's not even one Big Huge Thing that happened last week to put me over the edge; rather, it was some toxic combination of too much work coupled with not enough people to do said work, topped by everything going wrong that could go wrong and sprinkled with a number of tiny little nitpicky things showing up over the course of the week adding up, all of which resulted in me working 45 hours over the course of 4 days (two of them being 13-hour days).

By the end of the day on Thursday I was near tears and, quite literally, could not string together a sentence more complex than, "I'm soooo tired," or "Umm... no." (And, strictly speaking, that last one isn't exactly a sentence...) And the saddest part was, I couldn't even take the entire weekend off: I ended up working about 6 hours yesterday as well, just to catch up on the things I should have done last week while I was busy fighting fires.

Continue reading "Losing it. For Real" »

Posted by Zee at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There was an article in the New York Times last week by Mark Bittman - whom some of you might know as the author of How to Cook Everything - about taking a "virtual break." In this article, he details his addiction to everything technoloigcal: cell phones, the Internet, blogging, RSS feeds, all those do-dads that have been invented in the last 20 years to help us be "more connected." It was an interesting article (you can find it here) and got me to thinking about my own attachment to electronica.

For the last 14 months or so, I've carried a Blackberry Pearl, which I loved. I had work email fed to it and it was set up to access my personal email accounts. This was really a handy thing to have - for the occasions when I needed to run an errand or go to an appointment in the middle of the workday - I could respond to email on the fly if the answers were quick and easy. The Pearl was great, mostly for reading email, but it was plain-text and usually more trouble than it was worth to do much more than that.

About a week ago, while running errands, I tried to leave my mom a voicemail and the voicemail system kept cutting me off mid-sentence. I eventually discovered that there was something wrong with the microphone in my Pearl. I don't spend a ton of time talking on the phone, really, but having the ability to be heard while speaking seems like kind of an important feature. So I set off for the closest T-Mobile store and picked myself up a T-Mobile Dash. I'd heard from several folks that they really liked theirs and knowing my company would reimburse a portion of a Windows Mobile-based phone I decided to go for it.

Continue reading "Taking a Virtual Break" »

Posted by Zee at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

As many of you have probably noticed my blogging frequency has gone from daily (a year or so ago) to weekly or, often, semi-monthly. When I started blogging, I had just moved to Boston and wanted to document my adventures in addition to staying in touch with my family and friends in Oregon. I wrote frequently - daily, and sometimes more than once a day - and enjoyed cruising around to many other blogs. When I moved back to Portland I no longer had that same mission, but I enjoyed blogging and so continued to write fairly frequently about getting my life "put back together" again. Once my MS reared its ugly head I started chronicling that misadventure as well.

Both my life and my MS have stabilized considerably over the last 18 months (The Good Doctor and his Hateful Shrew notwithstanding) and while that is a good thing, it means I've not had as many "what's happening with me" tales to regale you with. It's not that I'm not busy: I am; there are a lot of things I am doing. The problem, though, is that the busiest aspects of my life are work- and/or recovery-related and thus non-blog-worthy. I don't write about work on principle (see: Dooce.com); I don't write (extensively) about recovery simply because it is an area of my life that I want to keep private.

So I've been thinking lately about the direction in which I want to take this website and the topics I want to write about. Although I am interested in many things, this blog has always been a collection of personal stores about various aspects of my present and previous lives, and I do not want this piece to change. Further, in writing yesterday's post I realized how much I enjoy writing about the past and my childhood, and looking back it's become clear that my favorite posts are the ones where I'm telling pieces of my personal history. So I suspect I will continue to share those stories here.

The downside to those, however, is that they sometimes take a long time to write, edit, rewrite and then share. Sadly, I don't have time these days to really spend extensive amounts of time writing those types of posts unless I'm really feeling inspired. So the question I posed to myself was, "how do I continue blogging without having it be a blow-by-blow of my day-to-day existence (so. boring.) but that will allow me to post thoughts and observations, without spending ridiculous amounts of time every day?"

Continue reading "New "Feature": Things I Love" »

Posted by Zee at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

But just so ya'll know... Mr. Norris and I have parted ways. I will write more later, but for the moment I'm sad but doing ok. Sometimes things just don't work out, and this is one of those times. Ultimately, I think I am just not ready to be in a serious relationship.

Meanwhile, I have several blog posts brewing which I will post shortly. Tonight, though, I'm just going to hang out with Rennie, practice the piano and then go to bed early.

Posted by Zee at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

So I am back! Back from my (unintentional) blogging hiatus, back from my mini-break to the Oregon coast with Mr. Norris, back to "real" life. And real life, apparently, includes more fatigue. And more depression. And some regular ole crankiness that stemmed from said depression and fatigue, and also from trying to vacation peacefully with one's significant other.

People, Mr. Norris is a saint. I mean, he doesn't have a halo or anything (at least, not one that I've seen), and I'm pretty sure he's not dead and that he's not been blessed as such by the Pope in Rome, but the fact that he puts up with a very cranky and depressed me, and seems to like me anyway... well, that is pretty remarkable. Frankly, I think I'm getting the better end of the deal in this relationship, but he seems happy so I'll take it.

So, the weekend:
Thursday night, Mr. Norris arrived around 7 and we hung out and talked for a little while and then opened gifts and ate some salad while we waited for dinner to finish cooking. Our valentine's day, and indeed the whole weekend, was very low key: I made herb roasted Cornish Game Hens (because those little birds are so darned CUTE!), roasted baby red potatoes and steamed green beans for dinner and our gifts were similarly small and low key. He gave me a couple of cute and sweet cards, Season II ofBoston Legal, and a yummy vegan raspberry treat. I got him a Moleskine Sketchbook, a skin kit for men by Dermalogica (my favorite skin care products ever) and some yummy little treats like PEZ and Ghiradelli chocolate squares filled with caramel, along with a card. All in all, a very quiet and enjoyable if not uber-romantic evening. (Which, let's face it, is a bit over-rated to begin with...)

Continue reading "Post-Valentine's Day Report" »

Posted by Zee at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

People, I've been BUSY! And by busy, I mean, I've been doing something besides going to the neurologist and/or writing on my blog complaining about my neurologist!

Mostly I've been spending time with Mr. Norris, which is delightful and lovely. We've continued to learn about one another and deepen our relationship. I will leave it at that for the moment: suffice to say we have yet to exit the sickeningly sweet stage and I couldn't be happier.

Yesterday we went over to his friend's house for the Super Bowl, so I got to meet several folks who've known him for long periods of time. They were quite nice and, I'm happy to report, seeing him with his friends made me like him all the more. (I don't understand how, or why, that is, so I'm just going to go with it...)

Despite the party being on Super Bowl Sunday, it could most accurately be described as a "Multi-player Halo 2 Party." This involved networking together a number of XBoxes in order to accomplish mass alien killings over the course of several hours. I only managed to rack up about 12 kills in the 8 or so games we played, so as you might guess, I was not all that well-respected for my Halo-playing skills. Still, I earned big brownie points with Mr. Norris, who earned the respect of his buddies. (Apparently, girlfriends who like to play video games are something of a rarity.)

Next weekend, for Valentine's Day, we're headed to the coast for a couple nights. Should be great to get away for a couple days and spend some romantic time together. And also, I think it'll be a good test of our ability to be together for hours on end: if we don't want to kill each other after 48 hours straight, we'll be in great shape for a long-term relationship! (I don't expect any problems in this area, but never hurts to do little experiments, right? ;-)

Continue reading "In which I actually DO something with my life..." »

Posted by Zee at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Wow. So I am really starting to dislike my neurologist.

I went to my appointment this morning, my appointment that was to be the first appointment of the day. You would think "The Good Doctor" would be on time for the first appointment of the day, right?

That sound you hear is me roaring with laughter. In fact, not only was he NOT on time, but I felt distinctly sorry for this other woman who'd come in at 9:30 for her 10 am appointment with my doctor (I overheard her tell the receptionist)... I have no idea what she was thinking when it was 10:15, I was leaving and The Good Doctor was calling in his 9:30 appointment. I didn't have the heart to tell her that his being 45 minutes behind was a "good" day...

Me? I arrived promptly at 9 am, knowing there was very little chance I'd even be called at that point. As it was, I was called in around 9:40 or so, and the appointment - while rather brief - was frustrating and irritating.

Continue reading "What to do, what to say..." »

Posted by Zee at 06:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

And here I am blogging...

Ah well. Best intentions and all that...

Anyway, I'm not sure why, but time seems to just fly by when you're in the new stages of a relationship. Nr. Norris and I spent the majority of the weekend together and rather than growing sick of him, I think I like him better now than I did on Friday afternoon.

(Yeah, I know. Barf. ;-)

I realized recently, though, that this year is the first year I've actually had a "valentine" on Valentine's Day in about 6 years! Valentine's Day hasn't ever really been a big deal for me in the past, but for once I'm excited about participating in it. We have a beach trip planned for Saturday the 16th, but on the actual day Mr. Norris is coming over for dinner. I've got the menu planned and the grocery list created - all I have to do now is come up with a gift. It turns out that I'm bad at "romantic."

There are few things harder than buying a romantic gift for someone you've been dating for only two months. I'm inclined to think that buying "stuff" may not be the way to go, as much as I know he would like a new iPod or other fun techno-gadget. Being broke as I am, for the foreseeable future, I'm leaning towards making something - like a handmade card with a heartfelt sentiment, but I shall have to think on it for a while. Maybe the perfect (or at least nice) gift will come to me in a dream!

In the meantime, I pose this question for my readers out there: What was the most meaningful gift (Valentine's Day or otherwise) you've ever received, and why?

Happy almost-February, everyone. This year is starting off well and flying by quickly!! (Wish me luck at my neurologist appointment tomorrow. I'm hoping it's the last one with this doctor!)

Posted by Zee at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Wow, so it's been awhile since my last post... Sorry, folks. I really do want to write more regularly; I just... well, it just keeps not happening. So perhaps this blog is turning into a weekly thing? Hard to say.

At any rate, there are a few things going on in this little world of mine that I'd like to share with ya'll...

1) Because it is foremost on my mind today and it is still very new: I am seeing someone new. A few months back I met a very nice guy at a concert. At that time we seemed to have a lot of interests in common, based on our cursory conversation, but because he was (I assumed) seeing someone, I was just pleasant and cordial and thought nothing more about it. Flash-forward a few weeks and we started exchanging friendly emails after meeting up with each other again at another event. Still - I was thinking "friends only" and didn't give it another thought. At one point, though, after my first depressive meltdown, he asked if I'd like to meet for coffee to get my mind off my health issues, and I agreed. That day we had coffee, talked for a couple hours and then walked up and down Hawthorne Blvd in SE Portland in the rain, going into various shops and whatnot. From there things started to move forward a bit and it became clear that, "gosh, I really kinda this guy," and that he was not, in fact, seeing anyone.

Cut to today: we have decided to see each other exclusively. It is still very new, obviously, but he is just the sweetest guy and he treats me like a the most important person on the planet. This relationship has been completely different - from the start - from almost every other relationship I've ever been in, so I am very excited to see where things go. We're still in that googly-eyed honeymoon stage, though, so I'll just leave it at "I rilly rilly like him" and spare you all the sickeningly sweet details. :)

He does read this blog, though, so when I asked him whether he had any suggestions for his pseudonym (to protect the innocent?) he quipped, "how 'bout Chuck Norris?" Umm... no. But lacking anything better, for the moment, I'll go with it. (I have this funny feeling that now I've blogged about it, it will stick... Sigh. "Norris" isn't so bad, is it?)

2) Rennie, thankfully, no longer smells like feet. Baths are good things. 'Nuff said...

3) Getting Things Done: I mentioned this briefly last week, but this system has totally changed my life. I no longer feel like I'm grasping at straws and trying to remember 'that one little thing' that is constantly in the back of my mind but just out of reach of my memory. My list of personal to-do's is considerably longer at the moment than my work commitments, but I'm confident I have captured everything I need to have captured. Here's a good place to get started: Check it out.

4) I went to see Atonement on Monday, with a pal. It was...

Continue reading "Random Updates" »

Posted by Zee at 06:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Holy cow, people ... remember this post? The one where I thought I was feeling better and boy-oh-boy this Copaxone stuff is The Shit and wow... life is great?!

Yeah, what did I know!?

On Saturday I finally got in to see my psychiatrist and - of all things - he prescribed Ritalin! Apparently there are a number of studies that have shown that Ritalin enhances the effectiveness of anti- depressants. Since I'm at the top dose now for one of my meds and he was wary of increasing that above the recommended dosage, he thought the Ritalin might work well - particularly given my lack of focus and general scatterbrainedness when depression sets in. So he prescribed the lowest possible dose to be taken up to 3 times a day (or as needed).

Continue reading "So this is how normal feels..." »

Posted by Zee at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

As many of you might remember, back in July a friend of mine talked me in to signing up for Facebook. I've been futzing around there ever since - sometimes visiting frequentliy, other times leaving it for weeks at a time only to venture back and poke around and see what people have been doing in my absence.

When I originally signed up I only added a few folks, people I work with (or used to), friends I currently talk to regularly, that sort of thing. But back in November I opened Pandora's box and started looking for folks I had gone to high school and college with. I found a number of folks, but two of them I actually met up with to catch up and get reacquainted.

The first was a guy from high school and someone with whom I traveled to Germany the summer before my senior year. That trip was incredibly interesting for a wide variety of reasons (which I may or may not going into here...) but the main one was this:

Continue reading "Catching Up" »

Posted by Zee at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My company has this lovely "extended leave" program where, after 6 years working at the company, you get a chunk of time for which you can take a big long break from working. Depending upon what level you are at the company, you get an additional four to six weeks of time off. They give you two years to take the time - which you can do all at once or spread out over the two years, as with vacation time - and at the end of the two years they cash out whatever time you have left.

I was eligible to take my leave last March and have spent some time pondering how best to use it. Do I hang onto it and then take a trip somewhere? Just use it as extra vacation and take it in chunks? What's the best plan? Well, due to my rather pathetic financial situation, saving for an expensive trek through Europe or some other kind of trip was just not something I could prioritize or justify. (Which is frightening, considering that in the past I could justify pretty much anything to excuse or explain my behavior!)

Continue reading "Let the Rejoicing Begin!" »

Posted by Zee at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, in the ongoing saga of my battle against depression, I have finally made contact with the people at my psychiatrist's office! Huzzah! Triumph!

Or so I thought. I actually only talked to the receptionist, but my psychiatrist actually called me Friday while I was napping (so of course I missed the call) and when I called back this morning I gave the receptionist/assistant guy who answered the phone a brief run-down of my deepest needs, wants and desires as regards my mental health.

That list includes:
a) A recommendation from my psychiatrist as to the anti-depressant dosage(s) I should be taking while on Copaxone, and
b) To have my psychiatrist contact my neurologist to talk about my mental health: because my being in the middle trying to get things accomplished clearly isn't doing much good...

I meet with my shrink again on Saturday and my neurologist at the end of the month and, God willing, they'll have talked to each other by then and come up with a plan of some kind that meets my ultimate needs, which involve:
a) Not being depressed, and
b) Not having an MS relapse.

Continue reading "Restarting the Copaxone..." »

Posted by Zee at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

So after my little melt-down on Saturday, I decided to simply take a break from the Copaxone for a while: until I can see my psychiatrist and my neurologist and can get them talking to each other. I haven't taken my Copaxone since Friday night, and already I feel better: more hopeful, a bit more energetic - even somewhat cheerful. I don't know how much of this is due to the placebo effect and how much is due to an actual change in my body's chemistry, but whichever it is I'll take it.

In a lot of ways, I feel like I've spent the last 18 months of my life - since my MS diagnosis - not living. Sure, I've done things here and there over the last year and a half, but I look back on my life as it was in 2003 and 2004, before I left for Boston, and realized I was really living then. I went out in the evenings to do stuff like swing dancing or go to movies with friends. I gave impromptu gatherings and they didn't exhaust me emotionally or physically. I actually wanted to practice the piano and go for regular runs. And I did those things!

What I've done since my relapse in June of '06 is survive: in the beginning I was too tired to do anything anyway, and I didn't care that I wasn't going out and meeting people because I was too fatigued to do so. But as my relapse symptoms improved and I started on the Avonex, everything began to feel like a colossal effort and I did the bare minimum to survive.

Continue reading "A New Year and New Hope" »

Posted by Zee at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

If I read one more happy newspaper tale of someone with MS who is chipper and positive and taking their medicine like a good little person, I think I'm going to throw up.

I was poking around the Internet earlier today running searches trying to find out more about the connection between Copaxone and depression; I'll be damned, but I can't seem to avoid all those sickeningly-sweet newspaper articles about someone who's been diagnosed with MS but who is nevertheless "doing what it takes" to live a "normal" life. Or they're "beating the disease." Or their response is to suck it up and do everything their neurologist says because they're a Good Little Patient.

Barf.

If you need me, I'll be over here at MultipleSclerosisSucks.com, reading about what life with MS is really like.

Continue reading "Sour Grapes" »

Posted by Zee at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

So I'm very, very happy that the holidays are finally over. I know we've got New Year's eve coming up but given it's primarily a holiday of excessive drinking, my ringing in of the new year is likely going to involve hanging out with Miss Rennie and perhaps dropping by a work friend's little shindig.

(Actually, hanging out in a beach cabin watching the sun set over the ocean sounds like a lovely way to spend the night, but given that overnight vacations and trips really aren't going to be an option until I get my all my debts paid off, I think I'm pretty much done with my the holidays for the year. And, perhaps, for all time.)

I was chatting w/ a gal I work with today about the excesses of the holiday season and the rabid consumerism in our culture today and I realized how very, very tired it all makes me. Obviously, I'm not immune from stuff-itis, but as I've become more thoughtful about my finances I've found that giving and receiving random stuff just doesn't do anything for me anymore. Of course I love my family, and I enjoy the time that I spend with them. But this year Christmas felt rather empty to me, as if nearly everything I gave was given because of a feeling of obligation.

I don't know how much this empty feeling has to do with the depression issues I had earlier in the month but I can't help but remember that old saying, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." And right now I feel like I'm more a part of the stuff-centric, overspending, buried-in-debt, excess problem than the solution. I complain about the sorry state of affairs in this country and around the world and yet I do so little to improve things. So at this point, I am planning to do the following during next year's gift-giving holidays:

1) Volunteering my time somewhere on Christmas day, helping serve food to the needy (or something similar),
2) Donating all the money I would spend on gifts to a charity that will help make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than myself, and
3) Directing people to my favorite charities when they ask what I'd like as a gift.

Who's with me?

Posted by Zee at 05:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

One of the things I was really impressed with when I switched from Avonex to Copaxone was the quality of service I received from the Copaxone people: my doctor called in the prescription, they called me the next day to schedule the medication delivery and the nurse to come out and train me and they brought a lovely little binder (of which my mother is now the proud owner) in which to keep all my information and generally were pleasant and easy to work with. They even called a couple times to check up on how I was doing and answer questions, in addition to sending me all kinds of lovely little "gifts" like a travel case for the Copaxone and freezeable gel-packs for icing my injection site, and called every month to schedule my shipment.

All this lovely sort of stuff came to an abrupt halt this month for reasons I don't really understand. A couple weeks ago, realizing I had only 11 doses of the Copaxone left, I picked up the phone and called my "specialty" mail order pharmacy. A nice lady answered the phone, took my information and then promptly transfered me to someone else. Err.. ok. Fine. I commenced explaining my need to re-order my medication (and had to tell her my birth date and mother's maiden name AGAIN... ARGH) as she asked questions and took down my information.

Continue reading "The Great Copaxone Catastrophe of 2007" »

Posted by Zee at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So uh... Hi! I'm still here, in case you were wondering... I just haven't had a lot to say over the last couple weeks, primarily because of depression that's been so severe it was all I could do to get out of bed in the mornings.

Last Saturday I hit rock-bottom in terms of my ability to cope with life and the brain God graced me with. The day started out okay, but by mid-afternoon I had a nasty headache and felt pretty down. I cancelled the plans I had and settled in to have a quiet evening in with the dog.

And then I crashed. Literally: I sat down on the couch and didn't move for quite some time. I'm not sure how long, because I didn't have a clock handy, but I ended up staring blankly at the television - which was off - in a kind of dazed stupor for several hours. I couldn't even bring myself to turn on the TV and find something to watch that I was even remotely interested in. So I sat there until it seemed like an appropriate hour to go to bed.

Sunday I felt slightly better and by Monday I was chomping at the bit to get in to see my psychiatrist. He was able to see me for a quick appointment in the late afternoon and thankfully I had work to distract me until then. He bumped up one of the medications I'm on, said I should start seeing some improvement in a couple days and suggested we re-evaluate when I went to my scheduled appointment the following Saturday.

Continue reading "The "wonderful" world of pharmaceuticals..." »

Posted by Zee at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

So it's the last day of NaBloPoMo and I only managed to blog about half of the 30 days we were supposed to. I suck. In more ways than one, I'm afraid.

That truth is, I just couldn't prioritize blogging over sleep, my financial class, attending my brother's birthday party, brushing the dog, cooking & eating, being sick (and thus sleeping some more) and working. In other words, I guess I have more of a life - such as it is - than I originally thought.

So, I owe you lovely people of the Innernet an apology: I was going to write about healthcare this month and I only got marginally started. I'm sure you were all just sitting around with bated breath waiting for the posts which never came. (Note sarcasm... heh.) I am sorry. Very, very sorry. My intention was to do it and be excited! about! healthcare reform!, but we all know what the road to hell is paved with...

Anyway, it is - as I've noted before - an area of great interest to me, so please watch this space and I will continue to research and post thoughts and information as I gather it. I will also attempt to do this before the primaries in the spring (No promises, but I will try) because again, area of interest.

Continue reading "NaBloPoMo and More Depression" »

Posted by Zee at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

...or answered the telephone or sent email or made any other sort of contact with anyone or anything in the last 48 hours, because I have either picked up a new cold or the one I had morphed into something new and different.

And by new and different, I mean, "has returned with a vengeance" and involves large quantities of nasty mucous which I'd rather not blog about. As a result, I've spent the better part of the weekend sleeping.

In fact, after Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday (which I had at my grandmother's and which was delicious!) I went home, laid down to take a nap and awoke at 11 pm rather bewildered. So I got up briefly, had a quick snack and took my Copaxone, and went back to bed. I then proceeded to sleep for another ten hours or so.

The rest of the weekend has been spent largely the same way: either sleeping or sitting on the couch watching TV or movies. I did manage to do a thorough house cleaning and 6 loads of laundry, but for the most part I've spent the weekend in rest-mode. Not the most exciting way to spend Thanksgiving weekend, I suppose, but the sleep was definitely needed. And today, a migraine was added to the mix.

So, for those who've sent me email or called, that is why you've not heard from me: I've been unconscious. Sorry, folks, for the boring entries and lack of detail: there's just really not much to tell when all you've done for four days is sleep.

Posted by Zee at 07:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's funny how certain things stick with us through time. I'm not sure why, exactly, but I've found myself thinking about the characters in Doctor Zhivago today, off and on. I think that is, in many ways, a sign of a well-written book (or movie or television show): the ones where the characters grab you, suck you in, make you wonder what they'd do in certain situations. I've been thinking about Yuri and Lara and Tonya and their lives and how they all ended up intertwined together and yet so far apart in the end. Good stuff, that story.

I've been watching a number of the new fall shows on TV over the last few weeks. As I've mentioned before, I'm disappointed with Boston Legal this season. I don't know if it's me - and it very well could be - but some of the characters whose antics I used to like so well (Denny, Alan Shore and Shirley Schmidt, primarily) are just poorly written this season. In previous seasons, situations presented themselves which were so absurd they were hilarious and poignantly truthful all at once. This season, the writing is such that these absurdities now just come across as weirdness. Definite downturn. So I'm continuing to watch, but I'm hoping that it's not the beginning of the end.

Continue reading "I'm dating the television..." »

Posted by Zee at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

But not 100% back to normal.

Except for the brief outing I took yesterday to see my shrink and the shopping trip I took today, I've pretty much done nothing but hang out at home and/or sleep all weekend. It has been heavenly, if a bit of work. I mean, all that sleeping really takes it out of a person!

Heh. Seriously, I also managed to make some progress on a couple client websites PLUS my own portfolio site, which I created back in September but then took down because I wasn't happy with it. So I made updates to colors and whatnot and now have it up and running. Helps that the copy and information was already put together! :)

Anyway, I have had a lovely, restful weekend, the upshot of which is not much to tell on this here blog. I did finally manage to watch the most recent remake of Doctor Zhivago (with Kiera Knightly), which ran on Masterpiece Theatre back in August. I thought the movie was good, if slightly disjointed; more importantly, it made me want to read the book. So I guess that says something! (I'm also interested in seeing the original movie adaptation, which I understand is excellent.)

I'm off to bed now, but can I just say, um... THANKSGIVING IS IN FOUR DAYS! I'm grateful for so many things; will have to get started on that post soon. What are you all thankful for?

Posted by Zee at 10:01 PM | Permalink

So I am staying home in bed today, trying to feel better.

You'll notice that I've failed, in more than one way, to keep up my end of the NaBloPoMo bargain. But my excuse is that I am much more tired than usual on account of this STUPID viral cold infection thingy.

Tuesday I finally got tired enough of the stuffy nose, clogged ears and scratchy throat to call the nurse, who prescribed Drixoral and called in the prescription to my pharmacy. So I've been taking that twice a day and it is helping with the stuffy nose part - but I still feel awful. I've also, on advice of said nurse, been creating steam-baths for myself by boiling water in a pot, putting a towel over my head and breathing in the vapors.

My skin has never looked better. Meanwhile, my eyes have big dark circles under them, which enhances the look of my freshly-steamed skin quite nicely. :-P

Anyway, I feel too lousy to write much more, but thought I should at least acknowledge that, this year, I have failed in my NaBloPoMo attempt. Oh well.

Also, one other thought before I go: is anyone else disappointed in the quality of Boston Legal's writing this year? It's just... well, it's not funny anymore. Sigh. All good things must come to an end, I suppose.

Posted by Zee at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I ran across this photo of a doormat today...

...and so help me gawd, if one of you brilliant people out there can help me figure out where to buy it, I'll love you forever. I SO want one.

Update: to buy this doormat, click here. Thanks to Internet Savy Sandi for the hint. Hooray for Google Products!

Posted by Zee at 02:34 PM | Permalink

So this is going to be short. As in, probably not much more than three sentences. One thing I must say, though, is this: today I learned how extraordinary laughter is for re-energizing a tired and grumpy human. Good friends, good food, laughter... what more does a person need?

Posted by Zee at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am exhausted. This getting up early thing? I don't like it so much and my body appears to be rebelling. The last couple days I've been able to work for about 4 or 5 hours before my brain shuts down and I start to feel that bone-crushing fatigue thing. It just feels like... well, I can't even explain it. It's like my entire body just wants to shut down completely, starting with my head. Those of you with MS (or other auto-immune-type disorders) know, I'm sure, of what I speak. Thank GOD I don't have to work this shift next week! As it is, I'm planning to sleep in Saturday morning and, if I'm lucky, for most of the day... I'm sure my crummy eating habits this week are not helping matters.

But anyway... when I get like this the hardest things become even more difficult and the easiest become a challenge. So it was not exactly surprising to me that the process of listing a couple items on eBay completely befuddled me. I tend to sell most things on Amazon.com and I love doing so because it's easy to list items, it's easy to track them and it's easy to get information when needed. It's also super-easy to get paid. For selling items that Amazon sells, it's great. But for items like jewelry or other collectibles, eBay seems the better choice.

Continue reading "Going, Going, Gone!?" »

Posted by Zee at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Dave Ramsey, whom I have written about before and whose Total Money Makeover program I've been following, has a program that's conducted around the country called "Financial Peace University."

Last month, as part of my plan to get my finances in order, I made the decision to take this 13-week course. Knowing myself, I figured that I'd get frustrated and discouraged right around this time (two months or so into the program) - because that's often what happens to me, with money as well as other things - and that having somewhere to go once a week to talk about money, discuss frustrations and be accountable to others might be a good thing.

Well, turns out I know myself pretty well. I'm still working my TMMO program and I'm making some progress, but things have slowed down slightly...

Continue reading "Financial Peace" »

Posted by Zee at 09:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For the last two days, one of my very favoritest blogs - Woulda Coulda Shoulda - has been inaccessible. She's just... well, she's GONE! Poof! No more bloggy.

:(

I hope it's just a technical error and not that she's deleted herself on purpose... Is anyone else missing Mir? Anyone got the story?

Posted by Zee at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)