Currently browsing: Hurricane

Weather and site update, but not in that order …

Ok, last site updates for tonight. I added two more themes: Drops of Wisdom (Bruce Lee) & Teen Titans … hey, I was watching tv and got inspired!

I could probably do one more, but I think I’m gonna turn in early. The first wave of outer band storms hit ’bout an hour ago, and we keep losing power. (Thank God for UPS’s!)

Would love to hear feedback, bug reports, criticisms, bribe attempts, whatever you got.

I need a vacation

It’s rainy out today, and sort of matching my mood. I’ve been really unhappy lately. I can’t pin it down to just one thing, there has been a myriad of things bothering me lately, but it’s been building … and I stand before what could be considered a crossroads due to a culmination of events over the past few years.

I hate my job. I’m sick of living paycheck to paycheck. Sure, the benefits are ok, and I know that I am lucky to have a job in this field (because I know so many who are still unemployed), but as I’ve said before: the Birmingham IT market is a proverbial black hole.

Sure, a *few* more people are hiring now than 2 years ago, but can I really wait another 2 years, 3 years, or longer, just to finally find a job that I enjoy and where the employer’s business practices aren’t quite so “shady”? (Can we say ‘Scrushy’ boys and girls? *shudder*)

But I digress …

It’s not only the job thing getting me down. My allergies are getting worse, despite the wonderful treatment of my doctors. I’m fucking miserable. I’m tired of not being able to breathe, tired of sneezing and itching, wanting to claw my eyes out, the red whelps on my face, neck, and arms because I’m allergic to every particle floating around in the air right now. I feel like I need one of those face masks whenever I walk outside, LOL.

Jim knows I’m unhappy. Bless his heart, he’s making the best of things, and tries to keep me happy. (and does a damned good job, God love him) I know he’s unhappy. He is just as miserable with his job, if not more.

We’ve been talking about moving out of state — Jacksonville, Florida to be exact. For better job opportunities, for my health, to get a change of scenery, make a fresh start. I started thinking of the things that keep me tied down here. My family and my house … the house can be sold, and I will always have my family, no matter where I am.

Last night I had to get out for a bit to get some air and just get away from everyone (we had spent the day with Jim’s mom), and I sat out in the dark listening to one of my favorite sounds and remembered why I liked it here: summertime in the south. I could hear the songs of the same tree frogs and bullfrogs Jeremy and I used to catch and keep as pets. The crickets were chirping all around me. I used to catch those to feed the frogs and some of our fish. Every once in a while I’d hear an barn owl screech (one lives near our house).

The Gardendale community is a bird sanctuary, so everybody and their brother has bird feeders and houses out for them. Every morning I can look out my window and see cardinals, blue jays, mockingbirds, finches, etc. Jessie has always enjoyed sitting out food and treats for them. (although we’ve stopped because the newest neighborhood cat has learned where the feeder was and was killing them when they came to feed … combination bird-feeder/cat-feeder! LOL)

Again, I digress …

This place has always been my home. And in a way, I’m a little sad because I know that if we are going to have a better life, we’ve gotta go somewhere else … but I *HATE* Florida for the most part. The weather: I mean I’m terrified of tornadoes, and they have freakin’ Hurricanes!!!! Plus there’s the tourists, and they have no mountains, the roadways are set up weird (no passing lane!?!?!), and then there’s the tourists, … And I would be missing college football season like a mofo! (Roll Tide *pout*)

On the other hand, both Jim and I have family down there, the job market is better. The one thing I worry about most is finding a place we can afford that’s not too close to the city, but not too far from where we’ll be working. Also, there’s Jessie and the issue of finding a school for her. She’s going to a wonderful school now, and as much as I’d love to be able to send her to a private school down there, I know we are not going to be able to afford it.

Anyways … nothing’s definite, we’re only talking about it. But Jim has been saying since I met him that he wanted to move back to Jacksonville someday. And right now, that is looking better than staying here.

If anything, sitting outside for a bit last night reminded me of something else: I hate cities! What can I say, I’m a country girl at heart. *sigh*

Ivan who?

Well, we made it out ok. To be completely honest, I didn’t expect to have power throughout almost the entire storm, much less be sitting online writing posts on my favorite lists and forums. I have now experienced my first hurricane. I’m SO glad Hurricane Ivan is finally over because I have been a nervous wreck all week!

We have a little water damage and some trees down, but that’s it — we’re safe, have full utilities, cable, and internet access. The power and internet went down off and on all day, but besides the stress and worry we’ve had very little inconvenience.

Jessie was freaked out by the trees behind my house bending over backwards, and by the tornado warnings, but I tried to make it an otherwise fun time for her … she and I had art activities, watched movies/cartoons, and snacked out like couch potatoes. I had stocked up on emergency candles, oil for the lamps, batteries and food … so we’re ready for tornado season at least, hehe.

My parents didn’t fare quite so well, they are still without power and phone service, and BellSloth is now telling them that the earliest they can expect phones back on is October 16th. (Yikes!!!)

Jim went in to work for a short bit today, I stayed home and played hookey with Jessie. (And good thing too! It gave me time to work on some web design I’ve been itching to do.) In fact, I’m supposed to be making dinner right now. *g*

A plethora of happenstances …

The news: The last few weeks have been really busy. The multimedia project at work has finally gone live and is doing rather well. I have spent a lot of time at work lately redocumenting various procedures and have been developing our technical support site. (God, I feel like I’m back at MACESS, LOL!)

My allergies have been acting up again, I’m thinking of going to see a different doctor. I don’t like the one I currently have. She always seems to me like she’s in a hurry to see me and get out. The first time I could understand, we all have days where we’re too busy for our own good … but this behavior has been consistent. She reminds me of a fastfood drive-thru attendant on speed. And I would prefer a doctor that will sit down and listen to my concerns. This doc is suggesting I have surgery to fix my chronic reflux problems, and a second opinion tells me that the problem may actually be my allergy/sinus problems. (Hence why I need a new doctor … )

Now for a bit of art: Last Saturday Jim’s mom and I attended Birmingham’s ArtWalk festival. There was an abundance of artists showing various forms of works, from paintings, sculptures of clay and metalworks, even some musicians sitting out playing. There were loads of people there (a list), the first of whom I saw was Tom Dameron with Lyda Rose Gallery. I knew Tom from a previous job, he was a customer of mine when I worked for CDO. A very nice guy, and a very talent artist!

It was really fun. I bought several sets of notecards and some glass frogs. It’s funny that a few of the artists I met and spoke with reminded me of me years ago. When I was in high school, I wanted nothing more than to be an artist. In fact, I was accepted to an art school in Chicago, but I made the mistake of letting my dad talk me out of it … he told me to “get a real job.”

Oh well, something tells me that I’m too conservative to be a “starving artist” anyways. There were a bunch of John Kerry supporters handing out stickers, buttons, fans, and other crap. Jim’s mother was with me, and she gladly scooped up anything they’d give her (she’s a Democrat). I politely declined, and after a bit of badgering I explained that I’m a Bush supporter, to which they joked with Jim’s mom to “work on” me … right, whatever. Anyways, nearly all of the artists there last weekend were sporting some kind of Kerry support apparatus.

And now the weather: Hurricane Ivan is upon us. As of 30 minutes ago, Interstate 65 from Montgomery southward has been closed in order to re-route the traffic flow. Traffic in general has been really heavy the last couple of days due to people evacuating/fleeing the southern regions of Alabama and Florida. It took us 2 hours to get home yesterday, and I’m dreading today’s trip home.

The hurricane is supposed to hit Mobile around lunchtime, and will reach Birmingham by about 1 a.m. tomorrow morning. We will spend tonight making sure we have plenty of supplies in the case of loss of utilities — water, food, batteries, candles/oil, etc.

This isn’t going to be fun …

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