My How Time Flies

I am certainly having fun – but that’s no excuse for ignoring my blog. Unfortunately, you’ll have to make do with one of those “catch-all” posts that give you a brief update on all the things that make up my life at the moment. I promise I will post a real article some day soon – but honestly it will probably be after my vacation rather than before it.

So, first on the list of updates would be my car. As you may recall, it got munched a while ago. The insurance company has been very agreeable in paying for the repairs. I thought it was all going to be done by now, but the body shop has not received the parts ordered yet – so it looks like I will have to leave the car there while I’m gone. At least I won’t have to worry about a rental car. Rob said he would pick it up when it’s done so that it will be waiting in my garage for me when I get home. Assuming that there are no more delays, of course.

Speaking of Rob, yes – he’s still living with me. He did finally close on his house (YAY!) and is now busily working on the renovations required to make it livable. As usual, things aren’t going quite a quickly as he hoped. But with help from friends and family progress is happening. I have to admit that I so want my house back. This really did turn in to a whole lot more than I bargained for back when he first asked if he could camp out on my couch for a while.

My job is going well. We are in between big jobs at this very moment, but the work is there and I will be busy again any day now. This break gives us all a chance to do all the little clean-up chores that get set aside during the rush. One of those chores is making a recycling run: I really don’t want to do it, however, because it’s just so damned cold out there! But, the boxes are piling up in my cubicle… it really should be taken care of before I go.

Just 10 days left!!!!! I am so excited. I am also getting really nervous, too. Well, not nervous, really… maybe just jittery. That “butterflies in the stomach” feeling, you know? Rob fixed my carry-on for me, so that’s all taken care of. I have all my gear in a pile in the kitchen, just waiting to be packed. I have given the vet a heads-up on my planned absence, giving them my babysitters name and permission for him to take care of the girls. I have given Mother a packet of information about where I’m going, emergency contacts, and copies of my passport & I.D. I’m going to stop in at the bank sometime this week to get some pocket money. While I’m at the mall, I may as well stop in at Old Navy one more time to see if they have a light-weight button-down sweater I could take with me.

Djuna is doing well. She is still not happy about the puppy, but last night she actually came into the library while the dog was in there! That’s a huge step for her. She didn’t stay long, but she did come in. Mostly, she stays in my bedroom to avoid the dog. I moved her food in there, and put another litter box upstairs (in my craft room – I am not happy about that). She still gets her fluid treatments each week; I have shown Rob how to do it, and will watch him once before I leave. If he is uncomfortable doing that, he can always take her to the vet to have it done there.

White Tea

I’m not normally a big fan of White Teas, but I got some the other day as part of an assortment gift from The Indigo Tea Lounge, in downtown Anchorage, that is quite good!

It’s called:  White Coconut Crème Tea

“Spring select white tea hand blended with coconut, safflowers & cornflowers. Delivers a sweet creamy texture with a light body and good balance of coconut.”

I highly recommend it!

The Roommate and The Dog

So, the whole roommate thing has been an interesting experience, to say the least. As you might recall in a previous posting, he moved in temporarily and then went and got a puppy.

Well, that didn’t go over very well and came damn close to breaking us up completely. He ended up moving out, which brought a whole new set of emotional problems with it (but that’s a whole other story that I don’t really want to get in to here).

Then, over the Christmas holiday, he and his kids moved into a third place for a week. Meanwhile, his stuff is still in both my place AND his other place – and he’s living out of a duffle bag at the third place.

Once his kids went back home he had intended to move back in to the second place, but the owner of the spare room he’s occupying needed some privacy for her and her boyfriend for a while - so he’s back at my place.

Is this confusing or what?

The long and the short of it is that I, once again, have a roommate and a dog temporarily living with me. And by the way, the dog’s new nick-name is The Poop Machine. I’ll leave that to your imagination, only saying that thankfully they’re moving out either tonight or tomorrow!

And of course, his closing date got pushed back yet again.

Body Piercing –vs- Tattoos

You know how everybody always says that once you get a tattoo, you’ll end up with more of them?

I’m not finding that to be true. I’m quite happy with just the one that I have, and feel no compulsion to get any more. About the only way I can see me getting another one is if I should happen to get bit by some exotic bug or reptile while on my Amazonian Adventure.

What I have discovered, however, is that I am feeling the need to get pierced again! Who knew that would be addictive? I’m thinking maybe a whole row of eyebrow piercings, sort of like a zipper along my brow? Each one could be a different color – rather like a rainbow!

Wouldn’t that be cool?

Chaz Limited

I dropped my car off at the shop this morning for an estimate on the work to be done. So far, I’m liking the place. Of course, I’ve only dealt with them for a total of maybe 10 minutes – we will see how well they do on the actual repair work.

Rob picked me up at the shop and gave me a ride to work. They would have done that for me, but I’d already arranged with him. Of course, this meant he had to get up on his day off – but he had things to do today anyway, so it worked out well enough.

The total cost of repairs is going to be about $750 = not nearly as bad as I expected, but a little bit worse than Rob thought it would be. It is completely covered by the insurance company, though, so that’s not my worry.

One of the guys here at the office gave me a ride back to the body shop so I could pick my car up. I also signed the paperwork authorizing them to order the parts and get thing rolling.

And I just got off the phone with Enterprise getting the rental car set up.

Let the Ordeal Commence

When I spoke to the insurance company yesterday to file a claim against the man who hit me, we discovered that he was not listed on the policy for that vehicle, so the insurance guy was not exactly sure how to proceed until he could get confirmation that everything was ok and the guy had not stolen that car!

I just got off the phone this morning with the insurance guy who called to let me know that he did get hold of the policy holder and that the guy did indeed have their permission to be driving the car, so the insurance will have no problems paying for the repairs to my vehicle.

What a relief!

They will also be paying for a rental car for me, through Enterprise. I’m to let the auto body shop know that I need one, and they will set it all up for me – and send the bill to the insurance company, to boot.

Now, here’s a funny for you: you’ll never guess what I got in the mail last night.

Two letters - one from a lawyer and the other from a physical therapist – both saying “I heard you were in an accident! Please feel free to use our services!”

Goodness… talk about “ambulance chasers!”

Team Members

I finally got the list of team members who will be joining me on my Earthwatch Expedition next month. I’m very excited…

It’s going to be a small group (my preferred) with just eight volunteers, including myself.

Four of them are from the US and four of them are from the UK.

Four of them are male, four of them are female.

Four of them are couples – or at least I assume they are married, since they list a male and a female with the same last names and the same addresses. I suppose they could be mother/son or father/daughter. We shall see…

One of them may actually be one of the guys I went to Mongolia with! Wouldn’t that be cool?

Expedition Update

OMG! I leave NEXT MONTH!!! I’m so excited…

I made up little packets of information for my Emergency Contact people so they would have all the information they might need in case they have to get hold of me somehow or (God forbid) have to claim my body and get it back stateside.

I’m going to get all the medications I need tonight – both prescription drugs and over-the-counter ones. I don’t need a whole lot of things, but should have the basics at least: Band-Aids, anti-itch cream, pain killers and the like. If I don’t use them, I can always leave them there to stock the boat for future needs.

I’ll have to call the vet and leave my credit card number there in case my baby sitter needs to use it. Djuna should be okay while I’m gone, but just in case.

I’ll need to call the travel agent and confirm my flights. Hopefully nothing has changed too much. I did contact the hotel and verified that there will be somebody to pick me up in Iquitos when I get there. I also have a city tour arranged once I get checked in and stow my luggage away!

I think that about does it for preparations… now all I need to do is wait till time to go.

Fender Bender

Well, I was going to write up a nice long post all about my wreck, using witty phrasing and clever statements – but honestly, I simply got hit. There’s nothing amusing about it, and I’m just not up to pretending, I guess.

The long and the short of it is that as I was leaving the grocery store one evening, the truck behind me couldn’t stop soon enough and munched the bumper on the back right-hand corner of my car.

Thankfully that was the only damage. No bodily harm was caused to either driver, and no other car was involved. The guy who hit me was a decent human being, too – surprisingly enough. He owned up to the accident, stuck around with me till the police showed up, and gracefully accepted the ticket.

Of course, now I get to deal with the hassle of insurance, body shops, car rentals, and time off work. But I suppose it could have been so much worse.

I called his insurance company today and got the ball rolling on the claim. I’ll take it in to the body shop on Friday to get the appraisal done.

Anybody want to take bets on whether or not I’ll get this finished before my vacation?