"Take Me Back To Con-Stan-Tin-Op-le!"

Hi everyone!

Welcome to a new week! I'm off and running and it's looking like the next several days will be buuuuusy, which is exactly how I like it! The more I do, the faster I move...and the faster I move, the faster the weekend comes! I hope that you all have had a great last several days and that your week is off to a good start as well!

What to share, what to share...

Well, before I get started, it's time for a JenPublicServiceAnnouncement(tm). Yes, I know we've not had one of those since my last e-narration about why we all need to get registered to vote (and you DID vote, right? I mean, I'm not going to have to reach through this blog and slap the hell out of you, am I?). Anyway...on to the ShamelessPromo(tm). When I began this blog, I wanted to accomplish several things with it. Obviously, I wanted to share my life with the world at large and hopefully, in the process, make some new friends and get another view on the world via reading the online diaries of others. Something else I wanted to do was to use this unique e-voice to share concerns and raise awareness about things that are important to me. Anyone who knows me (and/or who has read this blog) know that I fought hard for my position on the Terri Schiavo case. I've briefly shared with you my commitment to the Childrens' Miracle Network, and I encouraged all of you to take part in the various relief efforts after last December's deadly tsunami. Now, I want to make a personal plea to you. If you'll look at the right-side of your screen, you'll see a column of links that I've entitled "Please Support." Beneath that area is a link to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation. Please, friends, take the time to read up on this tragic and life-changing disease. So many times in life, we take for granted those things to which we've become accustomed (and upon which, we so dearly rely). Imagine your life and how differently you'd lead it if you lost your sight. Just imagine. And then stop right now and take the time to educate yourself on good eye health. Macular Degeneration isn't the only tragic eye disorder, I know. But because it is affecting the life of someone I love with my whole heart, I wanted to use my blogvoice(tm) to call attention to this disorder to all of you in the hopes of motivating you to educate and protect yourself and your vision. Your tomorrow depends on it. Now, I am not a doctor, and so I'll not even start talking opthalmology with all of you. I'll leave that for your eye doctor (who you WILL call tomorrow and make an appointment to see, yes?)...but let me tell you what my wonderful doctor shared with me when I saw him a few weeks back. Wear sunglasses and protect your eyes from UV light. Eat green, leafy veggies. And take lutein vitamins, which are readily available at any pharmacy or grocery store. I'm doing all of these things, and want to encourage all of you, my friends, to do the same. Please protect your vision. It's so amazingly precious, and your life would be radically different without it. Remember that.

So anyway, this BRAC continues to loom over my head like a bad hangover. I want so badly to believe that the cards will fall out naturally, and that I'll end up with the perfect job at the perfect place with the perfect colleagues and the perfect boss...all of which without any effort on my part. Of course, the realist in me (i.e., the responsible adult with a child and a mortgage and a LIFE) knows that I need to take a proactive stance and to at least test out the professional waters. Even if we are on the final BRAC list, the likelihood is good that it would be 2010 or 2011 before we'd actually close. While a lot can happen between June 20, 2005 and anydate, 2011, I know it's best for me to try...to at least try...and see what comes to pass. So I did it. I did it! I applied for a GS-0201-12 (that's a Human Resources Specialist at a relatively high grade level, for you non-Fed sorts) at another Federal agency in Kansas City. So wish me luck. We'll see. I am not really ready to "jump ship" now and leave my current career behind, and this position focuses more on recruitment and hardcore staffing than employee relations, which is where my HR heart is. But still, it's a foot in the door and an experience. Who knows? Sometimes the best things come when you're really thinking about walking in a different direction...

In more exciting news, my Bo Bice releases his first CD single tomorrow, and I am vedddy happy about it! Many thanks to the fine folks at the Barnes and Noble at Town Center Plaza, who have promised to hold a copy for me until I get off work tomorrow! I am quite happy. I only wish he'd considered releasing "In A Dream" on this CD. Oh well, perhaps this winter when his full-length CD is released. We'll see.

On the topic of CDs, I am in a CD Exchange with the ladies of the "The Womens' Room" forum over at ISCABBS. I received a great CD filled with classic rock from a gal in Kentucky, and have just put the finishing touches on my CD, which I'll be sending tomorrow to a new friend in New Jersey. Here's my eclectic, somewhat strange mix of tunes that I've compiled:

1. Caramel (Suzanne Vega)
2. I Don't Want To Be (Bo Bice)
3. Cab Driver (Daryl Hall)
4. Me And Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin)
5. Because Of You (Kelly Clarkson)
6. Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (The Four Lads)
7. Crying (k.d. lang)
8. All That I Am (Rob Thomas)
9. Looking In (Mariah Carey)
10. Vertigo (U2)
11. Come On Over (Olivia Newton-John)
12. Smooth Criminal (Alien Ant Farm)
13. Let The River Run (Carly Simon)
14. I Can't Imagine (Aaron Neville)
15. This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) (Natalie Cole)
16. All I Know Of Love (Barbra Streisand and Josh Groban)

I hope she likes it! Strange mix, I know. But I like all sorts of music. In hindsight, I wish I'd put some Secret Garden on there, too. Oh well.

Happy (belated) Dads' Day to all the fathers out there. We had a wonderful, weekend-long celebration of the men in our lives. I miss my Daddy something fierce, but had a fun time making his care package and sending it off to him back home. We spent Saturday with Curt's family and then had a private, quiet day (just he and I) yesterday. I made a yummy dinner (stuffed turkey breasts, pasta alfredo, and salad) and we relaxed poolside (rather, HE relaxed poolside...I just crocheted and watched him and Maggy paddle in the pool!). Nice relaxing day. Hard to belive it's summer already. Fall will be here before we know it.

I think I'll close up shop here for the night. Oh, before I forget! I got an EMAIL last night (and another one today) from an old high school friend who I've not talked to since we graduated in 1990. It's good to hear from her. I'll call her S., and just say "welcome to my blog" and "I hope we can keep in touch."

Off to crochet furiously (gotta get this shawl done...gotta get this shawl done...)

-J :)