Behold the whirlwind.
Where to begin? I’ve posted photos of the drama related to my dining-room window. The broken pane is from a century-old window, so the glass repair is taking some time. The storm window is in place — the A/C unit is now in front of my bedroom fireplace — so it’s not terrible, but I do occasionally feel a draft. Ugh.
Two weeks ago, I went on a casino trip to Detroit (MGM Grand, Motor City and Greektown) as well as Caesar’s Windsor and Hollywood Casino Toledo. Tony and Roux attended. It was a great time — we covered it in a podcast last week — but regrettably expensive.
Last Friday, a six-hour board meeting of the Michigan Association for Healthcare Quality. In Mount Pleasant. The board accepted my proposal, endorsed by the MAHQ education committee, to hold our annual conference in early October in Traverse City. Can you say “wine tour?” Lots of good planning, though — I think we have a real opportunity to coordinate more with leaders in Lansing about state health policy, and the board endorsed my fuzzy proposal to deliberately cultivate contacts in state government.
This coming weekend, I’ll be in Chicago for a state-leaders conference sponsored by the National Association for Healthcare Quality. Should be a good networking opportunity. The folks at NAHQ asked me to help moderate a speed-networking event on Saturday morning.
Life has been busy, but good. My normal routine still hasn’t recovered from NaNoWriMo, though. I’ve done a bit of writing, mostly Saturday mornings with Brittany. Caught the Lego Movie with Duane on Sunday.
I’m really excited about some upcoming scuba trips. I had dinner two weeks ago with Jen, Dave and Tawnya. T is my new dive buddy; she just got certified and just bought her gear. Woohoo. We’re planning a weekend trip to Gilboa, Ohio, for late June. Of course, we’ll have to do some local lake diving in late May and early June to get Tawnya some logged dives. I’ve already paid for a advanced cert course through the dive shop. I think I’m going to target “Level 4” status in SSI by the end of the season. That’s basically 50 dives and four additional courses, plus Stress and Rescue training. If I can get that nailed, then next year I can work toward Divemaster in 2015. I’m thinking maybe I’ll do deep diving, Nitrox, navigation and wreck diving. We’ll see.
The feline overlords are doing well. One of them has decided that I make a great elevator, so when I’m crouched over or kneeling down, he sometimes hops on my back/shoulders and expects a pony ride to whatever shelf or cabinet he cannot otherwise access. It’s cute.
I have officially loved this winter. We have the second-snowiest winter in Grand Rapids history this year, and we’re like #2 nationally for snow cover. Yay. I have 4WD and my landlord shovels/snowblows, so for me, it’s just been fun. I grow weary of everyone bitching about how much they hate the winter.
Although, come to think of it, drivers do piss me off. I’m glad you treehuggers out there buy your Priuses and Civics, but in Michigan, those vehicles aren’t exactly prudent between Nov. 1 and April 1. Sheesh. And since so few people are shoveling their on-street parking curbs, I’m having fun counting how many cars have a smashed driver-side mirror. In some stretches of road, every fourth or fifth car has a missing or damaged mirror.
Writing has been slow. I’m still pleased with my novel, but I’m hung up on Chapter 4. To me, it’s obviously an addition that stuffs in material that counterbalances content in the second half of the novel. I think I need to remove it and find other ways of addressing plot continuity deficiencies.
I’m woefully behind on a bunch of chores, though. All the travel and events I’ve been doing in January and February have conspired to deprive me of time to get stuff done at home. I’m behind on routine paperwork, and the re-launch of some of my business properties is delayed thanks to some tax/legal considerations. Oh, and I need to pay Abbi for her excellent design work so far.
I might have some time in late March. I’ve got a long-planned return trek to Las Vegas scheduled. I’ll do three nights in Sin City. Knowing my travel companions as I do, I figure my mornings will be free to work on stuff. Since I’m the only person who seems to arise before the sun begins to set.
Lent begins tomorrow. Interesting perspective on the Lent/Easter cycle given my time this year as an RCIA sponsor. I think I will, for the first time ever, attend a Chrism Mass at the Cathedral. Maybe I’ll get to meet the new bishop.
All for now.