Well, after a week-and-some of occupying rustitobuck‘s living room, I’m finally getting my butt in gear and heading out. In case I haven’t said it enough, many, many thanks for putting use up, Rusty! It’s a lot to ask to have a guest for so long (guests and fish…) but you and Colin have been gracious hosts and your hospitality has been very much appreciated!
So, today’s plans: Following lunch with Partran I’ll be driving down to the Urbana-Champaign metroplex, there to spend the night at mirkowuff‘s and hopefully see some of the furry types down that way. And tomorrow? Rise as early as possible and hit the road back to North Carolina.
Lots to talk about over the last few days. On Sunday there was the Midwest Furfest board and staff meetings. A lot of very useful stuff got accomplished and I got to see some friends I haven’t had a chance to see in far too long (hi Moryssa!). The big news of the day: Takaza is going to be chairman for Midwest Furfest 2004! Yay! I’m so very happy for my wolf, and I just know that he’ll do a fantastic job of it. This will be an opportunity for him to exercise those border collie tendencies of his 🙂
After the meeting the small gathering of folks we were going to hang out with at the Olive Garden somehow exploded to 23 people (gah!). It was fun, though, if a little cramped.
Yesterday I took Takaza to the airport, then relaxed a bit back at Rusty’s place. A couple of phone calls later and I found myself tromping through Caldwell Woods doing a bit of geocaching with Barbarian and Chouette. All too soon I had to take my leave and head up to Wheeling, where I joined Feren, Kestral, and Roho for dinner.
Dinner was a lot of fun. These are some fine folks that we just haven’t had the chance to spend much time with. I look forward to (with any luck) us getting back up to this area and remedying that fact!
Three items of note to close this entry:
1. Happy birthday, kittylad! Your AARP membership is in the mail.
2. Got a bit of great news when Takaza got home yesterday: a letter from the North Carolina Employment Security Commission stated that “due to economic conditions” (i.e. the unemployment rate being over 6.5%), they’re restarting my unemployment benefits! Woohoo! Not sure for how long, but at this point any money coming in is a Very Good Thing.
3. Got a call from our favorite gelato proprietor while I was out walking with Barbarian and Chouette yesterday. She might be in the market for a morning manager sometime soon. It’s not a lot of money, but it would keep me busy and might even be a bit of fun on the side. I’ll be talking to her again later this week.