Once again, I screwed up this morning while looking at my watch. I hit the wrong button and changed the time zone back to Eastern time, unbeknownst to me. Which is why, after going to bed at midnight, I got up at 4:15 to shower and hit the road.

Ow.

But anyway, 12 hours later, I found myself back home in North Carolina. Thanks to all of our wonderful friends for making this a great trip, and thanks to mirkowuff for providing crash space for me on the way up and back and especially to feren – your house is fabulous, your cat is strange (but likeable), and your guest beds exceedingly comfy. Your hospitality was very much appreciated!

My wonderful wolf has made homemade mac and cheese for dinner, which I intend to consume in large quantities, then fall into bed.

Mmm, wouldn’t be too bad an idea to grab the wolf on the way into bed…

Updating LiveJournal is kind of a hit-and-miss proposition when you’re on the road…

When last I updated, I was writing from a Panera in Glen Ellyn, IL, last Friday, about to pick up my lovely and talented husband. I was able to pick him up from O’Hare without any problem, and we met up with Linnaeus soon afterwards. Some nice relaxing was done, then we sought out dinner. Unfortunately, we found that the Glen Ellyn Sports Bar (nee Glen Ellyn Brewery) was closed, so we opted for large hunks of dead cow at Outback. Afterwards, we parted ways and Takaza and I headed down to Z’ha’dum (aka feren‘s lovely home). His guest accommodations are quite nice and after some nice chatting, we crashed for the evening.

Saturday found us meeting Dan’s mom for lunch at The Curragh in Schaumburg (mmmm, fish and chips!). Feren’s exam wrapped up early so he joined us for a bit of socializing there. Afterwards, it was back to Z’ha’dum for the Gathering of the, uh, Group. Or something. It was great fun to hang out with Roho, Genet, Mirkowuff, Linnaeus, and Datahawk, and all but the latter two wound up back at Z’ha’dum for the evening (and neuracnu stumbled in very late in the evening as well).

Sunday: A brunch featuring great company, good food and bad service at a restaurant near the Hyatt Woodfield. A quick trip by Ikea to meet Linnaeus’ mom, who is there doing a demonstration with Canine Companions for Independence, then over to the hotel for the MFF meeting. All goes well, though the after-meeting chitchat runs long. Portillo’s afterwards so takaza can get his Italian beef fix, then an early bedtime.

Monday we were up at 4 AM. Ugh. I took Takaza to O’Hare, where I learned that there are entirely too damn many people on the road in Chicago at 5:15 AM. Dropped Dan off with minimal problems, then came back and crashed for a short nap. Once I got mobile again, I was surprised by a phone call that turned into a quick phone interview for Honeywell Performance Fibers, at their location in Moncure, NC (15 minutes from Apex). Additionally, I spoke with a recruiter who had an interesting proposition: he wanted to shop my resume with NuFarm, a company that is looking for someone to help manage their worldwide toll manufacturing operations. I’m a bit skeptical about whether I have the credentials for this kind of position, but it sounds like one that would be exciting and well worth pursuing. I’ll be interested to hear back and see how that goes. Monday evening was spent in the company of partran. We wandered around downtown Elmhurst, had dinner at a tasty “pan-Asian” place, and shared some nice conversation.

Today hasn’t been particularly productive. I stopped by Meijer earlier and picked up a couple of things, including a pair of pants and a shirt that are somewhat presentable. I have a meeting with an employment agency in Vernon Hills at 3 PM to discuss short-term employment possibilities in the Chicago area. After that, I’ll be picking up Datahawk from work and we’ll hang around a bit, then meet Linnaeus for dinner at Froggy’s. I’m looking forward to it, since I haven’t had a decent French meal in ages.

Well, gotta check my laundry, then head on out!

So, here are my plans for the next week and a half or so:
Wednesday, 4/21 – Leave Apex, NC, around 7 AM EDT, drive to Hopkinsville, KY, arriving around 5 PM CDT.

Thursday, 4/22 – Interview at Amfine Chemicals at 10 AM, to last 2-3 hours. After interview, drive to Urbana, IL and spend the night with a radiowuff.

Friday, 4/23 – Work my way up to Chicago, arriving sometime before rush hour. Kill some time until 9 PM, when I pick up takaza at O’Hare. Retreat to Z’ha’dum, whose kind owner will be putting us up for the duration.

Saturday, 4/24 – Morning/afternoon spent with Takaza’s mom. Plans in flux for the evening, but will probably end up bowling with the LAFF folk (RSVP to come, Butterscotchvix!)

Sunday, 4/25 – Midwest FurFest staff meeting. Small dinner with friends afterwards, and early bedtime.

Monday, 4/26 – Take Takaza to O’Hare in time for his 6:51 AM flight. Argh.

Rest of week, through Thursday, 4/29 – Look for jobs in the Chicago area. Short-term, contract, whatever I can find.

Friday, 4/30 – Drive back to Apex, NC. Collapse. Prepare to return to Chicago if hunt has been successful.

Wow, a week since my last update. I’m slack.

Most of last week was spent fighting off the Martian Death Flu or whatever the heck it was that attacked takaza and I. My fever finally broke on Tuesday, but I still have a cough that I can’t shake. During the day it’s not so bad, but I learned the hard way that I still need a good dose of Tussionex to get me through the night.

The most interesting news of the week came when I got a call on Tuesday from out of the blue by a company within 30 minutes of here. They found my resume on Monster and wanted to know if I could come in for an interview on Wednesday. I did, and it looks like a really good job. To be honest, I haven’t said much about it (and won’t) because I don’t want to get my hopes up too much. If it comes through, great, but I’m going to work on the assumption that it won’t. I also had a phone interview with James Hardie Building Materials (makers of HardiePlank, for those of you who know something about construction). They have a position available in Peru, IL, that could be interesting, but to be honest I think it’s unlikely – not a very good fit. But I went through the motions and put on my best happy face; we’ll see if anything comes of it.

We went out for dinner Friday with me_not_you and wildmouse (so-so Japanese restaurant and steakhouse – they’re having they’re ‘grand re-opening’ with a new menu in a few weeks, so you can guess how that went) – at least the company was good. Saturday we bummed around a bit and ran a few errands, then got a surprise dinner invitation from Thomas and Sherry. We joined them and Echo and Richard for dinner at a tasty Mexican place, then relaxed after dinner by browsing through the ice cream shop/kitchy “Country” gift shop next door. Sunday was spent going over MFF stuff and doing the weekly grocery shopping.

So yesterday and today have been spent preparing for the upcoming road trip for which I leave tomorrow. More details about that in my next post.

Courtesy of Jesse Taylor over at pandagon.net:

Did anyone else notice that John Ashcroft got “evil biology” and “evil chemistry” out of the mothballs today?

I really missed the evil sciences…I was going to take a correspondence course in evil particle physics, but I didn’t have the money for the evil books. I do, however, have the evil acceptance letter.

Wow, and already the weekend is over. I spent the weekend indoors, while takaza was a sweetheart and took care of the grocery shopping on Saturday. My energy level has been a rock-bottom all weekend, and I’ve been nursing a fever off and on. Yuck. Takaza and I are both still coughing, though he seems to be doing a bit better.

So, how have we spent the day today? With a mixture of Happy Gilmore (ick), Total Recall, an episode of Good Eats, and now The Golden Child. I’ll be headed to bed soon – separate beds for us tonight, unfortunately, since otherwise we each trade off waking the other up with our coughing. This sucks immensely, but things should be back to normal in a day or two, I hope.

Well, I’m off to read a few pages of Kitchen Confidential, then fall off to sleep.

I suppose it’s bad when you wake up wondering what that horrible wheezing, gurgling noise is, and you realize it’s yourself.

I slept until 9 AM this morning, which tells you right there that I’m definitely not feeling right. Couple that with a low-grade temperature, a persistent cough, and a general achy feeling, well, I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere today. On the bright side, takaza‘s fever broke yesterday and he’s definitely feeling better, though he still is trying to shake the coughing. Thanks to everyone for their support and kind get-well wishes! I suspect this is just something that needs to run its course and then we’ll be back in the game.

We had a lovely time last night at wildmouse‘s champagne party – three delicious champagnes, a wonderful collection of appetizers for grazing, and topped off with delicious chocolates from Peche de Chocolat and Jacques Torres. The company was fantastic and the conversation amusing. I think we may have traumatized Dan’s cow-orker, but at the same time she seemed to take it all in stride.

And now, I’m going to lay down and take a nap, I think.

So, takaza has been fighting…something…for the last four or five days. It’s an upper respiratory infection of some variety, with lots of nasty coughing fits and a fever for four days running. He called the doctor today and they arranged fro some new meds. I hope they help.

Anyway, today I started to feel a bit woozy around noon, and by 3 PM I had a 101.3 degree fever. Joy. I went to the doctor and she prescribed some nice antibiotics and Tussionex for my periodic coughing (yay hydrocodone!). On top of that, she peered at my throat and ordered a test for mono. Double joy. Unfortunately, the doctors’ office is closed for the holiday tomorrow, I won’t know the results until Monday. On the bright side, we determined it’s not strep throat.

Wish I had better news to relate. Ah well, life goes on.

Subtle.

The Advocate has a couple of good articles, Talking Points About Marriage, Part One and Part Two, designed to help proponents of gay marriage familiarize themselves with the arguments involved and to help explain to others why this is such an important issue to gay and lesbian couples. Also, they have an outstanding article detailing an e-mail that a gay son wrote to his straight family members and friends, Dear Family: Why Marriage Matters To Me.