You've got a friend in Oregon...in a couple of months

I've always wanted to check out the Northwest. Now I'm going to get my chance.

I must say, the thought of spending a year or two on that chunk of earth excites me a whole lot more than Florida. Nothing against the Sunshine State, but...I feel like our lifestyle is much more suited to where we're headed. You think you've got some things planned and then, bam - not so much. So...you roll with it. The heli school in Florida did not end up working out and we found a great one just outside of Portland, Oregon.

It's been a crazy few weeks in this household. Some frustration, lots of honest conversation, some tears and a whole lot of excitement about what the future holds. I definitely got some mixed emotions about this move. It seems so much further away from home. Because, uh, it is. I wish I could bring everyone with me. No one's taken me up on the offer yet though. Hopefully we'll get some visitors while we're there.

There's going to be a lot to explore out there. A lot. So many mountains and rivers and miles and miles of coastline. Wineries. Breweries. New experiences. As Mag pointed out - Mt. Hood is open for snowboarding ALL YEAR. Something tells me she and Glacier may show up on our doorstep one day.

It's going to be interesting - driving across the country in the middle of winter. We're going to hope for a few days of no precip. Wishful thinking. We leave mid-Feb.

On we go. I guess this is what life's all about. You make some choices and hope they're the right ones. You never really know, until you know. Here's hoping this is one of those good ones!

Your weather know-how

We're having a little "friendly" disagreement in our house right now...I'm hoping ya'll will help my case - I mean, help solve this...

What elements would you consider essential to a "raw" day? Weatherwise.

Christmas Music that Doesn't Suck?

Loni asked me to put together the Christmas Eve shindig's music mix. Her only request was that Dominic the Donkey makes the list. Check.

I've started it...But am open to suggestions...Got any?

We ain't gonna take it, anymore

Some of you may know that I have been working as a "freelancer" for the past year. Freelancer isn't really an accurate description of what I am though. I am working full-time for a large publishing company, whose name I will not mention for obvious reasons.

I was brought on in a freelance capacity with the promise of becoming a full-time, benefited employee...eventually. As a freelancer, I receive zero benefits and am paying for my own health insurance, because living without it is just not an option. [Side Note: That's a whole other topic - but please, if you haven't already - see the movie Sicko and then write your Congresspersons.] I have no retirement fund, no dental insurance and don't get paid if I don't work. No holidays, no vacation days, no sick days. I am not on payroll and must submit invoices twice a month in order to be paid.

Recently, there was a gap of over a month between my paychecks because somehow two of my invoices were lost during processing. I've learned the hard way, that in addition to doing my job - I have to check in and make sure others are doing theirs as well. Ya know, so I can like, get paid. Thankfully, I have a generous roommate who covered my rent until I was paid. Because for the first time in my adult life, I did not have enough money in my checking account to pay my damn rent.

It's a frustrating thing. Not only is it frustrating. It's exploitive. I've made the decision that I will not work on a freelance basis much longer. I've expressed my dissatisfaction with this "system" and I will either be brought on staff within the next six months, or I will be looking for a job with an organization that actually values its people.

I'm learning that this is a fairly common practice. And I'm not the only one fed up with it. For the past two days "permalancers" have walked off the job at MTV/Viacom in NYC. It's estimated that almost 75% of their "employees" are working on a freelance basis. This is an example of a broken system that needs fixing.

Although I doubt that Kobe and I walking around our neighborhood in the woods picketing, would get much media coverage, I'm sure glad this did. For further reading:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/business/media/11mtv.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Strange Eating Habits

Adam tells me that I am the pickiest eater he's ever met. I've never thought of myself as a picky eater - and for the record still don't. But, I guess I do have some quirky ideas of what I will, and will not eat...

*No pulp whatsoever allowed in my orange juice. I can't deal with chunks in anything I drink...Ugh, just the thought of it...

*No cooked carrots, but I love them raw. Instant gag if I try to eat them cooked. I really don't like any veggie cooked, except potatoes, and especially if they're in a fry.

*NO cherries. Every time someone offers me one, I'm instantly back in 4th grade when this girl told me she'd give me her brownie if I ate a cherry. I couldn't do it. Kids are so mean.

For the longest time, I wouldn't go near guacamole because of the color. But then one day, I decided to try it and I'll be damned...it's now one of my most favorite things. Lately I've decided to start trying foods that I think I hate. Some examples? Cottage cheese...I really like that stuff now...and just this afternoon I tried yogurt...not bad. One thing I tried and yes, I definitely still hate? Raisins. Yuck.

Got any weird eating habits? Foods you thought you hated, now you love?

Sometimes, a girl just wants to get her groove on

I've had my same ole, same ole morning routine going on for the past year - since I started working from home...Get up, walk the dog, make some coffee, hit the desk, turn on npr for some company (that's a little sad, I realize)...Anywho...

For the past few days I've thrown on some tunes and added a little chair dancing to my morning routine. And a couple of times, I've gotten up and danced around the cabin...Why am I confessing this to you all? Well, I want to add some new tunes to the mix, which currently only consists of Justin Timberlake's SexyBack and Christina Aguilera's Ain't No Other Man...OK, so now that you've had a good laugh at my expense:

When you get up and dance around when no one's looking - who's on your playlist?

Perspective

So, life's short. We all know that. And we all want to appreciate the time we have on this planet while we're here. Sometimes, though - it's hard to look on the bright side, when it seems that nothing is going your way. And you want to tell people looking on the bright side, to shove it.

I had one of those weeks, last week where it seemed that nothing went my way and I was a little down in the dumps. It just so happened that on my way home from lunch with Grandma last week (one of the high points of the week for sure!) there were a couple of MD's on the NPR program, Talk of the Nation - and guess what they were discussing? Stress.

It was a pretty interesting conversation to be a fly on the wall for. Listeners called in with their tips to dealing with stress and by the end of the 20-or so minutes - I was laughing. Something I didn't do a whole lot of last week!

So, if you happen to be having one of those days, weeks, months...I would highly recommend listening to this:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16775002

Maybe you'll be looking at your life from a different perspective by the end too. Or you can just tell me to shove it.