YEAR 2006
DEC 2006
Traveled up to Wisconsin to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday and to visit with family. We got up there on Thursday evening (11/30) and stuck around until Sunday morning (12/3). Except for feeling tired at times and getting sick when I got home, it was a pretty fun weekend! A few of my pictures accidentally got deleted by one of my relatives, but these things happen. I plan to scan in some photos from my Aunt Jan's camera, hopefully I'll get some other versions in the mail or via e-mail and that will help fill in the gaps. Grandma is surprisingly spry for 90 years old, I said more than once that she seems to have a lot more energy than me! The only sad part is that her eyesight has really deteriorated, apparently just in the past few weeks, so she wasn't able to see too much and we had to keep telling her who was in front of her. Still, at least she recognized the people once they were properly identified! Got to hang out with my cousins and meet my "second cousin" Jonas, son of Jay and his wife Christina. Very glad I got to go and take part, I have a lot of nice memories from that special time!
One of the perks of working in an academic library is that we get a good chunk of Christmas Break off! I got to spend the holiday with my family; we all went to the 7:00 PM Christmas Eve service at Holy Cross, then I went back to hear Dad preach at the 11:00 PM service. We went back over for Christmas morning at 10:15 AM, then had dinner altogether in the evening. Among other things, I got money for fencing gear and a copy of Take 6's "Feels Good" CD. I also got around to hooking up my DSL connection, so I finally have a highspeed connection on my computer. All in all, a very nice end to the year!
NOV 2006
Life is OK overall, work has been going well. Been doing some more stuff with Acquisitions work, I'd like to get more involved with the cataloging process at some point. Also been revamping the procedures manual and getting things figured out with work-study students as the holidays and the new semester approach. For fun, I've been trying to stay active with the Summit City Fencing Club. The organization recently become officially incorporated and was able to procure a practice space within a couple months of doing so! It's a relatively small storefront, but there's room for at least two strips. I will be going to that on Tuesdays, which frees up my Thursday evenings right now. I am interested in rejoining the Brass Choir at church, so it will be nice if I can pick my trumpet up again.
I celebrated my birthday on Sunday with my friends, then I will have cake with my family on Thanksgiving -- a super-combo celebration! On Nov 19, I went to IHOP and had brunch with Matt (from work), Muff, and Ash. The sisters and I then went to Westwood Lanes to do some bowling, where we were subsequently joined by Andrew! His wife, Marisa, was not feeling well but she gave her blessing for her hubby to make the trip -- yay! I am pleased to report I won the final game, though we suspect Muff may have "thrown" her last roll and allowed me the victory. Andrew and I went over to the Rave theater afterward to meet up with Andrea, where we saw Casino Royale! Good movie, I definitely recommend it. We then had dinner at The Fox & Hound and it was a great meal and a good conversation. All in all, a good day and I was glad I got to hang out with various friends!
SEPT - OCT 2006
Things continue, still fencing and starting to think about some different things I could be doing. The health situation is still not great and I have had to file a grievance against Anthem BCBS for their refusal to honor some of my medical claims. In good news, I am pleased to report that I was hired on to act as Librarian Assistant at the Lee & Jim Vann Library at the University of Saint Francis in Sept! Unfortunately, this did mean saying good-bye to Julie and to Parkview. I got settled in, started learning the ropes and figuring out how things work. A couple snags here and there along the way, but it has been a great experience overall thus far. It's a brand new building as well, so it's cool to be in a modern setting and have a voice in how things develop.
Saw the Take 6 concert in Indy on Oct 27 with my folks and had an awesome time! They were so amazing and I'm very glad I could share that experience with my parents. In other family news: Brian celebrated his birthday in Sept and Dad observed his in Oct. I got a couple small gifts for each, it was nice to be able to be here for each of them! Now, I just need to figure out what to get Mom in January...
AUGUST 2006
Been doing OK overall, I think the doctor's visits have started to pay off a little bit more. I am now taking Provigil, and though it is not a "magic bullet," it seems to be helping. Unfortunately, I am having problems with Anthem BCBS. I expected these things to be covered, but they are denying the claims from the last six months for pretty flimsy reasoning. Hopefully, I can get that issue resolved soon. Work has been going well, but I was disappointed to recently learn that Parkview will not approve more money to hire me on full-time, despite all of Julie's efforts. D'oh! However, with very fortuitous timing, I got a call from the University of St. Francis asking me to come in for a job interview! So, hopefully something positive will materialize on the job front in the very near future.
One thing I have been interested in doing is meeting more people. To that end, I signed up for Match.com and MySpace. Eventually, I met some people in person and even had them over to my house! I hosted a get-together here at my parents' place on August 18, which was a lot of fun. Andrew & Marisa came up from Muncie, plus we were joined by Denise, Ash, Muff, and Josiah. Good crowd! I met Denise on Match.com and we've hung out a few times, and I had only hung out with the other three a couple times beforehand. So, it was nice to spend time with everybody and get to know each other a little better. We played Taboo, Barbarossa, and some card games -- Ash wanted to start betting real money when she was cleaning house playing poker with me and Andrew!
MAY-JULY 2006
Was experiencing some health problems during this time, virtually all related to fatigue. Been seeing a doctor down at Lutheran Hospital who specializes in sleep problems and who is working to address my energy issues. Not too much to report during these months, other than continuing to work at Parkview and participating at church and fencing. I went down to a tournament in Indy in May, saw some friends. I then took a hiatus from the fencing club for a few weeks after being in some unpleasant situations and shouldering unnecessary stress. Moved into the larger bedroom in July, so I have more room and more free to decorate it as I wish. Celebrated both Mother's Day and Father's Day, so it was nice to be here in Fort Wayne with my folks!
APRIL 2006
Been seeing a new doctor recently, so that's been good. Hope to get some answers regarding the fatigue I've been experiencing, I even took a sleeping test while wearing a monitoring device one night. In other news, work at Parkview Hospital has been going well. I also had an interview at the University of St. Francis on April 19! It went really well, but unfortunately they ended up going with someone else. D'oh!
Easter was fun, we celebrated Holy Week here in Fort Wayne. Dad preached downtown at St. Paul's at noon, then again at the Holy Cross 7:00 PM Tenebrae service. Daylight savings time means that it's not exactly dark and somber, but it went well! Saturday was fairly uneventful, then I accompanied Mom to church at 11 AM. I was naughty and took my camera along, even getting a shot of Dad administering communion! Then, we got home and had a lovely Easter dinner, for which Brian joined us. We didn't get any big Easter baskets this year, but the bunny still stopped by and dropped off a couple treats!
MARCH 2006
The SCFC hosted elections for the first time on March 2, which was quite exciting. I lost the vote for president to Jaison by a very small margin, but I was then elected to the position of V-P! Later in the month, we hosted a sabre tournament downtown at the Community Center. I directed only, I figured it would help things run smoothly and give other people a shot at placing highly. It was fun, even if I did pop a button off my jacket! The only other thing I did related to social activities was singing in the contemporary worship service on March 18 with Christine, Jenny, Greg, Chuck, and Walt. I didn't do quite as well as I would have liked, but it was pretty good overall.
Had an interview with ResourceConnection on March 21, thought it went well but it looks like they're not interested. On my way back, I stopped by Jefferson Pointe to see my friend Troy! Hadn't seen him in quite a while since he started his new job, so that was cool. Recently decided to visit a new doctor, asked for some recommendations and Julie recommended hers. Hopefully, Dr. Moran can help me figure out what's going on and boost my energy level somewhat. At least he isn't simply dismissing my concerns, we did blood tests and have a sleep monitoring test scheduled for the near future.
FEBRUARY 2006
Got together with Andrea downtown on Feb 10, we met at the Deli 620 and had a nice time. Sang in church on Sat, Feb 18, and enjoyed doing that. At work, Julie asked me to take some pictures of the library that we could use in upcoming ventures. We also met with a couple people from the University of St. Francis to discuss a possible partnership between the school and the hospital library. Don't know if anything will come of it, but it was an interesting meeting and it's always good to network a little! I had been hoping to start volunteering at the CTS library as well this month, but have had trouble getting over there. Hopefully, I'll be able to get over there and make some progress on a project they have there soon.
The big news was that the Summit City Fencing Club finally ratified the constitution that Stewart and I co-wrote -- yay! That happened on Feb 9, so it was nice to finally get that out of the way and feel like we're making some progression in that area. We also hosted a Titan event downtown at the Community Center on Feb 19, which was unusual but quite fun! You are on a team with one other person, then you fence all three weapons against the other teams. It's fun to hang out and try something new, I'm glad we were able to do that.
JANUARY 2006
I admit that I have a tendency not to update my website until I get new pictures taken. Luckily, I now have a digital camera that I can use to upload images right away! I bought it with some of my Christmas money, along with a couple T-shirts and other miscellaneous items at Target. Sweet.
While there, I also purchased gifts for my mom in honor of her birthday! My parents went to Oakwood Inn for the latter half of her b-day week and had a nice time, then we celebrated her special day on the following Saturday. I got her a couple boxes based on Peruvian reverse-glass techniques, which I thought were quite pretty!
Went down to Indy at the end of January and had a great time. First, I stopped in Muncie and spent Friday night at Andrew's place. He gave me a belated b-day present (the Simpsons framed poster) and we watched Pulp Fiction after getting a pizza. On Saturday, we had lunch and hung out a little more, then I headed down to Indy. Ruth and David had offered to give me a place to crash, so I went to their place. They decided to host a game night, so I also got to see Katie, Heidi, and Mike! Very fun. On Sunday, I went to breakfast at the good ol' IHOP next to my old building downtown, then we walked to the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. It was a very nice service, I'm glad I could take part in that with her! I then met Matt & Michaela for lunch, and they were also having Jerry and Christy over. So, it was great to see them and hang out a little as well. So nice to have good friends within striking distance!
