Meh

I could use a personality tranfusion.

My work hours are finally starting to lighten up, however at this point I'm so burned out that I don't have the energy to celebrate. I haven't been writing here because I can't think of anything I want to say. I'm sick of talking about work, but I haven't done much else, and I'm too tired to have any strong opinions.

I've been taking steps towards a more normal life. I made plans to see some friends. I FINALLY made an appointment with my massage therapist. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that.

I've taken some time to stop and smell the flowers. Literally. I got outside last weekend and buried my face in every blooming lilac tree I passed. That helped.

I also did some birdwatching. Ken and I were driving through the light industrial area where we work, and saw multiple families of Canada geese herding their youngsters near a grassy area. We parked and got out to watch the goose parade. Most families had two adults and two or three goslings. One bunch we came across consisted of four adults and 23 babies. That's a lot of babysitting! One of the babies had a sore foot. He was limping along at the tail end of the procession, and he kept sitting down to rest. The last stoic adult goose never left his side.

The cutest part was when the goslings had to jump down off a curb to cross a parking lot. The jump, all of 6" high, was so daunting that each baby bottomed out on the asphalt, bumping his fuzzy yellow chest on the ground, then unfolding his skinny little legs once again to toddle off, bum a-waddle.

In other news, my Kindle arrived! After getting excited during the purchase and paying about a million extra dollars for the Faster-Than-Light-Speed-We-Literally-Get-It-To-You-Yesterday Shipping option, I let it sit on my dining room table in the cardboard box for two days. Opening it up and figuring out how to operate it seemed like it might feel like work, so I didn't want to do it. But last night I finally summoned the energy.

It's a very neat little thing. The whole "electronic paper and ink" is much better than I expected, and also kind of weird. I can't get my head around the display staying "on" when the device is asleep. It's because it works like an Etch-a-Sketch in that no power is required to maintain the image once it has been set on the screen. It also gets way better cell phone network reception in my house than my actual cell phone does. I don't understand how that works, but whatever. It's cool.

I like the idea of being able to carry around multiple books without worrying about the weight of them. I also love that there's a dictionary embedded in the Kindle, so you can look up any word on the go. I love reading books that challenge my vocabulary, but it's always been frustrating when I want to take them on the road. I'm not about to carry around my 1,500 page print dictionary. Except now I kind of can.