What I can see, in a 'big picture' kind of way, since I'm not looking at everyone's posts every day, is that anyone who is attempting to have a Life, as opposed to merely having a life, is moving toward the changes, even though/if painful and moving through them, even though/if these changes are difficult/painful. As opposed to sit in their own personal puddle of tears. To Live is courageous.
To all the courageous people I know. L'chaim!

This is just a rilllly cute kitty.

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I think he looks like a younger Yoda.

The licensing is state licensure that one needs in order to work as an insurance agent. I think of it in a state of desperation, which probably isn't a good thing. Banker's Life doesn't reimburse for it (I don't think any company does), but it's still a requirement by the state. When I think about this one, I think I'd rather stay at Wal-mart. I have been getting more hours lately and keep looking for that salaried position. Or do as animaltime did and get a part time job somewhere. I think at my age that I really don't want to start over in something that intensive. And I'm pretty sure that the training isn't paid although they pay for room and meals. The more I think about it, the more I think probably not.

Actually, I got a call from the employment office today about that job I was looking at before (the mortgage processing trainee) and that's a paid position, not comission. Hoping to get that one, actually. The office is right around the corner (well, about a mile away) from where I live. The training is paid because we're hired in as full-time temps, then after training decide whether or not to keep us. Which is pretty standard, job-wise around here. I'll be able to get COBRA for my health insurance and the AIDS Insurance Continuation Program will pick that up until I get on the company's insurance. At least I think so; it did previously when I hired on at Wal-mart. I'll check with my ASO director. With funding changes, it's a good idea to check. Otherwise I'd have to pay for my insurance premiums myself, and I don't think I can afford that. In which case, I'm stuck at Wal-mart. But I think AICP covers my COBRA.

Lessee....my daughter told me last month that Thano has decided he doesn't need pull-ups any longer, that he can go to potty on his own. And he has. So that is a grand milestone for any child by 5, let alone an autistic child. That will make him ready for gym or karate classes and kindergarten. Yeaaaaa! 

I've gone to the beach a couple of times instead of coming here (LJ). Not in the water. Just feet in and the water was too cool for me. But for springbreakers from cold states, it was terrific...and many of them were happily splashing away in that nippy water. I found part of a horseshoe crab shell that I'll post on here when I load it to my laptop.

I have a small yard project for later today when I get home or tomorrow. I bought a couple bags of stone to make a small gravel pathway from my step to my patio. And I planted flower seeds (wildflowers) to pretty up my front step. Next I'm getting new lounge chairs and an inexpensive patio set. 

I guess that's about it from sunny central east coast Florida, flist. Later, gators! 

Beeyootiful weather here. I think we have a cool air mass over us so that even though the temps are high (around 90), it feels lovely out. Not much rain out of it, but thankfully no lightning storms either. I guess those are in the future right now, when the air temp rises. Terrific beach weather, some of which I've done. Too cool for me to go in more than ankles. :) Lime green new leaves on the trees and bushes. The winter was so mild that the maple tree next store never lost all of its leaves. It now has some of last year's leaves as well as this year's.

The interview went well, I just need to raise the money for the insurance license. At least I didn't have to take an online evaluation for this company. That's my next step. The interviewer said to give him a call back when I'm ready. They have an intensive 5-day course in Tampa or Tallahassee.

I have an interview next Tuesday. It's for an insurance firm, which seems to be the most common response I get to my resume: insurance and other financial services. That's the state of our (service) economy, I guess. Given that I've spent the last 10 years in retail, that seems to be the next step. At any rate, it would improve my financial situation.

In unrelated news, it appears that my computer may just have overheated and shut down a couple of weeks ago. When I took it to the computer guy today and powered it on to show him how it shut itself off, it didn't. Shut off, that is. Using it right now. He said that if I'd fried the motherboard somehow, that the cost of replacing it would be approximately equal to buying another inexpensive laptop.

Hm. Saw my HIV doc yesterday and had mostly good news. My CD4s are high (860); my viral load is close to undetectable (33 copies per ml); my CD4/CD8 ratio is 46%. All excellente! However, and there nearly always seems to be a "however", I have a severe vitamin D deficiency; my blood glucose is borderline diabetic; my triglycerides and blood pressure are elevated; and I have stage 1 kidney disease. These are all at least partly due to the meds that I take, but at least there are remedies that are fairly easy and inexpensive to implement: 4000 IU of vitamin D daily along with 600 mg of calcium to start. Some of this can come from diet: dairy products such as cheese and yogurt along with supplements. Exercise to lose weight will help with the cholesterol, blood pressure and kidney function. A daily walk would probably be the step that I need to take for that. Some of the health issues are hereditary and age-related too. So, just means I need to make the effort to take care of myself. And I feel good, so that's all good.

In the mail yesterday, I received a copy of Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett's Point of Hopes in the mail yesterday from Ms. Scott. It's the paperback edition from Lethe Press that just came out. So I add that to my "to read" pile, along with Jodi Picoult's recent Lone Wolf. I read Scott's Trouble and Her Friends first and enjoyed it so much that I then read as much of her work as I could find. Some reviewers "blahed" it as not being the best cyberpunk around, but for those of us who were new to the genre, in addition to the role that gender politics plays in her novels, it was/is a strong draw. She's also written for Star Trek and Star Gate. So regardless of what some think, she's one of my favorite authors. For me, she ranks with MZB, in terms of strong female characters who wholly inhabit their worlds.

Well, I'm done for today. Library closes soon.

Later, all y'all!


 

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I know you will love this one.

I'm on library computer and don't have enough time to finish posting the rest of my conference post as I have some business-type business to take care of. But I did want to drop in and see what y'all're up to.
Take care, flist.