Chilly

Minus 11 at 6am, no wind chill. No wind chill?! YAY!! Today I go outside! Awake since 4:30 again this morning, though I didn't get up until after 5. I like to lay and think and look at the lights out the window. My old apartment was so dark, so windowless, this is a treat.
This morning I am meeting a friend for late breakfast. Before I go there I have to go to the bank and take care of some business, transferring accounts, etc. After breakfast I have to hurry home so I'll be here when my brother-in-law arrives with the laundered pants I sent to Barnettville the other day, before Grandad whispered the key to the coin operated washing machine into my almost dreaming ear. He's coming here after his first job interview in 11 years. Eleven freaking years!! These things blow my mind. The only thing I've done that long is write. Period. That is all. Longevity is something to pursue in my old age, I think. Anyway, as you may or may not know, my brother-in-law has been unemployed since about the middle of last week when the mill closed. The job interview today is right up his alley in automobile parts for a dealership (why do we have so many car dealerships anyway?) and I know he's perfect for the position, but his family needs medical benefits and nobody was quite sure how much the position pays . . . so hopefully if we all focus on getting them exactly what they need, it'll all work out.

I am supposed to be going on a road trip tomorrow for BnM with my boss. The featured community in the next issue is going to be Baie Ste. Anne/ Escuminac area. I've driven through but never properly visited, so we're going on a tourist-like excursion so I can get a feel for the culture there. Apparently it's a bit different this far up the river, more joie de vivre or something. Should be fun. I like doing that kind of thing. Stacy and I always used to go somewhere in summer. Somewhere fairly local, but not properly explored. One summer we did Boiestown/Doaktown area. Another we went down to Tabusintac. One day we went to Rogersville, but that was only to eat at a restaurant people were raving about, not to launch a full-on tourist excursion. The Miramichi region is huge and every small community within is unique. I'm lucky because it's my job to explore and report back to others. Otherwise I might miss out myself.

Yesterday I did the initial interview for the featured business in the April issue. February was late, due almost entirely to my Sackville melt-down. So this time I've got something to prove. I let the crew down and they lost any confidence they had in my abilities. There's no room for error from here on in. The cover story guy has not agreed to be profiled yet. Today is the cut-off. I'll call him tonight, see if he's in or out, and then proceed or move on to Plan B, depending. I'm hoping he's in, but I have a feeling he's out. Either way is okay. Plan B is also a good story.

I adjusted my 101 list yesterday. Needed to make it more relevant to Miramichi living, take out the Sackville stuff. As I was coming up with the few replacement things I came up with a whole bunch of new ideas. I wanted to revamp the whole thing, take out any that maybe I just put in as an afterthought to finish the list and didn't feel that strongly about. But then I stopped myself. Save some stuff for the next list. And if I do them in the meantime without a list, oh well, all the better.

The sky's starting to lighten up. It's pretty cloudy though, not anticipating a visible sunrise this morning. There's a sun in the forecast though. I should see it today at any rate. I could use a day of sunshine to warm up my place. Though this morning is much warmer than last evening all ready. This is good. I need to get used to functioning in these temperatures. Sackville was different. The one good thing about the cold is that my arthritis generally stays in check. I've got a wrist thing going on still, carried over from last week, but I'm starting to think it's not arthritis related but some sort of injury I don't remember getting.

Nearly dawn, time to hustle and officially begin the day.

Mood: pretty darn good
Drinking: coffee with cream
Listening To: nothing, absolutely nothing
Hair: needs dye . . . no funding for such an art project :-(