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Another day at the office is over and I'm listening to Darcy's Breathe song as I wind down. Yesterday (June 30) was a significant day in my life. Ten years ago my family moved out of our St. Alberta house. It was the end of our family *unit* as Dad moved in with Heather, my brother and my mother moved in together while I moved into the Theta Chi fraternity house. It took two days for us to move all our belongings and I vividly remember Dad and I moving his stuff in the pouring rain at about 2 am. We stopped at A & W for a late night dinner as we were starving from the long day.

So I've been in a reflective mood. The early '90s were tough for the family but in hindsight we made it through all right. Getting hired at Gonzaga University two days before my 26th birthday jump started my library career and living independently far from home. I've certainly become more aware of issues and open minded compared to ten years ago. I remember wishing for a job that paid $20,000 a year in 1994. Ironically I got my pink slip (merit pay increase form) today and my salary is now $40,606! I got a $1,600 raise that was up from $1,000 last year. Not bad. I've risen up the corporate ladder a bit but after the pathetic ALA placement center in Orlando I'm not sure I can advance much further than this salary wise.

The ALA Conference was fun and not as many people attended it seemed compared to Chicago in 2000. But that was also the peak of the dotcom era. Darcy has only a few leads with the most interesting being openings at a university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I ran into a librarian who worked there and she enjoyed the work after 11 years. There are multiple openings that are difficult to fill due to post 9/11 paranoia. I would consider moving there for a year or two. Apparently great benefits and I'm sure it would open Darcy's eyes to what is out there beyond the confining borders of North America. She would be amazed to what the Arabic culture is like.

Not much wedding news to report due to the conference last week. Somewhat hard for us to balance looking for work and planning a long distance wedding. It seems everything is hitting us at once. I have another WHA book on ILL called Same Game, Different Name: The History of the World Hockey Association. Makes me think back to going to WHA games with my Dad in the mid 70s.

Last bit of news is that I'm not sure what to do about restoring the Chevelle. I was corresponding with Joey's Place about the type of work they do. They told me about a 1970 Chevelle restoration project. They seem to do excellent work that is equal to what the late Skip Cain discusses in his Chevelle Restoration Series. Unfortunately Joey's Place charges around $50,000 for detailed work!! I could afford to pay 10% of that so I don't know what the hell to do. I really want to use the Chevelle for the wedding. The car runs but would need a tune up and a paint job. I'll have to see what I can do.

I guess that's all for now. I need to have dinner at my desk and then rush off to my dumbek class. I've been to busy to practice much. Hard to juggle reading my books, excerising, and drumming! But the long weekend is coming up and the Craig and Malini are here for a week. I need another break already...
posted by Michael at 6:08 PM