Autumn Catch-Up

I haven't posted in about a month. Summer is officially over. The days are still largely warm, if often overcast, and the nights are cool. My yard is full of tiny, decaying crabapples, flavoring the crisp air with a tart-sweet smell. I've started filling the bird feeders almost every day.

Work sucks lately. There is more-than-usual drama and back-biting going on amongst the layers of management above me while below me, growing incompetence coupled with refusal to accept responsibility has erupted from several of the people who report to me. This is a toxic combination. Every night I go to sleep fantasizing about turning in my notice and every morning I wake dreading the thought of going to the office. Once upon a time I liked my job and my employer. Those days are gone, I fear. After almost 19 years, maybe it really is time to take my talents and dedication elsewhere. Any ideas, dear reader?

There have been several bright spots:
1. I'm teaching Advanced Sign Language at the Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library. A photographer from the local weekly, the Stow Sentry, came in and took photos, two of which have appeared in the different editions of the paper. Ironically, I was a reporter for the same paper several years back and got used to seeing my byline, but never my picture. Egad. The class is a blast! Last week, my friend Bunny came and spoke to my students. Bunny was in my first sign class more than a decade ago and went on to become a professional ASL interpreter.
2. I'm going to see comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham in Lakewood on November 3rd.
3. For the third year (in a row) I'm participating in the VA Board's Secret Santa gift exchange. This is always fun.
4. I dragged out the Halloween decorations and dressed up the house. Even if I'm the only one who ever sees them.
5. I'm reading Center Square, the biography of Paul Lynde. After that, I anticipate Amazon will deliver the new Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker as soon as it is released.
6. I just got a new Zak Spears DVD that is rocking my world.

Well, having just completed my Saturday morning ritual of bagel, coffee and wireless Internet at Panera, it's time to buy a section of fence for my backyard, water the new dwarf bushes for my grandmother at the cemetery (don't ask) and get ready for margaritas and munchies with my friend Missie.