2010

So the not quite daily is really not even quite monthly. Maybe I should make a New Year's resolution to blog more although I can tell you right now that will probably not happen. However it's kind of funny that while I spent most of 2009 unemployed I feel like I've taken on more in 2010. I hope that it's a better year for me and a lot of people out there who had a miserable past 12 months or so.
So update on me personally: In November I started a contract position at Delta, my dream job. I'm still waiting for it to turn permanent but crossing my fingers that it will be soon. So far I love my job, partially because I love the industry, well, probably mainly because of that. I have never had a job outside the airlines that I found so stimulating, challenging, maddening, interesting and exciting. It's definitely the right fit for me. Not to mention the travel perks. I've only taken advantage of them once so far with a trip that could have easily been driven but next week I hope to get out of the country for the first time since I moved back from Japan. My poor passport has been feeling sorely neglected. It's funny that I used to use it so much that I ran out of pages in less than three years and now three years later those extra pages have been used maybe once. Oh, the trip I'm hoping to take is to Dublin, Ireland. It'll only be a few days but fun to go somewhere I haven't been.
Another project that is taking some time is that I've finally started running pretty consistently again. I found a great running store here that is only about half a mile away and they have a run club once a week. I've been a pretty regular attendee so one of the staff asked me to be one of the coaches for a beginning group of women training for a 5k. It's great to have that extra commitment to get me going and so much fun to find other people to get out there with. Phidippides is the store that I run with (I know it's a strange name but that's the guy who ran the first marathon so it's appropriate.)
A few other items of note: My friend Marnie has really exciting news to share with her crafts now being sold in New York at the Museum of Modern Art. The link to her blog is on the right (Karger-Tift) so you can check them out. Way to go, girl! :)
On a completely different note, I've been completely glued to the coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. I guess I'm pretty fascinated by tragedy as anybody who knows of my fascination with New Orleans can tell you. I'm watching the telethon right now. I remember watching the one that took place after 9/11 and I think that was the first time that all the networks had gotten together to do something like this. Since then it has happened for the Asian tsunami I think as well as after Hurricane Katrina. Just a note to put the magnitude of this disaster in perspective: Death toll: 9-11 attack: 2,992, Asian tsunami:230,000, Hurricane Katrina: 1,836, earthquake in Haiti: still very uncertain but recent estimates have put it at 200,000. While this is less than the tsunami, the devastation is so much more concentrated. Haiti as a whole is smaller than the state of Maryland and has a population of less than 7 million. That's like Dallas-Ft. Worth losing 200,000 people. The other part of the tragedy is how little Haiti had to begin with. Heartbreaking. One story that particularly resonates with me is the loss of UN life. It is the single worst loss in the history of the UN. When I think of soldiers giving for their country, I also think of these UN workers who are giving not only for the sake of their nation but for all of humanity. Not fighting but keeping the peace. They are definitely heroes.

That's probably enough of my rambling until St. Patrick's Day or so.... Take care and give if you can. I would encourage people to give to The Bush Clinton Fund bushclintonhaitifund.org or Doctors without Borders doctorswithoutborders.org