As you can see, I've tweaked the template for my blog. Now I have an Amber Alert ticker added at both the top and bottom. I tracked down the code after seeing it on a cat-related site called Spots and Stripes. I feel like it's one small way to actually do something constructive. Now anyone who views the blog will be able to see if/where there are any Amber Alerts in the US.

BTW, there've been some fun things going on in the past few weeks, even if I haven't had a lot of energy to blog about them.

For example, there was the Phan Club banquet on March 15. Jon Sim, Ben Stafford, and Ben's fiancee sat at the table with Karla, Al, Mark, and me. I can't say enough good things about how nice they are. :o) Mrs. Sim would have come, too, but their baby is just getting to a point where he's on a regular sleep schedule. I can appreciate why she wouldn't want to disrupt that.

Meanwhile, Ben and his fiancee are getting married on July 9, which is easy for me to remember because it's the day after Mark's birthday.

I have to remind myself to pick up a business card or something from both Criniti's and Popi's, since they said they like to try Italian restaurants. I can send them to Ben c/o the team; I figure that they might like to try a couple of family-owned Italian restaurants in the heart of South Philly.

The Banquet is, traditionally, the time when Secret Phans introduce themselves to their players, so I approached Boyd Kane and told him who I am. He was very friendly and gracious in thanking me for the gifts and cards he'd gotten this season. :o) He even stopped by our table (which was not far from the exit) on his way out at the end of the night, to say "Thank you" one more time.

(This was found in my draft copies. I'm posting it as is.)

I'm in shock.

My mom called at about 2:45 with the news that my Uncle Pat (my dad's sister's husband) was on the way to the hospital. He'd suffered symptoms yesterday of illness, but didn't want to go to the hospital. He wanted to wait two or three days to see his own doctor.

Today, my Aunt Rita and cousin Joe (Pat and Rita's son) apparently convinced him to go to a doctor anyway.

My mom was near tears relaying all this. All we could do at this point was start praying.

Unfortunately, my mom called back an hour later. Uncle Pat passed away. :o(

I am in total shock. I only HAVE two aunts and two uncles, and now one of my uncles has passed away.

He would have turned 80 next month.

But where good people are concerned, no matter how long they are with us, it's never long enough. Never.

I can't believe this. And I'm rambling now. so I'm just going to post this.

WHEW! Finally!

After two weeks of aggravation, I have finally gotten the paperwork straightened out between my PA and NJ unemployment compensation, and have filed my first claim.

I've been so out-of-it emotionally that I didn't even realize it'd been three weeks since I last updated the blog.

In the past two weeks since my assignment in Cherry Hill ended, I've had one job interview, reactivated my enrollment at both temp agencies where I worked before, and have sent out several other resumes. Some were from persons who are employees of the company in question and/or friends with someone there, and others were job openings I applied to on my own. And, of course, I've called said temp agencies to inform them that I am available to work.

Have you heard back from any of these people? Because I'm still waiting. And looking in the papers. And looking online. And sending applications.

I've also done a few things for pin money, like join a "paid to read" email service. Ya want to lend me a hand? Then click here, which will let you enroll in zwallet.com with me as a reference. It's a freebie email service that pays for every email you read and send. So if you want to take part in online offers, but don't want to give out your real email address because you don't want to get a bunch of email ads later, click that link, join zwallet, and use THAT address when you want to sign up for things. Then you'll get paid to read the emails, spam or otherwise. :o)

Anyway. One of my resolutions is to get back to blogging regularly, which is a good exercise because it means I'm going to HAVE to think about day-to-day things, and make an emotional connection with the Real World, regularly, too. Otherwise, it's way too easy to just withdraw from everything for too long. I allowed myself SOME recuperation time after the temp job got cut, because frankly, I needed it. But I can't be withdrawn emotionally from the world forever. That's not living. And that's not a state I want to be in, day in and day out.

So here I am, posting to the blog.

Now go and cheer me up and click on that zwallet link. ;o)