I know, I said I was back. But I also said October was going to be the worst month of my life, and here I am awake before 5am because I have the first of 4 flights over the next 36 hours, to catch. Ask me how excited I am. Terribily, would be the answer.

I actually started writing a long post the other night but didn't feel like finishing it; perhaps I will tonight in my hotel room, though I have to get up even *earlier* tomorrow to catch a flight.
*yAWn* I love my job, I love my job, I love my job....

 
Sorry about that little intermission, folks. I had just sort of hit a wall there where my capacity to cope with things was at a bit of a low. Your kind words of support meant a lot to me and were much appreciated. I had found out that yet another family member of mine had been diagnosed with cancer, which stirred up a boatload of old memories of sitting bedside to watch other members die from the same disease. And then I found out that my sweetheart was having some serious health concerns and that had me worried as well. To top it off I am hitting an exceptionally busy period at work (yes, more than usual) that will have me working some maniacal hours for the next 6 weeks. Flying and driving all over Ontario will be the norm for the next few weeks, and I am trying to figure out just when I can take my upcoming vacation time.

Anyway, I took a few days off and hopped on a plane to Montreal (Quebec) to recharge and just step back from the crushing stress I was experiencing. Time with someone close always helps, and I am feeling world's better. My plane landed back in Toronto late last night and then I was up and out the door first thing this morning for a 7 hour drive north to a little town called Timmins. Home of Shania Twain! Tis chilly and I forgot to bring a decent jacket, so I might have to buy something in town in the morning. I have a store to set up tomorrow and then it's more driving (only about 3 hours) to the next town and store. If I'm feeling really ambitious I might drive the full 5.5 hours to grandma's, but I doubt I'll have the energy.

So, feeling refreshed I'm trying to think of what else I wanted to post about. I'm so out of practice! Perhaps I could go back to my prior post about this godforsaken iPod I have recently acquired. I am SO not at one with my iPod and have a real love-hate relationship with it. Allow me to explain:

I have about 30 hours of French lessons I downloaded (er.. I mean BOUGHT!) that I wanted to play (given the amount of time I spend in the car, this seemed like a great way to kill time AND educate myself a little). My problem is not so much with the iPod (though I have a hate on for that damn dial) as much as the program, iTunes. The problem is that I like to listen to all my songs on shuffle, and therefore the French lessons get thrown into the mix. It's annoying to be jammin' along one minute to some driving tunes only to suddenly have some guy come on and try to teach me how to order roast beef in French. I had created a playlist of the French lessons, but the files still need to be in the main library in order to have a location to play them *from*, so the playlist is useless. I tried putting the lessons in the audio section of the iPod instead of the main library, but they just don't seem to want to go there. So it becomes an all or nothing deal; either I have the lessons pop up randomly during the shuffle of my songs so I can use the playlist when I want, or I put no lessons on at all. Anyone who has some advice PLEASE help steer me towards a solution before the iPod goes out my car window. (oh, and don't even get me going on trying to get it to play using an FM Transmitter). Stupid Mac technology.

 
Moons are aligning and October is promising to be a bad month for me; hitting a rough patch both personally and professionally and it's kickin' my ass. Need time to collect my thoughts. I'll write soon...