Not so fast

Well, 2009 did not start as I thought it would. I'd planned to get control of finances (yes, one of the annual lame new year's resolutions) and to not procrastinate so much (another lnyr), and both jumped up to slap me back down...and it is just January 2.

I mentioned our two dogs, Jake and Wheeler. Well, it was Jake's turn to chew a hole in my wallet. After a normal morning, we found him standing in a pool of fluid in his crate. Thought it was urine, but it was clear and no smell. While I'm investigating this, MC is outside keeping an eye on him -- and saw him pissing a red stream. Off to the vet. Of course, once there, nothing...no red pee, no clear fluid, nothing. X-rays, urinalysis, blood work, the works all come back negative. As did my wallet. Mind you, it was New Year's Day, so it was the emergency vet. POW!!! Thanks, Jake. Followup was cheap and also negative, so nothing wrong -- "just watch him." Now, I'm happy Jake will be with us, but it could have been something...know what I mean?

Procrastination is a big problem for me. My grandmother, Granny, told me she believed in reincarnation and she imagined that before we were born, we sat with the Creator and chose the life to lead. That decision was with great discernment of what we (the Creator and the soon-to-be-human) believed we needed to learn about life or things grander. If that is true, I must have needed to learn a lot from waiting until the last minute to do things. I procrastinate, but always pride myself in getting what I need done. That has been bothering me lately (several years being "lately"). I don't want to rush, rush, rush at the last minute, but no matter what, it seems to happen.

On literally the last hour before my vacation, I was told that my work was sending me to India for a conference -- the week I returned. Very exciting, to be sure, but it didn't leave me much time to get things in order. Last minute preparations are tough, even when you've been planning for months. They are very tough when you don't have any time to plan. So, before I left for Christmas and New Year's holidays, I bought a plane ticket and made arrangements for hotel (or actually emailed the folks in Belgium making my arrangements). I thought I'd done pretty well, and left for Texas.

Well, today, I'm in a Borders reading Fodor's on India and see the section on travel. First thing that jumps out: I need a visa. Mind you, I'm leaving in 6 days, and two of those are weekend days. I rush home, look online, get a rush service, go to Kinko's and get a passport photo for the visa, and FedEx the package. I'm using Visa Express so we'll see what happens. I wrote them a note saying I'd plug the service; the link above is the good faith effort I'm showing!

Two days into the new year and Jake takes a bite out of the wallet and the heart rate is up. Wine is helping. Ole Miss beating TTech helps and now, what's this, the Tide is losing to Utah! o well, there goes the "SEC domination" blog topic. Maybe things will settle down and we can begin the current event discussions.