No, I'm Not Dead Yet

Yes. I realize it has been well over a month since I posted last. Sorry 'bout that.

Here's a brief recap of what has been going on since my last post. First of all, we took our family trip to Washington DC. At first, I didn't know if I would be too stressed-out to enjoy it, but I needn't have worried. The trip was the best thing I could have done, sanity-wise. It was wonderful sharing the awesomeness of the Smithsonian museums with my kids and I also got to fulfill a lifelong dream and finally see Monticello.

In other news, I finally got my "RIF" letter, meaning my last scheduled day of work will be September 30... "subject to extension". What that means is if another station makes a successful bid to buy the station there's a chance that the transfer process could take a few additional months during which my services may still be needed. But that's all speculation and I probably won't know anything for certain for at least another month... if not even further down the line.

In the rumor mill is news that another Michigan PBS station has made a pretty serious bid for the WFUM transmitter, so if that's the case, my educated guess is I will probably indeed be working at least a little while past 9/30. But again, that's just a guess and nothing is certain.

On the personal front, I had hoped to get through these stressful times without resorting to any "happy pills", but the stress regarding the impending change in employment/income status and the resulting anxiety and insomnia were finally getting to be too much for me to take. So, a visit to the doctor later, I got a prescription for some Zoloft (25mg daily). I had been on it once before for about a year and it did me a world of good. I've been taking it for a little over a week now. The adjustment period is a real pain in the ass. In fact, early on, I found that the anxiety and insomnia actually increase, but I knew what to expect from the last time I was on it. But then it starts to slowly kick in and things become a bit more manageable.

So here I am. Drugged out and happy to be that way.

Hopefully, I'll be able to resume semi-regular blogging.

In other TOTALLY unrelated news that has me totally hyped: the rumor mill is abuzz that NASA has located the original videotapes of the Apollo 11 lunar landing somewhere in Australia and will unveil these long-lost treasures in a press conference on July 16 (the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch). If that's the case, as a space nerd I'm TOTALLY geeked about this! I've heard stories about how the Australian transmission tapes were vastly better than the highly compressed video that was recorded in the states, but that these tapes went missing shortly after the landing. Something to look forward to, for certain!!!