June 11: Settling In

So far so good here in good ol' HP.

My sister and the kids have been great about welcoming Annie and I in to the mix.

From Annie's perspective its probably really nice to no longer be running around and riding in a car all day. My sister has several couches to choose from, and I think she's enjoying the chance to rest her old bones and sleep in the same place for more than a night.

The new place is great for her; even a cat nearby for her to check on, and although Rudy (their cat) may not like Annie at the present time I'm sure the two will bond over their love for sleeping.

The kids love having her around, and she is good with them as well. This morning, my nephew drove an ambulence the length of her body and she had no problem with that at all. My niece loves to walk her as well, although she's insistent that picking up Annie's poop is Uncle Daniel's job. I'm trying to adopt the same policy with my nephew's diaper, but don't think that's likely.

I also brought her to the local off-leash dog park, and Annie is going to make plenty of friends there.

As for human stuff, its really great to be back here and very nice to chill out for a change. So much of the last 3 months has been focused on packing, moving, looking for jobs, travelling, etc., and the pace has slowed down. The nice thing about living here is that I don't need to cram every activity in to a handful of days.

Being around the family is great; the kids' laughter is contagious and this morning's 5:45 wakeup was no big deal at all. When a 5 year old girl in cowboy boots, a pink hat, and socks pulled up to her knees asksto walk Annie it is tough to wake up in a bad mood....

Of course, the elephant in the room is the job situation. I knew heading in to the move that without a job for me in Chicago I'd have to be comfortable taking on that risk. Now that I'm settling in, I need to approach the job search like any other day of work, and I'm hopeful that if I'm disciplined about it something will turn up. The challenge is the discipline, since there are a ton of distractions that can pull me from that focus....cubs games, golf, seeing friends/family, exploring an area I haven't lived in for a while, etc. Again, all of those activities aren't going anywhere, so prioritizing time and attention are the key...as is the case with just about anything else in life.