Making strides

It's been a long week - a long week at work and a long week in my personal life. And that's not necessarily been a bad thing. Long days and the long week have allowed me to accomplish quite a few tasks and to really savor good times with friends and family. I don't know if the following week will be any shorter or longer, but that's immaterial at this point. All I'm concerned about now is enjoying the holiday season and recovering from whatever ails me.

I didn't spend that much time in the office this past week, but I was able get a fair bit done. Most of my efforts were concentrated on signing up booths for the Festival of Cultures. So far eight groups have signed up for food booths, and perhaps a dozen display/bazaar booths have been enlisted. What I've done so far seems to be a good start, and it's good to know that I still have two full months to continue signing up booths.

Outside of the office, I've done a fair bit of writing, most of which has been for the Web site Helium. A friend of mine named Dan, whom I've met through racing with the Sports Car Club of Siouxland, told me about the Web site, but I didn't begin checking it out in earnest until the past week. And since I've signed up, I've submitted one article and several poems to it.

Other writing projects have included a short story for Dolly which is roughly half-done. My goal is to finish the story, edit it, and e-mail it to Dolly by Christmas Eve. Call it a Christmas gift, if you will. Apart from that, I've been working on my next book; the book will likely turn into a couple of different books. Both books will cover the same subject matter, namely my travels throughout the U.S. and Canada over the past couple of years. I foresee two volumes at this point: one will cover the time from Mom's death in late 2005 to the end of the 2006, and the second book will cover calendar year 2007. I really haven't done a lot of writing on the book yet, per se, but I already have more than 400 pages of notes from which to draw. The writing portion of each book will take a good deal of time, of course. But another time-consuming aspect will involve combing through the hundreds of pages of notes I already have and deciding what existing material to include and add to. I'll jump into the project more fully in the New Year.

Speaking of books, there have been a few exciting developments with regard to Living Through Leukemia: A Journey to Health. My friend and former boss Nestor Ramos, who now edits the "Voices" section of the Argus Leader, spoke to one of the newspaper's feature writers. And the writer is going to interview me and do a story on me in the coming week. The interview will be on Thursday, and I'm not sure when the article will be published. Regardless of when the story is published, I'm excited about having another opportunity to tell my story and my book being further publicized.

I didn't sell any copies of my book this week, but one of my photos that are on sale at the South Dakota Art Museum sold. And it was a happy coincidence that I happened to be in the museum when it sold. An elderly woman picked up a photo of Highway 34 leading to Bear Butte. When she went to pay for it, the woman behind the counter told her that I was the photographer, and we visited briefly. She told me the photo was a gift for some friends in Germany. It's a good feeling knowing that some of my work has been bought and sent overseas.

An old saying professes that, "in every life, a little rain must fall." For me this past week, that downpour has been a bout with some kind of gastrointestinal bug that hasn't yet resolved itself. Thankfully the malady has been mild, but it's still been troublesome. I'll go the doctor on Monday to see what's wrong. I hope it's nothing serious. I doubt it's serious, but I'd like to figure out what's happening and stop it.

Now it's the weekend, and it's time for rest and relaxation. I've already spent a fair amount of time lying around, and I've also caught a movie with Brian. Other plans are to continue working on a story for Dolly and working to get over whatever's ailing me. The weekend has had its up points and down points, and I hope it ends on a high note. I'm sure it will so long as I take care of myself and keep my spirits high.