Lake Monona 20K 2017

Way back in 2010, a friend of mine and I decided to run the Lake Monona 20K. Twenty kilometers is 12.4 miles, making it 0.7 miles shy of a half marathon. That's a long way to run! I survived it well enough that I decided to do it again in 2011.

Then, in 2014, I planned to do it again, but my ankles and knees didn't agree. As 2016 came to an end, I found myself considering this long run once more. I asked a few friends, and one of them said she'd do it with me!

Now, we are 17 days away from the May 6, 2017, event. We've been training hard, and it's hard to believe that in just over 2 weeks, all of our hard work will be put to the test. When I registered, I also registered to raise money for the summer mission trip I'm going on with some of the high school youth from St. John's (Evansville, WI). If you feel so inspired, you can make a financial donation. My friend and I should cross the finish line around 11:30am. Come cheer for us!

Last Day

I'm sitting at my desk at Tweedee Productions this afternoon for the last time. It's weird. It's oddly quiet. One co-worker is out of the office at a meeting and then will be working from home. Another co-worker just left for the day (but not before giving me a good-bye hug). One of my bosses is taking her mom to an appointment, but she'll probably be back around 4. And my other two bosses are working at their desks. There's no music playing. The phone isn't ringing. The only noise is the sound of typing and the air conditioning when it kicks on from time to time. Like I said, it's oddly quiet.

I spent the morning doing my usual cleaning at the church. And tonight I will wait tables at Mariner's Inn. But the afternoon - the filling of my work sandwich - is at Tweedee. My last day at Tweedee. It still seems surreal to me. But I'm sure I'll adjust.

I'm still looking for work. I haven't gotten a single interview for a teaching job. I haven't heard from NCME about the position I applied for last week. I am being patient. Or rather, I'm trying to be patient. I keep reminding myself of Matthew 6:25-31. "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." I am doing my best to trust God. I often find myself praying, "Lead me. Guide me." For now, it's enough.

On another topic altogether, for the past several months, I've been working on redesigning the website for our church. Today, it went live! If you've never seen the old site, you won't appreciate the improvement. If you have, enjoy the new design!

Ellis

A few weeks ago, a friend of ours asked if we'd be interested in going to a concert in town at the High Noon Saloon. She described Ellis, the singer/songwriter, as pretty folksy and one of her favorites. I asked if she could loan us some of Ellis's music, but that we'd probably go. When I finally got to listen to some of her music, I immediately thought, "This is my kind of music." It's exactly the kind of songwriting that has made me love David Wilcox, Paul Simon, Peter Mayer, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

So, we went to the show, and it was great! She played for about an hour and a half, by herself, talking and telling stories. If you haven't heard of Ellis, check her out. You can start by watching this video:

Ellis at Sisters Folk Festival 09 from michael kevin daly on Vimeo.

Job Loss

On Friday, Einar sent me a text message telling me that he had been laid off. We're extremely grateful that I have (seemingly) stable employment at my 3 jobs, but I am still trying to come to terms with how this is going to impact our finances. I continue to look for a full-time job, but there aren't many openings. And I haven't heard anything from any of the places I've applied, except for the one offer that I declined.

Three people on three consecutive days last week asked me if I've considered returning to teaching. Perhaps God is nudging me? I do not have my Wisconsin license, and I haven't yet looked into what would be necessary to obtain it. There is some appeal to being back in a classroom, but I know Madison is an extremely tough district to get into because of an overabundance of licenses teachers. I might look into it, though. I've got to think about it a bit more before I make a decision.

It's Restaurant Week in Madison, which means I'm working a bit more than usual. Hopefully the restaurant will be busy, and I'll make a lot of money!! I hope people are generous.

Health Insurance Update

Einar and I will have "regular" (that is, not limited to major medical issues) health insurance coverage beginning August 1. We are relieved to have found a plan that fits our budget, and we are really happy that coverage will begin before our trip to the Northwest. We applied and were approved for an individual plan with Group Health Cooperative (GHC), a nonprofit health insurance company. We haven't received our packet of full benefit information yet, but we do know that they emphasize preventive care and complementary medicine. I believe I read that they will pay 50% of the first $750 spent on massages, which basically means half-price massages. I need to check into that. I'm also wondering if they offer reimbursements for things like Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares, as that's something I'd like to do next summer. All in all, I'm really excited to have health insurance again.

Now, I can call and get my annual exam(s) scheduled. . .

J-O-G

I don't know when or why I started doing this, but for some reason, I usually spell the word jog instead of say it when I tell Einar that's what I'm going to do.  This morning I got up early and headed out for a j-o-g in the dark.  I decided that I would turn left when I got to Lake Mendota so I could jog through Maple Bluff, where the governor's mansion is.  There's a hill in Maple Bluff that's one of my favorite places in Madison.  The houses are set back from the road, and there are a lot of trees, so it doesn't really feel like you are in the middle of town.  Until you get to the top of the hill.  That's where you are able to see the lake again, and across the lake, you can see downtown Madison and the Capitol building.  Spectacular!

This Google maps street view shows the hill.  You can follow that scooter to the top of the hill (by clicking on the south arrow), where the road will turn left.  Unfortunately, you can't see the view well, but you can see the Maple Bluff area.

View Larger Map

To Minnesota!

Einar and I left Madison around 3:30 Saturday afternoon to head to Minnesota for the baptism of my good friend Becky's baby on Sunday morning. We drove to Minneapolis, where we stayed with Einar's brother Obed and his wife Megan. Sunday morning we were up early and on the road at 7:15 to make it to Saint Cloud for the 9am worship service. It was a lovely service with a lot of music and two baptisms. After some time with Becky and Chuck and their baby as well as their extended families, we got back in the car and returned to Obed and Megan's before meeting Einar's aunt and uncle and cousins for an early supper. We enjoyed a leisurely supper filled with lots of talking and laughing! We met up with Obed and Megan and went to a very nice dessert bar in Uptown Minneapolis (Zeno). Yum, yum! Einar's friend Bob met us there, too, so it was a good chance to see him, even though it was really brief. We were up early again this morning and on the road at 7:15 to return to Madison. Wow! Short trip. Busy, but oh so fun and filled with family and friends.

Highlights:
hanging with Obed and Megan
seeing Becky, Chuck, Lexie, and Gracie
dinner with Steve, Cheryl, Kristin, Matt, Karl, Eva, and Andrew
eating creme brulee
driving across the new 35W bridge
experiencing the first snow in Minnesota AND Wisconsin, one day apart