A new job for Dougie T?

A week late to post! What can i say. I’m swamped.

I’m applying for the Welcome Center manager position. My current boss, Kristy Hinton, is leaving at the end of this month to pursue a guy she met here who left Apr. 2 for Alaska, and i say more power to her. And to him. To them, whatever. Mark Lyons is a heluva guy, and his mom visited here the weekend before he left and you can see where he gets everything that’s good about him. i gave Jane a Hot Stones massage the day before she left, which she said she loved. She left a big fat tip on the table for me, woo-hoo!

Anyway, Kristy is store manager #5 in the 16 months i’ve worked there, and now that there are new owners, there’s some possibility that the decision to pay managers more than they’ve been paid in the past may have already been made; we’ll find out on Friday when the HR company they’ve hired will come to brief us on our new compensation packages. The upshot: the pay differential needs to make it worth my while to take on the extra responsibility (stress) which of course i don’t really want, but which would allow me to pay off my loans more quickly.

The weekend of Mar. 24-25 was devoted to Heartwood 2017: about 70 people getting together for two days of imagining what we want this place to be ten years from now. It was pretty exciting, and i’ve decided to renew my commitment to the ‘wood for another year! i really like my abode (not to mention life in the mountains), and feel like i’ve got more to learn as well as to contribute, and i admit that it’s exciting to be around a place that i love that’s going through so much change.

Tying up old business! This feels good: some things i left in a friend’s apartment in Amsterdam are finally on their way to me, beginning with 2 of the 4 boxes of books that i’d left there. Another Craig’sList success story. The ad i placed on CL/Amsterdam a few weeks back – for someone to go and get my things out of storage at my friend’s place and ship them from the post office – elicited 2 replies, both of which were good. i ended up going with a young American guy named Stephen who .. oh blah blah blah suffice to say he’s a great guy and he’s sending me my stuff. Hard to believe i left Amsterdam in Nov. 2004. My friend Hans who stored my stuff is an old guy and not in any shape to move stuff like boxes of books around. He is so happy! And i’m having a carpenter friend of mine here, Chris the singer/songwriter dude, to construct some bookshelves for me, hopefully some that would double as a support for my bed (which currently sits on top of concrete blocks).

Well i never started running again as soon as i thought i would following last October’s marathon (my first, in case you’ve just joined us), and am now beginning a six-month period of training for my 2^nd marathon: the Humboldt Redwoods marathon (again)! Mike Morone, how about it, game?!

Oh, update on the love-life: Rosario and i have decided to be Just Friends. (That sounds worse than it really is.) In a nutshell, he wrote to tell me that in spite of how much we’ve enjoyed each other’s company, he doesn’t feel the spark of a long-term lover relationship. Which with me is totally cool: i was thinking maybe there could’ve been something there, but i was well aware of the many things i had in common with his ex-, and that “Zaari” was also in search of someone who looked more like himself. So i replied that i would be more than happy for us to continue to be friends, and that who knew? Maybe he’d be the one to introduce me to Mr. Right!

Having said that, we’ve made plans to hook up twice and he has twice called to cancel (once after canceling, rescheduling, and then re-canceling!), but i’m gonna give the boy one more chance. We’ve talked about those behaviors and is aware of them, and i for my part am well aware of all the craziness he’s got going on in his life, which include a new job with new skills to learn, relocating his mom to another part of the state, and (since his mom sold the building he lives in) looking for a new place to live. Guy’s got his hands full.

My buddy Josh has been hangin' out a lot lately which is fun. He is such a great guy. This is the guy who held my feet when i was sick last month, and which felt so good, that even though i'd just woken up after a long night's sleep, i was able to drift off again, into deep and restful sleep. My good luck: Josh shows up fairly often with his Hungarian puli, Zeke. He's an unusual sort, but the dog's ok, so i let 'em both hang.

This photo was self-shot about a month ago on a gorgeous Saturday morning, when Josh entrusted two years of dreds to me and my scissors. What a guy!

Sister Eileen: you ARE coming to visit next month i trust. Can’t wait. Do let me know as soon as you’ve got an itinerary, and whether or not i should borrow a car to pick you up at the Eureka airport (which technically is in McKinleyville). Btw, Happy Easter! Sorry i didn't have it together to send you a card. In my defense, i did have a Dutch postcard that i was gonna send, but found out in the nick of time that it was actually a Christmas card.

Scott and Kathy: you should get your butts on a train, come out here, get off the train in Eureka, rent a car and drive down (through the redwoods, mind you) and visit me! Or i guess you could drive your camper cross-country and do the same thing. Or you could do the same thing you’ve done every year for the past umpteen years and drive up to Canada. Me, i say: variety is the spice of life. Go for broke and carpe the diem.

Janet and Crystal, dammit what’s a guy gotta do to get an old friend to STAY in touch, not just be in touch like once every seven months.

Did you ever watch the BBC television comedy Are you being served? If so, you may have noticed that the actor John Inman, who played the flamboyant Mr. Humphrey, died at the age of 71 on Mar. 8. i especially enjoyed and appreciated this .. it's not really an obit, more of an appreciation .. and the insight it offered to the role Inman played, and the extent to which .. oh more blah-blah, just go read it.

All right you lot, that oughta hold ya till next time, when i’ll let you know how insubstantial our pay raises actually are. Keep your fingers crossed for me anyway, will ya? i'll leave you with a coupla more photos of Josh and his favorite beast, Zeke [aka Dog Cheenie, which is what's left over after you take the pooch out of Puccini]. A boy and his dog: what could be more precious? i am so in love with these two. A more irie guy you could never hope to meet.