Not Much New

Not much new to report at my end of the woods. I did my fifth French lesson at the Alliance Francaise in Washington D.C. It went well and I'm definitely improving. I'm finding it easier to change thinking modes into French. My one major handicap with French is my vocabulary or lack of. I keep thinking of things I want to say in French and, I don't know all the words. During today's lesson, I learned more new words and phrases. Hopefully, in time, they'll sink in.

I managed to get my procrastinating butt to church. I learned some things though I also fell asleep during both sermons. The Colonel and his son both have the ability to put me to sleep. I don't know why.

I received my Globus Journey Club membership card with the $75 coupon good toward a new tour with them that I must take between now and December 2009. I plan to put it toward the Historic U.S. East tour I plan and hope to do next July.

I nearly got a day off at the Post Office where I work. This week's work schedule came out this past Friday. I wasn't scheduled to work Wednesday. I was amazed. That lasted for just 5 hours. When I got back to the Post Office after delivering the mail on the route I was doing, it had changed. I'll be delivering Express Mail then. So, I'll get to work 6 days this week too though 4 of them will be delivering Express Mail (2 and 1/2 hours tops). There'll always be the chance I'll get called in early or the schedule will change again. Sometimes, it can change hourly.

I'm also trying to figure out what I want to do money wise. I have too many things I want to do and too little cash. I want to pay off the U.S. and Canada tours but, that'll cost over $4,000. I want to put some more money down on the Yamaha scooter I plan to get eventually. That'll be easier to do. I plan to pay down another $300 on that. I continue to put $270 a month into my IRA and $250 a month into a mutual fund. I know the market is tanking but, I have hope it'll eventually recover. I'm thinking for the long term on that. And don't remind me of Christmas. Christmas presents. Aargh! Serious bah humbug on that though my brother Hank would kick me if he heard me saying that. It's his favorite time of the year since he gets stuff. He's a real character.

I continue to write about the France tour I took on Globus's exchange travel stories website. Because of their 1,500 word story limit, I have to write about the tour in parts. I'm working on Part VI which will be about the French chateau country. I had escargot for the first time and I got to visit Clos de Luce, Chenonceau and Chambord. I'm surprised that they don't have more people tell of their adventures with them. I guess they figure it isn't worth it. To bad.

That's all to report for now. Pretty boring stuff and it'll likely continue that way. That's the price I have to pay for the cool trips I get to go on every 6 months or so. I'll try to think of something interesting to post on here. Cheers all!