There were a thousand different things I could talk about, but honestly, I have nothing to say. I could give an update on Isabella, who’s doing great by the way and is rarely more than three feet from me. I could talk about my depression because I was feeling a bit low last night. I could talk about how busy I have been at work which is fantastic and I love every second of it. I could talk about the dinner I had with a wonderful and lonely older lady, we talked and laughed and had a grand time. I could talk about any of these things but I’m just not in the mood to make a full post of them.

So instead, this is what I will do. If you have a question for me, ask it. I will do my best to either answer it in a comment or it will be my Monday post. Ask me anything you want, and you are quite likely to get an answer.

I have to take my car in to be serviced today. My air conditioner has died, my tires need to be serviced, and my oil needs to be changed. I hate going to a mechanic. Everyone I’ve ever dealt with when servicing my car always tried to get me to spend more money than necessary, and sadly, I don’t know enough about cars to know the difference. Luckily, I have found a garage up here that is well trusted. It’s actually owned by a woman, and from all accounts, she never tries to cheat her customers. She did great work last time I took my car to her, so I’m hoping the same will be true this time. It’s nice that this place is giving me a loaner car for the day.

I went to bed last night but completely forgot to schedule a blog post. I might have an exciting update later in the day though. I just have to see how the day goes.

I’m taking the day off from blogging, maybe several days, because I’ve been quite depressed the last few days. Part of it is because of the Orlando massacre, but also because of some issues of my own. I just need a day or so to sort some things out in my own mind. Thank you for your patience.

The largest mass shooting in US history. It happened during pride month. It happened because a maniac saw two men kissing. A maniac that followed Islamic terrorism and pledge his allegiance to them. A maniac that obtained his guns legally. A maniac that the FBI deemed unimportant. When will we stop this kind of violence.

First of all, ISIL must be destroyed. It’s extremists must be driven from US soil. It’s extremism needs to be driven from this earth. The United States is not the only country that ISIL has attacked. We are not the only nation that has seen the terror that their extremism brings.

Second, America needs gun control. No one except the military needs military grade weapons. People are not going out hunting with these weapons, they are merely killing others with them. Those who aren’t killing others are compensating for their small little dicks. They say that they are protecting their families but who among them protected the 50 people killed or 52 people injured in Orlando? Who among them protected the children who died in Newtown, CT?

I hate guns. I hate the feel of them. I hate the recoil when they are shot. I hate the noise that they make. I hate everything about a gun. I was raised to know how to shoot one, and I am good at it, but it doesn’t make me want a gun. It doesn’t make me want to fire a gun. It makes me hate them more.

I agree we need laws to protect Americans, but those laws need to limit the kinds of guns that are sold in America. We need to accept that mental illness is real, and people can be easily led by bigotry. Think of the number of people following Trump, a bigot and a fool. There is much to be done and Trump’s strategy of creating more bigotry is not the answer, neither are guns.

I was reading last night and time got away from me. I was almost to the end when I realized that I needed to set up my post for today and then get some sleep. I’ll finish the final few pages today and have a book review for you tomorrow.

Have any of you read any good books lately?

My life in Vermont is certainly not an exciting one. I love my apartment which is right in town: comfortable, spacious, and convenient to the post office and library. I’ve been to the library only once, preferring to read the books that I have first. Right now, I am reading Greg Herren’s The Orion Mask. If you are a long time reader of this blog, then you know that Greg Herren is one of my favorite authors.

My weekdays tend to consist of getting up, taking a shower and heading to my office. Usually, the first thing I do when I get to work is fix cup of coffee. When students are on campus and the campus eateries are open, I often eat at one of them for lunch. The staff tends to eat together which is nice; I never have liked eating alone.I guess that comes from my mama always cooking supper when I was growing up and we all sat down for meals together. How my mama worked a full time job and came home and cooked a full meal every night is beyond me. Most days when I get home from work, I cook a simple dinner for myself and usually watch Jeopardy. I rarely eat out, and almost never on weeknights. The only time I eat out is occasionally on the weekend, especially if I drive up to Burlington. One of my favorite local dishes, which is actually a Canadian dish, is called poutine. Poutine is French fries topped with cheese curds and smothered in gravy.  Everyone makes it differently, but with that set of ingredients, it’s hard to go wrong.

On Saturday, I do what shopping I need to get done, unless that shopping calls for Burlington, then I make trips to Burlington on Sundays. I don’t go to church every Sunday, but I do occasionally go. Just like eating out by myself, I am not a fan of going to church alone. Every other weekend or so, I take little road trips. One Saturday I drove down to see Dartmouth College. Another weekend I drove up to St. Albans. I am trying to explore more, but I’ll be honest, the roads in Vermont are a tad bit scary to me. Everywhere you go, you drive through mountains; sometimes there are even parts of the mountains sticking up in the median of the highway. I try to drive very carefully because accidents are common on these roads, but I do enjoy taking little road trips.

Work is going great. I have mentioned before that my predecessors had two very different ways of doing things. Some of their ways I have merged into mine, but mostly I established my own filing system and my own system of record keeping. If something were to happen to me, someone could easily step in and take my place. There should not be any problem knowing exactly where I am on different tasks because I keep up with everything on a workflow spreadsheet. It allows me to look up any interview and know exactly what needs to be done next. After my interview today, I will go in and update that system to reflect where I am currently.

So that is kind of an update on what life in Vermont is like. I miss my family, and I especially miss my cats, but after seven months, I’ve pretty well settled in. By the way, today marks my seventh month on the job. I’d say things are going well.