Insert Charlie Brown "Aaugh!" here

I just messed an assignment up at work. This pains me to no end. I pride myself on how hard I work and how I pay attention to detail while continuing to work efficiently. I know that I would not have been able to maintain my long-distance editing gig if I hadn't demonstrated those abilities to my overlords over the last two and half years, so I take a little solace in that. But because my track record is so good, when I mess something up it crushes me. Today's screw up is particularly frustrating - I can't believe that I made an error that was so readily discoverable. I'm hoping that my handlers have some compassion for me when they get into work tomorrow morning to read my e-mailed admission of wrong-doing.

It's not like I negligently sent state secrets to the North Koreans or anything, I just didn't include some content that needed to go into the documents I was editing. But when the project has a deadline looming, as this one does, it eats up valuable time to go over the documents a second time. I also worry that the-powers-that-be might being to question the quality of my other work. I know that's a big leap, as they regularly tell me I do great work, but that fear is there. I'm glad that Zac is going to have a busy day at work tomorrow so I can spend a long, long day working and correcting my errors.

But on the upside I made a blueberry coffee cake tonight, and it is delicious. So at least I've got that going for me.

2011, so far

Happy New Year to everyone!

The change over to 2011 made me realize that the end of our time in Hawaii is quickly approaching. We're not sure when (or really if) we're leaving. Odds are pretty high that we're leaving Oahu. As for when we'd move? Maybe this summer, maybe this fall. Ah, the joys of waiting for new orders. I'm starting to get impatient. It's little things that cause my impatience to flare up. For example, I'd like to get some new office furniture. If we're going to be here for another 10 months, I'll buy it here. If we're leaving in five? I'll just wait til we're back on the mainland or wherever else. I don't care where we end up, I just would like to have an answer so I can start making some plans.

Of course many of our friends and family are coming out to visit us before we leave. That's another reason I'd like to know when we're departing - I need to know when to have a visitor-cut-off-date. I've watched some friends of ours host family and friends right up until their last couple of weeks on the island. It gets to be overwhelming trying to coordinate packing up and entertaining people.

The first wave of our "Final Visitors" was last weekend when my folks stayed with us for a few days. We visited Iolani Palace, Punchbowl National Cemetery and the Polynesian Cultural Center while they were here. Then they hopped over to the Big Island for a few days and then to Maui. It was nice having them in town and it appears they had a good time on the other islands. The next wave of visitors will be arriving in a few weeks, the second week of February, followed almost immediately by another wave. Then we have a couple weeks off and then yet another wave of visitors. At the moment our middle-of-March visitors are our last scheduled guests, but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get a few more people making reservations at Chateau Kotschwar before the end of the spring.

2011 has also found me working more hours, which is nice. My checking account certainly appreciates it. Zac had a pretty quiet time at work over December and the first part of January, but it looks like his schedule is going to get pretty hectic for a while. No baby news to report, for those that are curious. We're getting to the point where we're going to have to make some decisions about what additional steps we'd be willing to take to try and get pregnant, but we're not there yet. For now I'm content to bask in the excitement and joy of my friends' and family's pregnancies and new arrivals.

So 2011 will be a busy, exciting, sometimes stressful year. Hopefully it will also be a year filled with health and prosperity and at least a little bit of time to stop and smell the roses.