Quick post and solicitation

Today's meltdown brought to you courtesy of the State of Illinois and Harris Bank... the State of Illinois for issuing a tax refund check made out to Enright, James M. and Karen L. (no room for my own last name, I guess) and Harris Bank for returning the check to me after I tried to deposit it in an ATM a week ago because it only had my signature on it.  Spent part of this morning looking for the copy of the death certificate I have and getting more and more upset when I couldn't find it (the place is a mess, but I usually know where the important stuff is).  WHY should I have to be doing this, I found myself saying aloud, in tears, why isn't he here, why am I having to find his DEATH CERTIFICATE, why does everything get harder instead of easier, why do people make things as hard as they possibly can?   After eventually calming down, I did find the death certificate, and will bring it to the bank and say here, this is the the man whose signature you are demanding.  What do you want to do now?

In better news, I got a ticket to go see the second game of the Bulls' first playoff round tomorrow night at the United Center.  I'm nervous about going there by myself, and to such a late game (tip-off is at 8:30), from which I probably won't get home until after midnight, but I'm a pessimist and didn't want to take a chance on the Bulls not getting into the second round (everyone assures me they will, but you never know...) and me not having had a chance to go see a game live.  I'll be practically in the rafters of the place and Derrick Rose will be the size of an ant from my perspective, but it should be fun to be there.  Now please let's just not have the game be as nerve-racking as yesterday's...

Finally, the solicitation.  I've been invited to participate in a fund-raising "fun run" (I still believe the words "fun" and "run" do not belong together) on May 15th for Wellness House, an organization in Hinsdale, IL that provides free services to cancer patients and their relatives.  This is not a place Jerry or I had any personal connection with - even if he'd had time within those four short months to take advantage of their services, we didn't know about them, and Hinsdale is a ways away from where we live.  Where I live.  But anyway, they are a place worthy of support, and I'm trying to get in shape between now and May 15th to run a 5K without making a fool of myself.  I've finished four 5Ks in my life, and none of them was pretty.  Let's see if I can make this one better... ran 2 miles today, which was .4 miles longer than the several runs I've done in the past weeks.  Even ran in sleeting weather yesterday.  Anyway... if you feel moved to make a donation to this place, my donation page is at http://wellnesshouse.donorpages.com/WalkRun2011/KarenFreund/ .

Should get to bed - up for work at 5:30 and tomorrow at this time probably on the road back from the United Center.  Go Bulls.

Time passes...

I hadn't realized it's been so long since I've written here, and to those of you who've contacted me wondering how I'm doing (and those of you who've just been wondering), deepest apologies for the silence.  It's been a rough month, and work continues to try to deal with things.  So far I've been very, very happy with my new therapist, not quite as thrilled with the psychiatrist, but we'll see how that goes and whether or not changing to a different one is warranted.  Still working on medication levels, still working on getting insurance idiocy sorted out, still dealing with a bizarrely dysfunctional workplace (but with coworkers who make going there worthwhile - we have all mentioned how nice it would be if we could all be lifted en masse to a saner place to work).  Realized this week I'm paying almost 1/4 of my salary on gas for my commute, which adds to the insanity and propelled me into my boss's office to discuss the lots and lots of extra things I'm being given to do and the lowness of my salary.  (Later that same day, worst panic attack I've had in a while.  Coincidence?  Probably not... not good at confrontation.  Boss didn't give me any kind of concrete response, by the way.  Have been wisely counseled to write down summary of "meeting" and all my duties and send it to him with a "thank you for meeting with me" note, if nothing else to have to show to a future potential employer in lieu of possible absence of recommendation from the current one.)

In other news, I've started running, or "running," as I prefer to call it, and just yesterday seem to have agreed to do a 5K in just over a month.  Talk about motivation (the desire not to make a fool of myself as I rather did in the previous four 5K races I've finished in my life is strong...).  Right now it seems impossible, but it's a goal.  Other news, have become a big Chicago Bulls/Derrick Rose et al. fan in recent weeks - finally found my Auburn football/Cam Newton replacements, better late in the season than never.  And today, with my parents in town for the weekend, we went off to Best Buy and I bought a 21st-century replacement for my 14-year-old television, with installation and switch over to AT&T U-verse, and a fond farewell to my landline telephone, next weekend.

So... still here, still muddling through life, still trying to get a handle on what happens after the world ends.  And thank you, all y'all, for your care and concern.