I finally got a day off today after working 6 days in a row. We had our annual training classes last week and I was off my schedule all week due to this. Getting up at 5:15 am every morning is hard when you have worked evening for so many years. It has totally threw my body off schedule. So today I am happy to be off and enjoy my day at home to clean, rest, and to catch up with blogging.
I see that the DC area got blasted with snow this weekend...wow 3 feet. Thats insane esp for that area. I cant believe we have not had much snow here. I think we are suppose to get a storm on Wed.
In other news, I was talking to my friend A last week and he was pretty upset. For the past few years he has been living in the USA from Denmark on a student visa. While here he met G and they became a couple and have been together now 7 years. Well the delimea with this is that A and G are a gay couple and since the federal gov does not recognize gay marriage then A has no rights to be able to stay here in this country once his student visa expires. Now A's whole plan, as instructed by a imigration lawyer was to get a degree in healthcare so that when he finished he would be able to remain here on a work visa since healthcare has a shortage and most likely would be able to employ him in that area. Well A completed a degree as a xray technologist a year ago and was told that he would not be able to get employment in that area since the economy had turned bad and the fact that the xray tech field had become saturated since he had completed his degree. So he went back to talk to the imigration lawyer and some large hospitals in the Boston area to find out what his options are now and what would be best for him. They told him his best option would be nursing...so he started school to get a BSN degree. Well he is in his 2nd year of the 3 year program and he talked to the imigration lawyer the other day and he said his hopes for him to get a job in nursing is slim due to the economy and the fact that no one is hiring right now and when they start hiring again there will not be a need in the country for imigrants to come work since there will not be a shortage of nurses here. He advised him to start looking at other options from him and G so that they can remain together but not here in the USA. So he basically has to start looking to leave here and for them to go live in Canada or back to Denmark. It makes him very upset at the fact that he has to leave a country that he has made a home in and loves because he is gay and that is what it all comes down to. I am sad for him and G because I see how much they love one another and how they have made a life and home together here and the fact that it is not fair. We can only hope that in the year or two that he has left here that things change and DOMA is overturned so that he can possibly stay. Its been a long road of fighting for our rights as gay people and things are starting to turn around but we still have a long way to go. Obama did speak about these issues briefly in his state of the union address so we can only hope that some things change while he is in office.
Congrats to Teaberry and her partner Julie on the birth of their new son Lucas. He is a cutie.
I feel like I am really starting to get the winter blues. I need to re-focus and to start some new projects to keep me busy this winter. We have been planning to get out more and do some snowshoeing on the trails around here but is has been really cold on the days that we were available to go. I want to start some new scrapbooking projects and to get most of cd's downloaded onto my ipod. Keeping busy is the best way for me to fight off the winter blues.
We have a vacation planned in April to get away to some warm weather. We will be heading down to AL to meet up with my parents, then we will all be heading to Myrtle Beach, SC to stay for a week. Can't wait for this. It should break up the winter a little bit since April can still be very unpredictable here in NH.
This weekend J's mom is coming up to visit. We plan to celebrate her birthday Sat by taking her to dinner and a movie. Sunday we hope to do some snowshoeing and to enjoy the day together since it is valentines.
