There is already a hint of spring in the air and I’m starting to get the Itch, so I am glad to be so happy with my new job! I feel doubly blessed in that it found me, through my Craigslist ad. After my experience last fall at the RV park, it feels so nice to be back at a job where I feel valued and respected. The work is mostly satisfying and enjoyable. I’ve spent several days working on The Excel Spreadsheet That Never Ends (TESTNE), something that some people would find boring, but which I really do enjoy. The days just fly by when I’m working on complex Excel projects. I especially appreciate that the project TESTNE is part of is entirely mine and I can manage it as I please. That said, I’m getting a bit of a crick in my neck from all that time spent at the computer and I’m having nightmares about the dang Microsoft paperclip!!! I do have to say that I am not enjoying working on a PC after spending minimal time on one in the past six months. They really are antiquated and worthless junk and it’s high time that Macs take their place in the world. *sighs*

Life in south Surrey has settled into a gentle routine that is enabling me to recharge my batteries in anticipation of the summer ahead. I hope to be heading off to Vancouver Island for two weeks at the beginning of May and then pushing north. Hopefully, June will mean work, and lots of it, in Dawson City, and then I’ll head back south to Whitehorse in mid-July for the Chilkoot trek.

Because so many things went  haywire in the budget in the past six months (longer periods without work than expected, colder weather, having to move mid-winter, toad issues, etc.), I will need to make a serious concession about the rest of this first part of my trip: I get the Chilkoot, but I lose the Dempster. So, I don’t anticipate going to Inuvik this year after all, although, who knows, a lot can happen in the next few months and I hear the money’s good in Dawson City…. But I’m no longer focusing on researching that stretch of road and instead getting ready (and really, really excited) for my Chilkoot hike!

Yesterday, I pre-ordered my copy of the The Milepost 2009, an Alaska travel planner that includes great information on routes from BC to the Yukon. I’ve always enjoyed flipping through the year’s latest version and planning routes, but never allowed myself to buy a drastically reduced last-year’s copy just for fun, promising that I wouldn’t get one until I knew for sure I was going to put it to work.

Summer feels so far away, but I’m content enough here to be able to wait patiently. I’ve waited a lifetime to see the North, so what’s another few months, and, truly, there are worst places to be. I know, I’ve been there. 🙂