Plenty of work on this Labor Day

I don't come from a union background - but I hold a great deal of respect for the work of organized labor for creating much of the prosperity of the 20th century. Even as it seems that the labor movement is up against the ropes these days, with corruption and conflict threatening unity, and government and international commercial giants like Wal-Mart working hard to break the power of unions, I still celebrate the accomplishments of organized labor - and I'm grateful for their work to protect those who individually would not have a voice.

Today begins another labor - as we begin the task of blogging our way through Richard Foster's classic Celebration of Discipline. In the upper right corner of this page is the link to A Virtual Celebration, which will be where I will be writing my reflections (though I will also be linking to it from here, as well). If you're part of the group that said, "Yeah, sure, I'll do it," welcome. I'm excited about it.

The last three days have been pretty labor-intensive around here - moving my belongings out of the garage, up a very steep flight of stairs, and dumping them in the "somewhat ready for habitation" new apartment. I did 90% of the hauling upstairs myself - with the result that my lower back is somewhat more tender than it should be, and my knees and lower arms are both screaming. But at least it's now a task of putting things in place, and cleaning, and not of living as a transient, as I have for the last four weeks. I'm sure I'll still be living out of boxes for a while, anyway, but as the Beatles wrote, I've got to admit it's gettin' better - it's gettin' better all the time...

The move tasks have pushed my job search back to job #3, but that will have to change in short order, too. I've had some interviews, and sent out a bunch of resumes. We'll see. The next ten days are going to be busy ones in any number of ways...

For now, back to the boxes, assembling the bed, and the fun tasks of re-establishing residence...