* Randomness

Its January, which is the ‘dead’ of winter, here in the US mid-west and we’re all counting the days until the ‘big thaw’. People are hunkered down, exposing themselves to the outside only to go to/fro their cars. Unlike in Chicago, public transport is almost non-existence here in DTW.. When I was house-sitting in Chicago in Dec, I wondered how it would feel to manage w/o a car, so on one of the coldest day of the year (almost 30F/OC) I walked the 3 min to the station, boarded the ‘L’ with all my Eskimo gear on and took it to the city, then I proceeded to walk to the nearest coffee shop to thaw out. Honestly, I don’t know HOW pp do it and survive. I now have new regard & esteem for my Toyota corolla – I’ll never complain again about scrapping off the snow/ice again.

Speaking of being away, I was tallying up the number of days I spent there this last 2009 and it totals up to almost 3 months. Even more interesting (for no one but me) is that in 2009 I spent a total of 7 months outside of my dreary hometown of Detroit, MI. I do believe that’s a record. – 3 mo in Oz, 3 mo in Chicago, over 1 mo in Europe. Dang - I love my job – which basically means I can do it anywhere there is an internet connection. (now don’t go hating) I would love to pursue breaking that record in 2010 but I’m not certain it can be topped.

In Dec. I had another transplant (Tx) appt in Chapel Hill, N.C which went well enough that they recommended I return after a yrs time instead of 6 months but I’d rather not risk going that long and opted for every 6 mo.. Unfortunately because of the bad economy; I lost the ‘travel’ part of my health insurance. For over 8 yrs, I’ve been taking advantage of a component in my state insurance, which pays for me plus 1 companion to fly to my Tx appt plus pays for my rental, meals and some hotel cost. Prior to this, Rick and I had to shlep ourselves, thru sun, sleet or snow, by car each way, to get to my appts. It was especially hard on the backside. Alas though, I’m grateful for the 8 yrs of travel ease - which afforded me and 1 travel companion some great weekends always – for practically free.

One note worthy experience I had on this trip is that I was a first time ‘couchsufer’ (CS) recently. A friend of mine turned me onto the web community a few yrs back when she hosted an adventurous young Brit at her downtown Dtw apt and I had a chance to give him a guided tour of “the Detroit hood”. Since that time I was fascinated with the concept, as I both love meeting new people and being a tour guide, but unfortunately I didn't have a place that CS-ers actually wanted to stay at until my apt in Prague . Well with no insurance to cover my Tx trips, I thought I’d take advantage of this 'benefit'. Now CS people generally offer whatever type of bedding they have – well the spoiled side of me looked for someone which could provide me w/ an ‘actual bed’ instead of simply a couch. I found it! Vivan, the lady who accepted my request, is a real estate agent, who had a shares a rather large home with her husband (who was not a couchsufer fan, btw) and 20ish daughter. I was hosted in my own bedroom + bath = which is a true luxury in the CS world . Vivan was eager to learn all about me and even provided me with some encouragement for my future life plans. When I was leaving the next morning, she said, very confidently, "from now on Liz, you’ll be staying at my home when you come to Chapel hill for your transplant apts”. And thus you find one of the main benefits of CS – making friends out of strangers.

Photos: Christmas lights in Chicago plus my 2 (cat) wards when housesitting in Evanston, Il.