Hmmmm....  Last post, early April.  Almost as if someone had a large event, or even a series of events going on that spanned from April through the end of June.  Right.  Moving on...

One of the items on my never-ending to-do list is to reduce the load I carry to and from work.  Over a year ago - probably closer to two - I started getting huge pains in my shoulder.  These seemingly came out of nowhere, and especially when I was calling dances.  Stress-related, almost certainly.  But more than stress, it's become increasingly clear that the amount that I carry is partially, and even mostly to blame.

I'm left-handed, and so I always carry bags on my left shoulder.  My right feels weak by comparison.  I carry a lot to and from work, but I only feel that weight for small amounts of time on the walk between home and the train station, and then from the train station to my office, and not at all during the day.  But when I'm teaching at a weekend or at camp, I carry this big bag with at least one full binder, one notebook, dance shoes, (full) water bottle, and whatever else between buildings, to every meal, and all the time.  That's when my shoulder starts talking to me, and saying things like, "I hate you."
After thinking about this for a while, I decided that the solution to all of my problems was an I-Pad.  In theory, this would replace the library books, calender/date book, CDSS directory, dance database printouts, endless lists of everything, etc. I carry everyday and consider essential to my life.  At gigs, this would have all of my dance programs, instructions, etc., and with tools that are no doubt available somewhere, I could mark up PDFs electronically to prepare for teaching, and then erase those marks so I could repeat the procedure as often as needed.  The I-Pad would also replace my now really slow (really, really, really slow) laptop.  Perfect, no?

But then, there's reality.  Financial reality.  First there was house repair.  Then there was the wedding.  And the honeymoon.  And the wedding dance.  Oh, and the new car, complete with doubled insurance and monthly payments.  And a new roof in the offing.  And let's not forget the astronomical heating bills coming soon.  And the need to replenish savings after all of the above.  Read, no room for new technology.

But I'm still tired of my shoulder aching, so it's clearly time for a new solution.  My first goal is to reduce the daily load on my shoulder.  I have some ideas for that which I'm starting to implement.  Stay tuned...