Walls of Jericho

Wrapped up Season 1 of Jericho a while ago, which was really intensely awesome. Jericho is about a little town in Kansas that survives the nuclear bombing of 23 US cities and is completely cut off from the world-- by the way, this isn't international terror, it's domestic. They spend six months trying to hold up, keep fed, and find out what happened until a new government is built and the military comes through to take everything over and rebuild the country. The next town over, New Bern where a munitions plant is, starts a war with Jericho over food. Second season is all about reconstruction, just started on CBS I think this year.

A lot of people are saying that the way to do things now would be to wipe out debt, let everyone start over from zero, and I think that Jericho is an extreme example of why that wouldn't be a great idea. What happens? The guys with guns take over everything.

Anyway, I got a little bit of picking up done and redid the palate on my bed. It would appear that there was kind of a box spring sort of deal at the bottom over the support slats and it was so worn down that the slats in the box spring dealie were sticking up. I flipped it over, and so now there's something going down the middle of the bed, but I have one of those old gym-type mats and a slice of the bumpy foam that goes right down the middle, so it isn't too bad and the rest of the bed is MUCH more comfortable now. I also found out that the extralong sheets that I had in the dorm, which I almost gave to the sal army, fit the futon with a little room which makes it easy to keep all the padding on the futon.

I don't feel too much like cooking this week, so I'm just laying low. It's been drizzling all day and cooling off, so I've been feeling less inclined to take a walk. It'll warm back up by midweek and I'll try to make the best of it then, including finally fixing the exhaust leak.

Valerie put up more pictures of Analia, who's getting so big and walking on her own now! I wish Jeremy and I could have gotten out there to see them when we were still working for the airlines. Singapore's a couple few stone's throw away!

I also still haven't found a job, which is getting more and more stressful. I know I'm one of 6,000 people who are all perfectly qualified to do one job or another and can't get even the ones they're overqualified for, but... man. It's kinda nervewracking. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, so say a prayer and send me happy thoughts-- I need everything I can get! Jeremy's taking about buying me a plane ticket down there, and you can actually get a great deal with Expedia with that flexible travel dates thing. If I fly in to Orlando, Wednesday to Wednesday, I can get a ticket for like $169! That's only about $30 more than the gas money to get to Daytona Beach. Not too shabby, really. Plus, if I get in early that morning, I could take a bus or taxi in to town and see Prof. Newman for lunch which would be fantastic! We'll see. I hate for him to spend more money than he needs, but I guess it's just as unfair for him to not see me as it is for me not to see him.

That's it for now, possibly more tomorrow.

Southern nights

This weekend, I helped Jeremy move down to his new place in Daytona Beach (he didn't transfer all the pictures to my memory chip, so only about half are up) on Saturday, then drove back with his parents Sunday. The drive down was nice-- 75S isn't nearly as bad as 75N, and the scenery is really nice. Passed Ocmulgee and Warner-Robbins AFB, and went through Tifton (shout out to the Dill family) and Valdosta (where pecans are born), then on through Jacksonville (where we ran in to Georgia fans taunting Florida fans in traffic... too bad they couldn't live up to it) and St. Augustine to Daytona. It's a really nice little area, and it's convenient to a few pretty nifty cities (Historical St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Orlando), and it's not directly in Daytona so they won't be plagued by tourists when the time comes.

The house was really nice, but the previous tenants just about tore the heck out of the place-- cracked floor tiles, damaged fans/remotes, damage to the walls... I spent like all day adding things to the list I started, and Jeremy said he was still adding stuff last night. Most of it is minor, but we just want to make sure she doesn't try to charge them since she wasn't going to bother being there to do a walkthrough. It's also really easy to get to all your basic stuff from his place-- Target, Publix, gas, pharmacy, even a game shop. Got the bike off the back of the truck easier than we thought, and so Jeremy and his dad and mom worked on the futon and I put his massive stores of food up in the insane storage in the kitchen. I want this kitchen, no lie.

After things had gotten a little more settled, we went out to find the school, drove down to the beach (I LOVE THE OCEAN!) and came back and had some Steak and Shake for dinner before finishing up the futon and hitting the hay. Marc took some pictures of me and Jeremy part for me and part for Valerie, and I think this one's my favorite:

It just sums it all up, I think!

Drive back was uneventful, then spent most of last night keeping Jeremy company on the phone until his roommate Jeff got there. Today, I go apply for more jobs and try to get this tire situation figured out on my car. Bugger.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow!