Storm Chasers!

I don't know how many of you watch Storm Chasers, but we're pretty big fans! We LOVE extreme/severe weather! Yes, it's a double edged sword-- frequently people and property are harmed and families lose loved ones and means of living, BUT the Storm Chasers who do it for research are doing a great service to us by learning more about how these storms form and how to predict them.

Fermbank Museum of Natural History is right up the road from us and they are a real TREASURE! They have so many awesome exhibits, recently they've had Geckos and Water, and now at the IMAX they have a Storm Chasers film called "Tornado Alley"-- we haven't gotten to see it yet, but plan on fitting it in. I was lazing around one day on Facebook and noticed the Fernbank page had a picture of the TIV-- THEN I noticed that Fernbank HAD the TIV! The TIV is the Tornado Intercept Vehicle and is SUPER cool! Sean Casey, the IMAX film guy, helped design and build this thing to withstand severe weather so they can get awesome IMAX footage and scientific data!

Rear shot of the TIV

IMAX Camera Turret

Side shot of the TIV

Cameraman's chair

Me and Marcus Guttierez-- the TIV's driver!!

Imagine driving this thing! And yes, that IS a light switch from a house!

First Snow!

Snow dusted porch one way 

 Token shot of a wrought iron candle holder

 The Wind, it is a-blowin!

 Snow dusted porch

 I ran out to take a picture in the middle of the road and it started snowing as I pressed the shutter!

 My shadow towards Oakhurst village

Ankle deep in snow and it started all over again! So worth the chilly feet!

One of those days...

It's strange, I never really have those days where I sit down and look at my life and think, "Man, this isn't all that bad after all!" but today I kinda did. Work's been getting me down lately, as I'm sure you could tell, but I'm glad I had a good night tonight-- I could sit down and look at my photos from this weekend with a clear head and realize that I'm really lucky to have the life I do.

Living in Decatur is an absolute privilege, one I hope to give my child/ren some day, and one of the things its given me is access to a strong learning community and one that appreciates literature. Two of my favorite authors, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, came to the Decatur Public Library this weekend, and Jeremy got to go with me. They write popular novels, but are both very intelligent, very funny, and very witty. Their talk was great and then they signed books and took pictures!

This one's a little blurry, Jeremy was holding the camera weird, but from L to R is Lincoln Child, me, and Douglas Preston! I've been reading Preston's books since I was in middle school!!

After that, we walked around the square and looked at the artists booths, and we stopped in this great little shop called Taste on the back side of the square. LOVE that store so much. If you're local, you can get me a gift certificate there any time!! We poked around there a little extra because it started *pouring* down rain and we didn't have an umbrella, but Jeremy found some yummy chow chow to take back for his sandwiches and I found the most hilarious card to send to Shelby-- a print of Barack taking his presidential oath with the caption, "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear to turn this mother out."

We wandered back to the car, and since I hadn't been able to get in touch with Meg or Michael, I decided we'd "swing by" (shoulda known better!) before going home to take a nap. We got there and Michael was hanging out with Sarah (a girl Meg and I went to high school with, but I haven't seen in who knows how many years!) and trying to get Vi to sleep and Julian was running around... being Julian. He took to Jeremy like nobody's business (not surprising, kids LOVE Jeremy) and took him on the grand tour of Casa de Julian and the costumes in his closet and all his toys. We fed Julian Altoids to see his reaction and he actually liked them, then he attacked Michael like a wild man, then he decided he was going to play with Jeremy some more and continued to use him as a jungle gym. Meg and I decided he's going to be one of those grandads all the little ones use as a jungle gym whether he's actively participating or not. Then we walked up to dinner and met Meg's mom and her sister Della-- The Matador in Oakhurst was pretty decent, and not too expensive. It waited until we got inside to start raining and didn't rain on us on the way home.

Today, I went up to Apres Diem for lunch and to see Adam and Erin in from Seattle. There were, of course, tons of other people there for fantastic company and the food was to die for-- and totally one-upped Fresh Slices which is a little funny. Apres Diem is a chic type tapas place in Midtown Atlanta, and their sandwiches range from about $8-10. With these sandwiches come a side salad AND home fries, whereas at Fresh Slices you don't necissarily get fries, even! Anyway, I got to see Aihanh and Igal, and Greg was there with his new girlfriend, and Hetal and Hugh and some other Tech people I vaguely know. Erin was asking about where Jeremy and I would be when he was done with school and it turns out... they have a house they're trying to rent! It's a three bedroom, soon to be two bath, and while it's not in the bestest area ever, we could get it for about $900 a month! And since we'd know the landlords, we could probably do most anything we like to the house which would keep Jeremy busy and would be at least half funded so we could afford to do it! Yaaay!

So, uploading those pictures to Facebook and Flickr, I looked at my life and realized that there are some really amazing people in my life-- I have a fiancee I love and sometimes still can't believe, there are a couple of pretty cute kids who think I'm swell and I love them to death, I'm re-acquainting myself with friends from high school who are wonderful people, and I feel kind of like I'm a part of a big family here, which is what's so great about Decatur in the first place. We'll be a little farther away, about 20 minutes, if we're at Adam and Erin's place, but we'll still be ITP and we'll have room for folks to stay the night which they just might.

Memphis was where I lived for five years, and I think I almost forgot what home meant while I was there. Now, I'm remembering it and I couldn't be happier.

Ciao for now.

Rain, rain, go away...

There's a big storm system moving in and I'm hoping it won't rain on formal this Friday! We've worked so hard to get everything worked out to have formal on the boat, it would be *super* frustrating if we just sat at the dock the whole night.

This weekend was really great, I drove down on Friday and made good time, got there a little bit before Jeremy and read for a while. I'm on to a few popular fiction series now, one of them thanks to Brunner. That one is Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, and while they're totally cheesy they're a lot of fun and the library has like all fifteen of them. I'm also reading Kathy Reichs's books, the woman on whom the tv show Bones is based-- they're really good, and since I'm a big fan of show I'm enjoying them.

For the next couple of weeks, though, I'm going to be boning up on my Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child books-- the DeKalb County Library is bringing them for the Arts Festival weekend!!! Preston and Child, for those of you who don't know, are two of my favorite authors-- they co-write a great series of mystery thrillers that are quite Holmesian. Preston wrote some contemporary science-based stuff back in the day, one of my favorite books in middle/high school was his called "Hot Zone" about an ebola outbreak, and another I can't remember the name of about an anthrax-like virus. Child I only discovered recently, but he does sci-fi type stuff also based on contemporary science. They both do a lot of references to "real" literature, which is nice for dorky people like me.

Anyway, we got a chance to talk to Valerie and Ana on Friday night which was really nice. I know I like talking to them, and I know Jeremy really misses them a lot. Ana's getting so big, and she knows all the different parts of her body and can say a few words now. She's definitely getting in to the two year old parrot thing, Valerie called for Matt to come get her and she ran off going, "Maaaatt! Maaaatt!"

Went to the beach on Saturday with Ron and Kathy and the seat belt wore the sunblock off our shoulders and we both got pretty sunburned. Our legs were burned, and the tops of our feet, too! The beach was really nice, though, and we got to see some really cool rocks-- high tide obviously lasts a while because there is some massive algae growth, some of the rocks look like they have beards! After the beach, we went back and went swimming in the pool at the campsite where Ron and Kathy live. The water was a little chilly, but I can take cold water in a pool better than in the ocean-- the ocean is supposed to be warm! We had pizza for dinner and went back to the house to relax and watch a movie.

Sunday we didn't do much of anything, it was just a hang around and be lazy day. Jeremy looked at tools and toolboxes online (the Sears website is SO slow!) and I took a little nap after a while, we went and had lunch at Panda Express because they've a) got air conditioning and b) got some pretty good (and spicy!) food we like. Plus, you can feed two people for $7.50 if you want to be stuffed-- we usually just get two entrees, but we went for three since I hadn't eaten (Jeremy had some pizza before he went to church) that morning.

Drove back Monday and made great time-- when I got back, I realized that the storm I went through last time added almost TWO HOURS on to my trip!! In. sane.

Work's been decent the last couple nights, though I'm a little worried about tonight-- we have tornado warnings! Last night was surprisingly good considering it was Cinco de Mayo, which Americans celebrate more than Mexicans do... It was a strange night in the neighborhood, actually. The Mexican place across the street had a band that played "La Bamba" and then went on to play some Janis Joplin and Willie Nelson... Mezcalitos intermittently played Mariachi music, and we went with an XM station called Caliente which turned out to be a lot of fun-- they played some cheesy ballads, some Mariachi, some Reggaeton, some pop, it was a blast.

That's about all for now, really. I'm still on Desperate Housewives and Spooks as far as Netflix goes, and will be watching The Savages and The White Countess later this week. Quantum of Solace is still on looooong wait, The Human Stain, Namastey London, Venture Brothers, Northern Exposure, Sherlock: Case of Evil, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Reader are also all on wait, if you were wondering. I'm not sure when I'll ever get to see Quantum of Solace since it's been on wait since it came out! I'm keeping it at the top of my queue, so one of these days...

Ciao for now, all-- more later this week!

Spring has Sprung

Daffodil outside Palate

Eenterestink

So I know not everyone is as big of a nerd as I am, but MAN I love Battlestar Galactica. Aside from being one of the most amazingly produced shows ever, they do such an amazing job of relating the very sociopolitical dialogue they want without being forceful about the issue. Obviously they're debating a monotheistic versus polytheistic system of religion, a Democratic or Socialist or Trotskyist system of government, the very essence of human nature in chaos and crisis, but they just freakin' rock at it! Plus, it's just hilarious to watch them slowly make Baltar look like the classic image of Jesus (for those of you who are not familiar with the show, Baltar is first assumed to be the saviour of the human race, but becomes a central figure to the Cylons, and then bounces back and forth between the two) because he wears it surprisingly well. James Callis has very pretty hair... point is, the show is amazing and never ceases to dazzle me. This is why I am embarking on a ridiculous spree of Galactica watching that will end next Friday when I am fully caught up on a season and a half plus the new season that I've missed and the brand new episode on Friday night!

Valerie's post about her trip to Phuket inspired me to look up a few things about the resort they stayed at and start looking at plane tickets and start feeling out the price. We've decided to wait on the honeymoon for a while because we want to do something really fantastic and we don't want to have to cancel it (as I know several couples getting married this year who have had to cancel their honeymoons due to a lack of funds). Jeremy's parents are being incredibly generous with their gift to us, so we're going to put it in the high-yield savings account and let it sit for a year (and save up some vacation time) and go on a crazy awesome Asian honeymoon. If I could have my way, we'd hit up Thailand, Singapore, and Japan. Surprisingly, the cheapest flights are actually from Austin to Singapore! How random is that? The resort Valerie stayed at is pretty inexpensive all things considered-- $600 for three days two nights including private limo ride to/from the airport, massages, dinner for two, sea view room, and all sorts of other crazy stuff! I know it's expensive for regular folks, but you're supposed to do stuff like that on your honeymoon, right? :D Besides, I think everything else in Thailand isn't too expensive, we'd probably want to crowd Matt, Val, and Ana in Singapore, and the train in Japan is cheap, so it'd be the biggest expense most likely. Man, the next year and a half can't come fast enough!!

OH MY GODS THEY DIDN'T! FRACKING RIDICULOUS, BATTLESTAR, FRACKING RIDICULOUS! (sorry, they just revealed four of the final five Cylons hiding in the fleet -think sleeper agents- and it's sooooo... just wow. I'm going to go crazy waiting to start Season 4 after Jeremy leaves!!!)

Now that I'm done dorking out on you... I think it's time to go to bed. I tried going to bed earlier last night and it really didn't end well! I kept waking up and then they cranked up the heat a little bit and it was awful. I'm calling the heating and air place first thing in the morning to see when they can come fix this stuff. I need to get my lazy butt up and take the futon out from under the mattress so Jeremy and I both have a place to sleep this week! Need to make sure he's nice and rested so that he can fix my car-- it's been a long time coming, but I did finally get a written warning about my tags tonight, and since I actually have the money to get it all registered today it needs to happen! I certainly can't afford to get a ticket! That being said, I totally forgot what it was like to live somewhere that has a nice police force! In Memphis and Southaven, they were just horrible and harrassed you at every chance they got (as those of you who know about my lone and totally unwarranted speeding ticket may have heard) and didn't seem to care about your safety-- the guy who pulled me over tonight was totally nice and relaxed and was like, "You know, just because you're working on it doesn't mean you should drive it... since you're fixing it this week, I'm giving you a warning. Have a safe night and take care." Totally a non-issue. If they'd pulled me over in Southaven, they would have tried to search my car for drugs or something.

Get Smart

If I fill out 5 job applications (and I've already filled out one at Parker's), I can watch "Get Smart" which I borrowed from Emily. If I fill out two more, I can watch the little followup they did on Bruce and Lloyd (<3 Masi Oka), and speaking of Masi Oka, if I fill out two more I can watch Heroes on TV tonight instead of online tomorrow.

I picked up a TON of apps yesterday at the Forum, and only a couple here in town today, but it was a nice walk around so there ya go. The Forum is promising, Williams Sonoma and Banana Republic were hiring late because of the economy (one of the managers said she was waiting until a week after the election to start handing out applications-- she wanted to see what the stock market did) and a couple other seemed to be as well. It'd be a pain in the butt to drive all the way out there, but the scheduling sounds pretty decent, so it would be worth my while and I could get a few days off now and again to go down to see Jeremy. It would be better if I got a job in Decatur, then we wouldn't have to front the money to get new tires on the car and get it registered (not as big of a deal since I'm not driving it and, thanks to the tires, it's in obvious disrepair) because I could just walk to work. I applied at Parker's, which is where the old Mick's used to be (for the like zero people from Decatur who read this blog) and looks really super nice on the inside. I talked to the head chef who thought she recognized me from Birdi's, so hopefully she'll tell the hiring manager that I'm cute and nice and experienced and he should hire me first.

Brickstore is a possibility because of the Brickstore Biergarten (opening January at the latest, btw) and there's a new pizza place opening, Zucco, but the owner wasn't there when I stopped by and I don't think the painters spoke English so I'll probably just drop a letter of interest and a resume in the mail.

Though, let's be honest, I would die of happiness to work at WS or BR! I would spend too much money at WS, but that's ok. I'd have really nice kitchen stuff, and maybe even get some presents for people!

Anyway, I'm sure you're all thrilled with my job search updates, since that's what this has turned in to, but since there's not much else going on, I'll just bug out and start working on those apps and chopping up the butternut squash and the potatoes for the shepherd's pie (just the potatoes for the pie, not the squash).

Workin' my way back to you, babe

I play 50's music in my head. No, really, on my way back from Memphis the radio didn't work, so I ended up singing "Don't Stop Believin", "Jesse's Girl", and various oldies including "Fill Me Up (Buttercup)" and "Stop (In The Name of Love)". It would appear that the oldies have a corner on the parenthetical song titles.

Today was low-key enough. Accidentally overslept; I'm still not used to having to wake up without light queues, so Jeremy's going to give me a wakeup call tomorrow since he gets up at 8a which is 9a my time. I got some stuff over to the storage unit today, but not nearly enough, and it's almost all the way full so we're gonna go over tomorrow and re-organize some things, and I'm going to ask her if she wants me to maybe get things set up for a yard sale this weekend and put up an ad on Craigslist to try and kick out as much crap as possible. She says she can donate it, but it'd be really nice if we could make a few dollars, especially since I can't find a job to save my life and we're trying to find a new place to live. I'm putting in more applications tomorrow, some for seasonal work, some for temp work, some for part time work. I really hope I get something. At this point, even $50 a week would at least help me pay down my phone bill and send a few bucks to the GI and Rhodes.

As for the future, Jeremy said that WyoTech indicated they would start trying to place them about three months prior to graduation, which means I'll have more than a few days of scrambling to find a job and find us a place to live. I'm really glad he's doing this, he sounds excited, and his roommate found them a 2 BR apartment close to campus that is totally reasonable, so maybe he'll be able to sleep at night now. If you have any suggestions on fairly temperate climates where people might be inclined to ride bikes year round, let me know-- we're starting our list of possible places so that both of us have a better chance of getting a job. I think we're aiming towards Austin or Atlanta areas, still, but you gotta go where the jobs are, right?

Keep your fingers crossed for me over the next few days-- I'm putting in at PierOne, Starbucks, Best Buy, several restaurants, Grassroots Campaigns (I applied for a job with them in Austin, but couldn't accept for financial reasons), and a couple of box office positions with theatres in Atlanta. I guess I should also get mom to print off a bagful of my resume; could get pricey since I'm so desperate I'm handing out the whole CV!

For now, though, I'll be thankful to be back in the real South. Inside the Perimeter, the real Atlanta, life is calm and happy. People might be in a bit of a hurry, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying a beautiful day, walking to work, or honking and waving to someone you know on the street. The weather is beautiful, and the people are nice-- if I get too bored, right up the street is the square with trees, picnic tables, and people I know. I know I sound a little bit like the Cheers theme song, but it's true. Big city feel, small town heart. It would be really nice if Jeremy could find a job around here-- I think he likes Decatur a lot, and since everything's pretty accessible through MARTA, he wouldn't have to deal with the traffic.

Here's to home, the place where you feel comfortable enough to take your shoes off and stay a while.

Farmer's Market Day!

This morning was the weekly trip to Your DeKalb Farmer's Market (YDFM) which always puts me in a better mood-- something about being in such a bustling place with people from all over the world is refreshing, reminds us all that we're not the only people here. That, and fresh produce and meat and seafood pleases me. There was nothing like the YDFM in Memphis or Southaven, so finding fresh, organic food was really difficult and expensive. The spices at YDFM are insanely cheap-- a few ounces of Tikki Masala (or any other Masala, for that matter) is about 79 cents, and a bag of more bay leaves than I'll probably use this winter is also under $1. I left the rest of my spices with Jeremy because spices are just so expensive everywhere else, and the stuff you get here is better and fresher anyway.

I stocked up on leeks, a pumpkin, squash, cornishons (French cornish pickles), Masala Chicken spice, bay leaves, milk, bananas, fresh baked bread, naan, and fresh catfish.

I think I'll make some potato and leek soup, some potato and squash soup, some Ziti alla Zucca (gratzi Mario Batali), and possibly do some sauteed squash with chicken next week. I'm extremely happy to be cooking again, and I wish everyone's schedules had worked out the last month or so that I was in Southaven, I would have loved to cook for Marc and Jan, and I'm sure it would have been nice for them to eat some healthy homemade food than getting tired of cooking and hitting up Texas Roadhouse. I think I could get tired of baked potatoes! It also would have been nice to do since it's looking less and less like I have employment options to send them money for rent...

I'm hoping cooking will take my mind off some of that-- I hate not working or going to school, having something to do with my days, because I feel a little useless and pointless. Not depressed, just... pointless, I think, is the best word. I'm going to re-vamp my CV again and send it out to like everyone I know in the hopes that they can find something. I'm also going to take mom's car tonight and run up to Pier One and try to get an application in for holiday work. I'm sure they have more than they need already, but I'll never know if I don't try!

That's all for today, I'm going to watch a movie and put up some clothes, and start putting things back in the car to go to storage first thing. If you have any more suggestions for the squash or pumpkin, feel free to leave them-- I love learning new recipes!