Wow. What a full day. Thank you EVERYONE for all your congrats and well wishes. Sometimes I'm not certain how many people are reading along in my journal, and moments like these are treasured, when I hear from friends and family. My deepest thank you's and affection for all of you.

In response to a few of you....
Teffan: "Cool! Two months is just perfect timing so that you could feasibly take a week off "between jobs" for GWW." Hee hee. That would be lovely, but I have no guarantees that the job will only last 2 months. But YES I will be there at GWW, and I still plan to take vacation days from work (paid or unpaid) to be there. Oh, and it was a thrill to see the photos I took at WW up on the Northshield Gallery site. Whee!

Craigor: "Congrats and Halleluia!!! I love the five mile part! ...I realize it's hard for your psyche and system to contemplate not commuting, but trust me, once you try it, you won't want to go back...Also: the same money working five miles from home is automatically a raise!!!! True, having no commute is definitely an increase in money, since gas prices are what they are. And having less TIME stuck in traffic is clearly an improvement in life for me, too. "BTW: My desk is not worse." HA HA HA! I nearly fell over laughing at this, my dear. My room got nearly as bad as your desk had been, back in January (really!), and I've been using this week to do a thorough clutter-wipe, sort of like our monthly appointments. This week I'm moving furniture and doing a massive box-clear. If my office job starts next week, I'd better return to my house job in my remaining days left! Whee!

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So, the drive down to San Diego was uneventful, and the normal back-up near Del Mar surprised me as it always does, but I think I've finally learned that I can expect traffic to be there. The recruiter guy was sweet, and I met my new "boss" at my contracting company [the man who I'll be reporting to, and who's listed on my government paperwork as my supervisor.] Then after filling out a stack of papers and watching the obligatory office safety tape and the "how to not participate in sexual harassment" tape, it was time to head down to the Med Center for a drug screen. That was kinda icky, but of course I tested negative. It was just annoying to wait over 40 minutes in the waiting room.

I hung out in town for a while, enjoying a yummy Greek deli and a plate of Gyros, salad, and rice, and a very good book. But the parent company on the contract never did return my recruiter guy's phone calls, so there was no further paperwork for my security access card, and it was back on the road again.

I do NOT miss the traffic, which in this case included an extra half an hour before getting even up to the Marine Corps base, which is from where I used to drive home. So it was more than a little nostalgic to take the old toll road once again, and then hit the same congestion just south of my apartment.

But the heat has started to abate finally, so it's finally getting comfortable around here. Now it's time to wrap up paying bills and things, so I can start doing all that furniture moving and box clearing that I have in mind. Then I can do some fun photo album work and website updates. Whee!

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Now, back to a regular feature that has been sorely neglected:

Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Alan/Mordecai: One of the neatest things about my household is that it is filled with people that are dearest to my heart. Last night I went to our household rapier fencing practice, and several people I always look forward to seeing weren't there. I missed Mordecai the most, and it got me to thinking how much he means to me. On top of that, he's been on my mind lately, because he was showing off all the most wonderful computer tricks at his house a few weeks ago. And now I cannot wait to have him take me laptop shopping. Whee! Alan, my dearheart, I am =so= glad you're in my life, and I missed you terribly last night.