Life is kinda boring when you don't have a job...

So Swell and I have been back home for a couple of weeks now. In those two plus weeks I've worked once and she hasn't worked at all.

I work this Friday and Saturday and she works this Saturday so it will be a nice change of pace and more importantly we'll have positive cash flow.

What have we been doing with no work to go to? Sitting in front of the TV and watching the Olympics of course!

It was fun to be able to watch as much as we wanted although the coverage left a lot to be desired. If I never see another swim race it will be too soon. The only things shown live were swimming, beach volleyball and water polo. Every single track event other than the marathons, and race walking events were taped. The premiere events of the Olympics are all track and field and they were taped and delayed. Stupid. I didn't get to see any steeple chase, or hammer throw, or triple jump, or... the list goes on. I wish they had a channel devoted just to athletics.

During our time off (as if working twice in the next month counts as NOT time off) we also spent a bunch of money.

"What buy you!? What buy you!?"

Plane tickets.

Lots and lots of plane tickets.

Our life is as follows over the next two months:

Leave September 4 for Las Vegas to help my Mother celebrate an important birthday.
Return to Atlanta on September 9 .

I work on the 19th and 20th while Swell works only on the 20th.

September 23rd Swell leaves me for Romania. She'll be so lonesome. She's gonna cry. I'll probably be a little lonely as well but at least I'll have two days of work to keep me company.

On October 9th I leave Atlanta for Edmonton to attend my sister's wedding. The same day Swell leaves Romania for Edmonton. We meet up 12 hours after I arrive and then will probably head to Drayton Valley, Alberta shortly after her arrival.

We both leave from Edmonton on the same flight on October 16th and have no work currently scheduled. (Crossing our fingers that something pops up).

On October 25 we both get on a plane and fly to San Diego where we'll be staying in the Hard Rock Hotel and I'll be attending the American Public Health Association's annual meeting.

I have a group meeting schedule for Monday, October 27th where I'll receive job coaching. (This is how to market yourself and get a very hard to get public health career started type stuff). The rest of the time I'll be trying to break out of my shell and meet people and network. Scary stuff for someone as shy as me. We come back from San Diego on October 30th.

For my birthday Swell bought me a bunch of books that I had on my Christmas list for the last couple of years. Mostly books about public health, social justice, etc. She also came across a really funny one called:

Swell is mad at me that I paid so much to go to school (cash, no student loans for my MPH) and I keep telling her that I'm gonna end up being an optometrist anyway so I think this is her way of telling me something. I'm not quite sure what she's saying though...

So I've been reading that and trying to find a new job. We're still trying to move back west but are running into some problems, mostly a condo that isn't really selling. I expect it will take a few more months to get an offer. It shouldn't matter after today because we're going to win 114 million dollars on the mega millions today. (I got some scratch lotto tickets for my birthday and we parlayed my winnings into 5 quick picks for mega millions).

That's our life for the next two months. A lot of travel, very little work. Its a perfect life, no?

"Hey mister can you spare a dime? We're cold and hungry and we've lost our minds." Blenderhead

Few pictures

Thanks for visiting!





My birthday prince :)



Funny looking cake, but pretty tasty. The Dairy Queen lady took it to the back to write on it, and was SO excited to show it to us, exclaiming: "It's my first time!!!" Yep, it sure is...and maybe it should be your last...



How old Sheepie thinks he turned:



One last one:

HaPpY BiRThDaY To YoU!

Worst Olympics Ever

Well coverage that is. NBC in the US has taken something I look forward to for 4 years and turned it into the worst television week of my life.

It started by them choosing not to show women's gymnastics live, rather they taped it and showed it over 12 hours later.

It continued with the inability to show any other athletes other than Americans. Gymnastics apparently was competed by only China and the US. It continued further by their inability to show final results. An American came in 2nd. Who came in first and third and sixth and tenth? What were their times or distances?

It continued with incessant coverage of Michael Phelps. A great athlete? Yes. The only athlete? No but according to NBC the only athlete worth covering and lingering on and interrupting other events for and shoving down my throat all day every day.

Track heats have been completely ignored.

The icing on the cake was when NBC chose to tape delay by over 12 HOURS the men's 100 m track final. Not only the premiere event of every Olympics but in this case the fastest race ever. 9.69 seconds. And I still haven't seen it. And it happened YESTERDAY.

Worst coverage... EVER.

Condo for sale

So those who pay attention will remember that in the three days between our return from Nome and our departure for Romania we fired or real estate agent and hired a new one.

We arrived back from Romania with a very nice brochure on our bar and were told that a good number of people had looked at the place.

Because its been vacant for almost 4 months on our listing it was listed as "vacant - stop on in anytime". Since being back we've had 3 or 4 agents drop by unannounced. Once Swell was home by herself and was startled by the agent and her clients. The second time we were both home watching the Olympics when we heard them outside our door. A couple of other times we were out and came home to obvious signs that people had toured the home.

We have no problem with people dropping by anytime as we can run out and sit in the media room or go for a walk but we've put a "courtesy call" request on our listing.

We've received good feedback on our place and our agent does not think its time to lower the price yet. The only real negative is that we're on the first floor.

We don't think of ourselves as being on the first floor because although we're on level 1 it isn't street level. Rather we live above the parking garage. Out our patio doors is the courtyard but its closed to anyone without the code. So we're waiting and hoping someone who loves it will come by.

Our friend Maui-sha has a friend who, I think, was transferred to the Atlanta area so we sent some house pictures to her to share with her house hunting friend. I think Swell did a good job taking the pictures so I thought I'd share some here for those who have never been to our place.

Bonus room we use it as a guest room/library but our books are in storage


Bedroom




View of Bar/Kitchen from Living Room


Living Room


Living Room/French Doors leading to Patio


Kitchen and Living Room


Kitchen and Bar


Courtyard

Last set of pictures

Swell has a good point and shoot camera that she took a bunch of pictures with. She wanted to give all y'all the opportunity to see them so just click on the following and enjoy.

There are a few doubles.

Romania 2008

Budapest 2008

Prague 2008

Budapest Prague in Pictures

Here is the rest of our trip in pictures. I didn't take a whole bunch because many of the sites didn't allow indoor photos without a fee and I'm unwilling to pay the fee for pictures that wouldn't turn out. I, therefore, left my camera at the hotel most days.

Suffice it to say we had an enjoyable vacation. We had fun with Zumi and the Good One despite being with Zumi and the Good One. J/K don't get mad at me Zumi and the Good One!

So here is Budapest and Prague in pictures.

The Botel. A cool concept but we only stayed one night. Sorry Zumi


The Hungary Parliament and Swell


The Hungary Parliament without Swell


Inside Parliament




The Good One and Zumi on the hop on hop off tour bus


Hero's Square


I'm lucky aren't I?


Swell with Anonymous (looks a lot like death to me)


Food (on a bridge)


Funicular


For some reason red wine was dripping out of this guys mouth


Stained glass window in a church on Castle Hill


The four of us in Budapest


Statue in monument park


Monument to a fellow who was martyred by being put in a barrel of nails and pushed down this hill


Budapest


Prague






Swell on the clock tower (an elevator went all the way to the top! But we walked)


View from the top


World famous astronomical clock (people stand around waiting for the clock to chime. It is very neat but after watching it I overheard a woman turn to her friend and say "let's make it a point to NOT do things this stupid on the rest of our trip".)




2.5 hour drive from Prague is an old town that has become a UNESCO world heritage site due to its oldness. Here it is.






It comes complete with a really cool castle and an even cooler theater. Here is the castle



Here is a link to the rest of the pictures (not as many as Romania). Click on the Botel

Budapest Prague 2008