Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote in. I've gotten all up-to-speed on my Colorado road trip (if you haven't read it, it's pretty interesting, since the trip went on for 11 days instead of 6 and cut through more states than I've ever seen in a week.)

While I was on my trip, I was called in as a candidate for a job that I was a good fit for- actually a hell of a good fit for. I'm working there now, and have been here a week or so. It's fun, challenging and small, which means it requires an entrepeneurial mind and level of enthusiasm. I have that kind of energy, and hope it lasts a while, because in this kind of job, energy is something that can't come in short supply.

My place has seen a few upgrades since I last wrote in. I have even more stuff hanging on my bedroom walls than before, and my stitching project is almost framed for hanging. My TV seems to have an even brighter glow now that it's completely paid off, and I'm happy to have that bill gone from my life. Was it worth it? Please. Of course it was.

On the homefront, we've gone through two national conventions where John Kerry and President Bush have spoken their minds about the future of the country. I look forward to actively participating this November.

Rob has successfully made the switch on over to MovableType. Congrats, Rob! The site looks great! Folks, check out his site (read: son) at HouseofKlause.com!

We got hammered recently by a tropical storm known as Gaston. By "we" I meant the city of Richmond. There was some serious flooding. It wasn't the James river flooding, it was a lack of drainage and 12 inches of water in 10 hours, all flowing rapids-style into the lowest part of the city.

At 2pm, we finally got to lunch. We headed to Bottom's Up, a local pizza joint down in Shockoe Bottom (the topographical low-point of downtown Richmond). We had our pizza and it started sheeting rain. It was CRAZY hard. When lunch was over, the guy who drove us there ran out to his car to pick us up- he was soaked to his calfs. It had already started flooding there.

...we later found out that within 6 hours, the people inside that building were stranded on the 2nd floor due to rapids. Police boats were sent to save them when waters got to about 10 feet or more.

As for my office, I had a chance to leave for the day at 4, but opted to be a good worker bee and stick around. Then, I had no choice. Rt. 95 was shut down, as was Rt. 64, 195, and most major roads. Being up on the 18th floor here is nice because you can see traffic patterns, and there was no pattern- it was deadlocked everywhere. Water was rushing through the streets about a foot high, and the rain was relentless. Cars were floating away.

At 7:30, they handed me a flashlight and told me to hang onto it in case the power went out, which was likely, since the transformer was about to get flooded. The thought of being up here on the 18th floor in the dark, having to walk down stairs in the dark, etc.... it creeped me out a bit.

So, I called up Jeff, who was chilling out at his office 7 blocks away. I decided to ditch my car and toss on a poncho and walk through the sheeting rain to have some company. I picked up dinner along the way, and we ate and watched the news, with people crawling out of their sunroofs because the water was over their hood already.

I finally got home at 10:45 that night. Mother Nature can be quite bitchy sometimes.

My brother Mike is experiencing yet another Florida panic, this time as Hurricane Frances comes along. He said it's chaos down there, and the streets are undrivable....Traffic's mounting up worse than even Wednesday when they first started telling people to leave. Hang in there, Mike!!

I got up yesterday at 6:20 and ran 3 miles before coming home to finish my morning routine and head off to work. It kept me energized most of the day, but I peaked after lunch and by the time I came home, I was ready for a nap. If I can stay caffienated, I think I could keep running in the mornings. No one's out there on the roads, and it's not too hot at that point in the day either.

It really makes me miss those first few months here in the apartment with no job to do, no schedules. I'd check the temperature, wiat until it was at least 20 degrees outside, then walk out and just start running. Now it's all hot and I have a schedule that means I get home right when the road is beaming out the heat it retained all day and it's miserable. Running in the morning is a nice way to forget all that. And when I got home last night, it was nice to think that I already had that issue out of the way for the day.

...so I could focus on Accounting homework. (yay.)

Anybody ever see the show on Travel Channel called Road Trip? I was just watching two of their shows, and it kind of made me smile to see that I'd been to more than a handful of places that they recommended. Orlando, Aspen, San Francisco, New Orleans, Memphis, Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, Asheville, the Grand Canyon, Santa Cruz... It's really kind of cool to recognize things and places, buildings and landmarks on TV that I've seen these past 10 months.

So now, I'll continue to watch shows like this on the tube, making lists of places to see and things to do, but for the time being, I'm pretty happy with where I've been. I mean, this year I've seen the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic, the Pacific, two great lakes, Niagara, the San Francisco Bay, and the Mississippi River. I've now seen 39 states, and even dipped into Canada for a day. I've seen and talked to people from all walks of life in all stages of life, I don't know how I can top that in a 10-month period.

...guess there's always Europe...