Heading to Nashville today

I am leaving in a few hours to go to Nashville for the weekend for a memorial service. One of my friends from college, Henrik, lost his sister to cancer early this month and he's holding a service for her in the town in which they grew up. I haven't seen him in quite awhile, but once I heard of the service Legume (Rob Roy) and Soch (Dave) and I all made plans to meet there. He's lost both his parents as well so this must be very hard for him. Kind of makes you realize what is most important in the world. Tell your parents and siblings Hi for me, will ya?

The paperwork is in!

Woo hoo!! I received the offer letter yesterday afternoon. I'll be working through a sub as a construction manager but acting like an employee, kind of like in the telecom world. I'll be working on the Public Works side of things, managing road and sidewalk repair as well as water and sewer work which is not where my experience lies but learning new things is always good. The office is in a high rise downtown, first time I've worked in the middle of a city but this city is very easy to get into and out of, unlike southern California. I was driving through the interstate in the middle of town the other day at 4:44 pm and the traffic was crusing, unbelievable when looked at through So Cal eyes. Now I can find me a permanent place for these mutts of mine instead of living like a hobo.

One of my favorite authors/chefs/TV hosts Anthony Bourdain did a No Reservations show here in New Orleans last year, you can download it from itunes for 2 bucks. He talks to Chris Rose, my favorite local columnist (read his book One Dead in Attic for the most comprehensive, and heartbreaking, post-Katrina state of the city updates) quite a bit on the show so go download it already!

SC-NC trip home

I've posted a few pics from my trip to SC and NC last week or so - some, like the barn and Dot's house I take pictures of most times I go home and others, like the vehicle topiary I happen upon while driving the backroads .

Morning is mosquito time too

I am proud to say that I have a VERBAL job at this point! Still no paperwork but things can move AWfully slow around here I'm beginning to understand. Read the following...makes me feel better it's only taken me around 5 weeks and six phone calls to get the information I now have.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/21041119.html?index=1&c=y

I got an email request for a reference from one of my coworkers in the Seattle office back in 01-02 yesterday, Rebecca, and got the idea of this blog from hers. What a gorgeous family she has...and she's looking quite good herself! Good luck to her move back to Washington State...a land I surely will wish I inhabited in a few weeks.

Now is a lovely time of day on the back porch, dogs laying in the spots of sun while I type in the shade from the backyard trees and the ACs aren't quite yet humming in the corner nonstop yet.

First post...have to run and finish some work I'm doing for the Preservation Center of New Orleans. More later...

E