I'm baaaack...

Florida was plenty interesting, what with the homeless-shelter-esque living conditions (a dozen people in close quarters sleeping on the floor) and old-person schedule (very early to bed, early to rise, planning the entire day around when and where for meals). Somehow I survived, helped along by backpacking early in the vacation, going out for drinks one nite with a college bud in the middle, and visiting another good friend in St. Pete towards the end.

Our last full day brought jet ski rental for my uncle, my cousin, and his fiancee, and kayak rentals for my mom, dad, sister, and me. Unfortunately most of my pics from this were blurred by a film of sea salt, and I couldn't even break out the camera in time to get what would have been the coolest picture of a dolphin (or was it a porpoise?) less than 30 feet from my parents. But we found a geocache on one of the intercoastal islands and had a good four hours on the water in the sun, so no complaining here.

I got back in time for a nice New Year's celebration with Kristin. She's now in Indiana on her clinical, and I'm in Chi-town in the house in which I grew up, that I cannot really call "home" anymore. This week will be filled with job search, guitar, and perhaps some sort of computer project (maybe building a fitness tracker database, or I'm open to other suggestions).

My biggest excitement for now is getting to listen to XRT on the radio (even though I can listen to their webcast from anywhere). My mom bought me their "Live From The Archives, Vol 7" CD before vacation, and I listened to it twice and it is excellent.

Other than that, I hope to see some old friends, for those of you who are still around and able to get together after your work. I'll be back in STL sometime early next week, with my agenda there including blood donation, massive apartment cleaning, more job search, and preparation for my final semester at Wash U. I can't wait.