Pictures.

There we go. I don't know why they didn't show up below.

I got nothing to write here.

I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. I'm off today but it's raining here so it spoiled my golf plans but I can't complain because it's still mid-70s. I had a nice Thanksgiving other than watching the pathetic Lions embarrass themselves on national television. Lee came down and we had a nice dinner with several other Americorps and couple parents. Kristen's mom has been staying here at the house since Thursday so I've been on my best behavior. A few of us went to the lighted boat parade and fireworks down on the river on Saturday night. I've never been to Venetian Night in Chicago but I think this was similar. The boats were pretty cool but they didn't compare to the fireworks display. It was the best fireworks show I've ever seen. They had two barges in the river and two bridges from which they shot off the fireworks. The highlight was the "wall of light" that came down from both bridges all the way to the water. I think having the bridges on both sides of the barge and in a relatively small area is what made them so impressive. So if anyone is looking for a warmer place to go for Thanksgiving sometime you might want to check out Jacksonville. Plus the malls are nearly as crazy down here on black Friday as they are up north.

I have another interesting story. On Saturday after work Kristen, Nick, and I were throwing the football around in the road in front of the house when a car with a couple of teenage thugs rolled up. They stop when they got to me to ask if we were part of the Bloods (like the gang), apparently because we were wearing our red Habijax shirts. I laughed and told him no to which he mumbled something about how we better not be and he said something about being with the Crips. And kept yelling things (including profanity) at us while they drove away. He's lucky Lee wasn't still there because I would have grab his gun and pop a cap in his ass. :o)

On Sunday I pulled the 20 year old ten speed out of the shed and filled the tires with air so I could take it for a ride. I was cruising the area (don't worry I was wearing neutral colors) looking at the houses for sale when I came across a yard sale. The old dude had a bunch of old crap for sale including a small christmas tree and some lights. So I went back home, got some cash, and bought a 4' tree, 300 white lights, and 2 jigsaw puzzles (for Kristen) all for $10. I was skeptical about whether all the parts were included and if the lights would work. But I got home, set it up, and everything worked great. So now we have a nice little tree in our front window and a few lights outside too. I'll try to attach the pictures I took.

That's about it from here. I have created the annual Christmas list so if anyone out there is just dying to buy me a gift, send me an email and I'll hook you up with my list. After all these days off it's going to be tough to get back to work tomorrow. We aren't starting any new houses until the new year so I should get to do some different misc tasks around the warehouse this month which will be a nice change of pace. I'll try to post pictures from work with my posts from now on. Only 3 1/2 weeks until I head home for Christmas. Take it easy.

Yay, yay, it's Turkey Day!!

Well, almost. Another hour and a half. I can really get used to the two days off two days on schedule. Today I worked with a guy who will be getting a Habitat house soon (a "Homeowner"). His name is Soulemayne (or something like that). I think he said he is originally from Morocco but moved to Senagal 16 years ago and moved to the US 3 years ago. He speaks 5 African dialects as well as French. He didn't know any English when he moved here but took classes at the community college and now speaks it better than some of the people who've lived here all their lives. He has a wife and 6 kids ranging from 2 to 12. He says they all speak better english than him. Well except maybe the 2 year old. He's a tall dude too probably 6-4. He is still trying to decide where to pick a lot for his house. He is worried about picking one in a new Habitat and JHA subdivision because it might not be safe. This is a guy who moved from Africa because it was not safe there. I'm surprised that he thinks the potentially bad parts of Jacksonville are comparable to bad parts in Africa. He was a very interesting guy and a hard worker. I've worked with him 3 times now and I wish all homeowners did such a good job.

I can't believe it but there was ice on the windshield of the car this morning. That is ridiculous. I didn't think I would be seeing that shit for at least another two months. I didn't sign up for that. But it was still 60 by mid-afternoon and it's supposed to be 75 on Thanksgiving Day. I played golf on Monday for the first time in at least a month and shocked myself by birdieing (?) number one. I went on to shoot a 4 over 38 while missing 2 3-footers. I was pretty happy about the round.

We had a half day of work today and had a pot luck Thanksgiving lunch at the Habijax offices. There were collard greens and sweet potato pie and some other scary looking southern dishes. I stuck to the ham, turkey, and jello mostly. However, one dude brought in what he called apple cake. Holy balls, it was awesome and I got to bring home the leftovers. Lee is going to be he tomorrow to watch the game and have dinner with some of the Corps. Speakin' of dinner I ate with one of the Corps girls (Amy) tonight at a nice little pizzeria in a trendy part of town across the river. It had Christmas decorations and fountains. Very nice.

For those interested I will be driving home for Christmas on the 23rd (after a pit stop at Niez's in ATL on the 22nd). I plan to be there for about a week and then take a leisure drive back down here through West Virginia and the Carolinas to see the sights on the way. I hope to see a lot of you then. Take care and go easy on the dessert tomorrow.

It was a busy week.

Hello everyone. I wish the blog had a counter that showed how many hits the site has so I have an idea of how many people actually read this drivle. Irregardless, (ha ha) I going to keep writing. It's cheaper than a shrink. It was a long week. Actually, during the week it seems to go quickly but by the end of the week I'm always ready for a break. Today is the first of six days off over the next nine, which is nice since I've worked 11 of the past 12 days. Between work, the ant bites, lifting weights on Thursday, and rock-climbing for the first time in a couple years on Friday, I was whipped yesterday. I went to bed at 10 last night and didn't get up until after 8 this morning which is incredible for me. I think I'm recovering but my forearms are still sore from climbing. I'm going to try to climb a couple times a week so I can catch up to the other guys that I go with. I hope to get some climbing shoes for Christmas.

Something interesting from this past week was the swat team that was at a house near where I was working on Thursday. Ryan (another Americorps dude) and I were driving home from our worksite for lunch when we came upon a cop on one knee on the sidewalk with his hand over his holstered sidearm staring at the back door/porch of this ghetto house about four blocks from our worksite. By the time we figured out what was going on we were already past the cop. As we drove away we saw another cop car on its way to the site. By the time we returned after lunch the street was closed with a dozen cop cars and what appeared to be a big SWAT truck on the street. It looked like the incident was over by that time because none of the cops were near the house anymore but were just standing around. So that was kind of exciting.

My other interesting function this week was the opening of the new downtown public library. Apparently it was years in the making and way over budget. The event was billed as a 21 and over gathering of Jacksonville socialites with artists selling their crap all over the library and local restaurants selling food. I went with Liz who is another Americorps that works in the Habijax office. Overall I was very impressed with the library. It is much nicer than the main branch of the Chicago Public Library. The whole thing is hooked up for Wi-Fi and it has a second floor courtyard with palm trees, a water fountain, and tables. I have to say that for how bad the residential areas near downtown are, downtown itself is actually very nice and clean. Anyway, the highlight of the evening was a piece of triple layer chocolate cake that I got for $2. It was faaaaabulous.

Well, I think I'm going to workout today, maybe hit some golf balls, look into buying a bike, and watch some football. I hope your weekend is (was) just as relaxing. And if I don't write again before Thursday, have a happy Thanksgiving and nice extended weekend. Go Lions!!

Man Hands.

Well, I thought I would give everyone an update on my hatred for the friggin' ants down here. On Monday I did some landscape work in St. Augustine. Well, I got bitten twice by an ant on my right index finger. I didn't think much of it at the time except that it is going to itch like a SOB. Well, that itch came at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. I didn't get much sleep after that since apparently I was scratching it before I woke up so then it was burning. When I woke up I took a look at it and found that it was a little swollen. When I got to the warehouse I showed some of the others and they were mildly concerned. Well, upon my return to the warehouse their concern had elevated considerably, since we could no longer see the knuckles on my first two fingers and the middle knuckle of my index finger was bulging up a good half inch. They thought I should go to the doctor but I told them they were sissies and I would take some Benadryl and ice it and re-evaluate in the morning. By the time I went to bed I couldn't even see the first two knuckles even when I made a fist and that was after a Benadryl and icing it twice. So I took a picture (maybe attached below) and another Benadryl and went into a coma for the night. I was happy to see that the swelling had receded slightly. I spent today painting which I thought would cause the swelling to get worse but it actually receded further and as of this writing (Wed. night) my knuckles are back to normal with the exception of the immediate bite areas and the top of my hand where the fluid has moved. I almost died!! Well, maybe not but I was starting to get a little nervous for a while there. It looks like I'll make it though so my brothers can't count their inheritance quite yet. That's my exciting story for the week.

I the work world they changed some policies around the warehouse for checking out supplies and it has some of the youngsters all worked up. I think some of these kids would get eaten alive out in the real world. They get all freaked out about the smallest things. They need to relax, with the exception of Brian who could almost make me look high strung. Maybe I'll write about him next time. Oh yeah, the ant bite also cost me a rock climbing class at the Y but two of the other guys went and can get me up to speed.

I saw that the high temp here today was 50 degrees above Chicago. That's what I'm talkin' bout.

Time for bed.

25%

That's how much of my 1700 hours of Americorps service has been completed as of last weekend. Today I put in a full day working on a house down in St. Augustine to help them entertain 25 members of the govenor's (that GW's brother) panel on Volunteer Service in Florida. It was pretty much a dog and pony show with the panel members only working about two hours while posing for dozens of pictures. It was cool though because we got to install sheathing around the house which we don't get to do here. After our free lunch two of us did a couple of house of landscaping down there as well. Nothing too exciting on the construction front from last week. I led a group of Methodist in siding a house on Saturday and it went smooth. I learned to install exterior doors on Thursday during which I drew blood from a finger for the first time with a hammer. That was fun. Another week of unseasonably warm temperatures in the low to mid 80s. The average here this time of year is about 74. Yesterday I went to the Jaguars game again and it was in the 80s again and the Jags won again. It looks like we're playoff bound. For what is supposed to be a conservative area the girls sure dress trampy. It's nice.

Now a little housemate update. It looks like Nick may get to wait until after his Americorps service is over in July before he has to go to boot camp. He was origianally scheduled to leave in January. Whether or not he actually gets in and stays in will be determined. However, the other Americorps members say he performed fairly well at the open mic last night at a local coffee shop. I'll have to go check it out next time he plays. As for the other roommate, she went out with the plumber again last week and got drunk and he slept on our couch. It doesn't appear like much is going on there but I'll keep my eyes peeled.

I just looked up a couple sporting events that take place down here in the spring. The WTA comes to Amelia Island in GA the week of April 3rd. I've never been to a pro tennis match so it should be cool. And the fact that it is a women's event makes it all the better. The other event is The Players Championship at the TPC of Sawgrass the week of March 20. Since it costs about $300 to play the Stadium Course this is likely my only chance of seeing the infamous island hole. If anyone is interested in seeing either of those events let me know, I would be happy to have a visitor. Well, that's it for tonight. Feel free to post any questions or comments you have for me on the blog.

You are so good looking.

Well I had a good week of building last week. All the homeowners that I worked with were actually good workers and we got a lot accomplished. However, one of the houses that I've spent considerable time working on over the past couple weeks was vandalized last week. Apparently some young punks were walking on the train tracks behind the house and decided to start throwing rocks at it. They broke windows, damaged siding, and ruined some of my paint job. I was a little disappointed to hear that. But at the meeting where our boss told us about it, he said that the head of construction for Habijax asked him if one of the subcontractors painted that house because it looked so good. So I felt pretty good about that.

The weather has been outstanding all week, mid-80s and mostly sunny. My friend Lee from Chicago came in yesterday because he starts his special agent training in Brunswick, GA tomorrow. We sweated our asses off at the Jaguars game yesterday but it was worth it since they pulled out the win in the 4th quarter. Then we had dinner at the Landing with a nice view of the river and the South skyline. The shrimp and scallop fettucine was excellent. After that we went to see Jarhead at the local AMC. Interesting movie. I would give it a B+. Seemed to be a fairly believeable portrayal of life for a Marine in Desert Storm. Today we went down to the beach and through the football around a little. I was wading in the water about waste deep and started walking out further when all the sudden I saw this pink/purple jellyfish about the size of a 16" softball. Well needless to say my ass was hauling out of the water when I saw that. I hear that they can do some damage to a person and hurt like the dickens if you get "stung." Now I'm going to be nervous every time I go in there.

There has been some interesting activity on the roommate front lately. First, Kristen has been dating this 44 year-old dude from St. Augustine that she met online for about a month. However, a full-time Habijax plumber who is getting divorced has been flirting with her. So last week he stops by after 10 o'clock on a Thursday night and they go out. The next morning I wake up to SportsCenter on TV in the living room, a pillow and blanket on the couch, and the plumber's work clothes laid out. When Kristen came out of her room she was all embarrassed and the plumber was just laughing and Kristen said something about her looking like a tramp. She later claimed that he just slept on the couch and she stayed in her room with the door locked. I don't know what happened for sure but I don't think she told the old dude boyfriend about the night on the town with the plumber. Ironically, this all happened on the same day that I told Kristen that the graffiti in the porta-john on the jobsite said, "Plumbers have big pipes." Hmmm. We'll see if there are any more developements on this front. I'll keep you posted. This is starting to get like the Real World Jacksonville.

Now for Nick. He officially got accepted to the Army Reserves today. He goes to Basic on January 7 for 9 weeks and then gets 14 weeks of training to be a water filtration specialist. So it looks like we will be losing a roommate. I claims that he is joining because of some essays he wrote and posted on his website after 9/11 that apparently explain his solution to stopping terrorism and now he doesn't want to be a hypocrite for not being part of the solution. Or something like that. It may also have something to do with Verizon stalking him, tapping his phone, and crashing his computer, as he claims. I'm interested in seeing if he makes it in the Army. He is a little different. Make that a lot different. I hope it works out well and helps him overcome his depression.

That's about all for now. Have a great week.