Homecoming part 1

Huzzah, it's Christmas break! (actually it has been for the past week and a half, but you know how I am with promptness.)

My flight went smoothly and without any delays, despite flying directly into the heard of the "storm of the century, Blizzard '09" (I guess they forgot about the other Blizzard '09s they had in January and February?) which dumped approximately 0 inches of snow on my house. Laura was nice enough to meet me there and ride the train back with me since SOME people weren't willing to brave the storm and pick up their son at the airport. Thanks Laura, you get a Christmas present now!

My time here has been...uneventful. I forgot that though I may be in vacation, most of my friends are not. And I haven't even heard from some people who I wasn't as close with but was still eager to see. Was I that unpopular? So it's been a lot of wine-and-Godzilla evenings for me.

My parents, as always, got me way too much for Christmas. I told them that the tickets home were enough, and I really meant it, but sure enough, come Christmas morning, there was a bunch of stuff for me under the tree. And to top it off my mom bought me new glasses as an early birthday present. I am extremely grateful, don't get me wrong, but the whole thing has started to bug me. For one, I really am bothered by how much my parents spent on me, and two, I am even more bothered by the fact that, at 25, I'm still almost completely incapable of taking care of myself financially. My parents buy my plane tickets and eye care, pay my cell phone bill, and have temporarily taken on my student loan payments while I'm in Americorps (possibly the most financially unsound move of my post-college life). They justify it, of course, by saying that they paid a certain portion of my sister's college expenses so this makes it even. But I still feel like if I were a better son and a better person, no justification would be needed because money would be needed. I'll pay them back someday, I swear.

Lets see, what else. Got a new phone. Rather a second new phone, cause I had to return the first new phone I got cause I hated it so much. I actually assumed I would do this; the only available phone they had in Sacramento was a Samsung and I have never met a Samsung phone I could tolerate. But I didn't want to make a cross-country flight without a cell phone, so I took it. The guy said I could return it within 30 days if I didn't like it (he neglected to mention the $35 restocking fee. Thanks, asshole, see if I ever come to your store again.)

I suppose thats about it for now. I'll do my best to get off my lazy ass and throw up another post from home before I go.

Oops.

So, I accidentally put my phone through the rinse cycle. (Tech tip of the day: don't do this). I have heard tales of electronics surviving this kind of abuse; mine did not. For those keeping score, this is the second death-by-water experienced by one of my phones, and the second major electronic device I've destroyed in as many months out here in California. Laptop? DS? I love you guys but you should probably be on guard around me.

We spent the day helping at a clinic handing out H1N1 vaccines. It was at a high school. High schools out here are weird, by the way. They're more like mini colleges, with lots of buildings spread out over a campus. I guess it makes sense in a state with no real winter, and where most school buildings were built after 1800.

But the vaccine. Against my better judgement, I got one. I don't know why I was so against it. Maybe I was afraid of contributing to the evolving super virus, or didn't want the government's brainwashing serum in me. But they gave it to me in nasal spray form. What a great idea these things are! Where were they when I was a kid? Maybe if I didn't have some nurse stabbing me with the ferocity of a serial killer back at the pediatrician's, I wouldn't be so mortified about going to the doctor today.

Anyway, enjoy getting H1N1, suckers!*

*you probably will not get H1N1

Yum

The California Burrito: a heart attack in a tortilla topped with diabetes sauce. Each bite takes a week off your life. Carne asada, cheese, sour cream and French fries rolled into a flour tortilla and I don't even know what kind of sauce. It weighs at least 4 pounds. $4.89. Open 24 hours. I think I will have one tonight.

Look, I found a blog!

*dusts it off*

Well here I am finally, back for another overdue post. I can't blame it on being too busy or lacking internet. Im usually just so tired by the end of the day, writing up a blog post always seems like too much work. Especially since I don't have my own camera, and have to download any photos I want to post from friends' facebook pages. And theres so many pictures I want to show!

Lets see, what have we missed? I went to San Francisco last weekend. which was actually pretty cool...for the most part. Remind me to not go with underage kids anymore. For all the talk of SF being a super-liberal city, they are very strict about IDing at the door. So if you don't want to face the choice between ditching your friend and wandering around all night not being able to get inside anywhere, leave the kids at home. Ill show everyone pictures soon.

Our project at the Partnership sucks. Theres no sugar coating it. Oh, we know that we're helping, and that they'd be having a hard time dealing with the holidays without us, but there is no overriding task that we're trying to accomplish. We barely interact with the poor families we're serving, and the chores we DO do from day to day are just that: chores. Busy work. General maintenance tasks that they struggle to come up with for us every day. Its pretty hard to keep team morale up. Fortunately, its almost over; just another week and a half and then Im home!

My ISPs are coming along nicely: after this weekend I'll be pushing 40 hours and have gotten my lead out of the way. That's 40% done!

Also, if anybody is looking for a killer workout, try the P90x series. We did one video for PT on Monday and my ass and thighs are still killing me.