Dudes: I am now totally like Cali in a vehicular way. I bid a fond adieu to 210-MOS and welcome 5DKY203. And just as I was about to say that I'm finally done with that long list of things to do when moving (new: job, residence, housemates, cable, DSL, electric, bank, phone, driver's license, registration...whew) I realize I just need a parking permit for my neighborhood! But you can mail away for those, so other than that, everything's squared away ------ just in time for me to leave. And also just in the knick of time financially. Aside from having next month's rent tucked safely away in my savings, I'm about $94 away from bankruptcy! Of course, if my @#$%^&*! phone rebate would just hurry up and appear, I'd have a bit more breathing room.

Parents: this is not a sly entreaty for money. I'll be getting my (albeit meager) paycheck for this week's training next week, and all of my bills for this month are paid. I'm just keeping everybody posted on my masterfully down-to-the-wire but solvent financial planning. Yeah, that's it. ;0)

In job-related news: Auburn is East just past Sacramento and towards Tahoe. So it's actually probably only 3 hours away, really. This small elimination of an extra 2-3 hours projected driving time is quite a relief, I have to say. The projected time line for the project has us in Auburn until Mid November, and then in Eureka or Santa Rosa until the end of January, which would be a solid 3+ months of work. (This may mean that my Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations will be tiny. I'm sad about that. But I think they'll still be doable.) Also, on Friday we combined two-teams-to-a-group and did a workshop with "sample scenarios" for what we'll be doing at the electric company. And I must say, my team rocks! While the other team we were working with was all, "wai', wha???" we were all, "do this and this and this. DONE." And, while I have a feeling this applies to a majority of aspiring twenty-somethings in San Francisco, the two boys on my team are both writers, which is great, because if there's anything Wesleyan trained me to do, it's relate to writers. Mom, I will not be marrying, dating, or in any way teaming up with either of these boys, so let's nip that dreamy look in your eyes in the bud right now, okay? But just know I'm in great company. To that end, one of these boys is most definitely bringing his laptop and told us we could use it for email if we'd like. While I don't intend to abuse this situation by writing to you all every single night, it does mean I'm slightly more reachable electronically.

Take care everyone!