5.1.2004 - 5.31.2004

May 26, 2004:  So we did something we haven't done since we moved, we actually went out and had drinks with friends!  We met a few of Lisa's friends from school out for Mexican food, beer, and birthday cake, Happy Birthday Emily!  We had tons of fun and actually felt sort of normal at the end of the night, we hope to be able to do it again soon.  Lisa is coming up on the end of her quarter at school so things are going to start getting very busy again.  She has a week break toward the end of June so we are planning on going back to Rochester to visit a bunch of our friends, and get some food too.  I can't wait to get some Dinosaur Barbeque and Lisa really wants to go to Sinbad's for some hummus and other stuff that I can barely pronounce.  I had that interview last week, I think it went really well and I am still waiting to hear back.  I guy that I did some contract work for here when we first moved actually is working with the HR rep that interviewed me, so I got a great recommendation from him.  Hopefully it works out, the job is exactly where I would like to be, I would get some great experience and work with some brilliant people, and it's in Rhode Island, not Massachusetts!  I tried to ride my bike more last week and all it did is make me realize how out of shape I am, hopefully I can get out more soon.  I was able to get the kayak out on the water last week for an hour or so, Lisa was too busy to join me but I hope to get out again soon, hopefully not alone this time.  It was really nice to get on the water again, it's so peaceful and quiet, much different than everything else that has been going on.  Gregg, Eric and I built a bike work stand last weekend, it came out great too, you might even think I bought it that way.  This picture doesn't do it justice but you get the idea, it makes it so much easier to work on our bikes.  I moved around the basement to set up a better work shop space and organize our stuff a little better, it works perfect now, I updated the pictures to the left.  I also added a couple pictures of Isis and Maddie, check them out.  Anyway, hopefully I will hear back soon about this job, in the meantime I have more searching to do.  Keep in touch.

May 13, 2004:  Well, the trip was a blast, the wedding was awesome, it was a long weekend but we had a bunch of fun.  Nothing like going to 6 other states to really drive home how much is sucks here in good old Worcester.  North Carolina was so nice, the people were nice, everything is new, no foot deep pot holes or dirt streets and the weather was perfect.  We saw the best bumper sticker on our way down too, it said, "FOR SUCH A SMALL TOWN THIS PLACE SURE DOES HAVE A LOT OF ASSHOLES."  The best part was the car had a Massachusetts plate on it, took the words right out of our mouths.  The GPS shows the grand total mileage for the trip as 2321, not bad for 4 days.  Gas wasn't as bad as I expected, it was about $.30 cheaper per gallon south of Delaware so that helped a lot.  The wedding was  a lot of fun, got to see a bunch of old friends, some that I haven't seen in 6+ years.  I really enjoyed the ceremony, very personal, pretty quick, and all about Dave and Jeanie, not all about God.  I really missed Lisa though, I wish she would have been able to join me, it sure does feel weird to have just gotten engaged and to go to a good friend's wedding stag.  We are trying to get ideas for our wedding and I think she would have really enjoyed this one.  I have a few pictures posted to the left, check them out.  Got some feedback about a couple of jobs that I applied for last week, should have an interview for one next week, this one is in Providence, RI so if things work out, no more Worcester!  The weather has finally cleared up so I'll be riding my bike a bunch this week and maybe even getting the kayak out too.  I got the racks installed and adjusted so that both bikes and both kayaks all fit at the same time, check out the link to the left for the updated pictures.  Have a good weekend all, we'll talk again next week.

May 2, 2004:  Two updates in one week, crazy stuff going on at jayandlisa.org.  Our friends Matt and Stephanie Campbell had a baby boy last week and for some reason we were near the last to find out.  We actually got an email from Stephanie today about it.  Seriously, Matt, with all the work she has done MAKING the baby, don't you think you could have sent out the email?  I'm sure you'll make it up to her by changing some diapers, like all of them maybe :) Jacob Andrew Campbell was born on April 26th at 2:42pm.  At time of weigh in he was 9lbs. and 21.25".  His parents are geeks like us so he already has his own URL, and we already have a link to it for you, look to your left.  Here he is, doing one of the things babies do best.  We wish we could say the same thing about our landlord's baby upstairs, she definitely screams better than she sleeps, to be honest, I'm not sure she sleeps at all.  Matt and Stephanie are loving being a Mommy and Daddy already, I know Matt has always wanted a minivan, now we can't make fun of him for it!  Congratulations guys!!!  We can't wait to visit!

May 1, 2004:  Well it seems like spring has finally arrived, everything is starting to get green, except our lawn of course, our landlord really isn't into taking care of it, it's brown color matches the house better than green would anyway.  Isis is all about going running now, must have just been that first week that was so tough on her.  Now that it has been warm enough to keep the windows open we have found another annoyance of our awesome dirt street, dust, that will be fun when it gets real dry.  The weekend is supposed to be very warm, lucky for me I get to work through all of it in the dungeon they call the network operations center.  I have had a couple of bites on my resume this week, we'll see how they play out next week though.  One of them was actually in RI too, we would love to be able to move out of Worcester.  I'm not holding my breath but I am starting to feel like it's really time to go, things are going to happen for me, I can feel it.  If I leave that will make 7 people since I started there in October, pretty bad turnover rate if you ask me.  Lisa is up to her ears in projects, homework, and exams.  I don't know how she can concentrate with the weather being so nice, if the temperature is above 60 degrees I can't sit still.  I made some changes to my mountain bike this week and have been itching to ride it but the weather says it will be raining on my next two days off.  That's ok though, the road trip to Atlanta, GA that Eric and I are doing is this coming weekend so I have a lot of stuff to do, we really haven't planned much other than the day we leave and the day we come back.  We're shooting to do it as cheap as possible and take tons of pictures along the way.  Eric likes his job less than I do so he agrees that we will both enjoy a long weekend away.  We will be stopping to visit my old roommate Kim in Raleigh, NC on the way too, haven't seen her in at least a year now, so that will be fun.  We found out this week that our friends Patrick and Renee are engaged, Congratulations to them!!!