I love it here in Raleigh. I've had a sore throat for a few days, but apart from that it's been a great first week here. Work is crazy... I have so much to get caught up on, but I'm already making contributions to the project. Just this morning I fixed my first bug here, which is always an exciting step. Tonight we have a ward activity, which is a pot luck and then a temple trip. I've been planning on both all week, but this morning it dawned on me that all of my temple items (clothes and packet) are deep in my storage closet, and I don't have time to get them out. And they don't do rentals here, so I guess I'm out of luck for the temple trip. I will do the pot luck, though. I'll stop by the Food Lion after work and pick up something... maybe a salad, maybe some cookies.

Back to work...

I got to Raleigh on Saturday morning, but only now am I able to get online for the first time. I really like it here. The ward seems great, there are trees everywhere, and there are so many opportunities and possibilities for me here. I'm getting ready to leave for my first day at Red Hat in a few minutes. I'm going to Waffle House for breakfast first.

I took a ton of pictures and video but I haven't loaded them onto the computer yet. I enjoyed the parades tonight much more than I did two years ago. I was coming down with the flu that time and the other members of the branch were kindof boring to hang out with. Since Katrina, however, the branch has seen an influx of young couples, most of which were really fun to hang out with. Muses throws some great beads with lots of medallions. I had a really great time across the board today.

In related news, I hope someone captured video of me dancing in the middle of St. Charles Avenue with several of the parade participants.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll leave NOLA and try to get to Charlotte, North Carolina. That'll put me within two hours of Raleigh, which I should be able to get to by Saturday morning at 11:00 or noon.

I left Phoenix this morning at 7:00 AM sharp -- I spent the night at Kevin and Sara(h)'s apartment in Tempe... good times -- and made it to El Paso by 12:30 PM. What a crazy city... as you're driving in you see this beautiful university campus on your left (UTEP) and all these beautiful old Victorian homes, and then just a couple hundred yards to your right, across the Rio Grande, you see miles and miles of slums. It's an absolutely surreal scene. And El Paso's downtown was great. Lots of early-20th century architecture and more Spanish being spoken on the street than English. I had lunch with a friend from CougarBoard, then got back on I-10 and continued eastward. I had never really spent time in a Mexican/American border town, so it was fascinating to realize that this was in the same United States that I live in. Very cool.

I really don't want to talk about how I spent the next eight hours. Western/central Texas is a dump. To my Texan friends I ask you this: You fought Mexico for THAT?! If you were going to fight Mexico for something, why not Cancun? That was the ugliest, most boring drive I've ever experienced, and I think I've driven around this country quite a bit. Horribly bad.

Now I'm in a Super 8 Motel in San Antonio. I picked this place because it was cheap and the billboard said it had free wireless, which I'm using to craft this blog post. Tomorrow morning I'll head to New Orleans for a few days.

I'm really happy to be on this trip. Even though the afternoon drive sucked, I still enjoyed the experience of it. I'm glad to be able to mark another long stretch of American road with my yellow highlighter in my U.S. atlas.

Now for the happiest news of the day: I found out tonight that someone has made an offer on my house. More details to come...

I'm leaving my parents' house in California within 20 minutes to begin my trek east. It's not quite a coast-to-coast trip (I'll get within an hour of the Pacific and two hours of the Atlantic), but it's the closest thing I'll ever have done to it. Tonight I'll stop in Phoenix and stay with my dear friend Kevin and his wife Sara(h).

Nothing to report. Just hanging out with the family. It's fun and all, just uneventful.

I'm just loading the last of my things into my car, and then I'm off! I'm going first to California for a few days, then Phoenix, San Antonio, New Orleans for a few days, and on to Raleigh. It's going to be a great adventure. I offer my deepest gratitude to all the friends I've made here throughout the past nearly-10 years I've been here. I appreciate the kindness that so many here have shown me on a regular basis. To my Lindon friends: I have learned from you, and I've loved my brief time as your neighbor.

I had a good day today. I packed late into the night last night/this morning. The only things left to pack are my clothes and my bathroom items. Jared moved out this morning. I gave my old Dell away. The dishes are packed. The cupboards are empty. The appliances are in boxes. I've thrown so much crap away -- stuff that I never intended to keep and never should've brought with me all this time... broken electronics, old magazines, shoes I haven't worn in years... I've streamlined my entire life and I'm only taking the things that are a regular part of my life.

After sleeping until 9:00 AM and cleaning up a bit more, I went to the ward basketball game and watched my team lose. Then we (Kyle, Steve, Tiffanie, Dave, Mike, and I) drove around Utah Lake. We stopped at Pelican Bay and ran around on the frozen lake for a while, then drove some more before stopping to look at a herd of sheep. We ended up at the Family Tree restaurant in Santaquin. After lunch we drove to the BYU basketball game and saw the Cougars kill the UNLV Rebels 90-63. Kyle and I then went to the #1 nationally-ranked BYU men's volleyball game and saw the Cougars lose 3-2 to the #2 UC Irvine Anteaters. The Cougars won last night, though, so they should be able to hold on to their top ranking.

After the game we ate chili dogs, then went to Wal*Mart so I could buy a couple more boxes. Tomorrow morning I'll pack a little more and clean the fridge, then I'll go to church, then I'll top the day off with a hearty dose of Super Bowl XLI.

As Steve H. and I discussed last week, and now Chris A. and I briefly agreed, I can safely say, based on years of experimentation (not today, though, sadly) that there are very few professional treats that are more enjoyable than coding in one's underpants.

sucks.