One nice thing about the job so far...the travel. In my first two months, I'll have traveled 2/3 as much as I did in three years at PFW. I'm going to Dallas next Sunday-Tuesday to tour a bakery and interview people for a story. Another nice thing? They obviously trust me, as this story is the biggest story of the year for the magazine. And here I am, doing it, just 2 weeks into the job.

Then in early Sept., I'll be driving up to Milwaukee to do another story. And I have a list of other places to call and possibly set things up.

I like to travel as is...traveling for work to do stories will break up the monotony of sitting in an office all day long. So I look forward to it.

And, of course, the final good thing about the job right now is that I'm leaving work in about 20 minutes. That's always a good thing...summer hours on Friday, compounded by the boss letting us get out almost an hour earlier than that. Nice. :)

The job has been pretty good so far. But it is still really early going...even three days into it, I haven't done much around here, and thus, it's hard to judge just how cool this job is.

The people are really nice, that much I know. And it seems like a very relaxing/independent workplace type of thing. That's good.

Otherwise, it's not bad. I'm still settling in, of course.

More as events warrant, too.

Oh, and I should add...more "pisses me off" evidence of why ESPN.com sucks. Headline for Sox story today: "Left-hander didn't allow runner till 7th"

English? Who speaks English? So runners are now farmers too? Nevermind that, if you're going to use the "abbreviation" for "until," it's spelled 'til. How do these so-called editors have jobs, and it took me until now to get one?

Grumble, grumble.

Man, when was the last time I was up at 7:15 to go to work? :)
 
Today begins a new era. I'm excited.

OK, before I go off to work at the ballpark, I'll post.
 
The camping trip was much fun, but I probably won't go next year, as I'm kinda burned out on camping right now. A year off or two might help.
 
We ended up leaving on Thursday instead of Friday...Gina and I had a softball game to make on Friday and we wouldn't have been able to make it if we left Friday morning. Plus, the storms of the century that blew through the area really dampened (pun not intended) everyone's spirits a bit.
 
Tuesday's storms were pretty scary though. In wave one, a family was actually struck by lightning on the island (less than half a mile from where we were in our campsite). The lightning traveled down a tree, into the roots and hit the father, who was stepping on the root at the exact moment, trying to get back to the boathouse for shelter. The bolt blew a three-foot wide trench in the trail, where the root used to be. The father survived, at last word, and the family was only knocked down by the explosion. We were no more protected in our tents than these people were, and the boathouse was too far away to go to by the time the storm hit. Wave two was worse though...louder and closer lightning strikes, and then the wind kicked up. Though we were in the forest, Gina and I really thought our tent was going to blow over with us in it. It was not cool at all.
 
After all was said and done, the only damage we sustained was a little bit of seepage in our tent (it was raining SOOOOO hard) and my screen room that I use as a kitchen over the picnic table had been broken--one pole snapped, one bent and one connector snapped in half.
 
We had trouble with raccoons the first night because we went to bed early, but we scared them away the second night and weren't even visited by them the third night. The rain made starting the fire the second and third nights a royal pain in the ass, even though we had put the firewood under the screen-room-turned-tarp for the rain. Everything was just so damp. But we wasted a whole package of paper plates and roll of paper towels and got both fires going. We ate some really good food...steak tacos the first night, some really, really good pasta the second night and EasyMac plus tuna and peas the third night. Tasty!
 
Otherwise, it was a really good time. But I need a break. :)
 
Gina and I drove back and took our time. We stopped in Ephraim, Wis., at an ice cream parlor that had been there since 1906 and had ice cream. We stopped in Carlsville at the Door County Vineyards for some wine. Then we made our way to Milwaukee, where we stayed at the Red Roof Inn for the night to shower and relax before heading to my parents' house on Friday.
 
Friday, we had a double-header in softball...we lost both games, although we played well defensively most of the time. We just couldn't hit, as usual.
 
Yesterday I had to work, since I couldn't work on Wednesday...and I have to get ready now to go to work at the ballpark again.
 
Tomorrow, I start the new job...so no more fun and boring days off for me for a while. But, in 13 days, a PAYCHECK! :) A good one too.
 
I'm so happy...about that anyway. :)

It's 3:30 am on Sunday morning. I just got done reading everyone's blogs from the past week. I was going to post about camping and other fun things, but now I'm tired and I do have to get up tomorrow for church and work (again...).
 
So you'll get an update soon enough...I hope.