At last - a job!!

Well, after a very tense August with nothing happening on the job front, I got 4 calls the first week in September. It was crazy. People had told me DC shuts down in August and to ride it out; guess they were right. Anyway, I have a job at the US Court for Veterans Appeals starting Oct. 22. It'll get me back with the feds, and I'll be running my own little library again: the best of all possible worlds for a librarian.

Helen has started school at South Lakes High School and it's going well; she has all A's and B's and her teachers are great. She made some friends before school started; there are a bunch of kids her age on our street and they're all really nice.

Laura is at Millsaps College, has a job in the college archives. I'm glad to have her back in Jackson where we know people, and thus, we have backup. Also, if I can't get in touch with her - which does happen because she isn't much of a phone person- I can email the librarians and ask, "Has anyone seen her in the past 3 days?"

The animals - Janna, Max and Keifer - seem to be enjoying the wildlife. Janna and Max bark and chase after it; Keifer kills it. We have been getting to know people on our street and in other areas of Reston because Max kept escaping and, since this is a HUGE "dog town", Restonites are very nice about getting lost beasties home. But we battened up the hatches so hopefully his wandering days are over.

Bob and I went to the 9:30 Club in DC twice - once to hear Matt Pond PA (his was the first CD Bob ever sent me when we started dating so it was a sentimental favorite) and then to hear Pinback. Needless to say, we were about the oldest people there. One girl asked Bob if we were related to a band member - the implied meaning: are you someone's parents? Bob asked me if I thought we really looked that old and I said, "Yes." Well, at least when standing in a group of 21 yr olds....