Only one more week of long days left,

and then they start streaming by like water through a sieve again. This has been a wonderful break. My first semester of school went by so quickly, reminding me again of the fickle nature of Time; when you're waiting for something that's a few weeks or months away (as I was before moving and starting grad school), time passes so slowly. But when you're stuck in the moment (as I generally am when I have coursework to think about), time can easily pass you by. I can't believe we've been here for five months already!

I was ready for a break, though. I had a very busy semester, and while I've gotten a lot better about not stressing out when I have an interminable list of things to do, you can only keep it up for so long. So I was very relieved when it was time for a break, and I've been having a lovely time doing absolutely nothing. The great thing about a semester break, though, is that it's usually long enough that I'm ready to go back to school by the end of it. Like, ok, that was nice, but I'm ready to feel productive again...

So I'm starting to feel that way now, and that's lucky for me, because I start class on Tuesday. Part of that feeling is undoubtedly due to the fact that Roger's working now (more on that in a bit), which leaves me with very long days of walking the dogs, reading, and running little errands when I feel like leaving the house.

The Bahamas was (were?) great! Jimmy didn't win the tournament or anything, but we both had a really good time, I think. He was very happy to see his friends, I had a good time meeting them all, and it was really nice being able to spend some time with him - in such a gorgeous setting, no less! I'll post some pictures soon, maybe later today, even.

Roger loves his job. He has so much to do, and he loves being so productive and taking on such an important role in his company. He's already accomplished so much, and he's only been there a week and a half! He's got the payroll and the pensions in order, he's been working on the budget and ordering supplies, and apparently his boss referred to him as the company's controller in an email, which further supports Roger's theory that he's already looking at a promotion in the (relatively) near future. He's gone a lot now, especially since the commute is 75 minutes one way, but that's only temporary; his main task starting in about March will be to find a new office for the company in downtown San Francisco, and once they get moved in (in July or August), his commute will only be 30-45 minutes. In the meantime, I think we're both okay with him being gone a lot. And I don't mean that in the mean way it sounds! I'm starting class soon, he's thrilled to have stuff to do and really enjoying working, he's really fun to be around when he's home because he's in a great mood, and now that we'll have money, we can actually do stuff on the weekends, and I'll be able to do stuff with my friends during the week. He really likes his coworkers, too - one guy is actually from Downs, IL, which is pretty crazy, if you think about it, and there are a few other guys he seems to be getting along with well, too. They've been out to lunch a few times already, and I think once we get our house more in order, we can invite them over here.

Payday is Friday, and we've been conferring on what we should buy first. The first order of business will be repairing our fence. Yesterday morning, I let the dogs outside and made my coffee. I was going to drink it out on the deck because the weather has been fantastic the past few days, but it was eerily quiet when I walked outside. Well, to my horror, I soon realized the gate to our fence had finally given way, and the dogs were nowhere to be found. Freaking out, I set down my coffee and went running down the sidewalk in my pajamas and sock feet, whistling and yelling at the top of my lungs. When I quit screaming my head off for a second, I realized I could hear them barking and wreaking havoc just one street over, so I whistled and yelled louder, and pretty soon the two rascals go streaking down the sidewalk across the street. I yell "HEY!!!" so loud that they actually stop and look at me, followed by a very "wow, she really means it" rendition of "GET OVER HERE". So they come running back across the street right up to me with these elated looks on their faces of "man, that was AWESOME". I was so angry and relieved at the same time, but of course all I could hope for them to understand was that they were good dogs for coming home when I called them, so I loved on them a lot and gave them lots of treats for coming home.

But holy cow, that was freaking scary. So since payday is Friday, as I mentioned before, the first order of business is to have the fence completely repaired and improved so that that never happens again and we can put them back there confidently, knowing there will be no impromptu jaunts around the neighborhood. Hmm. I hope they didn't like, kill any cats while they were out. I hadn't thought of that until now.

So I emailed the landlords today to see if they'll be willing to help pay for it, and I've been looking around online for contractors to do the work. I found this place that specializes in deck repair, and there were some gorgeous before-and-after shots of decks, and that got me thinking - if we're paying to have the fence repaired, and we're hoping to start cleaning up the property anyway, maybe we should take the opportunity to have them stain the fence and deck while they're at it? Just an idea, but it would go a long way toward making the backyard look nice, which is the eventual goal.

We've been talking about other stuff to take care of, too, of course. I think we're going to swap our bedroom and the extra bedroom and finally get a desk for Roger so he doesn't have to sit at an ironing board in the living room, although it does kind of make me laugh. (You do whatcha gotta do, y'know?) Also, that reminds me: Roger's company gave him a "new, kick-ass laptop" on his first day, which is obviously great, and apparently they're getting rid of their old laptops, so I might get one of those for really cheap, which would be beyond excellent. I need a new one for this semester, so that's also near the top of the list of purchases.

I feel like I'm yammering on and on, but I guess that's sort of the point of a blog...

Anyway, we're both very very very excited and will be going out to dinner this weekend to celebrate the start of our real adult life, where we can like, actually do things. I couldn't be happier, and the year is certainly off to a wonderful start.

I'll try to post some pictures soon. Much love to all of you, and I hope your 2009 is off and running with a bang, too!