Employed!

After much searching, Nicole landed a job a couple weeks ago! She beat out 370 applicants (!) in a 3-month selection process for a job with the American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative.

And people, the ABA is an association of lawyers, OK? Not drunks.

So what does she do? Um.... lawyering, duh. Really, I have no idea. She can't do lawyering because she's not a lawyer, so I think she just... um... oh, just go check out the website.

Me, I'm still working my fanny off for Experience Corps and Civic Ventures. One of the most recent projects was whipping up some text for the website encore.org. Encore is the new book by Marc Freedman, the founder of Civic Ventures. It's about how some baby boomers aren't retiring during their "retirement" years. Instead they're switching to less lucrative, but infinitely cooler and more fruitful work as teachers, nurses, etc.

Still, I've got my eye on the calendar. My contract ends Aug. 31, and so I've ramped up my job search. The US Soccer Federation (or whatever they're called) is looking for a development person. Hmmm..... interesting. Comp tickets anyone?

Fatima Water Project Update

Thanks to all of you who celebrated my birthday (like 5 months ago) by donating to the Fatima water project. You'll be glad to know that I just got an update from them, and the water is now flowing! It's clean, it's crisp, and it comes right up to the spigots in their yards.

My host family in Fatima

They still need about $1,000 to reach their $8,000 goal, so there's still time to give if you'd like. But, even the $7,000 they've already collected goes a looooooong way to reducing the huge loan they might never have been able to repay.

You guys are the best birthday present givers ever. Thanks!

What's next on the horizon? The community is working towards electricity. Read more here.

If you'd like to read the full update on the water project, click here.
If you'd like to see my photos of the people in Fatima, click here, and then go to any photo set with the words Mountain School in the title.

Not Dead!

To all those wondering if I've perished, I haven't. Promise.

So, why the heck haven't I written in two months?

I'll form my defense around 2 points. First, I've been busy. That's straightforward enough, what with the whole new cityapartmentjobrelationship thing and all. Second, I'm now working all day in front of the computer. The last thing I want to do once I'm home is spend MORE time in front of the computer.

I'm sure there are other excuses too. I'll let you know once I think of them.

Anyway, I've got various bits of news to share, so expect a wave of posts...

Antietam

After sharing a great breakfast of French toast with strawberries with our friend Dave, Nicole and I hopped in the car for a short trip. This weekend's destination was the Antietam battlefield.

Let me tell you, it sure felt weird to be enjoying a pleasant walk on a sunny day through fields where more than 20,000 people had been killed or maimed in a single day.



I don't know what else to say about that.

One thought that did keep coming up: The leaders of the Confederate army were clearly much better than the leaders of the Federal army. Here's how you can tell: The Federal army outnumbered the Confederate army 2 to 1. They had better artillery. And - here's the biggie - they had a copy of the Confederate army's battle plans.

That's a sizable advantage.

But check out the final tally.
- Confederate losses: 10,700
- Federal losses: 12,410

Not an impressive "victory" for the Feds, but apparently it was enough to push Robert E. Lee back into Virginia, and prevented Great Britain from officially recognizing the Confederate government.

There was one cool thing I wanted to get in the bookstore. It was a CD-ROM with an animated, minute-by-minute overview of troop movements. Basically it was gave an aerial view of the battlefield, and you got to watch all the little pieces move around. Pretty neat, but not worth the $25 they wanted for it. There is also a set covering 3 Civil War battles for $35.

Anyway.

Now we're back home and Nicole is making more calzones. She's unstoppable.

Where We Live

Here's the scoop regarding our current apartment.


Good

• - It’s a month-to-month, which gives us some flexibility as we search for a permanent place
• - It’s cheap (relatively)
• - It's a basement apartment, so it will be cool in the summer
• - There is a cool exposed brick wall in the kitchen
  
• - It has lots of storage room
• - We can walk out onto a small lawn, which will be perfect for BBQs
  
• - The ginormous Rock Creek park is a 3 minute walk away
• - Our landlord is cool. A nut, but cool. He’s a producer or something for NPR.

Not so Good

• - It has a beam running through the center of our ceiling. There is about 6’ of space underneath that beam. For those of you who have forgotten, I’m 6’3” tall.
  
• - When it rains, the floor in the storage room gets wet.
  
• - There’s a huge support pillar in the center of the living room.
• - It doesn’t get much light, which can be depressing, and prevents us from having lots of houseplants, which we both want.

Me and the Knock-Out Beam

We’re looking to move into a permanent place in September. In the meantime, we’re happy... especially now that I've taken to wearing a helmet at home.