Month: March 2004

I went back to San Francisco for the weekend — couldn’t take being in Los Angeles anymore. Jill (one of the roommates) finished moving out and is on her way back to Michigan, and her replacement is apparently a guy, so the Three’s Company life has come to an end. Beyond that there’s not much to report — the journal may not be particularly interesting again until I’m back in South Georgia 186 days from now.

I’m now living a Three’s Company existence with two female roommates in an amazing apartment complex that’s only four blocks from the office. We were up late last night drinking wine and debating whether or not Sex and the City was a wonder of female liberation or a show that taught that sluttiness and knock-off purses are all that a woman needs in life. I was outnumbered, but the next time Aaron visits then this can of worms is gonna get re-opened.

Day one back at work went over without major incident, although I did nearly nod off in a meeting at the end of the day — discussions of how the accounting department determines expenses wasn’t something I was able to get very excited about. Luckily the meeting ended before my head hit the table and shortly thereafter I got in a crappy run before starting to pour over my notes from the day. Not that I’m counting, but it’s 192 days until South Georgia.

From the department of positive thinking: one thing that’s swell about LA is that the landscape isn’t ruined by having lots of ugly buildings on the horizon since you can’t see more than a quarter mile because of the damn smog. And everyone looks beautiful as they drive around in their convertibles and SUVs at ninety miles an hour with their scripts and lattes in hand.

It seems like a lot longer than two months ago that Rod, Kaiyote, myself, and the rest of the gang were enjoying a barbecue in a whiteout while anchored off of the Antarctic Peninsula.

I’m heading back to Los Angeles either tomorrow or Thursday, so retirement number two is nearly at an end. The days of playing basketball and eating out with my brother and of waking up on an icebreaker to see whales are soon to be replaced with time in meetings and in front of the computer. Thankfully retirement number three starts in six months…

The latest updates:

• Amazing weather today, and Aaron and I spent our time on the beach in Pacifica and then ogling waitresses at Mudville Grill.
• The new server is here and chugging happily along, although I’m still struggling trying to get everything configured.
• Through the rather heroic efforts of one of the managers I’ll be returning to Warner Brothers on March 22, although this time it seems I’ll be on a slightly different project with some management responsibilities, so we’ll see how that goes.

Spent the weekend with friends in Tahoe — I ski poorly and gamble worse, although Aaron’s video poker follies far surpassed my own. There was some memorable foosball with enough trash-talking to rival a South American soccer match, some skiing in the backyard of the cabin, and the usual laughter and shenanigans that occur when Aaron, Scott and Zach are put in the same room.

In other news, all of the trip photos are finally online — twenty-seven days is just a wee bit longer than the week I expected it would take.

Thirty of the thirty-one rolls of film from the Antarctica & Patagonia trip are now online, and I’ll hopefully get the last one done by the weekend. Digital photography is looking vastly more appealing after sorting and scanning over a thousand slides.