Thursday the 31st and Reed was supposed to come in yesterday. Unfortunately, he never got off the ground as there was a Typhoon/Tropical Storm over the top of Guam and they cancelled his flight. Cancelled the next day's flights also but as I speak he's supposedly getting ready to get on the plane. Should be here about this time - 7pm - tomorrow. With that we've had to bag the family reunion as it would be just too big a hassle to get there. Just about ready to move into the new apt. Great view, close to Reed's school. Had an interview for the library job at an elementary school just outside Harrisonburg. Didn't really feel the interview went well but sometimes that's when I get the job. When I got here to my cousin's place the 4th of 5 boxes was here. One left and it's rather unimportant. When I went to the tracker there was no evidence that it was even in the states yet.

Well 10 days now since my last post. Continuing to slowly get my act together here in Harrisonburg which I have to admit is one of the friendliest towns I've ever been in. I tend to get informal with people rather quickly and joke around easily. Everybody here seems to fall right into it and joke and laugh back, even if you're just meeting them. As my drivers license was expiring in a few weeks I got one here Tuesday although it'll take a week to get to me. And I've seemed to fall into a gorgeous furnished apt on a hill with a great view only a few blocks from Reed's school. Won't be ready until the first of August or so but really nice and relative to Guam, very reasonably priced. I'll see if I can put some pictures up later when Reed gets here and shows me how to use my phone/camera. Still looking for a job and have finished my applications to the City of Harrisonburg and also Rockingham County. They have a couple of library jobs in the county but both within 10 miles or so. If I don't get either one of those I think I'd rather just substitute, but we'll see.

So it's been a week since my last post. Not a lot happening. Basically figuring out how to live in Harrisonburg VA. I told you Walmart and Subway are close to where I'm staying. Well, so is Costco. I have found the location of most of the thrift stores in town and spent accordingly. I heard of a job working for James Madison U called University Supervisor. It's a job where you help a student teacher have a better experience. Evidently, a lot of retired teachers do it. Doesn't pay much but I signed up. 2 boxes from Guam showed up at Ry's. The first 2 I sent. Picked them up over the weekend. Got a couple a pair of new glasses. Not much. Perty dull.

So I left Ry's about 7:30 headed for Gainesville and Taj, the guy who sold me the car. The Key was stuck in the ignition and we were told it could be a major problem with the transmission. It's the transmission that tells the ignition that it's in park and to let go of the key. Taj had told us that his shop had overhauled the transmission for this lady and then she couldn't pay so they took the car and paid her the difference. We met him at his transmission shop and did all the stuff with the car there. I was supposed to meet him there Monday morning and we were going to discuss the problem. When I got there the place was busy. I went inside and asked for Taj and the old man said there was no Taj there. I explained the situation and it was then that I found that yes they knew Taj, probably the biggest hustler in town. Always got a scam and an angle going. No he didn't own the shop nor 6 (or was it 9) tow trucks. He liked to sell his cars on weekends and holidays as then he could pretend that the facilities were his. After I explained everything to the old man and his son they couldn't have been nicer to me. Almost like Taj was the ne'er-do-well member of the family and they were going out of their way to help me out. They looked at my transmission and decided they couldn't fix it easily. They did look over the car and decided that it was probably worth what I paid for it and it wasn't in such bad shape. They had seen it when Taj first got it and the right side was all ripped up and it had evidently side swiped something. Great guys. I'll take my car to them even though it's 90 miles out of the way. For some reason I found the idea of me being conned hilarious. I was laughing the whole time. He was good. After I headed to Harrisonburg and found a place to stay. Roommates with Steve, Joann and Michael. $375/mo. Walmart and Subway within walking distance. Mary Sue the landlady is a good woman. Then went to DMV to register the car. They found a whole bunch more things about Taj's business habits including claiming he was a dealer, and that I had bought the car, in some town in Massachusetts. It took a while with DMV as you could imagine but I finally got my tags and paid my money. After that then I went over to the Ford dealership, explained my situation, and they gave me a key to lock the doors with for a grand total of $5. They were great too. After went to Best Buy and then to Staples to buy this laptop that I'm using to type this for $315. Also Home Depot for screws to put my plates on and home and bed==sometime. Long--but interesting--day.

OK So Tuesday I had my interview to work at the elementary school in Woodstock, VA. Principal and VP were real nice and the interview seemed to go well which means I probably won't get the job. Seems the only time I get the job is when the interview goes poorly. Afterwards drove back to Reston to see the US soccer team get beat by Belgium. Wednesday Ry dropped me off in Sterling, to try and get my Virginia Drivers License. I realized I hadn't brought my passport and and probably wouldn't have been able to get one if I had as I needed proof of residency in VA. Will have to wait until I get a rental agreement in Harrisonburg. I exercised on the way home and took the 5 mile Washington and Old Dominion bike path home. As it was in the 90's I was pretty tired when I got back to Reston a couple of hours later. After, I managed to find out there was a First Aid class at the Red Cross office in Fairfax about 12 miles away. The class was the next day. Cost was $110. Ry took me down the next day and it was OK. A class of 11 and evidently we all passed. Betty, the teacher, has been doing this a while. Friday I decided to get serious about getting a car and saw one that was kinda cute on Craigslist. Ry took me down and the guy seemed cool and I bought it. 2007 Ford Focus for $4200. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that the key was stuck in the ignition which meant that there was probably a problem with the transmission besides the fact that I can't lock the car. We'll see how this resolves itself. Saturday did errands with Ry and then watched the World Cup. Sunday, today, not much happening. Party at Moe's (Ry's friend) house tonight. The Car:

Back in Virginia

Let's see. As I write this it's Monday and I got in to Dulles Airport on Wednesday night. Screwed up right from the beginning as I didn't remember which was my cousin's apt. He wasn't going to be in town so he left me a key to the place but it did require me to remember which place was his which I should have done as we stayed here 5 days last summer. But oops completely screwed it up created problems for his best friend and daughter. BUT I did finally get in the correct apt and hit the sack. 3 hours later I was wide awake with a large number of dark hours ahead of me. Such is the wonders of jet lag. The next day I wanted to be sure I caught the Germany - USA world Cup game and did from a Subway in Reston, where I went to eat, and a sports bar down the street. Half way through the 2nd half I got a little light headed at the sports bar, probably due to the lag and a possible cold coming on. Back to Subway to drink tea and finish the game. Then home for a nap before picking up Ry at the bus stop. Friday was cruising the car dealerships for wheels. Ry was patient but they were more expensive than I wanted. Looks like it's back to Craigslist. Oh and took the Langston Hughes record over to Langston Hughes Middle School. Saturday the cold hit me full on and I slept much of the day. That obviously didn't help my jet lag and once again I was awake most of the night. Sunday after the soccer games we went to get my rental for my trip to Harrisonburg on Monday. Where I thought my insurance was going to come from didn't happen and so I had to pay some larger coins for the Alamo insurance. And I learned. And so today is Monday. Got up early (still lagged) and made the 2 hours to Harrisonburg. Visited Rocktown Realty, the Visitor Center, the town library, EMU Athletic Dept, EMU Human Resources, Rockingham County Education Dept. all in the morning. Finally subway for lunch.

OK so here is THE PLAN. We're going to continue this blog as we report in on the latest adventure. After a year off, Reed is going to Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia with the hope of playing basketball, majoring in probably PE and having a wonderful time in the Shenandoah Valley of the East Coast. I'm going along to watch him play, perform and, of course, keep him out of trouble if possible. He'll be in the dorm and I'll be where ever I end up, hopefully not too far away. I'm leaving Guam in a few days Wed 6/25 and get myself setup with car, apt, and maybe even a job if someone will hire me, Reed will come July 28 and we will immediately head out to a family reunion in Nashville before getting us back to Harrisonburg. This blog will be our main tool of getting info out to all our friends. It probably won't be updated daily like last summer but I do plan on putting a link on Facebook if anything interesting happens. That's it. You've been warned.