The Sunshine State

I am sitting in a BEAUTIFUL house on the Florida coast, as my Joshua, my friend Brandt and other friendly peeps from the AU philosophy department play Texas Hold Em'.  Seriously, I hand my first paella, homemade, with several glasses of red wine.  I finished my dinner with a glass of Ardbeg Uigeadail, the gem of my liquor cabinet.  For those of you who don't know, paella is a rice dish with seafood.  This paella had clams, (clam shells in the dish!) and shrimp.  I sat at the dinner table and looked out the back door to the gulf.  In my opinion, seafood should only be consumed when you can see the salt water from wherever you are eating.  Mission accomplished.  And it was SO so good.  

I have much to report since the last time I wrote.  Many things have happened.  Barack Obama has been sworn in as our 44th president.  Derby has heated up and our team played our first bout!  On Friday March 13th, the Burn City Rollers (BCR) played a bout in Birmingham against the Tragic City Rollers (TCR).  We had a great time!  I have never done anything like that and it was the best time.  I can't wait until our next bout at home on April 18th! 

I attended a Gil Mantera show in Atlanta.  I was worried that the crowd in Atlanta wouldn't show the proper reverence for Gil Mantera.  That they wouldn't truly appreciate the joy that GMPD has to offer.  My nerves were so misplaced!  Seriously.  I am astonished to report that the crowd in Atlanta was MORE receptive to the show.  Tons of people were dancing and letting it all out.  It was a fabulous show and, prior to the bout, the most fun that I had had down here in the dirty south.

The biggest new of all comes in the form of a job offer for Joshua.  We are excited and getting ready to move in a few months.  This change should be a good one for both of us.  It results in a great position for Joshua and a wonderful opportunity for graduate school for me.  This summer will be awesome, but will exhibit a hint of bittersweetness when we say goodbye to our closest Auburn friends.  I am seriously bummed about saying goodbye to my derby team mid-season, but interested in continuing to pursue derby in our next town!  

In the meantime, I plan to pack, clean, set up an account on Odesk, nose around for a VERY part time job and play derby.    

As for right now, I will enjoy this spring break.  I will spend the majority of my day tomorrow standing neck deep in the gulf, laying out on the white sand beach, searching for the world's best key lime pie, drinking and eating seafood with good company.  What could be better?