Spent some time over the break teaching myself Photoshop. Didn't get all that far, but you can check out my workbook here.

And now Janine and I might be getting married in Virginia in late June. That's the plan this week, anyway.

My dog's sick. Just like 2 years ago, he ate something that didn't agree with him, and since yesterday he's had pretty bad diarrhea and he's been barfing up everything he's been eating. Yesterday, I thought it might be a temporary bug, although last night he kept whining to go outside and the result was pretty nasty when he got there. It hit a crescendo this morning when I woke up to find he'd been getting up throughout the night and taking emergency measures in our computer room, which he would never do unless it was absolutely necessary. It looked like some kind of shit golem had exploded all over my carpet. Just got done steam cleaning the whole place, and it's still not fully out -- probably have to pick up one of those exorbitantly expensive pet stain removers and try again tomorrow while my Rug Doctor time is still in effect. We'll be taking Carter to the vet if he's not dramatically better in the morning. Right now, all he's eating is ice cubes (per phone vet's orders), but he's actually looking a bit more chipper. Might be because we're letting him sit on the sofa for the first time in months.

And FrankenMetro is registered and back on the road as of yesterday. Only one hitch so far -- as I was approaching an intersection, the gas pedal seized up and I couldn't stop accelerating except by standing on the brakes and applying the emergency brake. I slowed down enough to pull into a parking lot and free up the gas pedal, but... man, that couldn't have helped much. It's like my car almost resents having been brought back from the dead, and is trying to kill us both so it can return to its oblivious slumber. No no, like Amanda Plummer to Christopher Walken's fallen angel in Prophesy, it must serve me as a soul-less reanimated ghoul for a little longer, only then will I release it to its natural sleep. In Jack's Auto Salvage. For $50.

That's it.

Not a bad weekend -- just picked up our Christmas tree, although we can't find most of the ornaments, lights, and whatnot we must have lying around the place. Fired up the Bing Crosby and Andrews Sisters tunes, cracked open the 7th or 8th gallon of nog this season, and played with the dog. And earlier, I took FrankenMetro for a spin, and it didn't even leave me stranded in the turning lane like it did last time.

And we got our first DVD player, at long last. And we went to Sullivan's and ate a nice New York strip three tables away from Arizona basketball coach Lute Olsen. And fixed my computer and maybe somebody else's computer and both of my cars and went Christmas shopping and toured a military junkyard (with Vietnam-era transport chopper -- Janine was seeing it as a refurbished playhouse for our eventual kids. I was too -- tie some swings to the rotors and make a really cool carnival ride out of it. Lots of fun until it reaches full speed and slings your kids into the next county).

Tomorrow is Begging Day -- must call around to find out if anyone needs a research assistant, so I can afford to take Pre-Med classes at the U next semester. I think this whole process is going to be somewhat like becoming a parent. No one in their right mind would actually undertake such a thing if they knew what they were getting into.

I'm sleepy. I'm going to sleep. Kudos to the L-K's on their new place. May your neighbors be as interesting as they really should be.

Got a few minutes before I must dash away once again to pick up Janine, drive her home, then I'm off to my next assignment. The phrase "next assignment" might actually be interesting coming from a CIA operative or international spy or something, but for a home health aide not quite so much. The driving difficulty stems from the fact that the alternator I picked up in the aforementioned salvage yard ain't so good as I'd hoped, so I'm going to have to wait until probably Friday before I can return it and look into a better option. And get a new battery, and a host of other Metro components I'm learning about. Like belts. I've been hearing the things wear out in a steady stream of ear-pearcing sqeals for a while, and now I know how to fix those, too. I could charge myself a fortune for all of this auto service...

Meanwhile, I am more active lately -- mostly due to a change in career direction to the medical field. I'm currently looking into what an MD or DO might entail -- I'll be speaking to a pre-med advisor on Thursday, and getting a better idea of whether or not I might be able to apply for the 2005 school year. To do so, I'd have to take about 8 classes between now and then, and I don't know if I'd qualify for residency (yes, I know I've been here for 5 years; don't get me started), don't know if I absolutely need to get these credits from a big-time school, or if an eminantly more flexbile and less expensive community college might suffice, whether I'll be able to get an assistantship to help defer the costs, whether some of my undergrad credits might transfer, etc.

Yes, it's a bit of a departure from my archaeological aspirations, but the archaeology market seems to be enduringly unfriendly to me at the moment, so back to school I go (possibly. I'm still actively applying for archaeology positions at the moment). But a medical degree sounds like a very cool thing, and I like the idea of doing what I'm doing now (helping the truly helpless) with a more significant paycheck added to the mix.

And just think: free oxycontin for all!

Watch this space for updates and tearful disappointments!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!