I say, it has been somewhat of a good week. Let me explain.

1) I got a job. In archaeology. It's temporary (from May 3 until anywhere between June and August), but it's on the California coast, somewhere near Marina del Rey, just south of Los Angeles. And Statistical Research (my soon-to-be employers) is setting me up for four days a week in the LAX Embassy Suites. And I'll be making significantly more than I am now. And I'm rather happy about all this.

2) After some initial unpleasantness, we might have our wedding mostly funded. I won't go into it too much, because as the situation stands now, it's very jinxable. I'll be collecting positive thoughts from all volunteers.

3) Well, I've been waiting for number 3, with the cliched assumption that all of these things happen in triplet. After the first two, I've been looking for it -- the Cardinals have been on a tear lately, which ended last night when they lost a pathetic 2-1 game against the lowly Brewers, but they did sweep the Astros. This may be #3. I'm open to the possibility that, considering the magnitude of the first two VERY GOOD things, some other GOOD THING may be around the corner.

So things are looking up, and I'm deliriously thrilled to have my foot back in the door of the archaeological profession, psyched at the idea of touring LA and the California coast on my off days, and bullish on my being able to parlay this new gig into a full-time staff position sometime in the near future. The only thing I'm not excited about is being away from Janine for possibly a few months (although possibly only a month or so), even though I will be making the 7-or-8-hour trip back every few weeks.

So today is Saturday, so I think I'm going to kick back, have a beer, do some reading, and wait for that last celestial boon winging its way like a golden paper airplane from God to crumple its nose against my forehead.

This is just getting worse. The President has been getting nothing but negative press for the past month and a half or so -- the Iraq War becoming ever more lethal and unwieldy, several inside sources attesting that Bush is everything from detached to stupid (see books by Paul O'Neill, Richard Clarke, and Bob Woodward) -- what needs to happen for the American people to wise the **** up?! What in God's name does this administration have to do to convince folks that he's not the right man for the job?! Pick your issue: foreign, domestic, economic, environmental -- everything but the Bush-friendly business constituancy -- what is he doing right?! Who could not be a better President?! Who is siding with Bush in these polls? Bring them to me!!!

There's a scene in a favorite old comic book from the '80s where the Kingpin (the bad guy) finds out Daredevil's secret identity and proceeds to make Matt Murdock's life miserable by getting him fired, erasing his bank account, blowing up his apartment, etc. Murdock gets increasingly frustrated and manic, not knowing what's going on or who's screwing with him, until he winds up putting on his red longjohns and beating up entire bars full of riffraff looking for information. The scene in mind is one where he's screaming to a scattered pile of unconscious barflies, "Who's going to talk about Matt Murdock?!"

That's kind of how I'm feeling right now. Who's going to give me a job in archaeology?! YOU, SUCKER?!!!

"America's such a fascinating monster that we all think that it's just too grotesque to imagine waking up to every single day. But there are good aspects to it, even though the awful are truly awful. The arts are a struggle. Television's appalling. And after all the American enlightenment we end up with George W. That's frightening." -- Morrissey

Back from the Abyss!
Thanks to the attentions of a retired jet fighter mechanic (and I think that may have made him the only man for the job) and all-round nice guy, the Metro is back on the road in all its shaky glory.

I am choking on my happiness! Glllaaaaaakkkkkkk!!!!

The hooks are in the water -- I've applied for exactly umpteen short-term excavation assignments all over the U.S., including the aforementioned Moose Pass, AK job, as well as stints in Utah, California, and West freakin' Virginia. Tomorrow, a line will go out to a cherry job in Alexandria, VA for a dig in a slave cemetery (the advert assures the reader that no actual bodies will be disturbed. What the hell kinds of archaeologists are these panzies? Disturbing dead bodies is the best part!). Still waiting for feedback, so wish me luck!

And one more shot of everyone's favorite Dan -- maybe the abundant images of him with a straight leg will remind it to heal faster. This comes from my dad's wedding in Marietta, OH, on the deck of a sternwheeler, ca. 1991. I believe we're in the middle of a portion of Romeo & Juliet, Dan competently and me less so. And look: real beard!

Thanks to Martha's suggestion, I just signed up on Photobucket.com, a dumping ground for online jpegs, useable for online applications such as blogs. And since I recently scanned and uploaded a bunch of nifty photos, here are some.


St. Patty's Day: Janine tattoos me with her well-formed fists.


A long time ago, I said something about how my dog likes to re-enact Michelangelo's Pieta.


And I couldn't resist: Dan and I off the set of Twelfth Night, senior year of high school. Dig! Them! Tights!!!

And today's the inaugural broadcast of Air America, Al Franken's unapologetically liberal news talk network! Unequivocally boffo!