In today's Blog:

- The Final Fate of... Darryl?!
- Farewell LA and Orange County -or- T-Minus 5 Days and Counting
- Inspiration for only a Quarter
- All the News that Isn't Fit to Print
- The Wolfe Family: Eight is... Enough?
- An Itenerary of Sorts
- The Best Movie I've Seen All Year Had No Screenplay
- The Diabolical Carey Bear -or- Today Long Beach... Tomorrow THE WORLD!

...and...

- Our Big News

...

The Final Fate of... Darryl?!

So I took a trip down to the post office and showed them our mailman's inept scrawling. I was directed to a supervisor named Ricky. After two minutes of attempting to decipher the rambling, his brow was creased severely. Apparently, Ricky hadn't access to the Rosetta Stone required to sift through Darryl's impenetrable pseudo-language either.

RICKY: Hnnn... well, that's.... hn.

JER: Ricky, I'll tell you the truth: the fact that this note is semi-literate at best was very disturbing.

RICKY: Yeah, I'm certainly disturbed by it. And this isn't the first trouble Darryl's given you?

JER: Consistently mangled mail, lost letters and packages, talking about us to our neighbors behind our backs... no, this isn't the first trouble. His note mentions this being our "last warning". I'm trying to remember our "first" warning, honestly.

RICKY: Uh huh. Listen, do you want to know how Darryl should have handled this? If your mailbox really was too full, that is?

JER: Okay.

RICKY: He should have stuck an official notice that we give to our carriers on your mailbox that says "your box was full, please pick up your mail at the Post Office". Ten day notices are reserved for delinquents or people on vacation who want their mail to temporarily stop. It's not supposed to be used as a "warning" for any reason.

JER: I see. So, do you have any of our mail here then?

RICKY: I'll check. Hhh... listen. This, uh, this isn't the first complaint we've had about Darryl.

JER: No?

RICKY: Oh no. You're in 90802, right? Appleton Street? Yeah, we've had multiple incidents. We had to resolve something just last week. So... well, how 'bout you let me make a copy of this note and... would you mind writing out a formal complaint? It would help to have a record, you know.

JER: No problem. Just write out what our experience has been and...?

RICKY: Yeah, anything you can remember. It's Darryl's day off today, but come Monday we're going to sit down and have a little talk. Something's going on down in 90802 and I'm going to get to the bottom of it.

JER: Okay. I'll get that to you as soon as I can.

Ricky checked and, nope, no mail was held for us, so I guess it was just a bluff or something. I haven't had time to run back up there and turn in my statement yet, but ho boy. You'd better believe I'm not letting this go.
...

Farewell LA and Orange County -or- T-Minus 5 Days and Counting

I can't remember if I've already mentioned this, but this may in fact be the longest single stretch of time I've remained in one area without leaving. For the past solid year, I've restricted my travels to LA and Orange County. I guess, in the quest to become a Southern Californian, I've used the Super-Saturation method. Even in all the years I spent growing up in Ohio and Georgia, etc. there was usually at least some sort of family trip or small reason to journey outside the county. Not so here.

But in 5 days, I'm headed to San Diego for Comic-Con International 2003. While I'm very pumped to finally live out my childhood geek-dream, I'm also excited to go SOMEwhere that isn't here.

I love LA and Orange County, don't get me wrong, I really do. But I'm beginning to feel like the boy in the bubble.
...

Inspiration for only a Quarter

Speaking of comics, a quick plug: Scott McCloud (who's book Understanding Comics is currently the Recommended Reading on my homepage) has been championing the idea of web-comics for several years. He's a brilliant creator in his own rite and he's recently completed the first issue of his latest opus entitled The Right Number. It's a great story, a great premise, an interesting approach, and it's a bona-fide web comic.

And it only costs 25 cents.

Seriously, check it out. I mean, come on! You can gamble a lousy quarter, can't you? Oh, and if you couldn't care less about comics and would just as soon forget about the medium altogether... you're the one who really needs to take a look. No superheroes, no kids cartoons, no embarrassing dialogue. Just a good read. In fact, if you take a look and decide you don't like it... phht! I'll give you your quarter back. Now, look at you, all out of excuses.

Click here to see for yourself (Content Rating: PG-13)

(Incidentally, I've admired McCloud for awhile and I wrote him an email over the weekend to let him know how much I enjoyed The Right Number. A few hours later, he replied with his thanks. How's that for being a nice guy?)
...

All the News that Isn't Fit to Print

Bit of a shake-up over the weekend. Kind of personal, so it's probably not my place to post in a Blogger. Oh, not about me, mind you: it's about Dad.

Shoot, I've already said too much. I'm shutting up.

Ah, screw it: Dad's getting married in about a week and a half, as most of us know. Well, some pre-marital jitters nearly put the brakes on things, but Dad assures me that everything's back on track. So the good news is, there's no news. Normally, I wouldn't post anything, but what can I say? It's on my mind! Sue me for caring!

Hang in there, Dad & Pat. We're all rooting for you. Just eleven more days! Deep breaths!
...

The Wolfe Family: Eight is... Enough?

My Aunt Sue is pregnant with her... her... hang on a sec. Okay, I'm back. Little quick-math there. Her sixth! That's right, eight people under one roof. (And I used to live under that very roof, so make no mistake: that's no small feat. How they're going to clown-car eight people into that place is beyond me.)

So, that's my Aunt Sue, Uncle Joe, cousins Josh, Matt, Joe, Caleb, Hannah and a little bundle of precious we're referring to as The X Factor. A boy? A girl? Who knows! Does it matter? After all, it's a question of ratios at this point.
...

An Itenerary of Sorts

So, we're visiting Ohio and Pennsylvania August 5-12. That's Tuesday to Tuesday for those who don't know. Friends and family have been requesting an itenerary, so here it is:

August 5: Fly into Cleveland late afternoon. We'll be picked up and whisked down to the Akron/Canton area.
August 6: Drive to York, Pennsylvania to spend time with the Moyers and other friends and family on the Carey side. We may have enough energy to leave for PA the night before, but we're not counting on it.
August 7: Spend the day in Pennsylvania and begin the trip back to Ohio in the late afternoon/early evening.
August 8: Visit with friends and family in the Akron/Canton area. Lauren's wedding rehearsal and dinner in the evening.
August 9: Lauren's wedding, dawn-til-dusk.
August 10: Early, early, early drive to Columbus for church and visit with old friends.
August 11: Spend the day with Columbites and return to the Akron/Canton area in the evening.
August 12: Drive to Cleveland and take wing back to Southern California

Whew.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to spend more than two days anywhere and the entire trip is, of course, tailored around Lauren's wedding. Obviously, Columbus and PA are unmissable priorities so this was the plan that seemed to make the most sense. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
...

The Best Movie I've Seen All Year Had No Screenplay

Run. Do not walk. Do not past GO. Do not collect $200. RUN to go see the most incredible documentary I've ever experienced: Capturing the Friedmans by Andrew Jarecki.

I'm an indy film fan. Indy films are movies in their most natural, unspoiled form. The singular vision of a director, captured and distributed, without the mindless interference of Hollywood spin-doctoring. They're not as slick, nor as pretty as the big studio blockbusters... but there's a purity there that you won't find in the latest $200-million Jerry Bruckheimer extravaganza.

Capturing the Friedmans is a documentary on the indy film circuit (you may have to hunt a little to find a theatre playing it in your vicinity) that tells the story of the Friedman family: 5 Jewish residents of Great Neck, New York whose lives were turned upside-down in 1988 by accusations of pedophilia and sodomy. The father, Arnold Friedman, was the accused. The youngest son, Jesse Friedman, was implicated. The oldest son, David Friedman, decided to take video footage of the intimate discussions, arguments, and chaos in the Friedman home throughout the entire debacle. The results are absolutely astonishing. A mind-bending experience. And, at the end, the audience has only one question on their minds, resonating over and over and over:

"But what really happened?"

I was so affected by the film that I've written to Jesse Friedman twice, via internet. Both times he's responded. I'm officially obsessed.

See this movie.
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The Diabolical Carey Bear -or- Today Long Beach... Tomorrow THE WORLD!

So it seems my wife is beginning Phase 2 of Operation: Vegan Planet. I'd mentioned her promotion to Floor Manager a few weeks ago. Well, recent managerial blood-letting at Virginia Country Club has left a few vacancies amonst the upper-echelon and Carey was offered another promotion, this time to Banquet and Catering Supervisor.

This is a pretty significant leap, espeically for someone who worked as a server just one month ago. The position is a salaried one and comes complete with some added health benefits for her hubby and a tidy little pay increase. (Couldn't have come at a better time, either). So, congratulations are in order for Carey Bear.

Hip hip hoorah!

At this rate, her utter domination of Southern California's food and beverage industry can't be far off.
...

Our Big News

Today, Carey called me at work: "Hey, Jer. Good news. We got our loan."

We're in. It's almost too surreal to be... er, real. The process has gone by in a blur. We're really going to be home-owners in a few weeks and there's really nothing preventing the transaction. In fact, the current resident has already moved out. Yow.

The loan was approved, but with a few contingencies. I'd worried about that, but these particular contingencies are pretty manageable, I think. To wit:

-We must prove that we have Social Security Numbers
-We must prove that we were both employed in the year 2001
-We must prove that my place of employment in 2001 is still in existence and that it has a valid address and phone #
-We must prove that I still work at the same place I worked at two months ago.
-We must prove that we have enough Mutual Funds to cover a down payment

So, thank God. It's rare that I get all spiritual on this blog, but God's hand in our lives and our situation has been unmistakeably evident. Honestly, we could not have prayed for a better blessing. The credit is His.

And we're very, very exited.

A couple of semi-nervous, straggling points, however... We've tried to time our Escrow to close the weekend in between my dad's and sister's wedding so that we can bail out of here with perfect timing (our 1-year lease is up that weekend and it's the only free weekend for awhile that we'll be free to move in). However, until we meet the above contingencies, Escrow is on hold. Fortunately, we plan on meeting them all tomorrow, but the timing is still extremely tight.

But, man, game on. GAME ON!

posted by Jeremy Bear 5:26 PM

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