Busy days

I think I've sucessfully driven away all my regular readers with my hiatus. I've just not felt like blogging lately. Needed to get the last entry out of the way.

Yesterday, I got up at 4 AM after a restless night of sleep on a couch two inches too short to let me lay flat out. As we drove to the airport in the dark, I was reminded of our flight from Oklahoma. I said goodbye to my family and helped them with the sixteen tons of luggage, then I drove back to my apartment and slept from six AM to 11.

Later, I went to the scottsdale library and paid my fine. On the way back I dropped off my old unwanted clothes at Goodwill and picked up a casual blazer. They're all size small, which is great for me. I got a Botany 500 sport coat, charcoal and 100% wool. Paid six dollars for it. Also got a basket for all my remotes.

Last night, I met Whitney, Emily, and Janelle for dinner at Pizzaria Uno on Mill avenue. We all used to have english togather in HS. Whitney is going to England for a semester, and I went along with them to watch Janelle get an "industrial" which is a bar through two parts of the ear.
We came back here and watched a movie and talked for awhile.

This morning I got up at 6:45 AM and drove all the way out to Glendale to work for Habitat for Humanity. I was assigned to do lot clean up along with two other guys. They had a big flatbed truck and they squeezed us all in there. The driver was an electrician for Habitat who loved sports and had the kind of sunburned, weatherbeaten face one gets from a lifetime in the sun. The guy jammed on my left was a young hispanic, with his first daughter on the way who does autocad work at a small architecture firm which does custom homes in North Scottsdale. They guy smashed agianst the door was a man from Burundi with a family of eight. He was putting in his "sweat equity" required by habitat to get a house. He proudly pointed out the foundations of his house as we drove by.

We spent the morning clearing a huge lot. Earlier crews had bagged garbage and debris in black plastic bags, so one load was just the bags. The next three loads were several trees which had been taken down and cut up, along with an unbeleivle amount of leaves, bark, and other building garbage. It took us about four hours to clear the site. We got gloves, but I scratched my arms up and got a few smacks in the face by flying branches.

I don't really consider it a sucessful work day without a little blood, anyway. It's a good feeling, boots, paint-stained jeans, old tee shirt, dust covering everyting, outside, using your muscles. Papa Johns Pizza for lunch provided for free.

I got a call from Tumi that my luggage was ready to be picked up out on the site, so I decided to just take camelback over as I was on that latitude anyway. I drove over and marched through the luxury mall with my filthy, sweatstained clothes and baseball cap, shaking lose dust with every step. I wonder what they thought, when I went into Tumi, paid my money and picked up the suitcase.

Anyway, the best thing about Habitat is the shower you take afterwards. I grabbed a snack and watched The Last Samurai for the rest of the afternoon. Tonight, Chase and I are hitting town.