So, my Boston photos in the previous post seem to go off-line every now and then. Sorry bout that.

I'm well into my summer vacation, and have yet to land a job. Even a voluntary one, and now its too late to really find anything good. I'll probably end up working at the Stanford Theatre again, but won't be making much money since they are hardly ever open this summer it seems. Anyways, I told them when I could work...but haven't heard back.

Palo Alto continues to lead me on. Interviewing me in April. Saying they'd get back to me in a couple weeks. Getting back to me in mid-May saying I was not chosen. Calling me the next week saying, "whoops, you're actually one of three finalists!' Saying they'd get back to me in a week. Not returning my e-mail a week later. Not returning my call two weeks later. Returning my second e-mail giving me bad news about not being chosen. BUT saying they would like to hire me for an hourly job assisting their historic preservation planner. Saying they'd get back to me last week and that I should call if they don't. Not returning my call. I'm still hoping this can work out...someday.

And since no jobs seem to be in my immediate future, I'm considering going to Cal Poly with Martin and Matt later this week.

Other thoughts:

Santa Cruz with Martin, Dustin, Jamie, and Rachel was a lot of fun. First official trip to the beach of the summer. Had a great time hanging out with a good chunk of my old high school crew.

My day in Berkeley last Thursday was very nice. The DCRP/BUSSA meetings went well, and it was good to see Kat, Candice, and Kay for lunch.

My grandpa's surprise birthday party went really well.

...now it's kinda up to me to make sure his present from the whole family, a fully paid trip to Washington DC to see the new World War II Memorial, goes well too.

Chris, my lil cuz Sabrina, and I will be taking him there from July 2nd to July 7th. The whole thing was my idea, and I planned everything, from the hotel to the flight, to getting everyone's approval and contribution. Right now, the trip is really stressing me out, because I have to figure all the logistics out and am feeling a lot of pressure to make sure that my grandpa has a good time.

I have to worry about how far he can walk, if he can withstand the heat and humidity, where we can get food for him that fits his strict diabetic diet, what sites we are going to see, who will be watching over my grandma while we are gone, etc. And he's not letting me forget any of that. I expected he would have some concerns about the trip. But I also hoped he would show some more excitement about it and spend some more time thinking and talking about the fun we could have. It would make all the stress I've gone through and am going through to plan this bearable. But instead, I get a litany of concerns from him, followed by "well, it's all up to you Nick, you're the leader here I'll just do what you say." Ack. But that's my grandpa for ya.

Hopefully, once we are there, everything will work out and it'll be a great trip.