So happy Halloween and stuff! Today is my third day of work, and it’s pretty fun so far. I’m learning quite a bit about insurance stuff and Allstate’s systems. My co-workers are very outgoing, friendly people - a perk of working in a customer service office. My commute is really easy, about 12 minutes, and today is Halloween so there will be little kids running around the office after school trick-or-treating. All in all, a pretty low-stress environment.

Elsewhere on the newswire, we had pretty much everyone we know in Seattle up to the new house sometime this weekend. It was good to see everyone, as it’s been awhile with all the moving madness and whatnot. Is “whatnot” a word? Anyway… I unpack a couple more boxes every night. Hopefully, I’ll be done by Christmas…

Hey, I’m employed! I know, I know, I told, like, all of you that I’d call you as soon as I got a job. But do you know how many people I told that to? Yeah, I don’t either, but I bet it was quite a few. Anyway, so you’re just going to have to read about it instead. I’m working at Allstate, I start on Monday (the 29th). There, now you’re informed, and I’m off the hook. As an added bonus (for me) I’m not going to be broke anymore!

So, I got ambitious and reorganized the photo gallery, at least a little. I made some subcategories so the pages don’t take so long to load and to make things easier to find. I’m welcome to feedback on the whole thing…

In other news, I’m getting close to having a job. There’s some good irony here. About a month ago, I mentioned a strong prospect that began with an “A.” Anybody remember that? Raise your hands… yeah, that’s what I thought. Anyway, it was Adobe (you know, they make Photoshop and stuff). Well, they pulled the rug out from under me almost immediately after that. So, I’m getting to the irony. The company I have an offer from (finally! an offer!) is Allstate. It’s not exactly a programming job; it’s actually being a claims adjuster. I’m looking forward to starting, hopefully next week. My coworkers are cool and it’s a much more stable industry than the tech market. So, did anyone notice that Allstate, too, starts with an “A”? Hands? Ok, well, it does, so that’s your irony. Write that down; there will be a quiz later.

I uploaded like a zillion new pictures today, so go check ‘em out. There’s some in there from as far back as December, including Kris & Michelle’s wedding, and sailing last weekend is in there, too. I know they’re not very logically arranged; I’ll fix that one of these days.

Augh! This was not a good year to graduate. I just heard that RightNow Tech. laid off half of my friends. Tim: buddy, hang tough. Elliot: don’t give up, at least you still have the model. One of them probably would have been me, had I stayed there. The madness is not just limited to Montana; in eight more days, Josh finds out if Boeing still wants him for the rest of the year. If no pink slip shows up, he’s in the clear for a month or so, and then he’ll roll the dice again. Anyone who says America is a land of opportunity is wrong, baby, wrong!

To all my friends that are facing tough life changes (especially the involuntary kind): hang in there! Stay positive, be confident despite your discouragement, and have faith. All things work for good (I really do believe that, and I’ve been unemployed for 5 months).