Thoughts amid the tornados

Life continues to move forward at a sometime-rapid, sometime-plodding pace as I continue my effort to figure out what I'm going to do with myself in the New Year of 2006.

Today was one of the first in a while where Karen and I have gotten to sleep in (about half an hour, but I'll take it) and hang out with each other all day. I work my first 6-close shift tonight, which should be interesting but not too crazy. Tornados have been sweeping across central Alabama all afternoon, and I'm guessing that'll keep people at home on a Monday night.


It's been interesting finding out who else ends up working at a cafe at Christmastime. Most are recent or upcoming college grads just filling their time and pocketbooks with the extra work. All but one or two have a college degree or will soon. Demographically, I've heard I'm the second oldest (not counting the cafe manager). Tonight, I'm scheduled to work with the oldest, a fella who used to be a fifth-grade teacher. Some of his former students have stopped by since I've been there, and that left me curious about his story. Did he get tired of it, or is this just a semi-retirement thing?

Not too many people seem surprised that a 28-year-old would be working a near-minimum-wage job with a college degree and management experience. People seem to end up at Barnes and Noble either because they want to be there or they just want a transitional filler in their lives. I'm obviously the latter.

In other news of transitional filler, I got a nice e-mail the other day from the journalism head at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. On a hunch, I had sent him my resume with some comments about my willingness to help teach any newswriting classes. I didn't really expect to hear back, but he wrote back quickly and said he was impressed with my background. He said he might have an opening in December or January, as the new semester nears.

What motivated me to send the note, other than the general need of employment, was my sincere desire to try out academia and see if there's anything rewarding there for me. I enjoyed the teaching aspect of being a city editor, but that was really just something you squeezed into the small gaps between the daily workload. Karen's applying for some full-time jobs at UAB, and if she got one, it might be a good chance for one or both of us to pursue a master's. The only thing standing in the way is the fact that neither of us knows what kind of degree we would want.

Is there ever a point in your life where you stop wondering what you'll be when you grow up?

The game of Life

Remember that board game Life? I loved that as a kid. But what always confused me about it was the fact that you spun the Wheel of Fate and randomly landed on your career track, which determined your income and lifestyle for the rest of your days.

I bought the other randomness of the game ... the number of kids, the house fires, even that square that makes you buy a helicopter ... but your career is the one area of your life where you actually do have control over your destiny, right?

This whole get-up-and-leave-California thing has left me doubting that. Suddenly, after a decade of devoting my life to journalism, I'm working at a cafe in Barnes and Noble. And the really weird thing is that I love it. I'm appreciated, I'm having fun, and I really like going in to work each day. I get to meet a lot of people, and I get the added perks of working in a gigantic book store.

Assuming no other good job offers emerge, I'll likely talk to the book store people about their opportunities for me after the holidays. They've been practically orgasmic about having me around, but that doesn't mean they're going to throw a living wage at me.

As for journalism, I've had some strong and largely negative emotions lately. In a word, I just feel bitter. But I also recognize this isn't a logical way to feel. With most of my friends happily employed in the journalism world, it seems silly to say that there's no place for me. But it has seemed like each experience of mine highlights the hypocrisy of journalism: Newspapers want to capture young audiences with fresh, exciting ideas. But they only want to hire managers who've been around forever and cling to stale, outdated philosophies that belong in the dustbin of history.

Just once I'd like to be turned down for a job because they went with someone more youthful and excited.

Any thoughts? Any words of inspiration from those of you still in the biz? I'm still looking at journalistic job opportunities, but it's more out of necessity than true longing.

Good thing I like making coffee

Well, I heard back from Athens, and it wasn't good news.

I have to say, I'm not as crushed as I might have been a few months back. Yes, it makes our future even more uncertain, but we've had a great time in Birmingham these past two weeks, and we are seriously talking about staying.

There are a few job openings of interest here. Birmingham is home to the Southern Progress magazine empire, and Karen's thinking about getting a job with Blue Cross (where my sister works) to help with the benefits while we look for dream jobs.

Thankfully, the cafe gig is going well, and it will at least help cover the cost of our Christmas shopping. I have to say, at least I've reached my goal of having a job where I'm excited to go into work again.

My calling

"Fill the light base to the first line of the plastic cup, fill it with ice, drop it into the blender, then add the three shots of caramel and blend it on the 2 setting," I called to another barista while steaming a grande decaf soy white chocolate mocha.

"No seriously, how long have you worked here?" one of the other trainees asked.

"Um, what time is it?"

For years, I've said, half jokingly, that the best job I ever had was when I worked at a coffee shop after college. The pay was crap, and you had to stand all day, but I was good at it. And it was just fun.

I've always wondered how much of that was just me remembering that time without thinking about the obnoxious bits. But after my first day behind the counter at Barnes and Noble's cafe today, I'd have to say I was right. This really is a great job. Now if it only paid three times as much...

It didn't take me long to pick the barista gig back up. B&N has a super streamlined approach to making Starbucks stuff, so it only took me an hour or so to get caught up on the basics. The cafe (like the rest of the store) is stocking up on pre-holiday workers, so I worked with two other trainees and a manager today. Everyone was great, and I feel it's worth noting, everyone had a college degree.

So it's nice to know that if I am going to have a part-time retail job during the holiday rush, it will at least be somewhere that I enjoy. I work the cafe again tomorrow, then train in the bookstore the next day. But because of my barista experience, I'm guessing they're going to keep me in the cafe. That's fine with me. A lot of the employee training is focused on stopping/preventing shoplifting, so at least that's one thing I don't have to worry about when I'm brewing coffee.

Oh, fine, I'll get a job.

At 8 a.m. tomorrow, I will tap on the glass of the Barnes and Noble down the road and start my new career in retail by shadowing the manager as she opens the in-store Starbucks.

Yes, after a five-year hiatus plagued by journalism, I'm back in the coffee shop smock, brewin java.

I dropped off a few applications today and heard back from Barnes and Noble about half an hour later. (On a side note, if you're looking for part-time work, now's the time.) The guy practically hired me before asking how to pronounce my name. I'll start at $7 an hour, which is less than a third my old wage, but still better than their starting wage of $6.25. They gave me some credit for "related experience."

Oh, somewhere my pride is stinging a bit from dropping from news management to retail grunt, but:

1. I actually look forward to working without being a manager. There's something zen about simply taking orders and clocking out.
2. This obviously is temporary. The Athens paper said today they expect to make a decision in the next two days. I can't say I'm overconfident I'll get it, but it would be nice. I'm also supposed to be receiving a packet to do a critique of the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., paper. If they like it, they'll fly me out to interview for assistant city editor.
3. It's not so bad to say you work at B&N. That's one of those places that seems to hire hipsters and down-on-their-luck intelligentsia. Plus, I get a 30% discount and can borrow any book to read at home for free.
4. There's one thing that's a lot more shameful than taking on a retail job: Not doing a damn thing and waiting for a magic pot of money to land in your lap.

So anyway, I'm pretty stoked. If nothing else, I get some more coffee shop experience for my eventual business endeavor. And I can apparently catch up on some reading.

What, me work?

Two small bits of job news. Bowing to the pressure of my readers, I dropped off an application at the coffee shop this afternoon. I asked about openings, and the kid behind the counter said, "If you worked here, you'd be a manager." He hadn't even looked at the application I handed him. I guess not a lot of 28-year-olds apply to be baristas.

In a potentially bigger update, I got a call from the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., newspaper about an assistant city editor position. It's a bit far north for me, and probably not too affordable, but you never know. In case you want a bit more information about the town and paper, read this. The editor had already left when I tried calling back, so I'll get ahold of him tomorrow. If nothing else, it's always good to have people interested for leverage, right?

More soon as job stuff develops. Soon I'll tell you about my exciting new plan to escape debt forever.

A new home, with lots of booze and video games!

With obvious apologies for the delay in posting, I should note that yes, we did make it to Birmingham. In fact, things went on with nary a hitch until I backed the empty moving truck down the driveway. Because of the angle of the street, it wedged the hitch of the truck into the asphalt, and the truck wouldn't go forward or back. With the help of a random neighbor and his two hydraulic jacks, we eventually got the situation under control.

My days have been quick, fun and random since Saturday. In case you don't remember, I'm staying with my sister and her husband, and they've been great about encouraging us to relax this first week and not worry about being productive. But we've still tried to offer some help around the house in return for the free rent.

The animals are getting along famously, with one exception. Loki, my sister's Brittany spaniel, loves the cats a bit too much, and he's willing to chase them around the house to prove it. We've set up a gate at one wing of the house, giving the cats free rein in the guest bedroom, computer room and bathroom. They adventure out into the main house once in a while, at their own peril.

Jonas, our dog, loves having two other dogs to play with all day. In fact, he sometimes asks to go behind the cat gate just so he can rest...without the other dogs making fun of him, I guess.

Of course, we're squeezing in lots of video games to make the most of our free time. Mostly we've been playing Civilization IV, which lived up to the hype and has been a pretty great game.

I'll check in more soon, but for now I'd like you folks to weigh in on this: With no definite idea of when I'll hear back on the Athens job, should get a part-time job (coffee shop, most likely) to help bring in a bit of income? I think it's a smart move, but my sister thinks it would be rude to take on a job and quit right away if I hear back on Athens.

Your thoughts?

Days 4 & 5

(Dateline Columbia, Mo.)

Don't have much time to write....we're getting ready to hit the road Friday morning. This is it! The last day, unless we run out of steam around Nashville or Huntsville, Ala.

Yesterday, we made it through the worst part. Kansas. It was about 12 hours of driving with nothing to look at. Not a great time. But it's behind us, and we were able to stay the night with my good friend Liz, who I actually made this same trip with back in the 1990s when we were in college.

OK, gotta run. I'll post some final thoughts tomorrow, I hope.

Days 2 & 3

(Dateline: Denver, CO)

Well, I would say we've made it through the vast stretches of nowhere that make up so much of the United States, but there's still Kansas...

So far, the trip is going amazingly well. Days 1 and 2 went exactly as planned, with us ending in Ely, Nev., on the first night and Grand Junction, Colo., the second. Today is our easy day, with only a few hours of driving this morning to get to Denver, then plenty of socializing for us and our dog as we stay with a friend of Karen's.

A strange side effect of the journey: The animals are bonding. I mean, don't get me wrong, they still seem to get pissed at each other all the time, but the dog and both cats climb onto the bed at night and peacefully coexist. My best guess is that this is because we are now their sole remaining piece of "home." But it might just be because they're cold and tired.

Griner luck seems to be working for us. Tonight and tomorrow, heavy snows are expected to hit the Sierra, which we just skated through two days ago. Denver is expected to see a little snow tomorrow, but most will go north and west of us. After Colorado, it should be smooth sailing.

We've revised the schedule a little bit. We're hoping to make it to Columbia, Mo., tomorrow night. That would put us into our final destination on Friday night. It's a lot of driving in two days, but it sure would be nice to get all this done in five days, instead of six. Plus, since Columbia is my college town, I should be able to snag some free lodging.

Well, back to drinking beer and having fun.

Day 1 (Truckee, Calif.)

I'm stopped at a coffee shop in downtown Truckee. OK, OK, I haven't made it that far. But we got a late start this morning, and I went ahead of Karen so she could handle some last-minute errands and catch up with me on the interstate. Right now, I'm just waiting for her to pull up with the dog. The cats are exploring the rental truck cab.

Probably because of the frantic nature of our exit, I wasn't exactly saddled by sorrow in leaving. It's not that I dislike Nevada City in any way; it's just that I'm so excited about starting the next chapter of my life. Karen is amazingly excited, too, which makes it that much better.

A funny thing about starting a massive moving project on Oct. 31....it's easy to forget that it's halloween. So I keep wondering why there are so many people at coffee shops with pink hair, or why the bank manager was wearing a black leather jacket and matching chaps. Ending Day 1 in Nevada should be an interesting experience on Halloween, too.

Oh, one other bit of cool news. I put my old, clunky, 15-pound laptop on eBay, where apparently these things are still popular. I ended up getting $220.50 for it! That's half a tank of gas in the rental truck! Woohoo!

All my worldly possessions in one yellow truck

A few weeks back, Karen and I began debating whether we should hire movers to help pack our stuff into the rental truck. We didn't want to pay the thousands to actually movers take it cross-country, but we're not so hot at the loading part.

At the time, I was against the idea. We have friends with strong backs and plenty of time.

I was very wrong.

Today, the movers saved our ass. They packed 2,000 gallons of crap into a 1,000-gallon box. Meanwhile, we were able to clean. And clean. And clean some more! Why is that a good thing? Because that's that much less cleaning to do tomorrow. And plus, my fridge is immaculate. Now that there's no food in it. There's still five beers and a half-empty can of cat food, though.

Tonight we'll grab some dinner with friends and relax a bit before waking up in our barren home and scrubbing it clean. So far, everything's on schedule. Strangely, I've been most stressed about getting the truck loaded. (I took a wild guess on the truck size, but there was no going back.) With that done, the only other challenge is getting over the Donner Pass, then the Rockies, at a time when there's already snow falling in the high elevations.

Sometimes I think the only thing harder than moving would have been staying put.

It is done!

Not that we wait until the last minute or anything, but Karen and I are finally...FINALLY certified massage therapists. We finished our 55 hours of out-of-class practice this week and got our certificates from the instructor last night. Which is good, since it's the last time we'll probably see him for a good few years.

If you had told me three years ago that I would now be a massage therapist, I would have either A. doubted your prognosticative powers or B. rethought my planned move to California.

It's still a hard thing to explain to people who don't know us well. Hell, for that matter, it's hard to explain to close friends and family. I largely did it because it was part of my jujitsu studies, but I could have put it off until I was further along in my training. Most schools in our system don't seem to teach massage until the student is advanced in the martial side of the art.

But ask yourself this. What's a more likely scenario:

• I'm surrounded by armed thugs in a Hong Kong marketplace, and only my secret ninja powers will save the day.
• A friend gets a sore back.

Don't get me wrong. I'm so ready for the marketplace thugs, but I just have a feeling that my massage training will come in more useful in the course of my domestic life.

The gratuitous move update of the day:

It's packin' day! Of course, we've been packing for weeks, but we load the truck tomorrow morning, so everything needs to be done today. We've been up since 7 a.m. getting the place stowed, and it's actually going pretty well. Tonight we'll probably just get some drinks with friends and relax as we get the last stuff done.

Here's the rough schedule:

• Saturday: Load truck
• Sunday: Clean house from top to bottom
• Monday: Start the trek, hopefully making it to Ely, Nevada.
• Tuesday: Make it to Grand Junction, Colo.
• Wednesday: Get to Denver and spend half the day visiting friends.
• Thursday: Get to Kansas City.
• Friday: Get to Nashville.
• Saturday: Arrive in Birmingham by mid-day. Unlock truck, tell family not to scuff the nice furniture, and go eat nachos while they unload it all. OK, OK. I might share the nachos.
  

Update no. 2 (two in one day! what a deal)

Dateline: Athens, Ga. Corner Coffee (open 24 hours)

As I continue to kill time before my killer flight back home, I realized I forgot to mention that I SOLD MY CAR!

The girl who first expressed a strong interest dropped out a few days later. So I rushed out an ad in the newspaper and on Craig's List. As I was putting the "For Sale" sign up in my car window, my neighbor Neil walked by. I joked that he should buy my car, and he actually stopped for a minute to look at it. He said, "Yeah, this could work."

We were leaving for San Francisco just then, so I told him to think about it for a few days. He was already pretty excited. When we returned, he test drove it and (halfway through the drive) said he would take it for the list price of $13,500.

Yeah, yeah, some people have emotional attachments to their cars. I loved my car, but I can't say I loved the idea of dragging it cross-country, paying the gas to do so, or hanging onto it just to watch its value continue deteriorating. Plus, I probably would have only gotten $10,000 or so for trade-in value, so this is like making money. Most importantly, it gives us a big fat financial cushion for our move. So yeeha.

I suppose I should mention the great time we had in San Francisco, where we took our last California vacation. We took Jonas and let him run wild and free at the beach and in the massive SF dog park. We also did a lot of aimless driving around neighborhoods and stopped in some wonderful little restaurants. My personal favorite was a little French place called Baker Street Bistro, where we sat under a heater on the chilly patio, eating lamb stew and warm goat cheese salad. But "The Carnalicious" pizza at Giorgio's was pretty incredible, too.

Mmm, I'm hungry.

Update from Bulldog country

Dateline: Athens, Ga. Walker Pub & Coffee

Well, my two days of interviews for the student newspaper adviser position at the University of Georgia are done, and I'd say it went pretty well. The students were a tough bunch to win over, and they tossed out some great questions about how I would help them and the paper.

The big thing that struck me is the amazing building that houses The Red and Black. It's a huge, new site built just for the independent paper. Between that and their abundance of full-time positions, it's obvious the paper is doing pretty well financially.

It sounds like I won't hear back from them for two weeks or so. Another candidate is coming out soon, although it hasn't been scheduled. So it was good getting in early and making a strong impression. I'm leaving feeling that this would be a wonderful opportunity for me and a place where Karen and I would be happy to settle down for a while. Obviously, the college atmosphere is great, and the accents aren't too indecipherable.

Now I head back to Atlanta for a lengthy sojourn back to California. I picked up a new GBA game, Rebelstar, to help pass the time. If you have some hefty flying time coming up, I recommend the game as a good hour-killer.

As excited as I am about getting back home, I have to say it's daunting to think of all the work ahead of us in the coming days. Of course, I'll keep you all posted.

A few fun things for you

OK, before I dive into blah blah updates on my exciting cross-country adventure, here are some great movies that folks have sent me lately.

• The "big ad" for an Australian beer.
  
• A preview for Stanley Kubrick's heart-warming new film.
• The trailer for Stubbs the Zombie. You know I can't get enough of zombies. Speaking of which, I can't remember the name of a game that's coming out where you fight through hordes of zombies in a shopping mall, a la Dawn of the Dead. I read a preview a while back but now can't remember it. I liked that the focus was on sheer quantity of zombie. Stacy, get to the Walgreens, stat.
• A great new ad for electronic birth control.

OK, on to the old update-o-rama:

This Sunday, I'm flying out to Athens, Ga., for a second round of job interviews (the first was just with the publisher while he was visiting Reno). It's an intensive interview schedule, but I think I can ace it. Wish me luck.

I've got a tentative buyer lined up for my car. She called an hour after I posted the ad on cars.com. She's been dying for an Impreza sedan and wants to come up this weekend to claim it. I have to say, as much as I'll miss my car, $13,500 is some good walking-around mon

Sigh

I remember the heady days of unemployment, those many days ago when I could relax, play some video games, spend hours teaching the dog to say "I love you."

Sadly, my life of leisure already has descended into a life of unending productivity so we can get the hell out of Dodge. I've spent each day packing, sorting, selling, donating, and mailing. Today, I even put my car up for sale. I've decided that, ideally, I'll get $13,500 or so for it and then be able to pick up a dog-friendly Impreza Wagon used in Alabama, where they're probably a bit less in demand.

It's funny that my life has never been so unpredictable and uncertain, yet we're both more excited than we've been about any move. I figure the best way to ensure I get a job quickly is to get really excited about spending time unemployed with my family. If the Athens, Ga., gig works out, my trip to Birmingham might just be a quick stopover. But I've been getting great feedback from potential employers lately, so I'm feeling pretty hireable. Karen, too, has amassed an impressive set of skills and references by being a manager at a nonprofit. I think we'll be fine.

On a related note, my moving scam of the week (in my favor) is media mail. The other day I made some joke about just shipping all our crap to Alabama, which would cost a small fortune. Then I remembered that a friend used USPS media mail to truck his entire library cross-country. Sure enough, I was able to mail off about 55 pounds of books for $20. I'll likely ship off another 150 pounds or so, which will be money well spent. I have a feeling space is going to be at a severe premium in the moving van. We're already shedding furniture like crazy, but it's still just SO MUCH CRAP.

Well, back to the grind... of, you know, sitting around in pajamas and catching up on Tivo while I pack kitchen sundries.

It was the right decision. Right?

Well, I called the Virginia paper Friday and told them to take me out of the running for news editor. They were asking me to fly back out for a second round of interviews (I was one of two finalists), but I just wasn't excited about the job.

It would be a late shift, coordinating wire content and tweaking headlines. That's the kind of job where you show up for your first day at work, turn around, and you've been there 20 years.

I felt a little bad because they've been so great about keeping me in the running, and it is a great paper, but I'd rather tell them now than after I fly back out, interview again and then get offered the position.

In related news, the interview with the Athens, Ga., student paper publisher went well. Sounds like I'll be flying out there soon, although I doubt I'll beat the clock and get the job before we move. Oh well.

Otherwise, we're just wrapping everything up and getting ready to move. It's going to be a crazy few weeks, but we're both really excited about picking up and starting over. And I'm pretty motivated about the job hunt now that I've already been a finalist for two. It's not off to a bad start.

OK, it's 8:41 a.m. and I'm unemployed, so I've got to go get drinking. Take care.

For I am mighty

In case you doubt my ability to identify headless women, I thought I'd point out that I was right in my guess that Jessica Biel was the actress being slowly revealed, body part by body part, over the past six months in Esquire magazine. This month's issue reveals she is the "sexiest woman alive," which obviously means Angelina Jolie died shortly after receiving the same title from Esquire last year.

I can't say that the new photo gallery persuades me to buy into the Biel bandwagon. When one of the selling points is her posture ("She could hold an apple between her shoulder blades"), you know they're reaching a bit.

To me, sexy is a pretty tough trick to pull off -- in a movie or otherwise. I can only think of one example where Karen and I agreed that an actress actually came off as hot as the filmmakers intended (pictured).

Funny note on that, too. When I was home sick once, I watched Resident Evil with the cast commentary. Near the beginning, in a scene where Milla Jovavhvashavich's character is in the shower, she says on the commentary, "Here's my obligatory nude scene. I have to have at least one in every movie I do." The director quickly chimed in, "That's not what your agent said."

Nightmares

It's weird, the last few nights I've been having work-related nightmares. What's especially strange is that I never had them when I was actually working.

Last night, I dreamt I woke up at 1 p.m. on a work day and had to decide whether to scramble in or call in sick. The night before, I dreamt that I was at work and didn't have any local stories for the next day's paper. I realize these are minor as far as nightmares go, but I did wake up all stressed and sweaty. It's funny, though, to wake up from a dream about running late for work and say, "Oh thank god, I'm unemployed and it's only 7 a.m."

So why suddenly have these kinds of dreams now? It doesn't really take a psychiatrist. There's obviously some part of my brain that feels I'm being a slacker and not a productive member of society.

Yeah, well tough shit, brain. I've earned a chance to relax a little, and I'm getting a lot of stuff done. Who are you trying to convince? What do you mean? I'm not trying to convince anybody, I was pointing out ... I'm just saying, maybe it's not your subconscious that's frustrated. Maybe it's your conscious. 'Conscious' isn't really a noun. Hey, who's the brain here? Oh, just stuff it before I go slam you into an open cabinet door.

Diary of a Man of Leisure: Day 1

First day of unemployment got off to rocky start.

5:30 a.m. Dog pukes. I clean. No more real bones, no matter how happy they make him.

7:30 a.m. Dog whines to get out of crate. I walk him. Make coffee.

7:45 a.m. I watch the sugar episode of Good Eats. The bananas brulee look pretty good. But being a Griner, I generally shy away from melting sugar at a temperature that rivals the sun.

8:20 a.m. I wake up Karen. She has to be at work in 40 minutes.

8:45 a.m. Getting my life of leisure started right, I play a half hour of the Sims 2. Watching my one unemployed sim sit around while the others go out and make money is mildly depressing. I switch to hockey on the PlayStation. I lose three games, but the player I made in my own image is able to shrug off a broken nose and get back on the ice in two days. I feel empowered.

10:15 a.m. I exercise the dog with the laser light. For him, it's already almost qualifying as the best day ever. Except for the puking.

10:30 a.m. I shower. Take my time, use up all the hot water. This is how I stick it to the man. Wait, that sounds kind of gross. Never mind.

11:15 a.m. Time to get productive. I pay some bills, set up an oil change, find a body shop for my dented car, confirm my job interview Friday (woohoo!), and drop my cell phone plan from a goliath (and unused) 800 minutes to 400. Just saved myself $50 a month. Being jobless might be the most profitable thing I've done in a while.

12 p.m. Lunch with Karen, who seems impressed with what I accomplished this morning. We eat leftovers, which we're going to have in spades now that I'm cooking dinner every night.

1 p.m. Walked downtown to deposit our fat stacks from Saturday's garage sale. Realize too late it's Columbus Day. This seriously detracts from my feeling of uniqueness. Somewhere, thousands of bankers are being shiftless layabouts, too. Yeah, but who will be laughing tomorrow?

1:33 p.m. Finished writing blog entry about my day. Getting excited about the fact it's only halfway done. Feel I should promise not to write blog in this format every day. Oh well, it's not like people are paying to read this.