I feel so productive today. Not only did I finally call the dealership to make an appointment to get my airbag replaced (I've been receiving the notices for 2 years now -- I guess it is a bit overdue), but I found out where my fuse box is. Gasp. And it's so easy to get to, I'm almost embarrassed. Except that none of my "car expert" friends knew where to look for it either. So I don't feel too foolish since I readily admit I am car-clueless.

This fit of responsible behavior was obviously too good to last though, because I just signed up for Blog*Spot Plus. I'm trying to pay off the credit cards now, not spend more money. But I couldn't resist -- hate the ads and want to add nifty stuff like pictures. Sigh. Oh, I suppose the credit card debt isn't as bad as it could be. I've just had quite a bit of fun traveling this summer -- France and Switzerland in July, Washington and Alaska in August/September... worth every penny.

I am also happy to report that the car alarm issue seems to have been resolved. I was one of six or seven people who reported the guy to the complex managers -- they said that one angry guy said that if he ever caught the Jeep's owner, he'd pound him into the pavement. So... alerted to the potential lynch mob and eviction from the apartment complex, the Jeep owner made the wise decision and disabled his alarm. Yay!

WRITING UPDATE: I got my first draft of HG back from my friend Devan who courageously volunteered to read it and offer suggestions. So far I've revised the first 200 pages. Of course, most of the total crap parts are in the last 300 pages. Sigh. Up until now I've mostly just been tweeking the story line and fixing typos and whatnot. Now I must hack and slash and totally rewrite enormous sections. I know the story will be better for it... it's obvious now that I was pretty lost on the plot line and characters in this middle section. I like my ending -- but only if I lose the last 20 pages. I slashed the first 20 pages, too. Probably a good thing, considering that I'll be adding lots of new pages for the dangling plot lines that were interesting but were abandoned for no apparent reason... I've got a lot of work to do before I'm publishable.

And just because I don't have enough to do right now, I've decided to go back to school to get a teaching certificate. While I do enjoy my job, I feel like I'm not really accomplishing much -- or making use of my pricey undergrad degree. Orientation is tomorrow night. Cross your fingers for me!