Rainbows and speedos

Last weekend Jen and I headed down to Pensacola Beach for memorial day weekend. It was a great time, but we did have something funny happen to us.

You see, Memorial Day weekend is also Gay pride weekend at Pensacola beach. "Couples" from all over the U.S. gather for a weekend of partying. Think of it like spring break in panama city but gay.

For the most part we didn't see many couples near our condo at the beach. We were off the beaten path, and there were mostly families staying near us. We spent our days camped out on the beach, and my aunt and uncle new the safe spots for us to go in the evening. Saturday evening Jen and I decided we would head down to Destin for some shopping and dining. My uncle suggested we take a road that paralleled the highways to save time.

The road ran alongside the beach, so it would have been a scenic view. However, we got slightly down this road and all of a sudden saw there were cars lined up along the sides as far as the eye could see. There were tents set up on the beach, and there were groups and couples everywhere. By couples I mean boy-boy, and girl-girl. The guys mostly wore speedos and short tight swim trunks. The girls wore board shorts, and short haircuts and more tattoos than I had ever seen. Not just one or two, but all over.

Needless to see we were driving right down the middle of this sticking out like a soar thumb. We got stuck behind a police officer who stopped traffic in the middle of the road to ticket a group of girls. About this time 8 guys surrounded our car. I didn't know what to do. No one ever bothered us, but you never know what a bunch of intoxicated homosexuals are capable of. We tried to ask the officer where we could turn around, because they had blocked the road and we would not be able to take this road to Destin. He was pretty much mad at the world and told us we could drive to the end of it and then turn around.

We finally got turned around and got stuck behind a two trucks. The first one had girls in the back and the second had boys. They were cruising down this strip picking up other guys and girls. After about 45 minutes we finally got out of there and down to Destin.

I have no problem with those that choose the same sex relationship lifestyle. However, being surrounded by thousands of them was pretty uncomfortable. Sure they are great employees at the GAP, but they were out to hook up last weekend.

"The sun, the sand, and a cold drink in my hand"

I realize my blog has taken a back seat lately. It's not on purpose, it's just that now that I don't sit in the closet/rental office all day anymore it seems my free time has decreased. Don't get me wrong I have free time, cause I get home from work earlier, but I've been enjoying the awesome weather and getting to hang out with Jen.

This weekend marks the first of 10 bank holidays that I get each year. This is an odd feeling. I haven't had off Memorial Day in two years. Typically its the busiest moving weekend of the year, which meant, you know who was slinging trucks all weekend while his friends were out on the lake.

But not this year. I get off work at 5pm tomorrow, I'm swinging by Wendy's to pick up dinner, and hopefully we will be on the road by 6. I have found a great advantage to living in Birmingham. We are only 3 1/2 hours away from the beach. This is much better than the 8 hour trek I am used to making from Knoxville. So instead of renting trucks this year, I'll be sitting on Pensacola beach enjoying my holiday weekend.

The job still seems to be going well. I got a good job email from the boss yesterday for opening up a certain type of account. I really like the branch and people I work with too.

Jen is still waiting to here if she can get her summer internship location moved out of the ghetto. Apparently the people at the pharmacy never learned common courtesy or how to hit the reply button on an email. She's emailed two different people multiple times, and left phone messages, yet they won't tell her what they plan to do. Hopefully we can get all this worked out before we hit the beach.

Drought = better driving

Last summer when I moved to Alabama we were in a stage 4 drought. What this means is that the rainfall was way down for the year, and people had to limit and ration there water usage. They would fine people for watering there yard or washing there car if they were caught.

Unfortunately, this drought has created a chain reaction of bad events. The most notorious being the lack of ability to drive in the rain on Alabama roadway systems.

Yesterday, I got out of some training a little before 4pm. I was pretty excited to get off early and was excited to get home. The training center was about 15 minutes from my house so I was estimating an arrival before 4:15pm. WRONG - there was a moderate rain shower, but nothing I would consider major. It had been raining steadily all day though. When I turned on my radio I heard of 4 wrecks, and one of the interstates I had to merge on to was backed up for miles.

I don't know if people in Alabama can't drive in the rain, or if they think rain means to speed up and drive like an idiot. I'm not a great driver by any means, but I can drive in the rain. We used to get out for "flood" days in high school. So needless to say, I don't find the average rain shower that difficult to drive in.

Apparently in Alabama driving in the rain requires some type of advanced certification. Within 2 minutes of any rain shower the interstate system will undoubtedly be backed up and shut down.

I think a drought would be safer for the city than the rain.

Time is just a father we can't see

This past weekend I headed back to Knoxville. My parents were in California which meant Jen and I could do whatever without having to worry about family time.

Saturday we went shopping all over Knoxville. We also both got hair cuts from my girl in Knoxville. Mine is about the norm, but Jen did something drastic. She actually got her hair cut above her shoulders. This is the shortest it has ever been, but I really like it. For those of you who don't know Jen, she had long hair and around the time of our wedding is was down to her waist. So this is a big change to say the least.

Saturday night we went out with some friends to the Japanese restaurant. It was a good time. After that we went back to a friends and played some Wii, and Jen got to hold Ryan's baby. I wish we knew someone here that had kids so we could just go by, hold them a little while, and give them back to the mom for a diaper change.

Sunday we did the standard Mother's Day stuff with Jen's family.

I grabbed some old burned cd's from my parents house. One of them was titled Spring 03, which would have been my sophomore year in college. I don't remember making that cd, but apparently I was really in to pop punk rock at the time. It is weird to listen to an old cd, it takes you back in a way. As soon as some of those songs came on it was like I was magically transported to a different time in my life.

In case you were wondering

After my first week at the bank things have been going pretty well. I'm slowly starting to get the hang of things, and realizing that this job can be a lot of fun. There are some things that will be mundane, but I get to talk to people all day long. Today I talked to a guy about motor scooters, another guy about the discovery channel, and some one else about the beach. I get paid to listen to peoples stories and help them out. I think that is kind of cool.

However, this doesn't just apply to customers. After a week of being the only male at my training branch it finally happened. Today, out of nowhere I found myself in the middle of a conversation that I did not want to hear. To sum it up, it was two ladies telling me about how they explained puberty, hormones, and things that 13 year old boys learn to do. It didn't know if I should laugh or just be disgusted. I opted to smile and laugh.

Jen has had a pretty rough week. The people at Walgreens basically told her she could work at their location in the ghetto or not work at all. This stinks because they only have about 60 locations in Birmingham, but for some reason they want Jen at this one because she is experienced. She also found out that she has to pull an all nighter at work next Monday. Also, she found out she has some conflicts on weekends that we had planned to do stuff.

Being in Birmingham alone has been pretty boring, but I have actually done some productive stuff. I did the laundry, cleaned all the dishes, and have cleaned this week. I'm not saying I like doing this stuff but at least I can function as an adult when necessary.

It's back to Knoxville this weekend for Mother's Day. I'm going to squeeze in a trip to the japanese restaraunt and a hair cut while I'm in town.

Mexico: I've never really been, but I'd sure like to go

I hope everyone is celebrating cinco de mayo today. What better excuse to go eat mexican food and have a good time than the 5th of May. It also happens to be my mom's birthday, who is currently vacationing in San Francisco with my dad. I do miss the days of being taken on a free vacation with my parents.

Over the weekend I made the trek to Knoxville to hang out with Jen and my parents pre-vacation. Saturday we ran some errands and went to Calhouns for mom's birthday. It was just as good as I remember it being. My mom is a bit of a procrastinator so me and Jen spent the rest of the evening running errands with her so she could get ready for her trip. We made it to Wal-Mart at about 10pm. The Wal-Mart near my hometown must have had the world's largest collection of ugly people in one night at that Wal-Mart. There were mullets galore and people that must only leave the house at night. You got to feel sorry for people that get beat with the ugly stick.

Sunday Jen and I headed up to the outlets in Pigeon Forge. I picked up some dress clothes for the new job and some other odds and ends.

Jen and I got some good news and bad news today.

Good News: My aunt and uncle are staying at a friend of theirs condo on Pensacola Beach for Memorial Day weekend and they want us to come down and stay with them. This basically translates in to a free beach trip for Jen and I. Definitely excited about that.

Bad News: Jen got an email saying that she is supposed to work at one of the most ghetto Wal-Greens. It's in a really bad area of town, where I was told is not a good place to be. Hopefully she can get it changed before her first day.

I've got more stuff to write about but I've pretty much exhausted this posting. More updates this week.

Up in Smoke

Wednesday on my lunch break I got a text from Kendall asking if I was okay because he heard my apartment was on fire. I told him I was fine but had not clue what he was talking about. About 10 minutes later, Laura from my old job called to make sure I was okay. It was about at this point I started to panic.

I kept hearing phrases like 60ft flames above highway 280, and that there were multiple fire units on the seen. Not stuff that makes you feel at ease while you are at Wal-Mart on your lunch break.

I called my apartment complex only to find out the fire was in the building above mine. At first they told me my building was only safe "for the time being." This concerned me and I continued to call until I was assured, building 5 was alright. My neighbor eventually called and let me know that her mom had gone to our building and everyone was safe.

This is probably one of the worse scares we have had. There are a lot of people left with nothing at all. Two of the people are in Jen's class, and they have lost everything. What if it had been our building? What about our stuff, and the cat? Yes, I'd even be worried about the cat.

Kendall kept me abreast of what the news was saying, and being the true friend he is offered to strap up and come down here to rescue Emma (the cat). There are three things in the world Kendall doesn't like, and cats are one of them. However, he was going to rescue ours.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people with no stuff and no place to live. I feel bad for these people and can't imagine what they must be feeling. I hope over the coming days/weeks we will be able to help them out. Either with food, or household items, or clothing. They will definitely remain in my thoughts and prayers.