February is ending!

February, aside from actually being the shortest month, has definitely felt like the shortest month. It seems like just yesterday I was seeing the end of January, and her it is, the day before March.

March is going to be great. Amanda is spending the first week of March here in VA with me, mom's birthday is in March and also, March means the begining of Spring!

I'm excited for the Spring. It's already pretty nice here in VA. Today it's about 50 degrees and should be this warm from here on out, I hope. It may dip down a little bit, but I'm hoping we're done with the snow and ice and freezing rain. We didn't get any sort of winter weather until late late January, early february. The weather here is worse than in MI in my opinion because when it does snow, it usually turns to rain soon after and then drops below freezing. Everytime there's a snow storm, everything turns to ice and it's very dangerous. The roads are slick, the cars are covered and it often causes delays. Anyway, all that is about to change!

I hope everyone is doing as well as I am, and stays healthy and happy!

Cheers! :)

JMB

Woooo, February!

Actually, February is almost over, but I thought I should write a new post.

Work is going well, I've become acclimated to the new office, and everything is fine. I'm able to work overtime now, which is a big boost. I can also work extra hours and bank them as leave. It couldn't have come at a better time. Amanda is coming to visit for a week next friday! I'm taking friday off and the whole next week, all with comp time that I earned by working extra hours. It's a wonderful feeling. I get a whole week off to spend with Amanda in the greater DC/VA area and I don't have to use any vacation time.

If I choose to work regular overtime, I get 1.5 times my pay as well, which is a really nice bonus. It's going to help pay for the wedding in a big way...unless of course I win the lottery, which is up to $177 million dollars right now. I don't play the lottery often, but when the jackpot is $177M and my chances of winning are 1/176 million, it makes it worth playing. Enough about that..

I'm so excited that amanda is coming. We're planning to see so much of DC, some museums, the zoo, art galleries, library of congress, monuments...so much more! We're even thinking about driving up to Gettysburg, PA for a day. It's not very far at all, only about 90 miles, so we could definitely make it a day, even a half day, trip.

With Amanda moving down here in May, it'll already be time to start looking for our next place to live. The lease we have for our apartment now only runs until december, and we have to give the leasing office a lot of notice, whether we'll be moving out at the end of our lease, or renewing it somehow. Real estate is so expensive here, so I don't doubt we'll just end up moving to another apartment for now. Eventually it'd be nice to move further away and buy a nice big house, but that's a few years down the line. The price really drops once you get about 50-100 miles away, but that's too far to commute daily. I guess time will tell.

Not much else is new. Living with Nick is great, we have a nice location and it's easy to get to and from work. Work is great, Amanda and I are great, and everything is going well. I don't have many complaints except that my lunch hour at work is about finished and I have to get back to work. So, until next time!

Stay warm!

John Matthew