And the latest

It's soooo hooottttttt!!!!! OK, it's in the 80's, so I'm just being whiny.  I don't know what it is, but since I moved back to Washington (from Arizona), I have never really been able to get adjusted to hot temperatures again.  On the positive side, I tend to have a slightly higher tolerance for cold now, so there's that.  Ew, I'm becoming a Northwesterner.  I reck'n it's fitting, at least for the time being.  Anyway, it was in the 90's on Saturday when I was lifeguarding at the outdoor city pool in Reaney Park, and I was melting up in the guard stand.  It's nice when you're in the water, but not when you're sitting up in the guard stand for 40 minutes at a time getting devoured by the sun, without a single breeze in the entire Palouse.  Oh well, survival of the fittest - I'm still here.

Otherwise things are going wonderfully as a result of my return to Pullman.  I've yet to hear back about whether or not I got the Head Guard position (rather, one of three open positions, with five applicants).  I should've expected that Karen would be slow in processing that, so I am not really surprised or particularly worried about it.  The turnover at the pool has been interesting though.  The key is to work the politics and befriend nearly everyone, then you're golden.  At least, I think I'm friends with everyone.

I'm enjoying the house more each day as well.  I always go into a new place with severe reservations that shortly subside.  It's just a matter of getting used to a place and bringing your own personality to it.  Here are a couple of pictures I took the other day.  They are not extremely revealing, but you'll see just how pretty it is.

Here is my beautiful backyard and rather large deck.  This is the view out of the kitchen window.

Ignoring the trash in the corner there, here is my magnificent kitchen.  Granite counters, gets really great lighting, I love it.

I need to really be knuckling down on studying for my Chinese exam.  I've been focusing mainly on work.. and some other things.. But shout-out to Andrew, who is my new Chinese study buddy.  He is pretty fluent, so he'll be helping me more with going through the dialogues & correcting my tones.  It's been fun going around with him, because he has a knack for finding Chinese people in the community to speak with.  Naturally, they all adore him once they hear his Chinese.  Soon I'll be there, I'm sure of it.