Six days

Is it a law that if you are a native-Montanan that 85% of your jokes revolve around something called Blue-Collar Comedy? I can't tell you how many times I heard the phrase, "Git'er done" in the last two weeks. I didn't get it at first, but then the kind locals filled me in.

So I'm done in Virginia City, for now. My two weeks there, redneck comedy aside, were freakin' great. Virginia City, for those who don't know, is a place in the middle of nowhere where time has been frozen since 1863. It's a Wild West town, complete with historic structures and whores on every corner. The whores part isn't true, but where would the Wild West be without gross exaggeration? But seriously, Virginia City is awesome. Picture the Grand Canyon episode of the Brady Bunch when the old geezer traps the in the jail in the ghost town and Mike saves everyone with his awesome boot-rope trick and the old geezer repents and maybe I need to watch TV from my generation. Anyways, picture that ghost town but with people and tourism and the best candy store ever.

Anyways, I enjoyed Virginia City (I love the Bradys and Elvis; I'm clearly the Queen of Kitsch). Enough so that I'll be living there for another three weeks later this summer to do some consultant work. Which is saying a great deal, since I won't have much internet access and absolutely no cell service (unless I'm willing to drive 8 miles out of town. Which I will).

So now I'm on vacation-ish for the next few days. I put in my qualifier since I still have work and deadlines, but I'm doing them (a) outside of Pullman and (b) sitting in front of a big-screen TV. Oh, I'm at my dad's. He has 5 billion channels to go with his big-screen. And since I have no willpower, I had to leave his house this morning and do my work at the coffee house, lest I was tempted to watch the Scrubs marathon that I DVR'ed. DVR'd? Whatever.

I'll be heading home later this week after completing a few more research trips and going to a job interview somewhere else in Montana. I feel semi-guilty about not going home earlier, since my cat has been missing the whole two weeks I've been gone. She doesn't like it when I leave, and once she saw the luggage, she took off. I'd be more worried, but she did this last summer for 5 weeks or so and came back once I got back into town.

But rest assured, Pullman people, I will most likely be home on my birthday. Which is in less than a week. There will be a get-together, so keep Saturday night free. Maryanne will be letting everyone know the details, but I'll give an overview now: presents are welcome. They won't make me feel awkward at all, so load me up. For those having trouble shopping, I like cash. And if you can't make the party, or I chose not to invite you, presents are still accepted. Hop to.