I can’t believe tomorrow is the first day of August! This summer has flown by. But this week has been the longest ever. Early last Saturday Michelle’s uncle shot his wife in her sleep, and then shot himself. There was no obvious reason. I was the one who had to tell Michelle what happened, which was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. The funeral was yesterday morning, and we spent the rest of the day trying to sort through all of their belongings before the bank closes the house down. Needless to say, it’s been a rough week. Please pray for the Kelleys.
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I’m finally getting to sit down. Saturdays are usually our slow days, hence my updating every Saturday, but today has been very busy.
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I’m kind of nervous about moving out. I know I’ll do fine and be ok, but I’m nervous all the same.

I saw “Terminal” the other day. It was such a great movie; I’m so glad that I saw it. Lately I’ve seen a bunch of bad movies, but this one was great. I highly recommend it to everyone.
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I’ve been so extremely tired lately. I lay in bed trying to go to sleep but to no avail. I’ve tried many different methods to fall asleep, but nothing is working. I may need to take an extra week off before I move to Atlanta so that I can relax and fix my sleep schedule. If anyone has some method of getting to sleep besides reading, counting sheep, warm milk, or meds let me know on my tagboard.
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Chris, haven’t heard from you in a while, I hope everything is ok.
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My boss bought the CD “Twentysomething” by Jamie Cullum. It’s quite possibly the best album (other than anything by Angie Aparo, plus they’re different genres) that I have ever heard. Click somewhere in this paragraph to go to his website.
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The annual Georgia Mountain Fair began today in Hiawassee. For some reason it’s always a really big deal. So many people are in town for it that we have to have state troopers come direct traffic the whole time. There’s a midway with rides and games, and an arts and crafts type area where local artists show off and sell their stuff. All of these people being in town is great for business, but terrible if you want to make a left turn. I’ve been home the long way just because it would take me longer to try to turn left out of the coffee shop. It’s almost impossible to turn left in Hiawassee. And with only two stop lights in the city limits – neither of which have left turn signals – there’s no hope. Today traffic was backed up for about a mile or more at one of the lights. I’d rather deal with Atlanta traffic.

I’m glad that I get to start closing in a couple of minutes. Today wasn’t the break that it normally is, but that’s OK because we can always use the business. Our ice maker doesn’t keep up with us so we always have to buy a couple bags of ice to use. When I ran out of ice I went to the freezer to get some, but there was nothing there. After everyone left I put a “Be back in five minutes” sign on the door, locked up, and left. Right when I got back someone pulled up and got an iced coffee.
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I have finally set a date for moving to Atlanta. The entire family, yes all of them, will be home on the 14th and 15th of August, and I’ll be moving on the 16th. That way I can take the placement test, register, and become acquainted with the campus during the week before classes start.

I really like this version of amipow.com. I hope that it looks ok on everybody’s computers. Does it take long for it to load for anybody? It probably does for those of you on dial up. I’ll keep working on everything, and soon I’ll have a pictures page. It’ll have new pictures though, so you won’t have to look at the old ones.
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My finger is finally healing where I cut it on the knuckle, but I doubt it will ever look the same again. I’ll have to make up a better story to tell about it though. The true story isn’t exciting enough. I’ve cut myself a lot this week. I’ll try to be more careful.
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I found this little write up in a paper called The Black Bear. I’m not sure who it’s supposed to be making fun of, Northerners or Southerners.

Bluenecks are Northerners… the Opposite of Rednecks.
You might be a blueneck if…

• You would never stop and buy something somebody was cooking on the side of the road. (e.g. boiled peanuts)
• For breakfast, you would prefer potatoes-au-gratin to grits.
• You don’t know what a moon pie is.
• You’ve never had an RC Cola, but you know what Moxie is.
• You’ve never, ever eaten okra — fried, boiled, or pickled.
• You’ve never seen a live chicken, and the only cows you’ve seen are on road trips.
• You have no idea what a polecat is.
• You don’t see anything wrong with putting a sweater on your dog.
• You don’t have bangs.
• You would rather vacation at Martha’s Vineyard than at Six Flags.
• You would rather have your son become a lawyer than grow up to get his own TV fishing show.
• You drink either “pop” or “soda” instead of “cokes.”
• You’ve never eaten and don’t know how to make a tomato sandwich.
• You have never planned your summer vacation around a gun-n-knife show.
• You think more money should go to important scientific research at your university than to pay the salary of the head football coach.
• You don’t even have one can of WD-40 around the house.
• The last time you smiled was when you blocked someone from getting on an on-ramp to the freeway.
• You don’t have any hats in your closet that advertise feed stores.
• You have more than one professional sports team in your home state.
• The farthest south you’ve ever been is the perfume counter at Neiman Marcus.
• You call binoculars opera glasses.
• You can’t spit out of the car window without pulling over to the side of the road and stopping.
• You don’t know anyone with at least two first names (i.e., Joe Bob, Faye Ellen, Billy Bob, Billy Ray, Mary Jo, Bubba Dean, Joe Dan, Mary Alice)
• You don’t have Maw-maws and Paw-paws.
• You get freaked out when people on the subway talk to you.
• You have no idea who the Allison’s or Petty’s are.
• None of your fur coats are homemade