Happy Holidays!

It was in the 80's today, the first day of winter, in southern California. People flocked to the beaches to witness the biggest surf in over 20 years. Waves as big as 20 feet high. And the rose pictured above is currently blooming in the back yard of my former residence. It just doesn't feel like Christmas here.

I moved into my temporary housing this last week. My roommates who owned the house I'd been living in sold it a couple weeks ago. I'm currently staying at a friend's condo until some co-workers and I can find a house or apartment of our own to rent. So far I've had to break into both of the places I've resided in California. One night this past summer I rode home on my bike fairly late only to discover I'd left my keys inside and I was locked out of the house. After ringing the doorbell for ten minutes to no avail I popped the screen off the window to the den and snuck in. The task was made more complicated by me having to move slowly enough not to activate the motion-sensor flood lights which would've exposed me to everyone in the neighborhood. Also knowing my roommate kept a loaded 9mm by his bedside also made me a bit nervous. The second break-in occured the night I moved into my current domicile. Due to a faulty latch on the front door I found myself on the wrong side of a locked door once again. After failing to jimmy the latch with my AAA card I opted to scaling the building to get onto the back balcony where there was an open door. I found a ladder to the roof that I scaled, navigated the loose, clay-tile shingles and jumped 9 feet to the balcony. I really wasn't sure how I was going to explain myself had a security guard caught me.

I'll be back in Nebraska for Christmas and New Year's. I hope to get to see everyone. I won't be taking my computer, so I'm not expecting to have any new posts until 2006. See you all next year!