I'm writing from sunny Loma Linda, CA (well, it was sunny and warm today - lets not mention the previous few days!)
My dad and grandma have been spoiling me with way too much food ever since I've arrived and neither one of them will let me pay for anything!
I really hope I still can fit in my clothes by the time I head back to Dallas! 
Friday we hit the after-Christmas sales and got some good deals on clothes and a few other items.
My mom and stepdad gave me a digital camera/camcorder which can also be used for a webcam. I was in shock! It didn't come with a memory card, so my stepdad loaned me a 2gb card so I could take pictures and video. I've been having fun with it. Today I found a 4gb card for $15 at Circuit City, so I'll be able to give him his card back.
When I get home I'm going to transfer all my pictures and videos, and maybe share a few.
If you've ever played the "I Love Lucy" board game --- we (dad, grandma and I) took videos of everyone who got an "Ai Yi Yi!" card. It was fun.
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We visited the local gym today (finally).
I was dissapointed because the inside track I was looking forward to using is closed for rennovations until Jan 5. 
I can purchase a "One-month" membership for $15 instead of daily guess passes. Although I'm not sure if I'll even be able to get there more than 3 times .. . we'll see.
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My dad took me by the library yesterday, and I checked out 6 books. I finished one last night a bit after mid-night.
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Tomorrow we are going to go visit President Nixon's Library. It should be interesting. We may go to President Regan's Library as well while I am here.
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I haven't heard anything back from the applications I put in yet. It probablly is due to the holidays.
My dad and grandma have this idea that maybe I could buy a mobile home in the local mobile home park here. They took me through it on Saturday and it does look like a nice place to live. It may be a way for me to get into a home of my own - even if it's not a "house" like I'd been thinking about.
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I'm not sure why, but my Asus laptop has a lot of trouble connecting to the city-wide WiFi here in Loma Linda. If I did come out here to live, I'm not sure I could be content with not having easy access and probably would be willing to pay for my own personal access.
But of course the whole thing of moving here to Loma Linda or not has one big obstacle (other than me being 100% sure this is the way to go) and that is me finding a job here.
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Yesterday my dad and I were doing some engineering work. We needed to cover the top of the back porch lattice roof with two tarps. The covers needed to go into the middle of it. My dad was talking about getting up on the roof and throwing the tarps out. I didn't want him getting on the roof, so I came up with the idea of tieing a rope through the holes on the ends of the tarp and throwing them across, then pulling the rope through, and the tarp across. It worked. Although in the end he still did have to get up on the roof to do the final straightening.
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Since Dec 24 I have spent:
$15 -- Checked one bag on flight
$1.50 - library fee (dad's - checked out a video - have to pay a rental fee at the library here)
$2 - 2 packs of Eclipse gum
Yep, that's all I've spent - and the checked bag money will probably be reimbursed to me - although I'm not going to say word one about it considering how much I'm being treated to already.
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One week till I have to go back to work.
Vacation update so far from CA
December 30th, 2008 at 03:48 am
December 30th, 2008 at 04:02 am 1230609733
December 30th, 2008 at 04:07 am 1230610033
December 30th, 2008 at 02:45 pm 1230648328
December 30th, 2008 at 03:42 pm 1230651731
December 30th, 2008 at 03:52 pm 1230652332
December 30th, 2008 at 06:48 pm 1230662908
Have fun!!
December 31st, 2008 at 01:31 am 1230687062