I'm legal!

So, nothing really blogworthy has been going on here, until this morning...

I took my Washington State Property & Casualty Insurance Agent Licensing Exam, and I passed all four sections on the first try! Woohoo! Apparently, the pass rate is only 60%, which includes people taking it the second and third time. So I was pretty pleased :) A lot of the people at work had to take it over again when they were getting licensed, so I kind of felt a little awkward about it, but whatev! So now I'm legal when I do my job. Always a good thing.

I missed work all last week to attend the required licensing school. I learned a hell of a lot of stuff that I will never use at work, mainly because we insure big, weird, and risky commercial stuff that can't be insured with authorized insurer's in Washington's normal market, so the rules don't really apply to us too much. I did learn all about car and homeowner's/renter's insurance, so if any of you ever need advice on what to buy, I can totally help you out :) Just send me a copy of your policies or quotes and I can make recommendations on what coverages you need or don't need and tell you what everything means. Hey, this insurance stuff is practical!

In other news, I'll be visiting Houston April 19 - 23. Thursday night will be Chuy's! Saturday night will be Flying Saucer and Volcano! Thursday and Friday day will be spent around Rice visiting people and going to see Kat & Matt's house that they bought. Their wedding is on Saturday. I also plan on taking Dave & Miguel to downtown Spec's because they both just turned 21! Also, I need to buy Everclear and foreign wines that I can smuggle back into this liquor-regulated state. I miss real liquor stores. I also NEED to hit up Goode Co BBQ, Barnaby's, and I was thinking China Bear too? Maybe Pei Wei? I miss americanized Asian food... everything here is too authentic for me. And maybe Chuy's a 2nd time because I miss it so much? And obviously House of Pie and TC for late night runs. What other restaurants am I missing? The current plan is to stay with Dave at Sid on Wednesday and Thursday nights, then at Miguel's apartment on Friday, and with J&A on Saturday. I'm super excited about seeing everyone again! Eric and Charles: you should totally come down for the weekend- at least for Saturday night when we're out drinking! Jiin-Yu- I look forward to seeing you & Austin too!

Ok, I've planned this out way too much. I'm gonna go take a breather and drink some more champagne. Woohoo!

-Phill

long overdue

I can't gripe too much about nobody posting if I don't post myself. Especially when I have kind of a lot to share. I'll try to be brief.

I have a job with an independent minor league baseball team in Alexandria, Louisiana. Once the season starts (May 16), I will be sharing broadcast duties on home games and doing road games by myself. I'm making more money for a longer period of time than I did last year, but the situation still doesn't feel all that permanent. I'm responsible for a lot of the content on our still in-progress web site.

I got an apartment here, though, and after much worrying and some haggling and one of the most frustrating, longest weeks of my life, I live in a one-bedroom furnished with very little except boxes, an air mattress, my computer, and my new TV. I work roughly 8:30-5, which feels really, really long to me, but I shouldn't complain too much. I get along okay with the guys at work, who are all at least several years older than me, but I don't think we'll be lifelong buddies.

So I work in baseball, which is awesome, and I have my own place, which is a blast. Come Thursday I should be in control of my own cable TV, which we all know is crucial for enjoyment of the World Cup in June and July. The thing I'm happiest about, as most of you know by now, is that I'm in driving range of Houston and will make my first road trip there this weekend to see Risa and my various assortment of other H-town friends.

I also recently engaged in an Eric-like pursuit by buying two "season" tickets with the Houston Dynamo, the new soccer team. It's just a five-game mini-plan to set games that I will exchange for games before and after my baseball season, but I'm psyched to support soccer in Houston and call myself a "season-ticket holder." I plan to adopt the Dynamo as my new favorite MLS team now that the MetroStars (the N.J. team I worked for in 2002) are known as Red Bull New York. But I'll probably still root for any team that plays in Jersey out of loyalty.

I could go on, but most of you have already stopped reading. There are some pictures in my online gallery if you're interested, and I'll try to post about how things are going before my season starts. Hope everybody's doing well, and I'm psyched to see people at Beer-Bike!