Saturday morning, or Day 45.

Until I thought about the title above I hadn't really considered how long I've been here. It's a bit over six weeks now, which means that I should be about halfway through my first rotation.

This place still continues to fascinate me. There's a strange sense of familiarity to it, and it's not the Wendy's drive-thru in front of the OfficeMax that does it. It's more like a rewind to 2003: new job, meeting people in a similar point in their lives in a young professional's setting, Irish pub, Texas bar, etc. I feel a lot more comfortable with it this time around, though. Been there, done that.

On the surface, the comfort level should be somewhat obvious: I have a better job (though the one I had back then was probably the most fun I've ever had as an engineer), more experience, and a general sense of what I can reasonably accomplish. However, that doesn't consider the changes on the horizon: new city, new job (I'm at least 95% sure of that part), lovely spouse in school.

I have no idea why I'm good with this. For one, I know that this is the natural course for my lovely spouse career-wise, and I'd frankly fry Krispy Kremes for four years to make that happen. I can't say I'm particularly enamored with our current "home base" right now, either (though this place makes for a very nice break from that). With all that being said, I'm admittedly not someone who typically deals with big changes very well, at least not in the short term. We'll see.

In the interim, more fun island notes:

• We have somewhat of a feral poultry issue, except that they're used to being around people. For example, the roosters at the gas station are very service-oriented - I think one of them checked my tire pressure yesterday. Similarly: roadside goats and horses.
• I have a receipt from a repair man breaking down his plumbing efforts as follows: "time and labor." It's refreshing that he's honest enough to distinguish between the two.
• Roadside notary public set up in a 6' x 6' storage barn from a hardware store? Check.
• Roadside chicken stand that makes the best rotisserie I've ever had? Indeed. Complete with floor show including construction workers drinking tiny bottles of white zinfandel and people drunk enough to give each other impromptu lap dances? Count it. All of this at 11:30 am? You're damn right, and you will have a side of casava with that.