...Milk Was a Bad Choice

Since coming back from my mini-vacation in Mississippi, life has been pretty calm. It has recently gotten so insanely hot down here that it feels like I’m living in an oven. Everybody at work sweats through their shirts by 10 in the morning because of the heat. The heat index definitely gets into the triple digits by the early afternoon. The heat makes the days and week at work go by slowly because it consumes me. There’s never a minute I’m not drenched in sweat. It’s kind of insane and I don’t know how I’m going to survive another month and a half in this heat. On the weekends, I’ve been trying to stay inside because I’m outside all week and don’t feel like dealing with the heat. If you don’t believe me in how hot it is, I implore you to come check it out for yourself. It’s miserable.

At work, I am done with my Construction Manager Assistant rotation and am back working on houses. This past Monday, I had one of the most physically intense days of work up to this point. We just hired a new handyman named Bart. He and I worked in this room in which the sub-flooring had been ripped up and just the framed walls and floor joists remained. Our job was to use to jacks to lift up part of the house and replace the floor sills that were sitting on the foundation, as well as to replace piers that were not sturdy. We were digging, moving heavy pieces of lumber, mixing concrete and mortar, and jumping over the floor joists in order to move around the room. Between the heat and all of the physical labor, I was hurting by the end of the day. But we accomplished a lot and I learned a great deal working with Bart (whose voice sounds eerily similar to Tim McCarver the baseball announcer). Other than that, work has been pretty same old, same old. I’m at the point with work where I’m kind of winding down with it. I’ve enjoyed all of the construction and everything that I’ve learned, but am definitely ready to take a break from doing the work. I haven’t had a real vacation in a long time (since before I joined AmeriCorps) and I’m very burnt out on working right now. I haven’t had a week off to just relax in a long time. So I’m trying to take everything in these last few weeks but I am looking forward to getting a break.

Last Thursday, Pat and I went to see The Hangover which was absolutely hilarious. I wasn’t sure if I would like it or not but it turned out to be pretty hilarious. I definitely recommend it, despite the reviews from our favorite reviewer at Metromix. On Friday, I worked a fundraiser for the Preservation Resource Center (which Rebuilding Together is a program of) called “Ladies in Red.” It was a pretty formal event in which people paid a lot of money to get in. I had to work the food for the last hour of the party and was able to eat and drink for free before that. This event was similar to the Julia Jump which I wrote about in a posting in April. The event was a lot of fun and just something different to do. This past Friday night, I went to an amateur boxing event at my friend’s gym. There were three fights and kegs of beer for $15. The fights were just okay but the whole thing was very entertaining and I’m glad I went. However, there weren’t any knockdowns which kind of sucked. I think I’m ready to go an MMA event whenever I can. Other than that, I’ve gone to a few parties at friends’ houses over the past couple of weeks.

Summer is pretty relaxed here and there isn’t that much going on because of the heat. Being outside all week really takes its toll on me and I’ve been pretty tired on the weekend. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to be doing once I leave New Orleans which has been a little bit frustrating and stressing me out. So I’m trying to take a step back and not think about it as much because I’m sure everything will work.

Hope everything is going well with everyone. Sorry this is a short post but I really don’t have much to report. The last two weeks have been pretty uneventful. So this is all I’ve got. Talk to y’all later.

P.S. Happy Father’s Day Dad. I love you Dad (in Will Ferrell’s Old School voice).