Day 2

Well I must feel comfortable with this job because it took me only one day to lose that jittery adrenaline-charged sense that keeps a person from oversleeping and causes them to show up to work 20 minutes early. Or perhaps it was the 27 degree temperature when I left this morning (which somehow felt warmer because it was not accompanied by a steady drizzle of rain). At any rate, things are seeming far more "business as usual" than "a drastic departure from anything and everything familiar."

Driving here is pretty crazy. On the main arterial that goes through town the speed limit is 50. On the freeways the signs say 65, but from what I gather that's the suggested minimal speed limit for great-grandmothers on their Sunday afternoon drives. I can deal with that. And hopefully my out of state license plate will help me play dumb should an authority figure bring a different interpretation of the speed limit to my attention.

In addition the freeway on ramps are a bit different than in the Northwest. They just sort of amble out of roads that parallel the freeway and if that road happens to be a two-lane road the person going the direction of the freeway just bombs across the traffic and into the on-ramp. If you're going the opposite way you're expected to yield for them. I suspect turn signals are fairly important in Texas...

I'm not sure if it's a week of prayer this week or if the conference office has a staff worship every morning. That's one thing I really appreciate about working in an Adventist institution. Even if it's just one day a week it's nice to take that moment to refocus our purpose and invite God to be the center of what we are doing.

Also of note, despite oversleeping this morning I made one of my very best mocha's ever. It was cold and a little weak, but I didn't burn the espresso shot and I had just the right ratio of chocolate. This gives me hope that I can import some Pacific Northwest class and sophistication to the new frontier. And no matter how early I have to go to bed, I'm determined to give myself enough time to eat a solid breakfast every morning. It helps when you put the water on the stove the night before and leave the oatmeal out on the counter. That way cooking the food only takes a little longer than cleaning it all up would.