Well, we got some good news yesterday. The other insurance company looked at the Saturn and is cutting us a check for the repairs – to the tune of $4,000+ dollars. Honestly, I’m not sure what they’re using as a value, but I would think that’s pushing the “let’s just total it” amount. I’m sure not going to complain, though! We’re going to have it towed over to the body shop today, get them a copy of the estimate (get a copy o the estimate ourselves, as well!) and see what we can do to get this show on the road.

Been a busy couple of days. The classes I’m taking now are interesting – a lot of information on food sanitation in food processing plants, standard operating procedures, and the like. I may or may not ever actually put this stuff to good use, but it’s useful and good to know regardless. Lots of reading involved in the these courses so far, though; the web is a wonderful thing, but the drawback is that it makes it easier to lose track of the scale of the readings. One of the classes had about 300 pages of “required reading” for the first assignment, most of it federal regulations. Gah!

This afternoon I have an appointment with a couple of professors in the NC State Food Sciences department to discuss the possibility of doing some work for them. It would pay about half of what I used to make, but at this point any income is good income. The only question is if we can set it up on a month-to-month basis, something that the NC State employment system doesn’t deal with too well. We’ll see how this works out.

So, the plan right now is that on Sunday morning I’m going to hop in the car at ohmygod O’clock and hit the road for Chicago. This should get me to rustitobuck‘s around 7-ish, probably. We’re going to get a few folks together on Monday to hang out, maybe see a bit of the town, and just enjoy the company (interested in joining us? Let me know!). Hazy plans for the week include driving out to Schaumburg with Barbarian and Chouette to scout new restaurants for the MFF Restaurant Guide, and making a trip to Boystown with Partran. Oh, and of course, dinner and a play on Friday night. I’m a bit concerned – I have all of seven RSVP’s so far, and the minimum number for Giordano’s is thirty. I expect things will pick up next week when I re-post the announcement, though – right now everyone’s focusing on Labor Day activities or Mephit Furmeet.

Speaking of MFM, I admit I have this ridiculous urge to jump in the car a couple of days early and make a 9-hour detour to Memphis. Of course, the lack of a hotel room and the additional gas and dining costs make this a Bad Idea, but hey, it would be fun.