This is the first week of my new job. For those of you who don't know, I accepted a job with Audiovox. I left because the salary was about $20k more, not because it seemed better than teaching at Full Sail. Come to think of it, there isn't much that is better than teaching at Full Sail. I had class 3 days a week, every other month. Sure there was random other stuff to do throughout the time off, but it certainly wasn't like a regular 9-5 job. On top of the nice hours, I had access to every type of film gear you could imagine. For example, I was in charge of a $300,000+ package of HD cameras (the Sony Cinealta F-900, if you must know).

At Audiovox I will be part of the team that designs and makes the car audio gear, including the new multimedia head units (motorized touch screen video displays, etc).

In other news, the wedding plans seem to be coming together nicely thanks to Emily's sister Rebecca. Seriously, without her we probably wouldn't have a wedding at all. Her and Emily have been planning the whole thing and it seems to be coming together nicely. I can't wait!

John Quincy ADAMS on U.S. foreign policy:

"[America] goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom."

-- John Quincy Adams, Speech before the House of Representatives, July 4, 1821; quoted in William Bonner and Pierre Lemieux (Editors), The Idea of America (Les Belles Lettres, 2003), p. 237.

I had a bad car day yesterday. First, when I was driving to work, I stopped to get gas. After pumping my gas, the car wouldn't start. The battery terminal looked terribly corroded, so I poured Coke on it. No help. Someone at the gas station had to give me a jump start. When I got the car going, I noticed that the a/c no longer got cold. Of course the heat still worked, but that doesn't help in Florida.

Last night I went to the bar with Grant. We went to Steak n' Shake afterward, and when we were leaving he asked me what happened to my rear bumper. Sure enough, the corner of my bumper was dented in. No note, of course.

Emily and I have some exciting news! We are going to get married on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The ceremony and party will take place at the Doshier Gardens in Virginia. Rebbecca, Emily's sister, is planning the wedding. Hope to see all of you there...

I'm glad to see that USAA has good account security. Today I tried to log-on to Emily's USAA account to check her statement balance (I pay all of our bills using online billpay). For some reason her account was locked. So, I called them and spoke in a butch dyke voice, pretending to be her. The guy was skeptical; he kept putting me on hold, then coming back and asking security questions (may of which I either didn't know or got wrong). Then he called me "Sir" by accident and again questioned my identity when I didn't correct him. I assured him that I was in fact Emily. He ended up helping me log onto her account and calling me "Mam" for the rest of the conversation.