I had a second interview at Feature Story News, a company who makes news stories for 24 hour news stations around the world. The interview went well and the boss said that it was "extremely likely" that I would receive a job offer next week! Originally I thought that I would be doing half of my friend Aaron's job. He was the one who set me up with the interview. He often works 12 hour days, so they wanted someone to take over half of his responsibilities. Instead, they just got a contract to do the online videos for The Economist magazine; I would be in charge of these videos.

I was in the kitchen a minute ago and saw a strange looking spider on the floor. It looked like a wolf spider, but the back end was much bigger. I thought to myself, what a strange looking spider; I should kill it.

So, I took a napkin and slapped it down on top of the spider. It was like hitting a pinata, but instead of being filled with candy, it was filled with baby spiders. There must have been hundreds of them! The still-born spiders were writhing on the ground for a minute, before I finished them off.

I have not heard back from the Middle East Broadcasting Network about the job yet, but I have gone on a few more interviews. Yesterday was a particularly strange one...

The job was shooting school yearbook portraits and the like. At first the interview was fairly normal, just me and three managers. After the usual barrage of questions, they drew an overhead diagram of a photo-studio and asked me to draw how I would set up various "looks". Then it got weird. During a short break in the interview, they asked me to sing children's songs. I thought they were kidding, but it soon became clear that they weren't. I sang "row, row, row your boat", but messed up the lyrics. They corrected me and I sang it again. Then it was picture time. The three managers lined up in front of a studio background and acted like elementary school children, while I tried to pose and photograph them. One made a huge fake smile, one sat backwards from the camera and one only smiled for a brief instant at a time. Then it was my turn to be photographed. Needless to say, I was too embarrassed to act like a child.

I got a second interview with the Middle East Broadcasting Network. This time I met with the head of the department and the head of the Media Library (where I want to work). It went well, so hopefully I will get some good news.

I also interviewed with a broadcast news company who works independently with major news channels around the world. My friend Aaron, who I've known since college, got me the interview. He has been working there for a couple years, but he there all day and night, so they want to split his job in two.

The apartment search is not going very well. Everything is so expensive in DC! We might end up in another basement apartment.

I met with my academic adviser at UMD. She gave me some great news - I can take two classes at once (because each class leads into the next) and I will get in-state tuition regardless of where I live.

I had a job interview this afternoon at the Middle East Broadcasting Network. The guy I was meeting said that the network was located on Boston Ave. When I looked up the street name on Google Maps, it gave me the location of Boston Avenue in Silver Springs, Maryland. So I followed the directions, but could not find the building. When I called, he informed me that it was in Springfield, Virginia (only 15 minutes from where I started). Emily mapped out my arduous journey back to Virginia. I finally showed up for the interview one and a half hours late.

Grant stopped by DC on his way to (a location which will remain nameless). It was nice to get a chance to see him again after so many months. He got us tickets to the Nationals game. I was shocked how many people showed up on a Thursday afternoon!

Afterward, we stopped by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, because I wanted to see SpaceShipOne. When Burt Rutan's team (who built SpaceShipOne) were launching their two sub-orbital flights, I was glued to the TV. It was amazing to see the ship in person. Grant enjoyed seeing the Spirit of St. Louis, because he is from St. Louis and has seen the replica a million times at the airport.

My parents came in for the weekend. Originally they were just planning on coming for my dad's 30th dental school reunion, but they were excited to find out that we would be back a week before they arrived.

Yesterday, Emily and I went on the tour of the new University of Maryland dental school with my dad. I was fascinated by how technologically advanced it has become. Even the dental chairs had computers in them (no joke).

Today Emily, Lindsey and I went to Grandma Mitzi's house for brunch. She is a fantastic cook all around, but her brisket is exquisit. I ate at least three or four servings.