Speaking of my favorite beverage, there's a live chat area at Over The Coffee. It's kind of surreal to be on a chat line that doesn't involve people asking for net.sex or blathering about the latest Seinfeld episode. It's fascinating to find out how many unlikely places grow coffee and produce such small quantities that there are Professional Bean Buyers who engage in nearly covert operations to purchase a few bags for private use. Also, people that take coffee really seriously are sometimes awfully belligerent about the best dark roast in the U.S., or whether real Kona is worth the price. No one thinks Jamaica Blue Mountain is worth the price, by the way. Check it out sometime.

The date of doom has come and gone. John and I agreed that if he had no job by July 1st I would go back to work full-time. Basically, he hasn't a chance of a fall semester university position by now, so he's looking for something in government or industry. I gave up on the temp jobs and have submitted my resume in a scattershot fashion to all the travel agencies within five miles. That's quite a few. There are almost 200 agencies in the county, most of them in Nashville. I'm kind of bummed out about having to go back to work, but I had a good six months off, and I'll really enjoy having some money of my own again as well as contributing to our upkeep. My favorite scenario is that I get a nice leisure agent job, John suddenly gets a good government job, and I get to use my income to buy all those delightful toys I want.

I would dearly love to have a laptop computer, primarily for long trips on planes. Reading on an airplane is often difficult for me as I get a sort of motion sickness from it, so I'm frequently bored, bored, bored. Also, I have faunched after a digital camera for months and months. I can't afford either the inexpensive or the good kind, so I may as well set my sights on the good kind. Of course, I'll have to work for a few months to afford it. An Olympus digital camera runs around $600. That's one month's rent. Sigh.

It's okay, though. If I'm working again I'll have tons of horrifying, funny travel agent stories to tell you all. I'm still dining off some of the things people said to me back in 1991 when I started in the business. Remind me to tell you about the guy who called me from Anguilla to complain that everyone was speaking French on tv, and the chap in St. Croix who called me to insist I ring room service for him as they weren't answering him. Yes, it's a funny job. I like being an agent. Cross your fingers for us to both get hired soon.

And although I never knew them, their movies made me very happy. Goodbye, Robert Mitchum and Jimmy Stewart. Rest in peace wherever you are.