Do you guys remember me talking about the family friend who was in prison for killing his best friend? It was a whole mess of a situation, where the friend had the gun, and was apparently depressed, and who knows what really happened. Anyway, the manslaughter conviction got turned over on appeal! There was still a gun charge, but apparently the time he's already served will cover that.

Possibly the most incredible thing about the whole situation is that the friend's family started going to my parents' church, and they are all really close now.

Also, creepily, I woke up around 7 after dreaming that I woke up at my parents' house to find them both crying on the sofa, but I woke up in real life before I found out why they were crying. It was reassuring to see the email from my father about Andrew was sent at about 7:15.

I still want to call my grandmother to make sure she's not dead!

Eeeee, Jesse! That's so sad.

Today is going to be much more productive than yesterday, I'm not letting headache get me down, damn it. :: stiffens upper lip, girds loins ::

I'm definitely feeling off-kilter this morning.

You know, all my Law & Order watching makes me forget just how slowly the justice system actually moves -- the shooting was in 2002, Andrew was convicted in 2005, and the Appeals Court just ruled. That's a damn long time. [link]

We are up and have had waffles and mac has had a few episodes of Justice League. Now it is time for shower and then we will be off to the city to meet up with his uncle. They will be off to ride the Staten Island Ferry and explore downtown, and I will go to see fictional boyfriend, Jason Bourne.

Man, I love the Staten Island Ferry.

Yay, uncles!

It's just cool enough out for shoes and a sweater, but warm enough to sit out on the patio with my laptop and a bagel.

I'm dressed and coffee-filled and have the workshop schedule all printed out. I'm going to have to cheat and have a friend sign me off on a class I didn't take so I can get out of there in time to give Hec a decent chunk of writing time, but by gum I am GOING TO WORKSHOPS.

Long, long, long drive down to Gilroy awaits.

I was gonna say, you're sure up early! Now I know why -- enjoy!

I found out this week that I may well qualify for a special Unemployment extension if I'm enrolled in certain year-long programming training classes, which would be financially tight, but actually very useful to do. So tomorrow I'm going to go talk to a state unemployment counselor and find out if I do qualify, because, DAMN that would be great.

I think I might go buy a new TV today, and I realized part of what's so weird to me about that -- I've never bought a TV! When I graduated from college, I got an ancient one from my family, and then the current one is my Jeopardy consolation prize! I guess getting 12 years out of a free TV isn't so bad.