i decided to take it... the in-law, i mean. it's the best place i've seen and the best deal for what i'm getting, so i just need to suck it up and pay for the damn thing. i sign a lease on sunday, to start on april 1. at least that gives me more time to move, right? and maybe i won't need to rent a truck or anything, i can just cart things over in my car in bits and pieces (except for my mattress, which will be difficult to transport unless it's on top of my car or something. hmm). *sigh* moving is such a pain... i should just try to get rid of as much stuff as i can so i don't have to worry about moving it. i can do that with clothes, and maybe my old bed, but my other stuff pretty much should come with me. oh well.

airlines suck. most airlines have been instituting a new policy which allows you to change your flight without any fees (except the fare difference). this is due to the mounting paranoia about flying during the war, of course. anyway, so i was thinking i might extend my stay in atlanta a day or two more, since i found out recently that i have more vacation time than i thought (20 days accrued in my second year, plus carryover from last year that i didn't use!). apparently, the fee waiver only works if you're postponing your entire flight due to paranoia, as opposed to just modifying your flight, say, to extend the return flight date. bummer. there's no fare difference as long as the same class of ticket is available on the new return flight, but i'd still have to pay the flight change fee (which is $100-130). *sigh* oh well. i wish i'd thought to figure out my vacation time before the flight was made. i guess i'll just have to hope that things go well and start looking forward to the next trip.

any ideas for reasonably priced summer vacations? i'm trying to get some ideas for possible trips. there are a ton of places i've never been, or haven't been in 15+ years, so there are lots of options. i'll probably try to stay in-country because it would be cheaper (so much for my europe trip, the in-law expense blew that out of the water)... thinking san antonio, or nyc, or boston, or new orleans... this is assuming, of course, that i have the money to play. i'm hoping for a raise soon but i really shouldn't hold my breath on that one.

in other news, i think my column submission may be getting published! i submitted a column a few months back for an online environmental magazine called frontiers in ecology and the environment, and i hadn't heard back so i assumed that it had been rejected. anyway, i got an email the other day from my contact there, and he said that it was going to be published! he didn't give me an issue date, but at least that's a cool thing. it's a paid-subscription website, so i doubt any of you will actually be able to to view it, but at least that's a cool thing.