The drive up here to Tallahassee on Sunday was fairly uneventful, save for driving in the outer rain bands of Hurricane Katrina which, much to my surprise and delight, were substantially weaker than I expected. The rain was light, but steady and some wind gusts knocked my car around a bit. Overall, I think everyone here in Florida is very lucky, unfortunately at the expense of Mississippi.

I am all settled in here at Claire and Ashleigh's house where I have a nice guest room to myself, my computer and most of my clothing. As an added bonus, I have been enjoying their fifty-five inch widescreen rear-projection television with high definition. INHD and INHD2 are officially my two new favourite channels, even when the show is not of particular interest.

My new job with the government (herein and thereafter referred to as "The Agency") is going well, so far. I have already started to acclimate to the new environment, policies and procedures while at the same time learning some new things and hopefully proving to be a valuable asset to the organization.

Since giving it a try when it first became available last week, I have fallen in love with the simplicity and power of Google Talk, the new instant message and voice chat client. While not yet available for non-Windows platforms, this thin and resource light tool is great for standard instant messaging plus offers a wonderfully crystal-clear live voice feature. The pure digital quality of the transmission is quite spectacular. My overall fondness for this new application and my ongoing displeasure about the way Trillian runs on my older system has brought the decision that I will use Google Talk primarily. It requires a Google Mail ("gMail") account to use, so if you do not already have one and would like to chat with me, let me know and I will send you the invite to Google Mail and to Google Talk. If you already have Google Talk and would like to chat, my address is — surprise, surprise — mountsutro@gmail.com

And last but most certainly not least, my new Post Office Box is active. Feel free to send me mail, though remember that if you need to ship something using a non-USPS service, DHL is the only organization that will deliver to USPS boxes.

David July
Post Office Box 268
Tallahassee, Florida 32302-0268