Hello from the George C. Smathers Library. Because... we have no power. Yes, that's right, on day four. I called up GRU this morning and asked them where their guys would be working, and they told me, "Be prepared for a MINIMUM of seven days without power." Apparently Ivan has decimated Louisiana and Jeanne has moved on to the Carolinas, so all the truck crews who came over to help us with Frances and Ivan couldn't come this time. So we're bringing people in from California and Canada, yes Canada, but as you can imagine, that's a slow process. Bottom line: I'm reduced to using the campus computers for a while. Oh well, at least they're fast.

Although my computer is the number-one thing I miss, there are a lot of other inconveniences. It's not so bad during the day, but at night it's pitch black in that apartment because there are so few windows compared to in a house. We've been lighting candles and setting them (carefully) all over the place (like inside glasses and things) since that's pretty much the only way we can see. We're using Charlotte's bicycle lights for in the bathroom. Speaking of the bathroom, the fan doesn't run now either, so when you take a shower and dry off, you don't really get dried off - the moisture just settles right back down on your skin as if you hadn't done anything. Trying to wrestle a bra over my head was murder.

Not to mention all the food which is rotting in the refrigerator. I poured an entire gallon of milk into the sink today - nothing else to do with it. The apartment stinks, and I hope that by getting some of that food out of there, I'll have helped it. But this means that we can't really do any grocery shopping until the power comes back on - at least not for anything which involves cold or hot food - so we're reduced to SlimFast bars, NutriGrain bars, and eating out. Not a good situation for someone who STILL does not have her financial aid (although I actually was told today that it will probably be within the next two weeks).

Speaking of 'stinks' - my car decided that this would be a good time to start leaking. Actually, it had probably been doing that for a while, I realize now - but not to this degree. The floor on the passenger side of the car is SOAKED. No standing water, fortunately, but only just. Apparently there's a sunroof vent which runs all the way down the 'strut' on the front passenger side of the windshield, and that is apparently leaking. Charlotte got in the car yesterday and immediately said, "Whoa!" because her feet and purse were wet. So I went to the VW dealer here in Gainesville today, and what do you think I found? Three employees sitting around... in the dark. That's right: they had no power.

The mechanic was able to tell me what the problem probably was (which is how I knew the above), but they couldn't help me with no power. Since they're going to have to reschedule all those customers who got short-changed today and yesterday and over the weekend, I'm sure I won't a be a priority... which means it would probably be in my best interest to go to Jacksonville, where they've gotten the cleanup underway much faster and more efficiently than here, and get it serviced there. So tomorrow afternoon I'll make my way up there in my smelly car, leave it with my parents, and have them drive me back to G'ville early Thursday morning. I can deal without a car for a few days if I have to - I ride my bike to class and can take the bus to work.

Speaking of work, that's where I have to go now, and I'm still on campus, so I'd better get a move on. Maybe I'll walk into my apartment and find the lights blazing and the TV going full force... maybe...

Hey, a girl can dream.