Richard & Stacey Brill - Spring 2007

We are all settled in Virginia. We are liking it here for the most part. Things are much more expensive here than they were in Jacksonville or Flint so that is taking some getting used to. We love our house; its really starting to feel like home. We've got lots of room and it is in a really good location. Most everywhere we like to go is within 5 minutes or so. Except, unfortunately, for work for both of us.

Richard is in a period of schooling at Oceana, about a half hour east of here. He is supposed to graduate June 25th, but right now they have put school on hold, so that date will probably get moved back into early July. After he finishes this training period, he will head about a half hour north of here, to Norfolk, for work. He will be at NOB Norfolk, the largest military base in the world. Its insane, there are 32 gates, and those are only the ones they make known to the public. He will be doing pretty much the same job he was doing at Jacksonville, just at a new place. Two of the six people in his class now are headed to Norfolk, so at least he will know a couple people right from the begining.

I just started a new job. I am working at AGI, Architectural Graphics, Inc., a sign manufacturing company that makes signs to be installed all over the nation. For instance, we make all the Wachovia, Dairy Queen, Bank of America, Church's Chicken, Sprint, Verizon, etc signs. We make them in the shop/factory on site and then ship them to the location and arrange for installation, permit processing, electrical hookup, etc. A one stop sign shop. The job that I get to enjoy is "Project Manager". I have 4 clients, Liberty Mutual, Chase, First United Bank and Wachovia, with the girl who is training me, Tara. Together we take care of every step of the process, from designing the sign to getting it okayed by the city after installation. There are about a million and fifty steps inbetween and basically its a giant babysitting job, babysitting adults. You have to make sure the every department and all the subcontractors are all doing what they're supposed to be doing when they're supposed to be doing it. It's a temp job and we'll see if I stick with it after August 3.

We have been looking for a church and its crazy. Most of the churches here seem to be trying to outnumber each other in members, anywhere from 2000 to 8000 members. A couple of the smaller ones we have found are full of either all elderly people or people who are rolling down the aisles. We did kind of like one of the big ones, other than the fact that it has 5000 members, so after a few more that we don't like, we might go back to that one.

We have a spare bedroom and would welcome guests at any time, there's TONS to do around this area. As soon as we start getting my paycheck, we look forward to starting to explore some of the pay per view options. We've been to the beach and boardwalk a couple times and its really nice. We are planning on getting season passes to Busch Gardens-Europe this week and hopefully go next Saturday. And then many weekends after that.

Til next time...