item number three

i know, i am beginning to be the world's worst blogger. i'm teasing you with lists of things i want to write about, but barely get around to doing.

item number three on that list was meeting engineering people at the pool.

in SD, it's few and far between that you meet a computer nerd. everyone here is a "musician", "surfer", "artist"....you get the picture. dustyn and i have been trying (notice the use of the word trying, meaning attempting to, but not doing that great of a job of it) to use the pools and fitness centers more at our apartment complex. one night, we didn't really feel like working out in the gym, so we decided we would try to swim laps instead.

after pretending to be choreographed pool swimmers (you know, the ones that do all the fancy tricks), we decided to nix the pool and head to the hot tub. we waited patiently for another couple to leave it. when they left, we took over. we had a good ol' time sitting there, relaxing. that is, until two other couples joined us. dustyn and i had felt uncomfortable about joining the other couple, but these couples (who didn't know each other) jumped right in. immediately, we all start talking (imagine that).

we learned that one of the couples had been living in our complex for five years. gee whiz. the other (wait - the girl in this couple lived in our complex and the guy lived elsewhere in SD but was visiting his girlfriend that evening) moved in around the same time we did. we quickly started bashing the crazy loudness of the race cars that ruin our saturday and sunday sleep-ins. (*tell me if i haven't mentioned this because i need to write about this too if i haven't). we talked about crazy neighbors and where it's best to live in a complex, whether it's more important to have the third floor or first floor (third floor has no noise from above, first floor has the convenience factor... we didn't solve this or come to any sort of conclusion).

the conversation then moved on to what we do. one of the guys is a student at one of the universities here (i forget which one). he's studying electrical engineering (which is what dustyn's undergrad degree is). the other is working on his PhD in electrical engineering. he's currently working on his thesis or something like that.

i can't say that i even remember the names of any of these people. there might have been a rachel in there. i dunno. but, the point is that there is hope for dustyn to make some friends! if we can get him out of the house (since he works from home). it's difficult for a couple to meet another couple and make friends with them. usually, the girls can click well, but the guys don't have a connection or anything in common. or vice versa. friendships are a rarity. when i think about it, all of the friendships we had back home mean so much more.