My new life so far...

You know what I like? Bulleted points.

Here are a few that explain what I've been up to for the last three weeks in the Sunshine State:

• Employment... I assumed my post as a Palm Beach County education reporter on July 21. After three days of training, I'm finally getting into the swing of things. I'm working Tuesday through Saturday, so not much of a social life, yet.

• Illness... A week before I started my job, I was admitted to a Florida hospital for three days with "abdominal pain." At first the docs thought it was appendicitis, that was ruled out. Then they thought Crohn's Disease, but that was ruled out, too. Then they thought I caught giardia, a stomach parasite that you get from camping/hiking. A few weeks later and I'm not feeling all that better, which really, really stinks. So now the docs think it may be something different (which they don't know) and have suggested it may be best to get a colonoscopy (ouch!). I'll keep you posted unless I keel over first.

• Ocean... I spent Saturday at the beach with fellow State News superstar Scott Cendrowski. The sea was angry that day, let me tell you — giant waves. And then some guy challenged us to a game of beach volleyball, which I can proudly say we were victorious (despite Scott's lack of arc in serving). We followed up our man-date with a late lunch of Cuban food, where we feasted on sweet plantains and sandwiches.

• Housing... My relationship with my apartment in Boynton Beach is finally mending after a rough couple of weeks. Upon arrival, I found that the dishwasher, garbage disposal, bathroom fan and air conditioning (no small deal) were all non working. In addition, three shelves were broken and a screen was ripped up. After a few hours of cursing and swinging my fists in the air, I called maintenance and they actually fixed most of it the following day. On top of that hassle, my furniture was delayed, so I'm still sleeping on an air mattress until Monday, and the dining room table set that I bought and began to construct was missing four important pieces. Oh, and when I was vacuuming out my closet and I put my box of comics on the shelf, that shelf broke too. With all of that pretty much taken care of, I'm finally beginning to enjoy the joint.

• Fauna and flora... You know what they say about Florida having a lot of bugs? Well, they're pretty dead on. The state is really a big ol' swamp, so you can imagine the insects. The biggest pests so far have been sugar ants, which keep you ever-vigilant to not leave food out. They've shown up in my pad in a big way (the worst example involved the ants infesting my crumb-laced Mac keyboard (with the clear backing). I was typing one day, unaware of the activity below my fingertips. Then I felt one climb up my finger. Then I looked down and noticed one crawling under the plastic just about the function keys. Then I turned it upside-down and witnessed what amounted to an ant farm in my keyboard. It was pretty disgusting until I thought about the marketing potential of a keyboard/ant farm. It would be sweet if there was no chance of them sneaking out and biting your knuckles. Anyway, the next day I used my new Lowe's Credit Card to purchase more than $35 in ant-destroying technology, from traps to sprays to poisons. While the war is not over, I must say that I can pass along good news from the battlefront... their armies are retreating.
Also, in the short time I've been there, I've already seen about a dozen frogs, a handful of lizards and a snake just outside my apartment.
Oh, and flora... I'm planning on buying a plant - the first one I've owned that didn't grow out of a cut up milk carton.

Coming up next... a journey into the magical world of drive-in movies...