Yesterday was busy, even though it was Saturday. We just had time to walk out to get the paper, eat some breakfast (the usual-yogurt with fruit and toast with peanut butter. This time it was peaches from Watkinsville--mmm). We left the house about 9:20, five minutes after I had said we needed to. But I knew we would be at least 5 minutes late, so that is why I had said 9;15. Ray is always about 5 minutes late, no matter what. He is a smart person, but nothing I say can help him be on time. Mostly I can work with it, but every once in a while, it makes me crazy. Of course, some people would deal with it by going everywhere in two cars, but I can't bring myself to do that.

Ray dropped me off at the Goodwill Career Center, where I had volunteered to help Cathi with a credit workshop for would-be homebuyers. The Power Point slide presentation was from Freddie Mac, but Cathi had suggested I skip many of them. As people arrived, they were asked to fill out some paperwork and let us copy their drivers licenses. She and her son Will went online and printed out credit reports for each of them, while I started the presentation in another room. There were about 20 people in all, most quite knowledgeable and asking good questions. Obviously, if you want a good credit history, you need to pay your bills. On time. Duh. But, did you know, if you are less than 30 days late with a payment, it doesn't go on your credit report? You still have to pay interest and late fees, but it doesn't affect your credit history.

When all the reports were prepared, Cathi talked about how to read them and what you can do about your credit. Obviously, you should pay off what you owe, specifically the things that show up on the report. Some debts do not. She gave out sample letters you can use to send to creditors and credit reporting agencies. Any record that you are not sure about should be validated. You send a letter to the agencies asking them to confirm the debt. Sometimes this is enough to make it go away. If you paid it off and it shows that you owe it, you can dispute it by sending the documentation you have. It was a very informative workshop.

Then Ray picked me back up. He had been giving platelets at the Red Cross. We went home and had some lunch (leftover rice pilaf for me). I made some couccous and put it in the fridge and then went to wake him up. We drove to Atlanta to pick up Art, a Thai exchange student for AFS. It was fun to see the other volunteers, whom we have known for several years, and the students from all over, who had become close friends in the two days they had been together. Ray and I enjoyed talking to Art on the way back to Athens about his home and family and our country. His father sells motorcycles in a city in northern Thailand we had never heard of, a city about the size of Atlanta. He wants to sell motorcycles when he grows up. His older brother spent the year in Houston with AFS last year. He commented on all the forest we drove through--in Thailand all available land is farmed, he said. At our house, he talked politely with the Captain. In a few minutes, his host Mom, Mitzi, arrived with her son Devon and his friend Brian, who is hearing impaired. Mitzi and the Captain and sometimes others of us talked for a while about travel, while Art tried to follow the conversation. At one point, Ray asked him a question to give him a chance to participate. They headed off, with melons and peppers the Captain gave them, to have dinner at an American restaurant--maybe Longhorn or Outback. I will check on how he is doing in the next few days, as the liaison.

Then we took the couscous and a bottle of white wine and headed up to Harriet's birthday party. She is 50 and lives in the country, in Madison County, in an old house they have been working on for a few years. We saw a lot of Town & Gown people we knew, as well as a few from Clarke Central, most notably the Rileys, who we talked to a lot. Their son Matt was a good friend of Sushanth's. He is studying costume design--at Milledgeville. I talked some to Allen, whom I have know for a long time. He just got laid off as a project designer with a lumber company. He has a lot of IT experience, but is really interested in any kind of project design. I was talking about being out of work for two years and giving him advice. He was saying how he never really meant to stay in Athens, but he kept getting good jobs and not having any reason to leave. Now it would be hard for him to move. He and Janet just took a two-week trip (since he wasn't working) and stopped at some of the places we used to visit: Monticello and Luray Caverns.

We came home at 10 and my parents were asleep. I woke up early, thinking about looking for work and the ideal job, and trying to figure out how I can make this job last.