It ain't all hard knocks

I've been pretty down the last couple of weeks. A good deal of it is home-sickness, but I forgot how depressing it can be when you're in physical pain. My back was really killing me from all the moving and such, and all the work I'd done on the house in CO before heading out here. Today I had a pretty vigorous massage at one of those mall kiosks. My mood improved markedly, as well as my ability to walk around the mall and downtown Saratoga. We went up there to check out some new apartments they're building.

I've always responded to different places in very subtle ways. Somehow I hate driving in Albany, and it seems to depress me somehow, even though it's got some very nice places - in fact, overall, it only has a few "bad" neighborhoods. Saratoga is all nice - it's in the richest county in the region. Horse racing and gambling (and tourism in general) seem to be the only way to save our old towns. Saratoga is a lot like Fort Collins, CO with the addition of a much larger lake, and a huge transient population that appears for the horse racing season.

I really, really miss Mexican food. At home, there area wonderful hole-in-the-wall Mexican places on every corner. Here, it's pizza joints. I haven't had a burrito in like 2 months! On the other hand, I don't miss feeling like I have to speak Spanish in Wal-Mart. And, the fast food places aren't just staffed with non-English speaking adults. The teenagers here actually get to/want to work. Don't want to be un-PC (ok, I don't care). Just an observation.