Now Where Did I Put That...

Halfway through a recipe is not a good time to realize that the can-opener did not make it in the move.

On the other hand, the tortilla soup turned out alright, I think.

Other apartment and moving joy:

• Bookshelves are installed and happily carrying their load. Well, I assume they are happy. It's kind of like their life goal to carry books, right? The downside is that they are now pretty prominently featured instead of in boxes, and I get to look at them and be reminded of how many of them I need to be reading.
  
• There are still a lot of boxes that need to go away, but they are stubbornly refusing to go of their own accord.
• I think I've finally nailed down my route to campus. It's 4.3 miles each way according to Google. It's really not that bad though. Uphill in the morning and downhill in the evening. Fun Fun!
• My Zune went and bricked on me. I should say this is the last time I try to support a product out of spite. It's really isn't a bad product at all, I just wished it worked still. I have been podcast-less for the entire weekend. I've got an old Zen around here in a box somewhere. Why am I so dangerous for my mp3 players?
  

Moving Update

Well, there I was saying nasty things about Time Warner and they go and turn all efficient and helpful on me. Originally, the website said I needed to go down to their office and yadda yadda, but I called them up and they scheduled an install the next day, so hey presto, I've got cable and the internet. Hooray!

Other developments. My old bike was in really bad shape, so it found a new home and I got a new one. Hooray again! I haven't been riding to school in about a year now - ever since I came back from Japan, I guess. Anywhoo, I rode around a bit yesterday and today, and it feels so good to be riding again. I live a ways away from school, but one of my friends bikes in every day from about the same area, so I might give it a shot, too.

That's because I'm teaching summer school, starting tomorrow. I'm always a bit nervous before a new class, but I've already taught this particular class two times here, so hopefully it'll go well.

Oh, I promised photos of the new pad, so here we go with a couple pre-move in shots:

Living room:


















Kitchen:

Stealth Blogging

Moved.

Time Warner wins the first round. No internet for at least weeks.

Borrowing some internet from an anonymous neighbor(?) with a silly network name.

very tired.

Pealess

Ya know, I was really happy to actually buy a real bed a couple of years ago when I moved in to this place. It was almost like I was a grown-up or something. So, I really shouldn't have bought that Ikea Malm. It looked really nice, but it pretty much fell apart after about a year. That's what I get for trying to be cheap, I guess. It was awkward and heavy, but it felt nice to throw it away.

'course now I don't have a bed again. Should I go for a futon, or actually get a bed bed? Ya know, box springs and such? hmmm... choices choices...

More Moving

Woot! The moving begins! I should be in the new apartment by the end of the week.

I'm looking forward to new and exotic cable channels.

That's sad, right?

Yeah, that's sad.

Moving, ya know, it's a funny thing. One of the boxes that I always moved without opening for the past 3 or 4 moves fell apart when I was organizing things, so I had to rebox it. It was full of old pre-digital photos from about 2000 when I was teaching abroad and right when I met the woman I would date for the next 5 years. There were so many other people in those photos too. I'm not in contact with any of them anymore. I guess I'm just kind of like that. That's a part of me that I'm not particularly happy about.

There is a Point, but It's at the Very End

There's something really frustrating about begging for the opportunity to spend money. I listen to a podcast called Buzz Out Loud, and one of the hosts is always talking about how this is working with electronic media and internet services.

Examples - I needed a piece of software, but it's published elsewhere in the world and not sold on our shores. It's a really common program, but the only way to buy it is either to pay some random person on eBay for a most assuredly pirated copy, pirate a copy myself, or - oh holy of holies - the company's website has a pay for download service. But, it only works if you use a bank card from the country of origin. No international cards are allowed. I wonder if they ever considered that if I their customers had such a card, They might probably be living there and wouldn't need to buy online. Here, I want to give you my money. I want you to have my money. Please please pretty please let me give you my money. I want to make sure you are compensated for the good work you have done, and you are making it very difficult.

I really liked that Chelsea Dagger song and one or two of the others on that album. Pretty fun, but I don't buy DRMed music anymore. I'm not sure I want the whole CD though. Picky picky, I know. (Insert old codger here saying, "In my day, you couldn't even listen to the music beforehand. You bought your stack of victrolla records, and you listened to them all, and you liked it! Uphill! Both ways!) Anyway, I've been checking Amazon every month or so since it was popular (on an iTunes commercial? Maybe I should reinstall iTunes and check there. They do DRM-free now, too, right?) to see when it'll be available for download. Nope. Still not there. It would be really easy to get a pirated copy, but I really do want them to have my money. Really. Please let me pay you!

So, the point of all this is that I've been worried all weekend about whether or not I would be so graced by the credit score gods and the whims of the management company that I might be selected for the great honor and privilidge of paying an metric dumpster-load of cash every month to live in their apartment. There's a little more reason behind this, I know. Buying a CD ain't exactly the same as signing a contract to pay all that money every month for a year.

Still, I got the apartment. I sign the lease tomorrow. I'll get some pictures for you guys.

Anyone want to help me move? :)

You're Packed, Right?

Things you may have missed while I've been incommunicado:

• I was hired to teach this summer -yeah!
• They gave us raises for the summer session - yeah!
• Because of the raise, the class size has been doubled - Boo!
• That '2 years' that the university said that I could stay in the University housing? Yeah, well, they meant 2 academic years, not two calendar years. So, they just sent me an email reminding me that I need to be out of the apartment by the end of the month, thanks. Boo!
• So, um. That means I need to find an apartment and move in the next couple of weeks. I guess the pressure will at least get me off my lazy tukus, right? Boo?
• I spent all day today looking for apartments and hunting down managers to open doors. Don’t they want me to look at their apartments? Boo!

• Things I’ve learned today:

• There’s no way I can afford to live in a place anywhere near as nice as the place I live now. I’m going to have to live much further away and pay a whole lot more for a much worse place. Everyone I’ve talked to has told me this, but I really didn’t want to believe. Boo.
• Apartments don’t come with refrigerators anymore. Really? When did this happen? I’ve got to rent a regrigerator now? Boo?
• When they say that they want proof I make three times the monthly rent in salary, it’s hard to explain to management companies where my money comes from exactly: “Well, there’s a little bit from a fellowship, then I’ve got a TAing job, and of course, that pays my tuition, so that’s money, but I don’t see any of it because it goes directly to the university. And of course that varies from term to term, and it’ll be completely different over the summer. Then there’s those side jobs that I do, right? Um. A paycheck stub? Errr… Let me get back to you on that one.”

• After today, there are two possibilities:

• Apartment #1

• Closer to grocery stores and on several big bus lines
• Cheap(er): about the same as what I’m paying now for about half the space.
• Small – basically a studio with a kind of attached kitchenette thing, oh, and a miniature shower/bath seemingly made for a chihuahua.
• Lots of shelves and cabinets
• Old, partially refurbished
• No A/C (very bad for me, as my sweat point is about 77 degrees)

• Apartment #2

• Slightly far away from most major bus lines, but on one good line that goes directly to campus
• Very Pricey – more than I planned of spending, but still doable
• Good size, kitchen, main room and a bedroom
• Really gorgeous view out of the main window.
• A/C, dishwasher, laundry room
• Newer, more refurbished
• Nicer building, keypad lock enterance thingie.

I guess it’s clear which one I like better. I’ve got a couple more places I’m going to look at tomorrow, but I think if they’ll accept my application, I’ll take #2 and try to cut back of other things. Thank goodness I don’t have a car.

The University is Gone! Long Live the University!

I finally made it to New to You U. That's not going to be the name, by the way. As proof of my move, I give you a photo of my new neighbor:



Look at those teeth! Big sharp pointy teeth! But, he (she?) could probably use some of those whitening strips. I thought about photoshopping them white so that they poor dude wouldn't be embarrassed, but in the end I didn't.

The move went surprisingly well considering all the trip-ups and silly mistakes I made. That's a story for another day. On the completely cool upside of things, there was a massive blogger meeting (which also happened to be a family gathering) and much fun was had by all. Again, I'll post more about the move itself later

The campus here is very nice. We've got the 'old and ivy-covered' niche pretty well taken care of with a healthy dose of 'holy crap where do they get the money to buy the new buildings' sprinkled in to taste. There was a mild aggravation when I tried to access the internet from my new place. It seems that they need you to install a piece of spyware that monitors your computer to make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date. That's evil, but understandable. problem is that their spyware doesn't support Windows Vista. hehe advanced spyware protection, wot?

Aside from that hiccup, things have gone pretty smoothly. I've wondered around quite a bit and taken a few pictures. I think I need to block out a good long photo-tour though. Of course, most of you folks wont get to see that 'cause you'd figure out where I am and come stalk me. :)

So now I'm off to try and get some grading done. I've escaped the old place, but not the old place's work. Sigh.

Oblivious

This morning, I met up with a returning-from-sabbatical professor who I TAed for a couple of years ago (years! geeze). We had a great chat about the class I'm teaching now (she's teaching it soonish) and about the 'FUTURE OF THE FIELD' and other 'IMPORTANT TOPICS.' It's an odd thing because I have distinct memories of feeling like the newbie grad student when last we talked, but now I feel like I'm being treated like a colleague. What a wonderful feeling.

We also talked a lot about me heading out to new and unknown lands to do the PhD. It's tough for me to talk in dept about things that cause anxiety (What a unique trait, eh?), but we talked a lot about the things that are worrying me - the ego minefield of a so-called more important university with so-called more important people and all the new stress of actually figuring out my field etc... etc...

Anyway, It was very nicely cathartic. I think I've always believed that it would all work out ok on some level, but it's another step forward to actually say it out loud to someone.

The title of this post is based on the fact that she asked me when I was moving and I thought about it for a sec before realizing that I'm moving next weekend. Good grief. That's way too fast. Expect a week or more of move-blogging - with special guest(s)!

Rolloercoaster Me

Whew. The guest lectures went well, and the guest lecturer seemed to be well received by the students - he's one of our more popular folk over here.

It's very interesting to see the different vibe that comes out when someone else takes over in an environment that I've created with the students. I told him that they're usually active and questioning and curious because they are when I'm lecturing, but that's probably just because they're used to me.

That makes me feel really good, because either I'm misreading them completely, or they're actually engaged in my class. Who knew?

I'm sure this will help give away the secret location of my batcaves, but I'm still teaching summer session. I don't even start at the new cave for a few weeks. I'll end up with about a week to get everything moved there, grade all the finals and final papers, figure out how I'm going to live there and attend about 5 different orientations (free food there at least). All this in the week or so before classes start. Oh, yeah, and I'll be TAing, too.

By the way, I'm starting a PhD program. How crazy is that? I just talked to a friend who ran off to DC to get a real job, and she reminded me how absolutely insane this is. I mean, the MA was kind of mildly strange, but within the realm of the comprehensible. I'm going to try to get a PhD. Nobody does that. Nobody sane, at least. Crazy.

So, summing up. I'm happy about the good day, but increasingly panicked about the upcoming weeks (and years). So that's happy plus nervous. I think that calls for gastronomic therapy. Hmmm... maybe tacos? Ice cream? Both?

Mission Complete

Because I have soooo much time on my hands, last spring, I agreed to help out a professor who needed some data work done. It honestly wasn't a lot of work, but it was very... umm... of a specific type that I don't know a lot about. Anywhoo, I finally got it wrapped up and emailed the results to said professor. Praise was heaped upon me for being finished early. Yea me!

It's not publishable material, and I'm it's still problematic in several areas, but the fact that it's done and appreciated makes me happy - And it'll get me a little cash, too!

Now I can put all my free time back to use where it belongs... sadly not frolicking with a bevy of runners-up in the 'I'm a brilliant and beautiful woman' contest (not the winners - they'd be stuck up), but alas, in class prep and trying to organize myself for the upcoming move to New Collegeland.

By the way, I still need a pseudonym for New Collegeland...

Possibilities:

1. New Collegeland (NC)
   
2. Holy Crap It's Huge University (HCIHU or HCHU)
3. Our Teams Can Beat Yours University (OTCBYU)
4. Urban Blight University (UBU)
5. Calcutta College, Black Hole (CCBH)
6. Great Big University (GBU)
7. PhDU

Those seem a bit evil... Anything better out there? Most of you guys know where I'm going already, right?