I blog to you today from the lovely state of Connecticut! I am here again to train our new winder, which is really very boring. My trip goes something like this:
3:15am- Wake up (barely), shower, etc.
4:30am- Leave for BWI, try not to kill myself or others by falling asleep at the wheel.
5:30am- Arrive at BWI, try not to fall asleep on the shuttle, in the security line, or at the gate; lest my things be stolen. Acquire coffee.
6:30am- Board plane, doze off while playing Sudoku.
7:30am- Arrive in CT, take shuttle to Enterprise.
7:35am- Schmooze rental guy, pay for a compact but receive a premium car. Do happy dance on the inside, and be grateful that I didn't let myself go.
8:00am-ish- Arrive at work. Acquire more coffee and also animal crackers. Locate boss.
8:15am- Critique trainees work thus far. Sit in the room while she practices, intermittently answer questions, check her progress every once in a while and offer advice, but mostly play on my phone or check email. Internally debate whether I would get in trouble for knitting.
12:00pm- Have lunch, usually with the engineer.
1:00pm- See 8:15am.
5:00pm- Leave work.
5:20pm- Hit a drive thru on the way to the hotel.
5:30pm- Relax in hotel room, watch crappy TV, and eventually zonk out.
7:30am- Wake up late, rush to shower, get my things and check out.
8:15am- Get to work 15 min late, blame it on "getting turned around."
8:30am- See the first 8:15am.
3:00pm- Drop off rental, get shuttled to airport
And blah, blah, blah… I'm sure you know how it goes. I eventually get home around 7-7:30, and veg out, typically with yet another fast food meal. Tonight I've been invited to have dinner with the trainee and her husband, which should be fun. I will be immensely grateful to have a home-cooked meal. And maybe on one of my future trips I can get some people to go out for beers or something. The engineer took me out for beers last week when he was in Maryland, and I may have gotten a little more drunk than I intended. He was kind enough to give me a lift home, and then back the next day to get my Jeep. But now I know: 1 beer + food = OK. 3 beers + mostly empty stomach = sloshed.
With all the overtime I racked up, I decided to treat myself to a new phone. I had the same original iPhone, which became insanely slow with the v4 software update. It was getting annoying, and I wanted a 16g that would fit my entire iTunes library. But last summer I gave my upgrade to Cass, and wouldn't be eligible for another until February 2012. So I went in the AT&T store expecting to dish out full price for an iPhone 4. Instead (and possibly, like the rental car, due to being cute) I wound up paying half price. Of course I had to resign my contract, but whatevs. I got my phone. And I love it. It's faster, and fits all my music, and the retina display is incredible. Mostly I love that all I had to do was hook up my old phone to my MacBook, make sure all my recent purchases were transferred, and then hook up my new phone. Everything copied over, easy as pie.
I won't lie. I subscribe to the Cult of Apple. I just like having things that work together so seamlessly. I guess time will tell if I really want to keep drinking the Apple Kool-Aid or not… It's easy to love new things. I know how crappy and slow my old laptop got after three years, so we'll see if the MacBook does better. I'm betting it will, unless a software update comes out that it can't support, driving millions to buy a new version or deal with their newly useless machine.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
The Apartment Post
It's been a month now, and the apartment is getting there. There are still a few things (mainly my closet) that need to be sorted, but I'm otherwise settled. Here are a few photos to show it off:
My bedroom. Note my creepy little dude on the nightstand. He still requires tiny knitwear. My "headboard" is just shutters. I had been looking online for cheap headboards, and couldn't find much under $100 that would fit my full size bed. Then one day I saw the shutters at Home Depot. A pair cost about $35, so the total cost was less than $80 with tax. They're very simple to put up, but I think I will have a lot of spackling to do when I move out.
The next three are of my "dining area," which is more like my office. I've never been good at eating at a table anyway, so this made more sense. I stole the caution tape and danger sign from work. :) The desk lamp on my Robot Rocketship Table has two outlets on the base, so I can plug in my laptop. Score.
This is my awesome new couch, which is much bigger than it seemed at the store. I'm keeping a fleece throw on it to protect it from Spencer's schmoogy and snarfles, and also from my own sloppy self. It's honestly pretty big, and very deep. It's almost like having a twin bed in my living room, and I love that. Also pictured is my yarn cabinet, proudly displaying the better parts of my stash.
Moving on to the kitchen! First I must say that the best part of unpacking was when I opened up my new (and very, very inexpensive) IKEA cookware set and discovered that it is GRADUATED. For reals! Cups and liters, right up the sides! How freaking awesome is that!? I love it.
My new cast iron pan/mini-wok thing is pretty sweet too- I found it for half off at the Williams-Sonoma outlet in Leesburg. It's a Staub, which I had never heard of, but some lady at the store (just another customer) gushed about hers as she was buying some other stuff nearby. Hopefully she's right- I haven't tried it out yet, as I haven't cooked more than Mac & Cheese since moving in.
Back in January, when I was still feeling resentful about the situation, I decided that if I was going to have to move out, I wanted to fill the new place with things Scott would hate... or at least not like. So I bought these:
Little, reusable wiener-cicles. I use them often, and smile when I do.
During a quiet day at work, I found a fun use for the label maker tape that we accidentally bought (it's 1/2" not our typical 1/4"). Baking with flour and sugar is dullsville. I prefer anthrax and arsenic.
And the most used thing in my kitchen: the butter crock. It was a gift from my friend, Karen, and it's incredible. You fill the lid with butter, put some cold water in the base, and keep it on the counter. Creamy, soft, spreadable butter is then available at your whim. I'm on my third loaf of cinnamon toast. My cholesterol levels are sure to suffer, but I don't care. I will gladly shave a few years off my life if it means enjoying delicious, real butter instead of margarine.
Karen gave it to me at a surprise knit-night housewarming. It turns out that my knitty pals did not feel that giving up a Saturday morning to help me move was altruistic enough- they had to go and be even more supportive and awesome by giving me awesome things like hand-knits and soaps and extra well-wishes and such. I am exceptionally lucky to have such amazing friends!
Living on my own is teaching me some new things. Number one: Know where the Verizon guy will need to go when he comes to install your cable, so that you do not have to suddenly hide your underthings and then freak him out by accidentally leaving your giant shotgun right where he will be. Number two: The new-fangled anchors that seem like they will be awesome might actually suck very hard, and you should stick with what you know will work so that you do not wind up having to spackle many holes and sand wood glue off the wall (it seemed like a good idea). And number three: When doing laundry for the first time in a new place, if you discover that the dryer is not plugged in, you should also consider that the vent hose is not hooked up either. The amount of lint that will explode out the back of the dryer in three seconds is pretty astounding.
I have a new TV now, which isn't very different from the one I left behind, but I also got a Blu-Ray player. At the old place, we just used the Xbox to watch DVDs, so movies in HD are sort of new for me. I was surprised that I could really tell the difference! But sadly, my favorite low-budget horror movies are harder to watch. The fake sets and props that looked fine before look pretty cheesy now. Hopefully as technology gets cheaper, the low-budget stuff will eventually have better CG effects, and they will be able to digitally enhance some of the fakery.
That's my big apartment post. Stay tuned for a non-apartment post detailing the other minutia of my dull life!
My bedroom. Note my creepy little dude on the nightstand. He still requires tiny knitwear. My "headboard" is just shutters. I had been looking online for cheap headboards, and couldn't find much under $100 that would fit my full size bed. Then one day I saw the shutters at Home Depot. A pair cost about $35, so the total cost was less than $80 with tax. They're very simple to put up, but I think I will have a lot of spackling to do when I move out.
The next three are of my "dining area," which is more like my office. I've never been good at eating at a table anyway, so this made more sense. I stole the caution tape and danger sign from work. :) The desk lamp on my Robot Rocketship Table has two outlets on the base, so I can plug in my laptop. Score.
This is my awesome new couch, which is much bigger than it seemed at the store. I'm keeping a fleece throw on it to protect it from Spencer's schmoogy and snarfles, and also from my own sloppy self. It's honestly pretty big, and very deep. It's almost like having a twin bed in my living room, and I love that. Also pictured is my yarn cabinet, proudly displaying the better parts of my stash.
Moving on to the kitchen! First I must say that the best part of unpacking was when I opened up my new (and very, very inexpensive) IKEA cookware set and discovered that it is GRADUATED. For reals! Cups and liters, right up the sides! How freaking awesome is that!? I love it.
My new cast iron pan/mini-wok thing is pretty sweet too- I found it for half off at the Williams-Sonoma outlet in Leesburg. It's a Staub, which I had never heard of, but some lady at the store (just another customer) gushed about hers as she was buying some other stuff nearby. Hopefully she's right- I haven't tried it out yet, as I haven't cooked more than Mac & Cheese since moving in.
Back in January, when I was still feeling resentful about the situation, I decided that if I was going to have to move out, I wanted to fill the new place with things Scott would hate... or at least not like. So I bought these:
Little, reusable wiener-cicles. I use them often, and smile when I do.
During a quiet day at work, I found a fun use for the label maker tape that we accidentally bought (it's 1/2" not our typical 1/4"). Baking with flour and sugar is dullsville. I prefer anthrax and arsenic.
And the most used thing in my kitchen: the butter crock. It was a gift from my friend, Karen, and it's incredible. You fill the lid with butter, put some cold water in the base, and keep it on the counter. Creamy, soft, spreadable butter is then available at your whim. I'm on my third loaf of cinnamon toast. My cholesterol levels are sure to suffer, but I don't care. I will gladly shave a few years off my life if it means enjoying delicious, real butter instead of margarine.
Karen gave it to me at a surprise knit-night housewarming. It turns out that my knitty pals did not feel that giving up a Saturday morning to help me move was altruistic enough- they had to go and be even more supportive and awesome by giving me awesome things like hand-knits and soaps and extra well-wishes and such. I am exceptionally lucky to have such amazing friends!
Living on my own is teaching me some new things. Number one: Know where the Verizon guy will need to go when he comes to install your cable, so that you do not have to suddenly hide your underthings and then freak him out by accidentally leaving your giant shotgun right where he will be. Number two: The new-fangled anchors that seem like they will be awesome might actually suck very hard, and you should stick with what you know will work so that you do not wind up having to spackle many holes and sand wood glue off the wall (it seemed like a good idea). And number three: When doing laundry for the first time in a new place, if you discover that the dryer is not plugged in, you should also consider that the vent hose is not hooked up either. The amount of lint that will explode out the back of the dryer in three seconds is pretty astounding.
I have a new TV now, which isn't very different from the one I left behind, but I also got a Blu-Ray player. At the old place, we just used the Xbox to watch DVDs, so movies in HD are sort of new for me. I was surprised that I could really tell the difference! But sadly, my favorite low-budget horror movies are harder to watch. The fake sets and props that looked fine before look pretty cheesy now. Hopefully as technology gets cheaper, the low-budget stuff will eventually have better CG effects, and they will be able to digitally enhance some of the fakery.
That's my big apartment post. Stay tuned for a non-apartment post detailing the other minutia of my dull life!
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