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Plano: Day 9

I reported for orientation on Monday, then went to meet my boss and get my assignment on Tuesday, then went in today and got a new and different assignment. I think this one will stick. I think this assignment will be challenging and allow me to show my superiors what I can do. Also, I’ll be traveling out to El Segundo, CA (right outside L.A.) for a couple weeks of training (probably two one-week sessions). I am glad I’ll have something challenging and interesting to do.

Furniture Fiasco Finale

I think I’m done buying furniture for a while. I bought a dining set (table and four chairs) at Ashley Furniture tonight. So, I’ve bought everything I planned on buying before I came out here: Sofa/loveseat, coffee table, two end tables, dining room set and TV stand. I still need a couple lamps to put on the end tables, but I don’t really consider those furniture. In retrospect, it would’ve been wise to begin furniture shopping before I left Gainesville. Two of the three stores I bought from have a three- to four-week lead-time on delivering my furniture. Obviously, if I’d done my shopping and ordered the furniture before I left Gainesville, I would’ve had it by now. Of course that’s not totally realistic since I’d never seen my apartment before I moved in and it would’ve been difficult to buy furniture for a place I’d never seen or been in.

I also bought a Nintendo GameCube today. I’ve been wanting one for a while and I figured I’d splurge in the interest of keeping myself occupied in the apartment. It didn’t come with a game, so I thought I’d start with Tony Hawk: Pro Skater 3. It’s pretty fun and, even more fun, it was only 15 bucks.

Sleep troubles

When I actually get in bed, I sleep just fine; but I’m having trouble getting tired enough to get in bed, lately. I have to be up at about 7, but I can’t seem to get into bed before midnight. I don’t know what my deal is, but I know I’m gettin’ sick of bein’ so tired every morning at work. Hopefully, I’ll get into a routine or something pretty soon.

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Plano: Day 8

TGIF: I’m scheduled To Get Internet, Friday

After about 11 days without internet, I should be online sometime Friday. It’ll be nice because that means I’m back on Instant Messenger and that means I can chat it up with my friends. I’ve been having a hard time keepin’ in touch ’cause I ran outta’ cell minutes about a week ago and I can only make so many calls between 9 pm and when I go to sleep (seems to be about midnight, so far). Also, shopping for stuff and finding good deals will be a relief, since I’ve been sort of wandering around in the dark while buying all the stuff I’ve been buying lately.

Speaking of buying stuff…

I decided to go with the Olive sofa/loveseat combo. I took a survey of seven or eight people and all but one said the olive is probably the best solution for my living room. Plus, I feel the olive will be more daring whereas the hazelnut woulda’ been kinda’ normal and blah. Of course, there’s something to be said for normal and blah, but I’d rather save my saying for the crazy olive I’ve chosen.

I am still buying necessities and other stuff for my apartment. I went to The RoomStore today and bought a coffee (“cocktail”) table and two end tables. That was just after I’d blown 100 bucks at Wal-Mart. I feel like all the stuff I bought was good: Toaster Oven, knives (six steak knives and some other big ones that all came in a big wooden block), a little “kitchen kit” sorta thing with a couple spatulas, a bottle opener, can opener, measuring cups and spoons, and then stuff like dish soap and sponges for scrubbin’ the dishes. I felt like I needed all of it and I’ve decided my kitchen finally looks “lived in”. I still need a dining room set, but I think I know which one I’m going to get; I just have to talk myself into going over to Ashley Furniture and signing the papers.

Good credit is super duper

I got my first credit cards about five years ago. Since, I’ve made sure to pay my bill in full every month (with a couple small exceptions–mostly just me forgetting to pay the bill or something stupid) and I’ve made sure to pay all my utility bills and rent on time and stuff. I always figured it would help to build my credit and now I’m finding out why that was so important. For a lot of the furniture I’m buying, I basically just show up at the store, pick something out and then, when it comes time to pay, I say, “I’m hoping to take advantage of your financing option.” Then, they run my info. through a computer and come back to tell me I don’t have to pay for the stuff for several months . It’s such a relief that I don’t have to find ways to pay for this stuff now since I’m so busy trying to get settled and since my finances are in such a transitional state. I generally don’t like the idea of buying stuff with credit, but when I’m not going to pay any interest and I know I won’t have any problem paying for it in the allotted time, it just gives me some breathing room to get everything else in order right now. I guess good credit was responsible for helping me get an apartment with no deposit, electricity, cable and DSL with no deposit, and my cable turned on even though I forgot to leave the check for the technician when he came0. I’m glad I got those credit cards and paid ’em off every month. I thought it was nice just getting my “cash back bonus” at the end of the year, but it has other benefits as well.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

I’m going to start reading it now.

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Plano: Day 7

I woke up at 6:45 this morning; that’s the earliest I’ve been up in a few years, I think. Anyway, orientation was uneventful and mostly review as I expected. It got out at 2, so that gave me plenty of time to go workout (is “workout a verb? or should it be “work out” or “work-out”?) and finally do some productive furniture shopping.

More furniture stuff

(The following will seem particularly trivial, but it was significant to me anyway) So, I prayed about that furniture situation this weekend. I was getting really frustrated with not being settled into my apartment and, more importantly, not seeing a light at the end of the settling tunnel. Anyway, I decided I’d go back to the store today and see if they could scrounge up the set I liked in the color I wanted. Turns out they could order it from the “Florida warehouse”, but it’ll take a month to get here. So, I ordered the hazelnut couch/loveseat… but I think I’m going to call tomorrow and change it to the olive set. I feel like I need to live a little, spice up the living room, do something daring, go with something that’s not quite neutral. All of those things can be accomplished by getting the olive instead of the hazelnut. My living room is nothing but versions of white–off-white, tan, eggshell, regular old white–so I feel like I need to add some color, and hazelnut ain’t gonna’ do that. More importantly, if I decided the room was just too drab with the hazelnut, I’d have to go buying all kinds of accessories and throw pillows and all that, and I just don’t feel like doing that junk. So, I figure the olive couch/loveseat will add a little color and save me a bunch of time trying to add color to the room. Plus, I like the color (even though I can’t help but think that I’m going to eventually look at pictures of this furniture and wonder what I was thinking getting something the color of olives or, worse, something close to the color of split-pea soup. Regardless, I like it now and I figure this furniture ain’t gonna’ last forever (I wasn’t expecting long-term quality when I went shopping at Rooms To Go), so why bother buying furniture in a color that I think will be “in” ten years from now? Long paragraph, huh? Yeah.

As for the rest of the furniture stuff, I have pretty much decided on a dining room set from Ashley Furniture. It’s cherry wood, has a pretty small table (really, it’s perfect for this apartment’s little dining “room”), and I like the way it looks overall. I have also pretty much decided on a coffee (eh hem, “cocktail” table) at a place called The RoomStore. It’s basically a dark wood (maybe cherry, I dunno’) and I think it’ll definitely compliment both the couch/sofa and the living room very well. Now, I just gotta’ order the tables and stuff and then go find a couple lamps for the end tables (’cause I ain’t payin’ 80 bucks each for lamps at Rooms To Go or the RoomStore); Target, here I come again!

I’m diggin’ TiVo

That’s all I have to say about that.

No reading today

I didn’t get any reading done today because I basically ended up having some great conversations with friends on the phone. I wasn’t expecting it, but I had some great talks and got a chance to catch up with some of my friends. I was reminded how much I left behind when I left Florida; but it’s good to know that I left those things behind only physically, and I can still keep in touch with my friends and continue building relationships with them.

I better get to sleep. I gotta’ be up for work in 7 hours.

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Plano: Day 6

I went to a local church this morning and was a bit overwhelmed, mostly because I didn’t know what to expect. Now, what I expect is that, as I expected, I’ll be visiting a new church next week, and probably for the next several weeks. I’m both looking forward to and scared of church-hopping, but I think it’s necessary and I hope it’s only a means to a necessary end.

TiVo, up and running

My existence as a technologically dependant yuppie has been thoroughly improved, thanks to my new friend, TiVo. I went to some friends’ house for lunch and, while we ate, I let TiVo do its setup thing. Anyway, I’m enjoying it so far and the DVD player ain’t bad either.

No progress on the furniture situation

I didn’t even so much as think about furniture today, but I know I’ll need to get back to it tomorrow. Well, I take that back, I did think about it today, but only insomuch as I asked my friends to give me some feedback on their thoughts about a taupe colored sofa/loveseat. I still haven’t decided what I think, but that might not matter if I can get Rooms To Go to dig up a khaki sofa/loveseat of the same style. I’m going down there tomorrow.

Orientation

I have to be at work tomorrow at 8 am for “orientation”, which will actually be re-orientation for me. Anyway, if all goes well, I’ll finish orientation at around 2 and have the rest of the day to look at furniture and stuff. Obviously, I’d rather hang out in my apartment and furnish it than work, but I gotta’ work to pay the bills. Such is my new life.

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Plano: Day 5

I’m almost done with The Magician’s Nephew; I figure I’ll be through it tonight. I can already see that, as soon as I’m done with it, I’ll be compelled to begin the next book. This is some good stuff.

My TV got here a couple hours ago and, as I expected, it’s good ‘n’ big. I was going to get the smaller version of the same TV, but Best Buy didn’t have it in any of their stores around here and they couldn’t deliver it (“limited delivery area” for that particular TV or something). Anyway, I decided I’d just go ahead and get the bigger version. I figure it’ll be a little more fun anyway.

I tried to play around with the DVD-player/TiVo I bought, but I can’t use it until I perform the initial setup on it… Problem is the initial setup requires a phone line, which I don’t have. So, I’m trying to think of a way to get to a phone line that I can use for an hour while plugging my TiVo into a television, so I can see what I’m doing. I’m still not sure what I’ll do.

I let those jokers at Best Buy talk me into buying the super-expensive Monster Cables (component video and RCA audio) rather than the cheaper Acoustic Research versions of the same cables. After thinking about it and talking to friend, I’m going to take the unopened cables back and get the Acoustic Research ones instead. I doubt I’ll be able to tell the difference in quality, but I’m sure I’ll notice the difference in the quantity of money in my bank account.

In a little bit, some friends are driving over from Ft. Worth for some lunch and then they’re going to help me decide what furniture to get. After three straight days of browsing furniture stores, I’d experienced information overload and couldn’t seem to make a rational decision. Hopefully, some objectivity and good taste will help me decide on something.

All done with Book 1: The Magician’s Nephew

I’m through the first book and that leaves six more. I really enjoyed re-reading the history of Narnia (I had read this book when I was 10 or so, but didn’t remember much of it) and I’m excited to re-read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe over the next few days. What a good use of my time.

Furniture bust

Well, after a few hours and several stores, I decided on a furniture set I really liked. I had actually been looking at the set for a few days, trying to decide if I liked it and what color I’d prefer. This afternoon, I decided I did like the set and that I preferred khaki (over olive and cherry). About 30 seconds after I’d declared my decision to my friends, a salesperson walked up and said, “Oh, you like this set? It’s been discontinued. I think they’re all out of the khaki loveseats.” Of course. The one color of the one set I decided on is discontinued and can’t be found anywhere. So, I’m basically back to square-one. I’m headed back there on Monday to see if they found any of those loveseats, or if maybe one of their warehouses is holding one or couldn’t deliver one or something. It’s all wishful thinking, mostly; I essentially have to just be patient and hope that a local store gets something that I like in soon. Until then, I’ll keep using my leather office chair for all my sitting needs.

Vineyard

I’m going to a Vineyard church tomorrow. I don’t know what to expect, but I hope I enjoy it and meet some people.

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Plano: Day 4

I spent most of the day laying around and watching TV. It’s a good thing it took me a few days to figure out that I could watch the tube with my computer, or I wouldn’t have gotten anything done since I moved here.

Anyway, the major thing I accomplished was getting my car an oil change and a “state inspection”, which is apparently a way that Texas gets lots of annual revenue from everyone who wants to drive a car in the state. The whole deal shoulda’ taken about a half hour, but there was a little misunderstanding that cost me about an hour-and-a-half more: After they’d finished the oil change and had begun the inspection, the guy came inside and said, “You know, one of your wiper blades–I guess it’s a refill or something–is leaving a couple little streaks on the windshield ’cause it’s not making contact or something. Do you want us to put a new one on the driver’s side for ya’?” And, thinking they’d charge me ten bucks or so to install a one-dollar part, I said, “Naw, that’s ok. I’ll just do it myself.” So, a few minutes later, the guy comes in and says, “It’ll be…dollars for the oil change and the inspection, which you failed.” “Failed?”, I said. “Yeah, ’cause of that wiper blade.” And, of course, if I’d known I was going to fail the stupid inspection because of the “little streaks” the wiper blade was leaving, I’d have gone ahead and gotten gouged for the stupid wiper blade. But, because he didn’t explain that I was gonna’ fail the inspection if they didn’t replace that blade, I had to go to Wal-Mart, get blade refills, change the blades in the parking lot, drive back over and wait an hour-and-a-half for the jokers to look at the new blade, give it a test run and decide my car passed.

But, at least I got the oil change and inspection done, so I don’t have to knock off work to get it done later. Tomorrow, I’m going with some friends (who lived in Gainesville and moved out here a little over a year ago) to try to make a final decision on the furniture I’ve been trying to buy.

The Magician’s Nephew is coming along nicely and I’m really enjoying the adventure. C.S. Lewis has a super knack for telling a great, vivid story with very few words. I’ve only read about 100 pages and I feel like Iï¿½ve been part of the kids’ adventure for months.

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Plano: Day 3

Well, a new day has begun and it didn’t begin with a neighbor banging on a wall or the lawn-maintenance people doin’ their thing. Unfortunately, it did begin with a few hours of tossing and turning since I seem to be having trouble sleeping soundly. I’m hoping that I’m just not used to my new environment or something, but I might be breakin’ out the Tylenol PM pretty soon if this restlessness doesn’t subside.

I’m about to head out to buy more stuff. First, I’m off to the furniture stores to see if I can make a decision on some stuff. I think I’ll go with a set at Rooms To Go, but I’m having a little problem over there: I’m considering two sets. The “nicer” set is a little more expensive, but a lot more comfortable and it looks a bit more casual (which is what I’m after), but it only comes in three colors–khaki, olive and cherry–none of which is very appealing. The khaki and olive are not only ugly, but too light and would show dirt after about four minutes of use. The cheaper set (cheaper by about $300 American) has better colors (I guess)–both much darker versions of khaki and olive–but the cushions feel like they’re actually rocks wrapped in fabric. The fabric is kinda’ strange too, because it has that suede look (the one where you can write your name with your finger, then erase it with a swipe of your hand). But overall, the set is decent looking. The good news is that I found a dining room set (table and four chairs) that is reasonably priced and the wood matches the wood for the “cocktail” tables and end tables of the two living room sets. I’m going crazy just writing this junk.

Then, I’m off to Best Buy. I decided I’m going to buy a DVD player/TiVo combo by Toshiba. It looks like it’s the best of both worlds (it’s the 80-hour version of the TiVo and a decent progressive scan DVD player with all the standard outputs) and it works out to be a little cheaper than buying a DVD player and TiVo separately. I guess intuition says it should be cheaper to buy them in a combo deal, but that isn’t always true with new technology. The rule of thumb with new technology is: the newer and/or more convenient, the pricier. I’m also getting a little TV stand for my new TV.

I’m off to read a little more about Narnia, then I’m braving the furniture stores.

TV up and running

I had my cable turned on a couple days ago, but hadn’t been able to watch any TV since I don’t have one yet… until I was looking through a box of computer junk and stumbled upon a TV-tuner card that I borrowed from my roommate a while back. It took a little doing (the card was made back in ’98, so it was tough to get it to work with Windows XP), but I was able to catch Must See TV tonight and I’ll have something to do tomorrow night as well.

Phone home

I’ve been spending a lot of time (mostly at night) on the phone with friends and family from back home. I think it’s necessary that I keep in touch with those who are close to me, so I can maintain my grip on the reality that exists outside my little world here. Also, I just really enjoy talking to people from back home and it’s nice to hear familiar voices.

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Plano: Day 2

I haven’t been this exhausted in a while… I didn’t sleep well or long last night, thanks to my own restlessness and the lawn maintenance guys. I woke up pretty early (around 9) and got back to running errands, making phone calls, browsing–furniture, mostly–and buying stuff for my apartment. I’ve spent about $150 at Target over the past couple days and I still haven’t even got pots ‘n’ pans and things like that. All I’ve bought is various soaps, stuff for the bathroom, a Foreman Grill and some other little things I needed.

Seems like furniture shopping’s a little trickier than I’d hoped. I’ve been to a few stores and none of them have exactly what I want–style, color, comfort, price–but all of the stores have some of what I want. I guess compromise will be the name of the game and it ain’t gonna’ be as cheap a game as I’d hoped.

My cable’s turned on, but I don’t have a TV yet, so I’m enjoying looking at the little black chord coming from the wall. I don’t have any idea when my internet will be turned on, so that’s making it even more difficult to do all my shopping and furniture buying and such. Also, I have about 15 “anytime” minutes to get me through next Tuesday (although the weekend will be free, so I’m having a hard time getting a hold of everyone I need to and I’ve been ignoring a lot of calls during the day.

As I’ve driven around Plano, I’ve noticed things that remind me of home and I’m thankful I’m so busy because I’d probably get pretty down if I allowed those things to cause me to stop and think about what I left behind. In fact, even this blog entry is more of a voluntary distraction than a necessity. I find myself taking solace in the fact that I know I won’t be here, doing this, forever.

The Chronicles of Narnia

I finally bought the box set at Christmas Conference, but I wouldn’t allow myself to begin reading them until I was here in Dallas. As I suspected, I’m already having a hard time putting them down; I had to pull myself away to go brush my teeth a little while ago. I’d forgotten how much fun C.S. Lewis’ stories are to read and I’m already totally engrossed in the plot. I’m surprised how similar the basic premise is to Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings stories: people touch gold rings and suddenly disappear; other people look after those with the rings.

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to plowing through these books as I’ve been anticipating it for some time now.

Buying stuff

I’m glad I left a week buffer before my start-date to do some shopping and furnish my apartment. Already, I’ve found I haven’t enough time in the day to run all the errands and buy all the stuff I need. I’ve been to Target several times and I browsed several furniture stores today. Best Buy is my new home-away-from-home and I spent a good deal of time looking at stuff in other electronics stores (although, surprisingly, Best Buy has the best prices on basically everything). The thing that is most difficult about shopping right now is that I don’t have an internet connection, so I can’t do the research I usually do. It’s rare that I’ll buy something without spending a fair amount of time browsing the web for specs, reviews and bargains; but, without an internet connection, my only recourse is to drive around looking for stores that might sell the stuff I’m after. I generally have a pen and paper in hand and I just write down whatever I need to remember that piece of furniture or electronic thing, so I can make comparisons later. It’s painstaking, frustrating and pretty imprecise.

But the most frustrating thing is that I’m buying only the things I think I’ll need to feel at home, but I still feel like I’m just blowing money. I mean, I’ll be bringing home a decent paycheck soon, but I’m definitely already spending some of that money before I’ve earned it. I’m not accustomed to spending money I don’t have, but I guess it’s ok to make an exception in this situation. I’m trying to exercise as much self-control as possible, so hopefully it’ll pay off.

Friends

I’m realizing how fortunate I am to have a large group of friends thinking of me back home. I spent quite a while on the phone tonight with several people and I felt very encouraged while I spoke with them. Some friends, I was just shooting the breeze, seein’ what’s up back home; some friends, I was asking for advice on whether to buy this or that; some friends, I was looking for pointers to help me make this transition as smooth as possible. But all my conversations were encouraging to me and made me thankful that I have such good friends who care about me and are praying for me. I’m sure their prayers and concern will make this time much easier for me.

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Plano: Day 1

I’m having a hard time deciding what to write. Normally, I’d think this a problem of writer’s block or stupidity, but I think the problem is that I’m simply overwhelmed with everything that’s happening. I was fortunate that the movers were able to deliver my things to my apartment this morning (as opposed to Friday or so, as I was originally told); I was not so fortunate because the movers essentially destroyed my computer desk and apparently scuffed up the screen to my computer monitor. The good news is that the computer desk will probably be replaced; the bad news is that the monitor probably can’t be fixed (it’s a pretty minor blemish), but the scuffs will probably annoy me to no end. As far as I can tell, the rest of my stuff is fine.

I have to keep reminding myself that people make this kind of transition all the time. I’m trying to realize that it is inevitable that I will eventually move away from most, if not all, of my college friends and that others have done this before without much trouble. I feel like I’ve unpacked most of my boxes, but there’s still a box that I haven’t gotten to, and, when I go to open that box, a bunch of my friends will jump out and yell, “Surprise!” I have friends here, but most of them are newlyweds and I don’t expect to see too much of them too soon.

This is going to be a tough transition and I knew that going in. I just hope I’m settled down and comfortable soon.

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Sick and stuff

So, I got back from Conference on Thursday afternoon, had a good day Friday and then woke up Saturday feeling a little under the weather. By last night, I was a lot under the weather and by this morning, I was feeling much better. I’m hoping to be back to 100% by tomorrow or Thursday. The upside is that I’ve gotten lots of opportunities to catch up on my sleep and feel justified in laying around on the couch; I only wish I could have enjoyed it more.

Apartment

I’ve officially got an apartment in DAL (actually, Plano) and I think I’m really going to enjoy it. It’s about 900 sq. ft. and has 1 bedroom and a “den/study”, which I’ll use as an office or guestroom. Unfortunately, the reviews I was able to find for the place aren’t stellar, but that seems to be a trend for apartment complexes in general. It’s not really like me to go signing a 13 month lease on an apartment sight-unseen, but desperate times…

Awakenings

A friend of mine suggested that I see this film, so we rented it tonight. I have to say I was very impressed and I have no idea how I’d never even heard of it before. It was a great story told by great actors and I enjoyed it immensely. No, it isn’t “feel good movie of the year”, but it was solid and made some excellent points, not the least of which was essentially carpe diem.