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The book buying begins…

When I was here a couple summers ago, I spent most of my free time at Barnes & Noble, either reading or buying books. Well, I went over there today to buy a copy of The World According to Garp and though I couldn’t find it, I managed to find some other books that needed buying. Here’s what I left with:

J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye
Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man
Wendy Northcutt’s The Darwin Awards
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
Stephen Viscusi’s On the Job: How to make it in the real world of work
Gabriele Crepaldi’s The Impressionists
and a copy of Car And Driver magazine

I also went to Target and bought a few things including two lamps for my end-tables. I’m afraid the lamps might be a little small, but I have receipts and time, so I’ll get it right eventually.

It’s a Wonderful Life

I am back to watching classics and I really enjoyed this one. I realized that I’ve never watched the entire thing before, mostly because I would gripe and complain any time it was on. Turns out it’s a really good movie that makes a good point in a clever way. Ironically, all I remembered about the movie was the sequence where Clarence, George’s guardian angel, takes George around town to show him what the world would be like if George had never been born. I didn’t realize that was only the last twenty minutes of the movie. It seems there’s also a pretty good hour and a half of movie before that. Who knew?

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Finished Wardrobe

I finished The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe tonight and I’ll be starting The Horse and His Boy tomorrow. I’m not moving through the series as quickly as I’d anticipated, but only because I’ve found other things to occupy my time. I decided I’m headed to Barnes & Noble tomorrow to pick up a copy of The World According to Garp since I began it last semester, but never finished it (the copy I was reading was borrowed). I figure that’ll give me something else to read. I also have a book on poker (The Theory of Poker) to finish up and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. I’m sure there are others I’ve partially read, but those are the only ones that come to mind.

Basketball: Vandy vs. Florida

We play Vandy at home tomorrow and I think we’re going to trounce them. I’m predicting we’ll win by 25 points or more. I think we’ll be up by 10 at the half and we’ll get the other 15 in the second half.

Time to sleep.

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Long, relaxing evening

Today’s my day off from workin’ out, so it seems like I’ve had an extra long evening. In reality, I had a normal length evening rather than the typical short one I get after workin’ out and running all over Plano to buy stuff. Fortunately, I’m starting to get into a routine and that routine doesn’t include spending copious amounts of money on stuff.

I guess what’s more important than the duration of my evening is how I used the time it afforded me. I’m sorry to report that I wasted every moment doing useless things and staring at the television. However, I did guess the answer to “What was it before it was deep-fried” on Letterman (“it” was a pair of mini binoculars), so that’s gotta’ count for something…

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Quote of the week

“Gettin’ locked up is a part of… well it ain’t a part of life, but you know what I’m sayin’? … Is this your first time? Aw, man, yeah that’s always the scariest ’cause you don’t know what’s goin’ on. Yeah, the next time you go, I gaurantee you it’ll be funny.” – Jacquese consoling Robin after a night in jail on the Real World

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Gratuitous necessities

So, I spent a little money today… but, when I heard about the Atari 10-in-1 system, I had to have it. It’s an Atari joystick that takes four AA batteries and plugs into a component video input in a TV. It has 10 games inside including Centipede, Missile Command, Breakout and Asteroids. The one discouraging thing about it is that the box says, “A blast from your parents’ past!” That means I’m old and I guess I should be a parent with kids old enough to play Atari games.

I also bought Lost in Translation. When I first saw this movie, I was convinced it would get a few Oscar nominations and I’m not surprised to see that it’s up for four awards. I also wasn’t surprised when it won three Golden Globes including best actor. I think Bill Murray has a good shot at nabbing the Oscar for Best Actor as well.

Finally, I bought The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season. This one, I’ve been meaning to buy for a while and just hadn’t gotten around to it. The Simpsons is definitely one of the best sitcoms of all time, animated or otherwise.

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Psuedo-visit

I didn’t exactly go to a local church today, but I did listen a sermon from a church that’s about five miles from here. I realized that I could learn a lot about a church from just hearing a sermon (and by hearing one by the senior pastor), so I downloaded one and had a listen today. I decided I’ll visit that church next Sunday morning, so I guess the screening process was good.

Bought the camera

I’m the proud new owner of a FujiFilm Finepix F700 digital camera. It’ll be here in 7 to 10 business days via UPS Ground. I also went ahead and ordered a 256MB picture card, so I’m not cramped for space on the 16MB card that comes with the camera. I just hope I use it a lot and I don’t ultimately feel like I wasted some cash. I am fairly confident that I’ll use it plenty because I can think of numerous occasions when I wished I’d had a digital camera handy. Now I will, so hopefully I’ll use it.

Wrappin’ up the Wardrobe

I figure I’ll be done with Wardrobe by Tuesday (maybe sooner), and then I’ll get to move on to the third book. I’m lovin’ this stuff.

Blog ideas

A friend of mine requested that I write my opinions on the Gator basketball team, so I’ll probably do that in the next day or two. I wish I had seen all our games this year, but I feel I’ve seen enough to formulate educated opinions. I’ll also summarize this year’s team and compare it with teams from the past few years.

Also, I realized that one of the toughest things about the move to Texas was that I had no idea what I was getting into. So, I think I’ll write up a little entry on what all went into my move–planning, cost, things I bought, etc.–so that I have it for future reference. Also, I guess many of my peers will be experiencing a similar transition soon, so maybe they’ll find some useful information here.

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S.W.A.T.

One of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.

Final decision on digital camera

I’ve all but decided I’m buying the FujiFilm FinePix F700. It’s a good camera, good specs, good price. I’ll probably order it tomorrow and I hope to have it by next weekend (that’s an optimistic estimate).

Back to basketball

I played basketball this morning for the first time in almost two months. Things went about as I expected:

I came out shooting early and made most of my shots, but, as fatigue set in, my shots started going long. My defense was a little better than I expected, but I gave up several jumpers because I wasn’t closing out well on the perimeter (I was afraid I’d get beat off the dribble because I’m outta’ shape and slow). In my last game, I had three good fastbreak layups and a few nice assists. I expect I’ll be improving as I continue to work out and get into shape. I hope I can go back in a few weeks and show those guys that I’m not normally as bad as I was this morning.

Computer desk shopping

I’m about to mail off my claim forms for the computer desk that was busted up during my move. I figure it’s about time to look into replacin’ it. I’m not sure what I want–corner desk or regular one–but I’ve pretty much decided I want something in cherry wood (or at least vaneer or finish). Hopefully, I’ll find something soon, so I can continue getting settled.

Church tomorrow

If all goes well, I’ll be at a local church tomorrow morning at 10:45. It’s less than five miles away and it looks like a decent church… but I’m learning that one can never be too sure before he’s in the doors.

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Plano: Day 14

Things are starting to slow down and my daily expenditures are becoming more reasonable by the day. I just wish my furniture wasn’t 3 weeks away, but I’ll take whatever stability I can get at this point.

TiVo up and running

After “borrowing” an ethernet (10/100) to USB adapter from Best Buy this weekend, I’ve gotten TiVo to download the drivers needed to use the wireless USB adapter I bought for it. Sow now, it downloads the daily updates over my DSL connection instead of requiring a phone line (which I don’t have). It sounds trivial, but having it up and running leaves one less thing to worry about and it’s nice that I did it wirelessly since that leaves my entertainment center essentially independent of anything else.

Back to workin’ out

I took about five weeks off from workouts before last week, but I kept last weeks workouts pretty easy, so I wouldn’t strain anything. Today’s workout was a full one and it went well. I felt good–no soreness or unusual pain–and I’m looking forward to getting back into a routine. I haven’t really thought much about my goals, but right now I’m focused on getting back to where I was a couple months ago. I figure I’ll be there in about four more weeks.

Dining in

I’ve eaten only a handful of meals outside my apartment since I got here, and I’m liking it very much. Not only am I saving money (lots of it), but it’s nice to completely control what and when I eat. Of course, most of my meals are already pseudo-prepared–for instance, I ate a Skillet Sensations tonight–but at least I’m choosing exactly what I want and putting something on the stove or whatever. That’s a big step for me.

Letterman

I’m watching a rerun and the last guest was some kid who wrote his own fantasy book that’s been published. I can’t help but wonder if 1) the kid was homeschooled and 2) if he has any friends. I think even Dave was uncomfortable interviewing him. In his spare time, he paints, does are and makes his own knives, swords and chainmail. Apparently, he’s made his own forge, which he uses for making these useful things.

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Plano: Day 13

First off, I’ve decided to stop the monotonous “day count” at 14. I figure after that, everything will be best chronicled normally. Other than that, I don’t have too much goin’ on. I didn’t go to church today because I’m trying to find churches to visit, but I didn’t find anything for this morning. I’m sure I’ll find somewhere to go for next Sunday morning. I mostly just laid around watching TV, playing GameCube and messin’ with TiVo for most of the day. In fact, I don’t think I left the apartment.

I spoke with a couple friends on the phone and that was nice, as always. It’s good to know that I have allies back east and that they’re thinking of, praying for and lookin’ out for me. It sounds like a friend of mine is coming out sometime in March, near the end of “Spring Break” (for the college kids). I figure I’ll be getting back to Plano around that time, so I should get to hang out both here and there with friends from there. That should be a good week.

Digital Camera shopping

I don’t know how soon I’ll buy one, but it seems like I should go ahead and get one while my life is still in transition. As I look around me, I see things that are so ridiculous that they need to be captured on film. The pile of boxes in my dining room is so big, a friend of mine said, “You buildin’ a fort?”, as soon as he saw it. I’m sitting in a computer desk chair with my feet propped up on a coffee table. My computer is to my left and my TV is in front of me. I’ve been sitting here, checking e-mail, surfing the web, doing some online shopping and messing with TiVo for several hours now. Not to mention that the place is a total wreck and I don’t see an end to that coming for a few weeks now (as that’s when the rest of my furniture will be arriving).

More work

It’s midnight and I’m still up, though I’m finally getting tired. I’ll be up at 7 for another day at work and I’m hoping to be doing something interesting soon. So far, I’ve just been reading documents, looking over drawings and looking through some training material related to my project. Once I’ve ingested all that background stuff, I should be ready to head out and start working with the actual equipment. Hopefully, that’ll happen tomorrow.

More Wardrobe

I’m still reading the Chronicles of Narnia and enjoying them very much. I’ve slowed down recently–mostly ’cause I haven’t been home much during the week–but I intend to get back on track this week. I’m having to pace myself, though, ’cause I don’t want to exhaust this source of intellectual entertainment too quickly.

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Plano: Day 11

I’m officially back online and I don’t know how I ever went without the internet. Anyway, I had been keeping my weblog on my computer, so I’ve posted the past 10 days’ posts. Most of it’s really boring, I’m sure, but I thought it would be good for me to record my transition to DAL for future reference. I’m not sure how, but I feel that I might eventually learn something from all those posts.

Up late

It’s after 3 am and I’m still going strong. My coffee table/end tables arrived today, so I went ahead and put them together tonight. I’m really happy with them aesthetically, and they’re pretty sturdy, too. They’re not “real” wood, but are apparently a combination of various woods and “veneers” or something. Anyway, they look good to me and I hope they last.

The dining room set I ordered was cherry wood, so at least that’s the real thing. The color of the woods should match pretty well, even though they’re not the same. Regardless, I’m ready for my stuff to get here, but I’ll have to be patient and keep comfy and occupied while I’m waiting for it to get here.

I’ve also been working on getting my TiVo online… It’s a pain ’cause the stupid thing was designed specifically to use a dial-up connection to download the information it needs to get for daily programming updates and such. There is a workaround in that it has USB ports that can be used to connect it to the internet over a wired or wireless network, but that’s turning out to be a hastle. I’m hoping to get a little adapter at Best Buy tomorrow that will allow me to get it all setup. Once it’s setup, it’ll be pretty super, but I have to be patient until then.

Spring Break

I’m thinking about taking some Paid Time Off (PTO) during UF’s Spring Break. I guess I need to find out what all’s going on, so I make sure I don’t waste a week of PTO to go hang out in an empty city or by myself on the beach. I told my boss today and he seemed to almost encourage taking some time off and he said it wouldn’t be a problem. Right now, plane tickets are about $300 American, but I’m hoping that’ll drop a bit before March.

Along Came Polly

A friend and I went to see this flick tonight and it was pretty good. It’s definitely not Ben Stiller’s best work (I think he was much better in Zoolander and The Royal Tenenbaums), but it was still a funny flick. Jennifer Anniston did a great job and was fun to watch. Philip Seymour Hoffman was funny and constantly impresses me as a character actor. Anyway, it was nice to get out and do something and I discovered there’s a huge Cinemark movie theatre about a block from here; it has reclining seats and everything.

Ok, I’m going to try to get to sleep now… I’ll have to see how that goes.