a large update
Let's see...what's been going on in my life...
Saturday and Sunday involved lots of running around to different stores (all of which are incredibly close) to buy items/food for the house. It also involved eating at the Marie Calender restaurant...fresh baked pie... and finding a place for some good sushi.
The washer and dryer saga:
On Sunday I see this posting for a nice front-loading Matag washer and dryer. I call the guy, get directions and we go check them out. They look great. We put down a deposit and I send a call out to the Austin-poly community asking if anyone can help us pick them up on Monday. On Monday, by the time we get around to getting them, no one can help us. So we go to Uhaul and rent a truck & handcart. We drive said truck down to get the washer and dryer. We heave the washer (it's very heavy) onto the truck and then when we go back to get the dryer, lordaerith notices that it is actually a gas dryer, not an electric one (we only have electric at our place). The guy who's selling them only wants to sell them as a set...damn it. Of course we're all pissed that we didn't notice this the day before. The guy is as surprised as we are, as he had plugged them into the electricity and heard the dryer tumble (Aerith explains that it will use the electricity to tumble, but needs the gas to heat up). So we get our money back from the guy.
As we drive off we say to ourselves, "Hey, maybe Home Depot has a set that we can just pick up". Go by Home Depot...no luck. On the way to Home Depot we see a Sears, but can't figure out how to get there quickly. Think about going back to Sears, but it's getting close to time to return the truck, so we decide not to. Return the truck and then go down and find Sears again. When we get there we find out that they had practically the EXACT same set that we could have picked up. Decide that we're already in debt and buy a much nicer GE set with a handwash setting *squeee* with my Sears card (ie: free delivery and no payments/interest until Sept 2007).
Monday we got our own internet (so we could stop pirating the neighbours) and went by UT Austin so I could fill out some paperwork for my TAship (fun fun), met with my bosses (one of them is a gamer hehehehe), ate in the Campus Center, and wandered around a bit trying to find the tech director. Then Aerith's car was delivered and there was the aforementioned dryer saga.
Tuesday was the day that we were going to switch over our plates and licenses to Texas ones. The saga of the Texas licenses and plates:
In Texas the order to get all that done goes like this:
We play with the online insurance quotes, see that Progressive is pretty low and then decide to find an agent in the area. Went to said agent. Did the whole info thing. Got a quote that was a bit higher than the online one because it actually asked what our previous coverage was. Decided to use the agent anyway.
After lunch got both cars and went by local inspection station. It was also a car wash place so we had both cars washed and all that good stuff. The both passed inspection (Aerith's probably only because he was smoozing with the inspection lady) and came out looking nice and clean (they even did the dashboards and ALL the windows). By the time we were done with that the other places we had to go to were closed/closing soon.
On Wed Aerith went to the County Tax Office and got both cars registered (which costs LOTS of money when you're new to Texas) while I had my orientation session. After it was over, we met up and were able to walk to the Dept. of Public Safety. However, when we got there Aerith realized that he left something in the car, so he went back to get the car (I wasn't wearing good walking shoes) while I went across the street to use the restroom (they didn't have any in that building!!). When we finally got up to the lady to get our licenses she said that we had to have something official with our SSN on it. Now, I don't have my soc card. My mother does. I did have a photocopy of my birth certificate/soc card (which is what my father sent me the LAST time I asked him for my card...), so no license for me yet. However, Aerith was able to get his. My mom is sending me my card. yay. I think I also have a school transcript from Smith that is official and it may have my SSN on it. I believe they MAY also take that...but I'm not sure. So, that being said, I can't get mine yet.
On Tues in-between the car saga stuff (see cut above), we found a really yummy hamburger place called "Phil's Ice House". They let you put cucumbers on your burgers. This makes for one happy Athene!
On our way back towards home from there we found the local gaming store called...Dragon's Lair (does every area have one of these???).
On Wed I had my iSchool orientation. I found another Smithie (who just graduated) who was also a Classics major...so weird. I want to take so many of the classes!!! My advisor is the Asst. Dean and she seems pretty cool. Also had a meeting of the TAs at the lab. The job looks pretty cool. :)
In the evening we finally got to see Pirates:Dead Man's Chest. I liked it. The coolest part was the theatre that we saw it at. It's called the Alamo Drafthouse (there are a number of locations), and it re-defines "dinner & a movie" because they took out every other row of seats and have long tables with menus instead. You write down what you want and servers bring it to you during previews and even during the movie. Near the end of the movie they do a last call and then bring you your check. It's really cool!!! I bet that all the servers get back problems bending down to serve food without disturbing the patron's view of the screen.
On Thurs. I got up extra early and registered for my classes. I got into 3 of the 4 that i wanted and am 4th on the waitlist for the class I really really really want. So I registered for another class, but I'm going to go to the class i'm waitlisted for and hopefully get into it *crosses fingers*.
We ran more errands on Thursday and then went to the austinpoly dinner. Got to see apryl_knight and meet other cool people. Lots of talk about Ren fairs :)
Today lordaerith and I went by a bunch of theatres in the area and he dropped his resume off on them.
This evening we went to the Dragon's Lair where we ran into... Chris of spacecrime! It was good to see him :) Also got to meet boss/new gm's wife and their housemate and made friends with some other gamers :) Bought more stuff than we should have, but at 20% off...it was hard to resist.
Got home and got my work schedule. I'll be working two evenings a week and Saturday days...but that's okay. If I get into the class I want, I'll have Wed totally off. If not, I'll have to be at work for 8am for meeting and then I'll have the rest of the day off.
Tomorrow morning our stuff will arrive! Hurray!! The saga of our stuff:
On a week ago Monday when we were going crazy packing they called to tell us that the truck couldn't come until Wed, could we wait. As much as we wanted to say, "yes of course, we need the time", we had a cleaning service coming wed. morning and we knew we needed to be on the road on Tues b/c we had the reservations in Memphis on Thurs. So, as y'all know, the movers came on Tues. Actually, a smaller truck from the company came on Tues and they moved the stuff to the big truck on Wed. This Monday we call the moving company to find out when our stuff is coming. They say Thursday. Then when we're out and about the truck driver calls and says, "No, it's going to be Friday...but if you're very very lucky Thursday." So, we start to pick up the mess that we've made (mostly papers). Then, yesterday we get a call from the driver that basically goes like this:
Driver: Is Saturday okay to deliver your stuff?
Me: Umm..yes, but I'd really like it to be Friday, is that possible?
Driver: Not really, see, I had a minor heart attack two days ago.
Me: A heart attack. Saturday will be fine.
So, they're coming tomorrow morning. Sometime between 8:30 and 9.
And now, reading the Draconomicon while Aerith goes through Star Munchkin and then sleep.
Saturday and Sunday involved lots of running around to different stores (all of which are incredibly close) to buy items/food for the house. It also involved eating at the Marie Calender restaurant...fresh baked pie... and finding a place for some good sushi.
The washer and dryer saga:
On Sunday I see this posting for a nice front-loading Matag washer and dryer. I call the guy, get directions and we go check them out. They look great. We put down a deposit and I send a call out to the Austin-poly community asking if anyone can help us pick them up on Monday. On Monday, by the time we get around to getting them, no one can help us. So we go to Uhaul and rent a truck & handcart. We drive said truck down to get the washer and dryer. We heave the washer (it's very heavy) onto the truck and then when we go back to get the dryer, lordaerith notices that it is actually a gas dryer, not an electric one (we only have electric at our place). The guy who's selling them only wants to sell them as a set...damn it. Of course we're all pissed that we didn't notice this the day before. The guy is as surprised as we are, as he had plugged them into the electricity and heard the dryer tumble (Aerith explains that it will use the electricity to tumble, but needs the gas to heat up). So we get our money back from the guy.
As we drive off we say to ourselves, "Hey, maybe Home Depot has a set that we can just pick up". Go by Home Depot...no luck. On the way to Home Depot we see a Sears, but can't figure out how to get there quickly. Think about going back to Sears, but it's getting close to time to return the truck, so we decide not to. Return the truck and then go down and find Sears again. When we get there we find out that they had practically the EXACT same set that we could have picked up. Decide that we're already in debt and buy a much nicer GE set with a handwash setting *squeee* with my Sears card (ie: free delivery and no payments/interest until Sept 2007).
Monday we got our own internet (so we could stop pirating the neighbours) and went by UT Austin so I could fill out some paperwork for my TAship (fun fun), met with my bosses (one of them is a gamer hehehehe), ate in the Campus Center, and wandered around a bit trying to find the tech director. Then Aerith's car was delivered and there was the aforementioned dryer saga.
Tuesday was the day that we were going to switch over our plates and licenses to Texas ones. The saga of the Texas licenses and plates:
In Texas the order to get all that done goes like this:
- Buy insurance
- Get car inspected
- Get cars registered
- Get new drivers license
We play with the online insurance quotes, see that Progressive is pretty low and then decide to find an agent in the area. Went to said agent. Did the whole info thing. Got a quote that was a bit higher than the online one because it actually asked what our previous coverage was. Decided to use the agent anyway.
After lunch got both cars and went by local inspection station. It was also a car wash place so we had both cars washed and all that good stuff. The both passed inspection (Aerith's probably only because he was smoozing with the inspection lady) and came out looking nice and clean (they even did the dashboards and ALL the windows). By the time we were done with that the other places we had to go to were closed/closing soon.
On Wed Aerith went to the County Tax Office and got both cars registered (which costs LOTS of money when you're new to Texas) while I had my orientation session. After it was over, we met up and were able to walk to the Dept. of Public Safety. However, when we got there Aerith realized that he left something in the car, so he went back to get the car (I wasn't wearing good walking shoes) while I went across the street to use the restroom (they didn't have any in that building!!). When we finally got up to the lady to get our licenses she said that we had to have something official with our SSN on it. Now, I don't have my soc card. My mother does. I did have a photocopy of my birth certificate/soc card (which is what my father sent me the LAST time I asked him for my card...), so no license for me yet. However, Aerith was able to get his. My mom is sending me my card. yay. I think I also have a school transcript from Smith that is official and it may have my SSN on it. I believe they MAY also take that...but I'm not sure. So, that being said, I can't get mine yet.
On Tues in-between the car saga stuff (see cut above), we found a really yummy hamburger place called "Phil's Ice House". They let you put cucumbers on your burgers. This makes for one happy Athene!
On our way back towards home from there we found the local gaming store called...Dragon's Lair (does every area have one of these???).
On Wed I had my iSchool orientation. I found another Smithie (who just graduated) who was also a Classics major...so weird. I want to take so many of the classes!!! My advisor is the Asst. Dean and she seems pretty cool. Also had a meeting of the TAs at the lab. The job looks pretty cool. :)
In the evening we finally got to see Pirates:Dead Man's Chest. I liked it. The coolest part was the theatre that we saw it at. It's called the Alamo Drafthouse (there are a number of locations), and it re-defines "dinner & a movie" because they took out every other row of seats and have long tables with menus instead. You write down what you want and servers bring it to you during previews and even during the movie. Near the end of the movie they do a last call and then bring you your check. It's really cool!!! I bet that all the servers get back problems bending down to serve food without disturbing the patron's view of the screen.
On Thurs. I got up extra early and registered for my classes. I got into 3 of the 4 that i wanted and am 4th on the waitlist for the class I really really really want. So I registered for another class, but I'm going to go to the class i'm waitlisted for and hopefully get into it *crosses fingers*.
We ran more errands on Thursday and then went to the austinpoly dinner. Got to see apryl_knight and meet other cool people. Lots of talk about Ren fairs :)
Today lordaerith and I went by a bunch of theatres in the area and he dropped his resume off on them.
This evening we went to the Dragon's Lair where we ran into... Chris of spacecrime! It was good to see him :) Also got to meet boss/new gm's wife and their housemate and made friends with some other gamers :) Bought more stuff than we should have, but at 20% off...it was hard to resist.
Got home and got my work schedule. I'll be working two evenings a week and Saturday days...but that's okay. If I get into the class I want, I'll have Wed totally off. If not, I'll have to be at work for 8am for meeting and then I'll have the rest of the day off.
Tomorrow morning our stuff will arrive! Hurray!! The saga of our stuff:
On a week ago Monday when we were going crazy packing they called to tell us that the truck couldn't come until Wed, could we wait. As much as we wanted to say, "yes of course, we need the time", we had a cleaning service coming wed. morning and we knew we needed to be on the road on Tues b/c we had the reservations in Memphis on Thurs. So, as y'all know, the movers came on Tues. Actually, a smaller truck from the company came on Tues and they moved the stuff to the big truck on Wed. This Monday we call the moving company to find out when our stuff is coming. They say Thursday. Then when we're out and about the truck driver calls and says, "No, it's going to be Friday...but if you're very very lucky Thursday." So, we start to pick up the mess that we've made (mostly papers). Then, yesterday we get a call from the driver that basically goes like this:
Driver: Is Saturday okay to deliver your stuff?
Me: Umm..yes, but I'd really like it to be Friday, is that possible?
Driver: Not really, see, I had a minor heart attack two days ago.
Me: A heart attack. Saturday will be fine.
So, they're coming tomorrow morning. Sometime between 8:30 and 9.
And now, reading the Draconomicon while Aerith goes through Star Munchkin and then sleep.