new apartment!
Wow. I haven't updated in six weeks? That's pretty pathetic. But it's not all my fault. I had/have one or two more Disney cruise updates I wanted to do, but as you know, I like to include a photo with each entry. It's one of my OCD-like traits where if I do one cruise entry with photos then all of the cruise entries therefore need to have photos. But flickr has been problematic the last couple times I tried to upload photos. I also think I need to pay to continue my "pro" account soon, possibly now. But since I haven't been able to easily upload new pictures, I haven't been able to write a new cruise entry. So I decided to break the cruise entries up for now and do a regular catching-up sort of post.
So here I am. yay. We moved last weekend so that Brian could start his new program at UMass. He's had orientation all this week, and tonight he drove back to Boston to see some now-former coworkers because someone else was having a goodbye party. I felt exhausted earlier because I have a cold (probably brought on by the stress of moving), but now I seem to be more awake, and I just unpacked a couple more boxes. So as you can see, we're still getting settled. I haven't even unpacked my clothes from this big giant box yet. Most of them need to be washed, so I'd just be unpacking them to the laundry basket, but I can't yet because the laundry basket still has all my shoes in it. And it still has shoes in it because our old apartment had a shoe/coat closet but our new one has no easy place to store all that stuff, so it's stayed packed for now. But the rest of the bedroom looks ok (aside from the lack of tv in there, because there's no cable connection in the bedroom so we'll have to run wires from the living room), and tonight I focused on unpacking all the contents of the entertainment center.
I also started working remotely as of this week. Not having a commute, at least for now, is nice. As is getting to sleep till 8:00 (I could get up a little later if I really felt like it too, but I like having time to make tea and everything before work). Having a window right in front of my computer that looks out at a tree rather than a big office building is also nice, as is not being freezing like I always was in the office. It is weird not having everyone around, obviously, but I'm doing ok. There were lots of adjustments to the new office laptop and lots of little computer issues this week, but I think it's started to settle down. They mailed me a monitor and a keyboard. No mouse, but Brian has one he doesn't use. I think it was because (before I realized the touchpad of the laptop they gave me would be so bad) I told IT I didn't need a keyboard and mouse, and they remembered "no mouse" but sent a keyboard anyway. And new monitor plus new keyboard is kind of pointless with no new mouse. And they sent some weird thing that I forget the name of. Then today they also sent me my printer. And it just happens to be the exact same printer Brian and I just bought ourselves with Connor's printer rebate from his new laptop (Canon Pixma MX310). :P I figured the work printer wouldn't be anything good, and since we had to finally retire Brian's college printer, I had wanted to get a nice-ish one for us. I need to hook up the monitor and the keyboard this weekend... and also find a place to store that second printer. And I need to buy myself a desk at some point... I've been using Brian's for now, but his desktop computer has no place to go while I'm using his desk. The office room is going to be packed when everything's all set up... it may not even be able to fit our air mattress when it's inflated, so guests may have to end up sleeping on the air mattress in the living room. But that's not a big deal so much anymore because the living room in this place has carpeting whereas our last living room was hardwood floor.
The move itself went well I think. We did it all in basically one trip. Brian had brought up a few boxes earlier in the week when he went to get the key and wait for the cable/internet to be switched to the new place, and we also left behind the cleaning supplies so that we could go back and do one final cleanup before we left, but everything else went either into the truck or into Phann's or Andrew's cars. Kevin, Phann, and Andrew helped us load everything into the truck/cars and drive up (Brian and Kevin in truck, Andrew and I in Andrew's car, and Phann alone in his car since he knows the way pretty well because of his sister). Phann took a different route and got there way before us because we hit traffic. But when we got to the new place, Brian's two friends Kirk and Frank were there to help with unloading the truck. And Brian's father stopped by a little later to help too. That made the move in go much faster than the move out. And we're still unpacking, as I said, but all of the main stuff is unpacked. Most of what's left in boxes is just because of storage issues that need to be resolved.
Oh! And I registered to take an English class at UMass. UMass lets you take classes on a nondegree basis provided that space is open in the course. Supposedly the registration went through--the graduate English secretary had to add me in herself because it kept saying I didn't meet the course restrictions even though I did (only restriction was grad students only). But in their online system it still says I'm not registered for any classes. I've heard it takes a few days for it to show up in the system, but I might need to just confirm with the department next week if it hasn't shown up yet. I also need to buy books and possibly get an ID and learn where the class meets and how to get there from the bus stop. And I emailed Dan at work to ask about working different hours on Wednesdays (the course time got moved at the last minute from 6:00 to 4:00), and he hasn't written back yet, so I hope that ends up being ok. If not, I need to hope that a class that meets after 6:00 has spots open. I'm hoping to take a class now and another in the spring semester, and BU has already told me that they will transfer over when I start their program. It's going to save me like 10 grand because classes at UMass are so much cheaper. Classes start Wednesday. I hope it all works out ok. I'm a little nervous.
So I guess that's it. New apartment, new class (hopefully), new work environment, and new schedule for Brian. It's nice to have a break from the usual routine that we'd gotten into over the past four years, but I'm just hoping it all ends up working out. I am just waiting for something to wrong with this class that I added--work won't let me "leave" before 5:00, or I somehow won't be able to afford it, or the registration won't have gone through and I'll be shut out, or the bus will be so erratic that I'll have to leave work too early to get to campus on time. I tend to over-worry about things. And I hope Brian's first real week of school goes well next week. I will try to update more now that I'll inevitably have more time to myself without a work commute.
So here I am. yay. We moved last weekend so that Brian could start his new program at UMass. He's had orientation all this week, and tonight he drove back to Boston to see some now-former coworkers because someone else was having a goodbye party. I felt exhausted earlier because I have a cold (probably brought on by the stress of moving), but now I seem to be more awake, and I just unpacked a couple more boxes. So as you can see, we're still getting settled. I haven't even unpacked my clothes from this big giant box yet. Most of them need to be washed, so I'd just be unpacking them to the laundry basket, but I can't yet because the laundry basket still has all my shoes in it. And it still has shoes in it because our old apartment had a shoe/coat closet but our new one has no easy place to store all that stuff, so it's stayed packed for now. But the rest of the bedroom looks ok (aside from the lack of tv in there, because there's no cable connection in the bedroom so we'll have to run wires from the living room), and tonight I focused on unpacking all the contents of the entertainment center.
I also started working remotely as of this week. Not having a commute, at least for now, is nice. As is getting to sleep till 8:00 (I could get up a little later if I really felt like it too, but I like having time to make tea and everything before work). Having a window right in front of my computer that looks out at a tree rather than a big office building is also nice, as is not being freezing like I always was in the office. It is weird not having everyone around, obviously, but I'm doing ok. There were lots of adjustments to the new office laptop and lots of little computer issues this week, but I think it's started to settle down. They mailed me a monitor and a keyboard. No mouse, but Brian has one he doesn't use. I think it was because (before I realized the touchpad of the laptop they gave me would be so bad) I told IT I didn't need a keyboard and mouse, and they remembered "no mouse" but sent a keyboard anyway. And new monitor plus new keyboard is kind of pointless with no new mouse. And they sent some weird thing that I forget the name of. Then today they also sent me my printer. And it just happens to be the exact same printer Brian and I just bought ourselves with Connor's printer rebate from his new laptop (Canon Pixma MX310). :P I figured the work printer wouldn't be anything good, and since we had to finally retire Brian's college printer, I had wanted to get a nice-ish one for us. I need to hook up the monitor and the keyboard this weekend... and also find a place to store that second printer. And I need to buy myself a desk at some point... I've been using Brian's for now, but his desktop computer has no place to go while I'm using his desk. The office room is going to be packed when everything's all set up... it may not even be able to fit our air mattress when it's inflated, so guests may have to end up sleeping on the air mattress in the living room. But that's not a big deal so much anymore because the living room in this place has carpeting whereas our last living room was hardwood floor.
The move itself went well I think. We did it all in basically one trip. Brian had brought up a few boxes earlier in the week when he went to get the key and wait for the cable/internet to be switched to the new place, and we also left behind the cleaning supplies so that we could go back and do one final cleanup before we left, but everything else went either into the truck or into Phann's or Andrew's cars. Kevin, Phann, and Andrew helped us load everything into the truck/cars and drive up (Brian and Kevin in truck, Andrew and I in Andrew's car, and Phann alone in his car since he knows the way pretty well because of his sister). Phann took a different route and got there way before us because we hit traffic. But when we got to the new place, Brian's two friends Kirk and Frank were there to help with unloading the truck. And Brian's father stopped by a little later to help too. That made the move in go much faster than the move out. And we're still unpacking, as I said, but all of the main stuff is unpacked. Most of what's left in boxes is just because of storage issues that need to be resolved.
Oh! And I registered to take an English class at UMass. UMass lets you take classes on a nondegree basis provided that space is open in the course. Supposedly the registration went through--the graduate English secretary had to add me in herself because it kept saying I didn't meet the course restrictions even though I did (only restriction was grad students only). But in their online system it still says I'm not registered for any classes. I've heard it takes a few days for it to show up in the system, but I might need to just confirm with the department next week if it hasn't shown up yet. I also need to buy books and possibly get an ID and learn where the class meets and how to get there from the bus stop. And I emailed Dan at work to ask about working different hours on Wednesdays (the course time got moved at the last minute from 6:00 to 4:00), and he hasn't written back yet, so I hope that ends up being ok. If not, I need to hope that a class that meets after 6:00 has spots open. I'm hoping to take a class now and another in the spring semester, and BU has already told me that they will transfer over when I start their program. It's going to save me like 10 grand because classes at UMass are so much cheaper. Classes start Wednesday. I hope it all works out ok. I'm a little nervous.
So I guess that's it. New apartment, new class (hopefully), new work environment, and new schedule for Brian. It's nice to have a break from the usual routine that we'd gotten into over the past four years, but I'm just hoping it all ends up working out. I am just waiting for something to wrong with this class that I added--work won't let me "leave" before 5:00, or I somehow won't be able to afford it, or the registration won't have gone through and I'll be shut out, or the bus will be so erratic that I'll have to leave work too early to get to campus on time. I tend to over-worry about things. And I hope Brian's first real week of school goes well next week. I will try to update more now that I'll inevitably have more time to myself without a work commute.