Working for the Weekend

In today's news:

Crunch time begins today. Long live the crunch berries!

The Safeway/Von's nearest Built-in Bookcase is a podunk Safeway, with a nice homeless man outside and only one type of cocoa powder within.

Les and I went through every antique store in La Mesa yesterday. He ran back two stores to buy an owl that I'd admired while I was busily reading the covers of old books. He's a thoughtful guy :)

Phil arrives August 8th and I shall never really see him because I'll be working late. Fortunately, he can walk around the new 'hood and do stuff on his own. Provided he doesn't get lost on the way back.

Have a good week, y'all!

Stupid Wireless, Stupid Internet. And Michael Jackson.

An hour later, Hadji from Linksys customer service has restored my wireless network. Now I can only hope he goes to work at T-Mobile so he can get me better cell reception.

What I really had meant to talk about was R&B and Michael Jackson. Driving home tonight, they were playing Got to be There. Now, you don't hear One Bad Apple on any...shall we say...contemporary white-folk music stations. But I've heard a handful of Jackson 5 or early New Edition songs on the R&B stations that I listen to on the road.

Is the difference that Michael Jackson continued to release popular music until somewhat recently? Or that radio stations had it in for the clean-cut Osmond clan? Or that the Jacksons were better at picking and recording keepers? Who can say?

At any rate, I sang along at the top of my lungs as I drove home.

Heatwave

Tomorrow morning, we say farewell to ye olde apartment. Guess that means I need to go back and pick up the last few things sometime today!

Or more likely, tonight...it'll be about 100 over yonder during the day and I am not looking forward to it. Even at Built-in Bookcases, it's very warm. Thank goodness for the slight breeze blowing by -- even if it does mean that the neighbor in the building behind me and the one in my own building who smoke are wafting their wet ashtray smells into my apartment.

Chris' brother Steve and I walked down to the farmer's market this morning. At 9:30AM, it was already 84 degrees. I bought some stuff and then we walked back. This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to be able to do: walk places. If it weren't so warm, I'd walk down the street in the other direction to see what's down that way, too.

I feel as though I shall never climb out from the pile of boxes surrounding me. Right now, the XPS is perched on the rolling file cart in the middle of the living room, for the wireless got ornery the other day and I needed to shove LAN wires into its butt. Stupid computer things.

Okay, turning this baby off and going to sit under a ceiling fan, mapping out the contents of my kitchen cabinets. Keep cool!

...And In Health!

Finally, I feel better :) Must've been the lung I hacked up yesterday.

I've been digging out from under all the boxes. Still haven't found some of the very important things that I put "in a safe place" for the move. Next time I won't be so cautious. Apparently, the safe place is so secure that I won't ever see those items again.

We lost power at the office this afternoon, so after sitting around for a few minutes, we finally drifted off. To pass the time, I did a little tarot card reading for SteveD, but the results disturbed me so I brought the cards home to look at again. I hate when I turn the cards over in front of someone and I cannot find happiness in every card off the top of my head. I need to see if my reference books are anywhere accessible. If nothing else, I'll write down what turned up and look for answers when my books surface.

Cell phone reception in Built-in Bookcase Apartments is very spotty. I need to stand in my dining room and hold my phone sideways to get more than one bar of service. When we looked up our address on the T-Mobile website to see what sort of reception we should expect, we find that we are now at the heart of a zone with very poor coverage. Alas! Fortunately, I was standing in the dining room when Les called to invite me out to dinner Friday night. :)

...Continuing Sniffles

The cold that never seems to end continues its havoc with my sinuses. My tonsils are less swollen than they had been, but are still painful.

Thanks to Broos, this update is brought to you via wireless Chez Built-in Bookcase. Though I am surrounded by half-unpacked boxes and dozens of bits of kleenex, I am taking a moment to relax and check out the wireless from the safety of my room.

The laptop backlight has come back on and so I am completely wireless again. Yay! Thank you immensely, Broos! Now I just hope that you did not catch whatever it is that I have, for if you do get sick I will be wracked with guilt. :/

My date went pretty well, too, considering how less-than-well I'm feeling. We had a nice brunch (which I couldn't really plow into because of my cold, drat it all), a stroll along the beach and a viewing of a shirtless Orlando Bloom. And Les, who is a medic after all, manipulated my tonsils and said they weren't as bad as they could be (which is true, since they haven't yet blocked off my airway). I hope Les doesn't get sick either, or I'll be Typhoid Tracy.

...And More Sickness...

My cold deepens, but not my voice. Yet. Last night, Chris brought me hot and sour soup and I found that my voice was so high-pitched I sounded like a halfling.

The last things I need to pack up are this computer and the TiVo. I'll get those in the morning and then it's off to the new place. All I'll need to do here is clean up and get some little things from here to there.

Broos has provided a housewarming gift that I shall put to good use. :) He's such a sweetie.

And so, more Zicam and more liquids and then to bed. The day will begin early tomorrow. Wish us luck!

In Sickness...

The beginnings of a cold are upon me. :(

With a bottle of Zicam beside me, I am heading into battle. Long live the Zicam!

Les, Mr. Speed Date, invited me to brunch this coming Sunday, followed by a viewing of Pirates of the Carribean. Hopefully I won't have to sniffle my way through both events.

Yarr!

I haven't seen the movie yet as I want to pack the apartment. With breaks to go to lunch yesterday, sing bawdy songs in an Irish pub last night and have dim sum this morning, I have actually managed to pack up quite a bit. What's left are odds and ends that I pick up, go, "Hmm, how odd..." then put back down.



Which Pirates of the Caribbean character are you?

A hopeless romantic, what a surprise. :)

I may migrate to WordPress. Or not. It depends on how much of a pain it is for me to convert myself.

Time Drifters

We had our last game night at Kevin and Candyce's house. The place was packed with folks, some of whom hadn't been able to come to game night in ages. There was an surreal dream-like feeling. The faces were all familiar, the house was the same and yet inside it was different, crowded with boxes, bubble wrap and random items strewn about. They're leaving next week and I'll miss them both very much.

In my apartment in Hell, I am likewise surrounded by boxes, bubble wrap and random items. The heat is rising and so I'm taking a break from packing. Pretty soon, I'll need to head out to Temecula, where Broos, the So-a-Werewolf family and I are meeting up with Matt and Melissa for lunch. I haven't seen Matt and Melissa for at least three years.

Thursday, I met for coffee with one of the dudes from the speed dating event. That would be like the first date I've gone in years. He seems pretty normal, even-tempered and made me laugh at the speed date event, so he's the only person I marked down that I'd like to see again.

At the speed dating thing, everyone had a name tag and a number and you were supposed to write down their name next to the corresponding number on your "date sheet." I misunderstood and had been writing the guys' names in the order that I spoke with them, then realized around the fifth guy that I hadn't done it correctly. Les and I chatted about my mistake and how now I'd never be able to figure out which guy was what number. At the end of the session, the coordinator asked if anyone had questions and Les (still seated at my table) piped up, "Tracy has a question about these numbers..."

Numbers are always my downfall. :)

No Neighbors Named 'Linksys'

I took my laptop over to the new place but alas, there is but one wireless network in the area and it is secured. Our new apartment is in a mixed residential area, some multi-family (our building holds eight apartments) and some single-family. The density is much lower than it is in Hell, where this building alone has sixteen units (and I have no idea how many total buildings there are).

Chris' stepbrother Steve, who will be stationed up at Camp Pendleton before going to Afganistan (I believe), spent the weekend with us, but primarily helped us move boxes around. This was very kind of him, since it was a long weekend and hotter than anything. Standing still in Hell, I would look at a box and burst into sweat just thinking about packing it.

There are still lots of things in this old place, mostly mine. Chris packed up his own room and he and Steve ferried everything from the acoustic bass to the futon down to the new place, where Chris has been spending the past few nights. It's much cooler and quieter there, so I don't blame him. I'm going to stay in the old place, packing boxes now and then, feeding the cats and watering my plants. Only two more weeks before we're completely shifted over!

To cap off the weekend, Michelle invited me to come over and play games, eat pizza and watch fireworks from their backyard. It dawned on me that the first year I lived here, she invited me and I declined because I was unpacking. This time, I was close to declining because of packing, but hey! I deserve a bit of fun on the Fourth! So I stopped my chores and headed on over.

We saw five and a half firework displays. A good time was had by all. :)

Apartment in Hell

This is the apartment I currently live in and am moving out of. It's so freaking hot in here, it must be in hell. :(

Built-in Bookcase Apartments however have windows on both sides of the unit, plus the ceiling fans, which means a delightful cool air circulation. I moved over some boxes, went to my speed dating thing, then came back and sat in the new apartment reading until the sun started to set.

Back in Hell, I'm running the a/c because it's about 90 degrees inside. I cannot wait to transition completely to the new place. And I'm glad that I like it so well that I can spend the entire evening there with just a book and no furniture! Imagine how much I'll like it when I have my own stuff there! Yay!