Beth's Contradictory Brain

Dallas

We're headed to Dallas at some ungodly hour in the morning to go see The Kid for his birthday. Although, he's been insisting for weeks he's already six.

You know me, I'm just looking forward to the Whataburgers!! It's our first stop before home on the way from the aiport to the house.

With all the craziness of the past month, traveling seems a little more tiring than usual. It'll be well worth it though!

Back on Tuesday...

Lesbian = Fat?

This is an interesting, short, news article.

"Lesbians are twice as likely as heterosexual women to be overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for obesity-related health problems and death, U.S. researchers said."

AND

"The results of these studies indicate that lesbian women have a better body image than do heterosexual women," they wrote.

Maybe straight women are just too skinny!

What sucks about this article though is the lack of any real info about diet, exercise, self image or anything else. And I didn't see a link to the actual research.

Any thoughts?

So Cool

One of the other Beths I've been reading for a long time now got to argue a case in front of the US Supreme Court. How cool is that?

Excited and Nervous

Yesterday I finally had the final interview for the job I've been hoping to get at the hospital. It was a "peer" interview, where you chat with three of your potential coworkers. It's an idea I really like. The three I met with seemed nice enough, I'd say we talked for about ten minutes, nothing too serious. From what I can tell they mostly want someone who's not going to call in sick all the time.

Today I got the official job offer. I start on the 7th, which is ok because I'll be out of town this coming Monday anyway. We're going to Dallas to see The Kid for his birthday!

A couple more cool things about this hospital are that on your very first day instead of spending it with HR doing orientation, you spend it hanging out in your actual department getting to know the folks, then you spend two days with HR doing all the fun paperwork. Also, over the course of the first month, once a week they give you and a supervisor and/or coworker vouchers to go to lunch to have some "down time" to get to know them.

I'll be working in the outpatient lab just like I was hoping to. We do the blood draws. Then the main lab is down the hall where they process everything. The overall supervisor, who I've spoken with more than would be normal because the lab manager is on vacation, told me there are at least 40 nationalities representated in the employees of the lab. I think that's cool. Also, this will be the first job in many years where I don't have all female bosses and coworkers - yippee!!

It's always a little nerve-wracking to be the new guy at a job. But I can't tell you how excited I am to finally be employed again - at a job I really think will be a good one!

Switch

It's time to change from the flannel sheet back to the cotton ones. But I don't want to. Yes, eventually I'll come to love the crisp, cool feeling, it's just going to take a while not to miss the warm, soft snugglyness of the flannel.

Like Clockwork

My poor Nerdstar. I don't know anyone who has worse luck flying than she does.

I knew yesterday there was supposed to be really bad weather in Dallas today. Of course, Nerdstar's flight from San Diego to DC was supposed to go through - Dallas. She tried getting her flight changed, but for some reason the travel people arranging things for her for this Army stuff couldn't get it done.

Now, well, she's stuck in Odessa, Texas.

You all know how much we love Texas. Not Odessa. It's an icky little town in the middle of nowhere.

After way too many hours sitting on the plane, they finally let them off the plane. This is one of those good news/bad news things. Good in that she's not stuck it a little seat surrounded by other people and starving. (She did say there was a Pizza Hut exec on the plane, and while they were sitting there and sitting there, a bunch of pizzas were delivered. That was cool.) Bad in that I guess that means they've given up on getting the plane to a bigger city where she would have some hope of actually getting a flight to DC before the sun comes up in the morning. With all the real cities in Texas, I'm just not sure why a major airline would divert to somewhere like Odessa.

She had to call her manager to let her know she probably won't make it in tomorrow. She also called her Army unit and they're supposed to extend her orders to cover getting paid for sitting on a plane all day.

Not fun. I was all ready for snuggle time tonight!

UPDATE: She finally made it to DFW after midnight and had to sleep in the airport.

She's on a plane back to DC now and should be here early this afternoon.

Happy Anniversary Baby!!

8 years. 8 very full years. I have no idea where I'd be, or what I'd be doing without my Nerdstar. Other than the snuggles, I'd say all of our travels have been the highlights of the past 8 years.

Here's to an even better 8 more years!! I love you - even if it's all your fault.

Tasty Treats

I've spent a lot of the day watching the Discovery Channel's "Planet Earth" series.

I must say it's a stunningly beautiful, eat or be eaten world!

Photo Blog

I started a Blogger blog to more easily post pics on. Hope you like it!!

Sighs of Relief

It's a beautiful weekend and the packing is going along pretty well. With Nerdstar gone until Tuesday night, I've got plenty of time.

I don't know if she'll totally agree or not, but I think Nerdstar and I are both glad for a little time apart. Five days will be a longer break than I'd like, but...

With all the shit of the past two or three weeks it's been hard on "us". The upside is that we had a couple of really good conversations about everything. Not only have the past few weeks been tough, but I think the past four years have been tough. Tough circumstances for a relationship. Her year and a half gone with the Army to Ft. Lewis/Iraq, the moves to Kansas City, PA and now DC. My times of extended unemployment. What I think came out is that we have totally different perspectives and takes on the past four years, each blaming the other for different things. I hope we're starting to see each other's side a little better.

As always, I'm optimistic about the future. Things look really good for getting the job I want at the hospital. Hopefully we'll finish up the final peer interview this coming week and it goes well so we can schedule when I start orientation. My finally working again will go miles in relieving a lot of stress.

As soon as I find the cord for the camera to the computer I'm going to try to start posting more pics.

Better!

What a difference 24 - 48 hours can make!!

We got moved into the new apartment yesterday. Paying the movers was definitely money well spent - and it ended up costing about $120 less than estimated!

Then, miracle of miracles, we have both working cable and internet already set up in the new place! I had called Cox Communications the other day, but didn't like the sales guy much. When Nerdstar went to the apt. office yesterday to sign her part of the paperwork, she talked to the leasing guy and he said he'd get back to us with better contact info for cable. This morning before I got a chance to head to the office, he called and gave me the name of someone at Cox. That was at about 11 this morning. It's now only 4 p.m. and service is already up and running. Amazing. And the installation was free!

The only sad part of my day is that Nerdstar left this morning for part of her annual Army drill stuff. She'll be gone until Tuesday night.

I'm such a bad girlfriend, I just couldn't make myself wake up this morning to take her to the airport. We got into bed about 1:30 in the morning and I couldn't sleep well. The alarm was set for 5:35. I'm hoping she's getting in some good naps on the flights!

The new apartment feels so much better. Like a darkness has been lifted. Even the cats seem to be much happier here, they were all running around instead of hiding like they did the first couple of days at the icky place.

Even the weather continues to improve.

Bad Week

Let me preface this entry by saying how terrible what happened at VT is, and how much I pray for God's comfort for all those affected.

Well, last Saturday we did manage to find a better apartment. It's out in a little more suburban feeling area and seems to be a better property all around. While it's been a complete headache to move twice in about a three week period, we both believe it's going to be worth it in the long run. Tomorrow the movers show up again.

As is typical of all things - we finally got internet service today, now I guess we'll have to see how long it takes them to transfer it to the new apartment.

For the bad parts. As Nerdstar wrote about, we spent Saturday evening with friends and their sick little boy. Monday I got totally sick, fever, nauseous, all of it. Spent the next 24 hours emptying out everything in me. Poor Nerdtar got a little sick yesterday, but never did throw up everything like I did. I'm slowly starting to eat again, but every muscle in my torso hurts from all the hurling!

In the middle of being sick, the weather here was terrible and the winds hit at least 50 mph and blew my motorcycle over - twice! Thankfully the only thing damanged was the mirrors. But, it just adds more things to the seemingly endless list of things that have to be taken care of.

So that's what's up around here. It's feeling like the longest month of my life - aside from the terrible time Nerdstar was in Iraq.

But, I am optimistic things are going to get better soon!

Patience is a virtue

Life is still pretty sucky here in our new city. The water at the apt. is getting warmer – but still not HOT. It’s kinda hard to do things like laundry and dishes without hot water. We’re looking at different apartment complexes, but so far we’re not really having much luck. We’ve got maybe three or four to look at on Saturday. Of course, finding a better place just means packing up everything we just unpacked, and finding a way to get it moved. But if we don’t find a better place, I’m afraid we’ll be unhappy the entire time we have to live in this apt. I’m afraid it just won’t feel like “home” – and that’s an icky feeling.

We still don’t have internet at the current apt. We contacted Verizon the other day, the only other choice is Comcast, and one of Nerdstar’s coworkers had horror stories about Comcast. Verizon was really prompt in sending the actual equipment for DSL, but now it could be a whole extra week before their “machines” can be bothered to actually turn the service on. WTF?

We found a really cool diner close to where Nerdstar works, and it has free wifi that’s actually fast and reliable. Yesterday I got lucky and got a table back in the corner next to a plug because our laptop doesn’t hold a charge for very long.

It’s hard to find anything in a new city without internet access. We need to do searches for apartments, then we need Google maps for directions. We can’t find things like a dog park for Ramen, or movie times, or places to eat. We’ve done quite a bit of driving around and trying restaurants we see – that’s gone pretty well most of the time.

It’s all just so constantly frustrating. Every day I hope something, anything, will get better, and usually each day just brings more frustration. I try to keep in mind that eventually all these frustrations will be resolved. But then there will just be new ones.

Even the weather has sucked since we got here. Although, I’m pretty sure it sucks more where we were living.

One bright spot is that I went back to do more in the process of hopefully getting hired at the hospital I’d like to work at. With any luck, next week will bring the final step in the process.

Not Having Fun

Well, I think we're finding out just how ghetto our apartment really is - and are seriously looking into finding another one. UGH!!!!

The apt. doesn't have hot water. Then there's the downstairs neighbors who apparently run a daycare out of the place. Then there's the funky smell from the oven when we've used it. And a few other things.

We talked with the upstairs neighbor who's lived there for four years and the info she gave us was pretty bad.

We don't have internet set up at the new place yet. I've had spotty luck with free wifi signals, but not that great.

Most of the apartments in this area have a 30 day trial period where you can just pay the days you're there and get out of the lease. So if we can figure out how to move our stuff again - and find a better apartment that won't break out bank... UGH!!! We just really got everything unpacked and put away. Nerdstar's going to check with work and see about using the allotted $$ she hasn't used up for this move. There was another complex that seemed nice, just gotta see about prices again.

I haven't heard back from the hospital I'd like to work out. Not sure how long to wait before talking with a couple of the placement agencies that have called me. The job finding situation is stressful enough - adding it to having to find another apartment - it all brought me to tears tonight.

Needless to say neither of us are happy. It's hard not taking it out on each other, but we're trying not to.

I still think we can like life in the DC area - it's just been really hard to get settled in.

Say some prayers for us. I'll update when I get a chance.

UPDATE: It wouldn't let me post a comment on my own blog... ugh!

Rhea, We're finding that there's probably at least a short list of illegal things about this complex - like the alleged daycare being ran out of the two downstairs apartments.

Life in a really big city is so fun!

Settling In

The movers delivered all of our lovely stuff at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning. Nerdstar has to work all this week, so I spent the day figuring out where things go and what needed to be unpacked sooner rather than later.

The evening was one of the most fun we've had in a long time - we spent it trying to get our two very stubborn cats out from behind the washing machine where they seemed to think they were stuck. All I can say is they're lucky I didn't kill them once we got them out. We barely got the washing machine out of it's little space enough to lean it forward to the cats could climb up the back of it. The girl cat had no trouble. The boy cat - who could jump 12 feet if he wanted - acted like he was at the bottom of a deep well and just couldn't be bothered to get out.

Yesterday I hit a wall and just didn't get much done. Moving always makes everything feel so out of place and out of sorts. I'm really ready to feel like things are all squared away. We haven't even started unpacking the kitchen. We did find a really nice grocery store in the neighborhood.

Cheap and Lo-Fi

We can get wi-fi access on the laptop in the new apartment and I'm content to use free wi-fi. I'm just not clear on the ups/downs of using unsecure free wi-fi. Any suggestions?

I also bought a $10 old fashioned tv antennae today in hopes we can pick up the local channels and won't have to mess with Comcast cable. I think we can live without cable and dvr, I just might go through withdrawl for a short while. There are better things to do around here than sit and watch cable news and yell at the tv.

Happenings

Slowly but surely this move is happening.

Nerdstar and the poor cats arrived Sunday evening to check out the new place. It was a rough night for my poor Nerdstar. It was just her and the cats, a sleeping bag, and a laptop - without internet. Silly cat yelled at Nerdstar almost all night and kept her awake. Little Man has decided he's just going to live in the closet.

We've joked about our new place being ghetto, Sunday night she really felt that way. There was a dead mouse on a mouse strip under the sink. She could hear music playing till 3 a.m. Things like that. Talking with her on the phone, I was starting to feel that little sense of dread about this whole move thing.

Monday morning the movers showed up and put all of our stuff into a truck. That's always nerve racking. I finally got on the road about 1:30 with Ramen.

It was my turn to see the new place. (We saw a different apartment than the one we actually moved into when we decided to move into this particualr complex.) It's really not at all bad. No, there aren't any right angles in the place, everything seems a little crooked and the floors aren't level. But it has the largest bedroom and living rooms we've had anywhere. The bathroom and kitchen could be bigger - but that's always true in apartments. And at least now we have a garbage disposal and dishwasher in addition to the washer and dryer.

It seems to be a lively area to live in. There are lots of kids and families outside in the evening. I like that.

Tomorrow morning the movers arrive with all of our stuff and I'm pretty sure by Sunday night we'll have it all unpacked.

We've been staying in the same hotel we stayed at last time - which is really nice. I haven't looked to see what brand of beds they have, it's the only bed we've ever had in a hotel room that's better than our bed at home.

Cold, Rainy Sunday

Nerdstar left for our new apt. this morning. She's got to give them lots of money in exchange for the keys. Lucky her has the cats with her - to yell at her a lot while driving. Poor pets, they really don't like moving.

Me and Ramen dog get to deal with the movers tomorrow. They're going to show up about 8 a.m. I think we did a little better at packing this time. Third time's a charm, I guess. We're letting the movers pack all the little breakable stuff and the dishes and pots and pans. But everything else is all boxed up.

We still don't know if they're going to deliver our stuff Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm pretty optimistic it'll be early Tuesday.

By this time next week we should be pretty well settled in.