undeep_thoughts

Did everybody have a lovely 4th of July weekend? We got Friday off to observe the Federal Holiday and I spent the day eating and watching tv. Heh, aren't those the ultimate in all-American activities? Anyway, Rachel and I did a bit of a Veronica Mars marathon. It's so well written that I think this is the third time I've watched it despite it being set in high school (oh, the teenage angst!).

I fulfilled all my social needs on Friday so on Saturday (you know, the actual holiday) I barely left my apartment (Holiday? What holiday?). I did get some chores done (1170 square feet of floor is a few too many to keep clean for my taste) but otherwise I vegged the whole day away (yay!).

Then on Sunday I went to my first ever SF Giants game. Yay!!!! I always love a good Major League baseball game and this time I was extra, extra lucky because it was a free ticket. For those of you who care here are the stats:

• SF Giants vs. Houston Astros
• Cloudy then sunny skies. Mid 80s. Breezy. Sunscreen prevented any sunburn
• Not a fan of either team (zzzzzz) so that means I was there for 1) food and 2) home runs, baby!!
• Tickets were for 2-3 rows behind the Giants dugout!!!!! (Price of the tickets? $88!!!)
• Well, I should delete some of those !!!! because, dude, those people in that section are jaded.
• JADED!! Kinda wet blankety, too. I cheered all that much louder every time the Astros got a home run just for them >:)
• Hot dogs were good, but still not as heavenly as the ones I had at the Metrodome in 2001 *sigh* *drool*
• Refused to take my hat off when they made us stand for God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch
• Since it was 4th of July weekend apparently every team, including the Giants, wore red hats
• Astros kicked Giants a$$ 7-1. Any team that charges $30 for parking deserves to lose, I say
• Four (or was it five?) home runs total (yay!!!)
• I think Giants name refers to the size of their egos
• I'd only heard of one of the players (opening pitcher for SF - Randy Johnson - ooold guy)
• Jumbotron layout? Craptacular!!  Though I did find out Matsui san of the Astros was born nine days after me in Osaka, Japan
• Gimme another free ticket and I'll go again anytime (though I'd prefer to take in another A's game)

Next year I'll really have to consider taking in some fireworks. And maybe participate in a bbq. It's good to have goals, you know?

Well, looks like the horror of summer has finally (finally!) descended on Sacramento. I'm in dire need of groceries, but I'm afraid I'm just not in the mood to face 106 degree temps for things like lettuce. I swear this is not complaining! After all this the first bit of extended heat we've had all year and it hasn't quite managed to burn all those June days of highs in the 70s out of my mind... yet. Maybe it's because I have the luxury of A/C this year (I'm cheap enough that I love having A/C but even better I love having it but not needing it). Amazingly enough, I somehow found the willpower to use the treadmill this afternoon. Probably because I was feeling guilty for bailing on goth club night. Let me just put it this way, I have plenty of black clothes, I just lack summery, light black clothes.  

In vacation news, at the end of July I'll be heading east on Amtrak. I guess last year's jaunt to Denver didn't leave any lingering bad memories because I'll be doing that again this year. Once in Colorado, I'll be heading with Mike et al up to the Grand Tetons National Park for camping. Mom and Dad and maybe R&R will be joining us from Utah. Once we're done camping I'll head back to Utah and take Amtrak home from SLC. I'm already digging deep inside to draw forth my inner calm and relaxation for the 30+ hour trip.

Basically, I have no money for vacations of any sort (thank you, lovely new apartment!!) but I really need to get away from work. While I don't work directly with our Dean a whole lot, she has managed to suck the life/fun/willpower to work out of me. It was hard to imagine employee morale getting any lower than when we had our interim dean in charge, but the current Dean has surpassed that beyond all belief. We're also facing vast budget cuts next (fiscal) year and furloughs and/or layoffs loom nigh. Let's have a round of cheers for pay cuts!! Anyway, I need a break from all that and how could a 30 hour trip on a train not distract me from all that?

So I'm working the 5-9 shift tonight and I gotta ask: How many social networking sites can one person have open on a computer at once without going insane (I've got three plus my email)? How many times can a person hit refresh before giving up on anybody responding? And, most importantly, how many social networking sites does it take to make a person really, truly feel desperately alone in the world? Hee, as you can tell a night of Facebook, Twitter, LJ and email is just not all that effective for passing a four-hour desk shift.

Let's talk about something else, instead, shall we? Mmm, I think I have all this crazy energy because of the excessive coffee I drank today. Hee. Oh, and because I'm back on my treadmill for the first time since moving. My new place is very, very vibrate-y (you should have heard the place rumbling in last week's thunderstorm) and sound travels with utmost ease between the units so I've been hesitant to inflict the noise and vibrations on the new neighbors. But when weight-loss plan took a turn for the worse (*sigh*), I basically thought screw the neighbors! I still only plug away on the thing during reasonable hours but I hope none of them will complain to the landlady about the noise. Don't hate me because I'm fat!!!

I had a lovely, though too short, little weekend. Phoebe surprised me Friday by accepting my invitation to see The Juan MacLean in SF on Saturday. Yay!! I was bracing myself for trying to stay awake for the drive home at 2:00 am not to mention trying to think how I going to try to look as unalone as possible while at the show. You know I'm not one of those cool kids who can tap away at a cellphone while waiting...

Anyway, the show was great!! For once, both the mysterious opening DJs (why does the Mezzanine never publicize the "support" as I believe they're called? grr) and the opening "band, " The Field, were all fabulous. I guess it helped that I was there specifically to see The Field (last time I tried one of the guys couldn't make it through customs). Heh, Mr. The Field - who I think is a solo type artist - hired a couple bodies for support and it was totally worth it. I love how he hired somebody else to look bored playing the laptop while he  and another guy played the soundboard. Oh! And Mr. Mustache (as Phoebe called him) even played a little xylophone during one of the songs. Hee. [Do you know how long it's been since I had to spell xylophone? So long that I had to look it up!] Now I'm debating actually buying their new cd rather than waiting for eMusic to load it. Mmmm, xylophone...

The headliners, The Juan MacLean, despite a rather crappy lead singer (incredibly weak voice, could barely be shouty enough though she was quite the snappy dresser), also rocked. I just have to say that when I arrive to see a stage swarming with percussion type instruments (seriously, one of them I couldn't even begin to identify), I'm a happy, happy girl. More cowbell!!! Plus, I loved how they took a 10-minute song and made it 20... mmm with percussion. Beautiful, beautiful percussion. I was a little surprised that Mr. MacLean et co. put up and tore down their own instruments. Heh, if only I had something interesting to say to them, I totally would have thrown myself at them while they were working. But noooo, I'm too shy.

All in all, it was the best concert I've been to in a long time. Ok, so I haven't exactly been to a concert in a long time, but still. A thoroughly enjoyable time!

By the by, in case you're not following the Facebook (and I know you're not!) I finally got my tenure letter the other day. Yay! All thumbs up for both tenure and promotion. Yay!!! It all kicks in with the start of the 09/10 academic year. By all, I mean the hardness to ever get rid of me as well as the raise that accompanies the promotion. Did I mention, YAY!!!

Just to fill in the details a bit, our tenure letters were supposedly due May 22nd (read, put in the mail the 22nd) but as of this morning I still haven't gotten my copy in the mail! I waited patiently until Monday, then trekked myself over to HR to get a print copy. I'm glad I did because the post office is falling down on that whole forwarding job. The provost (and his minions) must have started working on the letters quite some time before the deadline because I filled out that change of address in mid-April and yet my letter had my old address.

But alls well that ends well (or starts, at the Provost was sure to mention of my career here). I'm trying to pin down a date for the big housewarming/tenure party. I'm thinking of having it July 3rd (University is closed to observe the 4th of July). I'm kinda hoping tons of people won't be in town and can't make it. Guess I'd better decide soon because these days sure are flying by.

with titles I like (because I can't resist a hackneyed reference):

Up Against the Sprawl: Public Policy and the Making of Southern California
Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age
Joy of SOX: Why Sarbanes-Oxley and Service-oriented Architecture May be the Best Thing that Ever Happened to You
Indecent Disclosure : Gilding the Corporate Lily (that one was so good I ordered it twice!)

If you want to check them out, I'm afraid you're on your own for finding the call numbers.

Can you tell I'm working my first solo four-hour desk shift? *sigh* On one hand I'm working alone (booooring) on the other hand my co-workers all are stopping to chat as they leave. GO! So I can get my work done then goof off for a couple hours.

I just put in a whole new load of laundry (*sigh* as some of my neighbor toddled off to do something fun since they always do their laundry weeknights *sigh*) and have even more time to yammer about nothing.

I just thought you'd like to know that the letter from the Provost with the final decision on my tenure and promotion is now a full week late. Considering this whole tenure thing was/is a multiyear process, I don't think an extra week is that big a deal to wait. On the other hand, come on!! How long does it take the Post Office to forward mail? My co-worker got his letter Tuesday and got a yes to both tenure and promotion. Yay! Him. As I've said before, I'm not terribly worried, but late at night I can't help but speculate if they send out the rejects later...

In other work news, I've sort of volunteered myself for a hellish schedule this summer. First, I'll be working all Wednesday night shifts in June.  New for this year the person doing the late shift (5-9) will be doing it completely alone (no student assistant, no double librarians). I've done this before at UW and SLU, so I'm not worried... except for maybe my sanity. Those nights have historically been sssssllllllllllllloooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww (thus the single staffing). Maybe I'll make a resolution to update my LJ a lot this summer. See who I can drive crazy first.

I've also volunteered for a host of Saturday shifts - three in June alone. What have I done???? They're only four-hour shifts - mine will be 1-5 - but I can't believe I'll have to be at work six days a week most of summer. Again, what the hell was I thinking????? And in case you were wondering, no this does not mean I get more money. I'll just take comp time. *sob* Happy summer everybody!!

If anybody's still reading my LJ, but wondering why I've not been updating much, I guess my attention span is guilty of drifting towards Facebook and (much less so) Twitter. However, I still have paid time left on LJ so it's not as though I'm not feeling guilty for the lack of attention I'm giving my journal here.

Of course, the other reason I'm not updating is that not much is really happening with me these days. It's all work, eat, relax, watch tv, not sleep, and repeat. A million people are still asking me how living here is going and I have to say life on J Street is still pretty sweet. I have no major complaints. I can think of a few minor ones (if you insist, oh, you do?) Heh. Well, hardly a day goes by that somebody's not doing laundry. That kinda grates on my nerves. How much dirty clothes do people have, anyway? Guess what I'm doing right now? Hee.

The only other "bad" thing is that I have some of my favorite plant right outside my bedroom window (the one I "discovered" last year), yet I haven't been able to smell them at all this season. I've always found it a bit tricky to catch even the shortest whiff of scent. Now I'm afraid that having them right under my nose isn't helping things at all. Grr.

See how I wasn't lying about my life being a tad dull? Content does not make for entertaining LJ reading, now does it?

After working my last weekend shift on Saturday, I had a quite enjoyable weekend. tito_70 and I enjoyed a spot of tea at A Touch of Britain. Mmm, this time I could actually taste it and enjoy the experience without hacking. Yay!

I saw the new Star Trek movie not once, but twice over the weekend. Debbie, Spencer and I went to an early showing Thursday (we snuck into the 8:30 instead of waiting for the10:00 for which I had tickets because line? what line? and there were plenty of good seats left at 8:30). Let me just say JJ Abrams brought the fun back into the franchise. Yay! And I've got one word for the fanboys re: Spock and Uhura - SUCKIT you pansies!!!! It was so enjoyable I had to take myself again after work Saturday. I'm definitely willing to go again if anybody is looking for an escort :)

Sunday night I got the best sleep in weeks so that's why today I was motivated to decorate the place. Heh, I was sick of my wall decor collecting dust sitting around (that's what hanging on the wall is for!!). Anyway, I re-read the house rules (again!) and saw that I can put nail holes in the wall, just not an "excessive" amount. Yippee!  Your reward for all this is a photographic tour. I think we're all happy when I get plentiful sleep ^__^

Here's a quicky to tide us all over until I get more time to post. The weekend in Utah for my brother's wedding was nice. The rain actually stopped for the ceremony and all. But I got treated to a super-nifty thunderstorm on Sunday. Woot!  We get very, very few thunderstorms here in Sacramento , so that was definitely a treat.

Yesterday, I went to a Rivercats game (AAA farm team for Oakland A's). A coach for the other team (Reno Aces) was a baseball player I had a childhood crush on! And when I say childhood, I mean childhood. It was back when he was a player for the Atlanta Braves from 1981-1983. *sigh* I barely restrained myself from dashing down and asking for his autograph ^__^

I haven't been posting much lately because I've been a wee bit sick. As certain people can attest, I've been hacking my way through the past week. This past weekend I even passed up a frozen yogurt extravaganza. Yeah, that's how icky I've been feeling. I know it's just been a deadly combination of allergies and cold but after getting back to work Monday I learned of all this swine flu going around. And that one case in California? Just down the road from me! While I have many of the swine flu symptoms, I lack the whole fever and chills aspects. As long as I don't end up bleeding out of all my orifices like they did in the 1918 flu pandemic, I'll be happy.

( Moving adventures ahoy! )

So there it is, the story the move of 2009, short edition. Any burning questions? Any details you need to know but think I've left out? Wellll, ask away!

Done moving. Exhausted. Too much detail to tell. Exhausted. Done unpacking. Exhausted. I'm calling in sick to work tomorrow. Exhaustion.

The house warming will be later so don't even start asking.

Life's been a bit hellish lately. No, nothing serious happening, just a massive lack of sleep that has been slowly killing me. I'm not one of those people who can happily function without sleep. Nope, not me. Couldn't have that! Anyway, it's been making me a mindless automaton at work this past week and it's happening at a bad time because I've got so much committee work coming due. I want to be a contributor - I really do - but I feel like useless slug. Meh.

Fortunately, I got lots of sleep last night. I went to bed at 11:30 pm and barely managed to get up and shower at 10:00 am. Mmmm, now that's what I call a lovely night ^__^ I've been a bit sluggish today, but still managed to get my lease signed (yay!) and took some time to search for a bit of furniture. [Did I  mention the termites? The ones that I'm not sure if they've infested my furniture or not? And the fact that I'd feel sooooo horrible if I took them to my new place.] I didn't actually buy any furniture, but I feel in my near future I will once again the feeling the warm embrace of endless credit card debt. Oh, how I've missed that. *sob*

I have the smallest bit of packing left to do but I'm feeling more of a need to rest and prepare myself for tomorrow's seven-hour desk shift. Hopefully everybody will think the place is closed since it's Easter. Yeah, I feel I'm doomed to disappointment on that one. *sigh* Instead, maybe I'll just hope for lots of sleep tonight so I can deal with the endless joy of work coming my way tomorrow!

While I'm taking a break from Sunday chores (picking up more boxes, hand washing various bits of backpackery, running to Target and spending tons of money on nothing fun) I thought I'd yak for a bit about last week's hike since I forgot to do it earlier.

My friend Spencer and I traveled to the East Bay to do about a seven-mile hike down, up, around Mount Diablo. We had perfect weather - 70 degrees, sunny, and breezy - for our little jaunt. There are tons of different trails in the park, but I chose this particular one because I was wanting to try something a bit longer. At one point we kept going downhill and moving further and further away from the summit (our hike started almost at the top). My poor legs knew what goes down must come back up ^__^

Anyway, we saw some nifty flowers. I was on allergy meds so I smelled some really nice plants (one time it was root beer - I swear!!).  We didn't see too many furry critters, but we hiked midday and there were tons of birds flying overhead so you can just do that equation. There was, of course, a gorgeous view from the top. The valley was a bit hazy, so I couldn't actually see Sacramento. But I could see the Sierras to the east, downtown SF and the Golden Gate Bridge to the west and plenty of other stuff in between. Nice!

And it only took until Saturday for my leg muscles to recover ^__^ (Oh, acid build-up, how do I love thee!) I'll post the photos when I get a moment.

I am SO the coolest person you know. Yeah I am! Because I just spent my Saturday night packing, doing laundry, and shredding old documents. Feel the coolness. *sigh* I know you don't!

I'm at that stage of packing where I'm beginning to worry that I've packed too soon! Evidence: Instead of watching some dvd or another (because they're all PACKED!) I'm here typing. Alas, I'm happy to report I don't have too much packing left to do! Yay! I packed and packed and packed tonight and only stopped because I ran out of boxes. I'm gonna score some more boxes tomorrow which will hopefully get me through the kitchen (I've got dribs and drabs of other rooms left, otherwise the kitchen is the only room I've got left to pack). Let me assure you I'd rather live with boxes and finish packing early than be panic packing the night before I have to get out of my apartment. Hee, as it currently stands, I'm starting to feel like this place is a maze of boxes (especially when I want to get to the bathroom).

In other news, today I got to show some prospective tenant my apartment today as a favor to my landlord who was out of town. OMG! I so couldn't keep quiet on all the detractions of the place - you know the landlord that busts in without notice, hot water heater from hell, chain smoking neighbors. Hee. Besides all that, I did my best "tour guide Barbie" tour of the place. I'm still trying to decide if she fled in horror or if she's interested... but that's what happens when the landlord lets the current tenant give the tour - I'm just not capable of keeping my mouth shut - so maybe it wasn't so much of a favor that I did him. Hee.

Oh, and just as a last note for myself: tonight I finally - FINALLY - recycled the almost the last of my school shit. Course paks, notebooks, assignments, textbooks - almost all the artifacts of my collage education are gone now (I kept a paper I wrote for French IV in high school and two papers from grad school - but that's IT!). I would have gotten rid of all my textbooks, but I got a bit lazy at the thought of lugging them all to work for recycling. However, I'm dutifully trying to find boxes for all my Barbies - ones I played with as a youth as well as the ones I collected in college. After all, I still enjoy all of those ^__^

Let me take a moment to start the yabbering about packing/moving.

• OMG the dust!! Does anybody I know actually take the time to vacuum/dust under the bed on a regular basis? Or am I the only one who ignores the ever-growing filth under there until moving time?
• Let's have a moment of silence for the shoes that I've worn to death but haven't had the willpower to toss until now...
• I'll groan when I see them on top of the garbage can tomorrow. Gotta love the Midtown scavengers who don't always have the best eye for detail (there be holes in the bottoms of those shoes, my friends!).
• I started slow today... eight boxes for one measly shelf of books. *gulp* When did I acquire so many books? I weed, I swear! It's all those never-ending manga series.
• Maybe I better plan on rounding up more boxes.  And maybe I better plan on getting more people to help me move, too...

Tomorrow I'll be taking a break from the packing (heh) to hike Mt. Diablo. Considering the state of my allergies and general health of my body, I think I'd rather be packing.

Got my tenure letter from the Dean today. Nothing like being a day late for these official deadline thingies. I was a tad bit traumatized when I opened the envelope and saw a measly one-page letter. But I suppress the worry over the shortness of the letter (three really lame paragraphs!!) with the fact that she recommended me for tenure and promotion. So, YAY! This was the step that I think we were all the most worried about - who knew what she'd say? On to the provost my files goes but I'm feeling it's pretty cake-walky from here on out.

Celebrated with a few beers at the Bonn Lair after work with a co-worker. A co-worker that I've never really gone out with before. But she also got a good one-paged letter from the Dean so we were both happy to relax and talk a little work smack. How many days in a row should I celebrate this step? Hee.

Oh, I can't believe I forgot to post my happy news yesterday. I've been found worthy! My super-expensive new apartment can actually be called mine now. Yay! I gave my 30 day notice yesterday and I paid the whopping huge-o deposit today. I'll start paying rent on the new place on April 13th (hee, Monday the 13th) and my last day pay rent here will be the 19th. That's as little overlap as I think I could have possibly arranged. Yay!

In the meantime, the box collecting has started. I think it's safe to say I'm a packing machine (I'm literally restraining myself from starting today so I don't have to live out of boxes for a month) so I'll definitely be ready to start schlepping stuff on the 13th. I won't be able to afford movers this time around, so I plan on making lots of trips in my car that week and hope for plenty of help with my (relatively small number) of larger pieces on Saturday.

Next week I'll start making my lists for changing all the utilities and all that tedious stuff. I've already got a bet with Tara that, even though I'm moving less than 10 blocks away, AT&T is going to make me change my phone number. [I guess I could take a moment to see if there are other phone and internet providers in East Sac. But then I could be lazy and just move what I have...]  I'm really rooting for (ok, betting on) keeping my crappy lil phone number. Who will be correct?

All and all, I'm really happy with my decision - you'll just have to forgive me in future months as I whine about how broke I am. [I hereby give you permission to tell me I brought it all upon myself.] But even the thought of less t-shirt money or the thought of all the hideous moving crapola yet to come can dampen my spirits. Yay! Let the moving adventures begin!

As I'm sitting here breathing in the horrible smoke from my neighbors I'm happy to report that my self control was nil today. Nil, nil, nil. Yep, indeed, that super-expensive new apartment will have my name on it tomorrow if 1) my credit is good (undoubtedly it is) and 2) I get good references from my landlords (current and maybe one past? oh, and they'd better!). Will she think I have enough money to pay rent? Will my playing of the "librarian card" have worked? Both have always seemed sufficiently fine in the past.

Keep your fingers crossed for me as I do my bestest to negotiate my way out of my current place ASAP and into my new place in the most economically affordable way possible. Um, incredibly expensive new rent aside :) Oh, I should mention when my prospective landlady found out it would just be me in the apartment she knocked $50 off the monthly rent. Yipee! And she said that she hadn't raised rent for those units in 10 years until recently (to cover the brand new central heat and air!). So, yes it'll be a small new fortune each month, but hopefully it'll stay pretty steady for a bit...

I'm trying to think of something I like less than apartment hunting. Ok, so there are a million things, but I still don't like doing it. The first place I looked at was too small (if I'm moving, I'm not downsizing, that's for sure!). I suspect the place I'm going to look at tomorrow is going to be too big (1170 square feet!) and too expensive. But it has so many things I want. Little "luxuries" such as off street parking, central heat and air, second bedroom, double paned windows (*drool*) and washer/dryer hookups. Somebody, help me find self-control STAT!! STAT!! Because did I mention it's over 400 dollars more than I'm paying now? *sigh* I'm afraid I'm really going to want it.

I'll be taking a looksie after work but before "happy hour" with the gang (ok, co-workers). Thank god it's not the other way around :)