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Emerald Isle

My poor neglected blog. How often must I dust the cobwebs off you? Anyway, here's a lengthy update for the few people who check my blog...

Emerald Isle

In mid-September I had a blast while visiting Emerald Isle in North Carolina. Heather & Dave organized the whole deal, and we had 10 people total staying at a beach-view beach house. I ended up driving there from Cleveland and it took about 12 hours or so. While there, we primarily relaxed in the ocean.. I really had a lot of fun body boarding with the waves.. When we weren't doing that, we hung out on the beach with many games of touch football.

In one such game, Dave leaped up to block the football and managed to swat it down to the ground. As he did, his wedding ring popped off and landed somewhere in the sand. We all spent about an hour looking for it, but no such luck - it had disappeared. Some people went to see if anyone nearby would have a metal detector, but the only thing we managed to borrow was a rake, which we used to mark the location.. The next morning, our hopes sunk as we had a huge rainstorm. When we went out that afternoon to the rake, Mike, Heather's brother saw that the ring was just sitting there, only partly in the sand. Everyone was really excited about that!

We had a lot of really good food.. I can't even remember all the different types of seafood I had.. there was only one that I didn't like, and that was because it still had fish bones in it.. eww.. I do remember that my sea trout was very good though!

From North Carolina, I headed north to Philly to visit with Kath. That was actually a very cool drive.. It took me past places like D.C., where I got to see the Washington monument and Capital building... to Baltimore where I got to see a neat view of the harbor..

If nothing else, it was a welcome break from the normal routine at the office. :)

Kath and I

Well, at the end of August Kath started her junior year at Eastern University near Philly. It's pretty far away (7 1/2 hours), so it's been tough not to be able to see her every week. We make up for the distance though, by talking on the phone every night which is a lot of fun (and usually leads to spontaneous fits of laughter). Plus, we've been able to schedule fairly regular visits. Last semester, I saw her in late-September at the end of my vacation, then in mid-October she got to meet Dave, Nate, Doug and Kim M when we met up in State College to watch the Michigan game, in early November I went out for another visit, and then she spent Thanksgiving with my family. Three weeks later she was back in Ohio for Christmas break! Christmas break was a lot of fun and we got to spend a good amount of time with each other and with our family and friends. It's just a shame I had to go back to work and she had to go back to school! Well, we're both excited to see each other in just two weeks when I go to visit for Valentine's Day & our 1 year anniversary!

Wedding Plans

Let's see.. what do we know so far? We both agreed on our original date: 06-07-08.. we're having it at her hometown church in Shiloh, OH.. We've booked the reception hall and have started to look at menus from caterers. She's got an excellent menu figured out and apparently knows almost exactly the wedding dress that she wants too! We've started picking out some of the songs like what she'll walk down the aisle to, what our first dance will be, etc. The plans are coming together nicely and we're both very excited. Pretty soon I might even book the hotel for our honeymoon in Paris!

Marissa's move

Well, this past weekend I went back to State College to help load Marissa's stuff into a U-Haul truck, drive down to the Philly area, and then help unpack it [including taking two hours to assemble her futon]. It was a pretty exhausting weekend, but thankfully you couldn't have asked for better moving weather in February. Plus I got to spend Saturday with Kath! Marissa's apartment was nice and the office did a good job of cleaning it before she arrived. It's very big too! Now she's starting to go through the joys of setting up your own place.. and of course the biggest one is the constant struggle with the phone companies. Once again, I'm so happy I left AT&T. :) Hopefully everything will come together for her shortly.

Website News

Well, sadly my free 3-year subscription with 1and1 has expired, so I was forced to find a new home. Luckily, I found a new location a few days ago and it appears everything is running smoothly. If you notice something not working correctly, please let me know and I'll fix it as soon as I can.

Anyway, I'm doing well. Thanks for reading all this!

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Ohio Update

Um, can you say, overdue?

So, this isn't unusual, but I'm way behind in updating this.

Coldplay concert
Definitely awesome! Every song I wanted to hear, they played. Our seats were OK, but during the last song Chris Martin ran up pretty close to where we were at to sing. Some of the technology they used during the show was a little hokey and bizarre, but overall definitely a great concert. Probably my favorite concert, although Matchbox 20 comes in a very close second.

The Movers
Well, after the Coldplay concert, I got back to State College on Sunday. Just after church (probably around 6:15pm) I get a call from the movers. They're delivering tomorrow (Labor Day).. Umm.. what?? I had planned on staying with the family until late Monday.. but no, now I have to get up at 5am to drive back to Ohio. On the way, I picked up a nice speeding ticket (going 79 in 65 zone..), and literally minutes after I got there the movers called, saying they were close. Anyway, the truck BARELY fit into the small parking area, but it worked out. Amazingly, EVERYTHING the movers packed in Jersey made it to Ohio. The only damage was one bookcase, which was ruined (only like $20), and a small ding in the wood on my futon. So, I give them credit for that - I was fully expecting my TV to be missing.

The Job
Well, I started working at ICI Paints on Sept 12th - the culture there is just SO much different than at AT&T. First off, it's a lot smaller, so it has less of the corporate red tape. It's a cubicle environment, which I'm still trying to adjust to. Everyone there is really laid-back, and most important: entertaining. Every day at work, I'm laughing at something, which helps so much. The work is pretty much identical to the stuff I was doing at AT&T, with the exception that there's no overtime at all [well, I'm sure there will be at some point, but not yet] They've had a lot of fun activities recently.. and because I donated to the United Way, my name's in a raffle for the next four weeks, in which I might be able to win a personal day.. That'd be great, because I have nothing yet, and would like to take another day off around Christmas.

Penn State
Holy cow, Penn State is awesome this year. Some of the LIFE House gang got together for the Homecoming football game. We camped out at a KOA campground again, although this time in tents [very cold]. It was a great game (ie we won) During one of the commercial breaks, the Nittany Lion and two members of the band did the entire choreographed dance from Michael Jackson's "Thriller". It was hilarious and definitely a highlight. Had an awesome time with the gang again - we'll have to meet up more often.

The Apartment
Both a blessing and a curse. :) I have so much stuff here, that I have little need to go out for entertainment, and with the winter approaching, I think I'll be doing a little hibernating. With the washer & dryer & dishwasher I think I've gotten a bit lazier about other chores too. Oh well, I like it. Definitely nice and quiet which is what I wanted.

Drew Carey
Well first off, Drew Carey grew up around here (I think Parma, hence the song "Moon over Parma bring my love to me tonight...") Anyway, Drew Carey and the Improv All-Stars are coming to Cleveland and I decided to get a ticket. The show's on Dec 2nd, and I have a FRONT ROW seat. Should be a blast. :) Who knows, maybe I'll get called up on stage.. heh.

Alright, that's it for now. I'll try to update more frequently.

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Settling In

Well, this post is long overdue!

I'm here in Ohio now. I left on Tuesday, and the drive was pretty good, with only minor complications. My seat belt no longer registers with my car, so since leaving State College, it has been blinking a warning light for me to fasten my seatbelt. I'm considering covering the light since wearing my seatbelt is a strict routine at this point. Missed a turn somewhere, but my trusty sidekick TomTom got me where I needed to go.

When I arrived, one of the managers gave me the keys and told me to check out the place first and then come back to do the paper work. Everything here looks great! I'm actually pretty impressed. When I walked in, the central air was already going, which felt great [also meant I didn't have to deal with the electrical company].. I didn't know what to expect from vaulted ceilings, but they're actually quite nice. The living room is big enough that I can fit everything the way I want it to, the kitchen and bathroom have shelves galore, and the closet in my bedroom is huge! Oh yeah, and I get a garage for my car too [plus additional parking is always available]

I moved everything that I had into my apt, took a quick shower, and went to get a few items from Giant Eagle and Target. Decided to circle the mall on my way to Target [looks pretty big] and also found an Old Navy on the way.

My computer is obviously hooked up, and the DSL works great. I had my cable installed as well, but haven't had a chance to check it out yet... the movers have my TV, along with many needed items, especially my bed, desk, and kitchen items. The earliest they could have come would have been Friday, so I'm not surprised. I just really hope they can get here quickly. I'm going to give a call tomorrow.

Sleeping on the floor, and hunching over to work on the computer is destroying my back. Yesterday I was in a lot of pain, but I'm doing better with it today. I figured out a better temporary setup for the computer, so I can sit with my back against the wall..

I went to some DMV in Ohio to see what steps I needed to take to get the license, registration and plates. Although the driving test is waived, I do have to take a knowledge test in order to get my license! Who would have thought I would have to study this stuff again? Most of it is common sense, I'm just worried I'll get questions wrong dealing with things about "child restraints" or other subjects which I don't really have a need to know right now. Anyway, I can't take that test until Tuesday, but I might try to go to the Titling station to figure out what steps I need to follow to get the title switched over to Ohio. That was a pain in Jersey since I'm still paying off the car, and my dad and I are both listed on the loan. Hopefully I can get some of those steps out of the way before work starts.

Got a new bank account that I think will work out quite well. Once I can transfer my money from PNC to this new bank, I can upgrade to the nicer account with some extra bells and whistles and unless I've read things wrong, there won't be any fee for using an ATM of a different bank. Stopped by a Walmart last night which was actually pretty nice - it was just as clean as the one in State College, if not better, which isn't typical of those stores.

Went to church today which was interesting. The mass seemed to drag, [took more than an hour and 15 minutes] but the plus side is that it was a better mix of people than I had in Jersey. The church is only 25 years old, so it was very contemporary [didn't know a lot of the songs they played, but recognized them as being semi-newer]. I'm probably going to check out a few churches around here before I decide on one.

Anyway, all-in-all it's good, I just really can't wait for the movers to get here, so I can get moving on unpacking the rest of my items, and really getting this place setup. Once I do that, I'll be sure to post pictures too. Alright, will post more later. Cya!

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All Packed Up

Okay, I'm not in Ohio yet, but thought I could give a quick update...

Like I said, the movers estimated getting to my apartment around 9-9:30.. they were actually able to get there around 8:45. They were pretty meticulous about wrapping everything carefully, and packing it efficiently - I was pretty impressed. I think they were done around 10:15 or so.

Then came time for the tip. I was originally going to do about $60 [split three ways], but since they did a good job, I was going to increase it to $80. That's when the guy calculated the tax that he would have to charge to be $160. But then told me that "he had the authorization to not charge me the tax".. but basically only if the tip was large enough.. because if it wasn't, he would go back to his boss and his boss would ask him "why didn't you charge him for the tax?".. etc. Anyway, the whole deal sounded shady, but of course at this point they had already loaded everything up... so rather than pay $160 tax + $80 tip, it ended up being $200 tip with no tax. Sounds very underhanded to me, and I might call the BBB, but of course I want to wait until AFTER my belongings have arrived in Ohio. My guess is that it should get there either Friday or at the latest Monday - they seem like they've been good with their estimates.

One very good thing is that when I went on a walktrhough of my apartment with the manager, she was highly impressed with how clean and in good condition everything was - and told me that they will not be deducting anything from my security deposit - so that was great news!

Anyway, tomorrow I go to sign the lease and move some of my stuff in. It's nice to have my parent's house to stay at and rest first. :) Plus it gives me time to spend with the family and friends.

Okay, going out to lunch with Paul.. later..

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So Long, AT&T

Wow. It's done. I turned in my laptop, key and badge, and I'm no longer an employee of AT&T.

To be honest, I don't think it's sunk in yet. Even though I know I'm not going into work at AT&T tomorrow, and that half of my belongings at the apartment are packed up, it's just not registering.

I think the first realization will be when EVERYTHING is out of my apartment, the moving van is gone, and I hand over my keys to Stony Hill. The second one will be when I'm driving west on I-80 from State College, instead of east back to Jersey.

Nearly everything from my end is taken care of. I'm ready to start working at ICI Paints, I've got the apartment lined up, have already called to have the utilities turned on when I move in, [and the utilities here disconnected] Oh, and I'm actually getting REAL cable this time.. So I guess that means my TiVo will be saturated with "Whose Line Is It Anyway" and "Comedy Central Presents". Fine by me. :)

Tomorrow my plan is to pack up a lot of my belongings and drive them to State College. Basically things I don't need for the next week, but at the same time, things I don't want the movers handling during the moving process.

Ok, I guess it's back to packing. I'll probably update once more before I head to Ohio...

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