April 5, 2006

Wednesday. Hump Day. It has been so long since I have done the regular Monday through Friday work week that I forget what it is like to have a day in the middle of the week.

I was in to work nice and early this morning. There is very little to report from the work front. Still no word about the apartment down in North Brunswick. I hope that I hear something about that soon so that Dominica and I can start making more solid plans for moving. Hanging in limbo is tough. It isn’t that we are worried about being able to find an apartment if this one falls through but the hassle would be pretty significant and the hotel cost while we continue to look would be pretty hefty. As it is we will have spent $1,800 on hotel bills down here if we are able to get into the apartment on April 15th when we are planning.

This morning I had breakfast for the first time at work. The cafeteria does quite the breakfast spread. It is awesome. The have a full breakfast selection including the waffle and pancake family of products, eggs, meats (ick), hashbrowns, a bagel bar, fruits, etc. It is nice that I can just walk down there in the morning and start the day. And I can either eat down there or bring food up to my desk and eat while I work. It would appear that their breakfast is pretty popular around here. They must get at least half of the traffic that they get at lunch time. They have a nice coffee selection too with high end coffee.

I have been trying to drink tea while I am at work. Less caffeine and it is better for me. Most of the time I am drinking green tea. I go through several cups a day. Maybe ten or more.

I did a simple lunch at work today. Strombolli. It was pretty good but not as good as the pizza. I did discover that they have menus that we can take up to our desks so that we know what there is going to be before we walk down there. It is a good idea but having the menu on an internal web site would be better. Then we wouldn’t have to walk down the first time to figure out what was going to be there the rest of the time.

Dominica rescheduled my doctor’s appointment that I was supposed to have this week. Who knows how I am going to deal with that. It is the little, everyday things that are really a problem when you work a regular schedule AND switch jobs AND are relocating. If I wasn’t able to pay most of my bills online and if my mail wasn’t going to dad’s house all ready I don’t know how I would be able to handle it.

I was out around 5:30 and made an attempt at driving home via the backroads. I didn’t get lost but I didn’t manage to go a very efficient way. I don’t think that it ended up saving me any time. It was a lot more scenic though. Tomorrow morning I plan on actually trying to figure out the right route to take and coming to work the shortest possible way. Everyone has told me that the highways are really slow and that the normal roads will be much better.

Last night, in the hotel, I watched television for a bit of the night and I wasn’t too happy afterwards. Once I start watching, though, I find it hard to turn off. I get into the “doing nothing” groove and that is the end of my productivity. So that doesn’t really work. So tonight I didn’t even turn on the television and spent the entire night just working at the laptop. That worked much better but the lonliness is really noticeable when you are sitting in a silent room with no motion or sound going on.

I was pretty full after having gotten both a full breakfast and lunch at work so I decided to forego dinner this evening. It is easier to not watch television when you don’t have food. Food and television really go well together. It is hard to eat and use a computer because all of the input and control devices require the use of your hands which are either busy moving food to your mouth OR they are messy from having eaten and you really don’t want to touch the keyboard or mouse until after you have had a chance to wash them. But television provides hands free, automated entertainment (or whatever) and when I eat I find it hard not to use it as a distraction. Another reason why I like going out to eat or just eating over the kitchen sink.

I spent two or three hours on the phone with Andy and Dominica (one after the other – not at the same time.) None of us really get much of a chance to talk to people these days. Andy has been super isolated ever since he moved to Brighton. With our new schedules none of us ever get to see each other. I don’t get to see anyone anymore 🙁

I got to bed around 11:30 tonight. A bit later than I had wanted. But it is hard falling asleep when you are so bored. It would be really nice if I had something to help occupy my time. But driving anywhere in the evening is not enjoyable so I avoid it at all costs. I can’t wait to have a shuttle to the train station. That will be awesome, I hope. If it runs often enough it could make going to Manhattan and Philly in the evenings really feasible in which case it would move up to Hawsome. But that doesn’t seem very likely. It seems more likely that I will normally have to drive to the train station. It is very close though. Maybe two miles away at most.

Leave a comment