Craig's List

For those that don't know about Craig's List it is worth checking out. First find your city (or the nearist available city for those of us who live in small towns) (by default it is San Fransisco) and then you can find all sorts of used stuff for sale or sell stuff and it is also a good source for finding apartments.

My Stuff, Cable, and Internet all in one day!

Yesterday was a big day - the movers came with our stuff, the cable guy turned on the cable and we finally got the DSL modem!

Unfortunately a few things were broken along the way on the move, but the guys unpacking the stuff were upfront about it and even pointed out somethings I didn't notice (I think they wanted to make sure I knew they unloaded it that way and that it wasn't them that broke it). Luckily it was all insured so hopefully it won't take too long to get the money and replace the stuff.

It is nice to have all of our stuff, but of course the task of putting it all away is quite daunting. Especially since we still have some furniture setting up and building to do from our giant weekend of shopping.

Well I better head off to work (it's so nice to have internet access at home!).

ING DIRECT

Susanna's father told me about ING DIRECT. I've been impressed so far. It's an online savings account that pays 3.15% interest and their customer service has been good. I've also been impressed by what appear to be some reasonable security policies.

Cell Phone Dock

This cell phone docking station looks very cool, although a bit expensive, and I'm not sure what happens for a multiple cell phone household.

Wawanesa

If you happen to being moving to California or Oregon you might want to check out Wawanesa.
They had some rather low rates and reasonable coverage. No promises on their service but all of the ratings I saw for them were pretty good. It is a bit silly because instead of giving you a quote online they send you a form to fill out but hey for several hundred dollars I'll put up with some sillyness.

Does Bill Gates Stand in Line at the DMV?

Does Bill Gates Stand in Line at the DMV? - That question helped keep me occupied as I stood in line at the Ventura DMV to get my driver's license switched over to CA. About four years ago I went from a Kansas driver's license to one from MA and while I had to pay over $60, I basically just handed them my out of state license and was handed my new one (after taking a picture of course). Not so try to become a resident of CA. The governator wants a bit more than that (ok I have no idea if he has to do with any of this, but it seems like pretty much anything the CA government does is attributed to him). If you want to get a CA license better bring your passport regardless of what any website or other source may say or the large gentleman at the desk will inform you to come back at another time. You should check the website because hours vary day to day and once a month they are closed on Monday. CA only charges $25 which is a nice change from MA, but you have to take a written driving test - better read the book the night before. Then once you have had all this fun you are handed a piece of paper and told that's your license until they mail one out to you sometime in the next 60 days...

A few things have happened

Well it has been a little while since my last post. I think that this post will explain that situation.

I probably will not get this in order but hopefully it will be fairly close.

I went to Vermont for the wedding which was nice.

Went to CA to find a place to live. That was a tiring experance. We had a realator take us around Ventura to look at appartments and then called everyone with any ad about apartments in Carpinteria. We looked at a few places in Carp and found a nice one fairly near the beach for a reasonable price and signed the lease (well it actually got a bit complicated since we wanted someone to look at it before signing, but in the end it worked out). We also got a tour of Santa Barbara from my Uncle Len. (We means Susanna and I).

Went back to Boston - barely even remember this - I think I mostly packed up some stuff and got my stuff out of the way of my new suite mate.

Went to PA where we just hung out and at one point saw Robin and some of Susanna's friends.

Went to Greece. We first went to Lemnos (not sure about sp). Well first we went to Athens and stayed the night since our flight was canceled due to a strike. The island was very nice and we had a lot of fun going to the beach and walking around the little town. Then we went to Athens where we saw some nice ruins. Maybe one day when I get internet access from home I will come back and add in some more detail.

Flew back to PA. The next morning saw Swarthmore's little 4th of July parade. Then headed to Boston where the next day the movers came and packed everything up. Then the next day headed out to my new home in CA.

The move has been going fairly well. At first it wasn't so nice staying in an empty apartment, but I got a mattress and a new car fairly fast so that helped and then it helped a lot when Susanna showed up. There are still a few things to come, such as verizon didn't realize that when I ordered DSL I actually wanted to put in an order for DSL so it will be a while before we get that and our stuff isn't supposed to arrive till the 25th so we are doing laundry fairly frequently.

Work is going alright - fairly well setup in my new cube, although my first assignment isn't so exciting, but I doubt it will last more than another week or two and then I can hopefully move onto something real.

Well I should get back to work.