Quick stop in town for the weekend, and then it was back for more STUFF!!
I am supposed to be down-sizing, but I find that I have more STUFF than I know what to do with. I just went back for my 4th batch of moving boxes and I will have to get more on my way home from work today.
Back to packing ...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
I was hoping the cottage would be clean ...
I was hoping the cottage would be clean, but of course the property manager had been on vacation so she didn't get my condition and cleaning report letter. When I called her she was reading it as we spoke and said it was "overkill" and that the place had been vacant for so long with painters coming in, etc. I told her that this was not just a layer of dust, there was stuff growing in the toilet bowl and the former tenant had left used tin foil in the broiler pan!! Apparently she had not gone to look at the photos of the cleaning that I had put up on oFoto (er, Kodak Gallery) because I don't think she would have accused me of over-reacting if she had seen the condition of the place. Bottom line, she was able to get a cleaner to come out that afternoon. The cleaner did a great job and I was able to really move in and make it my own space.
I was disappointed in Washington Mutual this weekend. I had withdrawn $3000 from my old savings account so that I could deposit it into my new WaMu account. I really had hoped that I could pay off my credit card and start my new life with a clean slate. I was quite surprised that they were going to put a 7-working-day-hold on the Cashier's check!! When asked why, she indicated that the fact that it was a new account and that the originating bank was not in the area combined to cause the hold to be generated. She also told me that when I opened the account I should have been told about these holds. I told her that I didn't recall him telling me about any holds, but that it could have been in the fine print. I indicated that it was a cashier's check from a bank, and asked if they could call the bank. She pointed out that there was no phone number on the check and that the bank was not in the area. I told her she could use my cell phone to call the bank if they were worried about the long-distance phone charge. She referred me to the manager, who was already helping someone else and there were two more people in line. I ended up telling her that if they didn't want my $3000 I would go to my "real" bank with the money. I asked her if this hold would also be on any deposits from out of the area, for example eBay transactions, and she said yes. So much for my glowing review of Washington Mutual of a few weeks back!! I plan on only doing my automatic deposits for paycheck purposes and paying my rent and bills with this account. Any other stuff will have to be done with my out-of-town bank, who had no problem taking my $3000 this morning!!
I was disappointed in Washington Mutual this weekend. I had withdrawn $3000 from my old savings account so that I could deposit it into my new WaMu account. I really had hoped that I could pay off my credit card and start my new life with a clean slate. I was quite surprised that they were going to put a 7-working-day-hold on the Cashier's check!! When asked why, she indicated that the fact that it was a new account and that the originating bank was not in the area combined to cause the hold to be generated. She also told me that when I opened the account I should have been told about these holds. I told her that I didn't recall him telling me about any holds, but that it could have been in the fine print. I indicated that it was a cashier's check from a bank, and asked if they could call the bank. She pointed out that there was no phone number on the check and that the bank was not in the area. I told her she could use my cell phone to call the bank if they were worried about the long-distance phone charge. She referred me to the manager, who was already helping someone else and there were two more people in line. I ended up telling her that if they didn't want my $3000 I would go to my "real" bank with the money. I asked her if this hold would also be on any deposits from out of the area, for example eBay transactions, and she said yes. So much for my glowing review of Washington Mutual of a few weeks back!! I plan on only doing my automatic deposits for paycheck purposes and paying my rent and bills with this account. Any other stuff will have to be done with my out-of-town bank, who had no problem taking my $3000 this morning!!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
I moved down here to try and get away from ...
I moved down here to try and get away from some people and especially their ways of thinking. So, my first stop on the way to town was at the K-Mart in Atascadero. I needed to get a Martha Stewart shower curtain liner, you know the kind that have the extra length of vinyl on the ends so you can "stick" it to the edge of the wall during your shower so the water doesn't get on the floor outside? Anyway, first disappointment was that the only vinyl shower curtain liners I could find only had about an inch or inch and a half on the ends. So, apparently they have once again stopped manufacturing something that works!! When will I learn to stock up when I find things like that? [Follow-up note: The Martha Stewart shower curtains have rusting grommets, who puts rustable grommets on a shower curtains? I wrote a letter to Martha Stewart but received no response!!]
Anyway, that was just the first disappointment. I approached the checkout lines, there were several to choose from, and headed for the shortest line. I noticed an older woman, probably in her late 60s, shoot for a longer line. I lined up in the shorter line and stood there wondering why she chose not to get in this line. I was shocked to realize that it was probably because there were BLACK people in line -- oh, the horror!! It was either that or she was an ageist who didn't want to get in an older cashier's line. Either way, I was bummed that people here are still thinking as if they are in the middle of the last century ...
My third disappointment happened as I waited in line for a restaurant. I had decided to return to The Bayside Cafe on Friday night, it is apparently quite popular even after 8:00 because the wait was about 45 minutes!! As I waited I people-watched, a habit of mine. There were tons of young surfer-dude looking folks. I think I need to get used to wearing flip-flops if I am going to fit in here. There were also a lot of comfortably dressed people waiting. The girl who set off my "disappointment meter" represented a lot of why I wanted to move away from the highly populated regions. She was a perfect Barbie doll, from her french-manicured fingernails, to her dyed-blonde mane, to her botoxed-cro-magnon-browed forehead!! Of course she was with a Ken doll. So, perhaps I should turn my disappointment into the realization that there will always be some of these vain people wherever I am and as long as the majority are the normal, comfortable people I should be happy!! The sunset and the Chicken Marsala were fantastic, so I suppose it was all worth it. On my way home I realized that I could actually see the stars in the sky, and even in my backyard I saw tons of them. I think I will have to have a chaise lounge for star-watching potential in my new place.
Speaking of my new place, I cleaned out another cupboard and drawers so I was able to continue moving my stuff. I just finished the room condition and cleaning report and sent it off the property manager, who didn't even return my call when I arrived yesterday to the smoke detector squealing. The letter indicates that the kitchen and bathroom will need to be cleaned this week so that I can move the rest of my stuff in. The place is really dirty and I need it to be cleaned so that I can feel like it's my dirt not someone else's!! I really like that there is a washer and dryer. I got the washer balanced so it is not rocking so much during the spin cycle. I have to drive home tonite so that I can pack some more tomorrow!! I was happy at the beautiful weather, but the cottage gets a bit warm. I am glad I remembered to bring down one of my fans.
Until next weekend ...
Anyway, that was just the first disappointment. I approached the checkout lines, there were several to choose from, and headed for the shortest line. I noticed an older woman, probably in her late 60s, shoot for a longer line. I lined up in the shorter line and stood there wondering why she chose not to get in this line. I was shocked to realize that it was probably because there were BLACK people in line -- oh, the horror!! It was either that or she was an ageist who didn't want to get in an older cashier's line. Either way, I was bummed that people here are still thinking as if they are in the middle of the last century ...
My third disappointment happened as I waited in line for a restaurant. I had decided to return to The Bayside Cafe on Friday night, it is apparently quite popular even after 8:00 because the wait was about 45 minutes!! As I waited I people-watched, a habit of mine. There were tons of young surfer-dude looking folks. I think I need to get used to wearing flip-flops if I am going to fit in here. There were also a lot of comfortably dressed people waiting. The girl who set off my "disappointment meter" represented a lot of why I wanted to move away from the highly populated regions. She was a perfect Barbie doll, from her french-manicured fingernails, to her dyed-blonde mane, to her botoxed-cro-magnon-browed forehead!! Of course she was with a Ken doll. So, perhaps I should turn my disappointment into the realization that there will always be some of these vain people wherever I am and as long as the majority are the normal, comfortable people I should be happy!! The sunset and the Chicken Marsala were fantastic, so I suppose it was all worth it. On my way home I realized that I could actually see the stars in the sky, and even in my backyard I saw tons of them. I think I will have to have a chaise lounge for star-watching potential in my new place.
Speaking of my new place, I cleaned out another cupboard and drawers so I was able to continue moving my stuff. I just finished the room condition and cleaning report and sent it off the property manager, who didn't even return my call when I arrived yesterday to the smoke detector squealing. The letter indicates that the kitchen and bathroom will need to be cleaned this week so that I can move the rest of my stuff in. The place is really dirty and I need it to be cleaned so that I can feel like it's my dirt not someone else's!! I really like that there is a washer and dryer. I got the washer balanced so it is not rocking so much during the spin cycle. I have to drive home tonite so that I can pack some more tomorrow!! I was happy at the beautiful weather, but the cottage gets a bit warm. I am glad I remembered to bring down one of my fans.
Until next weekend ...
Monday, July 21, 2008
My first weekend ...
My first weekend in my new place was not quite what I expected.
I decided to take the Cambria route (Highway 46) over to Highway 1 instead of the usual Morro Bay route (Highway 41). According to one of the mapping sites, this way had less miles. The road was much wider, with less curves, but reached a higher altitude at the peak. When I reached Highway 1 it was nice to see the ocean on my right as I drove south, a flock of about 50 pelicans soaring over the ocean. I still had a frisson of anticipation when I saw the three power stacks, but this time it was nice to also see the North side of Morro Rock. As it turns out, however, this route seemed to add about 10 minutes to my trip. I don't know how that could be, because I was driving about the same speed without all the curves. Perhaps the route takes you a bit north before it goes south? [I discovered later that I missed a crucial step in the directions, to take Old Creek Rd. off of 46 over to Cayucos on 1]
Anyway, I was all excited and checked my P.O. Box first thing. I was surprised to see how much mail had accumulated in my new box in one week!! I figured that somehow I had gotten on a mailing list. As it turned out, I had gotten several former box owner's mail, including two different businesses and three different people!! And to make matters worse my box-neighbor's last name is only one letter different from mine, which means I will be getting her mail and she will be getting mine. I took the stack of mail up to the counter and asked them to only deliver to my last name. I was told that if catalogs come with "or current resident" on them they are required to deliver them. I indicated that I would only be getting my mail once a week and I was worried that my box would fill up. Apparently there is nothing they can do about that, but they will put a note to only deliver mail with my last name. We'll see how that works out ...
So then I go to my new place, which is behind someone's house, and there is someone parked in the driveway so that I can't get to my parking area in the back. I parked on the street and waited for the property manager who said she would be there at 12:45 (it was now 1:05). Finally, the person in the driveway left and I drove down the driveway to the back house. My next surprise is that I will be having a tough time with the parking, I drive an SUV!! I am quite spatially challenged and so I anticipated problems parking, but it was much easier to pull in than to back out. I saw that I wasn't the only one with parking issues, the car for the front house had a scrape on her back bumper and the side of the house has been torn off and repaired. This will be interesting ...
So the property manager finally gets there to give me the keys and we go inside to check out how the painters did. They did a fantastic job, if you don't count the drips of white paint that had dropped on the carpet throughout the place!! They had done their best to clean up the drips, but you can definitely see them. Another good thing is that the previous tenant has apparently left her washer and dryer. We check out the water damaged area in the bathroom and found that it had been repaired. The last time we had looked at the place, the refrigerator and oven were obviously not cleaned. I opened the refrigerator and saw that it hadn't been cleaned yet. The property manager told me that if I cleaned it I wouldn't have to clean it when I left. I agreed that was fair, got the keys and started to move my stuff in!!
I stopped by the local "dollar" store to get cleaning supplies & a shower curtain and I went shopping for the first batch of food, deciding that I would only allow healthy food into my new house. When I got back, I spent a couple of hours cleaning the refrigerator. I used a large portion of the cleaning wipes and paper towels to clean out the refrigerator. I took before and after pictures so that I would have proof of the condition upon move-in. Once I loaded the food into the newly-cleaned refrigerator, I opened up the cupboards and was unpleasantly surprised by the lack of cleaning that the former tenant did!! They were not even wiped down. I decided that it was too late that night to start the cleaning process and decided to set up my computer table instead. It went together pretty easily and it turned out being height-adjustable so that I left off the wheels and set it at the medium height. I think it will work out fine.
The next morning the cable guy came over and set me up with Charter. I am one of those old-fashioned people who still uses VHS to tape shows to watch later. I often need to tape a show on a different channel than I am watching, so I usually can't go with the "digital" options. However, I had no choice but to get a digital box, but the gal who set me up with my bundle on the phone indicated that I can bypass the box if I wanted. Luckily, the guy who came to set me up told me the same thing and even showed me how to do it. I thought it was ironic that right before he came over I hauled out my laptop and there are a couple of neighbors who have open wireless networks. I had assumed that I wouldn't have any wireless and so I didn't take out my laptop earlier. He got my desktop all set up and I will bring my wireless router down later. Charter gives their people 10 email addresses, so I will sign up for those later. I hope all the ones I want aren't already taken. I really like the digital features on Charter. There are free movies that you can watch, and even fast-forward through, and the music channels are the best. I will try and use the digital box, except when I need to tape something while I am watching something else. The cable guy told me about a short cut off of highway 46 that will drop me into Cayucos on highway 1, he says that is the way he goes.
After I finished up with the cable guy I did some shopping for miscellaneous stuff (more cleaning wipes, oven cleaner, baking soda, VHS tape) and then met with the guy who was in my job before me. I wanted to pick his brain about the site and the work. I feel good about starting up in August, and when I am down next weekend he will show me the office. We ate at a great restaurant at the State Park Marina, The Bayside Cafe. [See the separate review for this restaurant] After lunch I headed back home to do laundry and clean up the kitchen before I started unpacking the kitchen stuff.
I have never had laundry on-site before, so I used my judgment. I looked at the back of the washer and saw that there was a loose water hose. I ran the water from the side of the house until it ran clear and then hooked up the washer's hose to the spigot. I figured the water needed to be turned on, so I opened the faucet. The water filled the washer's hose and seemed to stop flowing. So far so good, I thought. I then opened up the washer to find that it was full of dead bugs and leaves. At least it didn't smell like mildew, I thought. I wiped out the inside and decided to run it through an empty cycle to clean it up a bit. I added some of the Tide for cold water washing and started the washer. It is on a palette, but it apparently is unbalanced because during the spin cycle it rocked. What a racket!! I will have to work on that problem. The dryer works fine. I did a couple loads of laundry while I cleaned out the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen.
It took me several hours to clean out the cupboards and drawers. I finished off one package of cleaning wipes, started another, and almost used up all the paper towels on the roll. I was dismayed to find bug bombs and mouse killing packets under the sink!! That explains my bug bites. I will have to do another bomb next weekend before I move my stuff in. I may even call the property managers to do this ahead of time. The previous tenant did not do anything but remove their stuff from the cupboards and drawers. Again, I took before and after shots of the cupboards and drawers. I finished with a damp sponge wipe-down and left them to dry overnight. I will save the floors, counters, and oven for another time.
After cleaning up the kitchen I felt like I needed a reward. I decided to see "Batman : The Dark Knight" at the small theater in town. It was packed, literally!! Everyone who came in exclaimed that it was so crowded, so I don't think this happens often. It was nice, everyone seemed to know each other and were catching up before and after the movie. I didn't like that someone brought a little 4-year old to see this movie, though. Overall, it was mostly young adults and middle-aged people, though. [See separate review of the Bay Theatre]
The next morning I unpacked my kitchen stuff. It was fun deciding where to put everything. I may change my mind next weekend, but I think I made good placement decisions. One problem, though, is that my stemware is too tall to fit on the shelves!! I will have to check out some housewares stores to find a separate stemware-hanging wine rack or something like that. I also decided that I will have to downsize on my Tupperware. I really don't need all that I have and will store the duplicate pieces. I will have to downsize my other items, as well, from 12 to 8 in the sets. I don't want to overcrowd my shelves.
After I unpacked I measured some pertinent places in the house and then showered and hit the road. I tried the 46 route again and, again, was 10 minutes over my normal time. It looks like 41 is the route to take, despite all the curves and braking!! [See above for an explanation of why it took longer]
I decided to take the Cambria route (Highway 46) over to Highway 1 instead of the usual Morro Bay route (Highway 41). According to one of the mapping sites, this way had less miles. The road was much wider, with less curves, but reached a higher altitude at the peak. When I reached Highway 1 it was nice to see the ocean on my right as I drove south, a flock of about 50 pelicans soaring over the ocean. I still had a frisson of anticipation when I saw the three power stacks, but this time it was nice to also see the North side of Morro Rock. As it turns out, however, this route seemed to add about 10 minutes to my trip. I don't know how that could be, because I was driving about the same speed without all the curves. Perhaps the route takes you a bit north before it goes south? [I discovered later that I missed a crucial step in the directions, to take Old Creek Rd. off of 46 over to Cayucos on 1]
Anyway, I was all excited and checked my P.O. Box first thing. I was surprised to see how much mail had accumulated in my new box in one week!! I figured that somehow I had gotten on a mailing list. As it turned out, I had gotten several former box owner's mail, including two different businesses and three different people!! And to make matters worse my box-neighbor's last name is only one letter different from mine, which means I will be getting her mail and she will be getting mine. I took the stack of mail up to the counter and asked them to only deliver to my last name. I was told that if catalogs come with "or current resident" on them they are required to deliver them. I indicated that I would only be getting my mail once a week and I was worried that my box would fill up. Apparently there is nothing they can do about that, but they will put a note to only deliver mail with my last name. We'll see how that works out ...
So then I go to my new place, which is behind someone's house, and there is someone parked in the driveway so that I can't get to my parking area in the back. I parked on the street and waited for the property manager who said she would be there at 12:45 (it was now 1:05). Finally, the person in the driveway left and I drove down the driveway to the back house. My next surprise is that I will be having a tough time with the parking, I drive an SUV!! I am quite spatially challenged and so I anticipated problems parking, but it was much easier to pull in than to back out. I saw that I wasn't the only one with parking issues, the car for the front house had a scrape on her back bumper and the side of the house has been torn off and repaired. This will be interesting ...
So the property manager finally gets there to give me the keys and we go inside to check out how the painters did. They did a fantastic job, if you don't count the drips of white paint that had dropped on the carpet throughout the place!! They had done their best to clean up the drips, but you can definitely see them. Another good thing is that the previous tenant has apparently left her washer and dryer. We check out the water damaged area in the bathroom and found that it had been repaired. The last time we had looked at the place, the refrigerator and oven were obviously not cleaned. I opened the refrigerator and saw that it hadn't been cleaned yet. The property manager told me that if I cleaned it I wouldn't have to clean it when I left. I agreed that was fair, got the keys and started to move my stuff in!!
I stopped by the local "dollar" store to get cleaning supplies & a shower curtain and I went shopping for the first batch of food, deciding that I would only allow healthy food into my new house. When I got back, I spent a couple of hours cleaning the refrigerator. I used a large portion of the cleaning wipes and paper towels to clean out the refrigerator. I took before and after pictures so that I would have proof of the condition upon move-in. Once I loaded the food into the newly-cleaned refrigerator, I opened up the cupboards and was unpleasantly surprised by the lack of cleaning that the former tenant did!! They were not even wiped down. I decided that it was too late that night to start the cleaning process and decided to set up my computer table instead. It went together pretty easily and it turned out being height-adjustable so that I left off the wheels and set it at the medium height. I think it will work out fine.
The next morning the cable guy came over and set me up with Charter. I am one of those old-fashioned people who still uses VHS to tape shows to watch later. I often need to tape a show on a different channel than I am watching, so I usually can't go with the "digital" options. However, I had no choice but to get a digital box, but the gal who set me up with my bundle on the phone indicated that I can bypass the box if I wanted. Luckily, the guy who came to set me up told me the same thing and even showed me how to do it. I thought it was ironic that right before he came over I hauled out my laptop and there are a couple of neighbors who have open wireless networks. I had assumed that I wouldn't have any wireless and so I didn't take out my laptop earlier. He got my desktop all set up and I will bring my wireless router down later. Charter gives their people 10 email addresses, so I will sign up for those later. I hope all the ones I want aren't already taken. I really like the digital features on Charter. There are free movies that you can watch, and even fast-forward through, and the music channels are the best. I will try and use the digital box, except when I need to tape something while I am watching something else. The cable guy told me about a short cut off of highway 46 that will drop me into Cayucos on highway 1, he says that is the way he goes.
After I finished up with the cable guy I did some shopping for miscellaneous stuff (more cleaning wipes, oven cleaner, baking soda, VHS tape) and then met with the guy who was in my job before me. I wanted to pick his brain about the site and the work. I feel good about starting up in August, and when I am down next weekend he will show me the office. We ate at a great restaurant at the State Park Marina, The Bayside Cafe. [See the separate review for this restaurant] After lunch I headed back home to do laundry and clean up the kitchen before I started unpacking the kitchen stuff.
I have never had laundry on-site before, so I used my judgment. I looked at the back of the washer and saw that there was a loose water hose. I ran the water from the side of the house until it ran clear and then hooked up the washer's hose to the spigot. I figured the water needed to be turned on, so I opened the faucet. The water filled the washer's hose and seemed to stop flowing. So far so good, I thought. I then opened up the washer to find that it was full of dead bugs and leaves. At least it didn't smell like mildew, I thought. I wiped out the inside and decided to run it through an empty cycle to clean it up a bit. I added some of the Tide for cold water washing and started the washer. It is on a palette, but it apparently is unbalanced because during the spin cycle it rocked. What a racket!! I will have to work on that problem. The dryer works fine. I did a couple loads of laundry while I cleaned out the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen.
It took me several hours to clean out the cupboards and drawers. I finished off one package of cleaning wipes, started another, and almost used up all the paper towels on the roll. I was dismayed to find bug bombs and mouse killing packets under the sink!! That explains my bug bites. I will have to do another bomb next weekend before I move my stuff in. I may even call the property managers to do this ahead of time. The previous tenant did not do anything but remove their stuff from the cupboards and drawers. Again, I took before and after shots of the cupboards and drawers. I finished with a damp sponge wipe-down and left them to dry overnight. I will save the floors, counters, and oven for another time.
After cleaning up the kitchen I felt like I needed a reward. I decided to see "Batman : The Dark Knight" at the small theater in town. It was packed, literally!! Everyone who came in exclaimed that it was so crowded, so I don't think this happens often. It was nice, everyone seemed to know each other and were catching up before and after the movie. I didn't like that someone brought a little 4-year old to see this movie, though. Overall, it was mostly young adults and middle-aged people, though. [See separate review of the Bay Theatre]
The next morning I unpacked my kitchen stuff. It was fun deciding where to put everything. I may change my mind next weekend, but I think I made good placement decisions. One problem, though, is that my stemware is too tall to fit on the shelves!! I will have to check out some housewares stores to find a separate stemware-hanging wine rack or something like that. I also decided that I will have to downsize on my Tupperware. I really don't need all that I have and will store the duplicate pieces. I will have to downsize my other items, as well, from 12 to 8 in the sets. I don't want to overcrowd my shelves.
After I unpacked I measured some pertinent places in the house and then showered and hit the road. I tried the 46 route again and, again, was 10 minutes over my normal time. It looks like 41 is the route to take, despite all the curves and braking!! [See above for an explanation of why it took longer]
Thursday, July 17, 2008
I'm Movin' in ...
I'm movin' into my cottage tomorrow!! My first load of items will include my futon, linens, a lamp, a table, my computer, and some kitchen stuff.
I decided to go with Charter as my cable and Internet provider, installation on Saturday. I had to go with Expanded Basic Cable because the selection of Limited Basic channels is really "limited". I chose the 10 meg Internet and was able to get a bundled price under $100 for 12 months, at which time I can downgrade if I want to. Unfortunately the cable jack in the living room is in a weird place and I have only one floor plan option. I ran around this week looking for a corner computer station that would fit properly. Lucky for me Office Depot was having a two-day clearance on a nice amoeba-shaped computer table for half-price. The only problem is that the keyboard tray is not wide enough for the keyboard and the mouse. So, in order to be ergonomically correct, I will try it without the wheels. I already have epicondylitis (tennis elbow) in both elbows due to using a standard mouse at the incorrect height, so I need to be careful.
Hopefully my PG&E and Gas will be turned on when I arrive. I was surprised that the gas in this area is provided by a different company than Pacific GAS & Electric, it is actually called The Gas Company!! I have to remember to turn up the water heater when I get home so I have a hot shower the next morning. I am also hoping that the former tenant leaves her washer and dryer. It will be nice to just do my laundry while I am unpacking and hang it right into my new closet. Now if I can just remember to bring down the hangers ...
I decided to go with Charter as my cable and Internet provider, installation on Saturday. I had to go with Expanded Basic Cable because the selection of Limited Basic channels is really "limited". I chose the 10 meg Internet and was able to get a bundled price under $100 for 12 months, at which time I can downgrade if I want to. Unfortunately the cable jack in the living room is in a weird place and I have only one floor plan option. I ran around this week looking for a corner computer station that would fit properly. Lucky for me Office Depot was having a two-day clearance on a nice amoeba-shaped computer table for half-price. The only problem is that the keyboard tray is not wide enough for the keyboard and the mouse. So, in order to be ergonomically correct, I will try it without the wheels. I already have epicondylitis (tennis elbow) in both elbows due to using a standard mouse at the incorrect height, so I need to be careful.
Hopefully my PG&E and Gas will be turned on when I arrive. I was surprised that the gas in this area is provided by a different company than Pacific GAS & Electric, it is actually called The Gas Company!! I have to remember to turn up the water heater when I get home so I have a hot shower the next morning. I am also hoping that the former tenant leaves her washer and dryer. It will be nice to just do my laundry while I am unpacking and hang it right into my new closet. Now if I can just remember to bring down the hangers ...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
It's official ...
It's official, as of today I am a new member of the Morro Bay community.
I will be working in San Luis Obispo, so my daily commute will be about 20 minutes to and from work. Definitely do-able because I get to come home to Morro Bay. These days I am quite sensitive to the heat and need to have the natural air conditioning from the coast. I found a cute cottage in Morro Bay and plan on walking a lot. I might even get a dog so that I don't have any excuses not to walk!!
So far people have been SO welcoming. They were really nice at the Post Office when I set up my P.O. Box, she let me choose from three numbers. I was totally impressed by the new accounts guy at Washington Mutual when I set up my checking account. He even printed out a form so that I can file for a pseudonym when I write my book!! When I went to Cuesta College to ask about a class I was planning to take this Fall, the lady helping me welcomed me and told me that my coworkers would love me. Another lady on campus told me that she lives in Morro Bay and would be happy to give me a tour. Everyone tells me that the people are great at the company where I will start work next month. The Tech gal gave me her personal email if I had any questions, and one of my coworkers welcomed me and gave me his personal phone numbers so that we could talk before I started work. The list just goes on and on ...
Apparently, people don't feel the need to lock their houses or cars here in Morro Bay. Last week when I was walking into Albertson's, I overheard a little girl ask her mom what a burgler was. She was about 7 years old. The mom said that a burgler was a thief. Recently there has been a rash of burglaries, I heard about it three times. This woman actually knew someone who had been burgled, and she told her daughter that she didn't want to have her purse stolen like so-and-so's bicycle had been. The impression I had was that it might be a group of punk kids and that the rash of thefts would just go away once the kids were back in school. I thought it was amazing that a 7-year-old wouldn't know what a burgler was. Are they naive in this town, or is it really just safe? I will err on the side of caution and will re-key the locks in my new cottage.
Overall, I am getting a good feeling about this Morro Bay place.
I will be working in San Luis Obispo, so my daily commute will be about 20 minutes to and from work. Definitely do-able because I get to come home to Morro Bay. These days I am quite sensitive to the heat and need to have the natural air conditioning from the coast. I found a cute cottage in Morro Bay and plan on walking a lot. I might even get a dog so that I don't have any excuses not to walk!!
So far people have been SO welcoming. They were really nice at the Post Office when I set up my P.O. Box, she let me choose from three numbers. I was totally impressed by the new accounts guy at Washington Mutual when I set up my checking account. He even printed out a form so that I can file for a pseudonym when I write my book!! When I went to Cuesta College to ask about a class I was planning to take this Fall, the lady helping me welcomed me and told me that my coworkers would love me. Another lady on campus told me that she lives in Morro Bay and would be happy to give me a tour. Everyone tells me that the people are great at the company where I will start work next month. The Tech gal gave me her personal email if I had any questions, and one of my coworkers welcomed me and gave me his personal phone numbers so that we could talk before I started work. The list just goes on and on ...
Apparently, people don't feel the need to lock their houses or cars here in Morro Bay. Last week when I was walking into Albertson's, I overheard a little girl ask her mom what a burgler was. She was about 7 years old. The mom said that a burgler was a thief. Recently there has been a rash of burglaries, I heard about it three times. This woman actually knew someone who had been burgled, and she told her daughter that she didn't want to have her purse stolen like so-and-so's bicycle had been. The impression I had was that it might be a group of punk kids and that the rash of thefts would just go away once the kids were back in school. I thought it was amazing that a 7-year-old wouldn't know what a burgler was. Are they naive in this town, or is it really just safe? I will err on the side of caution and will re-key the locks in my new cottage.
Overall, I am getting a good feeling about this Morro Bay place.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
