Home

It's been a long time since I actually required airfare to go home for the holidays, and I'd forgotten just how crazy prices are. Since we don't know if Jeremy will have a job yet, we're limited by several factors when planning trips home. We both very much want to go to Dallas for Thanksgiving and Memphis for Christmas. However, as we approach those holidays, it seems like we'll be in Pittsburgh for both. If Jeremy doesn't find a job, we'll likely not be able to afford to go home for either holiday. If Jeremy does get a job, we may not have the vacation days to go home. This sucks because I've found inexpensive tickets to Dallas but the return date is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. We'd be able to afford the tickets but Jeremy probably won't be able to get two extra days off work. Ideally, we'd got to Dallas for just 4 days, but the cheapest ticket then would run us about 1k apiece. Not exactly financially feasible even if Jeremy did get a job.

As for Christmas, if can't go back to Memphis, we'll miss the entire basketball season. There's a good possibility that with a job, he'll only get Christmas Eve/Day and New Year's Day off. This means that there's no way we'd be able to go to Memphis.

It was so much easier when we both worked for Universities so we got all holidays off similar to the students. Additionally, when we could just hop in a car and drive to Dallas or down the street to his family's we didn't have to weigh the costs. The plus side I suppose is that Jeremy's mom and stepdad will probably visit us in the spring. My brother may come up to visit the schools and go skiing this winter. It will be hard not spending the holidays with family though.

The Mundane Details of My Life

Since I am doing nothing interesting lately but go to work and then go home, this blog has turned into a datebook of sorts. Nothing interesting has happened at work, and home life consists of watching TV and unpacking.

We might be meeting up with a friend of Jeremy's whose in town with the circus this weekend. How cool is it that Jeremy has a friend that's a clown for Ringling Brothers? I don't want to meet up tomorrow though because I'm curious to see if we get any trick or treaters at our new apartment. We used to get 2 or 3 groups in Memphis, but they were usually older kids.

Snow

It's snowing today. Okay, it's snowing, but nothings going to stick. In fact, it's supposed to be upwards of 60 degrees in the next few days. It was funny making a big deal out of it this morning because we could. I can't wait for a real snowstorm though. I got new boots yesterday, but it would be silly wearing them now since there's no accumulation.

Football Weekend

The Tigers won yesterday in a spectacular fashion. It was a nail-biter until the end, but we managed to win. I was less than optimistic at the beginning of the game seeing as how we were down to our 3rd and 4th string quarterbacks, but they played great. It's a good thing we get a bye week next week seeing as how now we're down to just our 3rd string and maybe a few receivers turned quarterbacks. The direct snap to the running back seemed to work well so maybe he'll play a couple of snaps as QB as well. Thank goodness the rest of our schedule will be relatively easy, and we may pull out a winning season yet.

I'm not as invested in the NFL this year. Last year I would watch the Patriots games, but I'm less interested this year. They did manage to beat the Rams though. We would watch the Panthers games since DeAngelo is playing great this year, but that game is always preempted by a "regional" game.

Other than football, we did manage to get some things done around the apartment. We realized that the pot rack won't hang where we had wanted it, so it's back to the drawing board. I am determined to move the entertainment center again, although Jeremy might just kill me. We did get all our winter clothes unpacked though which I think is a huge accomplishment although I still have to pack up all the summer clothes. Oh well, I'm taking things a little at a time.

Busy Saturday

This morning we got slept in but we managed to get a whole bunch done. We went to Ikea to return some things we bought a couple of weeks ago. We also ate lunch there. It brought back some bittersweet memories of my grandmother because we ate at Ikea the last time we visited her.

We're about to watch the Tigers play their homecoming game. It's the first homecoming game I've missed since 2002. They're supposed to do a tribute to TOMII tonight as well. They probably won't show that on TV. I hope we manage to beat Southern Miss even though we're on our third string quarterback.

Changing Seasons

It's getting wonderfully chilly outside, and I'm liking it a lot. I look around though and Jeremy and I are still confused by what the people are wearing. I know that I personally prefer cold weather, but Jeremy generally does not tolerate the cold very well. And yet, we are both still walking around in nothing more than a sweatshirt or a light jacket, whereas everywhere we look, people are already bundling up. I can understand the light scarves on women because that's a fashion thing as much as it is a means of staying warm. What I'm not understanding is the scarves, gloves and hats that are being worn. Yeah, the thermometer says it's 46 degrees outside, but it's not really that cold. Jeremy and I wonder how we're going to deal with the winters here, but if this is any indication, we may not have all that much to worry about. I want to say though that I have a feeling I will be taking that back in February when I'm freezing cold and miserable.

It has been nice watching the leaves change color across the river from us. The view out our window in the morning is truly breathtaking at times. I cannot wait until it snows for the first time.

I Miss A/C

Honestly, I don't know how people do it. The radiators were turned on in the building yesterday because the weather is turning chilly here. This means that in the mornings when I come in to work, it's cold enough outside to require a sweatshirt and a jacket. Before the radiators were turned on, I would keep the sweatshirt on all day and only be warm enough in the afternoon when the sun came through the window. Now, with the radiators on, I'm sitting here in a t-shirt. Apparently, there's either heat or no heat. We'll see how I make it through the winter.

Nice People/Warm Welcome

Jeremy and I went and got our new driver's licenses today. We had gone on Saturday, but there was a huge crowd and I forgot our checkbook. No big deal. We grabbed the paperwork and decided to go today. Nobody ever enjoys the thought of having to go to the DMV. We envisioned waiting forever and getting our licenses, no more, no less.

Instead, we were very surprised by the entire experience. The estimated wait time was about 2 minutes, but there were a couple of people ahead of us that had some issues with whatever, so we waited a little longer, probably no more than 30 minutes. When we approached the counter, we met a man who seemed slightly gruff, not extremely friendly. We laid out our paperwork, and he examined our mail and questioned us as to why some people put the east in front vs. behind the street name. I can't speak for Jeremy but I was a little confused and apparently being a little slow this morning. I think either that or I'm just not used to DMV employees with a sense of humor.

Once all of the paperwork was settled, he started to enter our information into the computer. He asked us how long we had been in the city and if we'd ever been here before. Because he found out we were new to the area as in just moved here a month ago, he not only gave us information and directions to where to change our tags, he gave us a map, and then a list of area restaurants that he enjoyed. He sat there for 10 minutes handwriting the restaurant names and how to get to each of them. He then walked us through how to get to each one and what was good about the food. When he finished with our paperwork and we went to wait for our pictures and our temporary licenses, he went on break. As he was walking out, he saw us in the waiting area, and he walked by to make sure we had gotten our pictures done.

This had to be the only time I have ever enjoyed going to the DMV.

Possibilities

Jeremy has an interview tomorrow afternoon. I hope everything goes well and he gets this job. While it's probably not his dream job, it would be a pretty good opportunity to increase his skill set. Plus, another income wouldn't hurt.

We keep saying that we're going to go out and explore more of the city, but that hasn't come to pass just yet. This past weekend was hampered by a migraine. However, as the weather seems to keep staying beautiful, maybe this weekend we'll be able to explore more.

Rearrangements

We are planning on rearranging our living room yet again. We have been in our new place a month, and we've moved our living room furniture around twice already. We can't seem to find an arrangement that we like. Ideally, the best place for it would've been where we had it before, but there just isn't enough room for the couch without blocking either the way to the stairs or the way out the front door. Where we have it now on the other side of the room works okay, but we have about 3 feet between us and the tv. It's a little close.

I really didn't want to arrange the living room this way because I want to be able to utilize the bar better, but this will give us more room between the couch and the tv. It will also allow for tv watching from the kitchen.

I've also managed to rearrange a lot of the kitchen so that cooking is a lot easier. I'm not completely finished nor completely happy, but without more room, it'll be hard to get it exactly the way I want it. It's actually not too bad in that my prep area will be right by the sink and the trash can so it makes chopping and stuff more convenient. I can't wait until we get our pot rack though so I can clear out the cabinet and put more prep type items in there.

Cooking Successes

While I'm not going to post recipes here, I will probably document cooking successes and failures whenever we attempt anything new. Today was a success. We had a butternut squash risotto that was amazing. While it probably won't go on our normal dinner rotation, it will definitely be something we make again. We do have a lot of butternut squash left, so I might freeze some for the future.

We also made our own pumpkin puree today as well. The hardest part was cutting the pumpkins open. It took us at least 30 minutes to cut the top off of the pumpkins. We've frozen 1 cup portions for baking during the holidays.

Tomorrow, I'm going to make chicken noodle casserole and chicken jambalaya. I should be able to freeze single serving portions of those for when we both start working. If the jambalaya turns out as well as the risotto, it will be another thing that Jeremy will now eat.

Weekend Plans

Weekends seem to go by so quickly, regardless of plans or activities. Maybe when we get everything more settled our weekends will be more fun.

We get to spend our Saturday morning at the DMV getting our new drivers license. I guess it's a blessing that the DMV is open on Saturdays. Maybe if we get there early enough there won't be that many people.

If we were still in Memphis, we would be participating in Memphis Madness tonight. I told Jeremy that he should feel free to drive 12 hours back there to watch, but he declined. I suppose 12 hours is really too far to drive on a whim.

It's starting to cool down here, inspiring me to want to cook more. Our kitchen is still such a mess though that I'm not sure I could actually cook the way I want. We recently ordered a potrack that we think will work well for us, but it won't get here for another 2 weeks. I think my goal this weekend will be to try to get the kitchen into a workable form so that I can at least contemplate cooking again. It's going to be hard though now that our kitchen is actually about half the size of our old one. I cannot imagine how I dealt with a kitchen that small in my studio apartment.

There is a Memphis football game on Saturday that we will watch provided the DMV doesn't take up all of our time. It should be a fun game, but it will be the first game we watch through the SlingBox. Hopefully it will be better quality than the Memphis vs. Houston game we watched via channelsurfing.com that was actually the Shanghai stream, Chinese announcers and all.

We don't have any plans as of yet for Sunday. Maybe this lack of activity will give us just enough time to finish what we need to around the apartment and actually rest up to tackle the coming work week.

It's Been Quite a Day

So my experiments didn't exactly work today. It's not a total setback being that these experiments were just a test anyways. As I've been told through my entire graduate school career, if things worked the first time, it wouldn't be called research; it'd just be called search.

On the home front, I think we're just about completely settled. We've still got a few things left to unpack, but for the most part, it'll be rearranging some things. We still need to buy several pieces of furniture, but again, we'll do that after we finish settling in.

I am really loving the weather right now. It's warm enough that I don't need a jacket, but it's cool enough where the leaves are changing. I'm really looking forward to the weekend and exploring more of the city.

Eastern Time

I have now lived in the Eastern time zone for oh, almost a month, and my impressions are that it just sucks. Maybe it's because I've only lived with central time, but I'm used to being able to watch ALL of my primetime shows before I pass out at night. Not to mention the fact that I used to actually be able to watch the news.

Now, I'm lucky if I make it to the start of the news. I honestly don't know how people do it. I suppose though that my habit of working 8:30 to 5:00 is a little different for people here. I'm not here particularly early, and my coworkers tend to arrive around the same time as well. However, the two weeks I was at home I noticed that most people really didn't leave for work until after 8 and didn't get off work until later in the evening.

Oh well, I'm getting really good at Wheel of Fortune.

New to Everything

Jeremy and I are finally settling in a little in Pittsburgh. We've been getting into a rhythm at work and at home. We've only gotten slightly lost a few times, but with the help of Google Maps, we've managed to find our way home every time.

Work has been interesting. I'm slowly ramping up to experiments. A few things I have tried have worked, but it's strange trying to get back into the swing of things. Everything is done differently and learning new techniques makes figuring things out just that much more interesting.

The good thing is that everyone is very nice. Even though I feel really stupid asking questions like, what water do we use when we make solutions, nobody has made me feel stupid yet for asking the questions.

I think our first month in Pittsburgh can be considered a success. Hopefully things will keep on improving, and we'll continue to love our new surroundings.