Fait Accompli
I'm successfully installed in Charlottesville. I have a bed, a chair, internet access, food in the fridge, etc. James and his family are bringing down the rest of the furniture and assorted belongings on Friday. (It'll be good to have more than three shirts. I could have planned this move a little better.) My mom and my friend Joe helped out tremendously on this end, and of course Dad and James helped out tremendously on the other end. I'm feeling grateful to a lot of people lately. Thanks, guys.
Being back here is going to take some adjusting. I feel like some antisocial misfit. People keep saying hi to me and I panic because I think I must know them since they're being so friendly, but I'm so bad at recognizing faces that I can't be certain. By the time I realize that they're complete strangers just being nice, I've missed my chance to say hi back. The Pittsburgh smile/nod/eye contact/grimace doesn't seem to get the job done around here. Shame, because it's so versatile and requires so little thought. On the other hand, I might actually get to know some people here without having to spend two years doing everything alone.
I had iced coffee at the Mudhouse tonight, on a sojourn for free wireless. It was amazingly good. Still, I've got my bag of Coffee Tree Ethiopia Sidamo here, and my grinder and French press, so I'll be making my own coffee in the morning. Time to rein in my spendthrift ways. I even bought peanut butter and jelly tonight (among other things -- don't worry Mom and Dad -- no starving here).
I've now spent twelve hours here and haven't randomly run into anyone I know. That might be a record.
I'm considering getting a Cingular phone. Right now I have an Alltel prepaid/no-contract thing that's worked well as a stopgap, but I think it's ending up being more expensive than a traditional plan would be. And I'd like to be able to talk to friends and family without worrying about minutes. Any Cingular horror stories? I'm not a fan of the two-year contract, but the price is right -- $40 a month -- and I can get a nice phone for free, so it seems like it would be worth it.
It's so humid here that my windshield fogged up tonight and wouldn't clear unless I was driving at least 35 mph. Not sure what to do about that. Defrost didn't seem to work on any setting, and even opening the windows didn't work. I need to be able to see out of my car. I guess the weather will be changing relatively soon, anyway.
Being back here is going to take some adjusting. I feel like some antisocial misfit. People keep saying hi to me and I panic because I think I must know them since they're being so friendly, but I'm so bad at recognizing faces that I can't be certain. By the time I realize that they're complete strangers just being nice, I've missed my chance to say hi back. The Pittsburgh smile/nod/eye contact/grimace doesn't seem to get the job done around here. Shame, because it's so versatile and requires so little thought. On the other hand, I might actually get to know some people here without having to spend two years doing everything alone.
I had iced coffee at the Mudhouse tonight, on a sojourn for free wireless. It was amazingly good. Still, I've got my bag of Coffee Tree Ethiopia Sidamo here, and my grinder and French press, so I'll be making my own coffee in the morning. Time to rein in my spendthrift ways. I even bought peanut butter and jelly tonight (among other things -- don't worry Mom and Dad -- no starving here).
I've now spent twelve hours here and haven't randomly run into anyone I know. That might be a record.
I'm considering getting a Cingular phone. Right now I have an Alltel prepaid/no-contract thing that's worked well as a stopgap, but I think it's ending up being more expensive than a traditional plan would be. And I'd like to be able to talk to friends and family without worrying about minutes. Any Cingular horror stories? I'm not a fan of the two-year contract, but the price is right -- $40 a month -- and I can get a nice phone for free, so it seems like it would be worth it.
It's so humid here that my windshield fogged up tonight and wouldn't clear unless I was driving at least 35 mph. Not sure what to do about that. Defrost didn't seem to work on any setting, and even opening the windows didn't work. I need to be able to see out of my car. I guess the weather will be changing relatively soon, anyway.
posted by Gwen at 11:52 PM
1 Comments:
Glad you made it to c-ville in one piece... I was similarly wigged out by friendlyness when I moved there last summer... but I got used to it pretty quick.
So the windshield fogging is probably cause your car's A/C is making the window really cold. My advice is to do the defrost + A/C plus the temp dial halfway between heat and cool. That should dry out the air on your side, plus maybe make the windshield the right temperature for no fogging.
-Matt
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