Yay! I got cable today. Now, you might question why I have cable when my things aren't here....I needed to take care of as much business as I could before starting work. In the meantime, I also decided to get a cheap Vizio LCD/LED TV at BJ's for my bedroom. This one is a little bigger than what I had; my old one will be in the guest room. I've also had trouble sleeping, so this afternoon I was able to take a nice nap to the drone of the TV. I'll be spending a lot of time upstairs where it is warmer anyway. Downstairs feels drafty even with the little door blockers. I really have to think about insulated drapes or something soon. If my sewing machine were here, I'd just make them.
The cable install was not without its comedy....the installer was a very funny guy. Another cable guy came with because "he didn't have anything better to do."
In searching for locations to install the jacks and wires, we found a wire in the basement that went absolutely no where. We found another up in a closet, just through a hole in the wall that also went no where. Then we found the actual cable connection behind a plain plate on the wall that had a splitter as if someone had tried to tap someone else's cable before...We also found phone lines that had been jimmy rigged through holes in walls...this is deja vu.
Without doing a whole house wrap on the exterior, I couldn't get a connection for the spare room, but my landlord says he will use the new splitter left by the cable guy to run line through the attic and put something in the other room. He says he wired his whole other house. The other lines were already here when he bought the place so he has no idea what they were trying to do.Then I just have to go get a box. It won't be fancy, but you will have 78 channels when you visit.
The second cable guy asked all about where I was from and told me not to feel bad, that he's lived here 15 years and is still considered an outsider even though he owns property and pays taxes. He tells me most of the people are uppity in Maine and that New Hampshire is a much friendlier place. We'll see.
Lily was in awe of the TV coming on. She stood and stared at it, turning her head from side to side, like it was something she could remember, but from where? She finally curled up on the air mattress and took a nap with me.The empty box from my pantry shelf unit is my stand for now. I plan on using a dish box for my night table. I'm tired of leaning so far off the mattress to turn off my phone, etc. The hilarious thing is that with the mattress on top of the cot, you have to be careful not to get too far off center or the whole thing will dump over. Lily has discovered this just jumping up, and I had the same problem rolling over...I have to be in the middle or it tips off. Still, it beats being on the floor. Unless, of course, I land there.
We still have so much snow and more on the way. The cable guy told me that with last weekend, they already hit 50 inches for the season, as they'd had another bad storm over Christmas. He says any more and it will break records. I told him what people told me about getting 6-12" average snow here on the coast and he laughed. He said no, 50" is about average every year, just more spread out and usually starts in November. He says in between it goes away so it doesn't seem like so much.
Listening to the local news is a lot more accurate than trying to find something online. Snow showers by Sat night and temperatures predicted perhaps as low as -10 F at night. Of course, all my scarves and extra stuff are on the moving truck. I may have to go buy one tomorrow. I have a hat, a pair of gloves and my Uggs. Of course, I brought the thinner down coat for ease in traveling. I bought a couple of cheap sweaters and turtlenecks at WalMart just so I could layer up.
The snow is still so deep out back that Lily just charges out until her lead stops (snow at her shoulders or higher) then she just stands to potty. Why sit when the ground is right there? Then, in she will romp, little snowballs stuck all over her fur. She is really enjoying her new stuffed fox toy and she likes the new food but it makes her a little gassy...
I went by work today to fill out some preliminary paperwork. Monday, I get my mandatory physical and blood work. They do a titer to verify you have all vaccinations unless you have documents to prove it. I don't -- my records are so old.
I found out that once I get my employee number, I will have access to many discounts. For example, cafeteria food, apothecary, dry cleaning, restaurants, and even a 24% savings with ATT! I won't have insurance until mid February as there is a 30 day wait period and actual orientation will not be until much later in the month. However, by Monday afternoon I should be in my new office!I am excited to start.
I'd planned on getting my license and plates today. What a foolish girl I am. This was the ONE day that DMV was closed, the first of their mandated closure dates to save the state money. That means I have to take more time unpaid off to take care of business.
I've felt like I was in limbo -- I've had to wait for my things and now every weekend will be spent putting them away once they do get here (and this may take me years, you know). I had to wait to get insurance confirmation from WA so I could get auto here. I needed Maine insurance before I could get my license, and now they were not open when I could have gone. That storm really delayed a lot of things -- lots of places were closed because of it. I just hope the moving van makes it in one piece!
I opened an account at a local credit union. They have an awesome interest bearing checking system. It's only five minutes from my house and they are open Saturdays, half day. In researching things, I found that almost all banks close by 3 or 4 pm daily here! There is one another that is open until 8pm on Fridays, but their fees were ridiculous. My new job has direct deposit so I probably won't have to go in much anyway. In this area, almost everything closes by 5pm except the grocery and gas stations that close at 9.
Someone asked me the population here -- it is almost 187,000 in York County, which includes many small neighboring townships. So it is a lot like Spokane used to be. Everybody seems to know each other.
Tomorrow I am going to an indoor Farmer's Market that is nearby. There's supposed to be about 50 vendors with produce and crafts. Should be interesting. In the winter it will be twice month and in warm weather, every weekend outside. I love Farmer's Markets!
Well, I need to go do some online studies on Health Informatics, upstairs where it is warmer and there is TV.
Until later ---
No comments:
Post a Comment