The Family Sideways: Home!

Home! 7/02/2005 08:43:00 AM

Yes, we've arrived safely in Houston. We stayed about an hour and a half outside of Houston on Tuesday night, and pulled into our driveway at about 10:30 or 11:00am on Wednesday. We unloaded the truck straight through until about 2:30 (I only almost passed out once), and went a couple blocks to an Irish pub for some lunch. I had a salad and Shiner Bock, Dana had the fish and chips (of course) and a Miller Lite. I hate to admit it, but I think her light beer was more called for than my darker Bock.

So, we came home, showered, and took a (much needed, well-deserved) nap. We had, throughout the unloading, created a list of essentials (TP, paper towels, beer - that kind of thing), and after rising took a field trip to Target, filled up the car, and found some grub. Came home, continued unpacking, and went to sleep.

We woke up at about 6am on Thursday (Dana had to get to work, and didn't want to pay for parking, so I drove), but had not yet unpacked the coffee machine. D'oh! While Dana slept through instructions on how to fill out forms, I came home and, zombie-like, continued to unpack. Only now (Saturday morning) does it appear that we're beginning to get settled. There are still boxes and packing materials everywhere, but the family room is finally taking form (while Dana was out running this morning and I was watching the Tour, I laid down the rug in the family room and unpacked CDs), and I think I've finally unpacked - and washed - all our new glasses. You should see it - we're more well-stocked than a nice bar (as far as glassware, anyway).

Today, we plan on catching a matinee of Batman, since it's so damn hot (yes, it really is that hot down here - we're told until Halloween), followed by some shopping - I need to find a nice desk to set up my work area.

The apartment, overall, is more spacious than I remembered, and everyone who helped pack the truck (THANK YOU again!) will be excited to learn that I think we might actually need to buy more stuff to fill the place up (including a big desk).

I'm happy to report that getting the DSL working was as simple as plugging in the modem. It just doesn't get more simple. Also, once we found Dana's phone, the VoIP line was just as simple to install - the only hitch was that I guess they recently switched to a new ordering system, so our voicemail wasn't set up yet. All that took was a quick support call (over the VoIP line, of course), with maybe 2 minutes of wait before being helped. And by the time I logged in to my account again, sure enough, the voicemail was set up.

OK, on to the stuff you guys really want to hear (or do you?). Marriage. D and I had a good talk about this last night over dinner (ate across the street from where we had our first lunch on Wednesday, at a BRITISH pub). We both agree that it's weird being married because we both expected to feel some kind of profound change - getting married is a big deal, and we thought it would be more, I don't know, tangible, I guess - but nothing really feels different. The only real difference is that now when we refer to each other it's "My wife.." this and "my husband.." that. It's really the only difference. Sure, we're living together, but let's be honest: we spent most of our time with each other anyway.

So, that's that! Also on the list for today is stopping by a bike shop to find out about local clubs (MUST. GET. ON. BIKE.), and tomorrow our goal is to find a new cellphone for D. This weekend we've got to get the office set up the rest of the way, as D has to begin studying and I need a place to work from on Tuesday that isn't my lap in the TV room (where I am now). Believe it or not, but my computer isn't even working yet - the only one that's hooked up now is the work laptop, and we've been using that exclusively so far. That will have to change.

So, we've still got lots to do, but my work primarily in the kitchen over the past several days while D was at work is starting to pay off (and the fringe benefit is I get to exert my total control over what goes where, which is a real bonus!).

That's enough for today, I think. The live tour coverage is about to start (it's been all pre-race stuff until now and I'm getting bored with it, which is why you get this entry). I'm going to look up movie times (and theatre locations!) and plan out the rest of our day.

Oh yeah - today we've got to return the truck as well! It's been parked out in front of our house since Wednesday. I'm sure the neighbors LOVE that.

Later! Be sure to check Dana's blog later as well - she plans on writing about how "humbling" her run was this morning. I think she partly melted.

Permanent link

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to hear you guys are doing great! Missed you at the party last night, but hopefully we will get to see you soon!

posted at 5:46 PM