Last night I had a dream that mostly consisted of Nick and Ben each making weird faces at me from across the room. So, basically, like every single meal in the Branford dining hall. Also Ben made fun of my hair (which is different now). In a nice way though.

how i became a print expert, and other adventures

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first oh-sev blog post, brought to you by a “I was productive before and now have very little to do” day at work.

I love reading about all of your adventures to new places- right now I am still comfortably in the Best Chester, working for the organization that owns the historic site I worked at in high school. At first I hated the whole 9-5 thing a lot, but I got used to it quickly and am really enjoying myself. I get to spend all day looking at 19^th century prints and I have a really cool boss who has given me a lot of authority over what we do with them. It’s suuuppper, check out my newest facebook album for some examples of what I’m looking at.

This job doesn’t end until September, but the weekend after next will be my first in DC. I’m moving into Doug and Will’s super sweet apartment with everything I could ever want, including a view of the airport and of airplanes landing and taking off. Their subletter is leaving that weekend, and I am starting to pay, so I’m gonna go down and play because lets face it, Westchester may be the best, but its also the most boring. I don’t have a real job yet but I’m sure I’ll get one eventually. I’m giving myself a little time to just relax and look for one (which may not be all that relaxing) and I’m really looking forward to getting to know a new city.

I keep having to remind myself that fall does not equal Yale. The other night I had this great dream about blunch. It was the first day back in the fall and commons had been turned into a food court but they used those wooden divider things to block the counters from view. A lot of you were in my dream and we were all talking about how weird it was that we were in commons even though we’d graduated.

Sorry if this was boring, but that’s what I’m up to. I miss you guys a lot and please please please come to DC all the time next year so you can see the sweet apartment for yourselves!

Oh-sev <3>

Kwik-E-Mart

Yesterday, after having begged Ali for a week, we finally visited the Kwik-E-Mart in Mountain View, CA (home of Google). It was pretty sweet, almost as exciting as seeing the movie itself.

For those who are unfamiliar, 7-Eleven converted about a dozen stores across the country into their Simpsons counterparts to promote the movie. In addition to cardboard cutouts of characters (including an old guy in the freezer), they sell Buzz Cola, Squishees, pink doughnuts, and tons of Simpsons merchandise - t-shirts, cups, comic books, etc. Sadly, they had sold out of their Krusty-O's.

We went at a quiet part of the afternoon - there were only about 30 people in the store and 1 security guard. Apparently there have been lines around the block. If I can figure out how to get pictures out of my cameraphone, I will post them here, because it was awesome.

Anyway, today it's off to the GARLIC FESTIVAL with Mike Chan. Have a good weekend.

Oh the Humidity!

So here goes my first post from sunny Scottsdale. I got here almost two weeks ago and have since spent a crapload of money on getting settled in. I'm living in a nice 1 bedroom apartment opposite a big public park with lots of tennis and sand volleyball (a little too dry and landlocked to be using the word "beach") courts. I bought a new red Toyota Yaris, even after my mom told me I looked "cute" in it, and have purchased a bed, a dining room table and chairs, and a futon with an incredibly comfortable mattress (hint: come visit). I'm teaching 6th grade English in a charter school about 5 miles down the road and I had my first meeting and tour of the new school. My classroom is sadly windowless, but I'm sure I'll survive. Teacher training starts on Wednesday, with school starting two weeks on Monday. I'm pretty much wavering from quietly confident to terrified.

Oh so before I forget, the title of the post refers to the 50% humidity going down in the 852 (Scottsdale) at the moment. Apparently it's "monsoon" season, but it's all relative and should probably just be called "kinda humid with some occasional rain, both of which seem crazy to us all because we live in the high Sonoran desert" season.

Highs and lows of moving here include:
-Not knowing anyone except for some distant cousins
-Arriving while the Diamondbacks are on a 7 game winning streak and finding it easy to follow them (on radio - no tv yet)
-Fairly cheap rent and cost of living
-Breaking my ceiling fan (crucial to perceived room temperature) while moving an apparently indestructible IKEA lamp
-Driving around the desert listening to Meatloaf
-People being nice to me after telling them I just moved here and I'm a teacher

Before moving to the Phoenix area I spent June in London going to other people's graduation parties (not nearly as fun as going to your own) and the first half of July in Hong Kong and Bali hanging out with my dad and half sisters.

-Jamie

You know you're in the midwest when...

Since we're a little lacking on posts, I decided to send this to the blog rather than the email list!
Yesterday I experienced my first ever 'business trip'. No I didn't get to wear a blazer and get on a flight with nothing but a briefcase and a laptop, I was stuck in a minivan with 4 other people as we drove 5 hours (I was reading harry potter).

We were visiting another corn plant (the world's LARGEST corn plant to be exact!) to ask questions on a process they have running there that we are getting up and running at our plant. Anyway, you know your hotel is in the middle of nowhere in the midwest when your room window view looks like this.... Yes... that is a corn field.

growing up?

Things I'm finding out:
- when I hear some songs I still think "this would make a fun arrangement for the YPMB"
- a coffee habit is really easy to pick up, especially if you sleep less than 5 hours a night
- no matter how much I complain about my parents, I'm still sorta sad when they leave (it's complicated, but at the very least I'd like my mom to stay and not my crazy dad!)
- making money doesn't mean you'll actually have any more of it at the end of the month
- if you reconsolidated only some of your loans, things get complicated
- it is your responsibility to check on your student loans, even if you haven't been receiving statements in the mail
- you don't get reported to the credit bureau until 60 days of deliquency :-)

I had more to say, but now I don't remember. Oof! I forgot my camera! Gonna meet up with some band people after work. Will post fun gossip if any. :-)

Couchsurfing

After 7 days, 14 states, and 3,800 miles, Ali and I have finally made it to California. As we search for jobs/an apartment, we're housesitting for Ali's uncle in Gilroy, CA - the Garlic Capitol of the World. There are horses next door!

We highly recommend you all check out couchsurfing.com whenever you travel next. It's an international social network - kind of like myspace/facebook - where people open up their homes for travelers. We stayed with an Ohio State post-doc in Columbus who was extremely accomodating, lending us a bedroom and giving us a campus tour! No money changes hands - people simply open up their couches, floors, spare bedrooms, etc. It's a great way to meet people in the places you visit.

Of course you have to be careful, but it can be done safely (i.e. you can choose female-only and/or households of couples). These days we can be kind of paranoid as a society, and we can expect the worst of strangers - it's kind of sad, really, because it makes people cold and distant. Anyway, I think couchsurfing is one great way to avoid that. Check it out.