Why is this post titled Bacon? Well because I have given up bacon. And pork. I don't really miss bacon... I mean its good but I never eat bacon. I eat... bacon cheeseburgers, or bacon chicken wraps. So now I just eat cheeseburgers and chicken wraps. It doesn't seem to matter. What do I miss? Sausage. And pepperoni. In fact I think I need to make a special exception for pepperoni. It was kinda a knee jerk reaction after Yom Kippur. I got a good dose of jewish guilt that day and then decided I should stop my evil pork eating ways. Which sounded easy when you talk about bacon. But harder when you talk about sausage.
Work... what to say about work. Well they decided that two of every class would go first into the breach (aka sim flow). So me and Mark were picked for Spartan (as the best two, because we are) and we participated last two weeks in eval sims for the different disciplines. These were the toughest, craziest, power failure heaviest sims we have ever had. And they were really really fun. I got a good eval too, including one outstanding. So yeah work is going well. The week after thanksgiving, we have another sim... our last of the year. And then in January we start generic sims... 5 of those then we are certified (or at least thats the plan). I really cant wait to be certified. All these months of hard work finally paying off. And I know its alot of off normal hours (nights, weekends) and many many months of boredom but every so often theres a few moments of terror. Just 2 weeks ago they had a major on orbit failure at midnight. Thats gonna be our shift. Which means I could be the one that gets the major failure next time. And I think, if that happens, I would be ready for it. Because we had basically the same failure in the last sim. And it went well.
Then its on to specialist training, specialist sims, specialist cert. And then instructor. And along the way procedures, and I actually enjoy writing procedures. And other paperwork of varying levels of interest. But I go to sleep every night knowing that because of something I did today, people will continue to live and work safely in space. And thats... more than I ever hoped for. People. In space. And I get to be a part of it.
Next week is thanksgiving and I'm going to New York with Rami's family. Well, meeting them there. As long as its not snowing in Baltimore. I got a new wintery coat for... I dont know.. winter? And I finally finally got a fleecy vest. I always want them and I never get one cuz its hot. But this year I'm going to new york and then back to manchester and then also probably to Colorado with some coworkers in Feb and it also gets a little cold in Texas from time to time. Plus it was only like 11$ at the crazy old navy sale. So I finally have one.
Oh and I was watching Say Yes to the Dress and thinking about weddings and stuff. How crazy is it that people spend 4,000... 6,000... 10,000 dollars on a wedding dress. I hope to get mine from the Davids bridal $99 dollar sale. Or just some Dillards prom dress that happens to be white-ish. Yeah all that sounds better than spending 6,000 on a custom fitted designer gown. Oh and another thing... dont do beading above the waist. It will rub your arms raw. My mom had a beautiful beaded dress that I borrowed once for some formal party and though it looked wonderful and fancy... my arms were all red and splotchy and hurt like nothing else the next day. But then, I don't tolerate beauty pain very well. And also, I notice that none of these dresses have sleeves or even straps. Does everyone wear a shrug for their church wedding? Or does nobody even have church weddings anymore?
Anyways, thats whats on my mind today. :-) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Catching up
Hanging out at Hobby airport but cant post it because no internet. Well yes internet, but I am not paying $7.95 for a day's worth of internet when I will only be here for a half hour. Lame.
Anyways I realize that I haven't posted in a really long time. Things are going awesome here.
1. Sims...
I wrote after the first sim... since then I have done sims numbered 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 14. Haha they started rearranging due to some technical difficulties. Sadly that pushes out certification date out til February. Happily (for me, not the people who WILL be working those days) that means I will not have to work Christmas or Thanksgiving this year. But anyways, so the minisims have been really cool. I haven't always done great (7 was particularly not so pretty) and then 14 was emergency day. We have 3 types of emergencies, designated for their danger to the crew. Things that just hurt the vehicle are called warnings and are serious, but not nearly as serious as an emergency. As I learned in this sim, things move really fast in an emergency. The crew has a memorized response to safe themselves with the lifeboat (Soyuz). Its so different than failures in my system (although these CAN BE failures in my system... more on that later). When the power system or external thermal control system fails that OUTSIDE, 99% of the time. And being outside, we can send all those commands from the ground. We dont need the crew's help. But with emergencies, you have to have the crew's help. So ok the three emergencies are: Fire, Rapid Depress, and Toxic Atmosphere. Fire is in fact a failure in my system... theres no matches or cigarettes so the fires are most likely to be electrical fires. And I provide the electricity. So if something trips (like the circuit breaker in your house would) you send the crew to smell for smoke, unless the life support people find the smoke first (according to one of my instructors, you should always beat the life support person to the fire...I did not, better luck next time!) So then you have to work with this giant confusing table of fire ports to direct the crew to take CO2 readings and see if theres a fire. Fire is scary... for me. But we got through it ok.
Rapid depress... eh I dont really care too much. Thats at least not my system. But imagine you are in a giant space bubble and suddenly it gets a hole in it. Scary, yes? So the crew first leak checks their Soyuz cuz if thats leaking its bad bad bad news. Then they proceed to try and close hatches until they find the module with the hole and isolate it. And depending on how big it is, maybe you patch it, or maybe you lose that module... and any others forward of it.
Toxic atmosphere... there are various levels. But the worst in when ammonia from the ETCS breaks through the heat exchanger and gets into the cabin. 100% pure ammonia at 2000kPa going into water at a much much much lower pressure. And as you probably know, even a tiny bit of ammonia can give you physical symptoms... and a little bit more (200 ppm if you ask NASA) can kill you. So ammonia is bad. And again, kinda my fault. Not much you can do about that though, once the ammonia's in its pretty hard to get it out.
So the end result of emergency day is hopefully your crew is alive. Probably your space station is not happy. Maybe your crew is going home. Its kinda a depressing day. Thankfully they have never had an emergency on board but you train and train and train because 6 or more lives depend on how you perform if ever there is an emergency.
Ok, next subject... 2. Austin!!!
Fact: Austin is way better than Dallas.
Austin is a really cool crazy city with lots of stuff going on. And its surprisingly driveable- unlike stupid Houston. Things Meg and I did in Austin: Went for tex mex and had the creepiest waiter and terrible "guacamole," toured a winery, shopped downtown, got chocolate truffles, ate a fantastic dinner, saw a bunch of crazed Texas fans in burnt orange, got really drunk (repeatedly, actually), stayed in a fancy hotel, went to a fabulous brunch, fed the peacocks and their babies, saw 150 year old homes that people still use!!, went to a huge antique mall in a barn, and then sadly, I went home. But I saw baby cows along the way.
(Continued from the Orlando airport... yay free internet here!)
Things we did not do in Austin: get pulled over, fear for our lives at some sketch parking lot, freeze to death, almost get my car towed. It was generally awesome. So far, Austin is my favorite town in Texas. Fuck Dallas. And btw, I LOVE YOU MEG!
3. Nostalgia. To get there I had to take I-10 west out of the city. The same stretch that Ali, Gregg, and I drove back in the day when we went to Santa Fe. Again the traffic, is the overwhelming thing I remember. And I put on the CD he made for the trip, for old times sake. Just made me think about the old days and think about where we are now... did we ever think, back then, that things would end up this way? Could we ever have known? I certainly never planned to be living in Texas, never planned to be working for NASA (hoped, yes), never expected to stick myself in the same kind of long distance relationship that they hadn't at that time even started. Never expected any of this. But you know what they say about God laughing while we make plans.
4. Other stuff: Before that was Labor day weekend in Orlando. And before that my 23 birthday making me officially old. I am starting to like life a little better in Houston... I went to ikea and bought some new plates for my new apartment. And I've started cooking from this awesome little cooking magazine my mom started sending me. Now that its getting cooler again I dont loathe leaving the house (until next summer.. the summers are truly brutal) and hopefully my electricity bill will calm itself down. And work is getting cooler by the second. I am not always amazing in those sims, but I enjoy it and I have fun and I can tell I'm getting better as time goes on... I don't need to be perfect today, just better than yesterday and have I mentioned, its really freaking fun.
5. In summary... So thats my story. I'm off to Fort Lauderdale for Rosh Hashana with the family. Should be fun even if they are a little crazy. :-)
Anyways I realize that I haven't posted in a really long time. Things are going awesome here.
1. Sims...
I wrote after the first sim... since then I have done sims numbered 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 14. Haha they started rearranging due to some technical difficulties. Sadly that pushes out certification date out til February. Happily (for me, not the people who WILL be working those days) that means I will not have to work Christmas or Thanksgiving this year. But anyways, so the minisims have been really cool. I haven't always done great (7 was particularly not so pretty) and then 14 was emergency day. We have 3 types of emergencies, designated for their danger to the crew. Things that just hurt the vehicle are called warnings and are serious, but not nearly as serious as an emergency. As I learned in this sim, things move really fast in an emergency. The crew has a memorized response to safe themselves with the lifeboat (Soyuz). Its so different than failures in my system (although these CAN BE failures in my system... more on that later). When the power system or external thermal control system fails that OUTSIDE, 99% of the time. And being outside, we can send all those commands from the ground. We dont need the crew's help. But with emergencies, you have to have the crew's help. So ok the three emergencies are: Fire, Rapid Depress, and Toxic Atmosphere. Fire is in fact a failure in my system... theres no matches or cigarettes so the fires are most likely to be electrical fires. And I provide the electricity. So if something trips (like the circuit breaker in your house would) you send the crew to smell for smoke, unless the life support people find the smoke first (according to one of my instructors, you should always beat the life support person to the fire...I did not, better luck next time!) So then you have to work with this giant confusing table of fire ports to direct the crew to take CO2 readings and see if theres a fire. Fire is scary... for me. But we got through it ok.
Rapid depress... eh I dont really care too much. Thats at least not my system. But imagine you are in a giant space bubble and suddenly it gets a hole in it. Scary, yes? So the crew first leak checks their Soyuz cuz if thats leaking its bad bad bad news. Then they proceed to try and close hatches until they find the module with the hole and isolate it. And depending on how big it is, maybe you patch it, or maybe you lose that module... and any others forward of it.
Toxic atmosphere... there are various levels. But the worst in when ammonia from the ETCS breaks through the heat exchanger and gets into the cabin. 100% pure ammonia at 2000kPa going into water at a much much much lower pressure. And as you probably know, even a tiny bit of ammonia can give you physical symptoms... and a little bit more (200 ppm if you ask NASA) can kill you. So ammonia is bad. And again, kinda my fault. Not much you can do about that though, once the ammonia's in its pretty hard to get it out.
So the end result of emergency day is hopefully your crew is alive. Probably your space station is not happy. Maybe your crew is going home. Its kinda a depressing day. Thankfully they have never had an emergency on board but you train and train and train because 6 or more lives depend on how you perform if ever there is an emergency.
Ok, next subject... 2. Austin!!!
Fact: Austin is way better than Dallas.
Austin is a really cool crazy city with lots of stuff going on. And its surprisingly driveable- unlike stupid Houston. Things Meg and I did in Austin: Went for tex mex and had the creepiest waiter and terrible "guacamole," toured a winery, shopped downtown, got chocolate truffles, ate a fantastic dinner, saw a bunch of crazed Texas fans in burnt orange, got really drunk (repeatedly, actually), stayed in a fancy hotel, went to a fabulous brunch, fed the peacocks and their babies, saw 150 year old homes that people still use!!, went to a huge antique mall in a barn, and then sadly, I went home. But I saw baby cows along the way.
(Continued from the Orlando airport... yay free internet here!)
Things we did not do in Austin: get pulled over, fear for our lives at some sketch parking lot, freeze to death, almost get my car towed. It was generally awesome. So far, Austin is my favorite town in Texas. Fuck Dallas. And btw, I LOVE YOU MEG!
3. Nostalgia. To get there I had to take I-10 west out of the city. The same stretch that Ali, Gregg, and I drove back in the day when we went to Santa Fe. Again the traffic, is the overwhelming thing I remember. And I put on the CD he made for the trip, for old times sake. Just made me think about the old days and think about where we are now... did we ever think, back then, that things would end up this way? Could we ever have known? I certainly never planned to be living in Texas, never planned to be working for NASA (hoped, yes), never expected to stick myself in the same kind of long distance relationship that they hadn't at that time even started. Never expected any of this. But you know what they say about God laughing while we make plans.
4. Other stuff: Before that was Labor day weekend in Orlando. And before that my 23 birthday making me officially old. I am starting to like life a little better in Houston... I went to ikea and bought some new plates for my new apartment. And I've started cooking from this awesome little cooking magazine my mom started sending me. Now that its getting cooler again I dont loathe leaving the house (until next summer.. the summers are truly brutal) and hopefully my electricity bill will calm itself down. And work is getting cooler by the second. I am not always amazing in those sims, but I enjoy it and I have fun and I can tell I'm getting better as time goes on... I don't need to be perfect today, just better than yesterday and have I mentioned, its really freaking fun.
5. In summary... So thats my story. I'm off to Fort Lauderdale for Rosh Hashana with the family. Should be fun even if they are a little crazy. :-)
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
First Sim!!
So today I had my first run in the simulator. We were supposed to have our own special operator simulator but it is delayed so we are doing them in the full up real people simulator. It is a realistic mockup of the actual mission control center that people have been doing their full scale sims in for years.
Its so exciting, the computers, the comm system, the big board... everything is so real.
And so there I was running my wonderful nominal timeline when I get a biiig warning on the board. One that means if I dont act, I will lose my power channel. Unfortunately, there wasnt margin available to do a loads transfer the normal way. So there I am doing a complete power down. Not fair... ETHOS gets a fan overspeed, ADCO gets a clearing steering problem, CRONUS gets a measly TDRS realign. And I get a giant, honking, bright red, angry, power channel killing WARNING!
Soooo.... yeah but I had a good time. When I was in there I was juttery and needed to take a deep breath and then explain myself to the flight director and work my procedures. Happy to say that my biggest fear (command error) didn't happen. I minded my LOS periods (when the station isnt in satelite communication so we cant command to it or get telemetry). And even though its a scary procedure with some pitfalls, I still made it through ok.
And so I am quite proud of myself. I mean sure I wasnt perfect. My console logs are crap. My calls to the flight director need some work. But... I'm working on it. And now I know better what to work on.
Anyways, I'm pretty happy. Now I'm having a glass of wine and watching some tv then off to bed. YAY flight control. My job rocks alot!
Its so exciting, the computers, the comm system, the big board... everything is so real.
And so there I was running my wonderful nominal timeline when I get a biiig warning on the board. One that means if I dont act, I will lose my power channel. Unfortunately, there wasnt margin available to do a loads transfer the normal way. So there I am doing a complete power down. Not fair... ETHOS gets a fan overspeed, ADCO gets a clearing steering problem, CRONUS gets a measly TDRS realign. And I get a giant, honking, bright red, angry, power channel killing WARNING!
Soooo.... yeah but I had a good time. When I was in there I was juttery and needed to take a deep breath and then explain myself to the flight director and work my procedures. Happy to say that my biggest fear (command error) didn't happen. I minded my LOS periods (when the station isnt in satelite communication so we cant command to it or get telemetry). And even though its a scary procedure with some pitfalls, I still made it through ok.
And so I am quite proud of myself. I mean sure I wasnt perfect. My console logs are crap. My calls to the flight director need some work. But... I'm working on it. And now I know better what to work on.
Anyways, I'm pretty happy. Now I'm having a glass of wine and watching some tv then off to bed. YAY flight control. My job rocks alot!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Insanity...
So for the past like 3 months I've been having a crazy crazy life. First, March and April: Weekend 2 of March Rami here for his spring break, me in both Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando for my spring "break" a week later, then Dallas to visit Meg, then back to Orlando for a pre-passover celebration, then back to Fort Lauderdale for something with Rami's fam, then finally finally a weekend at home to sleep and do laundry.
Dallas- Was awesome! And also not awesome! First of all, drove 5 hours to get there. Took me like 2 of those hours fighting Houston rush hour traffic... twice. First the space center traffic into the city, then the city traffic to the suburb north of the city. But it was so so awesome to see Meg. And her aunt who we stayed with was so sweet and welcoming and it was awesome. BUT... fuck dallas. Don't even remember all the ridiculous reasons why Dallas sucks since it was a long time ago and alot of shit has happened since but the basics are: poor Meg (literally and figuratively, heh) got a ticket for turning right on red which you're apparently not allowed to do in Dallas. Then my insurance had expired like a week before (oops) and he threatened to impound my car... another stupid dallas law. STUPID. Meg and I decided we dont wanna go back to that evil, horrible place. STUPID.
Before I left for Orlando the weekend before Passover, I told the office at my apartment about the big crack in the bathtub. Again. This time they finally did something, which was to schedule people for that monday morning to come to my apartment and resurface the tub. I was told not to come home for 8 hours because of the fumes and I didnt. They resurfaced the tub but then the whole apartment smelled and it was sticky for days afterwards. And, a few days later it started to crack again. Whatever.
Also, when I paid March's rent, I hadn't yet recieved my water bill (water is submetered so I got a bill for somewhere between 5 and 10$ every month) so I paid $15 extra, figuring that it would definitely cover my water bill and then since I was gonna be away alot, I wouldn't have to worry. With that check for rent + water I included a note nobody bothered to read saying I hadn't gotten my bill so was adding $15 so it would certainly be enough. Then I got my water bill and it was for $4 so I KNOW that I had overpaid. I went into the office to mention that and the guy there said it would be fine and would carry over to next month. Next month I got a water bill of $7 so again I knew I would have money roll over. However when I got back from Fort Lauderdale after that last weekend I had a note in my door saying I owed $7. $7.70 to be exact. I called the office and explained and they said they would take care of it. Then I called back the next day and they hadn't fixed it but were like oh well you need to bring us a copy of the bills so we can see that it really was covered. So I did. And I even checked again after I dropped that in the night box that they were dealing with it. Well when I returned from a bar with coworkers on the following Friday night, my first weekend home in a looong time, I had ANOTHER note. This one threatened to bring court proceedings to evict me. Over $7.70. THAT I DIDNT EVEN OWE. Well being freaked out by this evil letter I went into the office the next day (a saturday, so of course the manager wasnt there) and got them to give me written notice that i didn't owe money. Their excuse was that they sent the note before they actually fixed it. Which was 5 days after I told them they were wrong, and 3 after I gave them the proof in the night drop. Stupid.
Plus, in the middle of all this I also got a letter saying my lease was up and I needed to either sign a new lease or give notice to leave. Well between the unhelpful morons in the office and the again cracking tub, I wasn't sure I wanted to renew but I also didn't feel like moving. Its alot of work, alot of money, and besides, where would I go? Another apartment complex where the same thing would happen all over again.
Well, then, my decision was made for me. The following week I was working late hours studying for a big work test on all software functions and software protections in my entire system, a huuuge amount of material. Wednesday I returned home from work about 6:30 and I inserted my key into my door. The lock was kinda sticky so I could tell from how easily the key turned that the door was unlocked. This is it, I figured, someone from the apartment complex is in here waiting to tell me I'm evicted because those morons still don't realize I already paid them. So I opened the door (maybe not the smartest thing but I really thought it was those idiots). This is when I saw that my laptop (normally on the couch) was gone. Turning my head, I could see the door frame wood was split top to bottom. Someone had broken open my door!!!
Freaking out, I ran back to my car, got in, locked the door and call the cops. And Rami. And my mom. And finally (probably not that long after) the cop came. They cleared the apartment, dusted for fingerprints, and took my statement. I found out from the apartment repairman that someone else in the apartment complex was broken into. The total taken: My laptop, my big pretty tv, my gun (broken out of the safe I kept it in, in the drawer I hid that in), and my laptop case (presumably for carrying the laptop). And my ability to sleep for a really long time.
From the way only certain things were missing and nothing else appeared touched. I wondered if it was the tub repairman. I had just come back from a weekend away, I hadn't hidden my laptop... and how exactly would you hide a 32 inch television? And the gun was always hidden. They certainly could have seen the laptop and TV and opened a few drawers until they found the safe. Then knowing that I worked all day and the apartment was unattended, they could have planned to come back for those few things only 3 weeks later. I will never know. And my stuff will never be found. Its gone now.
After dealing with the police, I threw some clothes in a suitcase and left. Katie took me in for a few nights and I got a guy I know from work to go back to the apartment with me the next night so I could sort through some things (and in my haste to get out, I had forgotten underwear the night before)... I was afraid to return alone. Weirdly, this has given me a more intense fear of the dark even though the robbery happened in broad daylight.
My mom came that sunday (she was busy saturday night) and I took off work on Monday to go hunting for a new place to live. I found that place and 5 days later, on the first of the month, I signed the lease. That night was the last I slept in my old apartment, save once. I didn't have time to book movers that quickly so I bought an air mattress and I moved over all my work clothes, some other clothes, my little bedroom tv (19 in rear projection.... lame!), my tivo, and some dishes, food and stuff that weekend. I lived here like a squatter for a while.
The weekend after that I went back to Ft Lauderdale for Rami's bar removal surgery. That was a terrible, awful experience. Poor kid was in surgery for hours, and then in such pain they had to keep him on morphine overnight (so he had to stay) and... I guess I know I really love him now because I couldn't really eat or sleep, thinking about him in the hospital. Ugh... awful. And with all that, I couldn't get it together to move the following weekend, so I used that to empty all my drawers and pack everything up in boxes. Also, I got an alarm system installed. A real, monitored one so I would be able to sleep at night and not worry during the day. It helps, but I wouldn't say I'm worry free.
Then hired movers for the following weekend to move my big furniture (CR-V is wonderful, but not that big), took Friday morning off to do the move then headed to work for a class in the afternoon. Rami came that thursday night so he was with me to meet the movers. We did actually stay in the old apartment that night cuz the movers were coming early that morning and I was glad I had him with me cuz that place still freaks me out. Then my parents came in Friday night and we had a good weekend. They helped me finish moving out the last little bit, and my dad and rami put light kits on the fans (how weird that they were just fans without built in lights) and a blackout pull down window shade in the bedroom. Mom helped me too, setting up the home entertainment system with my new TV and some cool cabinet stuff for my kitchen.
That weekend we also went to Astros game, Melting pot for dinner, and I took them on a JSC tour which was all awesome.
This weekend, I went and bought a little DIY bookcase to keep my printer and some other stuff on. It looks real cute in my living room. And I checked out of the old place for good. Whatever they decide to charge me for (like the fingerprint dust that would never come off), at least I don't have to live there again. I still have a bunch of boxes to unpack but its feeling like home a little more every day. So far the management seems alot more useful and reasonable. The gate broke and was fixed a couple days later. Unlike at the old place where the gate broke and was never fixed. So I guess its turning out to be a good choice.
And thats my story. Crazy life, isn't it?
Dallas- Was awesome! And also not awesome! First of all, drove 5 hours to get there. Took me like 2 of those hours fighting Houston rush hour traffic... twice. First the space center traffic into the city, then the city traffic to the suburb north of the city. But it was so so awesome to see Meg. And her aunt who we stayed with was so sweet and welcoming and it was awesome. BUT... fuck dallas. Don't even remember all the ridiculous reasons why Dallas sucks since it was a long time ago and alot of shit has happened since but the basics are: poor Meg (literally and figuratively, heh) got a ticket for turning right on red which you're apparently not allowed to do in Dallas. Then my insurance had expired like a week before (oops) and he threatened to impound my car... another stupid dallas law. STUPID. Meg and I decided we dont wanna go back to that evil, horrible place. STUPID.
Before I left for Orlando the weekend before Passover, I told the office at my apartment about the big crack in the bathtub. Again. This time they finally did something, which was to schedule people for that monday morning to come to my apartment and resurface the tub. I was told not to come home for 8 hours because of the fumes and I didnt. They resurfaced the tub but then the whole apartment smelled and it was sticky for days afterwards. And, a few days later it started to crack again. Whatever.
Also, when I paid March's rent, I hadn't yet recieved my water bill (water is submetered so I got a bill for somewhere between 5 and 10$ every month) so I paid $15 extra, figuring that it would definitely cover my water bill and then since I was gonna be away alot, I wouldn't have to worry. With that check for rent + water I included a note nobody bothered to read saying I hadn't gotten my bill so was adding $15 so it would certainly be enough. Then I got my water bill and it was for $4 so I KNOW that I had overpaid. I went into the office to mention that and the guy there said it would be fine and would carry over to next month. Next month I got a water bill of $7 so again I knew I would have money roll over. However when I got back from Fort Lauderdale after that last weekend I had a note in my door saying I owed $7. $7.70 to be exact. I called the office and explained and they said they would take care of it. Then I called back the next day and they hadn't fixed it but were like oh well you need to bring us a copy of the bills so we can see that it really was covered. So I did. And I even checked again after I dropped that in the night box that they were dealing with it. Well when I returned from a bar with coworkers on the following Friday night, my first weekend home in a looong time, I had ANOTHER note. This one threatened to bring court proceedings to evict me. Over $7.70. THAT I DIDNT EVEN OWE. Well being freaked out by this evil letter I went into the office the next day (a saturday, so of course the manager wasnt there) and got them to give me written notice that i didn't owe money. Their excuse was that they sent the note before they actually fixed it. Which was 5 days after I told them they were wrong, and 3 after I gave them the proof in the night drop. Stupid.
Plus, in the middle of all this I also got a letter saying my lease was up and I needed to either sign a new lease or give notice to leave. Well between the unhelpful morons in the office and the again cracking tub, I wasn't sure I wanted to renew but I also didn't feel like moving. Its alot of work, alot of money, and besides, where would I go? Another apartment complex where the same thing would happen all over again.
Well, then, my decision was made for me. The following week I was working late hours studying for a big work test on all software functions and software protections in my entire system, a huuuge amount of material. Wednesday I returned home from work about 6:30 and I inserted my key into my door. The lock was kinda sticky so I could tell from how easily the key turned that the door was unlocked. This is it, I figured, someone from the apartment complex is in here waiting to tell me I'm evicted because those morons still don't realize I already paid them. So I opened the door (maybe not the smartest thing but I really thought it was those idiots). This is when I saw that my laptop (normally on the couch) was gone. Turning my head, I could see the door frame wood was split top to bottom. Someone had broken open my door!!!
Freaking out, I ran back to my car, got in, locked the door and call the cops. And Rami. And my mom. And finally (probably not that long after) the cop came. They cleared the apartment, dusted for fingerprints, and took my statement. I found out from the apartment repairman that someone else in the apartment complex was broken into. The total taken: My laptop, my big pretty tv, my gun (broken out of the safe I kept it in, in the drawer I hid that in), and my laptop case (presumably for carrying the laptop). And my ability to sleep for a really long time.
From the way only certain things were missing and nothing else appeared touched. I wondered if it was the tub repairman. I had just come back from a weekend away, I hadn't hidden my laptop... and how exactly would you hide a 32 inch television? And the gun was always hidden. They certainly could have seen the laptop and TV and opened a few drawers until they found the safe. Then knowing that I worked all day and the apartment was unattended, they could have planned to come back for those few things only 3 weeks later. I will never know. And my stuff will never be found. Its gone now.
After dealing with the police, I threw some clothes in a suitcase and left. Katie took me in for a few nights and I got a guy I know from work to go back to the apartment with me the next night so I could sort through some things (and in my haste to get out, I had forgotten underwear the night before)... I was afraid to return alone. Weirdly, this has given me a more intense fear of the dark even though the robbery happened in broad daylight.
My mom came that sunday (she was busy saturday night) and I took off work on Monday to go hunting for a new place to live. I found that place and 5 days later, on the first of the month, I signed the lease. That night was the last I slept in my old apartment, save once. I didn't have time to book movers that quickly so I bought an air mattress and I moved over all my work clothes, some other clothes, my little bedroom tv (19 in rear projection.... lame!), my tivo, and some dishes, food and stuff that weekend. I lived here like a squatter for a while.
The weekend after that I went back to Ft Lauderdale for Rami's bar removal surgery. That was a terrible, awful experience. Poor kid was in surgery for hours, and then in such pain they had to keep him on morphine overnight (so he had to stay) and... I guess I know I really love him now because I couldn't really eat or sleep, thinking about him in the hospital. Ugh... awful. And with all that, I couldn't get it together to move the following weekend, so I used that to empty all my drawers and pack everything up in boxes. Also, I got an alarm system installed. A real, monitored one so I would be able to sleep at night and not worry during the day. It helps, but I wouldn't say I'm worry free.
Then hired movers for the following weekend to move my big furniture (CR-V is wonderful, but not that big), took Friday morning off to do the move then headed to work for a class in the afternoon. Rami came that thursday night so he was with me to meet the movers. We did actually stay in the old apartment that night cuz the movers were coming early that morning and I was glad I had him with me cuz that place still freaks me out. Then my parents came in Friday night and we had a good weekend. They helped me finish moving out the last little bit, and my dad and rami put light kits on the fans (how weird that they were just fans without built in lights) and a blackout pull down window shade in the bedroom. Mom helped me too, setting up the home entertainment system with my new TV and some cool cabinet stuff for my kitchen.
That weekend we also went to Astros game, Melting pot for dinner, and I took them on a JSC tour which was all awesome.
This weekend, I went and bought a little DIY bookcase to keep my printer and some other stuff on. It looks real cute in my living room. And I checked out of the old place for good. Whatever they decide to charge me for (like the fingerprint dust that would never come off), at least I don't have to live there again. I still have a bunch of boxes to unpack but its feeling like home a little more every day. So far the management seems alot more useful and reasonable. The gate broke and was fixed a couple days later. Unlike at the old place where the gate broke and was never fixed. So I guess its turning out to be a good choice.
And thats my story. Crazy life, isn't it?
Monday, February 16, 2009
The evil V-day... or is it?
I dunno. I started by feeling like it was stupid to care, that I was being a dumb girl cuz I wanted a Valentines dayt, but then I wonder whats so bad about dedicating a day to celebrating love? Why do people hate it so much?...
1. Its super commercialized. True. But you can celebrate valentines day without giving in to the whitmans sampler, 2 dozen roses, heart shaped jewelry, pink stuffed animals, and even pricey dinners, if you want. Although, lets be serious, nothing wrong with chocolate, flowers, pluffies, or yummy food. But you could just turn off the cell phone, make a dinner at home, and spend a little time together. And ok so it has turned into a hallmark holiday, where whatever company sells merchandise and tries to make a buck. But what holiday hasn't? Christmas. Easter (ahem, egg-laying bunny, I'm talking to you). Even Channukah has gotten dragged into the shuffle. St. Patricks Day (apparently you dont need to be Irish to drink green beer). Admit it, we make up holidays because its fun to celebrate. So why not celebrate love?
2. "You shouldn't need a stupid holiday to show the person you love that you care." Sorry, but this is such a lame cop out. Of course, its true. But has that ever been said by someone who would then take the opportunity to turn April 20th or August 3rd into a romantic night just because? Or who would pick up flowers on the way home from work cuz they just felt like it? No, because those people don't have a problem with also doing that on Feb 14th. The people who do say it are those that would rather not ever put forth the effort to show their love that they care. So ok, if you are going to eschew Valentines day because its what everyone else is doing (you rebel! whatever) then you better pick another night and make it special, just because.
3. It makes single people feel bad. Totally am a perpetrator of using this hateful excuse. And yeah, sometimes when it seems like everyone but you has a lover, you are the only one alone on Feb 14th trying to convince yourself you don't need a man to be happy. But most days dont you feel like that? And you have friends, maybe youre not in love with them but you do love them, so go celebrate that. Buy each other little presents, share a little candy, go out to dinner. Or stay in, get things done, watch some movies on TV, avoid all those shmoopy happy couples. Or do what I did, bring your boss cupcakes. And realize that when you do meet someone and you see the other side, its not about you and your singleness vs. others and their coupleness. Its about being around the people you love.
4. Theres too much pressure. Is there though? Ok so guys, youre usually the ones complaining about the pressure, but this can go for girls too. She wants you to remember her birthday, your anniversary. Does every jewelry, candy, and card company join forces to put big red, heartshaped commercials in your face and remind you to buy her a present? No. But on valentines day, they do. So you can't forget- turn on a TV, drive past a billboard... and now you know. Valentines day is coming. So buy a card and a teddy bear and get it right. The pressure comes when its all up to you to remember when her birthday is and buy her a big present that says "I'm happy you're alive" not when the whole world conspires to remind you to buy a box of chocolate and for $8 youre getting all the brownie points. Complain about something thats actually a problem.
Commercial society tries to tell us we should be all into the lovebug, so alternative, I'm too cool society decides that we should buck tradition and pretend that its just another day. That we dont need the pressure and the expense and the forced night of romance. And being a rebel is just so cool, in a 1990's sort of way. But why not? Why not take advantage of the night and let love in? I tried to tell myself it was a fake holiday, but I really think its nice. Make a night special. Why not that night? Go on, you tell me. Give me a good reason to skip this ritual night of happy coupling and I'll let you win.
1. Its super commercialized. True. But you can celebrate valentines day without giving in to the whitmans sampler, 2 dozen roses, heart shaped jewelry, pink stuffed animals, and even pricey dinners, if you want. Although, lets be serious, nothing wrong with chocolate, flowers, pluffies, or yummy food. But you could just turn off the cell phone, make a dinner at home, and spend a little time together. And ok so it has turned into a hallmark holiday, where whatever company sells merchandise and tries to make a buck. But what holiday hasn't? Christmas. Easter (ahem, egg-laying bunny, I'm talking to you). Even Channukah has gotten dragged into the shuffle. St. Patricks Day (apparently you dont need to be Irish to drink green beer). Admit it, we make up holidays because its fun to celebrate. So why not celebrate love?
2. "You shouldn't need a stupid holiday to show the person you love that you care." Sorry, but this is such a lame cop out. Of course, its true. But has that ever been said by someone who would then take the opportunity to turn April 20th or August 3rd into a romantic night just because? Or who would pick up flowers on the way home from work cuz they just felt like it? No, because those people don't have a problem with also doing that on Feb 14th. The people who do say it are those that would rather not ever put forth the effort to show their love that they care. So ok, if you are going to eschew Valentines day because its what everyone else is doing (you rebel! whatever) then you better pick another night and make it special, just because.
3. It makes single people feel bad. Totally am a perpetrator of using this hateful excuse. And yeah, sometimes when it seems like everyone but you has a lover, you are the only one alone on Feb 14th trying to convince yourself you don't need a man to be happy. But most days dont you feel like that? And you have friends, maybe youre not in love with them but you do love them, so go celebrate that. Buy each other little presents, share a little candy, go out to dinner. Or stay in, get things done, watch some movies on TV, avoid all those shmoopy happy couples. Or do what I did, bring your boss cupcakes. And realize that when you do meet someone and you see the other side, its not about you and your singleness vs. others and their coupleness. Its about being around the people you love.
4. Theres too much pressure. Is there though? Ok so guys, youre usually the ones complaining about the pressure, but this can go for girls too. She wants you to remember her birthday, your anniversary. Does every jewelry, candy, and card company join forces to put big red, heartshaped commercials in your face and remind you to buy her a present? No. But on valentines day, they do. So you can't forget- turn on a TV, drive past a billboard... and now you know. Valentines day is coming. So buy a card and a teddy bear and get it right. The pressure comes when its all up to you to remember when her birthday is and buy her a big present that says "I'm happy you're alive" not when the whole world conspires to remind you to buy a box of chocolate and for $8 youre getting all the brownie points. Complain about something thats actually a problem.
Commercial society tries to tell us we should be all into the lovebug, so alternative, I'm too cool society decides that we should buck tradition and pretend that its just another day. That we dont need the pressure and the expense and the forced night of romance. And being a rebel is just so cool, in a 1990's sort of way. But why not? Why not take advantage of the night and let love in? I tried to tell myself it was a fake holiday, but I really think its nice. Make a night special. Why not that night? Go on, you tell me. Give me a good reason to skip this ritual night of happy coupling and I'll let you win.
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