New purchases

Sprinklers, sinks, and spiders

It has officially been a week now and, well there are a few things that are a bit vexing.

1. The sprinklers come on 3-4 times/day seemingly regardless of the previous night's weather. They have no regard for the walking paths that lead me to my car or the clubhouse (with the workout facilities). With all that said, probably the most agitating trait is that they spray on my car providing me with not even a full Polish carwash daily making it not only impossible to ever leave my windows cracked but also necessary to wash the water spots nearly every time I drive.
2. My kitchen sink has only one compartment. Now I do have a dishwasher, but given the minimal amount of dished I accumulate even after a night of cooking and the amount of water the dishwasher uses, I have only used it once (when the family was here). So I am left with a bit of a conundrum: what to do with the dirty dishes before they are washed? With only a few, it has not been a problem. However, once they start to pile up and it comes time to either rinse a dish or two or to wash them all, I am at a loss. I have been piling them up on the counter until I get the wash water ready, which is sort of remedy, but then comes the issue of rinsing. The sink is pretty deep, so if I start washing dishes while filling up the sink I can use the running water for rinsing, but at times the water just gets nasty and then defeats the whole purpose. I know the simple solution is to use the dishwasher and maybe once I have a more regular schedule after my 2 months of vacation, I'll see if the dishwasher option is worth it.
3. In addition, the kitchen sink does not have a sprayer. This has not caused nearly the dilemma as the one compartment, but it does make it difficult to rinse food particles and clean the sink.
4. I do not seem to know my own strength and snapped the blinds in the dining room last night. I was pulling them up and the right side of the top frame piece, where the roller balls sits, snapped. Thankfully they did not come down from the wall and after some finagling I was able to coax them down. For now this will work; they still open, just do not retract.
5. I have some pretty fierce spiders on the balcony. I tried to kill them last night with bug spray and ran out and thankfully they did not come in the night to attack me, although I had a dream which presented a different scenario. I purchased some more spray today, which is floral scented (who knew) and sprayed it everywhere. They only seem to come out at night and I really do not want to have to actually be out on the balcony at the same time to see where they are to kill them, but this maybe the case - we'll see.

All in all though, these nuisances are cloaked by the washer/dyer, sitting outside eating lunch and reading, covered parking, and the Plum Market.

Settling in

For the most part it looks like I live here now, and I would say I am about 90-95% settled in. There are still a few pictures to hang and sorting out of things, especially boxes from the Freund lab. Most of those items will stay in the spare room closet until I get started in the Saltiel lab in August. Some moments it does not feel that weird because I am surrounded by all of my stuff and it is now just in a new and much better apartment. I have already begun to enjoy the ammenities here, including the laundry room and dishwasher. I doubt I will really use the dishwasher all that often, since I am used to washing by hand and, well don't ditry that many dishes to begin with. The laundry on the other hand; I just love it, especially since it is an actual room and not a laundry closet. All day to day when I was running errands, every time I got change I smiled because I no longer have to worry about saving quaters for laundry.

Lily has adjusted well and has yet to try and escape, but I am sure she will. The front door opens directly to the outside, so we'll see. At least there is a window so I can see if she is there. I'm not quite sure what she'd do if she got on the balcony; I would hope she wouldn't try to just off, however with her, one never knows.

I went to lab this afternoon to sign paperwork etc. and Alan asked me to come to lab meeting. It was strange sitting there thinking this is my lab now and seeing how things go. There were some jokes and small talk, but nothing quite like the Freund lab meetings. There are definetly things I will miss about the Freund lab, and not just the pizza during lunch lab meetings.

All in all, the strangest feeling so far is being back in Michigan.

Things I will have to get used to again:
1. Motorcycle helments
2. Bottle returns, got to start saving those pop cans, and now beer bottles
3. Ridiciulously bad roads...grr
4. Hearing local news etc. about Detroit, and it is even worse when what they say on the national broadcasts
5. Not being smoke-free. I have heard rumors that it is in the works, and I sure hope so
6. Eastern time zone, especially the TV schedule
7. Being much closer to my family is just such a blessing. Marissa already wanted to spend the night when they were helping to move me in

With having the next two months off to travel and relax I do not really feel the weight of having to start over again. I am hoping this time will serve as a good transistion to this new chapter and will enable me to somewhat get used to this new life without such an abrupt change. I know once I get to working again and have more of a routine I will miss the Chambana groove I have had for the last 5 years. I hope to see everyone very soon and welcome all visitors.

I have attached a video of the new place for everyone to see and pictures are up on FB.

I'm here

I made it and about 90% settled. Finally got the internets up and working today and will up load some pics and videos on Facebook later today.