One month in

It was a month ago that I learned I was headed to Utah, and it’s been a good month.  The 1,600 miles drive here is behind me.  I’m working with good people and doing what I do best.  I’ve got an apartment, and I’m steadily putting it together.  In a couple of days my stuff from Ohio will be on its way here.

Swedish furniture

Furniture for my apartment

Having surpassed the planning that Eisenhower put into D-Day with multiple scouting visits, this morning I went furniture shopping at Ikea.  This humble cart represents a dinning table, two chairs (the Swedes may have a socialist workers state, but they can lose a pallet of chairs just like everyone else… meaning I still need two chairs), a futon frame, a futon mattress, a futon mattress cover, and a coffee table.  Opting for home delivery (the table was over 100 pounds a bit tricky to maneuver onto the cart), I should see all of this again next  Saturday.  The delivery is certainly in the European style.  Right now I have a time block from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm… which means it’ll probably arrive at 2:00 pm Sunday.

It’s all in the conversion…

These looked bigger in London:

Smart Car in Utah

It must have something to do with the conversion from metric to English…

Apartment coming together

Shelf stereo that'll look even sweeter once it's actually on the shelf of a bookcase

 

Balcony furniture on which I plan to spend my warm weather evenings

Car’s fixed

After work today I picked up my repaired Escape.  I was really impressed that it only took three days.  I thought it would take that long just to get the parts and I’d be driving the little Cobalt for a week.  Fortunately, that wasn’t  the case.  The repair shop put about $2,700 worth of work into my Escape, compliments of the other party’s insurance.

Driving home, it felt good to be sitting up high again.  Very true, an Escape isn’t exactly large, but after driving a Cobalt for three days, it felt like a tank.

My new lamp

My new lamp

 

Despite the snow this morning, the fit out of my apartment continues.  Here’s the new lamp I picked up tonight.  And, yes, that’s the corner of an air mattress peaking into the photo.

This morning I got to drive to work in a downpour.  Shortly after I got the office, it changed to wet, clumpy snow.  Flakes two inches in diameter were smacking into the windows after being blown horizontally across the parking lot.  But this weekend promises to be sunny and nice!

Dinner plans foiled!

I had planned to have a meal from my youth, hot dogs and baked beans, for dinner, but was foiled by a lack of a can opener. 

You see, I’m in Utah.  Most of my clothes, my laptop, and a few books are here as well.  The rest of my stuff, mostly furniture, is back in Ohio where it was stored while I was in London.  My parents, being 1,600 miles closer to my stuff than I am, have been nice enough to organize the move of it out here.  But that takes time, and in the mean time I’m making do with what I have as I camp out in my apartment.

Welcome to Utah!

My rental is on the left

Last Friday evening I got in a car accident.  Another car, parked at the side of the road, decided to pull a u-turn right in front of me.  One moment I was tooling along, the next there was a silver car directly in front of me.  Bam!  My right front bumper connected with her left front fender.

The other party was really very nice.  When the police arrived, the first thing she said was that it was her fault.  That was nice, but I sitll had to deal with a damaged vehicle. 

 

Monday morning I  called my insurance agent of less than a week and was told to call the other party’s insurance.  So far, they’ve taken very good care of me.  They found me a body shop to go to and arranged for a rental car.  All that’s left is for things to actually get fixed. 

Me…

… and her

Where the sidewalk ends

Anybody read Shel Silverstein?